DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Outlaws vs. Posse at the Grove, Lucas heats up, Erb wins $30k at I-80 | DIRTRACKR Daily 7/23/21
Today is Friday, July 23rd, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we recap last night's big money Lucas win for Tyler Erb and look ahead to the next two nights and what it could mean for the Lucas points battle. I've also got other results, plus weekend previews for the World of Outlaws, All Stars, and USAC's Indiana Sprint Week.
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.
The first of two big money features is now complete at I-80 Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. In last night's $30,000 to win I-80 Nationals it was complete domination from Tyler Erb. He sat on the pole and led every circuit of the 53 lap main event that went caution free. At the end his margin of victory was more than five seconds over Hudson O'Neal, and nobody ever challenged him for the lead. It was the biggest payday of Erb's career, and his second feature win in as many nights. Win number four of 2021 also doubles his win count from last season. Behind him, O'Neal was second, Brandon Overton third, Spencer Hughes fourth, and Ricky Thornton Jr. finished fifth. Besides Erb's win, another key story from last night was Jonathan Davenport besting Tim McCreadie. I said a few days ago that it was possible that Davenport could take the points lead this week, and he's certainly closed the gap down even more. What was a 70 point lead for McCreadie following the Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil is now 45 following last night's feature. After earning 18 straight top ten finishes, McCreadie has finished outside the top ten in three of his last four starts, and that has allowed Davenport to close, even though only two of those races paid points. Remember that the top four in the results are separated by 10 points with Lucas, with the rest of the field five points apart, so the points lead is very much in play following Saturday night's feature if McCreadie struggles. A couple of quick shoutouts to Spencer Hughes, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Ricky Weiss. Hughes and RTJ were top five runners again, and Weiss stayed very solid with a sixth place result last night. Brandon Sheppard was a non-factor through the first three nights, with a best finish of 13th last night. He is the defending Silver Dollar Nationals winner. The racing at I-80 continues tonight and tomorrow, with the Silver Dollar Nationals now the event. Tonight is dual heat races for passing points, which will setup Saturday's feature and B main lineups. The big show tomorrow is 80 laps and will pay $53,000 to the victor. Keep an eye on Tyler Erb, Brandon Overton, and the two at the top of the points. MAVTV Plus will have live streaming coverage both nights.
Elsewhere in dirt late model racing last night we had Bobby Pierce winning the Summer Nationals show at Springfield Raceway over Ashton Winger, Scott Crigler, Joe Godsey and Tim Lance. Pierce assumed the lead after early front runner Tony Jackson Jr. suffered a flat left rear tire. Pierce maintains the Summer Nationals points lead. Up next for the Hell Tour is tonight at Tri-City Speedway, Saturday at Clarksville, and Sunday at Richmond Raceway in Kentucky.
And in Southern Nationals action, Austin Horton went wire to wire to win at West Georgia Speedway over Brent Dixon and Pearson Lee Williams. Jensen Ford still tops the points standings with Needmore, Screven, and Rome Speedway on tap for the next three nights.
We lost last night's ASCS Sprint Week opener at Riverside International Speedway to rain, so things will officially get underway tonight at Batesville Motor Speedway. The Riverside show has been moved to Sunday, with a stop at I-30 Speedway sandwiched in between on Saturday.
And at Circle City Raceway last night, Thomas Meseraull picked up the winged 410 win over Ryan Broughton, Ricky Peterson, Critter Mallone, and NASCAR driver Alex Bowman. Bowman had some fantastic tweets last night during and after the race talking about his experience and how difficult sprint car racing is. I retweeted some with the dirtrackr account if you'd like to see them.
At Utica-Rome on Thursday night, it was Stewart Friesen who bagged the $6000 to win Richie Evans Remembered race with the Short Track Super Series. He topped Matt Sheppard, Rocky Warner, Mat Williamson, and Alan Johnson. Up next for the Short Track Super Series modifieds is Bridgeport Motorsports Park on Tuesday, July 27th.
Looking ahead to the sprint car weekend, there is a ton of racing to watch and attend across the country. The Month of Money continues for the World of Outlaws with two nights at Williams Grove starting tonight for the Summer Nationals. Tonight's show pays $10,000 to win and tomorrow is $20,000 to win. The rivalry between the Outlaws and Posse is again center stage, but it hasn't been much of a rivalry lately. A Posse driver hasn't beaten the Outlaws since Lance Dewease won at Williams Grove in May of 2019. Dewease or Danny Dietrich might be the two best hopes for Posse faithful this weekend, as Dewease has been solid at the Grove in 2021 and Dietrich is coming off a strong weekend at Eldora and a win at Selinsgrove this week. This could also be a pivotal weekend in the World of Outlaws championship hunt between Brad Sweet, Carson Macedo, and David Gravel. If Sweet can leave the weekend relatively unscathed, his path to the championship becomes easier, as Pennsylvania is traditionally not a great area for Sweet and is a good region for Macedo and Gravel. But either challenger has a good chance to make up some ground over the next two nights. Looking at possible winners for the weekend, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Donny Schatz, but David Gravel actually has the best average finish at the Grove over the last 15 races. If you can't be at the Grove, DIRTVision has the live stream.
The All Stars are starting a busy stretch through the midwest starting tonight at Lake Ozark Speedway in Missouri. They will race seven times in nine nights between Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa. Even though he hasn't won a series race since June 4th, Tyler Courtney is the guy to watch with the All Stars. He's coming off that incredible Kings Royal weekend and is running away in the championship fight with a massive lead over the field. Behind him, things are pretty tight through the top six between Cory Eliason, Hunter Schuerenberg, Zeb Wise, Bill Balog and Cap Henry. Following tonight and tomorrow at Lake Ozark, the All Stars head to Humboldt Speedway on Sunday with more racing coming next week. If you can't attend the All Star shows, they are available on FloRacing.
And also on FloRacing starting tonight is USAC's Indiana Sprint Week. The non-wing stars will race seven times through July 31st at Gas City, Kokomo, Lawrenceburg, Terre Haute, Lincoln Park, Bloomington, and Haubstadt. Brady Bacon enters tonight as the points leader over Justin Grant and Kevin Thomas Jr., and he's been incredibly consistent this season. In 19 starts he has two wins, 17 top fives and 18 top tens. Chase Stockon is the defending Sprint Week champion, and the fields will be packed with talent over the next week. The two most recent shows at Gas City were won by Justin Grant and Logan Seavey. Tyler Courtney is the most recent winner at Kokomo, while Brady Bacon has won two straight at the Burg.
Drop me a comment below or on social media and let me know what you're looking forward to this weekend. If you're headed out to the track, or tuning in to some streams, what are you going to be watching?
It's a packed Friday and a packed weekend across the streaming services with a ton to watch if you can't make it to the track. As of this recording there are 38 shows for today, with dozens more coming Saturday and Sunday. That includes the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove, Lucas at I-80, All Stars in the midwest, USAC sprint week, the Southern Nationals, and a ton more. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope you have 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.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!