DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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RTJ v. Madden again! Sheldon gets lost. Richards racing soon? | Daily 8-24-2025
Corey Day in Steve Kinser territory, RTJ vs Chris Madden bubbles up again, Sheldon Haudenschild puts a red flag on his car to make sure he gets noticed, Josh Richards rumors, and much more today. Let's go!
It's Sunday, August 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Last night at the Silver Dollar Speedway in California, Corey Day did something that only Steve Kinser had ever accomplished, and that was win three Gold Cup Race of Champions in a row. Kinser did it from 1986 to 1988, and now Day from 2023 to 2025. Day had to earn it though, because even though he started on the pole, Justin Sanders was able to get the lead from Day on lap five. It seemed clear that right around half way the track was headed for rubber, and Day said after he knew he needed to be leading when that happened. On lap 23, with the leaders in traffic, Day pounced and grabbed the lead from Sanders, and then was able to keep his right rear intact through the closing stages to earn the $100,000 victory. Sanders settled for second with Brad Sweet third. It was definitely a veteran-type drive out of the young Day. On a night where so many other guys lost tires late, he was able to make the right move at the right time, and then save his stuff to the end. Big time stuff from him. Drivers that weren't able to make it to the end included Brady Bacon, Rico Abreu, Tanner Thorson, Brent Marks, and Gio Scelzi. James McFadden and Tanner Carrick completed the top five. Day now with seven sprint car wins on the season in just 26 starts. He's been making the transition to NASCAR, and he's talked about how the patience from the stock car stuff has helped him in the sprint car. Incredibly he's nearly matched his win total from 2024, he's only three short, but he's gotten there in 47 less races. With still a decent amount of starts still to come, he will have more chances to match or beat that total from last season. Up next for High Limit is a Monday stop at Douglas County in Oregon, before the three night Skagit Nationals next weekend. This championship battle should remain tight, with Sweet's 49 leading the RSR 87 by 15 points.
At Port Royal, Ricky Thornton Jr. swept the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rumble by the River, leading 39 of 40 laps on Friday and topping Jonathan Davenport. And last night it was a spirited fight with Chris Madden, with RTJ getting the lead for good on lap 46 and driving on to the nearly $60,000 score. There is still very clearly no love lost between Madden and Thornton, with the duo tangling on multiple ocassions since winning last year's Lucas title as driver and crew chief. Last night it was a slider from Madden that had RTJ mad, and Thornton said afterward it was probably good that Devin Moran also got by the 20RT in that moment, because he may not have lifted into turn three. Madden's slider very reminiscent of Garrett Alberson's slider on Cade Dillard last week that set off that incredible chain of events. Madden sliding RTJ, with the 20RT then running into the back of the 44. Thornton though able to calm himself back down, and get back by the 44. Leaving the weekend, RTJ now back out in front of the Lucas standings, leading Davenport by 10. Devin Moran is back to third, with O'Neal fourth. All that's left between now and the start of the Lucas playoffs is two nights at Lernerville, and three nights at Knoxville. Brandon Sheppard's 225 point deficit will be tough to overcome.
Before we move on to some other racing, I do want to sprinkle some interesting rumors in here, since we are talking the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. There is chatter out there that Josh Richards could make his return to racing a dirt late model next weekend when Lucas heads to Lernerville for the Hillbilly 100. I've also been told he could race again during the Pittsburgher 100 in early October. A rumored return to racing for the retired Richards has been talked about since late in 2024, and we know he tested the Rocket house car not long ago as the team was preparing to unveil the next Rocket XR2. Both Richards and the team's driver Brandon Sheppard on hand for that test back in June. Richards hasn't raced since walking away from the sport following the 2022 season, but at his peak, there weren't many better than him. 33 career Lucas wins and the 2017 champion, and 78 Outlaw wins to go along with four series titles. I don't know that I'd expect any sort of full time return, but scattered races seems to be the most likely scenario. Mark Richards told Kevin Kovac and Dirt on Dirt back in June quote "Whenever he decides he's ready to go, we'll try to make it happen" unquote. I don't know that we'll get an announcement from the team on this. It might just be the case that it will be public when the car rolls out of the trailer.
Other weekend dirt late model winners included Nick Hoffman in Comp Cams action at Arrowhead Speedway. Bobby Pierce ended up sweeping the World of Outlaws nights there. Pierce now with four straight Outlaw wins, and his championship lead over Nick Hoffman is back to triple digits. The series off now until after the World 100 at Eldora. Jason Jameson was a Southern All Stars winner, the Hunt the Front show in Georgia was rained out, and Jason Feger and Tony Jackson Jr. picked up MARS wins.
The World of Outlaws sprint cars spent the weekend in North Dakota with stops at River Cities and Red River Valley. Buddy Kofoid the Friday winner at River Cities, and Carson Macedo with a late move around Sheldon Haudenschild to win last night at Red River Valley. No real change in the standings, with David Gravel picking up two more podium finishes. There was controversy on Friday at River Cities when race leader Sheldon Haudenschild spun into the infield down the backstretch after issues with a lap car. That incident right before half way handed the lead to Kofoid. No caution was thrown for the spin, and Haudenschild DNF'ing after giving race officials a piece of his mind. This obviously not the first time this has happened to the NOS 17, spinning into the infield somewhere and not getting a yellow. This time though things not quite devolving so publicly like they did previously, but the team did add a red ATV flag to the sprint car on Saturday to make sure officials would see the car. Haudenschild telling DIRTVision's Connor Wade that race director Doug Leonard told him he didn't see the 17 spun into the infield, but Wade said he was told by the race director that the 17 was in a safe position, so no caution was needed. In a similar vein, we saw High Limit's race director Mike Hess swallow the whistle last night at Chico as drivers blew tires late. These types of situations are judgement calls no doubt, and arguments could be made either way on throwing or not throwing the yellow. I don't really care either way, as long as the situations are not causing safety issues. I do think it's a problem if officials aren't seeing cars getting into incidents however. In his comments to Wade, Haudenschild said he thinks changes should be made, but did not elaborate on what those changes should be. The Outlaws return to action next weekend with two nights at Huset's Speedway.
In non-wing action, if you haven't watched the replays of the Smackdown finale at Kokomo, I'd definitely recommend doing that today. A crazy finish to that one with Briggs Danner getting upside down on the final lap, and Justin Grant going on to win even with that broken leg. Incredible stuff there at Kokomo. Danner had hit the same spot on the cushion in between one and two a few laps in a row, but on that white flag lap, he got it just a bit too hard and it bit him. That kid though continuing to show how talented he is behind the wheel. And JG's toughness to go out and win an event like that even with his injury shows how much of a throwback type driver he is. Kyle Cummins still comfortably out front in the USAC sprint car title fight.
Other weekend open wheel winners included an All Star sweep by Parker Price Miller at I-96 and Waynesfield, Michael Bauer and Tyler Gunn were FAST winners, Logan Julien won the IRA MOWA show at LaSalle, Danny Dietrich won at Williams Grove, Cameron Smith took the Kramer Klash at Lincoln, and Austin McCarl capped off his Knoxville track championship with the final weekly 410 win of the season there.
Closing out today, there was not good news from the Lucas Oil orbit yesterday, with the company announcing that founder Forrest Lucas had passed away. The 83 year old founded Lucas Oil Products in 1989 and was a massive supporter of motorsports of all types. He'd stepped back in recent years from his position as president of the company, with son Morgan taking over that role. It's hard to look anywhere in American motorsports and not see Lucas Oil logos somewhere. Definitely a big loss for his family, friends, and the racing community.
That's the show for today. We'll see you back here tomorrow!