DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A new ride for Chris Madden, PA's new series, Spire's late model, did JCM find a driver? | Daily 11-26-202

Big news in Central PA as they announce their own regional sprint car series. I like it, but I do have some questions and concerns. Plus Carson Hocevar's Dome late model wrap and possible sprint car hints, dirt late model rumors about Chris Madden and Brenden Smith, and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, November 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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In the midst of the Brandon Overton, Longhorn Factory Team story we talked about yesterday, the big thing I didn't get a chance to dive into was the new 410 sprint car series coming to Pennsylvania. This has been rumored for weeks, I know Jeremy Elliott has brought it up a bunch of times, but we got the official announcement yesterday afternoon. Starting next season, a 47 race series will run mostly across PA with $1.8 million in total payouts, a $200,000 point fund, and $50,000 to the champion. All races will pay at least $6000 to win and $600 to start. The schedule will include PA Speedweek, and races are being held at Williams Grove, Lincoln, Port Royal, BAPS, Selinsgrove, Clinton County, Path Valley, Bedford, Bridgeport, Hagerstown, and Grandview. Obviously we know Bridgeport and Hagerstown are not in PA, I'm just heading off those comments now. The PA Posse 410 Sprint Series is an unprecedented level of cooperation between tracks in that area, and I think is a welcome addition to the region. We haven't seen the schedule yet, or the format, so more announcements are coming. The release didn't come without some negativity, and I do have some questions of my own. I do think overall this is great, and a very solid step in the right direction. I'll be curious to see how the schedule looks, I've heard chatter of scheduling against big national shows. And I'm curious to see how many teams actually run the whole thing. When word started getting around about this, I assumed 20, maybe 25 races through the season. 47 feels like a lot, especially when you factor in a lot of those tracks have regular weekly 410 shows also. With that many races, can they get all the top guys to commit for the full season. I don't think I'm out of line saying Anthony Macri is the best guy in the area, but with everything else going on that he'll want to race in, I don't see the 39M doing all the shows. Not having him there will certainly open things up, but I do think it's a problem that PA's top guy likely won't run all the races. I know there are also concerns about ticket prices for the fans, that was a comment I saw over and over. And the streaming stuff is not clear at this moment. I know a bunch of fans will be hoping it all ends up in one place, but given what we've seen in the past with PA Speedweek, and knowing different tracks there have different streaming relationships, I highly doubt this all ends up on one platform. I'm sure some will be on DIRTVision, others FloRacing, some on Sprintcarunlimited.tv, and I've heard Lincoln Speedway is starting their own service. So that part of this could be messy. I would also liked to have heard that they involved more of the teams and drivers in these decisions. I've heard some pretty big names were not involved or aware until late in the game, and that feels like a miss. With all that said, I don't want my thoughts on this to seem like it's all negative. They aren't. This feels like a really significant bit of progress for that area, and I hope it goes well. That Central PA scene is so important to sprint car racing as a whole, and if managed right, this could be big for the region. Feel free to drop your comments on the news below.

Back to dirt late model things. NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar revealed yesterday his late model wrap for the Gateway Dirt Nationals, and I think we should all take note here, including sprint car fans. This car is coming out of the Spire Motorsports shop; Spire is who Hocevar drives for in NASCAR. Spire also at the heart of still not public moves on the sprint car side that involve Gio Scelzi moving to a Spire-owned team with Eric Prutzman as crew chief and the purchased Jason Meyers racing High Limit franchise. This wrap for Hocevar features multiple Spire partners, including the restaurant chain Chili's, plus Gainbridge, and others. With the connections that Spire and it's parent company TWG Motorsports has, it makes me wonder if this car isn't maybe a preview of what Scelzi's car will look like once it's all finally revealed. I've heard a Spire dirt late model might appear a few more times in 2026, and between this and the sprint car stuff, it seems as though Spire is taking a serious interest in dirt racing.

Next, I've got more silly season rumors for you. A few weeks ago we found from the Hunt the Front guys that Joseph Joiner had decided not to join JCM Motorsports for the 2026 Lucas season, and that he would instead stick with the family owned car. That left JCM on the hunt for it's next driver. It sounds like for at least the Gateway Dirt Nationals, and maybe into 2026, Florida driver Brenden Smith is getting the nod. I've had a few folks send me images of a wrap going around for the 19M and Smith. The 20 year old driver ran Lucas full time in 2024, before pulling back to a pick and choose schedule this year. According to MyRacePass, he had four top fives and 15 top tens in 49 races. He's run well in regional competition, but in 84 career Lucas appearances has just one top ten finish. That came at Huset's back in 2024. Some extra resources from the JCM side might help him out.

Another situation to keep an eye on is Chris Madden and his future. He ran some races in 2025 for Kale Green after departing GR Smith's Team 22, and was most recently at World Finals and Senoia for the Flo series finale. He picked up two wins with Green, July 12th at Wythe with the Southern Nationals, and July 14th at Volunteer. I've heard from multiple people that the deal though with Green ended after Senoia, and Madden might have a new ride. We know there was some talk through 2025 that Wells Motorsports could revive their own team to create an Infinity Chassis house car, and we know that Eric Wells did some testing. That team never materialized, and Wells never went racing as far as I know. There was also a late season Facebook post about Wells getting a new truck and trailer setup from S&S. We talked a few weeks ago about this potentially being a destination for free agent Daulton Wilson, but I've had multiple sources tell me it's actually Chris Madden that is headed there. This was one I was sent a few times by different folks, but I wasn't sure I believed it. One source though who hit me up this week really had my attention. This could be a good place for Madden to land, knowing he likely doesn't want to run 50 or 60 races plus a season. Run with Wells, help develop that chassis, and race less and closer to home. We've seen him involved previously with house car type situations. If I remember correctly, I think he was in with Longhorn several years ago. Watch for this one though as 2026 approaches.

At Kern Raceway last night, it was a nice bounce back for Buddy Kofoid. The last time he was in a Keith Kunz midget this past weekend at Merced, he ended up crashed and out of the rest of the night after heat races. No problems though on Tuesday, going six to the win over Jacob Denney and Kevin Thomas Jr. KTJ led the first 12 laps from the pole, and then Kofoid got by on a restart on lap 13, and drove away. Kofoid had led laps in three of the four USAC midget races in California coming into last night, but just hadn't closed the deal yet. It was Kofoid's first USAC midget win since Lincoln Park back in June of 2023. He obviously doesn't race midgets nearly as much these days with his full time deal with the World of Outlaws sprint cars. I think he'll definitely be a factor at Ventura coming up, and Kofoid is still in search of his first golden driller at the Chili Bowl. In the championship standings, Justin Grant finishing six spots ahead of Cannon McIntosh certainly helped his cause, but a 52 point gap headed into the season finale is still a lot to overcome. USAC's Richie Murray says that a maximum of 76 points can be had on Saturday night, so it's still not over. Up next is Ventura Raceway for Turkey Night coming up on Saturday. Earlier this week I wondered aloud on the show if Kyle Larson would be in attendance. He didn't race last night, but I did see a comment on one my videos this week that Larson said somewhere he is racing Turkey Night. I have not seen those comments myself, so take that for what it's worth. The USAC midget season finale will be live on FloRacing if you are not headed to the track.

Alright, that's the show for today. And a reminder, this was your last regularly scheduled Daily show for this week. The normal schedule will kick back up again on Sunday. For tomorrow though, stick around, I've got that hour long interview with High Limit's Brad Sweet. I got the show all edited and exported out last night, and it will hit the DIRTRACKR channels tomorrow. Brad was incredibly candid on a number of topics, including the future for sprint car tires, who he thinks the best drivers are right now, whether or not he's spoken with Brian Carter, and a lot more. It will be well worth your time.

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