DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A tough end, why weren't there more big names, rosters grow | Daily 1-13-2025
Bobby Pierce cleans up at Vado, and a big late model figure wants to know where everyone else is. Plus the Chili Bowl starts tonight, and Kyle Larson is looking for his first lock in since 2022. We'll also talk Kevin Thomas Jr., XR's big money shows, regional sprint car full timers and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, January 13th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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No shock yesterday at the Wild West Shootout, as Bobby Pierce closed it out to earn the week long championship and his fourth win in five races. He started outside front row, and led 50 laps, topping Chase Junghans by more than three seconds. Garrett Alberson joined Junghans and Pierce on the podium. Hat tip as well to another fellow Oregonian, as Collen Winebarger went 19th to fifth. Pierce's wins and the championship were worth nearly $80,000, with included two $25k scores. He'll now head to speedweeks and we'll see if he can add to the win total. Interesting to note, Pierce doesn't have any of the Lucas races on his website schedule. Just the two Volusia weeks for the World of Outlaws. Further down the order, it was a bit wild to watch Brandon Sheppard get lapped last night. The B5 started and finished 13th, but ended up as the first car one lap down at the finish, and was clearly not on the same level as the 32.
Certainly not the end to the week they were looking for. Shepp turns his attention now to the Rocket house car this week at Golden Isles and opening the Lucas season. I'll be really curious to see how speedweeks goes as both sides try and find the mojo again. The B5 team goes on the shelf now until late in March when they will come back out for the Nippy 50 at Maquoketa.
One other Wild West Shootout topic for you. After the feature last night, FloRacing's Michael Rigsby took to Twitter to talk about Pierce's domination. He said quote "You have to wonder if guys like Moran, etc. are looking and going .... "man that seems easy?". Lots of guys don't want to make the trip West, but 32 has turned it into his personal bank account every year and you have to think some of those other national dudes want the challenge" unquote. Rigsby did get a reply from Nick Hoffman who made it a point to say that they know the 32 is fast, but that they need a break with nearly year round racing. This effective lack of a dirt late model offseason is going to continue being a topic I think, and it didn't help this season that Lucas starts earlier than normal. It was made easier by the schedule change, but originally, it wasn't going to be an easy tow from Vado to Brunswick for teams looking to kick off the Lucas season after the Wild West Shootout. Rigsby clearly trying to entice some other big names to Vado for the future, but it will remain a hit or miss event for some of the other national guys. It's a long way out and back, especially in advance of 20 plus races in 30 days for speedweeks, and it started less than a month after Gateway finished.
Moving on, today begins racing action at the Chili Bowl. The next five nights will feature split field prelim action, with a different group going each day. The prelims then setup Saturday's run through the soup. If you make a prelim feature, the worst you'll start on Saturday is an E-Main, with the top two each night locking into the championship feature on Saturday night. Three through eight are in a B, nine through 14 a C, 15 through 20 a D, and 21 through 24 an E. Tonight's field is highlighted by Kyle Larson, with other contenders to watch including Cannon McIntosh, Tanner Carrick, Shane Golobic, Nick Hoffman, Brent Crews, Briggs Danner, and Nick Hoffman. Tanner Holmes also goes tonight, as do names like Justin Peck, Bill Balog, and Cap Henry. Hot laps will hit the track around 4PM central time, with heat races to follow at 5. The Monday program also includes the Race of Champions, with 19 drivers invited to that one. It's all the usual suspects, including Larson, Bell, Thorson, Seavey, Sammy, etc. The full roster is available over at chilibowl.com. The last five Mondays in Tulsa have been split between Carrick and McIntosh, with Cannon Mac winning three, and Carrick winning two, including last year. Golobic has been the other lock in car two straight years. As for Yung Money, his hasty trip to Chili Bowl last year, and subsequent flip, ended a streak of five straight prelim night lock ins. Before 2024, the last time he wasn't locked in come Saturday was 2017. He was very good at the Shootout though, winning two drillers. If you are playing pools, don't forget that you must have your picks locked in before hot laps today. You can watch live all week over on FloRacing.
In the XR orbit, Barry Braun and his team confirmed a quartet of big paying shows in recent days coming in 2025. They are hosting a $100k to win modified weekend at Salina March 20th and 21st, a $100k to win sport compact race at Kokomo April 18th and 19th, the Big Deal is back with $125,000 to win at Ogilvie July 25th and 26th, and they'll pay $100k to win for stock cars at Sports Park Raceway August 26th and 27th. Sports Park Raceway is Fort Dodge, Iowa. The entry process for all four opens today, with info available at xrevents.com. As for what else is happening with XR this season, we don't yet know. They did take over Hibbing Raceway in Minnesota, but there has been nothing announced for Pennsboro Speedway or the XR Super Series. We'll mark both as TBD for now.
Looking at a silly season confirmation, as I told you guys last week, Kevin Thomas Jr. will indeed drive the Heidbreder winged sprint car this year, in between his USAC commitments. He's back in the Rock Steady 3R for the full USAC sprint car year, plus the 4 Kings midget for a full schedule there. He'll then fill in with winged starts with Heidbreder, and a schedule there is still forthcoming. KTJ is kicking off his 2025 year this week at the Chili Bowl driving for Alex Bowman. Depending on the number of races he runs, this could be the first significant winged slate for Thomas since he ran 29 races in 2022. That was the year he made an All Star run with Clayton Snow before that deal went sideways in June. His last winged sprint car win was at Lake Ozark in 2023, where he won a POWRi 410 show.
Speaking of POWRi, their 410 sprint car roster suddenly went from four cars to seven in just the last few days. Joining Ayrton Gennetten, Natalie and Xavier Doney, and Joe B Miller, are three more full time competitors. That most notably includes Noah Gass, who was a World of Outlaws regular for two seasons. Gass scaled back in 2024 from 70 plus races the previous two seasons, to just 31. He won three times, including once with POWRi and twice with the ASCS Elite Outlaw series. The other two additions are guys set to make big leaps in Missouri driver Lane Warner, and Colorado's Scotty Milan. Warner has scattered 410 starts the past three seasons, while Milan has career top tens against the Outlaws, MOWA, POWRi, and Maverick. Both will be first time sprint car series full timers. The POWRi 410 season starts in late February, and they expect to name nine more full time drivers in the coming weeks.
Two other regional roster moves for you. The FAST series has named their first full timer, with Lance Heinberger signing on. He made 25 410 starts a year ago, including eight with FAST. He raced mostly at Wayne County, with other shows at places like Attica, Fremont, and Atomic. His best finish was two sixth place runs in weekly action at Wayne County. Also, I've been told that Ohio driver Justin Clark is expected to join the All Star roster. He was a weekly winner at Atomic in 2024, and had top tens against FAST, and made the High Limit features at the Dean Knittel and at Butler in the Mace Thomas. Clark would take the All Stars to six alongside Darin Naida, Cody Bova, Leyton Wagner, Devon Borden, and Aiden Price.
That's your Daily for today. Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!