DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Opportunities missed, medical provisionals, KCP's new steering wheel holder | Daily 7-23-2025
High Limit's next in line can't capitalize on championship contender absences, and we'll touch on this medical provisional situation. KCP gets their guy to replace Gio Scelzi, and a lot more news and notes today. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, July 23rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Lernerville Speedway last night was the host of the final Kubota High Limit sprint car race until after the Knoxville Nationals. The series taking the next three-plus weeks off, with full time teams able to either take breaks or go race elsewhere. We knew that Brad Sweet, Aaron Reutzel, and Tyler Courtney would not be racing due to their injuries, and this was going to be a chance for other drivers to make some moves. And the two with the most to gain would be Rico Abreu and Brent Marks, as they sit fourth and fifth behind those other three in the High Limit championship. After Tuesday though, only Rico was able to make some ground up, but not much. Brent Marks struggled all night, eventually needing a B-Main transfer to get into the main event. And then a crash in the feature while racing with Brenham Crouch took him out of contention, and saw him finish 25th. He entered the night 58 points back, but leaves 84 behind. I'm not sure how I feel about a driver losing ground in the standings to two teams who weren't even at the race track. I certainly understand the policy that High Limit has put in place, and I'm not going so far as to say I don't like it, or that they shouldn't have it. But in terms of fairness, my position is not settled on this. And I know some of you out there feel the same, because I had some comments and some messages about it yesterday after we talked about the medical provisionals. Marks had a terrible night, there is no doubt about it, and under normal circumstances, he would have lost ground to those guys had they finished where we would expect them to. And I think that's why I'm not sure about this one. He didn't deserve to make up ground, but he was there and the others weren't. I'm torn. Rico though was able to make up a bit of ground after he hard charged from 16th to finish seventh. He went from 37 points back to 29 behind. Out front it was all Carson Macedo. He started outside front row, and led all 40 laps to pick up his first career High Limit win. Both Macedo and Chris Windom in attendance using up World of Outlaws freebies, with Macedo now out of free passes for the season. Polesitter Tanner Thorson ended up second after a very late, very low move around Sye Lynch, with Lynch then settling for third. That was Lynch's first top five and first podium of the season, and first High Limit podium since Lernerville last September. Thorson didn't have a great week at Eldora, suffering engine problems, but he was right back to being fast last night. Cole Duncan, filling in for Tyler Courtney, finished 11th. The next time we see the Clauson Marshall 7BC, it will be Gio Scelzi in the seat, as he will finish out the year in that car and try to help them win the owner's title. One other note from last night, James McFadden and th Tarlton 21 were back to their usual Kistler power after running the two Outlaw nights at Eldora with Toyota steam under the hood. McFadden finished in the fifth position. High Limit returns to action August 15th at the Tulare Thunderbowl in California.
In late model action last night, Zack Mitchell was a Southern Nationals winner at Toccoa Raceway in Georgia. He led all 40 laps from the outside front row starting spot. Garrett Smith and Jimmy Owens joined him on the podium. Owens maintains a slight six point lead over Smith in the standings with three Southern Nationals races to go. Owens still driving that Big Frog machine. Some folks last night not pleased with how late that Toccoa show ran, and they did have a number of divisions racing. There were delays because of a qualifying incident and a rain shower before hot laps.
North of the border, Matt Sheppard was a Short Track Super Series winner at Autodrome Granby. He topped Stewart Friesen and Felix Roy. I believe that's now three straight STSS wins for Sheppard, going back to Outlaw Speedway. This Canadian swing continues tonight with a stop at RPM Speedway.
And in other sprint car action, Austin McCarl was an MSTS winner at Rapid Speedway, and Dominic Scelzi won with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour at Coos Bay.
Jumping over to the big sprint car ride news from yesterday. KCP Racing announced that they have hired Emerson Axsom to take the seat of the 18 car for the rest of 2025. Axsom filling the void that was left by the departing Gio Scelzi. When we touched on this yesterday, Axsom was one of the names I said was being discussed as a possible replacement. It sounded over the weekend like Axsom was going to be the guy, but then Monday it started to get around that maybe KCP was looking other directions. I don't know if there was ever actually a question about Axsom saying yes, or if the rumor mill was just going a bit crazy. It's hard sometimes to judge those things. But in line with what we'd been talking about here, if KCP wanted someone a bit higher on the driver order to replace Scelzi, they'd need to convince someone to leave their current team. And that's what's happened with Axsom. He departs the Klaasmeyer-Petry team he'd been with to take this drive, and all indications we've gotten are that the KPM team owners are supporting Axsom in this change. Coming from the midget and non-wing side, Axsom made the move to full time winged competition in 2024. Multiple wins in USAC sprint cars and midgets, and lots of good performances inside the Tulsa expo. 112 of his 130 winged starts have come in just the past two seasons. In 2024 he won twice, including a weekly show at Knoxville, and a joint IRA-Maverick show at Lincoln Park. And his lone sprint car win in 2025 was the All Star show at Eldora during Ohio Speedweek. Of his 130 starts, 51 have come against the World of Outlaws, where he will now be running full time for the rest of the year. Six top fives, 16 top tens in those 51 races. His best finish of third has happened three times, and he's led 51 laps in his career. The way everything reads, it seems as though Axsom will finish out the 2025 with KCP, and then they will decide what's next for 2026. Axsom told Sprint Car Unlimited's Jeremy Elliott that the KPM team told him if it doesn't end up working out with KCP to call them back. With the 18 now filled, we'll see if the Klaasmeyer Petry team decides to fill their seat with another driver. This might have been the one scenario where we might not see a silly season domino affect. This team got started with Axsom, and I think it's possible they just put everything on the shelf for now. I'm sure they are getting calls now that Axsom is confirmed, so maybe someone will convince them to stay out racing. Having made so many Outlaw starts already in 2025, it's not like Axsom will be jumping into a series he doesn't know. And I don't think the pressure will be super high, especially right away. He'll have some time to settle in and get comfortable, and if things don't work out, he'll have other options.
And the first time we'll see Axsom behind the wheel is tonight with the Outlaws headed to BAPS Motor Speedway. Coming out of Eldora, this busy stretch continues with BAPS tonight, two shows at Williams Grove coming up, then Weedsport on Sunday. From there it's off to Pevely for the Ironman the first weekend of August, and then straight into Knoxville. James McFadden and David Gravel are the two most recent Outlaw winners at BAPS, and I'd expect Anthony Macri to be fast. He was the Kings Royal winner last Saturday night, and finished top five last night at Lernerville with High Limit. Carson Macedo will be looking to keep his hot streak rolling, and Buddy Kofoid will want to bounce back from some tough nights at Eldora.
At Fairbury, the Prairie Dirt Classic week is here, and racing starts tonight. The FloRacing Night in America Series runs today for $20,000, the track will be quiet on Thursday, and then the PDC for the World of Outlaws late models starts Friday. As a quick Flo series reset, five races completed so far in 2025. Bobby Pierce a winner twice, and Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran, and Hudson O'Neal each with one victory. Pierce leading JD by 78 points for the championship. After tonight at Fairbury, the Flo series doesn't race again until September 11th at Volunteer Speedway. Ricky Thornton Jr. won his race a year ago driving for Kevin Rumley not long after he and SSI split. The Rumley six is racing all weekend, with Hudson O'Neal back in the seat. Should be a good one tonight, Fairbury always puts on great shows.
That's all for today. Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!