DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The Eldora special wasn't bent, Paul Silva trying more aero stuff, High Limit's shock winner | Daily 6-8-2025

I guess Jonathan Davenport's special Eldora car was just fine, Travis Arenz shocks High Limit, David Gravel's streak ends, and Paul Silva trying more wing and aero stuff with the 57 sprint car. Let's go!

It's Sunday June 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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I posted about this on the DIRTRACKR Facebook page yesterday, but after Jonathan Davenport led 41 of 50 laps during his Dirt Late Model Dream prelim feature, it seemed pretty clear that the special Eldora car was just fine. He told the FloRacing guys earlier in the day on Friday that they were able to get it put back together and he said they would have even been ready had they needed to race on Thursday. And last night in the 100 lap finale, not even starting down in 13th could stop Davenport from winning his third Dream in a row, and fourth overall of his career. He took the lead from Dale McDowell on lap 40, and never looked back, winning by more than 10 seconds over Bobby Pierce. JD wearing a white fire suit, and afterwards, that thing was hardly even dirty. Pierce rebounded from a mid-race flat tire, and drove all the way back to the podium. And Nick Hoffman charged from 20th to finish third. It certainly didn't pay to start up front, as everyone in top five started seventh or worse. Davenport was so dominant he lapped up into the top ten, with Ricky Thornton Jr. just barely the last car on the lead lap at the end, down in eighth. Nice charge as well for Devin Moran, who needed a B-Main transfer, then went 24th to fifth. I have Eldora special event results in the dirtrackr.com analytics database going back through the 2021 season, and over that span, Davenport has won 11 of 28 starts. That's a win rate of nearly 40%. He's led 637 laps in those races, with the next highest driver on that list being Brandon Overton. He's only got 234 though. I know it's not something we didn't already know, but the numbers for Davenport at Eldora in recent seasons show just how dominant he is. That 49 team absolutely has the Rossburg track on lock. And now they'll take that car back to Batesville, put a cover on it, and leave it until Eldora comes back around again in September for the World 100. Going back to earlier in the week, Josh Rice was the other prelim feature winner. Big night for him, and that 11 machine has been fast for the last few weeks. Win at Brownstown against the Northern All Stars on May 31st, sixth at Eldora agains the Flo series, wins the prelim night, and ninth yesterday. Drop your thoughts below on the Dream week, Jonathan Davenport, Bobby Pierce, and whatever else you've got.

Going back to last Thursday, I definitely don't want to gloss over Travis Arenz shocking the sprint car world, and beating High Limit at 141 Speedway. He outdueled Bill Balog there to bag $26,000 in the Rayce Rudeen Foundation race. Arenz had never previously made a single start with either the Outlaws or High Limit, but what a way to burst onto the scene. Tanner Thorson ended up second, sneaking around Balog late, with the Northpole Nightmare third on a night away from the Outlaws. Headed to Eagle this coming Tuesday, Only 16 points cover the top five in the High Limit standings. Brad Sweet now leads Rico Abreu by two points, with Brent Marks, Tyler Courtney, and Aaron Reutzel in tow. This has turned into quite the battle with Sweet's issues in recent weeks. Things should be wild though on Tuesday, Eagle is a great sprint car track, and that one pays $55k to win.

After the High Limit weekend, a number of drivers scattered off to race elsewhere, and that included some with the World of Outlaws. Rico Abreu picked off the win on Friday at Plymouth, and last night it was Brad Sweet taking some Outlaw money at Beaver Dam. Rico now with eight sprint car wins in 2025, which ties him with David Gravel for the most in the country. Last night was win number three for Sweet, who had gone winless since Central Arizona back in March. David Gravel's 39 race top ten streak did finally end on Friday at Plymouth. They broke something in the rear end and DNF'd. He did bounce back to a top five last night, even though it nearly went sideways when he tangled with the slowing lapper of Kameron Key. The DNF did help out Kofoid, but after last night it's still 152 points to second. The Outlaws continue their Wisconsin swing today with a stop at Angell Park.

I do want to talk about Kyle Larson today as well. He ran Red Cedar and 141 with High Limit, then raced Plymouth on Friday. Apparently the plan was also supposed to include him running last night at Beaver Dam, but the Friday crash at Plymouth likely soured that appearance. While running second, it looked the rear end came apart on the 57, and Larson got into the catchfence pretty hard in turn one. He was fine, but it looked nasty. I did think it was lame that ESPN.com had a headline on Saturday about Larson being quote "uninjured following crash in sprint car race." Now that we know ESPN pays attention to sprint cars, I'll expect there to be more regular headlines, including good ones too. Not just those about Larson crashing. I've also had a few of you out there point out some more interesting things on Larson's car parts wise. Starting at Kokomo, the top wing and front wing setups that Paul Silva has brought are a bit different. The sideboards on the nose wing don't match, with the left side one being rectangular, and the right side one being slanted. If you remember back to your elementary school geometry, it's a rhomboid. Also, the right side sideboard on the top wing isn't mounted square to the center foil. If you notice, the gap is smaller at the front then at the rear. There are plenty of cars with higher mounted sideboards, and the 69K is the classic example of the low mounted sideboard. Not sure we've seen too many cars with that board turned like that. It hasn't all been amazing though for Larson and Silva lately. In the seven races since their last win, that Outlaw score at Jacksonville, Larson has an average finish of 10.7. That's included two second place runs, and five top tens, but also two crashes. I would guess we'll see Larson again on Tuesday at Eagle, but I do not have confirmation on that.

Other weekend sprint car winners included Lance Dewease and Danny Dietrich against the All Stars at Williams Grove and Lincoln. The All Star regulars taking a beating in those two events. Jordan Ryan and Cap Henry were AFCS winners, Justin Sanders won a pair at Chico including the NARC show, Dale Blaney won at Sharon, Sam Hafertepe was an ASCS winner, Logan Wagner won at Port Royal, and Tyler Courtney just able to hold off Corey Day at Knoxville.

There is still a lot of racing happening today, so make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see all of your options.

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