DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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We've got a lot of dirt racing things to talk about... | Daily 8-17-2025
It figures that the one week I take off, things go crazy. Today on the show we'll react to Ryan Timms' Knoxville Nationals score, Spencer Bayston and Jason Meyers splitting, more on Donny Schatz and Tony Stewart, Garrett Alberson versus Cade Dillard, late model silly season stuff, and a lot more. Let's go!
It's Sunday, August 17th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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We are back at it today after taking the last week off. And of course, it couldn't have just been a quiet few days while I was away. The whole world had to go ahead and blow up. We did do that emergency daily to talk a bit about the Donny Schatz, Tony Stewart Racing situation. I also posted a nearly hour long interview with dirt late model racer and car builder Austin Kirkpatrick. Check that out if you haven't watched it yet. Today I'm going to start picking through a bunch of these situations from the last several days, because I do have some thoughts to share on a lot of them.
I'll start first with Ryan Timms winning the Knoxville Nationals. I was surprised after his dominating performance just how many people I saw trying to diminish what he'd accomplished. This kid had never before won an Outlaw or High Limit race, and came into the biggest event on the planet and absolutely beat the brakes off the best in the business. We had lead changes in every Nationals prelim feature coming into that Saturday night show, so don't tell me you can't pass out front at Knoxville. Clean air is always great, but there were plenty of others before Saturday who didn't do what Timms did out front. He was faster than the guys behind in clean air, and diced his way through traffic better than anyone. And let's not forget what he did on his prelim night. Third quick in time trials, an eight to four run in the heat, and then eighth to the win in the feature. I'm fine with calling that initial start suspect back on that Wednesday, and there is a case to be made that it should have been called back, but he still had to battle those guys out front and run down Justin Peck. I also saw comments about how he runs Knoxville regularly, I guess alluding to that he somehow had an advantage. We must have forgotten that a bunch of guys run Knoxville weekly, and have for a lot of years. It certainly hasn't given them an advantage. It's crazy that we've gotten to this point where there are a group of folks out there who absolutely must run right out and try and diminish what someone just accomplished. Why can't we just all tip the cap and say good job? It was one of the biggest upsets in Knoxville Nationals history, and still some aren't satisfied. It's so clear that no matter what happens on a night to night basis, some out there will just never be happy with an outcome. I personally thought it was a great ending to the week. I was not convinced going in that Timms had the juice to keep that group of drivers at bay, but he never wavered. Shane Liebig gave him a great car, and Timms delivered in the biggest way possible. He beat the best on the biggest stage, and deserves to be celebrated for it.
Moving on to Spencer Bayston and the Jason Meyers deal going south. It obviously was curious over that weekend when Bayston's merch was suddenly drastically marked down, and a bunch of people noticed the team selling several sprint car engines. Jeremy Elliott then breaking the news that Bayston would be out following the Nationals. The team pulling back to just one car for the rest of the season, and Corey Day driving as much as his schedule will allow. When looking around the country at drivers on the possible hot seat, Bayston was the easy one to point at. Just a single High Limit top five in the 14, and he's winless in a sprint car since bagging that shortened Ironman 55 prelim victory back in 2023. Corey Day was in the mix for the High Limit championship last season in that ride, and it looked bad that Bayston couldn't consistenly even finish in the top ten. I'm not sure where things went sideways for Bayston, as you don't win five Outlaw races in your career and not know how to drive. But I was surprised it took Meyers as long as it did to make a move. Bayston spent the weekend driving the Works Limited car out in California with Paul Silva on the wrenches, keeping his High Limit season going and suddenly looked a lot better. Second on Friday at Tulare after leading laps, and a top five last night at Placerville. It's always funny how performance changes for guys who are in contract years or battling for their careers. That desperation and added motivation suddenly helps them find speed. Bayston hadn't led laps in a High Limit feature since April of 2024, and the only time in the last two years he's led laps in an Outlaw feature was June 18th at Huset's. He backed that up by finishing 14th the next night, and missing features the final two nights of the High Bank Nationals. This will be an interesting silly season heading into 2026, but I don't know where Bayston will fit in. He seems like a great guy, he's won races in the past, but his performances the past few years won't make him a top pick for owners looking for new drivers. As for Meyers, there is incentive to keep the 14 out full time with High Limit the rest of the season. We know Day can't run all the shows with his NASCAR commitments, but even if Meyers doesn't plan on staying a full time High Limit team into 2026 and beyond, he would still potentially have that franchise to sell. Who knows what that's actually worth on the open market, but it won't be nothing. And I've been told from a source that there would be at least some demand for that franchise from teams either looking to expand with High Limit, or make the jump. This will be something we keep an eye on down the stretch.
Jumping back to the Tony Stewart Racing, Donny Schatz divorce. We did a quick reaction to it last week, and now we know that Schatz picked up a ride for at least a few more Outlaw races. Things went sideways though on Friday, with Schatz crashing that second Big Game Motorsports ride right at the start of the Ogilvie Outlaw main event. They clearly didn't have a backup car available, with Schatz then needing to drive the Lunstra car last night at Jackson. Schatz ending up in the 10th position. Kerry Madsen has finished 10th and 15th in his first two nights in the TSR ride. It seems clear from all the public comments in recent days that this thing didn't end well between Tony Stewart and Schatz. Stewart has talked in multiple places about all the things he did to try and make the situation better for Schatz, including the various engine combinations, different crew chiefs, and more. But it became clear none of it was making things better, and Stewart told FloRacing's Kyle McFadden that Schatz had been miserable driving, and they were miserable trying to find solutions. And on the flip side, Schatz called the firing a quote "low blow" and a quote "kick below the belt" in a separate interview with Flo's McFadden. Schatz also admitting he hadn't spoken to Stewart in quote "months." After reading all of this, it definitely seems like it was maybe for the best that these two sides go their separate ways. It's really a shame, because this had been one of the most successful combinations in the history of sprint car racing. You'd hope things would end better than this, but I get why it didn't. Looking ahead, Schatz's deal to run that second Big Game car as a teammate to David Gravel is for seven races. Hopefully that isn't changing with the Friday crash. The Outlaws race again on Tuesday, so hopefully the Big Game crew has enough time to put another car together. Schatz getting crew help on this deal from Brad Alexander, Stephen Hamm Reilly, and Lannie Nichols, with Cody Jacobs keeping an eye on everything. It sounds like Schatz will have plenty of opportunities for the rest of 2025 and 2026, and it's my understanding he wants to stay out full time with the Outlaws into the future. As for TSR, don't expect them to close up shop at the end of the season. Stewart made multiple comments about seeing some of the negative reactions, and told McFadden quote "this isn't a situation where we're trying to leave the sport." I think if TSR was just going to call it quits at season's end, there isn't a reason to make this change. Let Schatz finish the year, and call it. But Stewart wants to know where they are lacking right now and try and get things turned around for 2026. It does seem like Madsen is just a stopgap to get them through the rest of 2025, and that they are looking elsewhere for next year. I've heard rumblings they'd like a younger driver, and could be looking at guys who are in decent rides currently. We know Tyler Courtney has been rumored for this ride in the past, James McFadden was talked about around Knoxville. And Stewart admitted his phone has been busy with interested drivers. Just pure speculation on my part, but I'd think Gio Scelzi has to be on this list. From there, outside of the really top guys, Gravel, Kofoid, Macedo, Sweet, Rico, Marks, Stewart could likely have his pick of drivers.
Switching to late model stuff, this Cade Dillard, Garrett Alberson deal from Batesville was pretty wild. Alberson throwing the slider into one and two, and Dillard deciding then to just drive through the 58. I've certainly seen way more egregious sliders than that, and usually you just see guys bump the brakes and drive back underneath. But in this case Dillard deciding he was going to end things for both drivers. Dillard admitting afterwards he did it on purpose, saying quote "I hope they have to send his back to the jig" and quote "if he touches me again I'll total him out again." I feel like I watch as much dirt late model racing as anyone else, and I've never thought of Alberson as a dirty driver, but Dillard pointed towards recent incidents, including one between the two drivers at Cedar Lake. I do think it was crazy to hear Dillard say he was trying to really damage Alberson's car. Even in some of the stuff we've seen lately, guys usually just try and ruin the other's race. Spin them out, a bump to show displeasure, maybe cut a tire down. But regardless of how you see this, that was a risky move by Dillard. Alberson's car was airborne in front of the field, and that's a situation where a guy could get really hurt. I'm not 100% up on the history between these two, but this felt like a fairly sizeable overreaction to what was definitely a close slider, but not a bad one. I'll be curious to see if there is any reaction from Lucas on this deal.
In some late model silly season news, we saw Spencer Hughes depart the JCM Motorsports team this past week. The pairing splitting after a couple of years together, with Hughes making the decision to walk away. Dirt on Dirt reporting that Hughes wants to focus on building and racing street stocks, and that he didn't want to continue out full time with Lucas. The team with one top five and three top tens in 33 Lucas appearances in 2025. The 19M didn't race at the North South 100, but they did get a waiver from Lucas to keep their eligibility. Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner filled in for this weekend's Topless 100, finishing seventh in the prelim, and 18th in the big show last night. Joiner will continue full time with the HTF series, and as of now, this deal was just for the Topless. We'll see if Joiner gets more starts in this car, or if they will try and find another driver.
Running quickly through some of the big show weekend results, Carson Macedo swept the two World of Outlaws races at Ogilvie and Jackson. He's up to nine Outlaw wins on the season. Still though nobody within striking range of championship leader David Gravel. The High Limit wins at Tulare and Placerville went to Corey Day and Justin Sanders. Sanders scoring his first ever national tour win during this fill-in situation for Aaron Reutzel in the RSR 87. Tim Shaffer and Parker Price Miller picking up All Star wins, and Kody Swanson won the Bettenhausen 100 at Springfield.
Bobby Pierce has had a nice recent stretch, winning the North South 100, Spoon River on Thursday with the Outlaws, and the Hawkeye 100 last night at Maquoketa. Pierce's lead in the standings currently at 96 points over Nick Hoffman. Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport split the Topless 100 prelims, and then Davenport took control in Saturday's finale when Sheppard blew a tire while leading. It was Davenport's second career win in the event. Davenport extended his Lucas points lead, with Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O'Neal, and Devin Moran still holding those other three chase spots. BShepp is up to fifth, but he's 230 points out.
I think that's plenty for today, so we'll shut it down right there.
Hope you guys have a great rest of your Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!