DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Carson Macedo $75k richer, no triple crown for Kyle Larson, Tim McCreadie headed for Lucas title | Daily 10-5-2021
Today is Tuesday, October 5th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we hit on the big points from the dirt racing weekend that was, plus talk about Super DIRT Week opening up and more.
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Apologies for there not being a Monday edition of the Daily show. I was hopeful on Sunday that we'd get the Cup race in at Talladega, but the rainout spoiled my plans. And with the early start yesterday, I thought maybe I could get something done when I got home, but the rain ended that too. So, here we are back on a Tuesday to talk everything dirt racing from the weekend. Normally on the Monday shows I try and run you through most of the big stuff that happened through the weekend, and provide some context and insight without going too recappy and just talking about what happened lap by lap. Since we are yet another day removed from the weekend on this Tuesday, I'm going to do even less of that. Instead, I'll hit on some of the bigger points and where things stand today.
The biggest race of the weekend was definitely the National Open for the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove. After Kyle Larson's dominating win on Friday night, that possible triple crown was in play on Saturday night. But in the end we didn't get to see Yung Money capture the Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals and National Open all in one season. Instead it was Carson Macedo bagging the biggest win of his career and taking home the $75,000. The big difference for Larson was his heat race from Friday night to Saturday. A 7th to 2nd on Friday put him on the dash, whereas Saturday he could only manage 7th to 4th. With as tough as it can be to pass at the Grove, winning from 13th on the grid was going to be a tall task. He eventually finished 8th. As for Macedo, he started sixth and just hung around in the top five all race long. Early leader Brent Marks spinning out helped his cause, as did lap traffic. He led the final five laps en route to the win topping Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild. After winning just a single race in 2020, Macedo now has 10 Outlaw wins in 2021. 2020 was a season with dramatically less races than is normal thanks to covid, but we had no triple digit winners last year. This season we have three in Brad Sweet, David Gravel, and Macedo, and we could potentially have four if Haudenschild could bag two more wins. I said back on Friday that I thought Macedo could get it done for the big money, and he certainly did. As for the Outlaw points battle, this was probably the last weekend for David Gravel to really make a big charge for the championship with Sweet's historical lack of performance at the Grove. Sweet certainly did his part, needing a provisional to start Friday's feature and ending up with finishes of 15th and 10th. It was just the seventh time Brad Sweet has been in a last chance showdown over the last 276 Outlaw races in the dirtrackr.com analytics database. Sweet's last LCS was at Knoxville back in June, and I believe the last time he needed a provisional was at Lake Ozark on May 29th of 2020. Unfortunately for Gravel though, mechanical issues on Friday night left him with a 25th place finish, and his 5th place result on Saturday didn't make up for the points lost the night before. So what was 120 points before the Grove, is now 128 with just seven features left. That's 64 positions between the two, or more than nine positions per race. The National Open may have been the final nail for Sweet and the KKR 49 this season. If you're a Posse fan, it wasn't a terrible weekend, but it wasn't a great weekend either. Anthony Macri was on the only driver to finish top five both nights with two fourths. Marks led laps on Saturday before that spin in lap traffic, which was a bit uncharacteristic for him. Lance Dewease also had two top tens, but was never a factor. The Outlaws are sticking around Pennsylvania this week with Port Royal on tap both Friday and Saturday.
In the battle for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship, Tim McCreadie took two more big steps towards his first series title over the weekend with the Friday night win at Raceway 7 in Ohio, followed by a third place finish on Saturday in the Pittsburgher 100. With just four features left in 2021, McCreadie's lead over Hudson O'Neal has grown to a very comfortable 400 points. With about six points per position on average through the field, McCreadie and O'Neal are separated by nearly 67 positions. We are basically at the point here with Lucas that all McCreadie needs to do is show up over the final weeks to take down this title. For O'Neal though, he's taken a huge leap this season to become one of the contenders in dirt late model racing. Several big wins through the year and fighting down the stretch for the championship shows that the future is bright for the young Indiana driver. His Saturday night run at the Pittsburgher may have been one of his most impressive drives of the year. After finishing fifth in his heat, he won the B main to transfer to the feature. He then drove from 17th to the win, leading the final eight laps and stealing the victory from a rejuvenated Earl Pearson Jr. It was O'Neal's sixth Lucas win of 2021, and only Tyler Erb has more. And speaking of EPJ, he's been a different driver since partnering up with Jason Papich. In their first eight races together, they are averaging just a tick higher than a sixth place finish and have six top tens. EPJ was third on Friday night and had to settle for second on Saturday after leading the first 92 laps. With this momentum, I would not be surprised to see him get a win before the year is over. Lucas is in action this weekend with stops at Smoky Mountain, Dixie, and Rome.
And with the Outlaws, the championship is officially done. With weekend finishes of second and sixth at Cherokee and Senoia, Brandon Sheppard and Rocket Racing are the 2021 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champions. It was a solid season for Chris Madden, but his lack of wins and Sheppard's insane consistency through the summer were just too much to overcome. Brandon Overton kept his Cherokee dominance alive on Friday night, leading the final 15 laps and topping BShepp and early leader Daulton Wilson. And on Saturday night at Senoia, just days after announcing a new ride going forward, Ashton Winger added to his 2021 win total with a flag to flag win, which was his third career Outlaw victory. He's taking over for GR Smith coming up. With just World Finals left, there isn't much too decide now with the Outlaws. Tyler Bruening will be the leading rookie and the only position in the top ten in question is 4th between Ricky Weiss and Dennis Erb Jr. Sidenote, Brandon Sheppard now has 28 straight top ten finishes, which is the most of any driver in the country right now. World Finals kicks off Thursday, November 4th.
With the USAC National Sprint Cars over the weekend, we basically had status quo in the chase for that championship. After races at Terre Haute and Lawrenceburg, Brady Bacon's lead is still 64 over Kevin Thomas Jr. It was 71 entering the weekend, so while KTJ did make up a few points, he'll have to do much more than that over the final two weekends to put pressure on Bacon. On Friday night at Terre Haute it was Chris Windom ending his 24 race winless streak and and matching Jack Hewitt and Gary Bettenhausen with the most wins ever at the action track with eight. He topped Jake Swanson and Robert Ballou. Swanson has been fast so many times this season, and has led 88 laps, but hasn't quite been able to get over the hump and get a win. And Ballou looked early on in 2021 like he could contend for the championship, but since Plymouth in July his results have been really mixed and he's fallen to eighth in the standings. On Saturday night at the Burg, Kevin Thomas Jr. took advantage of late issues for Emerson Axsom to earn his series best eighth win of the season. He led the final four laps, topping Windom and Tanner Thorson. Axsom led the first 26 laps, but lost a right rear tire late, which relegated him to a 17th place result. Since taking over the 39BC sprint car for Clauson Marshall, Axsom has been fast, but just hasn't been able to get the finishes. I think he's one of the most impressive young drivers in the country with what he's done in the midget and the sprint car this season. He won't end up with a chance at the USAC midget title, but him keeping pace with Windom and Buddy Kofoid here lately has been fun to watch. The sprint cars go quiet for the rest of October, and they will close out their 2021 season with weekends at Perris Auto Speedway and Arizona Speedway in November.
If you're in need of a dirt racing fix this week, keep an eye on the northeast as Super DIRT Week kicks off tonight for the Super DIRTcar Series. They take on Brewerton Speedway for the Demon 100, before action shifts to Oswego for the rest of the week. At Oswego, you'll see the Super DIRTcar Series plus DIRTcar 358s, Sportsman, and Pro Stocks. The week culminates with the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 on Sunday that will pay $50,000 to the winner. Since the event moved to Oswego, we've had four different winners of that race in Stewart Friesen, Matt Sheppard, Larry Wight, and Mat Williamson. Sheppard is also currently the Super DIRTcar Series points leader by 136 over Billy Decker. Keep an eye on DIRTVision and the Super DIRT Week social media all week long as things kick off Wednesday with a parade through town for the competitors. There are also practice sessions, qualifying and much more to watch. We'll keep you updated all week on the goings on.
Before we shut it down for today, a bit of event news. The weather plagued FloRacing Night in America late model series keeps the theme alive this week. Thursday's race at Tri County Racetrack has been postponed to October 28th because of wet weather. Next up for that series is a trip to Volunteer Speedway on October 12th. Three races still remain for that series with Jonathan Davenport leading the standings.
There are four shows on the streaming schedule today, including the Super DIRTcar Series at Brewerton Speedway on DIRTVision, weekly action from Millbridge, modifieds and more from Utica Rome on Dirt Track Digest, and FloRacing 24/7. 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 Tuesday. 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!