DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Tyler Courtney, Kyle Larson crowned at Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway | DIRTRACKR Daily 7/19/21
Today is Monday, July 19th, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we talk Kings Royal, Outlaw late models up north, a tightening Lucas points battle, and much more from the weekend.
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The 37th and 38th Kings Royals are now in the books and we crowned two new Kings at Eldora. Tyler Courtney started out the big money Saturday by taking the 38th Kings Royal and the $175,000, and Kyle Larson closed out the day by bagging the 37th crown and his first ever crown jewel victory. The story of the day's first Kings Royal was Brad Sweet and Courtney. Sweet led laps two through 19 and looked to be the strongest in the field, but he was the victim of a flat right rear, as were several other drivers including Lachlan McHugh, and was forced to the work area under a caution right at half way. He eventually raced back to a ninth place finish. Out front, Sweet's issues handed the lead to Courtney who started second and led the first lap of the race. Over the second half it looked like the track took rubber forcing everyone to the middle lane. Courtney was able to hold David Gravel at bay and take down a huge victory in his first full winged sprint car season. The All Star points leader was crowned King Tyler the 38th and banked $175,000. Gravel crossed the finish line second, but rolled across the scales four pounds light and was DQd. That promoted Danny Dietrich to second, Daryn Pittman was third in the Speedlab 39, Bill Balog finished fourth, and Sheldon Haudenschild hard charged from 23rd to finish 5th after transferring in from the B main. Sheldon was the only full time Outlaw driver in the top five. It was one hell of a performance from Sunshine, staying within striking distance of Sweet early, and then keeping enough right rear tire on it to make it to the end. In just a short time in 2021, he's become one of THE guys to beat in a winged sprint car.
After Sunshine's victory, we took a break, did some track work, gave the teams some time to work on their cars and we started all over again. A couple of drivers who had a rough start to the day were looking for redemption in the second program. Both Kyle Larson and Brent Marks went for wild rides and ended up with damaged race cars and both would rebound to make the second feature, after missing the afternoon show. It was also really great to see Jac Haudenschild win his heat race and bag a front row starting position in what was his final Kings Royal appearance. It was a great way to end his run at Eldora. Joining Jac on the front row of the 37th Kings Royal was Tyler Courtney, who continued his strong day by winning heat six and putting himself in position to maybe sweep the day. Once green we ended up having four lead changes among three drivers, with Courtney and James McFadden swapping the top spot through the opening 19 laps. But while those two were racing hard, Kyle Larson was on the move. He started ninth and was able to work his way to third pretty quickly. Right before half way, he'd run down the leaders and we suddenly had a three car battle for the top spot. A couple of big moves and Larson took over for good on lap 20. He went basically unchallenged the rest of the way to be crowned King Kyle the 37th and win his first Kings Royal and first real crown jewel of his career. Sheldon Haudenschild finished second, Carson Macedo third, Tyler Courtney fourth, and Brad Sweet rounded out the top five after spinning early in the race. It was a great drive from Larson going ninth to the win, and it was one hell of an effort from Paul Silva and his guys to get that car put back together after crashing in the earlier B main. I want to give a quick shoutout to Jacob Allen also. He went 13th to 4th in the B to transfer to the feature, then drove from 24th to finish ninth and bag the night's hard charger award.
With these two races complete, I can't say I'm super surprised by the winners. Both are incredible race car drivers, and both were going to be strong this week. I am surprised a bit that we didn't have a full time Outlaw guy win one of these races, especially with how good Sweet and Macedo and Gravel have been. We ended up having 15 guys make both features, They were Courtney, Danny Dietrich, Bill Balog, Sheldon, Macedo, Schatz, Rico, Sweet, Spencer Bayston, Brock Zearfoss, Paul McMahan, Logan Schuchart, Cory Eliason, Gio Scelzi, and Gravel.
On Sunday we closed out the weekend with the $12,000 to win Knight Before the Kings Royal, which was originally scheduled for Friday. At the end of the day time show, it was Carson Macedo book-ending the weekend with the victory over Brian Brown, Sweet, Bayston, and Schatz. Macedo held off a charge from Brownie and drove away to his 7th win of the season, and in doing so chopped a little more out of Sweet's championship lead. It's now 114 with another busy week of racing coming up. That's 57 positions. Coming up, the Outlaws are at Lernerville tomorrow for the Silver Cup, and then Williams Grove is on tap for Friday and Saturday for the Summer Nationals. We'll have more on that as the week goes.
With the World of Outlaws Late Model Series this weekend, we had three northern shows and three different winners. On Friday at River Cities, polesitter Dennis Erb Jr. battled with Cade Dillard and Jimmy Mars through the feature, but drove away late to this third win of the season. Mars, Ryan Gustin, Dillard and Brandon Sheppard completed the top five. On Saturday at I-94 it was all Frank Heckenast Jr. He started on the front row and led all 40 laps en route to his second Outlaw win of the season and third of his career. BShepp, Tyler Bruening, Chris Madden, and Gustin were the rest of the top five. And Sunday night at Red Cedar, Ricky Weiss started on the pole and led the first seven laps but the Rocket house car was quickly on his heels. Except for a brief pass by Cade Dillard on lap 20, it was all Sheppard out front, with him leading 32 laps en route to his fourth win of the season. Dillard, Madden, Mars, and Weiss all grabbed top five finishes behind him. A few observations from the weekend. First, what a year it's been for Frank Heckenast. He was a full time Outlaw driver in the past, and only had a single win, but now suddenly has two wins in his past six starts. Also, the rookie battle and the fight for third through seventh in the standings is super tight. Gustin has closed to within 100 points of Bruening, and those seven drivers are only split by 116 points. We will see a lot of movement from those positions through the summer. Out front, Chris Madden continued his top ten streak, but it just wasn't enough. Sheppard hasn't finished worse than fifth over his last 12 series starts which includes three wins and he stretched the points lead out 20 more, with the gap back to Madden now at 88. I said last week that Madden has got to start finding ways to beat the Rocket 1 if he's going to win this championship, but that team seems to have found their stride. I think Madden is in big trouble now with 44 positions separating he and Sheppard, and we are well past halfway on the schedule. Madden has to average beating Sheppard more than two positions per night for the remainder of the season to have a shot. The Outlaws are off for a few days now, and return July 30th and 31st at Fairbury for the Prairie Dirt Classic.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series lost weekend races at 34 Raceway and Tri-City Speedway to poor weather, but they did finally get a race complete on Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway for the Diamond Nationals. In the feature, Jimmy Owens led the first 28 laps from the outside front row, but the incredible year for Jonathan Davenport continued. He started fourth and was methodical through the 50 lapper, picking his way towards the front. Past halfway, Davenport took over the top spot from Owens, when the 20 tangled with the lap car of Mason Oberkramer. Superman led the rest of the way to earn his sixth Lucas win of 2021. Josh Richards hard charged from 14th to finish second, with Kyle Bronson, Stormy Scott, and Earl Pearson Jr. completing the top five. The win for JD and a 12th for points leader Tim McCreadie has tightened up the standings. McCreadie's streak of 18 straight top ten finishes was busted, and he's now only 70 points clear of the 49. That's potentially less than 14 positions between the two right now for the championship lead. Hudson O'Neal continues to give up ground in third, as he's now only 35 points ahead of Kyle Bronson. The series kicks off a five race week at I-80 Speedway in Nebraska starting tonight, and if things go well for Davenport, he could very easily leave the week with the points lead. We'll have more on what's head for Lucas on tomorrow's show.
In Nebraska over the weekend, the USAC national midgets closed out Mid America Midget Week with two race nights at Jefferson County Speedway. Friday night it was Tanner Thorson leading all 30 laps to bag his second consecutive series win. Kevin Thomas Jr., Chris Windom, Emerson Axsom, and Justin Grant finished second through fifth. Points leader Buddy Kofoid was caught up in an incident and had to go to the rear early on. He finished 14th. Saturday night in the finale, Logan Seavey was out front for most of the feature, but we had drama late in the going. The leaders were in lap traffic, and into turn one with eight laps to go, second place Emerson Axsom got into the rear of Seavey sending him spinning out of the lead. There was a lap car in front of Seavey and it looked like he was maybe trying to move to the middle and make a pass on exit, but Axsom was there. Seavey and crew chief Jerome Rodela were none to pleased with Axsom, but I think it was just a racing deal. It didn't appear to be intentional at all, and the two had been racing really tight for much of the night. Over the final seven laps, Axsom held a hard charging Buddy Kofoid at bay and drove away to his second win of the year. Kofoid finished second, Chris Windom third, Justin Grant fourth, and Daison Pursley was fifth. Leaving the weekend, the points battle is much closer with Windom only trailing Kofoid now by 37 points. Axsom is third, Grant fourth, and Tanner Thorson fifth. It ended up being a rough and tumble week of midget racing, with lots of guys and girls mad about the racing. The midgets go quiet now until Eastern Midget Week which starts August 3rd at Grandview Speedway in Pennsylvania.
In weekend Summer Nationals action, Ashton Winger stayed hot, winning the Saturday night show at Oakshade. The Friday race at Hartford was cancelled due to rain. Winger was followed at Oakshade by points leader Bobby Pierce, Tanner English, Rusty Schlenk, and Jeep Van Wormer. In modified action, Hunt Gossum grabbed his first win of 2021 on Saturday at Oakshade, while Nick Hoffman was the Sunday winner at Terre Haute. The Summer Nationals continue Thursday at Springfield Raceway in Missouri.
Other weekend late model winners include Josh Rice in Southern Nationals action on Friday at Beckley, Brandon Overton grabbed the $20,000 to win Carolina Sizzler at Charlotte, Jacob Hawkins was an Iron Man winner at Tyler County, Mike Marlar bagged $10,000 at Randolph County, and Dillon Brown was an All Star winner at Charlotte. For more on the late model weekend, check out dirtondirt.com.
With POWRi over the weekend, Brent Crews won the Saturday show at Grain Valley over Tanner Berryhill and Kaylee Bryson, while Cannon McIntosh won the Sunday race over Bryson and Bryan Wiedeman. Other weekend open wheel winners included Matt Juhl at Jackson Motorplex, Matt Covington with the ASCS at US36, Freddie Rahmer won at Williams Grove, Colby Copeland swept Cottage Grove, Justin Henderson won both the 410 and pro sprint features at Knoxville, Sean Becker bagged the King of the West show at Ocean, and AJ Flick was the Sunday 410 winner at Tri-City. To see a full list of winners, visit tjslideways.com.
There are two items on the streaming schedule today, both on FloRacing. Besides Flo 24/7, they also have the Southern Nationals late models from Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee. To see the fully daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope you have a good Monday. 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!