DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Larson and Bell, alotta cars, and something I just don't like | Daily 2-5-2025

Devin Moran stays hot, Brandon Overton getting closer, why RTJ didn't race, plus a big field of sprint cars is expected for Volusia, including one driver and car owner who want one of those gator trophies. Plus Christopher Bell's engine, other racing tonight, and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, February 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Late model speedweeks back rolling again last night with the first of five races at Ocala Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Just like we saw with East Bay in previous years, these early nights are not for points. That means we could see some drivers not run, and on Tuesday it was Ricky Thornton Jr. Going back to All-Tech, RTJ had that late crash with heavy contact with the frontstretch wall. That car was bent, not shocking, so they sat out yesterday to get a fresh piece put together. The guys at Longhorn staying busy keeping up with some of these repairs. A post on RTJ's Facebook page says the team should be ready in time to race today. Looking down through the results, I don't see any other major teams that didn't race. At least of the guys who are full time with Lucas, or could be. No Tyler Bruening or Mike Marlar on Tuesday, but we know they have plans elsewhere for the season. Bruening did practice on Monday, and Marlar's website shows these races on his schedule, so we'll see if they sign in this week. With no points again tonight, it's possible we could see other guys take a night off. Things get official again on Thursday, and the purse money starts to ramp up towards the weekend. Bobby Pierce is one driver who we haven't seen much during speedweeks, but he posted to social media yesterday they will hit up Ocala Friday and Saturday before racing at Volusia next week. In last night's action, good battle out front with Devin Moran coming out on top for his second win a row. Brandon Overton led early from the pole, but Moran got by down the stretch, with Overton settling for second, and Jonathan Davenport third. Overton is looking for his first national tour win since Smoky Mountain last June, but those guys seem like they are right there. Four top tens in five Lucas starts, and laps led now in two straight races. I don't think it's a crazy prediction to say these guys win this week at some point. Overton looked frustrated in his post race interview last night, but not like at his team. More that he knows they are good, and he wants to break through. He's clearly hungry. Moran now with top fives in every race so far, along with the two wins. His Double Down squad has him rolling to start this season. Further down the order, another tough night for Brandon Sheppard. His fifth B-Main appearance in five races, and a 19th place finish. In past years, East Bay always seemed to be a place the Rocket 1 would be very good at, even if they started slow at the other speedweek tracks. But with East Bay now gone, they won't get that comfy spot to maybe do a reset. Barring a massive turn around Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the Rocket house car seems set to leave speedweeks in a significant hole in the Lucas standings. And Brian Shirley's crap luck continued with more issues and another tough night. Shirley and the 3S team I thought could be a darkhorse championship challenger on the Outlaw side, but they need to do some voodoo or something to shake this funk they are in. If you aren't headed to Ocala today, FloRacing again with the livestream.

Not far away at Volusia, the World of Outlaws sprint car season begins today. DIRTcar Nationals had sprint cars this past weekend, but those were 360s with the ASCS. All the big names will be in action today through Saturday. I haven't asked why, but tonight is show-up points only. I wish we could just do away with non-points and show up points entirely. Unless it's a split field prelim deal, every race should be for points. Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, late model stuff, whatever. Full points for any full field program. No free passes because of differing formats. Tonight will be our first look at the 2025 Outlaw roster, but all signs are pointing to a big field of cars beyond just the 14 signed on. I thought maybe with no High Limit down south this year, that Volusia's car count would suffer, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's possible we have even more cars this year than we did in 2024 with High Limit in Florida. And that will include about half the High Limit roster, with guys like Tyler Courtney, Brenham Crouch, Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne, Justin Peck, Daison Pursley, and Danny Sams all expected. Between the Outlaws, High Limit teams, and all the other travelers, we could have more than 50 cars racing. If we don't go over, we'll be very close. I don't remember when we've ever had that many sprint cars at Volusia to start a season. We'll also get to see Christopher Bell back in a sprint car this week. He's racing in the Don Kreitz owned 69K for at least a few of the nights. Bell sharing the 69K with Daryn Pittman and Ryan Smith this year. He'll be back in that car for the High Limit opener as well in a few weeks at Las Vegas. Bell hasn't been in a sprint car since PA Speedweek in 2022. And despite Bell's tight relationship with Toyota, and TRD having sprint car engines, I've been told that the Kreitz 69K will not have Toyota steam in it this weekend. Just Kreitz's usual engine, which I believe is Rider. It sounds like there could be a Kyle Larson sighting as well. Larson's sprint car appearances aren't heavily publicized unless it's with High Limit, but he is being included in some of the World of Outlaws betting stuff. And I've had a few sources indicate that him appearing is likely. One friend told me Paul Silva wants a gator trophy. And it's important to note that Kyle Larson has never won at Volusia. There are no Daytona conflicts for the NASCAR guys, so Larson could run all weekend with no issues. So all the big players, nice weather, a big fast race track. We are in for some proper sprint car racing the next four nights. UMP modifieds on the undercard. Last night's modified winners were JP Roberts, Glenn Styres, Evan Taylor, Randy Giroux, Cole Falloway, and David Stremme. DIRTVision has live coverage starting tonight.

The other season that begins tonight is for the Short Track Super Series. The northeast modified tour is at All-Tech in Florida for each of the next four nights. They had almost 40 cars for practice last night. They'll race for $4000, $5000, $6000, and $7500 to win through Saturday. A lot of the modified teams will then stick around for DIRTcar Nationals next week. Stewart Friesen and Matt Sheppard lead all drivers with the most wins in the history of the STSS Sunshine Swing. If I remember correctly, just like the SDS at Volusia, these are non-points events for the Short Track Super Series. You can catch this racing live tonight on Flo as well.

A couple of other news items for you before we close out today. First, Lincoln Park Speedway has new promoters for 2025. This track was previously promoted by Joe and Jill Spiker, but they hung it up after 2024. Track owner Dave Allison now has an agreement in place for USAC to take over operation of the track, and in recent days industry veteran Tommie Estes has been named the track's general manager. Weekly racing will continue at the track, along with five USAC national events through the year. Honest Abe Roofing has been the named the track's title sponsor as well. Definitely good news for a staple Indiana race track.

Also, the FloRacing Night in America Series presented by my friends at Kubota has made a schedule change. The I-75 race originally scheduled for September 11th is being moved over to Volunteer Speedway. This makes the Flo series now part of the Scott Bloomquist Memorial Scorcher that was already previously scheduled on this date. The Tarheel 53 at I-75 has been rescheduled for October 25th, and is now a Southern All Stars show. Ray Cook, who promotes that I-75 race, also now in charge of the Southern All Stars, so an easy move there.

Alright, that's the Daily for today. For even more, make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com. There you can find the daily streaming schedule. It has all of your possible watch options across the streaming services, including links to watch and start times where we have them. There is also updated news items, podcast listings, the analytics section and more. Add dirtrackr.com to your daily internet browsing.

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