DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Kyle Larson back on dirt, but what about the Chili Bowl? | Daily 11-13-2024

Kyle Larson will be back on dirt and we'll talk about where, plus what he said recently about racing the Chili Bowl early in 2025. We'll also dive into sprint cars on a cricket field, more Lucas confirmations, and more today. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, November 13th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

In recent days I've had a few comments and questions about Kyle Larson's dirt racing schedule coming up, and to be honest, he hasn't been on my radar at all. I know he's going to run those High Limit shows in Australia and not return to Vado for the Wild West Shootout. But other than that, I assumed we probably wouldn't see him. His plans to race, even during the regular season, aren't often heavily broadcasted, and with so much happening with silly season and all of the other news, this isn't something I've even been paying attention to. But apparently Yung Money will likely be back on dirt very soon. During the NASCAR weekend at Phoenix he mentioned running some midget races coming up, which seems to point towards the USAC west coast swing, and he did call out the Australia trip. He was asked specifically about the Chili Bowl, but did not respond to that part of the question. He did say though that he's still trying to figure out all of his plans. So we'll see if the Chili Bowl happens or not. Remember he missed the event completely in 2023, instead choosing to race the late model at Vado. And in 2024 he made a late decision to run, jumping in a Keith Kunz car, but crashed on his prelim night and didn't come back for Saturday. On the Daily show yesterday, I went through some of the confirmed drivers expected to race with USAC over the coming weeks, and one of those I mentioned was Tyler Courtney. Sunshine is going race a Silva Motorsports midget, and between a merch social media post from him and a paint scheme post from Blackbeard, it's clear they are going to be teammates. Sunshine's car, besides being adorned with NOS colors, also has familiar Larson partners FloRacing, HendrickCars.com, Finley Farms, and JVI on it. What exactly Larson's schedule will be, I'm not sure, but I did have a YouTube commenter mention yesterday that at Perris this past weekend for the CRA finale, they talked about Larson racing Turkey Night. He was at Turkey Night in 2023, along with the Hangtown 100 at Placerville. We've also seen him run Merced and Bakersfield in recent years. Larson is the type of driver that people will show up to tracks to see, so unless it's confirmed from his side, I'm not going to promise you he'll be at this race or that race. Before you make plans, I'd be sure he's scheduled to be at the race your wanting to attend. And based on past situations, we may get a release or news story, likely from the FloRacing side, but it's also possible we won't know for sure until his car is unloaded in the pits. Besides the races Larson decides to do, and the drivers we've already talked about, you can also add Corey Day and Chase McDermand to the west coast list. CJ Leary will also run Turkey Night. Day was one I had missed before, he's going to be back with Willie Kahne. Remember he and Willie won a prelim night at the Chili Bowl and ended up third in the finale behind Logan Seavey and Buddy Kofoid. The Hangtown 100 at Placerville starts Friday.

Down under in Australia, there is an interesting event happening this weekend that you might want to check out. The Supercars, which are kind of like Australia's NASCAR, are racing the Adelaide 500 this weekend, and festivities will include a sprint car race. Only, this sprint car race isn't happening at a nearby dirt track. It's happening on a temporary track built inside the Adelaide street circuit. That Adelaide circuit is run around King Rodney Park right in the center of the city, and that park has a cricket field. In recent days, that cricket field has been converted into what they are calling NAPA Speedway for this event. The dirt track is about 1/5 of a mile, and they'll have around 40 410 sprint cars competing over the next few days. Races are $10,000 to win, and there is $25,000 to the overall points champion. The entry list includes James McFadden, Jock Goodyear, Thomas Meseraull, Chase Randall, Kerry Madsen, Michael Pickens, Callum Williamson, Dayne Kingshott, Lachlan McHugh, and a lot more. Toby over at Sprint Car Hub says they've invested a million dollars to build the track and make the event happen. If you want to tune in, both nights will be live on Clay Per View, which is included on the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com. If you want a full look at the sprint car schedule down under, Toby has a very comprehensive one on the Sprint Car Hub Facebook page. It runs all the way through May in 2025. Master Gassers posted a list of American drivers racing down under this year, and it includes Justin Whittall, Brock Zearfoss, Garet Williamson, Joey Myers Jr., Randall, Larson, Gio Scelzi, Carson Macedo, Cory Eliason, Madsen, and Brad Sweet. I would assume a bunch of those guys will run the High Limit stuff at Perth. I've been asked if I'll cover some of that racing on the show, and we will definitely talk about some of it, including the High Limit races and the Classic for sure.

On the Tuesday Daily show, we obviously covered the news of Brandon Sheppard to Rocket Racing being official, and we also gave a current update on Lucas full timers for 2025. I wanted to add to that list real quick, because I was sent a few things. First, we can confirm Devin Moran back next season. He said on a recent Facebook live that he and the Double Down Motorsports team will be on the road with Lucas again next season. That isn't a surprising one, and he was a driver I mentioned as one we could probably assume would return. Another confirmation is Max Blair with the Centerline Motorsports team. They are having a party in January to quote "celebrate Max's 2024 year with the LUCAS Oil Late Model Series and help support his 2025 LUCAS Oil title chase." Max was ninth in the Lucas standings this season, with nine top fives and 19 top tens in 45 races. He brings our list to eight, with Moran, Daulton Wilson, Clay Harris, Carson Ferguson, Dan Ebert, Brandon Sheppard, and Tim McCreadie all confirmed. We are assuming Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O'Neal will be back as well, so that's ten. That still leaves Jonathan Davenport up in the air, along with Mike Marlar and Garrett Alberson. I could see a scenario where Davenport falls back off again, and Mike Marlar was non-committal not that long ago in an interview with Dirt on Dirt. I would assume Alberson will be back, but we'll see on him.

If you want some dirt racing audio this week, Winged Nation has David Gravel, and their yearly conversation with Brian Carter happens today. Dirt Track Confessions has Kendra Jacobs, Hoogie's Garage has Jack Croaker and Johnny Herrera, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, and the Driver's Project. To see everything that is available, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

That's the Daily show for today. Coming up tomorrow we'll talk more Hangtown 100, plus the Flo series at Senoia, sprint cars at BAPS, and a lot more.

Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!