DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A potential Rocket pickup, David Gravel's new shirts, empty seats at Knoxville? | Daily 9-22-2025
Mike Marlar could be chassis swapping again, Mansfield gets it's first big touring race, we'll update some injured driver situations, empty seats at Knoxville, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, September 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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On Wednesday last week, Mike Marlar Racing shared a team update to social media on their future plans and schedule. Marlar recently announced his departure from Skyline Motorsports as a teammate to Tyler Bruening, and in that announcement revealed he was returning to a team owned by past car owner Ronnie Delk. The update read quote "We're not sure when you'll see us back on the track just yet, but rest assured—Delk Racing is working hard behind the scenes to gather the right equipment and put a schedule together (hoping for mid October). Stay tuned for updates! Thanks so much for all the support and concern—it means the world to us!" unquote. Marlar hasn't raced since missing the feature at the World 100, but another Eldora special event would fit nicely into that mid-October window. The Dirt Track World Championship ends the Lucas season October 17th and 18th. If he wants to stay in the south, there is also World of Outlaws at Boothill the weekend before, Hunt the Front at Cherokee, Southern Nationals at Dixie, and Southern Thunder at Talladega. All potentially viable options for a Marlar return to racing. In that post, it was mentioned that the Delk team was working on gathering equipment, and this could be something to watch for. We've seen Marlar split time in 2025 between a Longhorn and an Infinity. It was the Longhorn he drove at the World. But I was sent some information this week that Delk and Marlar just might be waiting on a new Rocket XR2 to be built. Marlar and Delk not strangers to Rocket chassis together, and given the lack of success Marlar has had this season, a new direction just might be what he needs. I believe Marlar and Delk made the switch to Longhorns later in 2021 if I remember correctly, but they were previously Rocket customers before that. A bunch of XR2s are now in the wild, beyond just the Rocket house car. We've seen Jimmy Owens drive one, Tyler Erb, Dan Ebert, Dennis Erb Jr., and regional guys like Dalton Cook, Matt Cosner, and others. Back with Delk. Back potentially with Rocket. Marlar is throwing it back for sure.
One schedule note before we move on, Wednesday's FloRacing Night in America Series race at Haubstadt has been cancelled because of weather. The race will not be made up. All that remains for the Flo series late models is the finale at Senoia in November. Bobby Pierce leads Jonathan Davenport for the series championship.
Going back to this past weekend, I was surprised how many comments there were on the Daily show yesterday about the crowd at Knoxville for the Late Model Knoxville Nationals. I think there were three or four comments about it, plus a bunch of replies. Most of the commenters wanting to know why the track looked so empty for the three days of Lucas late model action. Like we see at Vado for the Wild West Shootout, or up at Huset's, these comments seem like they come up every year. For this event specifically, I do think it's a bit jarring that we see the Knoxville Nationals with sprint cars in August with that place packed to the gills, and then just six or so weeks later, you have what seems like a big late model event and the place looks empty. It's a stark contrast for sure. A few points though, Knoxville holds over 21,000 people, and I think a decent portion of that, like 12 or 13,000 is just in the main front stretch grandstand. And that grandstand is 40 rows tall. On FloRacing or DIRTVision, you can really only see the lower rows. Even on the drone shots, it was hard to see on Saturday night the capacity of the upper rows because of the shadows from the tower. If Knoxville is a third full, call it 7 or 8000, it's going to look empty. I saw some replies where crowds were estimated in the 7 to 8000 range, and that should be more than enough for this event to be okay financially. The total three day purse is north of $350,000, and even if you only go with general admission seating prices, you'd need about 3200 each day to break even on the purse. That wouldn't include any pit passes, reserved seats, Knoxville's suites, concessions, or event sponsorship. It's also worth pointing out, that like Huset's, this track is located in sprint car country. Knoxville is literally called the sprint car capital of the world. It's going to be a tougher sell to get some of the area folks to come out for an event that isn't winged sprint cars. The Late Model Knoxville Nationals have been happening since 2004, and I have a hard time believing that current track GM Jason Reed, his staff, and the fair board would keep putting this on the schedule if it was a major flop. I don't think this is an event I'd worry about too much, regardless of the optics of the crowd size.
As we continue to follow the progress at Mansfield Speedway, new owner Matt Tifft is working on filling out the track's schedule for 2026. It wasn't that long ago we were talking about their comeback event next year, which will feature late models, FAST sprint cars, and modifieds on May 2nd. And now they've got their first big touring series race secured. The World of Outlaws late model series will hit Mansfield May 29th and 30th next year for what they are calling the 57 Special. $12,000 to win and $1000 to start on Friday, and $57,000 to win and $5700 to start on Saturday. That $5700 is a very nice start payout anywhere in dirt racing. Both nights will also feature UMP mods. This end of May weekend was not one either national tour raced on in 2025, so this event doesn't replace or displace an Outlaw event or track. In the track's history, it doesn't look like it's ever hosted the World of Outlaws late models. There were three World of Outlaws sprint car dates there in the early 1980s however. Once it returned to dirt in it's most recent iteration, it hosted the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series from 2017 to 2019, with two of those being the Dirt Million events. Brandon Sheppard the final winner there with the Dirt Million in 2019. Other scheduled events at Mansfield coming up include a Halloween themed event from late September through November 1st, plus holiday lights on quote "select nights" from November to January. They also have a listing for a drifting and music festival in spring 2026.
Updating a couple of injured driver situations, there is news out there about both Anthony Macri and Stewart Friesen. First, Jeremy Elliott with Sprint Car Unlimited reported this morning that Macri has a fractured T4 vertebrae in his back after that Eldora crash last weekend. He made a mistake on the cushion, and then was hit by Parker Price Miller while trying to run down Rico Abreu. Macri didn't race Saturday night, and is waiting on an MRI before deciding when or where he can race next. The team's original schedule showed them racing this coming Friday night at Williams Grove, before running with High Limit at Bridgeport and Path Valley. If he has to miss extended time though, that could mean no racing this weekend, and the potential to miss the National Open in a few weeks. We'll see what the prognosis ends up being. Also, while Stewart Friesen continues to recover from his nasty crash at Autodrome Drummond from back on July 28th, the Halmar Friesen modified will have a driver in it for a few races. FloRacing's Brandon Paul reported today that Alex Yankowksi will drive the 44 at Super Dirt Week, plus Eastern States at Orange County. Yankowski currently second in the Super DIRTcar Series standings with two series wins, plus weekly scores at Fonda and Utica-Rome. He ended up seventh in the 200 at Oswego last year. Friesen was at the NASCAR truck race this past weekend and hopes to be ready in time for the 2026 NASCAR season. He did say he'd like to run World Finals if he can get some mobility back, but that might be wishful thinking.
Finally today, for you non-David Gravel fans out there, he posted some t-shirt art that you might be interested in. And I'd be curious if you'd actually buy one. But earlier today he posted to social media, a mockup of a shirt that says "Golden Boy" on the front with the World of Outlaws logo on the back, all in gold. I've certainly seen that moniker pop up a bunch of times in my comment section, and apparently he's seen it too. The comments under those posts are quite colorful as you might have imagined. This shirt posting coming just two days after winning the $83,000 Dennis Roth Classic and saying quote "All these people booing, they can suck it for sure" unquote.
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!