DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Ryan Newman back on dirt, Wayne Johnson off Outlaw tour, more late models headed to Volusia | Daily 1-19-2022

Coming up we are talking Ryan Newman, Wayne Johnson, Bill Balog, and more drivers headed to Volusia this weekend. Let's do this.

Today is Wednesday, January 19th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

Before we get into the show, today's episode is supported by Rotor Ron. If you're into RC, head over to rotorron.com. He's got dyno tuned RC motors, lots of accessories, and some sweet custom dirt late model bodies, including some painted up like Scott Bloomquist's zero machines. He's also got wheels and tires for your RC car, and you can get your own motor dyno tuned. As a bonus for my audience, use code DIRT10 at checkout and get 10% off any order of $50 or more. So pop over to rotorron.com, grab some RC parts, and use code DIRT10 at checkout.

Last week at the Chili Bowl, Ryan Newman was in attendance for the third time in his career, driving again for Clauson Marshall Racing. He ended up 13th on his prelim night, and ended Saturday 13th in a C-Main. It was a very respectable showing for the veteran driver, and even though it was lost a bit in the shuffle I think, Newman did reveal a bit about his racing future at the event. He's been a full time NASCAR Cup Series driver for the past 20 years, picking up 18 wins along the way and probably well more than a $100 million in career earnings. But 2021 was probably his last in NASCAR's top division, as his contract with Roush Fenway expired at year's end and he hasn't been signed elsewhere for this coming season. But a few different pieces came out about Newman from Chili Bowl, including one for NASCAR.com and another from Racing America's Matt Weaver, and in those interviews he revealed that we might see him a bunch more on dirt coming up. In addition to wanting to run some more pavement modified races, Newman also talked about possible starts in the USAC Silver Crown Series and some dirt late model appearances. He characterized some of these races as quote bucket list items he missed along the way. As we've seen with Tony Stewart, Newman is the next in line to return to dirt and some of the racing in which he cut his teeth, before he made it big. And he'd join all these high profile drivers like Larson and Bell and others who are crossing over between worlds. The Silver Crown stuff isn't a huge jump for Newman. He actually made a start in 2021, finishing 20th at IRP, and is a past champion of the series. The dirt late model stuff could be interesting though. I've heard rumors of a possible regional team running Longhorns, and that could be really fun to watch Newman get into. He'd certainly be a draw at some of those races. I'd guess the only real starts Newman has made in a late model were the Prelude races back in the day. So even though he won't be racing on Sundays anymore, it sounds like Newman isn't quite done with his motorsports journey just yet.

When the World of Outlaws head to DIRTcar Nationals in a few weeks, one driver who won't be part of the full timers club is Wayne Johnson. His TwoC Racing team announced via Twitter last night that they are going to pull back from the Outlaws full time and run a pick and choose schedule in 2022, that will include Outlaw starts, plus races with the All Stars, at Knoxville weekly, and some 360 shows. Johnson has been a full time Outlaw for the past two years, including winning rookie of the year in 2020. It's been tough sledding for that group though, with only 11 top ten finishes in their past 132 appearances. The team discovered a problem with their cars towards the end of 2020, and they were definitely much improved this last season, gaining nearly seven spots in qualifying average and more than two positions in average feature finish. But even with that bump, they still struggled often and were near the bottom in feature plus minus for the year. With the addition of names like Kasey Kahne, Spencer Bayston, and Noah Gass, things weren't going to get easier for Johnson and that team, and I'm not surprised they are pulling back. That is an insanely tough group, and it can't be fun getting your head kicked in regularly. At a certain point also, the economics don't work out well if you aren't consistently getting decent finishes in features. So with the loss of Johnson, and Jacob Allen still a bit of a question mark, that should put us at 13 full timers. They are Brad Sweet, Donny Schatz, David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, James McFadden, Brock Zearfoss, Spencer Bayston, Kasey Kahne, and Noah Gass. Along with that group, don't forget that Rico Abreu is also planning a sizeable Outlaw schedule. So barring any late surprises, we should stay right around that number, depending on what happens with Jacob. It will no doubt be another slugfest season with that group as full time Outlaws.

In other sprint car news, the All Star Circuit of Champions have another driver confirmed for the 2022 season, and it's a returning team and driver combo from last year. Bill Balog and the B Squared Motorsports squad will be back for year number two hoping to build on their success from their rookie season. The Northpole Nightmare ended up fifth in the final standings behind champion Tyler Courtney, Cory Eliason, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Zeb Wise. In 48 races, Balog scored two wins, which were back-to-back nights at Plymouth and Angell Park in June, along with 11 top fives and 20 top tens. He led all full timers in feature plus minus at +66, and was second behind Sunshine in the number of races with a positive plus minus. For 2022, that group needs to find just a bit more speed in qualifying. With a time trial average north of 12th, any improvement they can find there will pay off later in the night, especially with Balog's ability to pass cars come feature time. If I'm not mistaken I believe Balog makes it three confirmed drivers for the All Stars for 2022. We already know about Kevin Thomas Jr. and Kyle Reinhardt. From there, I think we can safely assume the 26 of Cory Eliason, the 10 of Zeb Wise, the 55 of Hunter Schuerenberg, and the 13 of Justin Peck will all also return. I don't know about Cap Henry at this point, and we know Chris Windom will run a bunch of All Star races, but most likely not full time. And the big one is defending champion Tyler Courtney. I know he wants to go Outlaw racing at some point, and there was talk early on that he may make that jump this season, but I think right now all signs are pointing to an All Star return. So as of right now, we are looking at probably eight or nine full timers, but there are usually a few surprises in the spring. Remember that the All Stars season begins in February in Georgia and Florida, but points don't actually count until the series hits Attica in April. So there is still plenty of time for teams to make up their minds.

All of the late model teams must be feeling a little antsy, because the field at Volusia for this weekend's Sunshine Nationals just keeps getting better. We've already talked about the Outlaw regulars, Stewart Friesen, and Kyle Larson. And we can add Kyle Strickler to the mix as of last night. He showed off a photo of his Longhorn Chassis on Twitter last night with his upcoming schedule that includes this weekend's racing, plus the three nights of Lucas at Golden Isles, and then both weeks at DIRTcar Nationals between his modified and the late model. I've also seen GR Smith is coming with what appears to be Ashton Winger behind the wheel of the 89. Add in Chris Madden and a whole host of others and we might be somewhere near 40 cars for the weekend. Not bad for a little super late model show in January. Teams will get a chance to practice tonight, with racing Thursday through Saturday. We'll dive into a full preview tomorrow.

In the dirt racing podcast department, Winged Nation has Zach Daum, LoudPedal has Chili Bowl champ Tanner Thorson, Ohio Dirt has Colin Shipley, Passing Points has a bunch of Chili Bowl interviews, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, and Wednesdays with Wayne. To see the full list of shows and episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

There are two shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the DIRTcar eSports season finale from the Dirt Track at Charlotte, and XR+ has practice night from the Las Vegas Dirt Nationals. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. Side note, there is no FloRacing 24/7 on the schedule, and it has disappaeared from all past and future dates. Not sure if that's an oversight or a strategic change.

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!