DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Where do we draw the line? Plus Rico only wins because of his crew chief! | Daily 5-21-2025
Rico Abreu only wins because of Ricky Warner, Kyle Cummins leads USAC into a busy week around Indy, and where do we draw the line between track prep and the fan experience? Let's go!
It's Wednesday, May 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Rico Abreu again melting faces last night with High Limit in town to race at Grandview Speedway in Pennsylvania. He started fourth, was by Christopher Bell in lap traffic for the lead on lap 10, and held off a charging Brad Sweet at the checkered for series win number four on the year. Bell ended up third on a solid night for the 69K. Going back to April 19th, Rico has now won six of his last nine sprint car starts, which also includes a World of Outlaws win and a Knoxville weekly win. This team started the season off solid, but were definitely missing something. Since the middle of April though, a switch has flipped somewhere on that 24, and these guys are different. The only blemish was a 23rd at Tri-City where Rico got the turn one wall. He's up to third in the standings, but still has ground to make up sitting 67 points back. I saw a comment somewhere this morning that Rico only wins because of crew chief Ricky Warner. I guess in this world we live in, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it's an incredibly short-sighted way to look at the situation, and a crappy way to diminish what Rico and his team have done. Rico has always been a fast driver, and he had wins all over the place before Ricky Warner showed up. I think instead, I'd frame it as Rico made an incredibly shrewd move to go recruit Ricky Warner to his team after he left Tony Stewart Racing a few years ago. The driver/crew chief relationship is so vital, and careers have been made and lost based on who gets paired together. If you're a driver like Rico, why wouldn't you want the best crew chief you could get leading your team? It seems like an easy choice to me. Back to High Limit, Sweet's lead on Courtney has crept back to 46, as Sunshine and the 7BC had engine issues last night early on, and eventually needed a provisional to start the feature. Sunshine did charge from 25th to ninth to salvage a solid night, but they'll need better nights at Port Royal to keep the pressure on the 49. Anthony Macri led the way for the Posse drivers last night, finishing fourth and staying hot. Since those early season issues for Macri and crew chief Joe Mooney where they found some chassis issues, they've been much better. Macri with seven wins already, and only David Gravel has more so far. I think Macri could be a guy to take some cash out of Port Royal this coming weekend. Looking down through the order, a story to watch going forward will be Danny Sams. Tony LaPorta talked last night on the FloRacing broadcast about that team being down to their final engine in the truck after losing one. Sams did run the whole feature last night, so we'll see if they can get through the Weikert weekend. The High Limit teams are off today and tomorrow, and they'll kick things off at Port on Friday.
There is a bunch of local and regional racing going on tonight, but things will be headlined by the USAC National Sprint Cars at Terre Haute for the 55th Tony Hulman Classic. 11 races in for the USAC teams, and Kyle Cummins enters this week with 66 points on Justin Grant. Those two are really in a league of their own right now, as Mitchel Moles, Logan Seavey, and Robert Ballou are all triple digits plus behind second place Grant. Cummins really the story of the season so far with five wins in 11 races, plus 10 top fives and 11 top tens. His average finish is an incredible 2.45. He's taken a big step forward this season, and it looks like JG might be the only driver with a shot at catching him. This race a year ago was won by Logan Seavey, while Brady Bacon won the August trip to Terre Haute. Other drivers with recent wins there include Grant, Ballou, and CJ Leary. The USAC week around Indy continues tomorrow night with a stop at Circle City, and then the Silver Crown Series is on the pavement at IRP on Friday night for the Hoosier Hundred.
Earlier this week, I solicited some questions from members on Patreon, and here on YouTube. It's been a while since we did any sort of Q&A situation. If you want to get involved with those membership programs, either head to patreon.com/dirtrackr, or hit the join button here on YouTube. One of those questions I want to focus on here, and that came from Bruce on Patreon. I'm not going to read the entire thing, but I'll put it on screen here. Bruce is basically asking about the balance between track prep during a racing program and making sure things keep moving for the fan experience. Through the course of a night, you'll often see tractors and equipment hit the surface for work, and no matter how you slice it, it can slow down a race night. He says at the end is it the tires, the quest for a perfect surface, or just the dirt in general. I do think there are some out there who believe these current iterations of tires have caused more issues for surfaces, but I'm not sure how you measure that. I will say overall, balancing track prep is one of the toughest things to get right on a race-to-race basis. It remains a completely inexact science, and some nights the crews can do everything right and still have things go sideways. Track prep though, and the need for some downtime in between cars on track will always be a problem for dirt racing. Especially when it comes to showing things on live television. Bruce mentions here that Flo does well with content to fill the gaps in between, but it is a problem. And it's honestly a big reason I rarely watch races live. If I devoted every weekend night to three or four hours of one show, my wife and son would throw me out. The way these programs run is a big factor behind streaming likely continuing to be the best bet going forward, as a three or four window on live television just isn't available anywhere. It would be one thing if there was constant action, but no network is going to take on an entire series schedule, with timeslots that large, and breaks in the racing. If crews lose the tractor keys once hot laps start, there will always be danger of rubber. And at some tracks, that could even mean rubber early. Like in hot laps. So would you rather see a rubber-down race and no track prep to get you out sooner? Or will you wait for the prep knowing it gives you a better chance at seeing a good feature. My assumption is that more folks would choose the second option. I wish I had a better answer here for Bruce, but this is one of those areas where I don't envy track and series folks. These are really hard problems to solve, and it's a delicate balancing act to try and get things as right as possible. Feel free to drop your thoughts below in response to Bruce's question.
That's the show for today. Thanks as always for tuning in and hanging out for a few minutes.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!