DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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I guess Jimmy Owens' chassis experiment is over | Daily 3-9-2025

The experiment is apparently over for Jimmy Owens and his chassis design, plus we'll talk more Outlaw domination from David Gravel, weekend results, and a lot more. Let's go!

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

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So, if you were hoping that things would change with the World of Outlaws now away from Volusia and racing at some different tracks, you were definitely disappointed this weekend. Two more nights, and two more strong David Gravel performances. A dominating win last night at Magnolia, where he swept the program, and a fifth to second run on Friday behind Bill Balog's win. Gravel hasn't finished outside the top five in 14 straight races, and his top ten streak is up to 19. His only non-podium finish so far of 2025, was a 12th to fourth run on night two back at DIRTcar Nationals. We are only eight races in, and just two drivers are within 100 points of Gravel, and that is Carson Macedo and Logan Schuchart. They are tied for second, 56 points behind. Slow starts from Buddy Kofoid, Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Gio Scelzi, all see them triple digits back now. Kofoid was a bit better, with finishes of seventh and fourth. Sheldon was on the podium last night, but 12th on Friday. And Gio is still missing speed. He did finish eighth on Saturday night, but he's only got three top ten runs up to this point. As for Donny Schatz, the TSR 15 hasn't been terrible, he's still fifth in the standings, but they aren't anywhere near the level of Gravel, Macedo, and Schuchart right now. They are grinding for top tens, and are off pace from 2025 in all the major stat categories, including qualifying average, and feature start average. This is significant because of all the changes that team has made for this year, including basically an all new crew, led by crew chief Todd Devnich, and we documented their move to FOX Shocks, the only sprint car team seemingly on them. Schatz is on a run right now of 12 straight races without a top five finish. That's the longest such streak I can find going back through the 2017 Outlaw season. I don't want to gloss over Bill Balog here either as we talk about the bigger picture. His win on Friday night at Talladega was his first Outlaw win in almost nine years, going back to Beaver Dam in 2016. He's had speed often since he became a full time Outlaw for 2024, and I didn't think it was surprising to see him break through. He outdueled Cole Macedo for the lead through traffic, then held off Gravel in the closing stages. Great win for that team, especially after Balog was injured back at DCN. This rookie battle has been fun through eight races as well. Those five drivers separated by just 48 points, and how about Chris Windom leading the way. Three top tens in his last four starts. And a hat tip Zach Hampton last night. Issues in his heat race put the Bill Rose six on the back foot, but they battled from the back of the B, all the way to seventh in the feature. That was Hampton's first career Outlaw top ten. Up next for the Outlaws is two nights at Kennedale Speedway Park in Texas, next Friday and Saturday. Carson Macedo won there a year ago, and he and Schuchart seem to be our best shot right now of anyone slowing down Gravel.

At I-75 last night, the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series got their championship season rolling with a $20,000 to win program. I said last week that their full time roster could get to 20, and they did get close to that with the late additions of Trey Mills and Jimmy Owens. Mills was the 2023 rookie of the year, and finished sixth in the standings in 2024. He had a strong start last night, starting on the front row, and leading the first 30 laps, before fading a bit to fourth at the end. Ricky Weiss took the lead from Mills on lap 31 and drove on to this second super late model win of the season. I feel like Weiss had kind of disappeared from big time late model racing for the past few seasons, and now he's got two early wins in 2025. Daulton Wilson and Cory Hedgecock rounded out the podium. Back to Jimmy Owens, he was one of the names I'd heard last week was mulling a Hunt the Front run, and now that it's official, I wonder where we are with his career. He looked like he was maybe on to something early in speedweeks, with laps led and a top five at Volusia in January, plus Lucas top tens at Golden Isles and the first All-Tech night. We talked back in January about the chassis he'd been running since late in 2024 that was his own sort of Frankenstein creation of different pieces and ideas, and it seemed as though maybe he was on to something. But after that first All-Tech night, the rest of speedweeks was a struggle. Just one more top ten finish, and not a single feature made at Volusia during DCN. 15th in the Lucas standings, and 20th with the Outlaws meant he was likely considering his schedule options. He went to East Alabama last weekend and grabbed a top five finish, but that was driving the Harrod 27 that's actually a Longhorn. And then last night at I-75, the Owens special chassis was out, and the Newport Nightmare was back in the Rocket. A decent result, started fifth, finished ninth. It's been a year since Owens won a race, going back to East Bay in 2024 with Lucas, and a pull back to more regional and pick and choose stuff is probably his best path forward. I do think it's important to point out though that this Hunt the Front tour isn't Lucas or the Outlaws, but it won't be a cake walk either.

The NARC sprint car season off and running out in California, with DJ Netto scoring the win in the opener at Stockton. Shane Golobic and Sean Becker on the podium. It was a tough start for Justin Sanders, who was the focus of the Daily back on Thursday. He was challenging Netto late through lap traffic for the lead, but tangled with Bud Kaeding, went for a 360, and was sent to the tail. He wasn't happy with Kaeding or the call, and ended up 15th. NARC now quiet for the next several weeks as High Limit makes their way west. You'll see a lot of these guys run those shows, with High Limit at Las Vegas, Tulare, Kern County, Perris, Central Arizona, and Vado through early April.

Other weekend winners included Cade Dillard in Comp Cams late model action at Boothill. He won that one over Ethan Dotson and BJ Robinson. And the two-night USMTS weekend was shortened to a single race program, with Kyle Strickler going fourth to the win over Rodney Sanders and Jim Chisholm. Strickler chasing the championship with the USMTS in 2025, and the win moved him up to fifth in the standings, just 22 points behind leader Rodney Sanders. The mods are back at the end of the month for the King of America at Wheatland.

If you want some racing today, Lincoln Speedway in Central PA has 410 sprint cars. They'll be on track for racing starting at 3PM Eastern. Should be a solid day with temps headed for the mid 50s. If you can't get there, it will be live on FloRacing.

We'll shut it down right there for today. Hope you guys have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!