DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Carson Macedo takes over Outlaw points lead; Madden, Overton get wins | DIRTRACKR Daily 3/8/21
It is Monday, March 8th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we go deep on the weekend for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and Late Models, and update you on winners from around the country. Let's jump in.
After a month in between races, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was back in action over the weekend for two shows in Florida. Friday night the series was at Volusia Speedway Park, the site of the other two completed races so far in 2021. Sam Hafertepe sat on the pole and was dominant for much of the feature, but Carson Macedo ran him down late, taking the lead with five laps to go and driving away to the win. Macedo's tenth to first run was also good for the night's hard charger. It was just the second time in three plus seasons that the night's winner was also the hard charger. Brad Sweet did it at Cedar Lake back in 2020, going ninth to the win. Hafertepe finished second, Gio Scelzi was third with new crew chief Bernie Stuebgen, Donny Schatz was fourth, and David Gravel was fifth. Contact earlier in the race between between points leader Logan Schuchart and Gio Scelzi sent Schuchart around and to the back. He recovered to finish 9th, but Macedo's win pulled him even with Schuchart in the standings following Volusia.
On Saturday night at East Bay, second starting Aaron Reutzel had to hold off multiple charges from Donny Schatz and Brad Sweet, but in the end, he officially led all 35 laps to take his first Outlaw win of 2021. It was wild watching him run four wheels over the cushion for most of the race and make it work. Brad Sweet finished second, Carson Macedo hard charged from 17th to finish third, Donny Schatz fourth, and Logan Schuchart finished fifth. I said it last Friday that I thought Reutzel would have a good chance at East Bay based on his past performances there, and he delivered in a big way.
Leaving Florida, Carson Macedo has edged ahead of Logan Schuchart in the standings by four points. Brad Sweet is third eight points back. David Gravel, Donny Schatz, and Aaron Reutzel are all effectively tied for fourth, 24 points behind Macedo. Cory Eliason, Sheldon Haudenschild, Sam Hafertepe, and Brent Marks round out the top ten. Through four races, we've now had four different winners. No driver has finished top five all four nights, with Sweet, Schuchart, Schatz, Gravel, and Macedo all having three top fives. Schuchart, Macedo, and Reutzel all have four top ten finishes. I believe I said back on Friday that Reutzel finished outside the top ten both nights at Volusia for DIRTcar Nationals, and that was correct, but for the All Stars. I was looking at the wrong stat page. Reutzel's DCN finishes were 6th and 10th with the Outlaws. Just wanted to correct that. Macedo leads all drivers in best average finish at 3.75, but what's crazy is his average start is 11th, which is nearly five spots lower than Schuchart behind him. To go along with that Macedo leads the series in feature plus/minus at +29. We saw a similar story play out for Schuchart last season, this whole start lower and then battle your way to the front, but it ultimately cost Schuchart the championship. I love the ability to pass cars, but if you can't start towards the front on a regular basis, the battle gets much more difficult. Through four races, we've had one winner from second, two from fourth, and one from tenth. Macedo's win from 10th on Friday night was only the third win from that starting spot back through 2018. On the flip side, talking about Logan Schuchart needing to start closer to the front, through four races he's done just that. He has four top ten starts, and four top ten finishes for a top ten efficiency of 100%. That's how you win World of Outlaws championships. The other story line we'll have to wait for is Donny Schatz's 300th career win. He finished fourth both nights, with his current winless streak sitting at 11 races. The Outlaws are back this weekend for two more shows, Friday night at Magnolia and Saturday at the Rev.
One other note from the weekend. I said last week that I didn't think Tyler Swank would be without a spot for long, and I was correct. This past weekend he was crew chiefing for Parker Price Miller in Florida. PPM finished 8th at Volusia and 18th at East Bay.
The World of Outlaws Late Model Series was back in action this weekend as well, getting in the Saturday night show at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Tennessee. As expected, a very stout field of 51 cars was in attendance. Jonathan Davenport and Chris Madden led the field to green, and it was Madden who was quickly out to the lead. Madden was looking for redemption from last year when he fell out of the race with power steering issues while leading. And it was redemption that he got. Madden led all 50 laps en route to the $12,000 win. Mike Marlar, Davenport, Hudson O'Neal, and Tim McCreadie rounded out the top five. Points leader Kyle Strickler finished 15th after needing to transfer in from one of the night's B mains. Leaving Smoky Mountain, Strickler still leads the standings by 66 points. He only lost two points to second with the 15th place finish. Brandon Sheppard leaped from sixth to second with an eighth place finish. Ricky Weiss, Tyler Bruening, and Kyle Bronson round out the top five. It was another rough night for Cade Dillard, who finished 31st after getting involved in an early incident. Through six races last season, he had three top tens and win, but this season is way down in 11th in points with just one top five and one top ten. And even though he's up to second in the points, we still haven't seen Brandon Sheppard be a factor this year. He has four top tens in six races, but has yet to crack the top five. That Rocket team is missing a little something right now, which is not what we've come to know from that group. So far this season, we've had one win from the pole, two from second, two from fourth, and one from fifth. Madden's 50 laps led vaulted him to the top of that category, with his season total now 69. The Outlaws are off now for a few weeks. They return to racing on March 26th and 27th at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina.
And speaking of Cherokee, Brandon Overton dominated their March Mardness Southern All Stars race on Sunday. He went quick time, won his heat, and led all 60 laps of the feature to score the $10,000 win, one day after finishing 11th with the Outlaws at Smoky Mountain. Jonathan Davenport, Jimmy Owens, Zack Mitchell, and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top five. A very nice field of 40 cars took part. Other weekend late model winners included Bob Gardner at Springfield Raceway in Missouri, and Bryan Mullis in Southeastern action at Cherokee on Saturday. For more weekend late model results, visit dirtondirt.com.
The USMTS modifieds got their 2021 season rolling over the weekend in Texas at RPM Speedway where Terry Phillips and Dereck Ramirez picked up wins. Ramirez leaves the opening weekend as the points leader, with the USMTS modifieds scheduled to be back in action on March 26th at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas.
In other sprint car action from the weekend, Hunter Schuerenberg had an impressive day at Lincoln Speedway in Pennsylvania on Saturday, leading much of the feature, before surrending the top spot late to Tim Shaffer who went on to the victory. Schuerenberg tangled with a lap car which led to front wing damage, and he couldn't hold Shaffer off. Justin Sanders swept the Silver Cup weekend at Silver Dollar Speedway in California, while Dominic Scelzi and Shane Golobic split 360 wins at Kern County Raceway Park. Mark Smith bagged the USCS win at Saturday at Chatham Speedway. For more weekend open wheel winners, visit tjslideways.com.
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.
Stay tuned for another DIRTRACKR Conversations episode later today. This one features Tony Rost who will compete weekly at Knoxville in a 360 sprint car this season. Tony has an interesting racing journey, which includes a detour to get his Doctorate from the University of Nebraska and an MBA. We talk about his path, plus a ton about the business of dirt racing, as Tony has a unique perspective on it. Find that show in this podcast feed or the DIRTRACKR YouTube channel.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Monday.
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