DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Chili Bowl entries cross 300; Austin McCarl, Country Builders returning to the midwest in 2022 | Daily 12-15-2021
Coming up we've got news on a sort of new ride for Austin McCarl, we'll look through the growing Chili Bowl entry list, there are new podcast episodes and more. Let's go!
Today is Wednesday, December 15th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
How is everyone out there in my audience? Are you good? I know the holidays can be stressful for some folks, so make sure to take some time to just relax over the next few weeks. Your mental health is important. With PRI done now, we are kind of in a lull for a bit until the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl in a few weeks. There is the indoor USAC midget show this weekend, and racing in Australia and New Zealand, but things are pretty quiet. Where are you at this time of year with keeping up with dirt racing? Do you check in less frequently, or are you still locked in to see what news bubbles up for next season? As someone who has worked in motorsports for as long as I have, the offseason is a complete misnomer, and even if you aren't hearing about stuff happening, there is still a lot being done behind the scenes at teams, tracks, and the series. Let's get into today's topics, shall we?
After a year spent racing sprint cars out west, Austin McCarl is returning home to the midwest in 2022. He and the Country Builders 88 team announced yesterday they will continue their partnership next season and chase track championships at both Knoxville and Huset's. The team also plans on hitting select World of Outlaws, All Star, King of the West, and ASCS races as well. McCarl was the 2018 Knoxville champion, and made nine appearances with the Outlaws in 2021. He had a best finish of second at Huset's in August. McCarl also added four All Star appearances last season, with a best run of 7th at Knoxville in July. It was tough sledding for the Big Unit out west though. He spent part of the season in the Tarlton 21 and closed out the year in the Country Builders 88, ending up 13th in the final King of the West standings after a partial schedule. McCarl being back in the midwest though will ramp up the competition weekly up against guys like Brian Brown, Justin Henderson, Davey Heskin, and Matt Juhl.
As of yesterday, the 2022 Chili Bowl entry list continues to grow with the total sitting right now at 346 cars. And there is still plenty of time for more to be added. As expected, Keith Kunz Motorsports is bringing 15 cars to the event. Their lineup includes Tanner Carrick, Buddy Kofoid, Bryant Wiedeman, Jesse Love, Brenham Crouch, Rico Abreu, Christopher Bell, Tom Harris, Gavan Boschele, Taylor Reimer, Tucker Klaasmeyer, Jonathan Shafer, Steven Snyder Jr., Mariah Ede, and Kaylee Bryson. So that clears up the Christopher Bell question, and not surprised to see him return to the KKM mix. He'd run with the team already a few times this season. That group of mechanics will be busy all week, but they will definitely have some serious challengers in the mix for the golden driller. Bell and Rico are past champions, and Buddy Kofoid has been a feature starter the last two years. I'm curious to see what Gavan Boschele can do as well. Kyle Larson is also now on the entry list behind the wheel of his own 01 machine. Chase Elliott will be his teammate in Tulsa, just like we saw out west to close out the USAC season. Chase Briscoe is bringing his own ride with the new Mahindra colors that were added to his Cup car this week. Reinbold Underwood Motorsports is bringing a stout five car lineup that will include Chase Randall, Alex Bright, Hayden Reinbold, Tanner Thorson, and Kasey Kahne. And I saw just a little bit ago that Rudeen Racing will campaign cars for Chance Crum, Cory Eliason, and team owner Kevin Rudeen. Other big names on the list include Lucas champion Tim McCreadie, Brady Bacon, IndyCar driver Conor Daly, and JJ Yeley. We are a little more than three weeks away still, so there is plenty of time for the list to grow even more. We could end up at or near record breaking territory for most entries ever, which I believe is 372. If you want to see the full list, head over to chilibowl.com. And check out the Chili Bowl social channels to follow along with the track build that is currently ongoing inside the Tulsa Expo.
And speaking of the Chili Bowl, which is just 26 days away, this is a good time to remind y'all about all the Chili Bowl stats and analytics that are available at dirtrackr.com/analytics. I've currently got all the race results in the database for the event going back to 2013, with more to come. If you are going to participate in any of the Chili Bowl pools, this will be an invaluable resource for you during the month of January. A lot of information is available for free, but if you'd like a bit extra, don't forget to check out DIRTRACKR Plus. Added stats, and even more tools for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. I've got information for all the big Saturday races, plus prelim nights and the International Race of Champions. In the past nine events, we've had five different winners, with Christopher Bell leading the way at three. Rico and Larson both have two each, and Bryan Clauson and Kevin Swindell have one each in that span. No driver has appeared in all nine of those Saturday features, but three drivers have been in eight of them. They are Bell, Rico, and Larson. Bell has the most top fives with five, and Tanner Thorson has the most top tens with six. Bell also leads the way in prelim night wins with seven. All of that info is available there, and there are individual stat pages for nearly 1000 drivers that have competed since 2013. If you want to see more, visit dirtrackr.com/analytics/chilibowl.
If you're looking for more dirt racing content this week, check out some of the other podcasts. Winged Nation continues their champions series with Tyler Courtney, LoudPedal has Jonathan Beason, the Dirt Nerds have JA Ackley, the Dirt from Knoxville has Tyler Carpenter, Passing Points has Casey Shuman, and there is a new episode of the Dirt Reporters. Also, shoutout to Passing Points co-host Michael Tyre on his new role with Terry Mattox and the Oil Capital Racing Series. To see the full list of shows and episodes, hit up dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
Also, I jumped on Blake Anderson's show over at FloRacing and that episode is available today. So if you want to hear and see more of me, check out episode 51 of Anderson 410. Blake is the announcer for the All Star Circuit of Champions and someone who's been a friend for a long time.
There are two shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has DIRTcar eSports racing from Williams Grove, and Flo has 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 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 in a few days for more DIRTRACKR Daily!