DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

Rocket XR2 is official; silly season dominoes stop; Sanders in the 87, out of NARC title | Daily 7-28-2025

More today on Justin Sanders replacing Aaron Reutzel, what this means for NARC, and Reutzel's timeline for return. Plus Rocket officially reveals new chassis name and starts shipping the new design, another sprint car driver hurt, a line of silly season dominoes stops falling, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, July 28th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Today's Daily show is being supported by our friends at American Table & The P.O. Box, two unique dining experiences not far from Knoxville Raceway. It is officially 360 Knoxville Nationals week, with cars on track starting Thursday. When you're in the area for the races, and you want something good to eat, check out American Table & The P.O. Box. They proudly support the racing community, and their historic location in Oskaloosa, Iowa offers two dining options under one roof. Inside the beautifully restored Post Office that was built in 1902, you'll find an elevated experience upstairs with American Table, featuring a great menu and Sunday brunch.Downstairs you've got The PO Box, open Monday through Saturday, serving up crave-worthy comfort food, cold drinks, and a cozy vibe. Whether you're refueling after the races or grabbing a bite before heading to the track, they've got a spot for you! Find them at 206 North Market Street in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and visit them online at americantablerestaurant.com.

Updating the Aaron Reutzel, RSR 87 sub driver stuff we talked about on the Sunday Daily show, the team has acknowledged in a press release that Justin Sanders will indeed fill in for at least the next few weeks. The release says the 360 and 410 Nationals for sure. This confirms what I'd been hearing and what we talked about yesterday. Reutzel suffering a broken foot in that Eldora crash and needing surgery to begin the healing process. While just the two Knoxville events are confirmed, sources continue to indicate that Sanders' time in the 87 will likely continue into the High Limit west coast swing, and potentially beyond. The exact timetable for Reutzel's return will depend on how quickly he can recover, with team owner Brian Ridge telling Jeremy Elliott it could be six to eight weeks. The team announced Reutzel's surgery back on Friday, so six weeks from that point would put the early part of that window right at the Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal in early September. Sanders is currently the NARC championship leader, but he was a no-show this past weekend at Santa Maria. His Mittry team instead choosing to tow north to Skagit to run the big paying 360 show up there. The Brownfield 360 Nationals being won by Trey Starks. Sanders status with NARC has been a question all season, especially given that the series scheduled the Louie Vermeil Classic at Calistoga against the High Limit Skagit Nationals. It was already highly likely Sanders was going to miss those two Calistoga races to run with High Limit. But this all but ends any thoughts of a Sanders NARC repeat. With Sanders now scheduled with RSR, that means he's going to miss this weekend's NARC show at Ocean as well, so that will make way for DJ Netto to likely take over the championship out there. There is still an outside shot Reutzel could return to the 87 during the High Limit west coast run, but what seems most likely at this point is he gets back in the car for Port Royal or Lernerville in September. With still three weeks before High Limit goes again though, there is time for Reutzel to rest.

Moving on. It is official friends, Rocket Chassis has a new designator for their redesigned dirt late model chassis, and it looks as though some are starting to trickle out to customers. We had the XR1, we had the XR1.2, and now we move on to the Rocket XR2. Brandon Sheppard calling it that in interviews over this past weekend at Fairbury during the Prairie Dirt Classic, and there are new stickers on the Rocket 1 showing the new name. Sheppard won his prelim feature back on Friday, and finished a close second to Brian Shirley in the PDC finale. This is a story we've been following since the new car debuted at Atomic Speedway a few weeks ago. Rocket and Mark Richards went to work on a new design after a tough weekend at the Firecracker 100, and so far the new car has been fast. Three wins, eight podiums, and an average finish of 4.33 in 12 races. BShepps' comments were the first public acknowledgement of the new name, but apparently Rocket has started building the new cars for customers and dealers. Ed Carley, who is a Rocket dealer in New York, posted to social media late last week a picture of two fresh chassis, with the caption quote "Just received our first load of fresh off the jig Rocket XR2 chassis. One is already sold. Don't wait or the other one will be gone soon" unquote. Another image he shared showed the driver area up close, the redesigned bars, and the new Rocket XR2 sticker. It doesn't seem as though there are any other XR2s on track just yet besides the Rocket 1, but I'm sure that won't be the case for long knowing they are starting to be delivered to dealers. Besides BShepp, Dennis Erb Jr., Jimmy Owens, and Tyler Erb are the highest profile Rocket drivers nationally.

Thanks to a win on Sunday at Weedsport, everybody's favorite sprint car driver David Gravel is now tied with Rico Abreu for the most 410 sprint car wins in 2025. Gravel dominated the World of Outlaws show for win number 11. He's up to 43 top tens in 44 series starts, and has an average finish for the season of 3.5. The Weedsport win was the third in a row for Gravel at the New York track, and his fifth in six races there. The Outlaws announced yesterday this Weedsport event will be a two-day show in 2026, but no dates were announced. A very nice 40 car field last night, with Ryan Turner the highest finishing regional driver. Buddy Kofoid, Sheldon Haudenschild, and the Macedo brothers were the rest of the top five. Emerson Axsom picked up his first Outlaw top ten in the KCP ride last night. I did want to briefly update that situation as well, because it seems as though there won't be any further silly season domino effect. I've been told that the Klaasmeyer Petry team is not looking to replace Axsom, with that team instead deciding to stop racing with Axsom moving on. I initially thought it was likely that Gio Scelzi's departure would set off a chain of driver changes, but this was probably the one driver KCP could get that wouldn't cause that. And that's apparently where we are. The Outlaws headed now to Pevely, with the Ironman 55 next on the slate this coming Friday and Saturday. From there, teams will then beat feet to Knoxville to begin Nationals festivities.

In Indiana Sprint Week action, Logan Seavey went to victory lane last night at Lawrenceburg. Early leaders Mitchel Moles, Brady Bacon, and Robert Ballou all suffering from various misfortunes through that feature. Moles and Ballou both crashing, and Bacon blowing a right rear tire. Seavey in the right place to pick up the pieces. There was a nasty crash just past half way when Justin Grant went for a big ride down the front stretch on a restart. It looked like maybe he hopped the little bit of cushion out of turn four, and ended up sideways in front of most of the field. That collected both Moles and Kyle Cummins. We found out late last night that Grant now has a broken foot as well, although there are no details on how this could affect his schedule. JG had been the only driver who'd been able to match any sort of pace with Cummins this season for the USAC championship, but if he's facing time away, Cummins will tighten his grip. Sprint week is off today, with action picking back up tomorrow for the rescheduled Kokomo race.

Other Sunday sprint car winners included Scotty Thiel with the IRA at Angell Park, Trevor Serbus won at Huset's and Chase Dietz took Selinsgrove. And for those folks out there who were upset at me yesterday over this, Kyle Strickler won the XR Big Deal at Ogilvie over the weekend. He won the $125,000 modified race over Joseph Thomas and Alex Williamson.

That's the show 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 Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!