DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Could Jonathan Davenport miss races and still win the Lucas championship? | DIRTRACKR Daily 4/20/21
It is Tuesday, April 20th, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today on the show I've got some thoughts about Jonathan Davenport and his season ahead, plus we take a look at the Super DIRTcar Series entry list for Bristol and get you ready for their 2021 campaign. Let's jump in.
We talked very briefly on the show yesterday about Jonathan Davenport making his way to seventh in the points standings with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series after an abysmal start to 2021 that basically left him pondering his series status. That rough start, along with the enticement of big money at Bristol and the opportunity to team up with Kyle Busch meant skipping the Lucas race at Brownstown back in March, but because that event hasn't been completed yet, that hasn't hurt Superman just yet in the standings. Through the first six Lucas races to start the season, Davenport had just one top ten finish, and that was after dominating the Wild West Shootout out in Arizona. But since finishing 28th at East Bay on January 29th, Davenport has five top six finishes in his last six starts, including the win on Sunday at Port Royal and a third Saturday at Hagerstown. He also won the Flo Night in America show Thursday at Tyler County, and a Southern All Star race Friday at Mountain Motor Speedway in Kentucky. But this recent run of success and the climb in the standings with Lucas hasn't led to any more clarity about how the rest of his season will play out. In a post yesterday at dirtondirt.com, Davenport told Kevin Kovac that he isn't sure what the team's plans are for the weekend, which includes the Outlaws in Kentucky and Ohio, Lucas in Indiana, and other well paying shows. So if Davenport doesn't know where they are going this weekend, he certainly hasn't decided on the rest of the year. If he can stay hot, the 145 point deficit he has right now to Tim McCreadie could be wiped out in a matter of weeks, but he'd need a little luck. It's certainly doable with so much of the season still to come. The craziest thing in the piece from Kovac though was a quote from Davenport right towards the end. He said they might try and get the points lead with Lucas by enough so they can skip Knoxville in September to run for $50,000 to win at Texas Motor Speedway, just to come back and try and rally again for the championship. What?! It's nuts to think a driver could miss multiple series races in a season and still contend for the championship. It's even more nuts to hear a driver say that without thinking they are completely full of of BS. In this case though, I kind of believe him. I feel like if anyone could do it, it might just be Superman, Jonathan Davenport.
Bristol Motor Speedway is coming back to life this weekend for the final events on dirt in 2021. Thursday is a practice night, with Friday and Saturday being race nights for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and Super DIRTcar Series big block modifieds. The Super DIRTcar Series released their full 42 car entry list for the weekend just this morning. It's a stacked list that includes the top names in northeast modified racing. They 42 drivers are as follows: Chad Phelps, Tyler Dippel, Jackson Gill, Mike Gular, Jack Lehner, Rusty Smith, Justin Haers, Chad Brachmann, Marc Johnson, Kevn Root, Chris Hile, Rich Scagliotta, Matt Sheppard, Ryan Watt, Marcus Dinkins, Jessey Mueller, Brett Hearn, Peter Britten, Brandon Walters, Kyle Coffey, Erick Rudolph, Danny Johnson, Jordan McCreadie, Max McLaughlin, Mike Mahaney, Pat Ward, Keith Flach, Jimmy Horton, Stewart Friesen, Dave Rauscher, Carey Terrance, Brian Swartzlander, Tim Sears Jr., Gary Tomkins, Mat Williamson, Olden Dwyer, Billy Decker, Craig Mitchell, Jimmy Phelps, Larry Wight, Demetrios Drellos, and Jimmy Britt. Both races are 40 laps and pay $10,000 to the winner. The SDS has had one points paying race so far in 2021, which was at Can Am Speedway back 10 days ago. Stewart Friesen topped Tim Fuller and Larry Wight, and he currently leads the series points standings. Friesen also picked up two wins at DIRTcar Nationals back in February, while Max McLaughlin and Mike Maresca were also winners at Volusia. 26 nights lay ahead for the northeast competitors, with $40,000 going to the champion, not to mention all the purse money that will be paid out over those races. Along with the 42 drivers we'll see at Bristol, we know 17 currently plan on racing full time with the series. They are defending champion Mat Williamson, whose wins in big races have earned him the nickname "Money" Mat. You can actually hear from Mat on a conversations episode I did with him back in November of 2020. Matt Sheppard is a seven time series champion and he's back to try and knock Williamson off the mountain. Veterans Billy Decker and Jimmy Phelps will be hot on their heels, with both having the talent and equipment to win any night out. Lightning Larry Wight has 11 series wins in his career, including Super DIRT Week in 2018. Erick Rudolph has contended for championships before and is certainly one to watch as well. Mike Mahaney, Demetrios Drellos, Jack Lehner, Peter Britten, and Marcus Dinkins all have experience with the series, with some looking for their first ever wins. Long time competitors Dave Rauscher and Rusty Smith will jump in, along with rookies Chris Hile, Kevin Root, Brandon Walters, and Olden Dwyer. If you haven't had a chance to check out big block modifieds before, this will be a great weekend to see them, as they take to the big stage with the sprint cars at Bristol. The drivers sit in the center of the race car, which weighs 2500 pounds and carries a 467 cubic inch engine making somewhere near 800 horsepower. They are certainly unique race cars, but they provide fantastic racing. Don't forget you can watch the series all season long live on DIRTVision with your fast pass, which includes this weekend at Bristol. For more details on the series, visit superdirtcarseries.com.
The only thing on the streaming schedule today is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Before we close up shop, I've got a stat for your dirt racing brain. Robert Ballou is back full time with the USAC National Sprint Car Series this season, and he leads the series in top ten value finishes, converting four outside top ten starts into three top ten finishes. Two of those also resulted in hard charger awards, including a 22nd to 9th run at Lawrenceburg on April 3rd, and a 20th to 10th run this past Friday night at Bloomington. For more cool stats, check out dirtrackr.com/analytics.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Tuesday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
You can find DIRTRACKR Daily where you get podcasts, plus YouTube and Facebook. If you like what I'm doing, please subscribe and leave a review.
You can email the show at info@dirtrackr.com. I do check those every day.
You can follow dirtrackr on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and tiktok. at D I R T R A C K R
And you can checkout the website for all kinds of cool dirt racing stuff by visiting dirtrackr.com.
Thanks for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!