DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Tanner Carrick, Tyler Courtney lock into Chili Bowl feature; Justin Grant tops Kyle Larson in VIROC | Daily 1-11-2022
Coming up we are talking Chili Bowl night one, including a win for Tanner Carrick. There is also a new World of Outlaws Late Model rookie and more. Let's do this.
Today is Tuesday, January 11th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
And just like that we are off and running in the 2022 Chili Bowl Nationals. Last night was the first of five prelim nights, and the program included the race of champions, which was actually a really fun 25 laps. More on that in a minute. I realized yesterday that I promised you my Chili Bowl picks, but I completely forgot to share them on Monday's show. We'll get into those here in a bit as well.
We ended up with 69 cars in last night's field, and at the end it was Tanner Carrick and Tyler Courtney who finished 1-2 and locked themselves into Saturday night's feature event. Both of those guys were beneficiaries of late race trouble for both early leaders Mitchel Moles and Jerry Coons Jr. Moles started on the pole and led the first five before second starting Coons took over on lap six. Inside ten to go, Moles got back out front, but his time in the lead was short lived. Out of four he got super tight on the top and caught the frontstretch wall, which sent him over onto his lid and out of the race. Seriously tough break for the California driver who looked good out front. Under that same caution, Coons went to the work area with issues under the hood and he was also done for the night. Subsequently we've found out the Coons is also done for the week. They broke a timing belt on the engine and won't return to the Expo. The issues for the leaders moved Carrick to the point, and he wasn't challenged the rest of the way, grabbing his first career Chili Bowl prelim win. Sunshine finished second, Chase Johnson was third, David Gravel went 12th to fourth, and Nick Hoffman 14th to fifth. Carrick's Keith Kunz team will have some work to do to get that car ready for Saturday though, as after the checkered Carrick lost brakes and ended up tumbling into turn one. He collected Johnson, Gary Taylor, and Courtney. Those other cars appeared to suffer minimal damage, but Carrick's car will probably need some help. We also saw that Carrick had basically no right rear left after the 30 laps, so tire management in these features might be something to keep an eye on for the rest of the week. Big tip of the hat last night to Cannon McIntosh. He had a stuck throttle in his heat race, and ended up DFL. He then went 12th to second in his C-Main, 12th to second in his B-Main, and then 19th to sixth in the feature, grabbing hard charger honors on the night. I believe that should set him up for a B-Main start on Saturday and a solid chance to get a transfer into the feature. Gary Taylor also had a nice 18th to seventh run driving for Brian and Mike Dunlap. Some other guys who had tough nights included Cole Bodine who missed the feature transfer by one. Chase Elliott was eighth in his B-Main, and sprint car team owner Kevin Rudeen went for a wild ride in his heat race and was basically done for the night.
Also mixed into the show last night was the yearly VIROC and we were treated to a really good 25 lap show. Logan Seavey and Justin Grant started on the front row, and Grant controlled the race. Late in the going, Kyle Larson reeled him in from seventh, and threw a couple big shots at him, but Grant was able to fend him off. Grant ended up with the win, Larson was second, Christopher Bell went 11th to third, Tanner Thorson was fourth, and Blake Hahn completed the top five. The racing was intense, and we even saw a little anger out of Buddy Kofoid. He was racing towards the front when he tangled with the lap car of Sammy Swindell and Buddy ended up on his roof. Afterwards, he was none too pleased with the five time Chili Bowl winner. The VIROC was an interesting preview for the rest of the week I think. The guys you expected to be fast, certainly showed it. Bell looked comfortable back in a Keith Kunz car. An interesting point about Larson, he'd won the the two previous Chili Bowls driving in a King Chassis, which are built by Justin Insley in New Zealand. But this year he's in an Eagle chassis which has been heavily influenced by Paul Silva. We'll see if that plays any role the rest of the week. And JG certainly looked like he was capable of winning a driller come Saturday.
As for my Chili Bowl picks, it was a decent first night, but nothing to write home about. I had Cannon Mac in group one, Chase Johnson in group two, Nick Hoffman in group three, Kevin Bayer in group four, Kinzer Edwards in group five, Ryan Leavitt in group six, and Kevin Brewer in group seven. McIntosh, Johnson, and Hoffman should all be B-Main starters on Saturday. Bayer, Edwards, and one of my at-large picks Cody Jessop were in B-Mains last night. Leavitt and Brewer didn't get out of the C's. For the rest of the week, I've got Bell in the platinum group over Larson and JG. Tonight's picks include Kofoid, Zach Daum, Jake Swanson, Briggs Danner, Mike Hess, Chance Morton, and Tanner Allen. We'll see how those guys are able to do, and we'll talk the rest of my picks on their individual days. Once we get an update on the standings, I'll update you on that as well.
The expo center is already open this morning, and things get started a little earlier today. With no morning practice sessions, the prelim night schedule is bumped up an hour. The draw opens at 2PM central, with hot laps at 4 and racing at 5. If you aren't going to be in the building, watch live on FloRacing.
The opening weekend for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is fast approaching, and yesterday the series added yet another rookie to the mix. Joining Gary Dillon, Kyle Hammer, Max Blair, Gordy Gundaker, and Tanner English is Oklahoma racer Jacob Ulrich. Don't worry if you don't recognize the name, I had to do a little digging myself on this one. Ulrich has no past starts with either the Outlaws or Lucas. He's run modifieds in Oklahoma, including at Creek County. It also looks like he's made some starts at the Tulsa Shootout and at Port City in a micro. Ulrich is teaming up with Odin Motorsports for the dive into the deep end with the Outlaws. I'm certainly not going to knock anyone for chasing a dream and trying to make something happen, but color me skeptical on this team making it very far into the season as a series regular. No prior experience with either of the national late model series means this is a massive leap up in competition for both the driver and team. The Outlaw season starts January 20th through the 22nd at Volusia for the Sunshine Nationals.
Elsewhere last night, the iRacing World of Outlaws World Championship was in action for round seven at the virtual Cedar Lake Speedway. The series was off last week, but we had big drama in the most recent feature back at Knoxville when Alex Bergeron and Hayden Cardwell tangled late, and Bergeron went on to the victory. The win for Bergeron moved him back atop the series points standings, and he entered last night with a six point advantage over Cameron Merriman. James Edens, Blake Matjoulis, and Braden Eyler were the rest of the top five. Aiden Bierlein held the final lock in spot for next year's season over Tyler Ducharme. In the night's feature, Austin Semmelmann sat on the pole, and he led early, but second starting Hayden Cardwell rolled the top to the front a few laps in. And that proved to be the race winning move. Cardwell drove away to the victory over Bergeron, Merriman, Eyler and Edens. In the race for the championship, Bergeron was able to extend just a little bit over Merriman with three races remaining on the season. Bergeron is chasing his fourth series title. Racing continues next Monday night at Fairbury Speedway. You can watch for free on DIRTVision or the iRacing YouTube channel starting at 9PM ET.
There are two shows on today's streaming schedule, both on FloRacing. They've got night two from the Chili Bowl and Flo 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!