DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

What will Donny Schatz do? Plus a big change at Hunt the Front | Daily 10-22-2025

Donny Schatz's future is still very much up in the air, and we'll talk through what his options are today and what I'm hearing. Plus Hunt the Front sells some equipment, and teams get in some laps and testing late in the season. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, October 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Did you know that DIRTRACKR is on Patreon? You can find the show at patreon.com/dirtrackr. It's free to sign up there, and just another way to keep up with everything dirt racing. If you sign up for the top tier premium membership there, you can get the Daily show ad free. That means no platform ads, and no ad content from me, just dirt racing. Members also get access to their own chat, extra content, and other perks. If you want to join, hit up patreon.com/dirtrackr. You can also support the show on YouTube with a channel membership. That gets you some added perks for just a few bucks a month. Click the join button at youtube.com/dirtrackr for more information on how to sign up.

With Brad Sweet's retirement public, the Stenhouse Marshall team hiring Spencer Bayston, Rico Abreu partnering with Tony Stewart Racing, and a few other deals pretty much sewn up behind the scenes, one of the biggest sprint car situations still without a resolution for 2026 is Donny Schatz's future. Since getting released from TSR after the Knoxville Nationals, we've seen him race for Big Game, Lunstra, Works Limited, and now this joint JVI/Sides deal. Since August 15th, Schatz has run 18 World of Outlaws races, he's got one top five, seven top tens, and two B-Main exits. His average finish in features made is 12.5. These stats are about as un-Schatz as it gets when looking over his career. And he's still winless in a sprint car since Lincoln back in October of 2024. I think one important bit of context on the most recent stretch though with JVI and Sides is that team is pretty significantly down on equipment. They can't afford to crash or pop engines, and I'm sure that Schatz is driving accordingly. Right now it's about survival and getting to the end of the season. You can't be out taking risks and trying to win when knowing that things are so fragile. Schatz's numbers have certainly taken a hit, but I don't know that he's as bad as the results show lately. A problem for Schatz though, at least in terms of his banquet check from the Outlaws, is that sixth place points position isn't guranteed. He had a solid lead over Bill Balog weeks ago, but it's down to just 48 points with five features still to run. If you're looking for subplots over the final few races, this is a small one to pay attention to. My batting average over the last several weeks for silly season stuff is sitting pretty good, but this Schatz deal is a tough one to call. Several weeks ago, it sounded like Schatz had his 2026 plans set, but here on October 22nd, I don't know where we stand. The deal he supposedly had might not be happening, or maybe it still is. I had a text yesterday from someone in the sprint car community that word is going around that Schatz is retiring. But I just don't know what to believe right now. The rumored ride that Schatz had locked down was a deal at Big Game to be partnered up with David Gravel as a two car operation. That was obviously where Schatz was supposed to be after losing the TSR deal, but things fell apart after that Ogilvie crash. Big Game didn't have the equipment and spares necessary to field a second car post crash, and Lunstra stepped in. Big Game team owner Tod Quiring continued to back Schatz though during that Lunstra stretch. In the weeks since, I've heard of crew members telling people they were going to work at Big Game to be on Schatz's car for 2026, I've heard stories about Quiring in the market for a second trailer, and Schatz's name hasn't really be in the rumor mill anywhere else. When I share stuff here on the show, it's usually backed by multiple sources, or at the very least one really good source, but the word on the streets around Schatz is just too scattered right now to know what to take seriously. If it's not Big Game, I don't know where else it would be. Tom Buch is looking for a young driver, and Schatz has said multiple time he's not a High Limit fan. I guess it's possible he could stay on with this Sides thing if he could find some backing, but I don't know how realistic that is, especially given the equipment is already sparse. Everything else on the national level is pretty much off the market. I have heard from people though that Donny himself doesn't seem to be too worried about any of it, and that he's been in good moods on the road. I guess take that for whatever it's worth. This is one we'll just have to wait on I think.

Moving on, I had a question in the comments on yesterday's show about Hunt the Front's plans for next year, given they are selling some stuff. That stuff they sold was their truck and trailer, which was a typical late model toterhome setup. It's easy to see that and start thinking and assuming things, but I don't know that I'd read too much into it yet. In their most recent video, Jonathan Joiner said they'd been planning this for a while, and that if they keep racing out of their own shop full time, they were wanting to upgrade for next year anyway. He did say their plans for 2026 are still not decided. As we've talked about here, they have been rumblings that Joseph Joiner could remain in that JCM Motorsports ride full time into next season, with a possible Lucas rookie run in the cards. Joiner has made starts with JCM here towards the end of the year, appearing in nine Lucas races. His best result is a seventh place finish, which came twice, at Batesville and at Knoxville. He was 21st this past weekend at the Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora. Even if he does stay with JCM, the Hunt the Front team would still probably run their own 10 car on off weekends through the season, so they'd still need some sort of truck and trailer anyway. Even coming up, the team is headed to Whynot this week for the Fall Classic, but they are using their smaller trailers to make it happen. I haven't heard anything super recent on where things stand with JCM and Joiner, but I'd imagine we'll have more clarity in the coming weeks.

Over the last few days, there have been a bunch cars on track over at the Dirt Track at Charlotte testing in advance of the World Short Track Championship and World Finals. There have been late models, modifieds, and sprint cars each getting laps in and some interesting names have been in attendance. The other night, NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar was back in a dirt late model for the first time in a while. We've also seen a bunch of touring guys, including Nick Hoffman, Tim McCreadie, Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce, Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton, and Drake Troutman among others. Sprint car guys mixed in have included Ricky Thornton Jr. and Parker Price Miller with Bernie, Corey Day, Ty Gibbs in Chad Boat's car, Gio Scelzi, and Dale Blaney. The entry lists for World Finals are populating over on MRP, and already have solid numbers even a few weeks out. Given who we've seen test, I think all three divisions will be stout at Charlotte. On the sprint car side, even with some of the High Limit guys shutting down for the year, I wouldn't be shocked to see 40 or 50 cars coming up. You can see some of the timing and scoring stuff for the testing on Race Monitor.

That's the Daily for today. If you've gotten all the way to this point in the episode, and you don't already subscribe to the show, maybe consider hitting that button. You can subscribe for free on YouTube and the podcast places, and like and follow on Facebook. New shows are posted five days a week to those platforms, plus dirtrackr.com.

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