DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Chris Madden Xtreme Champion, Alex Bowman releases ABR schedule | DIRTRACKR Daily 3/1/21
It is Monday, March 1st, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we recap the racing weekend, including a championship for Chris Madden and the ending of a six year win drought for Tim Wagaman. We also have more details on Jonathan Davenport's situation, Tyler Swank is out at KCP Racing, and Alex Bowman released his team's 2021 schedule. Let's jump in.
On Saturday at Modoc Raceway in South Carolina, the Xtreme DIRTcar Series was in action to crown their season champion. Chris Madden entered the race with a 25 point advantage in the standings over Kyle Strickler, and needed to finish 6th or better regardless of what Strickler did, to take the $15,000 championship. For the feature, it was Christian Hanger and Trent Ivey who led the field to green. Strickler started fourth, and Madden 13th. Unfortunately for the front row starters, Ivey ended up slipping to 12th, and Hanger suffered a flat tire and finished 20th. Out front the race turned into a three way battle for the lead between Dustin Mitchell, Ross Bailes, and Brandon Overton, with each ultimately leading laps. Late in the going, with Bailes out front, Overton used lap traffic and the top side to grab the lead and drive away to his second Xtreme DIRTcar Series win of the season. Bailes finished second, Mitchell third, Hudson O'Neal foruth, and Kyle Strickler was fifth. Madden's charge from 13th to sixth was good enough to see him lock up his second straight series title. We got to see some great racing, four different winners in six races, and a championship battle to the end between Strickler and Madden. You can't ask for much more than that.
After being postponed a week due to weather, Lincoln Speedway's season opener, the Ice Breaker, did happen on Saturday afternoon. Kyle Moody led the early going from the pole, but Tim Wagaman made a move down the backstretch five laps in to take the lead. From there, Wagaman was able to hold off the field over the remaining laps to take Lincoln's season opener. Moody finished second, Tim Glatfelter third, Alan Krimes fourth, and Matt Campbell was fifth. Defending track champion Freddie Rahmer pulled off early and finished 26th. Danny Dietrich was 21st. The win was Wagaman's first since August of 2014.
Other weekend sprint car winners included Blake Carrick in 360 action at Marysville, Jamie Veal at Sungold Stadium, and Michael Pickens at Western Springs. Other weekend late model winners include Payton Freeman at Lavonia, and Dalton Jacobs in 602 action at Fayetteville. For more, visit tjslideways.com and dirtondirt.com.
Looking ahead to this week, we've already had our first weather related cancellation. The World of Outlaws late model event at Duck River Raceway Park that was scheduled for Friday has been lost to saturated grounds and more wet weather in the forecast. Saturday's $12,000 to win show at Smoky Mountain Speedway is still on as scheduled.
We talked back on Friday about Jonathan Davenport's status with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with him deciding to race at Bristol which conflicts with the next two Lucas races. In a story on dirtondirt.com, Davenport told Kevin Kovac that he hasn't officially decided to leave Lucas yet, but that with the history of Atomic and Brownstown being affected by weather they figured they'd roll the dice. This was also an important opportunity for his sponsor, Nutrien Ag Solutions, partnering with Kyle Busch. He and his team plan on racing Bristol, but will keep an eye on weather and see how it plays out. Depending on where they end up racing, they will make a decision about the rest of their season afterwards. To see more details, including a bunch of quotes from Superman, visit dirtondirt.com.
I got an email late last week from Don who is a viewer of the show asking about the situation with Tyler Swank and the KCP Racing sprint car team. Back on Wednesday last week Jeremy Elliott mentioned on his podcast that Swank had been released by KCP after just 10 races working with Gio Scelzi. In five All Star starts this season, Gio has three top ten finishes, with a best of fifth at East Bay. He finished 16th and 23rd at Volusia with the Outlaws. Swank had been the crew chief of the 18 since the beginning of 2020 with KCP working with Ian Madsen, and was obviously just a short time into working with Gio and that new Toyota engine. There has been no formal release from the team about Swank's release, or who will replace him. I asked around a bit to get some details, and don't really know much more than Jeremy reported on his show. I have heard who the replacement is, but as a general rule for this show, I'm not going to delve too far into rumors or stories like this until the team announces something. I'm not a reporter and rumors can be a very slippery slope. I'm much more interested in analysis, breaking things down, and what things mean, than I am in breaking news and trying to be the first to a quote/unquote story. Hearing about Swank's release doesn't surprise me though. Things change so quickly in dirt racing, especially when it comes to drivers and crew guys. In this case, someone decided this pairing wasn't working out, and the owners chose to ride with Gio and find a new head wrench. It's a pretty common tale. Swank is an experienced and talented crew chief though, he won't be on the market for long. I've talked to a lot of drivers and crew chiefs in the last several years about these situations, and it all comes down to chemistry. It takes the right combination of driver, crew chief, chassis, engine, and crew guys to really make these teams successful, but these situations are constantly evolving. One minute you're the guy, on top of the world, and the next you're looking for a spot. If you listened to my recent conversations episode with Drew Warner, he talked about this with Rico. They win Outlaw shows one year, and the next Drew is on the street. Getting these combos right is incredibly difficult and owners will be quick to make a move if they feel it's necessary. With the Outlaws scheduled to race this weekend, I'm sure we'll hear something soon from KCP about who is the new crew chief.
When NASCAR Cup driver Alex Bowman first showed off his sprint car a few months ago, we thought we'd see it debut at Arizona Speedway for the Wild Wing Shootout, but the event came and went without Bowman's team. But on Friday Bowman released his team's 2021 schedule via his Twitter account. Through the year, ABR will compete in 29 events, entering CJ Leary in a sizeable winged 410 sprint car schedule that includes local shows and appearances with the World of Outlaws and All Stars. Bowman himself is actually listed on the schedule for four 410 races, two at Attica and two at Fremont later in July. ABR will also field an asphalt midget for Josh Wise in four events, all at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indy. It's been quite a few years since we saw Josh Wise race at all, let alone in an open wheel car. His duties as a driver coach in recent years have kept him busy as he works with some of NASCAR's best and brightest, but it will be cool to see him strap back in. Leary is better known for his non-wing sprint car exploits, but he'll be another of that breed to dabble in winged competition this season. We've seen guys like Chris Windom get in a few starts, and Tyler Courtney has moved over to the All Stars full time. Leary hasn't raced with the Outlaws since 2018. And whereas in the past, Hendrick Motorsports wasn't keen on their drivers running dirt, that stance seems to have done a complete 180 this year. Between signing Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott running a midget, and now Alex Bowman planning 410 starts. Somewhere I bet Kasey Kahne is wondering where this line of thinking was when he raced for them. To see the full ABR schedule, find @Alex_Bowman on Twitter.
The hits just keep on coming for California dirt racing. They've lost the spring Outlaw swing, the early season ASCS events, and now the Trophy Cup. The 2020 event was originally pushed to May 27th through 29th this year, but now that has been called off. They do hope to have the event later in the year, with racing scheduled for October 21st through the 23rd. Thunderbowl Raceway hasn't seen a single race since Trophy Cup in 2019. When it finally happens, the event for 360 sprint cars will feature a $200,000 purse with the winner taking home $27,000. For more details, visit trophycup.org.
There is nothing on the streaming schedule today except FloRacing 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 Monday.
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