DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Tony Stewart wins All Star battle, Kyle Larson racing through the weekend | DIRTRACKR Daily 4/16/21
It is Friday, April 16th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today on the show we'll look back on last night's racing, including a wild finish to the All Stars at Virginia Motor Speedway. We'll then get you ready for a busy race weekend that includes the Outlaws, All Stars, Lucas, USAC, and more. Let's jump in.
The All Star Circuit of Champions kicked off a four race weekend last night with a $12,000 to win show at Virginia Motor Speedway. We watched it live with some folks on a YouTube watch party, I appreciate everyone who stopped by. As for the race itself, it turned into a wild affair. Cory Eliason led much of the feature from the pole, with Justin Peck running him down from sixth and applying the pressure through much of the second half. But things got ugly inside ten to go. The track took rubber and the battle of attrition was on. At the end, we only had 13 of 24 cars still running, with names like Eliason, Rico Abreu, Hunter Schuerenberg, Ian Madsen, Anthony Macri, and more in the infield with popped right rear tires. Eliason losing his right rear handed the lead to Justin Peck who looked like he might come out on top, but in turn four coming to the checkered, his right rear gave out and that let eighth starting Tony Stewart by to take the win. Kerry Madsen survived to finish second, Peck limped to third, with Chase Dietz and Paul McMahan rounding out the top five. The win was the sixth career All Star win for Stewart, who also owns the series. It was certainly a tough break for Eliason who dominated much of the night, only to end up 19th. Following the race, Peck still leads the points standings over Zeb Wise, Brent Marks, Tyler Courtney, and Hunter Schuerenberg. Eliason is back to sixth. There is still plenty more racing to come for the All Stars though, with the series headed to Williams Grove tonight, Port Royal on Saturday, and Bedford on Sunday. Looking at weekend win predictions, Kyle Larson is the favorite for tonight at the Grove, and he will actually be in attendance. He ran last night's late model race at Tyler County, more on that in a bit, he's running tonight at the Grove in the Silva 57, Saturday at Hagerstown in the Lucas late model race, and then back to his NASCAR job on Sunday at Richmond. Lance Dewease trails Larson in win chances for tonight. For tomorrow at Port Royal, Lance Dewease is the projected favorite by the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula, with Brent Marks and Danny Dietrich trailing him in win chances. Dewease has won the previous two All Star races at Port Royal, including the Tuscarora 50 last season. And for Sunday at Bedford, the formula likes Danny Dietrich for the win. He has two top fives in the All Stars previous two trips to the track, including finish second to Aaron Reutzel there in August last season. If you can't be at the Central PA tracks this weekend to watch the All Stars, they will be streaming live on FloRacing.
The FloRacing Night in America Late Model Series got their 2021 midweek schedule underway last night with the opener at Tyler County Speedway in West Virginia. At the end of the 40 lapper, it was Jonathan Davenport who was standing in victory lane with the $10,000 check. He kept Tyler Erb and Kyle Larson at bay to lead every lap for the opening night win. Davenport had to fight off Larson earlier in the night in a fantastic heat race, and he jumped to the lead right at the start over pole sitter Jacob Hawkins. Erb started fourth and Larson fifth, but they couldn't run Superman down in the closing laps. Mason Zeigler and Hawkins rounded out the top five. The FloRacing Night in America Late Models return next Wednesday night at Atomic Speedway for $22,000 to win. You can of course watch live on FloRacing.
In MLRA Late Model action last night, Billy Moyer Sr. scored the $5000 win at Davenport, topping Jason Papich, Brian Shirley, Ashton Winger, and Terry Phillips. That's three different winners through three race nights for the MLRA. The series continues their busy week of racing tonight and tomorrow at 34 Raceway in Iowa for the Slocum 50 weekend. You can watch that live on FloRacing.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was supposed to be racing twice this weekend, but weather has forced the postponement of tonight's action from Lawton Speedway in Oklahoma. That leaves just Saturday night at Devil's Bowl in Texas on the schedule. James McFadden and Carson Macedo split the wins last weekend at Kokomo and Haubstadt, and Brad Sweet enters the weekend with a 92 point advantage over Sheldon Haudenschild. Devil's Bowl Speedway is always a fun place to visit for the series, being as how it was the site of the very first World of Outlaws event back in 1978. Lately, the track has belonged to Logan Schuchart. He's won the last two races there, in 2020 and 2019, and finished 4th and 2nd at the track in 2018. A bit surprisingly though, he is not the favorite for tomorrow according to the prediction formula. His finishes of 19th and 22nd last weekend in Indiana have dropped him below Brad Sweet in win chances. Sweet is the favorite, with Schuchart second, and Carson Macedo and David Gravel neck and neck for third. I would also watch out for McFadden this weekend. He nearly won both races a week ago, and has been hot since joining the Outlaws this season. He's finished top five in four of his last five races, and without issues at Pevely on April 2nd, it might be five for five. We'll also be watching to see if Donny Schatz can break out his funk and get his 2021 pointed back in the right direction. He has five straight finishes outside the top ten, and he's now gone 20 World of Outlaws races without a win. If you can't be at Devil's Bowl on Saturday, you can watch live on DIRTVision with your fast pass.
If you're looking for some late model racing this weekend, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is back in action after several weeks off. They will be at Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland tomorrow and Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania on Sunday. Hudson O'Neal is the most recent race winner, back on March 21st at Atomic Speedway, and he's also the points leader by 45 markers over Devin Moran. Tim McCreadie, Kyle Bronson, and Brandon Sheppard round out the top five. Like I said earlier, Kyle Larson will be in attendance tomorrow at Hagerstown, driving the K&L Rumley six car again. Jonathan Davenport is the most recent winner at Hagerstown, back in 2019, while Kyle Larson and Tim McCreadie won at Port Royal with Lucas in 2020. So far this season through 10 races, we've had eight different winners, with O'Neal and Tyler Erb the only drivers with multiple wins. Moran leads all drivers with six top fives, and Brandon Overton has the most top tens with eight. The battle for this Lucas championship still feels very wide open, and if somebody could get hot, they could easily rise up and take control of this fight. Even though he's third, I feel like McCreadie might just be the favorite here with his experience. O'Neal has been good to start the season, but can he keep it up is the question. The Lucas races will be streamed live this weekend on MAVTV Plus.
Also in action this weekend for three shows in Indiana are the USAC National Sprint Cars. They are at Bloomington Speedway tonight, Tri-State Speedway tomorrow, and Paragon Speedway on Sunday. Kevin Thomas Jr., Justin Grant, and Brady Bacon have won the three shows so far in 2021, and Bacon currently leads the points standings by four over Justin Grant. CJ Leary, Chris Windom, and KTJ round out the top five. Bloomington and Haubstadt are pretty regular stops for the series, but Sunday's trip to Paragon will be the first for the USAC sprint cars since July 25, 1998. We will most likely see a first time USAC winner at Paragon, but several drivers in the field have success at the 3/8 mile track including AJ Hopkins, Dave Darland, Kyle Cummins, Chase Stockon, and Chris Windom. As for Bloomington tonight, Windom is the most recent winner there, back on September 11th last year. And Stephen Schnapf, Kyle Cummins, and Chase Stockon picked up Haubstadt wins in 2020. Brady Bacon continues to be the man to beat though. He hasn't finished outside the top ten in 14 races, with his last six starts producing two wins, three seconds, and a fourth. His average finish over the previous ten races is an incredible 2.7. If you can't attend the USAC sprint car shows this weekend, watch live all weekend long on FloRacing.
When the NASCAR Trucks head to Knoxville in July for their second dirt race of the season, we'll have at least one dirt racing ringer in the field. Kyle Busch Motorsports announced this morning that sprint car driver Brian Brown will pilot the number 51 truck in the event with backing from Casey's General Stores and Rowdy Energy Drink. Brown is a multi time Knoxville track champion and has World of Outlaws wins on his resume. This will be Brown's first ever start in a NASCAR event. There have been some rumors for a while about this, and the announcement seemed fairly inevitable with Brown's partnership with Kyle Busch's Rowdy Energy this season on his sprint car. Knoxville's weekly season opens tomorrow night, while Brown has made 11 World of Outlaws starts so far in 2021, with a best finish of 9th at Pevely.
Make sure before you head out this weekend that you check to make sure your track or series is still running. We've already had several cancellations and postponements, including the Outlaws at Lawton, POWRi Midgets at I-30, Lernerville, and Bedford.
If you can't make it to the track today, there are 19 shows on the streaming schedule. FloRacing has the USAC Sprint Cars from Bloomington, All Stars at Williams Grove, MLRA Late Models at 34 Raceway and more. DIRTVision has weekly action from Attica, Dirt Track Digest TV has weekly racing from Big Diamond, and Speed Sport has a ton of stuff from across the country. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. Looking towards the weekend, there are something like 70 races across the different providers, so there will be plenty to get into the next few days.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Friday and a good weekend. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
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