DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Engine woes, clarity on a dirt late model DQ, Marlar's chassis swap? | Daily 7-14-2025
An update today on the Kyle Beard DQ, Justin Peck and Mike Marlar make swaps, Clay Harris was moments away from falling off the Lucas tour, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, July 14th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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First up today we'll update the situation we talked about on the Sunday Daily show with Kyle Beard losing the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series win back on Friday at Old No. 1 Speedway. If you missed yesterday's show, Beard was DQ'd on Saturday after the event, but in the release from the series announcing the move, we weren't given an official reason outside of a quote "tech infraction." Word going around was that Beard was found to have been using a thru rod shock, which were outlawed in the unified car construction rules for dirt late model racing. I said on Sunday I had reached out to the series, but hadn't heard back, and last night I did hear back. Series director Ernie Leftwich confirmed to me that the infraction was for a thru rod shock and he pointed to the specific clause in the unified car construction rules that led to the DQ. That clause reads quote "Any shock with the dampening piston mounted more than one and one-half inches (1.5") beyond the end of shock shaft, allowing the shaft to pass thru the main body on both ends simultaneously, will be classified as thru-rod or thru-shaft shock" unquote. Leftwich said the shock in question was well outside of that 1.5 inch tolerance for the shaft above the piston. Yesterday on the show, and back in January of last year when we talked previously about these types of shocks, I shared some images of what some versions look like. In the last 24 hours, I've been alerted to the fact that there are other shocks out there that don't necessarily look like thru rod shocks, but offer some of the same functionality. The battle between those looking for speed and performance, and those trying to legislate the rules, continues.
If you are keeping up on the Ford 410 sprint car engine saga, there is another update to share from this past weekend. We know that Donny Schatz and Tony Stewart Racing have gone away from them, and that Justin Peck and Rudeen Racing were really the only team left still bolting them between the frame rails. I've comments about Logan McCandless, but all the recent photos I can find of his car, it looks like they've been running a more traditional Chevy-based 410 in recent months. This past Friday night though with High Limit at Florence, the Ford was out of the Rudeen 26. The car did utilize Ford power during the Super Dirt Cup at Skagit, but it's been an up and down season for Peck. They've had some mechanical failures, and it wasn't the first time we've seen the team go away from it. That included some World of Outlaws shows earlier this year. Through their relationship with TSR, Rudeen was getting a similar spec'd Ford 410 to what the 15 team was using, and not the Ford customer piece that we saw Chase Bricoe's team running in 2024. The line all along has been that Ford has been struggling with parts and pieces, and that may be starting to catch up with Rudeen. They are trying to get themselves into a position to pick up a High Limit franchise, which they are solidly in right now, but they are well outside the championship fight. We've talked about how tight that top five is, but Peck sits sixth, 183 points back. Much of June was a battle for the team, but the last two races have been better, including Friday night with the different engine. Peck went ninth to sixth, and they'll need everything they can get with big week at Eldora coming up.
Speaking of engines, I did want to put the spotlight on Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular Clay Harris. The Florida driver is in the midst of his second season running full time nationally, but after Thursday at 34 Raceway, it was all nearly over. He hurt an engine in the feature that night after running only a handful of laps and ended up 25th. After the night's program, he shared to social media that the other engine in the back up car was found to have a cracked block, and that he wasn't sure what was next, as they didn't have any other engines to run. That's a tough situation to be in with another race the very next day. At Lucas Oil Speedway on Friday though, the team was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. 30 minutes before hot laps they had a power plant in the car and running, and Harris took full advantage. Third in his heat after a solid qualifying lap, and an 11th place starting position. In the main event, he was able to charge to the front and ended up third behind a Ricky Thornton Jr. win, and second running Jonathan Davenport. It was his third career top five finish, and second ever podium run. He backed it up on Saturday charging from 25th to 12th. I traded some messages with Harris, and he told me that Scott Bailey, who he's only known for a few days now, brought him an engine to the track on Friday, which kept him in the field. At 9AM on Friday morning he was planning on heading home, and Harris said he even considered flying home to get an engine out of his modified. But Bailey's help kept them from needing to do anything drastic, and it paid off. Coming up this week, Lucas has a busy stretch with races at Shelby County and Huset's, and Harris says if they can get through the week, his team should be fine going forward. We spend so much time focused on the guys out front, and who's winning and contending for championships. But the battles are going on all down through the field. Harris will be back to it on Tuesday.
In Sunday racing action, Nick Hoffman was a first time Hell Tour winner, picking up the win in the finale at Wayne County Speedway. He took advantage of Jason Feger on a late restart, who had a tire going down, and led the rest of the way. Zack Mitchell went 12th to second and Ryan Gustin was third. Mitchell's podium finish secured him the week five championship, while Feger had already clinched the season long title. On the modified side Tyler Nicely won again, and it seems clear he's headed for that series championship with just the Prairie Dirt Classic left.
One other note from the dirt late model weekend. It kind of looks like Mike Marlar did some chassis swapping this past weekend. Back on Friday at Sharon, he was in his usual Infinity chassis for qualifying and the heat race. But come feature time, it was the gold car that rolled onto the track. The team clearly suffering an issue, Marlar had to start from the tail, but drove up to 13th by the end. That same gold car was out again for Saturday, and Marlar drove around Bobby Pierce in the closing stages to take the World of Outlaws win, his first in nearly two years. It certainly seems like that gold car is likely a Longhorn chassis. No Infinity logo on the spoiler, Marlar mentioned it hadn't been raced in a long time, and Dirt on Dirt even had it listed as a Longhorn on the racewire page. You also usually get the congratulations post from the chassis builder, but no Marlar shoutout on the Wells Motorsports slash Infinity page. I don't believe the car had any Longhorn stickers on it though. Marlar did roll into Wayne County yesterday to run with the Summer Nationals, and the red car with the Infinity logo on the spoiler was back out. He went ninth to sixth in the feature.
Up at Huset's Speedway, the Sunday 410 sprint car winner was Ryan Timms. He went seventh to the win, topping Jy Corbet and Kaleb Johnson. Timms now with eight 410 wins on the season, and three in his last four starts.
Looking ahead to today, the Monday schedule is headlined by the Kubota High Limit sprint cars at Fremont Speedway. This is a midweek championship show. 40 plus cars expected, including Tanner Holmes, James McFadden, Corey Day, Danny Dietrich, and Kyle Larson. Brad Sweet has three points on Aaron Reutzel for the season long title, and Reutzel has eight ponts on Tanner Thorson for the midweek deal. After tonight, a lot of these teams will hit Attica on Tuesday for the Brad Doty Classic, before things shift to Eldora later this week.
There is also Southern Nationals action at Volunteer Speedway today for $7500 to win. You can see all of your streaming options over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That is it for today.
Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!