DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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What I'm hearing on more dirt late model chassis swaps | Daily 4-1-2025

More dirt late model chassis shenanigans are afoot, and I've got the details today on two more drivers looking at swaps coming up, and both just might surprise you. Plus some weekend sprint car leftovers, and Ricky Thornton Jr's next open wheel race. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, April 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Just real quick before we dive in, no April Fools jokes today. In the five plus years of doing this show I've never done anything like that, and we aren't about to start now. Today is just a usual Tuesday around here.

With that said, there are some interesting things going on this week in the dirt late model chassis game. it was just last week that we were talking about Mike Marlar's swap from the Longhorn to the Infinity for the Atomic and Brownstown Lucas weekend. But coming up, it sounds like a pair of World of Outlaws Late Model Series full timers are going a different direction. I've been told that it's likely we'll see both Tim McCreadie and Brent Larson swap from Rockets to Longhorns soon. I was alerted to this over the weekend. The Outlaws are supposed to be at Atomic Speedway for two nights this coming weekend, but we'll have to wait and see if Mother Nature plays nice. So we could see these changes as early as this weekend. Brent Larson is currently 17th in the Outlaw standings after seven race nights, with a best finish of 19th, that came in the opener back at Volusia. McCreadie is eighth at the moment after deciding to swap back to the Outlaws after several years away. He's got a top five and a pair of top tens through the opening stretch. For Larson and his B1 team, they've been a Rocket squad for a while, going back all the way through 2021. If I'm not mistaken he was a Barry Wright Icon driver before that. Since 2019, nobody has passed more cars in Outlaw shows than Brent Larson, but this start to 2025 has been tough compared to where we normally see him. His average finish is nearly eight positions worse than 2024. That's a significant fall off, and one he can't afford up against a very deep field of full timers. The chassis rumors for McCreadie have been percolating since very early in the year, even during speedweeks. The first time I heard about it was late in January. His team owner Boom Briggs has been a Rocket stalwart, and this deal with McCreadie to join the team after the stint in the Rocket house car was supposed to be an alliance with Rocket Racing. That was why their initial plan was to be on tour with Lucas. McCreadie and Sheppard working together I guess to make both sides better. But something changed along the way, which included a tour swap for McCreadie, and it sounds now like this team is indeed heading in a new direction with their cars. McCreadie was the Longhorn house car driver with Paylor Motorsports before the move to Brandon Sheppard for 2023, and he had a lot of success in those cars. That included Lucas titles in 2021 and 2022. His jump to Rocket obviously happened in the spring last year, taking the Rocket house car seat after the departure of Hudson O'Neal. Since then though, just a single win for TMac, the Topless 100 at Batesville back in August. McCreadie did battle his way into the Lucas chase, but wasn't a factor for the title at Eldora. We've documented on this show the struggles for Rocket and the house car team really since the departure of O'Neal, and TMac's Topless win was the last for a Rocket chassis on either national tour. They have won elsewhere, and we've seen some solid runs for Rockets, including from both Sheppard and Tyler Erb. But outside of Longhorn, the only other chassis company to get wins is Infinity. I do think it's interesting to point out about Sheppard, and I had a comment about this yesterday I think from Nick on YouTube. Some think the car that BShepp has been running out of the B5 shop is just a standard XR1, but looking at some photos from Maquoketa, it does have the XR1.2 sticker on the halo bar. And that looks like it was true at both the Nippy 50 and the Outlaw weekend at Smoky Mountain. Steve Sheppard looks like he's in a standard XR1, but not the B5. So maybe Shepp's learnings can transfer to the house car. Anyway, McCreadie and Larson switching to Longhorns is the word from a very good source.

A couple of other leftover sprint car notes from the past weekend. First, Chase Dietz still rolling in Central PA in the Stehman car. He won the Icebreaker at Lincoln to kick things off in February, and has yet to finish off the podium. That included two seconds in the next two races at Lincoln, a third and a second in races at Port Royal, and a third on Sunday at BAPS. Tommy Carl and Dietz are a stout pairing there in the 23. Also how about Ryan Smith in the 69K. Things didn't go well in the Port opener, as Smith's day went up in smoke, but they more then made up for it this past weekend. Smith and the 69K picked up the win, which was the first for Smith in Central PA since 2019. He won last year, and in 2021, but those were Western PA and Ohio victories. The 69K showing speed with yet a third driver in it this year. I wonder if I could win driving that thing.

Finally today, Ricky Thornton Jr. will expand his exploits in open wheel racing coming up, with a trip to Terre Haute in a few weeks for some USAC Silver Crown Series action. He'll drive a car out of the Team AZ shop, and he was there this week getting his seat fitted. In between dirt late model races, we've seen RTJ do a ton of micro racing, and he's run the Chili Bowl several years in a row. He also made his winged 410 sprint car debut last season driving for Bernie Stuebgen in the Indy Race Parts car at Lernerville and World Finals. The Silver Crown machines are a different beast, but I don't think I'd be shocked to see RTJ run well there.

That's the Daily show for today. If you want to get the best segments from this show in bite-sized bits, make sure to check out DIRTRACKR on TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Facebook and Instagram reels. Just another way to add a little dirt racing to your day.

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