DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Ride changes, a driver gets sarcastic, the one thing I don't like | Daily 11-30-2025

Updates today on a few dirt late model ride situations for 2026, including a recent announcement for one team and free agent. Plus the one thing I think will hold the new PA sprint car series back, Turkey Night and weekend dirt racing results and more. Let's go!

It's Sunday, November 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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We'll start first today with late model silly season news from Friday. Coltman Farms Racing announced that Donald McIntosh will drive full time for the team in 2026. He'll get started this coming week at the Gateway Dirt Nationals. McIntosh replaces Zack Mitchell in the team's second car, and he'll be a teammate to Tanner English. Going back to the end of the Lucas season at the Dirt Track World Championship, McIntosh announced his departure from Billy Hicks Racing after capturing the Lucas series rookie of the year award. After that, if you might remember back to the October 21st Daily show, I said McIntosh was a candidate to join Coltman Farms, and the reason I'd heard was that team owner Brett Coltman wanted both cars on national tours next year. Supposedly Zack Mitchell was not interested in a full deal on the road, and about a month later, here we are. McIntosh is in, and Mitchell is out. After the team announcement, Mitchell shared in part to social media quote "After thoughtful discussion, Coltman Farms Racing and I have mutually agreed to part ways. We felt at this time we were both looking in different directions moving into the 2026 season." He went on to say quote "As far as 2026 goes- we will be around. I'm exploring the best path forward for me and my family and will share updates as soon as I'm able" unquote. So Mitchell on the hunt, and we'll have both Coltman Farms cars on tours next season. I'll be curious to see if both end up with one tour, or if they split. Maybe keep English with the Outlaws and McIntosh stays Lucas. With McIntosh's future settled, Billy Hicks hiring Cory Hedgecock, and the Longhorn/Riggs stuff settled, we are down to just a few things left to decide. That includes the future for Daulton Wilson, a potential deal for Chris Madden and Wells, and if JCM decides to stay with Brenden Smith into next year. The other thing is the future for Cody Overton. I did reach out to Cody about his deal with the two team, and he replied to me that he's considering a full Cup series offer from Joe Gibbs Racing. I certainly appreciate the sarcasm, and yes that was a real reply. Back in reality, one rumbling I've heard is that Overton could take over that two team as car owner Dave Steine had been mulling an end to team ownership. Stay tuned.

Back to the PA Posse 410 Sprint Car Series, the second half of their announcement hit back on Wednesday, which included the full series schedule, format, points breakdown, and payout details. I won't bore you with the full points structure, or point fund payouts, but the champion will earn $50,000. Most races will use time trials to set heats, but there is a provision for draws for certain races. Teams and drivers are allowed three throwaway races, to either lose their three worst finishes, or to miss races. And there is no single rulebook, with the series following rules at each race track. I'm not up on the individual track rules for all in the area, but it feels a bit short sighted to not have consistent rules. I'm sure the teams that race around there regularly know what they are up against, but a series with different rules at different tracks is a new one in this day and age. But formats, rules, points, and payouts aside, I think this schedule will be the biggest hurdle for this series succeeding into the future. 47 is too many races, and the conflicts will cause teams to miss shows. We'll see how it all lands with the local schedules mixed in, but just offhand, this series has direct conflicts with the Knoxville Nationals, the World of Outlaws in Ohio in October, the High Bank Nationals at Huset's, High Limit at Stateline, and the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora. All potential races that could draw Posse drivers. Knoxville alone will cost two of those throwaways right off the top. PA drivers that ran the Nationals in 2025 included Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Chase Dietz, Brock Zearfoss, and Lucas Wolfe. Making the top three guys in the area choose between the Knoxville Nationals, or Selinsgrove and Clinton County, seems like a miss. And the Eldora stuff along with Huset's completely takes Macri out. I like that they started a series. I like that they got all of these tracks to actually work together. I like that the money is pretty good. I don't like the length of the schedule. And I don't like that they didn't pull in these teams to try and find compromises that work better for everyone. I want to see this thing be successful, but I feel like they created some problems for themselves that could have been avoided.

At Ventura in California this weekend for Turkey Night, we saw a lot of lead changes, big charges, but a familiar face in victory lane. Daison Pursley and Logan Seavey started together on the front row, but the race turned into a battle between third starting Corey Day and Seavey. Those two traded the lead nine times over the 98 lapper, while Pursley ended up out early with mechanical issues. Day led the most laps with 70 circuits out front, and was able to get away from the sliders late to take the win. Seavey and Buddy Kofoid joined him on the podium. Back-to-back Turkey Nights for Day and car owner Willie Kahne, and Day now has four career USAC midget wins. This will again be an interesting pairing to watch at the Chili Bowl in January. Day's made the main event three of his four tries in Tulsa, with a best finish of third. No TRD or Stanton power under the hood like the bulk of the rest of the field, but plenty of speed. I think Day will be right in the mix with Kyle Larson, Pursley, Kofoid, and a few others for the driller. It wasn't a spectacular night for Cannon McIntosh, with a flat tire and a 15th place finish, but it was more than enough to clinch his first ever USAC midget title. He beat Justin Grant by 44 points, with Kevin Thomas Jr., Jacob Denney, and Kale Drake the rest of the top five. McIntosh ended the season with five wins, 14 top fives, and 19 top tens in 23 races. His average finish was 6.43. I'll be curious to see what he does next, given we've seen him dabble here later in 2025 with 410 sprint cars out west with Roth Motorsports. Elsewhere in the field last night, Kyle Larson went 14th to fourth, and Carson Macedo was hard charger going 24th to seventh. Karter Sarff was rookie of the race in sixth.

Alongside the midgets, the USCS sprint cars were in action at Ventura both Friday and Saturday, and it was a weekend sweep for Daison Pursley. He battled Kaleb Montgomery in both races, but was able to take both victories. Carson Macedo and David Gasper both not making friends again in this event. Macedo spun Kevin Thomas Jr, then ended Mitchel Moles' night with a right rear. The Flo cameras caught the conversation between Moles and Macedo, but things remained fairly tame. Not long after though, Macedo himself was a victim of a slider from Gasper that ended his night. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, if you want sprint cars of any kind, Australia and New Zealand are your only options. There will be midgets indoors at DuQuoin in a few weeks for the Junior Knepper 55, which is POWRi sanctioned.

Weekend winners in dirt late model competition included Jeremy Steele taking the $10,000 at Swainsboro in 604 action. Trent Ivey bagged $5000 there in 602 competition. At Duck River, Michael Page won the $7500 Gobbler over Dalton Cook and Camaron Marlar. Page with an earlier run-in with pole sitter Josh Rice that Dirt on Dirt and Zackary Washington have a good photo of. The Rice Brothers Racing Facebook page shared quote "Christmas is next month, but in the spirit of the holidays, we got a bad slider gifted to us early. Finished 22nd. On to the dome" unquote.

That's the show for today. Hope you guys have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!