DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Dirt racing needs more of this | Daily 5-18-2025
An emotional win for Tim McCreadie, Kaleb Montgomery versus the Kaedings, old guys fast, and something we need to see more of across the sport. Let's go!
It's Sunday, May 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
If you don't already subscribe to the YouTube channel, podcast, or follow DIRTRACKR on Facebook, take a second right now and hit that button. The goal for the year is 50,000 on both YouTube and Facebook, and I'd love to have you join us. Subscribing to the show and following on Facebook are both free to do. You can watch full Daily show episodes on YouTube, Facebook, and on Spotify. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms. And you can read the show every day at dirtrackr.com/daily. Alright, let's dig in.
I want to start first today with the World of Outlaws sprint cars in Canada. We had a David Gravel sweep, which is going to go over like a lead balloon for the "anyone but Gravel" crowd. But after Thursday night's show, there was a quote from Gravel in victory lane that I want to spotlight. Gravel and Connor Morrell started on row three together, and those two ended up battling for the win. Going into the Canada swing, Morrell had just a single Outlaw top ten on his resume, so nobody expected him to lead laps and battle the defending Outlaw champion for a victory. In the post race interview, DIRTVision's Conner Wade asked Gravel about racing Morrell, and after giving him some props, Gravel said quote "I chewed his ass earlier in the year for driving a little wild, and he did a great job tonight as a race car driver" unquote. We've talked plenty in the past about the aggression being super high right now in dirt racing, and there is never an end to the complaints about the young drivers coming up who don't do things the right way. Behind the scenes, we need more instances of guys like David Gravel pulling drivers aside and saying "hey, you're not doing this right." There will be plenty of times where those other drivers don't want to hear it, but there will also be cases where things land and guys will listen. A guy like Morrell may have not wanted to hear it, but Gravel was probably right, and Morrell ended up on a podium and got kudos for running a clean race. Gravel is a clean racer, and he's definitely now among that group that has the pull to do stuff like this. Those veteran guys like Gravel, or Donny Schatz, or Logan Schuchart, Rico, Brent Marks, if they pulled me aside, I'd shut up and listen. And I'm sure you can think of those names in late model racing or modifieds. People are always going to get raced like they race everyone else. And when 24 cars are on track, there will always need to be at least some level of cooperation and give and take. Instead of pissing and moaning in interviews or online, we need more guys to just go have those conversations. And no, I don't mean ones where punches are thrown. One schedule note, the Outlaw show today at Cornwall is rained out. The Outlaws are off until an Ohio trip that starts next Friday.
Sticking with sprint cars, only one High Limit race run this weekend, Friday at Ransomville, and a few things to point out. First, a nice bounceback win for Justin Peck after losing that one back on Monday at Kokomo. He definitely learned from his mistakes, and was able to beat Tyler Courtney and Aaron Reutzel. It was Peck's first 410 sprint car win since High Limit at Eldora last September, and Rudeen's first 410 win since Zeb Wise won a Super Dirt Cup prelim at Skagit last summer. Peck on a solid run here lately, with seven top tens in his last eight races, and four straight podium runs. Also, this championship battle has at least some intrigue now with 12 races complete. Brad Sweet was involved in that crash at Lakeside, and could only get to 12th on Friday night. His 83 point lead after Texas has been chopped down to 29 with Tyler Courtney in pursuit. With Gravel straight running away with the Outlaw side at the moment, this might be our only hope for a fight. High Limit's busy month continues this week with a Tuesday stop at Grandivew, before then heading to Port Royal next weekend for the three-day Weikert.
Before we move on to some late model stuff, I did want to talk NARC real quick. Justin Sanders a winner on Friday at Ocean, and Caeden Steele and Tanner Holmes split the wins last night at Tulare. It was a tough few weeks for Kaleb Montgomery. He tangled with Tim Kaeding the week before at Antioch, then had a run-in with Bud Kaeding at Ocean. I appreciated him having at least some sense of humor about it though. He posted to social media yesterday that the rumor was Brent Kaeding was coming out of retirement to also wreck him. There was also a hilarious comment from a guy named Chunk on his Friday night post about tangling with Bud, with the comment saying quote "you have got to be Kaeding me." The internet remains undefeated. Here's to hoping Kaleb's luck turns back around. Check out his YouTube channel if you haven't. Great stuff over there.
Alright, late models. It was the usual suspects at Eagle with Lucas. Ricky Thornton Jr. bookending weekend wins, winning the opener on Thursday, and the big money last night. Jonathan Davenport victorious in between. RTJ still with a tight grip on the points lead, and JD's last four finishes are first, second, first, second. Garrett Alberson had a quiet, solid weekend and he maintains that fourth and final chase spot. He's got 45 points on Hudson O'Neal headed to the Show-Me 100 at Wheatland. Huddy continuing his charge up the order with a solid three days also. The one driver I've been surprised about lately is Daulton Wilson. He had some good runs early on, and led laps back at Georgetown. But in the seven races since, just a single top ten, a 10th at Fairbury. The other six races all saw him finish 14th or worse. He was on the podium at the Show-Me 100 last year, so maybe a good time to head to Wheatland for that team.
With the World of Outlaws, a big time emotional win on Thursday at Raceway 7 for Tim McCreadie. It was the one year anniversary of the passing of Tim's father, Barefoot Bob McCreadie. That Boom Briggs team also absorbing the loss of Chub Frank's wife in recent days. Chub and Boom are cousins and very close. McCreadie was super choked up in victory lane, and it was a win that clearly meant a lot to him. Things went sideways last night with a crash, but TMac definitely headed in a better direction since switching from the Rocket to the Longhorn. We documented him going testing with Kevin Rumley, and he's been faster since with four straight top seven finishes before last night's issues, and that included laps led in two straight races. He's currently fifth in the Outlaw standings. Last night's win at Marion Center went to championship leader Bobby Pierce. A dominating win, and his points lead was extended to 82 over Nick Hoffman. The Outlaws are in action today at Bedford Speedway, and then we won't see them again until later in June.
Let me just start this next segment off by saying I mean no disrespect to the old guys out there, but how about the old guys handling business against the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series this weekend. Jimmy Owens hadn't won in more than a year, then goes back-to-back between the Spring Nationals at Lake Cumberland last week, and the HTF series at Sugar Creek on Friday. He outdueled fellow old guy Dale McDowell to get it done, and then those two were right back at it again last night at Smoky Mountain. Only this time, things were reversed with McDowell beating Owens for the $15,000 check. The run of form has Owens now second, just eight points behind championship leader Zack Mitchell. The Hunt the Front series back in action in two weeks at Swainsboro.
Weekend USAC wins went to Justin Grant and Cannon McIntosh in the midgets on the Belleville short track. On the big track, JG also scoring the Silver Crown win last night. The USAC midgets racing today, with action shifting to Sweet Springs.
It's a busy Sunday out there for dirt racing action, so make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see a bunch of your options. Several sprint car shows, late models, midgets, various modifieds, and more.
We'll call it right there for today. Hope you guys have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!