DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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The series choice is public, but the team isn't. Plus a deal over before it started? | Daily 11-17-2025
We know publicly which series Sheldon Haudenschild will be with even if he hasn't yet announced his team. We'll talk about that, plus Mansfield's schedule, Cody Overton's weird silly season week, Sunday race results, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, November 17th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Today I want to catch up on some news items from recent days, and we'll start first with Sheldon Haudenschild. World Finals was his last race in the seat of the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall 17, and we are still waiting on official word of his plans. Thanks to a FloRacing story in recent days though, we have some more clarity on what to expect. Haudenschild revealed to Kyle McFadden that they hope to announce before Christmas, because they are quote "just kind of getting the pen to paper on some things, getting it all worked out before we say anything" unquote. What's interesting though, is it sounds like we know what series Sheldon will be with before we know the team. Not that it should be a big surprise, given he's involved in promoting events on the World of Outlaws calendar in 2026, but when McFadden asked about series, Haudenschild said quote "yup, with the Outlaws, that's where I wanna be" unquote. Late last week the Outlaws revealed a three-race weekend in October that they are calling the Sheldon Haudenschild Buckeye Brawl weekend. It includes October 8th at Millstream, October 9th at Mansfield, and October 10th at Sharon. The logo does include NOS Energy Drink, so that might be a sign as well that NOS is staying involved with Haud's next deal. I didn't know that we'd see a national tour hit Mansfield in it's first season back racing, with Matt Tifft now at the helm, but this is a big get for the revived track. Back to Sheldon though, when his deal with KCP Racing is officially announced, alongside crew chief Kyle Ripper, Haud will be the fourth confirmed Outlaw driver for next year. Ashton Torgerson, Spencer Bayston, and Cole Macedo are the other three. We know Chris Windom said he'll be back with Jason Sides, and I think it's also safe to assume David Gravel, and Buddy Kofoid return, as will Logan Schuchart and Bill Balog. That takes the Outlaws to nine. The big question mark continues to be Carson Macedo, especially with the package High Limit has put out. We also don't know about Donny Schatz's plans. My guess right now is the Outlaws should get to at least 12, if not 14 or 15 by Volusia in February. Sheldon will be looking to take that next step forward in his Outlaw career and try and compete for a championship. His best career points finish is fourth, and he was fifth each of the last two years. Over in the analytics section at dirtrackr.com, you'll see that Sheldon has the fifth most wins since 2017. Only Gravel, Schatz, Brad Sweet, and Macedo have won more than him. Unlike that group though, Sheldon has not finished in that top three come the season's end. I think he and Ripper are hoping they can change that in 2026 with KCP.
Back to that Mansfield schedule, besides the two World of Outlaws events, they've also got five events for the FAST sprint cars, with BOSS joining them for a few of those. They also got a Super DIRTcar Series show in August. It's a pretty packed slate, but Mansfield definitely a special event track, and not a weekly track. I'll be curious to see if they add to this at all, like for example if Mansfield gets included on the Ohio Speedweek slate. My initial thought was no, given all the FAST events, but I've heard it's still possible. Tifft continues to post video updates on the track's progress to his YouTube channel if you want to check that out.
So last week, on the Monday and Tuesday shows, we talked about the current ride situation for World of Outlaws late model regular Cody Overton. Overton got emotional during the banquet when asked about team owner Dave Steine, and it was mentioned multiple times over the World Finals weekend that he was looking for a ride after Charlotte. On Tuesday, we talked about how the Billy Hicks 79 team had made a move for Overton, and that they were going to debut at Senoia and Cherokee this past weekend. As the week played out though, things changed. It was Senoia and Cherokee with no driver officially announced. Then just Cherokee. And then by Friday they posted quote "We have decided to forgo this weekends events to work towards selecting a driver, refresh our hauler, and finalize plans to run with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2026. Hope everyone has safe travels and a fun weekend" unquote. In the meantime, Overton ran at Senoia right back in the Steine 2 car. I had multiple sources tell me that Overton was the guy for the 79, but somewhere along the way between World Finals and Senoia, the deal went sideways. I have reached out to Overton for comment, but have not heard anything back. Supposedly though, a deal with another driver was backed out of in favor of Overton, but now the Hicks team is on the hunt again. I've heard names like Wil Herrington and Kade Loudy mentioned now as possible 79 candidates. Certainly a strange situation, with a driver out before they ever even turned a lap. Now we wait to see what plans are for both sides. Daulton Wilson and Donald McIntosh are still on the market, and we know JCM Motorsports is still looking for a driver.
At Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina on Sunday, Chris Ferguson led all 50 laps on his way to the $15,000 win in the Freddy Smith Memorial. He topped Ross Bailes and Trent Ivey in the Carolina Clash sanctioned show. According to MyRacePass, that was Fergy's second win of the season, with the other coming back in September at Cherokee. The event was also the finale for the super late model Cherokee Chief series, which Joseph Joiner won with a 12 to five run. That netted him $10,000. Cherokee still has three more race dates this year, which take place during Thanksgiving week. There are a lot of questions around the future for Cherokee, as I've heard they are looking for a new promotion group for 2026. The Carolina Clash races again this week, with $5000 on the line at Lavonia. I don't know where they are currently with exact points, but Ben Watkins looks to be on his way to the series title. Outside of the Dome in December, it's really just a handful of regional races left on the dirt late model calendar for 2025.
One schedule note, the USAC midgets have cancelled the Wednesday show at Plaza Park in California. The track is too saturated to have ready to race. The series continues it's west coast swing on Friday at Tulare. They also hit Merced on Saturday.
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Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!