DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A driver change, RTJ can't stay away, towed to victory lane! | Daily 7-15-2025
Cole Macedo steals some High Limit money, and then promptly crashed. Mike Marlar continues car swapping, McKay Wenger makes a change, Ricky Thornton Jr. races a lot, and more today. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, July 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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The Kubota High Limit sprint cars in action last night at Fremont Speedway for a midweek championship series show. 45 cars on hand, and an Outlaw team there burning a freebie, with Cole Macedo in attendance. It was definitely a bit of a messy night, especially in heat races. That first heat seemed like it would never end. Multiple incidents, Corey Day docked for jumping a start, and something like 17 minutes to complete an eight lap heat race where laps take about 13 seconds. There were also incidents in the other heats, and another start called back in heat three with TJ Michael. The Michael call was marginal, and it did take nearly a full lap before the caution was thrown. After getting docked a row, Michael would have been fine, but he slowly slipped back through the heat after that, and his night went big sideways late in that heat when he spun into the infield after making contact with Cap Henry. All the madness left some guys well down the order, with James McFadden and Tanner Holmes not transferring from the C, and Kasey Kahne, Justin Peck, and Aaron Reutzel all needing provisionals to start the feature. The best Reutzel could do in that main event was charge from 25th to 14th, which was his first High Limit finish outside the top ten in 13 races, going back to Tri-City in May. With Brad Sweet ending up in the top five, Reutzel is now back to third, and 23 points behind. With as tight as things are, we will likely continue to see a lot of movement in this top five in the coming weeks. Still only 58 points separating the top five. Last night's win went to Cole Macedo, who led all 35 laps from the pole. It was his first career High Limit win, and first with either national tour. He's still seeking that first World of Outlaws win. Macedo a past Fremont track champion, so definitely a facility he knows well. Is this the part where folks start saying the Outlaws are better than High Limit, because the driver who's 11th in Outlaw points just beat them? Or do I have that wrong? Things got wild though for Macedo after the checkered. He ran up on the lap car of Chris Andrews right at the flag stand and went for a massive tumble. He jumped the right rear of Andrews, who Macedo said piled on the brakes, and the 2C suffered big damage. Macedo told Tony LaPorta afterwards that he didn't realize the race was over and thought he'd thrown it all away. Pretty crazy to watch them set the car down on the scales with a wrecker to clear post-race tech, and then tow it to victory lane. Big win though for Macedo, and everyone was in the house, including brother Carson and a lot of the JJR crew, including crew chief Philip Dietz. Kyle Larson and Tyler Courtney the other podium finishers. Besides leading overall, Brad Sweet's top five run also sees him now take control of the midweek championship as well. High Limit back to action Wednesday at Eldora.
Also in action last night was the Southern Nationals. They were at Volunteer Speedway for $7500 to win. Pretty fun slider fest in that one, with Garrett Smith, Chris Madden, and the Marlars all involved. It was Madden though who came out on top, going back-to-back with the series. Madden showing some speed here in this new deal with Kale Green since parting ways with GR Smith a few weeks ago. We talked yesterday on the show about Mike Marlar flipping back and forth between the Infinity chassis he'd been running, and what certainly appears to be a Longhorn. Last night at Volunteer, the gold car was back after Marlar ran the red car Sunday at Wayne County. The red car is the Infinity, and the gold car is likely a Longhorn. He went seventh to second behind Madden's win. The Southern Nationals back today with another $7500 to win show at I-75.
In some regional dirt late model news, McKay Wenger announced yesterday via social media he has parted ways with the Curless Motorsports number 99 team. Wenger got in that car back in 2023, and had pretty much been full time in it since the start of 2024. The Illinois driver won 11 times last season, but 2025 hadn't been as kind. Wenger has won the past two weeks in a row at Fairbury, but those came in his own 42. And my assumption would be he'll stick to his own car going forward.
Looking ahead to later today, you've got the World of Outlaws sprint cars in action at Attica Raceway park for the Brad Doty Classic. Buddy Kofoid the hottest driver with the series right now. He's been on the podium in each of the last eight races. I'd put him towards the top for win chances tonight as well, he was an Attica winner in May of 2024. David Gravel is the defending Doty winner. There still isn't much reason to talk about the championship here. Even with the monster run of races Kofoid has been on, Gravel still has a 182 point lead. I will be curious to see how many High Limit teams drop into Attica tonight. I could see at least some of them skipping tonight and putting all their focus on Eldora later this week. The weather at Eldora could be a problem though, so some may want to race tonight just to get something in.
In Iowa, there is good money on the line tonight for the Lucas teams at Shelby County. The winner will get $25,000, before the series shifts to Huset's Speedway later this week for the Silver Dollar Nationals. Brandon Sheppard the most recent series winner, and he and Garrett Alberson are trying to get closer to that championship four. Devin Moran has looked vulnerable here as of late, and his cushion is down to 160 points. Hudson O'Neal won this race a year ago, and he's been strong lately as well. While most of the series drivers have taken a few days off after Wheatland on Saturday, the same isn't true for Ricky Thornton Jr. He went to Boone County on Sunday and picked up an IMCA stock car win, and was at Beatrice last night where he won the IMCA modified feature. RTJ's website says he's already raced 82 times this season, and it's only July 15th.
Finally today, it seems as though the future for Tri-State Speedway in Oklahoma is in serious doubt. The ASCS announced this morning the cancellation of their race that was supposed to happen at Tri-State this coming Saturday. The ASCS pointed to the track ceasing operations. In a social media post, track promoters Jake and Kelsey Davis announced they are no longer affiliated with the track. The schedule for the track on MyRacePass says this weekend's USRA stock car event will be rescheduled, and the full slate of races for the remainder of 2025 still show as on as originally scheduled. I guess we'll wait and see what plays out here.
We'll call it good right there for today. Don't forget, if you want even more dirt racing content, make sure to follow DIRTRACKR across social media. That means Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Wherever you are, so is DIRTRACKR.
Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!