DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Cade Dillard bounces back at Outagamie, Chris Windom wins at Grandview | DIRTRACKR Daily 8/4/21
Today is Wednesday, August 4th, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we are talking Cade Dillard's bounceback World of Outlaws win, Chris Windom going back-to-back at Grandview, an ASCS win for Sam Hafertepe and more.
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.
Compared to where he was last season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, it's been a down year for Cade Dillard. Last season he ended up third in the standings with two wins, 13 top fives and 24 top tens with an average finish of a tick under 9th. But it's been a battle so far through 2021. His average finish is three positions worse and he's not finishing in the top five and top ten nearly as often as he was. But he got a little relief last night at Outagamie Speedway in Wisconsin. The driver from Louisiana seized control of the 40 lap feature from Brandon Overton on lap 15 and went unchallenged the rest of the way for the $10,000 win. It was his fourth career win and second of the season, and pushes him to five top six finishes in his past six races. While his qualifying average and average feature start are just a tick lower than last year, the big difference for Dillard has been what's happened in features. He's suffered a lot of bad luck with some incidents and mechanical failures. In 2020, his total feature plus/minus was +58, while this year it's -47. That's a massive 105 position swing. Hopefully last night's win is what turns his season around. I said yesterday that I think Ryan Gustin gets a win before the year is out, and last night looked like it could be the night. He raced past polesitter Brandon Overton on lap three and was out to a big lead, but disaster struck on lap 12. Gustin tangled with a lap car and ended up in the wall, sending him to the rear and handing the top spot back to Big Sexy. Incredibly though, Gustin drove like a man possessed and ended up fourth on the night. That first win is definitely coming. So your top five was Dillard winning, Brandon Sheppard second, Chris Madden third, Gustin fourth, and Overton fifth. Unfortunately for Madden, the two points he'd gained on Sheppy at Fairbury were taken right back last night, so the gap between the two is now 88 headed to Cedar Lake. The series is off today, but things get going Thursday for the USA Nationals. We'll get you ready for all of that on the show tomorrow.
Entering last night's Eastern Midget Week opener at Grandview Speedway, the battle for the 2021 USAC midget championship was already tight, and after the 30 lap main event, it got even closer. Chris Windom got the victory for his second straight win at the track, and the stat sheet shows him leading the final 24 laps, but it wasn't that easy. Windom grabbed the lead from Chase Randall on lap seven and was strong out front for most of the non-stop feature. But late in the going lap traffic held up Windom and allowed Emerson Axsom to gain ground. On the white flag lap, Axsom was able to throw a slider for the lead and he cleared the 89 machine. Windom though was able to cross him back over down the backstretch and hold him off through the final two corners to take the win. Axsom ended up second, Chase Randall third, Kevin Thomas Jr. fourth, and Tanner Thorson was fifth. The third for Randall was his career best finish and the initial six laps out front were his first laps led in USAC competition. A 10th place finish for Buddy Kofoid means both Windom and Axsom made up ground in the standings, with Big Daddy only 13 back headed to Action Track USA tonight, and Axsom only another 33 points behind in third. Windom now has six straight finishes of sixth or better, including two wins. And Axsom has eight finishes of fourth or better over his last nine races. The fun continues tonight with round two of Eastern Midget Week. At Kutztown in 2020, Tyler Courtney topped Tanner Thorson and Christopher Bell. If you can't attend the race, watch live on FloRacing.
In the modified feature at Grandview, Mike Gular took advantage of the late flat tire for leader Tim Buckwalter to grab the $5000 win over Ryan Krachun and Matt Stangle.
Last night with the ASCS at Lakeside Speedway, Sam Hafertepe showed why he's a five time champion with the series. In a caution free feature, he drove up from seventh, battled with Dylan Westbrook through lap traffic, and led the final six laps en route to his first national tour win of 2021 and 56th of his career. Westbrook ended up second, Blake Hahn third, JJ Hickle fourth, and Ryan Timms grabbed yet another top five. Hafertepe and Westbrook traded the lead several times through the final 10 laps, but Hafertepe was just a little better late in the going. With the 360 Knoxville Nationals looming this weekend, Blake Hahn's championship lead has stretched to 30 now over Matt Covington. Hickle is 43 points back in third. Action at Knoxville gets underway tomorrow night with the first of two prelim programs.
Elsewhere tonight, the Super DIRTcar Series is back racing at Land of Legends Raceway in New York with double features on tap. The series will make up the rest of the action from the previously postponed Liberty 100 which includes the feature and two Last Chance Showdowns, and then start into the regularly scheduled full program for tonight. Tim Fuller is set to start on the pole of the night's first feature. Stewart Friesen is the current Super DIRTcar Series points leader, with Matt Sheppard, Mike Mahaney, Max McLaughlin, and Billy Decker completing the top five. Sheppard is the most recent series winner at Land of Legends back in 2019. He also picked up the DIRTcar OktoberFast win there late last year. Both features will pay $7500 to win tonight, and you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision with your fast pass.
If you're in the market for other dirt racing podcasts this week, Winged Nation has Kassidy Kreitz, Trey Jacobs, and Ryan Timms. Open Red is doing a Q&A show, Forward Bite has Randy Lajoie, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Nerds and Passing Points. To find the shows and episodes with links to listen, checkout dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are four shows on the streaming schedule for today. DIRTVision has the Super DIRTcar Series at Canandaigua, FloRacing has the USAC midgets at Action Track USA and Flo 24/7, and Speed Sport has weekly action from Buena Vista Raceway. 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 Wednesday. 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!