DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Shark circling new driver, the TSR search for speed continues | Daily 4-23-2025

Shark Racing circling their next sprint car driver for the 1A, Donny Schatz's team makes more changes in search of speed, and a regional sprint car series makes a strategic move hoping to draw big names. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, April 23rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Today's Daily show is being supported by BAPS Motor Speedway and SprintCarUnlimited.TV. Coming up this Sunday, BAPS will continue their expanded 410 sprint car schedule with round number three of their season long championship. Sunday's program will feature some of the best sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania, joined by 358 modifieds. If you can't get to the track, watch it all live on SprintCarUnlimited.tv. Sprint cars will be on track for hot lap/time trials at 5PM. The upcoming 410 schedule at BAPS will feature several more 410 sprint car shows, including Pennsylvania Speedweek in June and the World of Outlaws in July. All races, except the World of Outlaws event, will be included in the track championship. And new this year, the BAPS point fund has been grown to $20,000. Head over to bapsmotorspeedway.com to see the full slate of races, and if you want to watch each of the championship races live, including this Sunday, plus the PA Speedweek show, the Kevin Gobrecht Classic, and the season finale Sprint Showdown in November, you can do that all season long on SprintCarUnlimited.TV.

One of the cars you just might see on Sunday at BAPS is the Shark Racing 1A. The original schedule for that car that came out back in January does have this weekend on it, and even though that car is officially without a driver at the moment, rumblings are a deal with a new pilot is nearing. Cale Thomas had been named as the replacement for the retiring Jacob Allen a few weeks ago, but after just three races, Thomas was dropped after this past weekend. The 1A had a nasty crash on Friday at Williams Grove after catching the water barrels at the backstretch opening, and another crash late at Lincoln on Saturday night. By Sunday, Thomas was out and another driver search began. We talked previously about Zeb Wise and Tanner Holmes being potential candidates, and I've seen a lot of other names thrown around. It won't be either of those two, and Jeremy Elliott reported last night that it's not Dylan Cisney. Word going around this week is that Shark and team owner Bobby Allen were now in search of a driver that can bring some funding to that ride, and if things get worked out in time, the 1A could be on track as soon as this weekend. I've got an email, a Facebook DM, and a Twitter DM from three different sources all pointing towards a young west coast driver as the next guy. And no, not Tanner Holmes. Although this driver is from Oregon I think. This one is going to feel like it's from out of left field, but keep an eye on Ashton Torgerson as possibly the next driver of the 1A. And as with Cale Thomas, there is a solid chance the team doesn't even announce it. They may just show up at the Grove on Friday. Stay tuned.

Going back to this past weekend at Knoxville, we watched Donny Schatz struggle and eventually need a provisional to start the World of Outlaws feature. I said on the Sunday show that it was the first time Schatz had needed to run a non-qualifier race since Knoxville in June of last year, and that there were some things to point out about this team. As we've documented, there is a lot of change that's come to the Tony Stewart Racing 15 car in 2025. A new crew chief, a completely different crew, the move away from the Ford engine, and we pointed out back at DIRTcar Nationals the car on FOX shocks. The FOX move was a curious one, as I'm not aware of another sprint car in the country running FOX shocks. That's something we see much more commonly in dirt late model racing. The swap to a more traditional Chevy-based 410 engine had gone well through the first three nights, with Schatz picking up three top tens, and his first podium of the season back on the Saturday at Pevely. I think a lot of folks had Knoxville circled as a track we could see Schatz get a victory, as it's been a stronghold in the past. And that included the oddsmakers, who had Schatz with a decent shot of winning, and a finishing position set at 5.5. The qualifying draw didn't help his case to start the night, although cars that went out after him that went faster included Skyler Gee, and Kerry Madsen. PPM and Carson Macedo were just before and also found more time. 25th of 32 in his group, and effectively an impossible hole to dig out of the rest of the night. He did manage to recover from a crash in the feature where he was hit hard by PPM, and finished 17th after starting 28th. So what did I want to point out about the car? Well, it's those FOX shocks. It doesn't appear as though they were on the car. The Outlaw Facebook page posted a photo of the 15 in the pit area on Friday where they are clearly bolted on. But later in the day, the shocks are bagged on the car, and it seems pretty evident they aren't the dual-reservoir FOXs. Some think the car was back on the unmarked Factory Kahne's the team had run the past few seasons. And that seems to be confirmed by the footage of the car on DIRTVision when it hit the work area for a new front end. Those bags come off, no dual-reservoir FOXs, and instead a single shock with the TSR logo on them. That matches what the car was on in 2024. And looking back through photots the last few weeks, the car definitely on the FOXs at Lawton, but those bags first appeared at Pevely. Again, the Outlaw Facebook page with a photo of the car on the FOXs, but then later bags. As they begin to search for a package that works with the new power, I don't think it's super surprising to see them swap back to something they have a bigger notebook with. But there is still work to be done, as evidenced by the results. It's interesting to point out as well, Schatz not listed on the timing and scoring results on MyRacePass for the Thursday practice session. Of the Outlaw frontrunners, that wasn't actually totally off the rails, as David Gravel, Carson Macedo, and Sheldon Haudenschild didn't participate either. But of note, if you look at the top ten finishers from Saturday night, all but Gravel and Austin McCarl made laps Thursday. And all the top five drivers ran Thursday. It does surprise me, especially at Knoxville, to see drivers forego added track time, especially when we know they are searching with their setup. Absolutely fascinating though watching the 10 time Outlaw champion try and find his way back to the top.

One last topic for today. The POWRi Elite Outlaw 410 series has made a significant change to a race on their schedule in a few weeks. They've now got a $10,000 to win show at Rocket Raceway Park on Friday, May 2nd, that was originally a $4000 to win race. And they've got Don Kreitz bringing the 69K to Texas for Christopher Bell to drive it at this event. Of note, this race is in between the High Limit shows at the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track that week. High Limit is running Thursday and Saturday in conjunction with the NASCAR weekend at Texas. They aren't racing Friday so as to not conflict with Friday night's Truck Series race. The Elite Outlaw series seeing an opportunity here to hopefully draw some names to Rocket with the boosted purse. This will be an interesting case study for the current state of the sport. This exact situation is the reason why the World of Outlaws have restrictions on their drivers, and as we talked about not long, a series like the All Stars. A race scheduled close by gets this boost, they don't have to pay sanction fees to the big series, and try and draw some bigger name drivers in. I say it will be an interesting case study, because while Rocket Raceway Park is in the vicinity, it is still a two hour drive from Texas Motor Speedway. Is $10,000 to win and $500 to start enough of an incentive to get any of those High Limit guys to make the trip on an off day. It's obviously working for Bell and Kreitz. And that likely wouldn't have been the case previously with the $4000 to win race. Unlike the All Stars, who are sorta under the High Limit banner, and the Outlaws, the series owned by Brad Sweet, Kyle Larson, and FloRacing does not have those same restrictions.

That's the Daily show for today. If you've made it this deep into the episode, and you aren't a subscriber to the show, maybe consider hitting that button on YouTube, the podcast places, or following on Facebook. All are free to do. My goal for the year is 50,000 subscribers on YouTube, and 50,000 followers on Facebook.

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