DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Will we see Kyle Larson in a late model in 2026? | Daily 12-17-2025

Coming up we'll talk a few early updates on the World of Outlaws late model roster, plus Keith Kunz has set his Chili Bowl lineup, and will we see Kyle Larson in a late model this year? Let's go.

It's Wednesday, December 17th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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It's the time of year where we get to find out series choices via job posts, and yesterday it was Nick Hoffman. His Tye Twarog late model team is looking for a motivated crew member for the 2026 season, and the post says they are running the full Outlaw schedule plus 20-30 other marquee events. So add Hoffman to the Outlaw roster next year. It will be year four on tour with the Outlaws for Hoffman, who was a rookie in 2023 and ended up top five in the standings. He was third in 2024, and second this season. He was the closest challenger to Bobby Pierce all year and actually ended up with more top ten finishes than the champion. Pierce's margin of victory was trimmed by the end to just 56 points. I would not be surprised to see Hoffman again be right in the mix for the Outlaw title next year. I was trying to think back to what other drivers we know are going Outlaws next year. The two coming to mind are Trey Mills and Drake Troutman. If there are others I've missed, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

In a similar vein, over the last few days there have been posts floating around about late model racer Kyle Hardy's future. I had a few folks send them to me, and the word was he was going to tackle the full World of Outlaws late model schedule. Yesterday afternoon though, team owner Mike Hurley posted a correction to Facebook about what's happening. He said quote "We're excited to share that there is a potential World of Outlaws opportunity on the horizon for Kyle Hardy. While nothing has been finalized, we are currently in discussions with several large motorsports themed companies regarding funding for a possible 2026 campaign." He went on to say quote "it's important to note that no agreements are in place at this time. No matter what, we plan to kick off the season at the World of Outlaws event at Hendry County Motorsports Park in Florida this February." Hardy has only made a handful of Outalw appearances in the last few years, but does have three career top five finishes. He made a run at the full season as a rookie back in 2019, but fell off the tour before the summer. The Virginia driver was a regular in crate and limited competition in 2025, and he had 10 wins. He won a couple of super late model shows back in 2024. We likely won't have a good sense of the larger rosters running the World of Outlaws and Lucas until after the first of the year.

Jumping into a couple of Patreon member/YouTube channel member questions, I've got two today from IvisonSchof2. His first is quote "Is WRG trying to get a title sponsor for the Super DIRTcar series or do you think that ship has sailed and they've stopped looking for sponsorship? It's been a long time since Advance Auto Parts sponsored the series. Is the series profitable for WRG?" unquote. I wish I had a better answer for you than this, but I have no idea if World Racing Group is actively pursuing title sponsorship for the big blocks. I certainly doubt they'd turn something down, and we know right now they have bigger fish to fry with the World of Outlaws late models, but it doesn't seem to be a huge priority. Pulling in his second question here, I can't imagine the SDS would continue year after year if it wasn't something that did well enough. If it was a huge money suck every season, smart business people wouldn't keep it around. But I do know that for example Super Dirt Week is a huge event for WRG, and obviously the big blocks are the main event there. The big blocks as well a key piece of DIRTcar Nationals and World Finals outside of their own big events. The northeast has really rabid dirt fans, and even though it's not a huge area, I think the racing up there does pretty well. His other question was quote "Any chance Larson is back in the Rumley 6 this season?" I don't want to put things like this at a zero percent chance, because if Larson called up Rumley tomorrow and said can we go race, I'm sure the six would be ready in a heartbeat. But I don't think I'd put any money on it happening. Larson hasn't done any late model stuff since 2024, and he said last year that his return to late model racing could happen in a couple months, a couple years, or never. We certainly know it didn't happen in a couple of months. Between the NASCAR day job, running as many sprint car races as he can with Paul Silva, and his kids, I don't know that there is much time left for late models. The kids seem like they are racing more and more, and both Audrey and Owen are entered at the Tulsa Shootout. Owen is entered in three different divisions, and Kyle will be again flying all around the world after the High Limit stuff at Perth to get back in time to watch them race. My guess is when he does have open opportunities to race, it will be in the sprint car. He was just on with The Driver's Project podcast guys talking about how he was not competitive more nights than he was competitive in the late model. And on a recent episode of the High Limit room with Chase Raudman and TLP he talked about his late model career being on pause. So, I don't think I'd hold my breath here. Thanks for the questions.

On the Chili Bowl entry front, we are up to 360 as of yesterday. The big recent additions include the Keith Kunz Motorsports lineup, but it doesn't look as though they'll be topping last year's entry count. For the 2025 edition of the Chili Bowl, KKM brought an incredible 16 midgets to Tulsa. But for 2026, they've got 10 entries on the list. Not saying that they couldn't add more between now and mid-January, but for the moment anyway it's just 10. Their driver lineup includes Buddy Kofoid, Knoxville Nationals winner Ryan Timms, USAC midget champ Cannon McIntosh, Xtreme Midget champ Jacob Denney, plus Ashton Torgerson, Colton Robinson, Gio Scelzi, Gavin Miller, Tanner Carrick, and Brandon Carr. Gio's deal is in partnership with Spire and will feature sponsor Chili's I'm sure in a similar look to the sprint car and late model. This should be a formidable lineup, with multiple guys capable of winning a golden driller. We've seen good runs in that building previously from Kofoid, McIntosh, and Carrick, and several others are capable of them. We are inside of a month now before action gets going in the expo.

Alright, that's it for today. Hit that subscribe button and like these shows wherever you are tuning in. You can leave comments on YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. And you can see more dirt racing stuff over at dirtrackr.com.

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