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Chase Elliott joining Kyle Larson at Merced for sprint car debut, 2022 World of Outlaws schedule drops | Daily 11-2-2021

Coming up we've got details about Chase Elliott making his sprint car debut, more dirt starts for Kyle Larson, we take a look at the 2022 World of Outlaws schedule and more.

Today is Tuesday, November 2nd, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

I'm not sure how this was the case, but news about Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott sort of flew under the radar yesterday. I retweeted the release from PJ Petersen, but it looks like a lot of the NASCAR media didn't catch on until this morning. Merced Speedway out in California is hosting a big racing weekend November 23rd and 24th that features 360 sprint cars and the USAC National midgets, and both Larson and Elliott will be in attendance. Larson has already entered the Hangtown 100 USAC midget event the weekend before, and will compete in his own midget at Merced as well. He will also be behind the wheel of the Works Limited 57 sprint car with Paul Silva competing in the sprint car portion of the weekend. The Works Limited car is owned by Kevin Kozlowski, but is pretty much identical to the 57 owned by Silva that Larson normally races. Elliott has made various dirt racing starts this season, including in a midget and a dirt late model, but he will be making his sprint car debut at Merced driving the Tarlton 21 machine. Tarlton has been supporting Larson's racing efforts lately, including an associate deal and a primary race on his Hendrick Motorsports five car, so it's not surprising that Elliott will make his debut with Tarlton. The famously blacked out 21 has had Ryan Bernal behind the wheel in recent weeks including at Trophy Cup and the most recent King of the West races. Parker Price Miller, Corey Day, and Austin McCarl have all also raced the 21 this season. If you're Elliott, it's the perfect opportunity to get your feet wet in a sprint car. Established team at a track they know, with Larson there to coach you. I love seeing the interest in dirt racing from Elliott, and it will certainly be a boost to that event to have both drivers in attendance. Continuing to blur the lines between pavement and dirt, and between Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons is key to the continued health of motorsports in this country. Because it's a USAC event, if you can't get out to Merced, you will be able to watch the event over on FloRacing. If you'd like more details about Merced, check out my past conversations episode with track general manager Doug Lockwood. Doug used to be the race director for the World of Outlaws, and has been running Merced for the past few years. Super good dude who's done some cool stuff at the track.

The 2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car season is set to close out this week at World Finals, but focus is already starting to shift towards 2022 with the announcement of the series' schedule for next season. As is customary, the year will start in February at Volusia Speedway Park for DIRTcar Nationals, and close out in early November at Charlotte for World Finals. In between are all the traditional favorites including the Knoxville Nationals in August, the Kings Royal at Eldora, the National Open at Williams Grove and two west coast trips. In between though are some new dates at some different tracks, and some notable events left out. If you go back and find the schedule announcements from recent seasons on social media, you see all the same complaints. How come XYZ track didn't get a date, when are the Outlaws going to come to their senses. You can damn near set your watch to the comments' regularity. But unfortunately with so many dirt tracks across the country, there will always end up being folks disappointed. The notable dropped track this season that a lot of people have commented about is Lernerville Speedway. But if you are a regular consumer of this show, I told you back in September that this was going to be a real possibility. When the track ownership group swapped the Firecracker late model weekend from Outlaw sanction to Lucas, it put WRG in a difficult situation going forward. Continuing to bring the sprint car series to a track that dropped their late model sanction for a crown jewel event was highly unlikely. And that is exactly what has transpired. Events like the Silver Cup and Commonwealth Clash will probably still happen at Lernerville, they will just end up either being unsanctioned or something like All Star events. The Ohio fans are yet again upset that Wayne County isn't getting a date. But there will still be plenty of times to see the Outlaws in Ohio in 2022, with stops at Eldora, Attica, Sharon, and now Atomic. Other notable changes include the addition of Bakersfield in the spring, Vado Speedway Park in March, Tri-City is back for the first time since 2008, and Port Royal gets a second event, this one in July. The Jackson Nationals are moving from to June to the week after the Knoxville Nationals, creating a massive two weeks of racing in the midwest. Huset's has added a three day, $100,000 to win event later in June, calling it the Huset's High Banks Nationals. And Bristol is back in April for a three day event that will feature both the sprint cars and late models. And along with the new schedule, the Outlaws have announced big additions to the series points fund. The 2022 champion will take down $200,000, which is a $50,000 increase from 2021. Every position through the field will see at least a 33% increase in payout, with more than $350,000 being added and upwards of a million dollars being paid out. So big shows, added dates, and more money than ever will be on the line for the Outlaws in 2022. I'm not going to go line by line, but if you want to see the full schedule for next year, visit worldofoutlaws.com. Drop me a comment below and let me know your initial thoughts about next year's slate. What do you like? What do you not like? Let me know.

In a bit of sprint car team news from yesterday, Brent Marks announced a change to his organization for the future. Allen Murray, who has sponsored Marks through his Texas based company M&M Painting and Construction, is joining Marks as a part owner of his team. Murray-Marks Motorsports is officially debuting this week at Cherokee Speedway and World Finals with a new paint scheme on the 19 machine. According to a piece from Jeremy Elliott at Sprintcarunlimited.com, this deal has been in the works since Marks departed the CJB ride earlier in the season. 2021 turned into a very strong season for Marks once he got his own car rolling again. He ended up with 11 wins, including two with the Outlaws, one at Eldora in May and one at Williams Grove in July. In 35 appearances in 2021 with the Outlaws, Marks had 10 top fives and 20 top tens, with an average finish of 8.6, which was a career best for the driver who was previously an Outlaw regular. I was kind of hoping this announcement would mean that Marks would be back full time with a series like the Outlaws, but it seems as though it will be status quo next season with Marks running a pick and choose schedule centered arounde Central Pennsylvania. Murray mentioned the added costs and difficulties finding crew guys as reasons they don't want to run with the Outlaws next season. Those are certainly both incredibly valid reasons. Hopefully though we'll see Marks challenge for a championship with a series in the future, as his continued improvement is evident and I think he's a guy you could definitely see being a contender with the Outlaws or All Stars. If you'd like to see more, go find Jeremy's story, or Kyle McFadden's at Speed Sport.

On the heels of last week's Carolina Midget Showdown at Millbridge, the racing continues this week with the Carolina Micro Showdown. The event takes place tonight and tomorrow for 600 non wing micros, and the field will be big with some serious talent in the mix. They had 60 cars in attendance last night for a practice night, and Buddy Kofoid topped the board. Ryan Timms is here, as is Christopher Bell, guys like Joe B. Miller, and NASCAR drivers Brett Moffitt and my guy Sheldon Creed. Tonight's racing program includes qualifying, heats and some of the lower mains, with things progressing tomorrow towards a $10,000 to win main event. If you're in town for World Finals at Charlotte, Millbridge isn't far away. And if you can't be there, watch all the action live on DIRTVision. We'll keep you updated on the happenings on this show over the next two days.

There are three shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the first night of the Carolina Micro Showdown at Millbridge Speedway, FloRacing has Flo 24/7, and Speed Sport has the prelude to the finals event at Cherokee Speedway. 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!