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.
Tyler Erb wins at I-80, Mason Daniel retires from sprint car racing | DIRTRACKR Daily 7/22/21
Today is Thursday, July 22nd, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we've got results from last night's Lucas show at I-80, plus some news and observations. We also take a look at the racing coming up tonight, there is news from Mason Daniel, and we've got tonight's streaming schedule.
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.
Night two of five for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is now complete at I-80 Speedway, with last night's prelim program being the final before the $30,000 to win I-80 Nationals tonight. In the 30 lap feature, Tyler Erb held off challenges from Stormy Scott and Ricky Weiss to lead every lap en route to his third Lucas win of the season, and first since January 30th at East Bay. Since that last win, it's been an up and down season for Erb, with some solid finishes and some rough stretches. Before last night, he'd only had two top five finishes in his past 10 starts. The win sets him up for the pole for tonight's 53 lap main event. Behind Erb, Ricky Weiss, Ricky Thornton Jr, Brandon Overton, and Stormy Scott completed the top five. Several drivers had rough nights, including Brandon Sheppard and Kyle Bronson, who were both caught up in an early crash. Bronson ended up with a DNF and a 23rd place finish, while Sheppard rebounded to 13th. Hudson O'Neal also ended up out with mechanical issues after running towards the front early. One driver who has been sneaking towards the front in recent weeks is Ricky Weiss. Weiss was one who we thought might compete for the Outlaw championship this season, but the switch to his own chassis seems to have been a tough transition. But things appear to have turned around. He finished second last night, was 9th the night before, and has five straight top ten results with the Outlaws. With the way he ran last night, that first win of the season might not be far off. Another observation from last night involves Spencer Hughes. Hughes has been running the PCC Motorsports entry in a limited schedule since the departure of Kyle Strickler, and has been very solid. During last night's broadcast, announcer James Essex mentioned that Hughes might be poised to go full time with Lucas in 2022. That would be a solid addition to the rookie class for next year. Looking towards tonight, the top 18 starting positions in the feature are set, with eight more cars transferring from the two B mains, two Lucas provisionals available, and the transfer from the non-qualifer race. Erb, Weiss, Brandon Overton and Shane Clanton will lead the field to green from the front two rows. If you can't attend, watch the racing live on MAVTV Plus.
Also on the card for tonight is the Summer Nationals at Springfield Raceway, the Short Track Super Series at Utica-Rome, and the ASCS Sprint Cars at Riverside. Tonight's Summer Nationals race at Springfield is just the late models, with the modifieds not racing until tomorrow at Tri-City. Ashton Winger has won the previous two Hell Tour races, while Bobby Pierce leads the points standings.
Tonight's Short Track Super Series race is the Richie Evans Remembered 61 with $6 grand going to the winner of the north region race. Anthony Perrego leads the north region standings over Matt Sheppard and Mike Mahaney. This will be the series first trip to Utica Rome and we've had five different winners through five races so far. Perrego, Steve Paine, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, and Jeff Strunk have all picked up victories. FloRacing will have the live stream tonight if you'd like to watch.
And with the ASCS sprint cars, tonight kicks off Sprint Week for the series which includes eight races in 10 nights. The national tour heads to Riverside International tonight in Arkansas to get things underway. Blake Hahn leads the points standings on the strength of four wins, but things are tight at the top, with Matt Covington and rookie JJ Hickle in pursuit. Both RacinBoys and FloRacing will carry live streams of the action.
In some not so great news from yesterday, World of Outlaws regular Mason Daniel announced he is being forced to retire from sprint car racing. A history of concussions and recommendations from several doctors have pushed Daniel from the seat. The 21 year old driver from California has been sitting out of racing since a crash at I-70 Motorsports Park on April 30th, with the hopes he could return after concussion symptoms eased. But Daniel and his family have made the tough decision to pull the plug on racing. In his short career, Daniel bagged a 360 win at Knoxville, an ASCS regional win at Missouri State Fair, and a Sprint Invaders victory at Lee County. In 102 Outlaw starts back through 2018, Daniel had a best finish of 11th at Lawton Speedway in 2020. Hopefully he's able to get healthy soon.
Last night with the NRA Sprint Invaders, Ayrton Gennetten picked up a $2000 win at East Moline as part of the Rock Island County Fair. It was Gennetten's third career NRA win and he topped Austin McCarl and Jonathan Cornell. The young driver from Missouri was the first ever guest on DIRTRACKR Conversations and has been working his way up the sprint car ladder. He's been racing in partnership with Josh Baughman this season, and has 18 appearances with the World of Outlaws with a best finish of 10th at Knoxville on June 11th.
I haven't seen an official release on this, but yesterday Jamie Weaknecht, who is locked into the northeast modified world, tweeted that the format for Super DIRT Week is being altered for 2021. He says there will be a caution on lap 100 of the 200 lap finale that will last four laps and allows cars to pit. Under that caution, anyone who pits will leave pit road in the order they entered pit road, and that any cars that don't pit will then cycle to the front. It's basically an opportunity for a controlled pit stop during a competition caution. This move will put the Super DIRT Week format in line with the Fonda 200 and Port Royal 200. To see more from Jamie, hit up @ClubWago on Twitter.
It's a busy Thursday across the streaming platforms with 13 different shows on the schedule for today. DIRTVision has the Summer Nationals back in action at Springfield, FloRacing has a bunch of stuff including the Short Track Super Series, ASCS Sprint Cars and Southern Nationals late models, Lucas is again on MAVTV Plus, and there is more on RacinBoys, Speed Sport, and The Cushion. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope you have 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!