DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Bobby Pierce calls his shot, wins at Volusia; Friesen takes big block win | DIRTRACKR Daily 2/10/21
It is Wednesday, February 10th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today on the show we'll look at what went down at Volusia last night for the late models and big blocks, and look towards racing tonight. We've also got events news from the World of Outlaws sprint car series and more, let's jump in.
Last night was the second and final night of DIRTcar sanctioned late models at Volusia for the DIRTcar Nationals before the World of Outlaws take over for the remainder of the week. We again had 51 cars sign in to participate. Early in the night, after Bobby Pierce bagged the win in his heat race, he mentioned some family members, including his late Aunt Jen, that he was thinking about and said he was going to get it done for them. And he fulfulled his promise. He started on the pole and officially led every lap to get his first ever win at DIRTcar Nationals. It's wild to think that a guy that has had as much success as Pierce has had never won a gator trophy at Volusia. Fourth starting Devin Moran tried to keep Pierce honest, even briefly taking the lead near half way with a slide job in turn one. But it wasn't to be, as Pierce crossed him back over to maintain the lead. Later, inside five to go, Moran tried to reel Pierce in on the top, but just couldn't get close enough to make a move. Moran finished second behind Pierce, with Hudson O'Neal third, Brandon Sheppard fourth, and Darrell Lanigan in fifth. Monday night's winner Tim McCreadie hard charged his way from 23rd to finish 9th. We talked yesterday on the show about Brandon Sheppard missing a little bit of pace to start 2021, and that seemed to continue last night. A heat race win and a second place start in the redraw seemed to set him up for what could have been a strong night, but he couldn't quite to match the pace of the guys out front in Pierce, Moran, and O'Neal. He had two top ten runs at Volusia back in January for the Sunshine Nationals, and a sixth and fourth so far this week show he's trending in the right direction. We might see a different Rocket house car starting tonight when things ramp up a little more with Outlaw points on the line. The other Brandon, in Brandon Overton, racked up yet another top ten finish with a sixth place run last night. Devin Moran leads the weeklong gator points through two races.
The Super DIRTcar Series was also in action at Volusia last night for their first program of DIRTcar Nationals. A bunch of the modified competitors had already raced in 2021, with the Short Track Super Series competing at Bubba Raceway Park in late January. Stewart Friesen had also run some late model races with Lucas as he gets his feet wet in a super. 32 cars signed in for night one to battle it out for the $4000 winner's share. Remember these Florida nights for the big blocks do not count towards the season long points chase. Jimmy Phelps sat on the pole, but that top line has been good on a lot of starts through the last several nights at Volusia, no matter the division, and Stewart Friesen took full advantage. He grabbed the early lead, and after an early restart, was quickly into lap traffic with third starting Peter Britten hot on his heels. The top was so enticing for Friesen, he actually chose it for a lap 10 restart, with Britten to his inside, but it didn't work. Britten got a big drive off the bottom and cleared Friesen into turn one. Friesen tried to enter turn one lower than Britten, and picked up a big push through the middle, sliding high and dropping back to fourth. He got bailed out though, as a wreck behind them reracked the field and gave Friesen back the lead. On the following single file restart, Friesen quickly opened up a big lead on Britten. Over the remaining caution filled laps, Friesen was able to stay clear of Britten, and he drove away to the win in the series opener. Peter Britten, Billy Decker, Max McLaughlin, and Mat Williamson rounded out the top five. It was Friesen's eighth career win at DIRTcar Nationals. Racing for the Super DIRTcar Series continues tonight at Volusia with another 30 lap main event.
With the DIRTcar late model portion of DIRTcar Nationals now complete, things ramp up a bit starting tonight as the World of Outlaws late models continue their 2021 season. More money and Outlaw points should up the intensity a bit. The Outlaws opened their 2021 season back in mid January at Volusia, where Kyle Bronson and Kyle Strickler grabbed opening weekend wins. Strickler enters as the points leader, but that team has been searching for some speed after struggling through the opening stretch with the Lucas late models. They've made the switch back to their Longhorn Chassis from the Rockets they started with. Strickler didn't race on Monday night as he focused on his modified, but did race last night, finishing 12th. Strickler was the only driver to finish top five both nights back in January, while he, Kyle Bronson, Ricky Weiss, and Brandon Sheppard were the only drivers with top tens both nights. Entering tonight, Ricky Weiss is the hottest driver with the Outlaws, with five straight top ten finishes back to last season. His last five results are 2nd, 10th, 2nd, 7th, and 4th for an average finish of 5th. Sheppard follows with an average finish of 7.4. Looking at the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula, it likes Brandon Sheppard for tonight. His five wins at the track back to 2019 are why he's the favorite by the formula. He also has the best average finish on half mile race tracks If you can't be at Volusia tonight, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with your fast pass.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was supposed to be in action this weekend at Dixie Speedway in Georgia and Talladega Short Track in Alabam, but both nights have been cancelled because of cold temperatures and expected rain both days. Fans who had tickets will automatically receive credit on their accounts, or they can request refunds. The Outlaws will return to action on February 19th at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Mississippi. Logan Schuchart is the current series points leader over Brad Sweet and David Gravel with two nights complete on the season.
The USAC National Sprint Cars kick off their 2021 season this weekend at Bubba Raceway Park for their portion of the Winter Dirt Games. We'll preview the action on tomorrow's show, but I did want to mention they do have open practice tonight from 6 to 9PM ET. The grandstands are free if you want to watch, and pit passes are $20. Check out @USACNation on Twitter for updates through the night. We'll have a lot more tomorrow.
If you're in the market for other dirt racing podcasts this week, there is plenty to check out. Winged Nation has shows with Rico Abreu and Jason Sides, and Logan Schuchart and Mark Smith. The Dirt from Knoxville is doing a World of Outlaws preview, Quicktime has Blake Anderson, Passing Points has Zach Chappell, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Nerds, Wednesdays with Wayne, and the Midwest Autosports podcast. To see the full list of shows and episodes, along with links to listen, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are two items on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the first night of World of Outlaws Late Models at Volusia along with the Super DIRTcar Series, and there is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
A quick show note, tomorrow, Thursday, will be the final episode of the week. I'll be in Daytona for my NASCAR commitments and will hopefully be back for a new show on Monday, weather permitting.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Wednesday.
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