DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Larson wins at Port Royal, Dietrich takes points lead, Pierce gets 30th win | DIRTRACKR Daily 7/1/21
Today is Thursday, July 1st, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we are talking about a shakeup in the PA speedweek points after last night's Port Royal show which included a Kyle Larson victory. We've also got Summer Nationals results, and what to watch tonight.
Before we dive in, if you like what I'm doing here, please subscribe to the show, leave a review, and hit those follow and notification buttons depending on where you consume this. Make sure to follow @dirtrackr on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And don't forget dirtrackr.com has a bunch more cool dirt racing stuff. Now, let's get going.
Pennsylvania Speedweek kept rolling along last night with a trip to Port Royal Speedway. At the end of the program we were left with yet another Kyle Larson win and a shakeup in the speedweek points standings. Points leader Brent Marks started the feature in the eighth spot, but just a couple of laps in he was done for the night with mechanical issues. He was scored DFL in 24th. That left the door wide open for Danny Dietrich who's been chasing Marks all week. Anthony Macri was the early leader from the pole, and was out to a big lead over Lucas Wolfe, but disaster struck for him on lap eight. AJ Flick ended up spun around in turn one and Macri had no where to go. He tagged Flick's stopped car causing significant damage to the 39 and ending his night. On the ensuing restart, Lucas Wolfe inherited the lead and he was able to drive away from the field. Behind him though, racing through the top five was wild with Jeff Halligan, Larson, Dietrich, and Lance Dewease battling for positions. With eight to go, Larson had moved into second from seventh, and was after Wolfe for the top spot. As Larson started to reel in Wolfe, both drivers made mistakes on the cushion, each taking turns banging the outside wall, and that dragged Lance Dewease into the fight. Over the final laps, Wolfe and Larson traded sliders and the lead, with Larson eventually taking over for good with two to go. He drove away to the win, with Dewease ending up second, Danny Dietrich third, Lucas Wolfe fading to fourth, and Rico Abreu completed the top five. It was a wild ending, and if you haven't watched it, I definitely recommend jumping over to Flo and checking it out. The third for Dietrich and the trouble for Marks allowed Dietrich to take over the speedweek points standings now by ten with four nights remaining. PA Speedweek heads to Hagerstown tonight, and this will be Larson's final race of the week before he travels to Wisconsin for this weekend's NASCAR action. If you want to watch tonight's show online, Jeremy Elliott's SprintCarUnlimited.tv has coverage.
These speedweek races have been really fun to watch the last several nights. There are a lot of things to follow, including this points battle between Dietrich and Marks, and watching Larson battle through these fields. Larson's cars haven't been perfect, and his driving is never flawless, which is part of the reason why he's so fun to watch. At times he screws up his lines, or hits the wall, but he's able to recover so quickly. It's definitely something to see.
Last night was round eight of the Summer Nationals, with the series stopping at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin. We talked yesterday about the car count and who might be in attendance, and in the end I thought it was a nice field for a track that's not traditionally within the Hell Tour footprint. 22 late models were on hand, and the field included Bobby Pierce, Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley, Cade Dillard, Billy Moyer Jr., Frank Heckenast Jr. and others. In the night's 40 lap, $5000 to win feature, it was second starting Bobby Pierce who held the big check at the end. It was his third win of the season, and 30th career Summer Nationals win. Brandon Sheppard, Ashton Winger, Brian Shirley, and Tanner English completed the top five. Frank Heckenast Jr. looked like he was on his way to a perfect night after he bagged a new track record, won his heat race, and started on the feature pole. He led the first 23 laps from the pole, but an electrical issue caused his 99JR to slow crossing the line with 16 laps to go. That ended his night and handed the lead to Pierce, who held off BShepp in the closing laps for the win. World of Outlaws regular Cade Dillard had a good run going late as well, but he tangled with the lap car of Thomas Hunziker inside five to go while running third. The contact sent Hunziker onto his lid on the front stretch and both drivers were done for the night. Hunziker actually calls Oregon home, but has been competing in a lot of these Hell Tour races, which has been a pretty neat story. Hopefully he's able to get his car repaired. The win for Pierce will see him extend his points lead over English and Shirley with Davenport Speedway in Iowa on tap for tonight. You can watch the action live on DIRTVision, and don't forget, tonight's program does not include the Modified Nationals. They are back tomorrow at Joliet.
If you're looking for other racing to catch tonight, you'll have plenty of options. The USAC National Sprint Cars begin a three race weekend tonight at Plymouth, before heading to Lincoln Park on Friday and Saturday. Brady Bacon is the current points leader over Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr., Robert Ballou, and Chris Windom. Bacon has been really good this season, bagging two wins in 16 starts and earning an average finish so far of just under fourth. He's finished top ten in all but one race. Behind him, Robert Ballou continues to be one to watch. He's climbed to fourth in the standings, has two wins, and 15 straight top ten finishes. His worst result this season was a 12th in the season opener back at Bubba Raceway Park. Justin Grant is the most recent winner at Plymouth, back in June of 2020, and he'll be looking to bounce back from a rough 21st place finish last time out at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway. If you can't attend Plymouth tonight, FloRacing has live streaming coverage.
The Super DIRTcar Series is also racing tonight with $7500 on the line at Land of Legends Raceway in Canandaigua, New York. The series hasn't raced since Matt Sheppard bagged the win at Lebanon Valley back on May 31st. Stewart Friesen is the current points leader over Matt Sheppard and Mat Williamson, and Friesen has the most series wins this year with three. Superman Matt Sheppard will be the one to watch tonight, as he's won the two most recent trips to the track, including last October during DIRTcar OktoberFast and in 2019. You can watch the action live with your fast pass on DIRTVision.
And back over on FloRacing tonight, the IRA sprint cars are in action at Plymouth Dirt Track in Wisconsin. This race is being promoted in conjunction with the NASCAR weekend at Road America, and Chase Briscoe will be in the field driving Paul May's 71M sprint car. Bill Balog is the most recent winner with the IRA, back on June 27th at Angell Park and he'll be racing tonight as well. Jake Blackhurst leads the IRA points right now over Scotty Neitzel and Jeremy Schultz. If you're in the area, check it out, there are also winged 360 sprint cars on the card.
It's a busy Thursday on the streaming schedule with 11 shows across the different platforms. That includes the Summer Nationals and Super DIRTcar Series on DIRTVision, USAC sprint cars, IRA, and more on FloRacing, and shows on Speed Sport, RacinDirt, The Cushion, and Sprintcarunlimited.tv. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
And if you haven't checked it out yet, my conversations episode with Toby Bellbowen is out. We talked sprint car racing in Australia, his driving career, his growing YouTube channel, and more. That episode is in the podcast feed and on the YouTube channel.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Thursday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!