DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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What was REALLY going on with that UNPAINTED wing on Kyle Larson's sprint car | Daily 2-9-2025

Today on the show we'll talk Outlaws at Volusia, Lucas at Ocala, and we'll dive into just what a qualifying wing is for a sprint car. Let's go!

It's Sunday, February 9th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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We'll start this Sunday show off with the World of Outlaws sprint car opener at Volusia for DIRTcar Nationals. Before we talk racing, an update on Bill Balog. He went for a nasty ride last night in the main event, and did take a trip to the hospital. He was awake and alert when he left the track, but was dealing with an injured ankle. Just a little bit ago, it was shared to Facebook that Bill doesn't have any broken bones, just some quote "soft tissue damage." Since the Outlaws don't race again for a few weeks, hopefully he'll have some time to rest and get himself ready to race again. I know a few folks pointed out the floor pan getting peeled off in that incident, but I have no idea if that contributed or not. Glad to hear Bill is okay though. Going back to last week, Carson Macedo won the opener, which was a show-up points only race. The rest of the weekend was full points though. Entering the four nights of racing, Volusia not previously a race track that Kyle Larson had won at, but it was clear he and Paul Silva were determined to leave with some gator trophies. Third the first night behind Macedo, and second on Thursday, with the 57 just getting nipped at the line by Christopher Bell. They finally broke through Friday leading all 25 laps, flipping that Thursday result, with Bell second. And last night, it took Yung Money just five laps to go fourth to the lead, and he led the rest of the way on a rubber down track. Logan Schuchart ended up second, with David Gravel third. Larson your weeklong big gator champion on top of the race wins. Leaving the weekend, David Gravel is the defacto points leader, even though Larson is out front by 16 points. Logan Schuchart trails Gravel, with Ryan Timms and Carson Macedo next. Gravel and Larson the only drivers to finish top five all four nights, and Gravel, Larson, and Schuchart the only top ten runners all four nights. I felt bad for Emerson Axsom on Thursday, he led with just four to go, but spun by himself in turn four, and missed out on a shot at that first victory. He'll definitely get one soon. There were some guys I was a bit surprised to see struggle. That included Gio Scelzi, whose best finish all weekend was 14th. And Sheldon Haudenschild just a single top ten. I thought Ryan Timms was solid, three top tens in four races. And Danny Sams had some solid finishes, including his first career Outlaw top ten. He was in the main event all four nights. The Outlaws off now for about three weeks. They'll come back to Volusia in early March to coincide with Daytona Bike Week, and that kicks off a few week stretch through the south and then into Texas.

Sticking with the sprint cars for a bit. Kyle Larson and Paul Silva had some folks talking over their use of an unpainted top wing for qualifying at Volusia. The wing was stickered, but just bare metal underneath. The 57 then utilizing a normal painted white wing for the rest of the night's program. Obviously anything outwardly different that Paul Silva does is going to get attention, and this wing was no different. If that wing was painted, nobody notices, and this probably doesn't get discussed. But it is a good jumping off point to talk about qualifying wings. Silva not the only crew chief to use them, and wings are an area that provide some options depending on track types and conditions. A number of different cars in the field at Volusia had some different configurations of top wings, which include some things for drag reduction. That included at various points through the weekend Justin Peck and the Rudeen 26, Logan Schuchart's 1S, and others. I'm going to use Larson's car as the example here though, as I've got some good images to show differences. Understand right off the bat, I'm not an aero expert or sprint car crew chief. I did talk to a number of friends in the pit area though to get info, so I'm passing on what I learned. Looking at things from Volusia, we are talking about three different areas of the wing. The first is the leading edge of the wing center foil, the thickness of that foil, what some call the wing belly, and the placement of sideboards. These first two photos of Larson's car are from my guy Paul Arch. You can see the two different wings, and the first thing to notice is the rightside sideboard. On the qualy wing, you've got no wing supports on top, and it's mounted a bit lower. Notice the difference between the top and the wicker bill. The race wing is mounted a bit higher, and it has the supports. This rightside board mounted a bit lower is something we've seen from Don Kreitz's cars for quite a few years. They run it all the time though. The other set of images I swiped off the World of Outlaws Twitter account. Thanks Alex Nieten. They show a good view of the differences in the wing belly between the qualifying wing and the race wing. Notice the shape differences, and how much thicker that belly is on the race wing. I'm told the differences in the belly can help in qualifying because of the clean air. When cars are in dirty air, that more pronounced and rounded bottom on the thicker belly is thought to be better. So like when racing. The last thing is that center foil leading edge. You saw this thinner version on a lot of cars at Volusia. Two different crew chiefs called these skinny nose wings. The other option here is something with a larger radius, like you see here on Bill Rose's car. Much thicker, and rounder. All of these different options give teams some adjustability depending on track conditions. Like everything though, it's not a magic bullet. You'll see some teams swap wings mid program, like Silva did. Others will keep the same configuration all night. Some will use different wings for different tracks, and others will just use the same wing all the time at every track. It really depends on individual setups and preferences. I had one crew chief tell me years ago they tried a Kreitz-style wing, but that their driver came in after hot laps and said take this thing off. It was never used again. So, no conspiracies, no crazy theories, just guys working within the rules to find some adjustability. If you are curious, the Outlaw rulebook does allow for all of this adjustability with sideboards, belly thickness, and that leading edge.

Jumping over the the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Ocala. Their part of speedweeks ended this weekend with three more nights of racing. Devin Moran and Jonathan Davenport won the two early shows going back to last Tuesday and Wednesday. Davenport continued his winning ways on Thursday, leading all 40 laps from the pole, and holding off a last lap barrage from Brandon Overton. Overton finished second, with Kyle Bronson third. Brandon Sheppard did earn his first Lucas top five of the season in that one as well. The 50 lapper on Friday was all Ricky Thornton Jr. He paced all 50 laps, and beat Hudson O'Neal and Moran. Daulton Wilson a very solid 24th to 8th in that one. And last night, Moran closed out the Ocala week with a charge to the win from seventh. He took the lead from race-long leader Jonathan Davenport on lap 38 and drove away from there. JD second, polesitter RTJ was third. So leaving speedweeks, with the worst races dropped, Jonathan Davenport your Lucas championship leader with six weeks until the next event. He's got five points on Devin Moran in second. Ricky Thornton Jr. is 15 back in third, and Brandon Overton has the final chase spot. Daulton Wilson, Garrett Alberson, Tyler Erb, Hudson O'Neal, Max Blair, and Brandon Sheppard complete the top 10. O'Neal and Sheppard already trail by 200 points, and are 90 back of the Overton in fourth. Sheppard had terrible luck last night, after starting up front. Two flat tires and a 17th place finish. Hat tip to Ocala and their track prep guys all week. Keeping that place together for so many nights of racing was something that I think was on a lot of people's minds, but they came through with flying colors. Also, good to see Freddie Carpenter was okay after that ugly heat race crash where he hit the spinning car of Ross Robinson. Freddie told Michael Rigsby that Ross's rear bumper was very close to hitting him in the head. Nasty damage to that C4 machine. When we start looking at some guys who could potentially flip sides depending on how Volusia goes this coming week, I'd have my eye on Drake Troutman, Jimmy Owens, and definitely Tim McCreadie. All are 14th or lower in the Lucas standings. Teams will have today off, and then racing starts Monday at Volusia. The first two nights they'll be joined by USAC sprint cars, and then it will be the Super DIRTcar Series the rest of the week.

Other weekend winners included Stewart Friesen winning three of four Short Track Super Series races at All-Tech. Matt Sheppard won the other. Those guys obviously hit Volusia starting Wednesday like I just said. Curt Spalding won the UMP modified finale at Volusia, and the weeklong championship as well. Nice week to grab some gators. At Hendry County, Tyler Clem and Mark Smith split the USCS 360 sprint car wins. That series sticks around Florida for the next two weekends. And the first two wins in the history of the Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series went to Casey Roberts and Cody Overton. Roberts won the Winter Freeze opener at Screven on Friday, and Overton led all 50 laps last night for $15,000. He topped Ethan Dotson and Zack Mitchell. Overton the Outlaw points leader currently, and has a crate win at All-Tech, and this $15k super win.

Alright, that's the show for today. Thanks as always for tuning in. If you are a football fan, enjoy the Super Bowl.

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