DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Late model stars offer honest feedback on new tires | Daily 4-27-2025

On this Sunday we'll talk more reaction on the new Hoosier late model tires, plus discuss a bunch of the weekend racing, including a Lucas chase mixup, Bobby Pierce's dominance, some streaks broken, and more. Let's go!

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

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Before we jump into a bunch of the weekend racing, I want to start today off with just a few things on the new Hoosier late model right rear tire. Any time Hoosier makes moves like these now, they are going to catch heat. The manufacturing issues that popped up during covid, and the price difference of their tires versus those from other makers will continue to be a problem for them. But this new right rear seems like it might be a non-story going forward. There was a lot of negative reaction when it was announced, especially around the build of the tire, and it allowing supposedly more sidebite. Dirt on Dirt reporters Kyle McFadden and Kevin Kovac have been covering this pretty closely, and reactions from this weekend's Lucas races were fine. Garrett Alberson was literally quoted in a piece from Kovac as saying "I think it's fine." Ricky Thornton Jr. apparently didn't notice much difference, and Devin Moran said they'd use them going forward. Even Brandon Overton said quote "If someone tells you they feel different, they're full of sh*t." I was curious how things went with the Spring Nationals last weekend, because the new Hoosiers were available then, but that series does allow both Hoosiers and American Racers. Ray Cook's tour actually even sponsored by American Racer, as he's also an AR distributor. Looking back through photos from Tazewell, I found just two cars on American Racers. They were the cars driven by Vic Hill and Jordon Horton. Ricky Weiss won the I-75 show on Hoosiers, and Tyler Erb was on the same when he won at Tazewell. Going back to last year, Donald McIntosh won both the Spring and Southern Natinonals titles, and his 79 machine was on American Racers regularly. He's making a go with Lucas this season though. At least on the late model side, there isn't actually a huge difference in price for Hoosiers vs American Racers. It's about $10 a tire. There is also a new in-between compound coming from Hoosier for regional action, but as of last week, none of the major southeast series had allowed it just yet.

At the top of the two dirt late model national tours we are starting to get some separation as we start getting more and more races complete. On the Lucas side, Ricky Thornton Jr entered Friday at Georgetown tied with Devin Moran atop the standings, and Moran just narrowly beating RTJ meant he took control headed to Hagerstown on Saturday. But in what I think is a pretty important illustration of the state of the sport at the moment, Moran gets mired a bit down the order, goes 15th to 11th on Saturday, and now he goes to Port Royal today suddenly 65 points behind RTJ. Thornton's sixth to the win charge was good for Lucas win number five on the year, and he's got six straight podium runs. You just can't afford to have bad nights against these fields. Unlike on the Outlaw side though, these points gaps mean much less with the Lucas chase looming at season's end. The only thing that really matters is staying in the top four. We did have a change though inside that top four, with Brandon Overton having mechanical issues last night, and falling from fourth to sixth. Garrett Alberson is now in after two podium runs, and Daulton Wilson and Overton are the first two cars out. The 76 car did lead laps on Friday night, but faded to seventh by the end. Overton and crew chief Anthony Burroughs still missing some of that speed we see out of the top guys, and the reliability issues aren't helping their cause. Overton still hasn't won a Lucas race since June of 2024. We talked last week about Hudson O'Neal and Brandon Sheppard's recent progress, and those guys were solid. Sheppard with his best two-race stretch of the season so far with two top fives, we'll see if he can close out today at Port. And O'Neal hustled his way to two top tens. Jonathan Davenport is the defending Port Royal race winner, and Superman looking for his first win with any series since the final night of speedweeks.

With the Outlaws, I had hoped we'd maybe see Ryan Gustin and/or Nick Hoffman step forward this season and really challenge Bobby Pierce for the belt. But the further along we get, the more it's starting to feel like this will just be another season of 32 dominance. A $50,000 score at Talladega on Saturday night for Pierce, and a widening championship gap. He led 87 of 100 laps, while Hoffman and Gustin found themselves in B-Mains. Both had big charges, Hoffman 20th to 8th, and Gustin 23rd to 12th, but that isn't going to get it done against the 32. Hoffman has the consistency, matching Pierce in top tens, but he doesn't have the raw, race winning pace. And Gustin has just one less win than Pierce, but he's just too up and down. A second and a win at Swainsboro, now followed by three straight finishes outside the top ten. Zack Mitchell was good last night finishing second. That was his best Outlaw run since winning way back in 2020. And Jimmy Owens was on an Outlaw podium for the first time since Atomic in 2023. Also a solid night for Jadon Frame going eighth to fourth in a Riggs Motorsports machine. The Outlaws head north later this week for three nights at Mississippi Thunder.

Weekend World of Outlaws sprint car wins went to Kyle Larson at Jacksonville and Sheldon Haudenschild at Haubstadt. Larson snuck in a sprint car start before he went to Talladega, and went sixth to the lead by lap 16. He handled lap traffic from there for his fourth win in eight races this season. Larson yet to finish off a sprint car podium in 2025. Sheldon Haudenschild's win last night was his first in an Outlaw race since Huset's last August. He hadn't led laps since Lincoln back in October. David Gravel continued chugging right along with two more top fives. His top ten streak is now 29 races, stretching all the way back to Tulare last September. Brady Bacon also deserves a nod. He was second on Friday and ninth at Haubstadt. He just knows how to go fast on a short track. A couple of other notes. After going off of them last weekend at Knoxville, Donny Schatz was back on the FOX shocks the past two nights. He was 10th and 12th. And the McGhee 11 got the band back together this weekend with Parker Price Miller in the seat and Kevin Osmolski on the wrenches. I had heard a rumor last week that we might see Zeb Wise get some races in this car as well, but he denied those rumors to me. The Outlaws are at Eldora next for Let's Race Two.

The first All Star win of 2025 went to Kalib Henry last night at Fremont. He had a fantastic 13th to the win charge. Don't tell me there's no passing in sprint car racing. He topped Cap Henry and Zane Devault. Some fun racing between the top three there late, with Kasey Jedrzejek also in the mix. He ended up crashed out though after contact with Capy Henry on the front straightaway. Devault also with a big charge from 17th, and Greg Wilson 14th to fifth. The All Stars go quiet now until June 6th.

Other weekend sprint car winners included another Rico Abreu score at Knoxville. Stout field there with 39 cars in attendance. Bryce Lucius was a FAST winner at Muskingum County, Jake Neuman won the IRA opener, Tanner Thorson took the POWRi show at Creek County, and Ryan Smith won the big cash at Port Royal. Kasey Kahne on the pole of that one, but he faded to eighth. Ashton Torgerson 20th in his debut in the Shark Racing 1A. The USAC midget opener at Kokomo went to Jacob Denney. They will run again today at Kokomo.

Alright, that's the show. Hope you guys have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!