DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Retaliation again?! Rumors addressed. Schedule shakeups? Tight championships! | Daily 10-1-2025
Coming up, we'll talk Riley Kreisel's suspension for using his car as a weapon, dirt late model rumors like what exactly is Brandon Overton's future, will streaming services ever release their numbers, and much more on a mailbag edition of the Daily. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, October 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Earlier this week I hit up the DIRTRACKR Patreon supporters and the YouTube channel members for questions, and there are a bunch of good ones I wanted to answer today. If you want to be able to take part in future Q&A episodes of the show, go visit patreon.com/dirtrackr and join up, or become a channel member on YouTube by clicking the join button at youtube.com/dirtrackr.
The first question is from Ryan, he's a regular around here on the YouTube channel. He asked "With POWRi suspending Riley Kreisel for his actions at the Hockett/McMillian Memorial, there seems to be a trend in on-track retaliation. Are we seeing a trend in excessive gut reactions, using the vehicle(s) as a weapon? I know you have talked about the various late model chaos." This was definitely something I heard about, but it's been so busy with all the other things going on, I completely forgot to add it to my list of show topics, so I'm glad Ryan brought this up. This suspension was handed down back on September 24th, and the release from POWRi read in part quote "During green-flag competition in the POWRi WAR/MWRA Challenge Series feature, contact occurred between Landon Simon and Riley Kreisel, after which Kreisel slowed and brought out the caution. As officials attempted to direct the No. 91 off the track and into the work area, Kreisel accelerated and struck the No. 24 of Landon Simon, causing damage to the rear tail tank and bumper. After both cars came to a stop on the backstretch, Kreisel exited his car and attempted to inflict further damage on the No. 24 before POWRi and Lucas Oil Speedway officials intervened and removed him from the scene" unquote. POWRi officials suspended Kreisel from all POWRi sanctioned events for six months, fined him $1000, and once he's reinstated, he'll then be on probation for six months. Start2Finish TV has race highlights that show the initial incident between the two if you want to see it, but they don't have footage of the stuff under caution. I'm assuming it's behind their paywall. As Ryan pointed out in his question, we've seen a number of these types of incidents this season, with the two that easily come to mind are the issue at Port Royal, and Bob Gardner turning Daryn Klein over in late model competition. I don't know if it's recency bias, but it does feel like there have been more of these than normal. Which isn't great. The big one I remember from last year was Brandon Anderson getting suspended from ASCS action for a year for going after Alex Sewell. I know these drivers and teams put a lot into their racing programs, but just by the nature of the sport, sometimes stuff is going to happen and guys are gonna get crashed. I don't know that I have a great answer for why it seems like this has happened more, but I do feel like it's a good thing that we've seen the series respond in significant ways. These types of deals can't devolve, and it needs to be clear that these actions won't be tolerated. Racing is dangerous enough as it is. As they say at the Chili Bowl, if you wanna fight, do it on the front stretch in front of the crowd, make a show out of it. I don't have any problem with folks being mad when things go south, but handle it the right way.
Next question came from Dalton on Patreon. He asked if there are going to be any big changes in the late model world. I've talked about this a little bit here and there, but as of right now, I don't know of any earth shattering moves coming. We've talked about Daulton Wilson likely being gone from the 18D, and there is potentially a ride open with Skyline after Mike Marlar departed. I've also talked about the Joseph Joiner/JCM/Lucas stuff, and there will be other things that happen. I'm trying to run down rumors right now about a current Lucas team and driver potentially being done on tour. But I haven't heard about any changes for any teams in the top 15 or 18 in the Dirt on Dirt top 25. Given their underwhelming performances this season, I know some folks were talking about Brandon Overton's status with the Longhorn Factory Team and Riggs Motorsports, but I sent some messages after I'd heard some stuff after the Late Model Knoxville Nationals and was told by very good sources that no changes are expected for that team for 2026. I certainly wouldn't say there couldn't be a surprise or two, but I definitely wouldn't expect things to be crazy in late model racing like they have been in recent years, and like they are currently in sprint car racing.
Up next from Patreon was Kyle. He says "Do you think the streaming services will ever release their viewership numbers? From a marketing standpoint for all involved, I wonder if the numbers were public would it help allow the tracks, teams etc to better build their marketing proposals to potential partners if they could show these are how many eyeballs are on us. Also just from a curiosity standpoint to dig into the analytics of what series,tracks,day of week etc draw the most viewers. I understand the streaming services have no obligation to release these figures and I don't blame them for not doing so I can see both sides of it from their business standpoint as well. Just with it being such a large part of the sport these days the transparency would be nice and could benefit many in the industry I feel." Streaming numbers are something we've talked here about previously, and not all that long ago with a recent FloRacing outage that sent a number of viewers over to YouTube, where things are more public facing. Outside of what we can derive from things like YouTube, and public reporting about TV ratings, I don't know that we'll get weekly or monthly updates from Flo or DIRTVision about their viewership numbers, but I do know that some info is available to teams and participants. And I know this, because I've seen and been sent some of those reports. I do agree though, that when it comes to selling sponsorships, it's hyper valuable for teams to have that information available. I get why those companies might want to keep some of those numbers private, and as private businesses, they are under no obligation to share, but the teams and the series do need to understand they need each other to be successful, and there is no racing without either side. I'll add the tracks in here as well. The fractured nature of the sport is honestly one of the biggest reasons why we don't see it grow much larger. Bringing things all together was the original idea for the first iteration of what later became World Racing Group, but I don't know that it's possible to unite everything. The space is just so wide and varied.
The final Patreon question I have is from Bruce who asked what are the race of the year candidates. I'm unfortunately the wrong person to ask this type of question to, because I have the memory of a goldfish. I don't remember what happened yesterday. I'll leave this one open to show watchers though to contribute through the comment section.
Back to YouTube questions, Barry asks "Is there any other series running close on the points as High Limit for the championship?" The answer here is yes, there are still a few tight points battles out there. The first that comes to mind is the USAC Midget battle. Cannon McIntosh, Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr., and Jacob Denney all separated by 72 points there. The Short Track Super Series south region is 25 points between Matt Sheppard and Alex Payne. And out west, the NARC sprint car championship is still close. DJ Netto, Sean Becker, Bud Kaeding, and Dominic Gorden all just 63 points apart. There are likely some others out there in regional competition. I know the MARS modified deal is still pretty tight for example. Not everything is blowout this year though.
Ed asked about Rico Abreu's High Limit franchise with the TSR deal. They shared on the announcement day that TSR is leasing the franchise from Rico Abreu Racing. So Rico retains ownership.
A couple more here and then we'll shut it down for the day. Tim asked about a rumor about Allison Raceway in Iowa starting back up. That's one I don't know about, maybe a commenter has a better idea there.
Next, Shawn asks "With my home track, West Virginia Motor speedway, announcing that the World of Outlaws Late Models will be coming June 12–13, 2026, it raises the question: will tracks continue to stay in line with World Racing Group–sanctioned events, or could we see more of them exploring Lucas or High Limit dates as well? Have you heard any rumblings of tracks or major events switching affiliations, and do you think this kind of movement is ultimately good or bad for the sport?" I don't know at this time about any major event shakeups for next year, talking about sprint car and late model stuff and crown jewel events. But schedules change every year, tracks and series try things, and I wouldn't doubt there will be moves and shifting for 2026. We have seen some higher profile shutouts of series from tracks, thinking about Port Royal and WRG not coming together, no High Limit at Knoxville, etc. But there are plenty of other tracks that host races from all different sides. Tulare is an example. So is Eldora. So many things are about relationships, and who's in charge, etc, and some of that stuff is very fluid and can change in an instant. I don't think the schedules will be quite the battleground we've seen in the last year or two, as everyone will continue getting better at figuring out how to co-exist and what works and doesn't work.
Fantasyman wants to know where drivers are going that have announced departures. Where I have information on those drivers, I've tried to share it on the show. Sheldon to KCP is one example. I've heard Donny Schatz likely has his deal lined up, but we probably won't know what it is until closer to World Finals. I don't think any late model drivers have announced departures outside of Mike Marlar, and we know he's back to Delk. Emerson Axsom will likely be back with KPM. Gio Scelzi will be in that second CMR deal that will be a partnership with Spire. I think that's all that's out there currently.
And finally, Ben asks "With all the doom and gloom I hear about non-wing racing - low car counts, small purses, drivers moving on to Winged 410s, etc - what is it going to take to grow non-wing racing?" That is certainly a good question, and one I think a lot of folks would like to know the answer to. And I don't know that there is a great answer out there. The major focus in sprint car racing has been on winged stuff for many decades now, and I don't know how you supplant series like the Outlaws or High Limit with non-wing. All the big events are winged, so that means the best payouts and the biggest audiences. And that's going to draw the best drivers. According to sprintcarratings.com, the top 40 drivers in winged competition this year have all earned at least $100,000 in race winnings. On the non-wing side, that number is just three. So people will say, oh, just up the purses. But that's a quick way to lose a lot of money for series and tracks if they can't convince fans to come watch. And the fans won't come without the big stars. It feels like a viscious circle. It doesn't help as well that non-wing is viewed as more dangerous. There is a reason why you don't see Kyle Larson run non-wing anymore, or Donny Schatz, or David Gravel, or Brad Sweet, or insert your favorite driver here. USAC for example, puts on great shows and has some very good marquee events. But I just don't know that we'll ever see a non-wing event that's as big as the Kings Royal or Knoxville Nationals.
Alright, that's plenty for today. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. We'll do it again soon.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!