DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A crew chief fired after a win, and rare transparency on why | Daily 10-8-2025

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. talks the Kyle Ripper firing after the National Open win, and we'll react to it today. Plus some additional thoughts on the Bobby Pierce penalty from over the weekend, and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, October 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Back on Sunday, we know now that the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing World of Outlaws sprint car team parted ways with crew chief Kyle Ripper. We documented all of that back on the Monday show, and talked about how odd it was to part ways with a crew chief just hours after winning one of the biggest races on the calendar. It didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense, but it wasn't hard to deduce that there was probably more to the story then we knew. There were all sorts of rumors flying around Sunday and into Monday about why the move was made, and how it all went down. I said that I'd heard about some of that stuff, but I decided while writing the show not to get into any of it because it's hard to know what to trust, and some of it was pretty wild. I had some commenters not happy that I wouldn't get into it, but it's important to understand there will always be lines I don't cross on this show. It's one thing to talk about rumors around driver and crew member movements, engine and chassis stuff, and the like, but it's another thing entirely to pass on some of the stuff I was hearing. At the end of the day, the important thing was Kyle Ripper wasn't the 17 crew chief anymore, and Kyle Pruitt, who himself had just been released from Shark Racing, was in. Today though, we got a bunch of added context about why it went the way it did, and it was a good reminder that some things aren't what they seem. Connor Wade from DIRTVision did a 17-plus minute interview with team co-owner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. about what happened, and Stenhouse was incredibly transparent about the whole process. Stenhouse revealed that the team had started to hear around the Knoxville Nationals that maybe they were about to lose their driver and crew chief, and that he and fellow team owner Richard Marshall had already been discussing making a crew chief change. They were wanting more consistency from the 17 team, and were looking at a crew chief change to elevate Sheldon more towards real championship contention. But that all changed once they knew both were departing. Their initial plan was to finish the season status quo with Sheldon and the crew, but that plan changed last week when Pruitt was released. The deal was already in place for Pruitt to take the 17 deal, and instead of waiting until the offseason, Stenhouse told Wade they wanted to get 2026 going now, and have Pruitt start getting himself familiar with everything and putting things together for next year. They'd decided before the National Open that after Saturday, they were going to release Ripper, but the move was complicated by the big win. So instead of Ricky calling Saturday night to inform Ripper, he waited until Sunday. It all just ended up being odd timing with them scoring the win, and not something more sinister like the rumors were pointing towards. And as Stenhouse put it, can you fire someone who was already quitting. In the interview, Stenhouse also said he and Marshall figured that losing the entire crew in the move was possible, and that's what happened with Luke Vaughn and Jayce Wallick also deciding to depart. Going forward though with Pruitt in charge, Stenhouse said we'll be surprised by who is in place to crew the 17 this weekend. He also revealed we should be expecting a driver announcement for 2026 soon. With all that said, I certainly can't fault Stenhouse for the transparency and answering all of Wade's questions. There was really no reason for him to do it, and share the process like he did, and he doesn't owe us anything. It's his race team, he can run it as he sees fit. But it was good to hear from him, and get some clarity. We could absolutely get into a discussion about whether this was the right course of action or not at this moment, but there are arguments to be made on both sides, firing Ripper now, or waiting. We could argue that point until the cows come home. Big time racing isn't for the faint of heart, and sometimes tough decisions get made. We see it every year in all sorts of different series. And I say that as someone who has been fired from a race team. If you haven't watched the interview, it's available across DIRTVision's social media channels. I'll try and link to it below.

One side note, slash discussion here. I want to point out how today and this interview felt like a big shift for Connor Wade, DIRTVision, and how they cover the sport. I know they did something similar with the Donny Schatz/TSR split, but today just felt different. A step in a new direction if you will. As someone in this media space, I pay a lot of attention to what's going on with coverage, and I try and be a student of it. Let's not gloss over the fact that DIRTVision is company-owned coverage. World Racing Group owns it, along with the series that appear on it, and that's usually going to mean things are covered and talked about in a certain way. Positivity is going to reign, and they are going to work hard to elevate their teams. It's not a bad thing at all, just something to note, and we see the same from FloRacing for Lucas and High Limit coverage. Flo is able to venture away from it a bit because they have written content from guys like Kyle McFadden and Kevin Kovac, but we haven't seen this type of content before from DIRTVision. DV does a lot of solid content pieces, and they have for years, but this was uncharted territory we hadn't seen them venture into previously. A newsworthy situation, a high profile guest and car owner, and Connor Wade asking direct questions, the same questions we all wanted the answers to. Wade handled it well, and Stenhouse didn't shy away. Some of us out here have been pushing boundaries on the way the sport is talked about and covered, and often to significant pushback, but what we saw today is what we need more of. I'm fine with the fluff, but we need the real stuff too. The sport will be better for it. Big kudos to Wade and DIRTVision.

One more thing for today. Bobby Pierce was sent to the tail of the World of Outlaws late model race last Saturday night for what the series called an unapproved adjustment. Pierce was initially scheduled to start on the pole of that feature. Dirt on Dirt reported that a crew member from Pierce's team made an air pressure adjustment in the staging lane prior to that feature rolling out. The rulebook does prohibit this kind of thing, with the specific rule reading quote "Once the staging horn has been blown, no work can be completed within the staging lane, past the cones or in the designated staging area as defined by World Racing Group officials" unquote. I said on Sunday that it felt like a pretty cut and dry situation per the rules. I posted that segment as a Facebook reel yesterday, and Ricky Thornton Jr. hopped into the comments of that reel and offered his perspective. It's not uncommon to see RTJ pop up from time to time in the comments on my content, and I wanted to share what he had to say because I think it brings up a few points to consider. His comment reads quote "I've seen it done numerous times by competitors, we've done it ourselves. His tire looked flat so his crew guy checked it. To be sent to the back for it it's just plain silly" unquote. RTJ obviously a Lucas full timer, and a quick look through their rulebook today doesn't seem to show that they have the same rule as the Outlaws for staging in terms of unapproved adjustments. The Lucas rulebook does say quote "Tires changes will not be permitted once a car has been presented to the starting grid/lineup area. Any cars making a tire change will forfeit their assigned starting position for that race and start from the rear of the field" unquote. Obviously though a tire pressure change is not a tire change. Others are more than welcome to discuss whether this rule for the Outlaws and staging makes sense or not, that part I don't really care about. It is not uncommon though for racing series to not allow changes to a car past a certain point. And if that tire went flat under pace laps or on the first lap of the race, Pierce would go to the tail anyway after a trip to the work area slash hot pit. In NASCAR though, for example, teams can pretty much be making air pressure adjustments all the way up to the time the car rolls off pit road. That feels like something that could be resolved easily with a policy or procedure change. Have the crew alert an official that something looks amiss in the lanes, and let the crew member check the tire with a gauge and air bottle with series supervision. Also, if that rule isn't being enforced the same for everyone, all the time though, that's an issue. Hearing that others do it regularly is a problem, and something that needs to be resolved. Either enforce the rule, so it's the same for everyone, or get rid of it entirely.

We'll shut it down right there for today.

Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!