DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Breaking late model news, what's that weird piece, storylines to follow | Daily 11-5-2025

World Finals starts, and we've got a bunch of the storylines to follow, plus that Rumley six showed up with a weird piece on it. We'll also talk Xtreme and USAC midgets, and breaking dirt late model silly season news. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, November 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

We'll get to a bunch of stuff here shortly, including that breaking news, but first, a quick message from today's show sponsor.

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As you watch this show right now, cars are already rolling over at World Finals to begin the final big event of the year for the World of Outlaws and Super DIRTcar Series. Today is all about hot laps and qualifying for all three series. Things rotate between the sprint cars, late models, and modifieds until everyone finishes up. Looking at MyRacePass, they've got 48 sprint cars, 71 late models, and 47 big block modifieds. A lot of good race cars, and we should see some good action over the next few days. One of the questions from YouTube channel members this week was from RightRearRacing, and they wanted to know about track conditions at Charlotte. Obviously we saw things were pretty challenging this past weekend with the World Short Track Championship. The good thing is, we haven't had any rain here in the Charlotte area since last week, and today was pretty warm, in the lower 70s, with a breeze. So hopefully the track will be in much better shape with the extra days for things to dry out. I would expect better for World Finals than we saw a few days ago. There won't be a ton of championship intrigue this week, as Bobby Pierce, David Gravel, and Mat Williamson all have solid leads in the standings. There are a lot of other storylines to follow including drivers in new cars and plenty of big names are in attendance to steal some wins. A few notes on these fronts: this is Sheldon Haudenschild's final weekend with the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall team. They did bring out a second car though with Spencer Bayston, as he'll be that team's full time driver next year. We're also getting the debut of Tanner Holmes with Buch Motorsports before they go full time High Limit racing next year, and Daison Pursley is in the Kasey Kahne Racing 9. Remember he's effectively taking over the full time seat there with Brad Sweet's retirement. We've also got Rico Abreu in the field, Dale Blaney has the 10 car here, Corey Day is racing, Ty Gibbs make his track debut with Chad Boat's car, Kerry Madsen makes his final starts with TSR, Ricky Thornton Jr. is back in a winged sprint car, and Knoxville Nationals winner Ryan Timms is checked in. A few late model notes, overall this is about as a good a field as you'll find all season. Daulton Wilson is back in the Big Frog ride, Hudson O'Neal is in Kevin Rumley's six, Chris Madden is entered, so is Mike Marlar, Terbo is racing fresh off the National 100 win, and Donald Bradsher is driving his Paylor Motorsports 93. Keep an eye on Glenn Styres too, as he's entered in all three divisions. The big block field has all the big names, and Max McLaughlin is entered. If you aren't in town, proceedings are live all week on DIRTVision.

One other thing to mention about Rumley and the six car, Kyle McFadden from FloRacing posted about this, and I have a photo of it after a trip through the pit area today, that six has an interesting air inlet on the hood. Normally you see that rounded deflector piece around the air cleaner, but this is different than that. A very unorthodox shape, and that inlet to let air pass through. If the six is bad fast tonight, maybe we'll start seeing qualifying hoods on late models.

At Millbridge last night, Jacob Denney wrapped up his championship season with the feature win. He went sixth to the victory, and benefitted this time from not being involved in the crash before half way. That one did take out pole sitter Brent Crews, and other leaders. Monday winner Karter Sarff ended up second with Kameron Key third. Incredibly dominant season from Denney, and I think he's one to watch in the coming years. He went from pretty much an unknown Ohio driver to now a national midget title in a very short span of time. We'll see now what he can do to finish the USAC midget season. They begin their final run to the end not this weekend, but next weekend out in California. They've got two nights at Placerville, Plaza Park, Tulare, Merced, Kern, and Turkey Night through the end of the month. A lot of special guests will be mixed in here, with Kyle Larson racing, Carson Macedo, I think we might see Buddy Kofoid, and others. Cannon McIntosh leads the USAC midget standings currently, but four drivers are within 72 points, including Denney, plus Justin Grant and Kevin Thomas Jr.

Moving on, there was some breaking dirt late model silly season news here just a bit ago. And this involves a story we've been following for a few months. I told you guys later in August that Hunt the Front was considering a full Lucas run in 2026, partnering up with JCM Motorsports. Joseph Joiner drove JCM's 19M machine in a bunch of Lucas races to close out 2025 after driver Spencer Hughes departed. I was a bit surprised we hadn't heard anything official on this yet, but this afternoon, Hunt the Front went live to their supporters and shared they will not be going Lucas racing next year. The offer was on the table from JCM owner Colten Miller for Joiner to get the full seat, but in the live stream, Joseph revealed it was his decision to turn the ride down. Joiner informed Miller of his decision in a call this week. He said if this was five years ago, there wouldn't have even been a question, he would have taken the deal, but at this time, it just didn't feel like the right direction for him and Hunt the Front as a whole. So for next season, you'll see a lot of the same from Hunt the Front in terms of their schedule. My assumption here is another full Hunt the Front series run, plus filling in with other shows that make sense. Jonathan Joiner said they are also working out sponsorship details, including future involvement from Kubota. And just for transparency, Kubota also the presenting sponsor here if that wasn't already abundantly clear. There are still a number of other things Hunt the Front is working out, including which cars they'll run, they need a new truck and trailer, and more. The team will be in action at the Dome in December, and they are running the finale at Cherokee. Joseph Joiner turning down JCM now means they need a driver, and it seems clear that Miller wants to continue running his team full time with Lucas. I'm sure now that the Joiner news is out, his phone will be ringing off the hook with interested drivers. We obviously know Daulton Wilson is a free agent, as is Donald McIntosh. Outside of those guys, Miller would likely need to hire someone who already has a ride, or pull up a regional driver. We'll see what direction he decides to go.

That's it for today.

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