DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Larson bags $20k at Atomic, busy dirt racing weekend coming up | DIRTRACKR Daily 5/28/21
It is Friday, May 28th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we look ahead to a busy weekend of racing across the country, have details on another Kyle Larson win, and much more. Let's get started.
The full night of racing we were supposed to have last night was hampered by rain across the country, but we did get to see that FAST Series 410 sprint car show at Atomic Speedway in Ohio that paid $20,000 to win. At the end of the night it was Kyle Larson who was standing in victory lane $20 grand richer and with his second sprint car win of 2021. He started fourth and got by early leader Cale Conley before half way and drove away to the win. Hunter Schuerenberg finished second, Conley third, Lachlan McHugh was fourth, and Paige Polyak rounded out the top five. Rico Abreu was out early with mechanical issues, as was Cole Duncan. It's been quite the week for Larson, as he finished 2nd in the Cup race on the road course at Circuit of the Americas last Sunday, went Tuesday to Tri-City in a dirt late model and finished third behind Bobby Pierce and Jonathan Davenport after a qualifying crash, picked up the 410 win last night, and now comes back to Charlotte for the Coke 600 weekend. I know you guys probably get tired of hearing about Larson, but's it's just so insane that he's able to jump in and out of car types and be successful. There isn't a race car driver on the planet that is able to do this like Larson and be at or near the top in all of them. On the season, Larson now has a Cup win, two 410 wins, two dirt late model wins, and two midget wins. That's about as varied as you can get.
One of the races we were looking forward to last night that was rained out was the USAC Silver Crown Series at Terre Haute. It was supposed to be the season opener, but that will now take place on the pavement tonight at Lucas Oil Raceway. The release says USAC is working on a reschedule date for the event, but I saw this morning on Twitter that it's possible the event will just end up being cancelled. I don't know on the validity of that though, so for now we'll just say postponed. The next dirt event for the Silver Crown cars is June 18th at Williams Grove.
The other big rain out from last night was the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series weekend opener at Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri. It was to be the first of two prelim nights leading into Saturday's $30,000 to win Show-Me 100. Thursday's program will be made up today at Wheatland, with a double header on tap. Hot laps begin at 5PM, and following the completion of Thursday's racing, the track will be reworked, and Friday's full show will go on as scheduled. Definitely a busy day is on tap for the late model competitors. As I said on the show yesterday, I think this entire weekend for the Lucas racers is completely wide open. In recent seasons at Wheatland, we've seen both full timers and outsiders win prelim nights and the big show, and late model racing as a whole has seen some parity creep in this season. Tim McCreadie is your current Lucas points leader over Hudson O'Neal and Jonathan Davenport. Besides the Lucas regulars, other drivers to expect tonight and tomorrow include Rick Eckert, Brian Shirley, Shannon Babb, Chase Junghans, Ryan Gustin, both Moyers, Chris Ferguson, Bobby Pierce, and Dennis Erb Jr. I don't know about Brandon Sheppard. I would have assumed with the money available that he would be in the field, but this weekend is not on the Rocket schedule on their website. And the most recent press release from the team says they will be back with the Outlaws next weekend. BShepp didn't race at this event in 2020, but that was because the Outlaws were scheduled against it. If you can't be at Lucas Oil Speedway this weekend, MAVTV Plus has you covered with the live stream.
In other late model news, PCC Motorsports will return to racing at Eldora Speedway June 9th through the 12th for the first time since parting with driver Kyle Strickler. They will field a Longhorn Chassis for Spencer Hughes during the double Dream weekend. The 20 year old driver from Mississippi was the 2020 Comp Cams Super Dirt Series rookie of the year, and has 13 Lucas appearances and one Outlaw appearance in recent years. His best Lucas result in 2020 was two tenth place runs at Batesville in August. Craig Sims told Kevin Kovac this is just a one weekend deal for now between Hughes and PCC.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are back in action tonight at Terre Haute, but one driver we won't see is Brock Zearfoss. It was announced this morning that he will sit out the next few weeks because of lingering symptoms from a recent concussion. It's been a rough stretch for Zearfoss with a lot of torn up equipment and bad luck, and according to the release Zearfoss has not been feeling well since his crash at Magnolia on March 12th. Zearfoss joins Mason Daniel as drivers currently sidelined with concussions. Looking at tonight, Brad Sweet enters as the points leader, but David Gravel and Carson Macedo have been chipping away at his lead in recent weeks, with Gravel 56 points behind, and Macedo 86 back. Sweet was a Terre Haute winner back in 2018, but finished 22nd at the track last season after suffering issues. Logan Schuchart won that race. Besides the tightening points battle, 300 watch continues for Donny Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing 15 team. We are now at 33 races without a Donny Schatz win, going back to the National Open at Williams Grove in 2020. He's been close multiple times since then, including plenty of podium finishes, near misses, and lots of laps led. Only Sweet and Sheldon Haudenschild have led more laps than Schatz this season. If he's going to get it done somewhere, Terre Haute might be as good a track as any. He's finished second there in the last two series appearances, and 1/2 mile tracks are his bread and butter, with 20 of his last 38 wins coming on the big tracks. And the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula agrees. Schatz is the favorite tonight over David Gravel and Carson Macedo. The other thing to keep an eye on tonight is the weather. We've already seen a bunch of races wiped out for tonight, and there are some rain chances through the day at Terre Haute. Make sure to keep on eye on websites and social media for updates. The racing will be live on DIRTVision.
The All Star Circuit of Champions are also scheduled to have a busy weekend of racing, with three shows in Pennsylvania, starting tonight at Williams Grove. Like the Outlaws though, weather might be the biggest competition this weekend. As of the time of me recording this, the All Stars haven't made any announcements about tonight, but rain chances persist in the northeast through the weekend, so both tonight at the Grove and the Saturday and Sunday shows at Port Royal for the Weikert could be under threat. If they do race, all eyes will be on points leader Tyler Courtney. His last seven finishes are 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st, 8th, and 2nd. The run of wins and strong results have catapulted him to the points lead over Justin Peck and Ian Madsen, and it's clear he's turned the corner in the winged car. Cap Henry was also a winner last weekend at Gas City, and Zeb Wise's win on Sunday at Kokomo could be a pivotal moment in his young career. Wise has been fast a lot of places, and is definitely a star in the making in the open wheel ranks. If they do race tonight, the prediction formula likes Lance Dewease, with Dewease also the weekend favorite at Port Royal. Make sure to keep an eye on the All Star channels, and you can watch all weekend long live on FloRacing.
Besides the big shows I've mentioned today, there is a crazy amount of dirt racing happening all weekend long. The USMTS modifieds are in action, as is the ASCS at Lake Ozark, Spring Nationals Late Models, and a bunch more. This Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer, and tracks all across the country will be in action. The schedules at dirtondirt.com and tjslideways.com are a good place to start if you are trying to make some decisions.
It's a busy Friday on the streaming schedule with 25 shows being carried across DIRTVision, Fast Four, FloRacing, MAVTV Plus, and others. If you're stuck at home, or your local track is rained out, head over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight and see what there is to watch. It's updated through the weekend, and there is a ton of racing across the country through Monday to watch.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Friday and a good Memorial Day 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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