DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Hurt feelings, bent race cars, big scores | Daily 10-19-2025

Championships were won, feelings were hurt, race cars were bent, and we'll talk about all of it today. Let's go!

It's Sunday, October 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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A lot to unpack today on the show, and we'll start first with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season finale. The Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora for what sounds like the final time, we'll get back to that in a bit. Plenty of drama though the two nights, and by the time it was all said and done, we had a first time series champion. Devin Moran entered the weekend with a 15 point lead on Ricky Thornton Jr., and with Carson Ferguson and Chris Madden picking up quick times, none of the contenders picked up additional points on each other. So it was going to come down to the feature. Jonathan Davenport would have needed both drivers ahead of him to fall out to have any shot, and that didn't end up being the case. He had issues himself, needed a tire change, and was involved in a crash. He was 14th in the final race rundown and had to settle for third in the title. Out front, it never looked like RTJ had the pace to match Devin Moran, and his bid for a second title in a row went completely away with 39 to go yesterday. His 20RT already had some deck and quarter panel damage, and he got over the cushion into turn one, collected Davenport, and his day was done. Trapped in the work area fixing damage, and scored 18th at the end. With RTJ out, and JD well out of contention, all Moran had to do was bring the car home, and his fourth place result was more than enough to secure his first ever series title. I know there are plenty out there who don't like the chase format, but Moran is definitely a deserving champion. Second most wins, most top fives, second most top tens, and best average finish of any of the series regulars. He was easily the best car once the chase started, winning at PA Motor Speedway, and earning four podiums and five top fives in five races. While Moran was winning the war, it was Bobby Pierce who took the battle. It was a big charge, driving from 13th to win the DTWC for the second year in a row. We were just talking last week about this recent run of winless races, but he struck back emphatically with a $100,000 score. Chris Madden led the most laps, but was again second at Eldora, and Brandon Sheppard went fifth to third. Pierce will now look ahead to securing the World of Outlaws title with World Finals coming up in a few weeks. As for the Dirt Track World Championship itself, we've been talking around here for weeks that Carl Short's events were in flux for 2026. Short the promoter for the DTWC and the Hillbilly 100. It was announced this weekend that the Dirt Track World Championship will shift to West Virginia Motor Speedway for next season, with the race taking place on the newly shortened configuration there. Eldora though stays in the Lucas playoffs, with an October 9th and 10th setup that will have $10,000 and $50,000 to win main events. It seemed like there was a bit of debate through the weekend about Eldora, and maybe some big event fatigue there. The crowd was solid, but not World, Dream, or Kings Royal good. In terms of the business side, this may end up being better for Eldora, not having to partner up and split things with Short. I know a lot of folks will be happy to see the event back in West Virginia though.

Jumping back to Friday, the obvious thing to talk about there was the heat race crash between Max Blair and Tyler Erb. Right at the start of heat two, Blair tried to go from the high line to the low line into turn one behind Moran, but Erb was already there. The two made contact, and it was contact that Erb wasn't going to let go unpunished. So into one, Erb drove through the 111, and both cars ended up destroyed with Michael Leach also getting collected. There were words and sign language on the track in the aftermath, there were more words later, but neither Blair nor Erb raced the rest of the weekend. Blair eventually admitted blame for the initial move, but not before saying quote "someday somebody needs to knock his head off" unquote. That obviously about Erb. Did it make any sense for Terbo to destroy both cars after what happened at the flag stand? No, of course not. Thousands of dollars down the drain, and with it any chance of a decent result in a big event. Destroying your own equipment to get revenge is something I'll never understand, but the move was entirely on-brand and as expected for Erb. In this case, Erb could have lifted, given Blair the spot, maybe finished the heat in third, and handled it later. But, and you'd think a guy like Blair would maybe understand this better than me, we aren't talking about the most rational driver in the field. If you're going to make a bad move like that, Blair has to know what's going to happen on the other side. Everyone in America saw this coming as the cars piled into that first turn. James Essex and Dustin Jarrett weren't surprised, and Randy Weaver talked about it on the Flo broadcast, how you don't make a move like that. There might be some guys Blair could have pulled that move on, and dealt with it later in the pits, but that group doesn't include Terbo. As Nick Hoffman said to Kevin Kovac and Dirt on Dirt, quote "of all people to try and turn left on, Terbo's the last guy you're gonna do that to. He found out why" unquote.

In Texas Friday and Saturday, Rico Abreu put an emphatic period on his first High Limit championship season by sweeping the final weekend. He came in under serious pressure with the Ridge and Sons 87 single digits back in the owner's title, and Brad Sweet 28 points behind the drivers' standings. But when it mattered the most, Rico and the 24 team led by Ricky Warner were up for the challenge. He outdueled Daryn Pittman on Friday, and kept Pittman and Sweet at bay for all 30 laps on Saturday. Reutzel was solid with finishes of sixth and eighth, and Sweet went fourth and third. Both drivers would have needed wins though to really seize control, but Rico was just too good. Rico ended the year with 13 wins, 26 top fives, and 39 top tens in 50 races. He won the midweek title and both the drivers and owners championships with High Limit. This is a big notch on Rico's resume, and easily his best season to date. And he was able to take advantage of a down year for Brad Sweet. Sweet's season long High Limit average finish was 6.63, which was his worst on tour since the 2015 Outlaw season. We know that the 49 had crew issues through the year and Sweet had to sit out the Lernerville race and use a medical provisional. I was asked as well about the DQ at Butler for the 49 after they didn't report to the scales. Sweet finished 25th in that race and earned 25 points. Had he actually been credited with third, he'd have earned 68 points, but that wouldn't have been good enough for him to win the title. He ended up 49 points behind Rico in the final standings, and the 43 points he lost that night wouldn't have been enough by the end to overhaul the 24. Looking ahead, tonight is the High Limit banquet and there will most likely be significant news to come out of it. We'll react to that and talk about it on the show tomorrow.

With the World of Outlaws this weekend, also drama there. The Saturday show at LaSalle was rained out, but we had late race fireworks on Friday at Lincoln Park. David Gravel and Buddy Kofoid going hard for the win, there was contact, Gravel went on to the victory, and Kofoid spun up over the cushion. It was an odd sequence there with the very late open red, then Kofoid's spin, and then the caution period. Johnny Gibson said on the DIRTVision broadcast that it wasn't over initially, but then later came back and said it was over because the leader had taken the checkered per an official's ruling. The opinions on the situation between Gravel and Kofoid are really mixed. Some see it as a racing deal, others blame Gravel for dirty driving, but no matter where you fall, this is just where things are right now with how hyper aggressive the racing is. The gloves are completely off at the end of theses races, for better or worse. Gravel crowded the 83 trying to get him to lift, and Kofoid stayed in there. Neither guy was going to budge. In this instance, Kofoid got the short end of the stick. I feel like we're at a point though, where guys can't really complain for how they get raced. We've seen everyone make these same types of moves, and it's hard to have sympathy when a guy loses one like that. Nobody has the racing moral high ground anymore. This time it was Kofoid, but the next time it's Gravel, he can't be upset. And I'm sure there will be a next time. I don't personally love it, I'd like to see more respect all the way around. But this stuff isn't going to relent. Headed to Angel Park today, the gap is back out to 134 points between the two.

Other weekend sprint car winners included Tanner Holmes taking the Trophy Cup finale and Joel Myers Jr. winning the mini championship. Tim Kaeding won the Trophy Cup opener after a late run-in with Dylan Bloomfield. TK did apologize for the incident. And Cody Gardner was the Friday winner. Nice drive from Holmes who actually lost the lead late to Spencer Bayston in the Works Limited car, but took it back and grabbed the victory. Kyle Cummins and Jake Swanson were USAC sprint car winners, Freddie Rahmer won the season finale at Lincoln, Cameron Smith a winner there too in a makeup, and Sam Hafertepe won the ASCS show at Tulsa that wasn't rained out.

Other weekend dirt late model winners included Zack Mitchell and Cory Hedgecock in Southern Thunder action at Talladega, Trever Feathers won the Fall Clash show at Hagerstown, and Hayden Cardwell won the $30,000 604 feature at All-Tech.

We will call it good right there for today.

Hope you guys have a great rest of your Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!