DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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James McFadden debuting with the Outlaws, Austin Dillon wins at Bristol | DIRTRACKR Daily 3/17/21
It is Wednesday, March 17th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we've got details on the fourth dirt driver running the Bristol Cup race, James McFadden is set for his 2021 Outlaw debut, it was a busy day at Bristol yesterday for day two of the Dirt Nationals, we've got schedule news from Lucas, new podcast episodes this week, and more, so let's jump in.
We talked yesterday on the show about Mike Marlar joining Chris Windom and Shane Golobic as full time dirt drivers racing in the NASCAR Cup event at Bristol, and we've since added another. Stewart Friesen announced last night that he will join Spire Motorsports for the Bristol dirt event and drive their number 77 with Halmar International as the primary sponsor. Friesen is full time in the NASCAR truck series and has two series wins on his resume, both in 2019, at Eldora on the dirt and Phoenix. This will be Friesen's first Cup start, and the Cup event adds to a busy Bristol dirt schedule for Friesen that now includes both NASCAR events, the World of Outlaws Late Model event on April 9th and 10th, and the Super DIRTcar Series big block modified races on April 23rd and 24th. Friesen's dirt resume is insane and includes wins at Super DIRT Week, with the Short Track Super Series, and a World of Outlaws Sprint Car win back in 2015. He's also made his first super late model starts this season, including appearances with Lucas, the Outlaws, and the Xtreme DIRTcar Series. The NASCAR Cup race on the Bristol dirt takes place on Sunday, March 28th.
Through the first six World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series races this season, we've been missing one of the four rookies who will compete in 2021 for rookie of the year. Between COVID restrictions and the birth of his child, James McFadden hadn't yet traveled from his home in Australia to begin his season with Kasey Kahne Racing and the Outlaws, but that changes this weekend. Starting at Cotton Bowl on Friday and Saturday, Kasey Kahne steps out of the seat of the number nine to make way for McFadden. Through the first six events, Kahne had finishes of 9th, 22nd, 13th, 8th, 5th, and 6th and he currently sits ninth in the standings, with the nine team also ninth in team points. McFadden's situation became a bit controversial leading into the season, as the Outlaws announced they would award him show up points for the races he'd be missing. He currently sits 23rd in the standings, 406 points out of the lead, and 340 points behind leading rookie Aaron Reutzel. I have no issue with him getting the points, and if he's somehow able to climb out of this big hole, he will have earned it. Others seem to think it's bogus to award him points for races he hasn't run, but the Outlaws have done this in the past. To run Reutzel down, he'll have to beat him on average about 2.5 positions a night for the rest of the season. It's not impossible, but I think it's improbable. Reutzel will have some slip ups, but he's also going to win some races as well. Once he gets rolling again, McFadden could be a real threat this season for race wins though. He made improvements in basically every stat category from 2019 to 2020, and racked up a win, nine top fives, and 12 top tens in 22 starts last season. He also had three of those top fives and the win in his final five races of the year. We'll have more on the Outlaw weekend and what to expect at Cotton Bowl tomorrow and Friday on the show.
It was a busy day yesterday on the dirt at Bristol as rain on Monday pushed much of that racing to yesterday, along with Tuesday's full slate of action. When it was all said and done, we had our first ten winners of the week, highlighted by NASCAR driver Austin Dillon winning a 604 late model feature, and 12 year old Trey Mills bagging a win in a 602 late model feature. Dillon is getting some seat time in advance of the NASCAR events, and led his feature from green to checkered driving for Cory Hedgecock. As for Mills, the youngster from Florida, he looked like a veteran on the Bristol high banks. I'd assume he's now the youngest driver to ever win a race of any kind at Bristol. There were also some wild crashes through the day, including a big late model flip for Shawn Cooney and another for Marty Carrier. You can find photos and videos of the action on Twitter @BristolDirt. We also got to see Joey Logano back behind the wheel of Ryan Flores' modified. He finished sixth in his heat in advance of features that take place today. As you watch or listen to this, racing is already underway today at Bristol with another packed day of action on tap. We'll see sportmods, open modifieds, 602 late models, 604 late models, and stock cars through the day with both heat races and features on the schedule. For more information, visit bristoldirt.com, and don't forget you can watch live on XR+.
Because of forecasted poor weather and cold temperatures on Friday in Ohio, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has moved the Spring 50 at Atomic Speedway from Friday to Sunday. Saturday's race at Brownstown Speedway in Indiana is still on as scheduled. Both races will be streamed live on MAVTV Plus, with Brownstown paying $15,000 to win and Atomic paying $12,000 to win. We'll talk more about the Lucas weekend and get you back up to speed on where we stand with the series on Friday's show.
If you need some company at work this week, there are plenty of other dirt racing podcast episodes to check out. Winged Nation has Jeremy Elliott, Greg Wilson and Lance Dewease. Open Red has Gary Wright and Aaron Reutzel, the Loudpedal guys have Zeb Wise and Shane Golobic, Stick Signals has Chase Junghans, SuaveTalk has Timothy Culp, Forward Bite has Mike Marlar, Ohio Dirt has Brett Lane, Quicktime has Jakob Weaver, Passing Points has Mike Goodman, Track Talk has Keith Flach, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Nerds and Wednesdays with Wayne. To see the full list of shows along with recent episodes and links to everything, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are again two items on the streaming schedule today between FloRacing 24/7 and day three of the Bristol Dirt Nationals on XR+. 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 Wednesday.
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