DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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An Earnhardt tests a dirt late model | Daily 2-27-2025

An Earnhardt tries his hand in a dirt late model, the World of Outlaws could still be adding to their full time roster, plus a busy weekend of dirt racing ahead, let's go!

It's Thursday, February 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Yesterday at Ultimate Motorsports Park here in North Carolina, a young driver got into a late model for the first time, and this is a combination we could very well be seeing more often in the future. The driver was Wyatt Miller, and the car was the 00 for Whittier Motorsports. Both are notable here for a few reasons. Miller, who is 13 years old, is the son of Kelley Earnhardt Miller and LW Miller, he is Dale Earnhardt Jr's nephew, which obviously also makes him Dale Earnhardt's grandson. And the Whittier Motorsports team serves as the Longhorn Chassis Factory Team for crate late model competition, with Ethan Wilson their regular driver. Miller's laps yesterday coming in the 604 configuration. Wyatt Miller is no stranger to dirt racing, as he competes regularly in outlaw kart and micro sprint action, and can be found most weeks racing Millbridge Speedway. He won a golden driller at the Tulsa Shootout in 2024 in restricted action, and bumped up to the bigger classes this past go around. He made the main events for both winged outlaw and winged A-class, and just missed out on non-wing outlaw. He's also made some scattered appearances in off road racing, driving a pro spec truck. It sounds like this won't be the last time we see Miller in a dirt late model, and from what I've been told and what we can see from his results, he seems to have plenty of speed. I guess that shouldn't surprise us with Earnhardt blood in his veins. And I'd be remiss if we didn't mention his dad LW's success behind the wheel. A bunch of stock car starts, and short track wins, including in pavement modifieds. If Wyatt does have a rise to NASCAR in his future, he certainly wouldn't be the first to come up through this path. Tyler Reddick was a late model racer, and we know the Dillon brothers, Ty and Austin, did their fair share of it as well.

Last night over on the DIRTRACKR Facebook page, I teased that there could be some additions coming to the full time World of Outlaws sprint car field, and I wanted to talk through the scenarios and what I'm hearing. The series has been off since DIRTcar Nationals, but they are right back to Volusia on Sunday and Monday to coincide with Daytona Bike Week. The Outlaws then stay in the south the following weekend with stops at the Talladega Short Track and Magnolia Motor Speedway. At DCN, the series had 14 full timers on the roster, they are David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz, Buddy Kofoid, Logan Schuchart, Gio Scelzi, Sheldon Haudenschild, Bill Balog, Skylar Gee, Cole Macedo, Garet Williamson, Chris Windom, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Zach Hampton. It's possible though that we could add two more. One of those we had talked about previously, and that's Emerson Axsom. I heard they wanted to see how DCN went before making any decisions, but we haven't gotten anything public from that Klaasmeyer Petry team in the weeks since, so I figured a full Outlaw run was likely off the table. I'm told though they have not made a final decision, and signing the platinum agreement is still possible. The addition of Axsom would make that large rookie class even tougher. The other rumor that popped up this week is the possibility that Florida driver Conner Morrell could also make the leap. He was previously a full timer with the All Stars, and started 2024 on tour with High Limit, before dropping off early. Morrell did race at DCN, but failed to make the feature the first three nights. He started 22nd in the final main event, but ended up 26th. Morrell posted to social media yesterday he was headed back to Volusia, and had tagged Bill Rose in the post. One part of the rumor was that this effort could be in some sort of alliance with Bill Rose's team. But that post has since been deleted. So we'll see if we get any sort of announcement. It's possible neither Axsom nor Morrell end up signing on, but we could also see both make the move. We'll talk more about the Outlaw shows down south on Sunday's Daily.

Looking elsewhere this weekend, we will get the season debut for the Spring Nationals late model tour. They are at Swainsboro in Georgia on Friday, before heading to Senoia on Saturday. Those are $7500 and $10,000 to win shows. Donald McIntosh the defending Spring Nationals champion, and these races always draw some good names. Cherokee Speedway is also racing on Sunday for $15,000 to win, so you should see a number of guys do this sort-of triple. Some drivers to expect at some or all of these races include include Tanner English, Zack Mitchell, Ethan Dotson, Cody Overton, Ashton Winger, Garrett Smith, Carson Ferguson and Cory Hedgecock. We should hopefully have some decent weather here around the southeast for racing. Another option on Sunday for these teams is $10,000 to win at East Alabama.

Springfield Raceway in Missouri could draw some guys as well, they've got $10,000 to win on Saturday, and don't forget Clarksville is running the rescheduled Toilet Bowl this weekend. It is not a series race though after initially being on the Southern Thunder schedule. The Northern Allstars opener at Brownstown was pushed back to next weekend.

The weekend sprint car schedule starts tonight at I-37 Speedway with Elite Outlaw sprint cars. They'll then run at South Texas Race Ranch on Friday and Saturday. I'm not too sure on a full field here, but I did see Landon Crawley is going with the Michael Dutcher team, John Carney, Noah Gass, Kyle Jones, and Jason Martin. It looks like all three nights are $4000 to win. Also on the weekend open wheel slate is the USCS 360 sprint cars at Hattiesburg for two nights, the USAC CRA hits Perris Auto Speedway, and Silver Dollar Speedway is hosting the Silver Cup. I'd expect a strong field of 360s at Chico for the Silver Cup, and one driver is debuting with a new team at this event. Tanner Holmes will split time in 2025 between his family 18T, and the Tarlton 21. His time in the Tarlton car starts at Silver Cup, and they debuted their wrap yesterday. I like this one a lot, very clean with the usual Tarlton black and the silver and gold. Holmes will be in the Tarlton machine deep into the spring, and then he'll spend most of the summer in the family car as James McFadden takes over the 21. Holmes will then return to this ride in the fall. After Silver Cup, Holmes will run the opening west coast stretch with High Limit starting at Las Vegas and going all the way through Central Arizona.

Also in Texas, the 2025 USMTS modified season gets started at Heart O' Texas Speedway Friday and Saturday. Jim Chisholm the defending champion from 2024. Things will look different for the USMTS this season though, as two of the top five in the standings have moved on. Second place runner Jake Timm is a rookie with the World of Outlaws late models, and fifth place Dan Ebert is now full time with the Lucas late models. A lot of the usual suspects will still be in contention here, but you could see some other names rise up.

If you want to check out any of this weekend's racing across the streaming services, make sure to hit up the daily schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. You'll have plenty of options over the coming days across the spectrum of streaming providers.

That's it for the show this week. Enjoy the racing this weekend, hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!