DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Donny Schatz looking for win 300, Bernie Stuebgen back with Gio Scelzi | DIRTRACKR Daily 3/5/21
It is Friday, March 5th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today on the show we will get you back up to speed and ready for the World of Outlaws sprint car and late model weekend ahead, including win predictions and who to watch. We also know officially who will crew chief for Gio Scelzi going forward, and we take a look at what other racing is going on and talk about what to watch on the streaming services. Let's jump in.
After a month long wait, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is finally back in action tonight at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida. Between COVID forced cancellations and bad weather, it's been a rough four weeks for the Outlaws, but the wait ends tonight. Following Volusia tonight, the series will head tomorrow to East Bay Raceway Park where they haven't raced in 38 years. After the two nights of DIRTcar Nationals back in February, Logan Schuchart leads the series points standings on the strength of one win and two top fives. Brad Sweet trails by only six points, and was the other Outlaw winner that weekend. David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Cory Eliason, Jacob Allen, Aaron Reutzel, Donny Schatz, Danny Dietrich, and Tyler Courtney round out the top ten in the standings. This weekend will present an interesting challenge for the teams and drivers, as Volusia and East Bay are two drastically different race tracks. Volusia is a big, wide, fast half mile, while East Bay is a 3/10 mile bull ring. One driver who will be looking for a little redemption is Donny Schatz. He was running away towards the win on the final night of DCN back a month ago, but had his ignition go bad with two laps remaining and ended up 15th. That trouble handed the win to Schuchart. Schatz currently sits on 299 career World of Outlaws wins, with his last win coming 9 races ago, back in October of 2020 at Williams Grove for the National Open. Schatz is 3rd all time in World of Outlaws wins, and number 300 will bring him within 94 of Sammy Swindell for second.
Once we get rolling again tonight, the dog fight for the 2021 title will be back underway, and I really think there are five or six guys who could legitimately win this thing. We talked a few days ago about Logan Schuchart's possible path to the championship, and I talked about David Gravel a few weeks ago, as I think some are overlooking him in this fight. Schatz and Sweet will again be in the thick of things, as someone not named Schatz or Sweet hasn't won the title since Daryn Pittman won it in 2013. Besides those four, I also like Carson Macedo a lot, and if Sheldon Haudenschild can stay consistent, he could get into this battle as well. It's the most wide open title fight we've seen in years, and don't forget that race for rookie of the year. Aaron Reutzel, Brock Zearfoss, Parker Price-Miller, and James McFadden all enter with Outlaw wins on their resume. I do think Reutzel is the favorite here, but if he has some off nights, and McFadden can get hot, look out.
Looking at tonight's racing, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Brad Sweet. Between the Outlaws and All Stars, Sweet has four wins at Volusia back through 2019. He was also one of three to finish top five both nights at DIRTcar Nationals this year. Donny Schatz and Logan Schuchart aren't far behind in the output from the formula. As for East Bay on Saturday night, the prediction formula favors Donny Schatz, which also isn't much of a surprise. Schatz has the best average finish and most wins on 3/10 mile race tracks in the last three seasons. Race tracks of that size that the Outlaws have raced on recently include Skagit, Willamette, and River Cities. Schatz was also the East Bay winner with the All Stars back on February 2nd. Another driver who isn't high on the list from the formula, but could be a threat at East Bay is Aaron Reutzel. He was an All Star winner there in 2020, and finished fourth on the second night. He finished outside the top ten both nights at Volusia for DCN, but East Bay could be a good track for him to get his first win of the year.
For the season so far, both Outlaw winners have come from the fourth starting position, the two dashes were won from 2nd and 6th, four heats have been won from the pole, with three from second. If you cannot be at Volusia tonight and East Bay tomorrow, you can watch live on DIRTVision with your fast pass.
Thanks to a tweet from him yesterday, we now know that Bernie Stuebgen of Indy Race Parts fame is taking over the crew chief role for Gio Scelzi and the KCP Racing sprint car. Bernie and Gio worked together in the past, and the two had success together, including winning a World of Outlaws show at Williams Grove. Bernie takes over for the recently released Tyler Swank. Gio and the KCP Racing 18 will be in action this weekend with the World of Outlaws at Volusia and East Bay.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series is back this weekend after a three week break following DIRTcar Nationals. They were supposed to be racing tonight at Duck River Raceway Park, but that event was lost due to weather. The series will be in action tomorrow at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Tennessee for the Tennessee Tipoff. It sounds like a very strong field of cars is expected to be at Smoky Mountain to take on the full time Outlaws. After five race nights in 2021, all at Volusia, Kyle Strickler leads the points standings by 68 over Kyle Bronson. Strickler has two wins, four top fives, and five top tens to lead the way. Ricky Weiss, Tyler Bruening, Dennis Erb Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Rick Eckert, Scott Bloomquist, Darrell Lanigan, and Ross Bailes round out the top ten in the standings. Several drivers will be looking to bounce back after rough starts to the season, including Brandon Sheppard, who is winless in five Outlaw starts and nine Lucas starts in 2021. Sheppard's best finish with the Outlaws was a sixth on February 11th, and he has yet to really be a factor for a win. Cade Dillard also had a tough start in Florida. After finishing second on the opening night of the season back on January 14th, Dillard had finishes of 21st, 18th, 25th, and 12th. He ended up third in the standings in 2020, and will be looking to regain that form this weekend.
The last three visits to Smoky Mountain for the Outlaws and Lucas were won by three different drivers. Mike Marlar and Jimmy Owens bagged Outlaw wins, while Brandon Overton is the most recent Lucas winner. Because of his incredibly hot start to the season, Kyle Strickler is favored by the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula. Brandon Sheppard is second in win chances, but by a good margin. This could be a good track for Sheppard to get his season going in the right direction though. He leads the Outlaws in best average finish and most wins on half mile race tracks back through 2019. As for Strickler, he had some nice runs with the Xtreme DIRTcar Series since leaving DIRTcar Nationals, and now the real test begins. Can he stay fast and consistent as the scenery and tracks change, especially with guys like Brandon Sheppard breathing down his neck. Another driver who we expect to be a contender all year long is Ricky Weiss, and he'll be interesting to watch going forward. He left Volusia with one top five and five top tens, but he's started 15th or worse in all five features so far this season. He's doing yeoman's work passing cars, and he leads the series in feature plus/minus and top ten value finishes so far. But that's not how you're going to be a threat for a championship. The Outlaws' race at Smoky Mountain Speedway will also be live on DIRTVision.
Other late model racing to pay attention to this weekend is the March Madness event at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina. They've got Southeastern limited late models headlining action on Saturday with a $2000 to win race, and then Sunday they've got a $10,000 to win Southern All Stars Super Late Model race. I would expect a lot of the guys who run Smoky Mountain on Saturday to head to Cherokee on Sunday with good money on the line. Port Royal also opens their season on Sunday with a $3000 to win super show.
As for open wheel racing, you've got the USCS in action at Chatham tonight and tomorrow, Kern County and Silver Dollar out in California have winged 360s, and you've got weekly shows for both Lincoln and Port Royal in Pennsylvania this weekend featuring 410 sprint cars. There is plenty of other racing happening as well, including the USMTS modifieds' season opener at RPM Speedway. If you're headed out this weekend, stay safe and enjoy the racing. If you can't go out, stay in and watch one of the many streaming events. And speaking of streaming...
There are five shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars from Volusia Speedway Park, FloRacing has Flo 24/7 and the Harvest 100 from All-Tech Raceway, RacinBoys has NOW600 micros from Red Dirt Raceway, RacinDirt has the USMTS modified opener from RPM Speedway, and Speed Sport has 360 sprint cars from Kern County, and 360s at Silver Dollar Speedway. To see the full daily streaming schedule, including links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. There are no less than 25 shows across the streaming platforms through the weekend, so stay tuned to that page daily to see what is available to watch.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Friday and a good weekend.
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