DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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That escalated quickly... So what's next? *BONUS DAILY | Daily 7-18-2025

Who's up for a little bonus Daily show action? Today we'll dive into the Gio Scelzi situation and what certainly looks like it could be the kickoff to a busy summer of musical sprint car chairs. We'll also talk High Limit at Eldora, Thursday winners, and more. Let's go!

It's Friday, July 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Today's Daily show is being supported by Sprintcarunlimited.com. As we saw yesterday, it sure looks like sprint car silly season is starting to ramp up, which means it will be a great time to grab a yearly subscription to sprintcarunlimited.com. Jeremy Elliott is your go-to source for sprint car breaking news, analysis, opinion, and a lot more. And right now, you can get a 20% discount off a yearly subscription, using code 'SCUMOM2025' at checkout. That's SCUMOM2025' at checkout at sprintcarunlimited.com for 20% off. That drops the yearly price to just $28 bucks. That's $2.33 a month, which is crazy cheap for all the content he puts out. After the High Limit nights at Eldora, he's already got two stories out, plus he was all over the Gio Scelzi story yesterday. And beyond all the written content, he's also got a subscribers-only weekly podcast, plus a ton of free videos on the Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel. The 20% off coupon code is only good through August 11th, so don't wait. Check out sprintcarunlimited.com.

As you guys know, we don't normally do Friday shows around here, but there is so much going on, I figured we could throw in a bonus Daily. I had already started to think about it yesterday, and then the Gio Scelzi news dropped, which basically cemented my plan. If you missed it, following Wednesday's Joker's Jackpot prelim night, Gio Scelzi very abruptly announced his departure from the KCP Racing sprint car team. Gio crashed out hard from the night's first feature, and apparently that was the final straw for him. In a social media post, he shared quote "I have decided to part ways with KCP Racing effective immediately. Thank you to Matt, Bret, and every single one of our partners for an incredible 5 years of racing. They gave me the equipment and people to elevate my career and race with the best competitors in the world. Thank you Adam Clark for being a part of this team since I started in 2020. Not really sure what is next" unquote. Going back to 2020, 18 total wins together, eight with the Outlaws, and a best World of Outlaws championship result of 4th, that came in 2023. Even though they finished worse in the standings in 2024, that season was another step forward. Four wins, better top five and top ten percentages, and a nearly 1.5 position improvement in average finish. In the offseason, like we've seen happen with a lot of teams lately, KCP faced some crew member turnover, and this year that car just hasn't been as sharp. Just a single Outlaw win, and a more than two position decline in average finish. Gio with just three podium finishes, and he hasn't been on an Outlaw podium since March 15th. This team not bad by any stretch, they are pretty consistently a top ten finisher, but they just haven't had the speed to contend with the David Gravels, and Buddy Kofoids, and Carson Macedos. In a story posted yesterday to sprintcarunlimited.com, Gio shared with Jeremy that he just wasn't having fun anymore. He said he's still super tight with the crew, and team GM Matt Barbara, and from folks I've talked to over the last 24 hours, that's what I've heard as well. This was about as amicable a split as you can get. The team didn't fire Gio after the crash, and they weren't looking to make a change. Gio told Jeremy he was headed to the track to get his merch trailer, and then he was heading to his house in Iowa to rest a sore wrist after the crash and figure out what was next. It was just last Thursday right here on the show that I wondered aloud when sprint car silly season would start. We've often seen crazy things happen at the Kings Royal weekend, and around the Knoxville Nationals, and right on schedule here we are. At last check, the KCP team had remained in the area, although they didn't enter last night's High Limit action at Eldora. The team was spotted working on the car, which they would have needed to do anyway with the crash. I know of several drivers who have reached out to the team to inquire about the open seat, but there is no indication right now of what direction KCP might go, if they'll stay out on the road with the Outlaws, or even enter the next two nights at Eldora for the Kings Royal. With a race-winning ride open though, I'm sure Barbara's phone is ringing off the hook with drivers looking to get into the seat. There is certainly nobody of Gio's caliber out there without a ride, so if they are able to replace him with another top driver, it would have to be someone already with a team. And Gio's future seems to be completely up in the air. He said as much is his own statement, and reiterated that to Jeremy. Looking around, the elephant in the silly season room just might be that Meyers 14 ride with Spencer Bayston. There was a bunch of speculation about Gio potentially being a candidate for that car yesterday, if Meyers decided to make a change. At this point, that's all it is though, speculation. Bayston is currently outside the top ten in High Limit standings, with just a single series top five. In the race for the next six High Limit franchises, that Meyers 14 occupies the final spot at the moment. But that's a tenuous position to be in, especially with only a 53 point gap back to Brenham Crouch and the CJB ride. I have to believe that Gio's decision could set off changes around the sport over the next several weeks and months. Obviously KCP now needs a driver, and owners will be taking a hard look at their own current situations knowing that a driver of Gio's caliber is sitting on the sidelines. I'd say silly season is off and running now in a very big way.

Last night at Eldora was again a messy program with a lot of torn up equipment, and the night did end up running long and over that initial two hour time window for Fox Sports 1. The network though did extend it's coverage to allow for the time overrun and fans at home were able to see the entire show live. It was a clear illustration though of the challenges in place for dirt racing to be on live TV regularly. It's really difficult to make such dynamic events fit nicely into clearly defined time blocks. The ugliest moment of the night was the opening lap crash in the feature that involved Tyler Courtney, Buddy Kofoid, Brad Sweet, and several others. All drivers except Tyler Courtney were able to get out under their own power, but Courtney did need assistance after it looked like his car got into the catchfence cage first. He was communicating with safety workers afterwards, and he was transported to a local hospital for further checks. Late last night, the Clauson Marshall team shared that Sunshine was alert and able to move all his extremities. Remember this is the same event where Courtney was injured a few years ago. He ended up sitting out for an extended amount of time with a back injury. It's not been a good week for sprint car racing when it comes to keeping drivers healthy, and equipment intact. There were other incidents and cautions through the rest of the feature, we needed a fuel stop, and there was even a crash coming to the checkered with Logan Schuchart going for a ride. At the end it was Kyle Larson picking up the $100,000 check. He took control from Rico Abreu just right past half way and went the distance from there. It was his first High Limit win since March at Tulare. Since then, he did have other victories though, including with the Outlaws and during PA Speedweek. Anthony Macri with a very solid 11th to second charge, and Rico ended up third after leading the opening 21 laps. There will be a number of drivers looking for much better results the next two nights when things turn over to the Outlaws and the Kings Royal. Higher profile drivers missing the main event last night included Justin Peck, Christopher Bell, Spencer Bayston, Donny Schatz, Brent Marks, Kerry Madsen, and Ryan Timms. David Gravel was in position to transfer into the main event during that first B main, but they blew a tire and Gravel went for a big ride. I don't believe we'll see that two car suddenly slow down after the nose wing disqualification the other night, and that seemed evident last night.

Other Thursday winners included Devin Moran with Lucas at Huset's. That was his first series win since way back at Georgetown on April 25th. We've been following his struggles in recent weeks and all the ground he's lost in the Lucas standings. It was definitely a good time for him to find victory lane again. Ricky Thornton Jr. and Bobby Pierce the other podium finishers. Ashton Winger topped Sam Seawright and Michael Page with the Southern Nationals at Senoia.

We'll wrap it up right there for this bonus show. Hope you guys have a great Friday out there, we'll see you back here Sunday!