DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Tim McCreadie wins Volusia opener, Justin Allgaier gets $5000 UMP Mod win | DIRTRACKR Daily 2/9/21
It is Tuesday, February 9th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today on the show we look back at last night's DIRTcar Nationals action, including wins for Tim McCreadie and Justin Allgaier. We are also talking USAC midgets at Bubba Raceway Park, event news from California, and more. Let's jump in.
With the sprint cars now moved out of Volusia Raceway Park, it was time yesterday for the late models to take over DIRTcar Nationals for the remainder of the week. These first two nights of late models are DIRTcar sanctioned events, with last night's winner taking home $7000. A very strong field of 51 cars signed in for night one, which included a lot of both Outlaw and Lucas regulars and guys from all over the country. For the night's feature, it was Kyle Bronson who led the field to green from the pole. The Florida racer is always fast at Volusia, and he was joined on the front row by Tim McCreadie. Into turn one on the first lap, McCreadie rolled the top well and was able to stretch away from Bronson for the early lead. The race was only slowed by a single caution, and for much of the 30 lap race, McCreadie was comfortable out front. Inside ten laps to go, with TMac in lap traffic, Mark Whitener closed to within a few car lengths but he could never get close enough to make a move. At the end, it was McCreadie taking the opening night win over Whitener, Devin Moran, Bronson, and Bobby Pierce. It was McCreadie's sixth DIRTcar late model win at Volusia, to go along with wins with the World of Outlaws late models and Super DIRTcar Series big block modifieds.
It was a nice win for McCreadie after he started out the Florida run with Lucas finishing 15th or worse in four straight races. But since finishing 15th on January 27th at East Bay, McCreadie has finishes of 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 4th, and now the win. He's definitely trending in the right direction with five nights still left to race at Volusia. Another interesting driver to take a look at is Brandon Sheppard. I keep waiting for him to come alive and grab one of these wins, but we haven't seen it yet. His best run at East Bay was a second back on January 25th. And he led 13 laps on January 30th before fading to third, but we really haven't seen him be a big factor in any of these races yet. He's been very, very good at Volusia in the past, so this could be a good week to see him get that first win of 2021. He finished sixth last night. Lucas points leader Brandon Overton continues to rack up top ten finishes in late model competition, coming home seventh last night.
Last night was the finale for the UMP modifieds at Volusia and the DIRTcar Nationals. The night's $5000 to win gator championship saw the lineup set by yesterday's gator qualifier events, with four B mains setting the final few rows. After the redraw, Nick Hoffman and Matt Crafton started together on the front row. At the start, it was Hoffman, who was again very strong all week, who jumped to the early lead. Later though, we saw something we don't normally see with Nick Hoffman out front in a UMP modified show. Justin Allgaier, who started third, ran Hoffman down in lap traffic and took the lead coming to 19 laps to go. From there, Allgaier survived multiple restarts and drove away to his first DIRTcar Nationals win since 2016, and first ever Gator Championship win. Nick Hoffman's second place result locked up the weeklong modified points race, which was his sixth consecutive championship at Volusia. Mike McKinney, Spencer Hughes, and Michael Altobelli rounded out the top five. Following the race, it was fun to see Allgaier so pumped up about the win. He's a guy that's won a lot of races, including in NASCAR, but he was fired up about getting that big gator trophy.
Looking towards tonight at Volusia, the UMP modifieds are now done for the week, and the big block modifieds of the Super DIRTcar Series move in to join the late models for the remainder of DIRTcar Nationals. These early season races for the Super DIRTcar Series are not for points, so competitors will be fighting it out for money and gator trophies all week. Tonight is again DIRTcar sanctioned for late model competitors, with racing switching over to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series tomorrow and through the remainder of the weekend. Those races do count for the Outlaws' championship chase. If you can't be at Volusia, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with your fast pass.
After having the Saturday night portion of their program rained out, the USAC National Midgets were back last night to close out their opening weekend of 2021 at Bubba Raceway Park. We saw an impressive run from female racer Taylor Reimer in heat race action early in the night. She started outside front row in heat one, drove to the lead at the start, and held off Chris Windom over the eight lap race to grab the win. She's back racing this season after a hiatus, running as a teammate to Cannon McIntosh and Tanner Thorson with Dave Mac Motorsports. She later finished 18th in the feature after starting seventh. We also got to see Chase Elliott bag his first heat race win in USAC National midget competition. He started outside pole in heat three, and jumped Chase Randall at the start to seize the lead and drive away to the win. He ended up 14th in the night's main event after starting eighth. For the feature, it was Thomas Meseraull on the pole with Chris Windom to his outside. TMez grabbed the lead into turn one at the start, with Windom settling into second and Buddy Kofoid third. The top four stayed the same through the feature, with TMez strong out front. Inside ten to go, Windom and Kofoid closed on TMez, with Windom getting underneath Meseraull's number seven on multiple occasions. As the laps wound down though, nobody could complete a pass. At the end, it was TMez grabbing his third career USAC National midget win with Windom second, Kofoid third, Justin Grant fourth, and Daison Pursley went from the night's semi to fifth. Tanner Thorson had a wild end to his night, finishing eighth after losing an engine in a big way right at the line.
Leaving Bubba Raceway Park, Buddy Kofoid and Chris Windom are tied atop the points standings after the two nights. Tanner Thorson is third, Thomas Meseraull fourth, and Daison Pursley rounds out the top five. Kofoid, Windom, and Pursley all finished top five each night. We didn't have a ton of passing the two nights, with one win coming from the pole and one from second, and Bryant Wiedeman, Cannon McIntosh, and Tanner Carrick leading the way in feature plus minus at only +9 each. Kofoid remains the hottest driver with the series, with his average finish sitting at 3.8 over the last five races. The midgets go quiet now until April at Port City Raceway.
We got some news yesterday about one of the big non-wing sprint car races on the west coast. The promoter of the Louie Vermeil Classic, Hunt Promotions, announced they are moving the event from Calistoga Speedway in wine country down to Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico for 2021. Restrictions surrounding the pandemic along with ongoing difficulties with Calistoga Speedway's ownership are the reasons behind the move. Promoter Tony Hunt hopes that this move is just temporary, and that the Louie Vermeil Classic will return to Calistoga in 2022. The event takes place September 4th and 5th now at Silver Dollar, and the USAC CRA sprint cars will be joined by the NARC King of the West 410 winged sprint cars. Tickets for the event go on sale April 1st. To see more information about the announcement, visit silverdollarspeedway.com.
There are three items on the streaming schedule for today. DIRTVision has DIRTcar Late Models and the Super DIRTcar Series from Volusia Speedway Park for the DIRTcar Nationals, RacinDirt has karts from the I-44 Winter Shootout, and FloRacing has Flo 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Tuesday.
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