DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A simple slip, or did Jonathan Davenport reveal a secret change? | Daily 5-11-2025
Did we get a simple slip of the tongue from Jonathan Davenport, or an admission of a big change to his car? We'll talk about that plus Rico Abreu's not fun win, multiple winless streaks broken, and we are absolutely not going to talk about more qualifying wings that showed up at Williams Grove. Let's go!
It's Sunday, May 11th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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What a week of dirt late model racing in Illinois. The three Flo series nights and the two Lucas nights that comprised Illinois Speedweek were super entertaining, and I hope you guys had a chance to enjoy at least some of it. The last two nights at Fairbury and Farmer City both saw late passes for the lead, and they produced the kind of racing you hope for when the schedule hits those places. Jonathan Davenport had to battle Brandon Sheppard all the way to the line at Fairbury, and this weekend might sting Shepp for a while. He had chances late in both Lucas races to win, but ultimately got beat by JD and Ricky Thornton Jr. BShepp looking for his first Lucas win since East Bay in 2024, but his pair of seconds did help him edge closer to that Lucas chase. Garrett Alberson still has the final spot, but he, Brandon Overton, and Hudson O'Neal are only separated by 60 points, and then it's another 60 back to Sheppard in seventh. Davenport the only repeat winner during the five nights of racing, and it was a good week for the 49 after having not won since Speedweeks. JD was about out of breath in victory lane last night talking through the wild ending with FloRacing's Dustin Jarrett, but there was a bit of an odd moment in there that caught the attention of folks. And that was Davenport calling out Penske Shocks during his sponsor mentions. The Longhorn cars, especially those with close ties to Longhorn like the 49 has, are usually Bilstein teams, and not only does Davenport have the Bilstein logo on his suit, it's also on the rear spoiler of the car. One random mention from an out of breath driver I think would normally go mostly unnoticed, and chalked up to a slip of the tongue. Davenport has been on Penskes in the past. But strangely, seconds later he said it again after mentioning Longhorn Dynamics. The Dynamics side of the Longhorn business added not all that long ago, and the guys over there will work on and tune any brand of shocks, not just Bilsteins. With the speed we saw this week from Davenport, does this mean that the 49 has gone a different direction and is now on Penskes? Maybe crew chief Cory Fostvedt trying some things? It's hard to say, I have put some feelers out on the subject. But, Davenport did feel the need to correct himself, posting at 1:46AM this morning on social media quote "the 49 runs Bilstein. No matter what I say. #mybad" It was his first post in three weeks and an odd time to be online correcting himself. This feels a bit like the Donny Schatz stuff on the sprint car side. That TSR 15 still running FOX Shocks decals, but I've been sent multiple photos in recent days and weeks of that car again on different shocks. So was this really just a worn out driver misspeaking, or did Davenport accidently tell the whole world they've gone a different direction? Certainly a curious situation.
Another odd thing I'm definitely not going to point out from the weekend, was three sprint car teams showing up to Williams Grove and the World of Outlaws race suddenly with unpainted qualifying wings. When I talked about Kyle Larson and Paul Silva running one, I was told this was no big deal, it's not new, and that I was just fishing for engagement. So we'll just gloss over the fact that Danny Dietrich, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Anthony Macri ran them early in the night yesterday before swapping back. Something we've not seen those teams do before. And while we aren't talking about it, I won't mention that Macri was quick time in his group, Dietrich was third in his, and Schuerenberg 10th. Absolutely nothing to see here. I'm not even going to put them on the show thumbnail today, which you will know when you clicked to watch this video. Macri and Dietrich showing out for the Posse, with Macri leading 29 of 30 laps and picking up his first Outlaw win since Lincoln back in 2023. Dietrich made a late move around Donny Schatz to snag third, and be the second Posse driver on the podium. That was Dietrich's best Outlaw run in more than two years. Justin Whittall, Freddie Rahmer, and Troy Wagaman also in the top ten. I do think as well, I'm probably done talking about the Outlaw championship unless something dramatic happens. Carson Macedo and Logan Schuchart were the victims of a TJ Stutts spin that they were collected in, and both DNFd. Macedo is actually back to fourth, and we are well into the triple digits as a gap. David Gravel's top ten streak is now at 32 straight races.
Your weekend High Limit winners were Rico Abreu at Lakeside and Corey Day at Tri-City. Rico's win though didn't come without it's own controversy. He tangled with Kerry Madsen while battling for the lead on lap 11, and that incident collected Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson. Both of those guys were eventually done for the night, along with Madsen. Somehow Rico survived the incident and went on to the victory. He wasn't much for celebrating afterwards though, and did apologize to team owner Tony Vermeer and Madsen specifically for his part in the incident. He talked in his victory lane interview with Tony LaPorta about his disappointment in himself and being inpatient in the moment. It's clear there was no intent there, and looking at the replay, it's definitely two guys just going for the same piece of real estate and meeting in the middle. I think a lot of drivers would have glossed over the situation, but I and I think a lot of fans appreciated Rico taking that one head on and not ducking out of the questions. Corey Day's win last night was his second in five High Limit starts this season. I think if he was full time in 2025 and hadn't made the move to pavement racing, Day might have had a legit shot at this championship. His average finish is better than Brad Sweet's, and he has the same number of wins. High Limit has a busy week coming up with Kokomo on Monday, Fremont on Wednesday, and then it's up to New York for the weekend.
A few other things to spotlight from the weekend. Jimmy Owens was a Spring Nationals winner last night at Lake Cumberland. It was his first win since East Bay in 2024. Team owner Bobby Koehler hit me up last week to say that Owens would be mostly pick and choose the rest of the season, in between running with the Hunt the Front series, and it seems as though this is the right move. No more running all over the country, and let the veteran Owens do things his way. Garrett Smith the other weekend Spring Nationals winner.
With the USAC sprint cars, Kyle Cummins is absolutely rolling this year. Five wins in 11 races, including a sweep this weekend between Bloomington and Haubstadt. His championship lead is widening as well. Richie Murray wrote for USAC that Cummins had never previously had more than four wins in a year, and Cummins says he wants 20 in 2025. He just might do it.
Another driver dominating a series in 2025 is Jacob Denney. He's won three of four Xtreme Outlaw Midget races to start this year. He's one of the main Keith Kunz Motorsports, and he's showing why he deserves that spot. Definitely a star on the rise.
Other late model winners the past few days included Tyler Stevens and Tony Jackson Jr. with the Comp Cams series at Batesville. Mason Zeigler took the ULMS race at Latrobe, Max Blair won a pair at Stateline, and Rick Eckert bagged $5000 at Selinsgrove.
Other weekend open wheel winners included Darin Naida and Cap Henry winning with the AFCS, DJ Netto won a wild NARC show at Antioch, Brian Brown scored at Knoxville, AJ Flick won at Sharon, Trey Starks swept at Skagit, and Matt Covington snapped a nearly 50 race winless streak with the ASCS last night at Paducah.
That's all for today. A big Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Hope you guys have a great Sunday, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!