DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Lucas Oil makes changes again, more late model silly season moves | Daily 11-18-2024

A boat load of late model stuff today, including the series choice for a top ten runner this season, a tour shuttered and what it means for the future, plus other news and race results. Let's go!

It's Monday, November 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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At Cherokee on Sunday, Trent Ivey went to victory lane in the Blue Gray 100, topping a really stout field of late models. He started on the pole, led all 60 laps, and even made a little history yesterday. Ivey and his dad Petey become the first father-son duo to win the Blue Gray 100. His dad did it in 2003. Behind Ivey, Daulton Wilson and Donald McIntosh were also on the podium. Jonathan Davenport finished fifth, Chris Madden sixth, and Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner was solid in 10th. Looking at schedules coming up, you basically have two more chances to see super late models in 2024. The first is at Duck River this coming weekend. They've got $15 grand on the line with the Gobbler, which is XR Super Series sanctioned. After that it's the Dome in December. And then from there we'll have to wait until January when the Wild West Shootout gets started at Vado on the 4th.

Going back over the last few days, I did want to mention a few others news items, especially when it comes to silly season. First, after his rookie of the year season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Drake Troutman has a new deal for 2025. He'll go from running his family owned car full time, to driving for GR Smith, effectively replacing Max McLaughlin in the number 22 machine. Troutman will continue working with his crew guys, and he'll keep the Team 22 equipment at his shop in Pennsylvania. Keep in mind here as well that Smith is running a part time deal for Chris Madden. That deal has already started and will continue into next season. Troutman won a handful of races in 2024, including a split field Lucas show at Lernerville, a ULMS race, and a few UMP modified features. If the offseason goes well, we could see this new pairing at Vado for the Wild West Shootout. If not, they do plan on racing all of speedweeks, and then making a series decision from there. The 22 car was on the Outlaw tour in 2024, while Troutman was Lucas. I don't have a sense here for which direction they could go, but based on Troutman's history, I might lean Lucas for this team. I obviously understand the GR Smith owned cars aren't exactly known for driver longevity, but I don't know that many thought Max would go the distance in 2024, and he certainly did. I think it's good for Troutman to get some added backing, and even if it goes sideways, he'll still have his family owned stuff.

Speaking of Max, he's got a new ride as well, which already debuted over the weekend at Senoia. He'll run some sort of pick and choose, special events schedule going forward in a late model owned by NASCAR team Niece Motorsports, along with company CEO Cody Efaw. We've seen Niece dabble in dirt late model racing with Carson Hocevar and Ross Chastain in the past, and Cody Sommer was previously involved with this team. McLaughlin is coming off his rookie season with the Outlaws, where he finished 11th in the standings and had a split field prelim win at Talladega. He was also a Summer Nationals winner at Quincy. At Senoia with Niece, McLaughlin made the Friday feature but DNF'd on that rough race track, and they just missed a feature transfer in a B on Saturday. What exactly the schedule is for this team we don't yet know, but there was no mention of a national tour run.

As for Lucas full timers, we've been tracking that growing list since the season ended at Eldora back in October. Right now we know the list is at eight with Max Blair, Devin Moran, Daulton Wilson, Clay Harris, Carson Ferguson, Dan Ebert, Brandon Sheppard, and Tim McCreadie all confirmed. We can push that to nine, as I was told from a very good source that Garrett Alberson will be back in 2025. The New Mexico driver was sixth in the Lucas standings this year, and picked up his first career series win at Port Royal in August. He also bagged MLRA wins, won the Baltes Classic at Eldora, a Summer Nationals race, and with James Essex's Northern All Stars. This past weekend at Senoia he was a top five runner both nights. As I've said before, I think we can assume RTJ and Hudson O'Neal will return, that would take us to 11. Of the top ten in Lucas standings, that leaves us with Jonathan Davenport, Mike Marlar, and Jimmy Owens all unconfirmed for next season.

Some news that broke today that is actually a bummer, involves regional dirt late model racing. After 35 years in operation, the MLRA is no more. The Lucas Oil Company has owned the series since 2012, but going forward, the MLRA is done and those resources will be shifted towards Lucas Oil Speedway and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. MLRA series director Ernie Leftwich is moving over to Lucas Oil Speedway to serve as assistant GM under Danny Lorton. Chad Simpson was the series champion in 2024, with 19 races run across various midwest race tracks. Chad and brother Chris were the only two drivers this season to make all 19 features, and 152 drivers appeared at MLRA shows. If you might remember back to January of 2023, I actually did a Daily show where we talked about how the Lucas Oil Company, under Morgan Lucas, had shifted it's motorsports involvement dramatically in recent years. That included giving up various series sponsorships, shuttering things like their off road series, and handing over streaming to FloRacing. Since that daily show, they now also don't sponsor the Chili Bowl and Tulsa Shootout, and now comes this news for the MLRA. Elsewhere in motorsports though, they continue to have a presence besides the aforementioned track in Wheatland, and the Lucas late model series. They are a partner for Rico Abreu, and they've joined up with Kyle Busch to sponsor both his Cup Series entry with Richard Childress Racing, and they are on his midget for upcoming USAC shows and his Chili Bowl debut. I said back in 2023 that it seemed as though Morgan was paring down to deals that really drove ROI and exposure, and the same rings true nearly two years later. As much as it sucks to see the MLRA go away, and the hole it will now leave in that part of the country, it seems clear that they were not getting a big enough return on that investment and selling more additives and lubricants because of it's existence. There have also been continued quiet rumors about the future for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and that wasn't helped by FloRacing coming on board this season as a presenting sponsor. But because of the investments Lucas continues to make across motorsports, I'm less worried about these rumors. If they were shutting everything down in motorsports, that would be more alarming, but that doesn't appear to be the case, at least yet. And even if they did decide to pull out of dirt racing completely, the Lucas series would have at least a few willing suitors. We'll have to wait and see if another group is able to get a series going in that area to try and fill the MLRA void.

That's the Daily show for today. Make sure to hit that subscribe button and YouTube or where you get podcasts.

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