DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Sweet wins Jacksonville thriller, CJB adds Buddy Kofoid and Spencer Bayston | DIRTRACKR Daily 4/30/21
It is Friday, April 30th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we are recapping last night's wild race at Jacksonville for the Outlaws, there is news from CJB and their driver lineup, and we look ahead to the weekend for the main national series. Let's jump in.
Well, I hope you watched the Outlaw show last night from Jacksonville, because it was a wild one. If you didn't, do yourself a favor today and go watch the highlights at the very least. The night started off with Sheldon Haudenschild setting a new track record in qualifying, lapping the 1/4 mile Illinois bullring in a time of 9.990 seconds. We talked yesterday on the show about the track being primed for a possible nine second lap, and it happened unofficially in hot laps with Aaron Reutzel going sub ten seconds, and then Sheldon doing it in qualifying. According to the Outlaw Twitter account, it was the 6th time in history we've seen a nine second lap at a World of Outlaws event, with the other five happening at River Cities, Bloomington, US36, Cottage Grove, and Pevely. With 24 cars on such a small race track, the leaders were in lap traffic quickly, so there was constant action through the race. We had guys crash and upset with each other, including Robert Ballou having words with Zach Hampton and Wayne Johnson and Aaron Reutzel exchanging pleasantries. For much of the feature, the battle was between Sheldon and points leader Brad Sweet, with the two swapping the lead three times through the course of the night. Sheldon looked like he had the field covered after he took over the top spot on lap 28, but a cut tire just a few laps later ended his bid and forced him to the work area. He battled back to finish ninth. A caution filled final few laps saw Carson Macedo try and lead, Kyle Larson get spun, and Donny Schatz make a play for win 300. In the end though, Sweet was able to hold the field off for his sixth win of the season. The Schatz we were treated to however looked like the Schatz of old, driving up from 8th, biding his time, and rolling the middle like we've seen him do so many times. After that stretch of five straight races outside the top ten, Donny's last three races have resulted in a fifth and two seconds. It feels again like win 300 is right around the corner. Your top five at the end of the night was Sweet winning, Schatz second, David Gravel third, Carson Macedo fourth, and Rico Abreu fifth. Logan Schuchart finished 8th to end his streak of four straight races outside the top 15, and Aaron Reutzel's 10th place result after being involved in a crash earlier in the night made it 15 top tens in 16 starts. Leaving the night, Sweet extended his points lead to 66 over David Gravel, with Macedo third, Sheldon fourth, and Reutzel fifth.
Looking towards tonight and tomorrow, the series is headed to I-70 Motorsports Park in Missouri for the first time in 35 years. The 3/8 mile track has undergone renovations and looks from the photos to be a very nice facility. And it looks like it should be a beautiful weekend to head to an Outlaw race. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes David Gravel this weekend over Brad Sweet. If you can't be at I-70, DIRTVision has live streaming coverage both nights.
Before we jump into the other racing happening this weekend, we did have some news yesterday from CJB Motorsports. The team's initial plan was to run Brent Marks full time with the All Stars in the five car and Paul McMahan in a sizeable pick and choose schedule in the 23. That plan obviously changed with Brent Marks deciding last week to leave the team and return to fielding his own operation. The team announced yesterday they will remain a two car operation, with McMahan's team becoming the five, and the second car being renumbered to the 5X which will be shared by Spencer Bayston and Buddy Kofoid. McMahan will take Marks' place and stay out full time with the All Stars along with marquee events, while Kofoid and Bayston will appear in the 5X in between their own packed schedules of racing. Kofoid has a sizeable midget schedule with Keith Kunz, along with select pavement late model dates on his slate, while Bayston has been running races in Bernie Stuebgen's Indy Race Parts 71. McMahan will instantly be a contender with the All Stars, and this move gives Kofoid and Bayston great opportunities with a strong team. The All Star championship goes to the winner of the owner's points, so McMahan is effectively inherting Marks' current fifth position in the standings. It won't appear that way on the points, because the All Stars post driver points, but we'll keep you updated as the season rolls along.
And speaking of the All Stars, you'll see McMahan out this weekend when the series heads to Lernerville tonight, Sharon Speedway tomorrow, and Tri City Raceway Park on Sunday. Justin Peck leads the All Stars into the weekend atop the series points standings, while guys like Ian Madsen, Cory Eliason, and Tyler Courtney are hot on his heels. The All Stars' last appearance at Lernerville was in 2019 and Aaron Reutzel was the winner that night. With no Reutzel in the field this season, things will be wide open. It's interesting to note that the guy who finished second to Reutzel that night was none other than Paul McMahan. The series made two trips to Sharon in 2020, with Kyle Larson and Cale Conley getting wins, and the series hasn't been to Tri City in Pennsylvania since 2017. Tim Shaffer was the winner back then. We've had nine winners in ten races so far this season with the All Stars, and a series regular hasn't won since Peck won at Attica int he points season opener back on April 3rd. If you can't be at the track this weekend, watch the All Stars live on FloRacing.
If you're needing a late model fix this weekend, you're in luck, as both national series are in action with the Outlaws at Boone Speedway for the Hawkeye 100, and Lucas in Kentucky.
The Outlaws are coming off their own Kentucky stop last weekend, with Tim McCreadie taking the win at Richmond Raceway. With cancellations last weekend, this will be the first time in 2021 the Outlaws and Lucas are scheduled against each other. Brandon Sheppard enters these two nights as the series points leader over Chris Madden and Kyle Strickler, but he is still seeking that first win of 2021 and his first official laps led. Behind him, Chris Madden has been hot lately with finishes of 4th, 2nd, 6th, and 2nd in his previous four races. He's climbed up the standings quickly in recent weeks. Early season points leader Kyle Strickler's slide has continued with his streak now sitting at seven straight races finishing outside the top ten. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Sheppard this weekend, as his record on 1/4 mile tracks is very good. He leads all drivers in recent seasons in 1/4 mile wins and average finish. Another driver to keep an eye on this weekend is Ricky Weiss. After struggling with his own stretch of finishes outside the top 15, he's turned it around the last two races with finishes of 2nd at Bristol and 4th at Richmond. You can watch the Hawkeye 100 weekend live on DIRTVision.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is back tonight and tomorrow at Ponderosa and Florence in Kentucky after 12 days off. Jonathan Davenport is the most recent winner with the series, from back on April 18th at Port Royal. After struggling through the opening week of the season, Tim McCreadie has caught fire and his results have carried him to the Lucas points lead by 40 over Hudson O'Neal. He grabbed his first win of 2021 a few weeks ago at Hagerstown and hasn't finished worse than 10th since January 27th. Brandon Sheppard sits third in the standings, with Devin Moran and Kyle Bronson rounding out the top five. We will see some shifting in that top five with BShepp in Iowa with the Outlaws. Davenport won at Ponderosa in 2020, topping Billy Moyer Jr. and Mike Marlar, while the series made four appearances at Florence. Earl Pearson Jr., Jimmy Owens, Mike Marlar, and Tim McCreadie were winners in those events. Hudson O'Neal and Tyler Erb lead all drivers with two wins each, McCreadie and Moran are tied at six for most top fives, and McCreadie, O'Neal and Brandon Overton all have eight top tens. If you can't attend the Lucas shows this weekend, MAVTV Plus has live coverage.
Rounding out the list of national series races this weekend is two nights for the USAC National Midgets at Kokomo Speedway in Indiana. That series has been off since April 11th at Port City. Tanner Thorson is the most recent winner. With four race nights complete in 2021, Buddy Kofoid is atop the series points standings, leading Thomas Meseraull by seven markers. Thorson, Justin Grant, and Chris Windom round out the top five. There was no Kokomo appearance for the midgets in 2020 because of COVID, with Tyler Courtney and Kevin Thomas Jr. grabbing the most recent wins at the track back in 2019. Besides the usual cast of characters you can expect to be battling for the win, youngsters Daison Pursley and Emerson Axsom are entering the weekend on high notes, with those two drivers grabbing POWRi midget wins last weekend at Lucas Oil and Valley Speedways. Buddy Kofoid leads all drivers with two wins, he and Justin Grant have the most top fives with three, and TMez, Grant and Kofoid have all finished top ten in every race so far this year. If a trip to Kokomo isn't in the cards, all USAC national events are available on FloRacing.
If you are looking for other racing to check out this weekend, find the schedule at dirtondirt.com for late model shows and the calendar at TJSlideways.com for open wheel racing.
There are literally 28 shows on the streaming schedule for today. Just an insane amount of racing to check out if you can't be at the track. There's northeast racing on Dirt Track Digest, both World of Outlaws series on DIRTVision; USAC, ASCS, All Stars and more on Floracing. The Lucas Late Models are on MAVTV Plus, And there is a ton of weekly and regional action across RacinBoys, RacinDirt, Speed Sport, and The Cushion. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight through the weekend.
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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