DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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World of Outlaws Late Models open tonight at Volusia, Las Vegas Dirt Nationals on tap | Daily 1-20-2022
Coming up we'll get into the World of Outlaws Late Model opener at Volusia tonight, plus talk Las Vegas Dirt Nationals and DIRTcar eSports. Let's go!
Today is Thursday, January 20th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
We are only three weeks into the New Year and we already have our first big time series opening their 2022 season. The World of Outlaws Late Models take to Volusia Speedway Park starting tonight for the Sunshine Nationals. They'll race through Saturday night, then go quiet for a few weeks, before returning to Volusia for DIRTcar Nationals in the middle of February. This early year Florida stop was part of the schedule in 2021 for the first time and Kyle Bronson and Kyle Strickler picked up the two wins last season. Strickler won again a few weeks later during DIRTcar Nationals and left Florida leading the points as a rookie. Unfortunately for the High Side Tickler, things went sideways later and he didn't finish the year as a full timer, but he is back this weekend looking to replicate that success. Strickler was one of 45 cars on hand last night for open practice at Volusia. From a Rick Eshelman screenshot though, it looked like we only had 37 cars take time during the session. Chris Madden actually unofficially broke the track record with a 15.644 to lead all drivers. Ricky Thornton Jr., Devin Moran, Boom Briggs, and Jimmy Mars were the rest of the top five. Stewart Friesen ended up sixth, but he's already done for the weekend after something broke in the steering during the session and sent him into the front straightaway wall. Last night's group also included Brian Shirley, Dale McDowell who looked strong off that prostate cancer surgery last year, Hudson O'Neal, Mark Whitener, Shane Clanton, Dennis Erb Jr., Darrell Lanigan, and Cade Dillard, who is back in action after having to leave the Wild West Shootout because of covid. Right now our full time field of Outlaws includes Max Blair, Kyle Hammer, Gordy Gundaker, Tanner English, and supposedly Jacob Ulrich all as rookies. We've also got Josh Richards, Boom Briggs, and Brandon Sheppard. So that's eight. We don't know officially about Dennis Erb Jr. or Ryan Gustin, and Chris Madden and Tyler Bruening were full timers last year, and we know nothing of their statuses either. And the possibility still exists for someone to commit late. I'd guess we'll probably be at 10 or 12 guys leaving Florida. As for a way too early championship pick, it's Brandon Sheppard and the Rocket squad until literally anyone can prove us wrong. Right now, Sheppard is the only driver from the top six in last year's championship who we know is running full time. There are still technically question marks for Madden, Bruening, Erb, and Gustin. And Ricky Weiss is out. And of that group, only Madden was able to really challenge Sheppard last year, and that Rocket house car had a down year from what we normally expect from them. So unless Madden is back and improved, or Josh Richards some how becomes the Josh of three or four years ago, or one of these rookies comes out of nowhere, it's Sheppard. As for a race winner tonight, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Brandon Sheppard, but I'm not sure I agree. Sheppard hasn't won at Volusia since the DIRTcar Nationals opener in 2020. In the eight races since then, Jimmy Owens has won three times, Kyle Strickler twice, and Kyle Bronson, Devin Moran, and Brandon Overton each once. I'm going to go with Devin Moran tonight. He had four Outlaw wins last year, including one at Volusia. And he was fast last night in practice. I'm going to keep track of win picks all year and we can see how comically bad that goes. I've got a spreadsheet going with my pick and the formula's pick, so I'll keep you updated. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts on tonight's racing and who your win and championship picks are. If you aren't near Volusia and can't get to the track, you can watch it live on DIRTVision with a fast pass.
And if you missed it yesterday on Twitter, here is Josh Richards' ride for this year as a teammate to Boom Briggs. Nice white scheme, with Valvoline on the hood, and Josh is sporting the number one. On timing and scoring last night, they had Sheppard as the one, and Richards as the one-R. Kind of feels right to see Josh back in a car with the one on the door.
Elsewhere on this Thursday, if you're looking for other racing to tune into, the Las Vegas Dirt Nationals get underway over on XR+. That event is headlined by the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Cars, plus modifieds, dwarf cars, hobby stocks, and sport compacts. I'm not super familiar with the BOSS sprint cars, but apparently they don't really have an engine rule. They also limit top wing angle to 20 degrees. I looked around this morning to see who is in attendance, as they had a practice night on Wednesday, but it isn't super clear. A post on their website from back in December mentions Danny Jennings, Austin Mundie, Roger Crockett, and Justyn Cox. From there, it looks like Chase Randall is at the track, and Garet Williamson should be racing, he's running the ASCS National Tour this year. And Joey Myers Jr. towed in from California. Other than that, I'm not sure. The BOSS series hasn't updated their Twitter account in a year, and neither the event social media or XR posted anything other than a short video from sprint car practice. The event runs through Saturday night, with Thursday and Friday paying $2500 to win for the sprint cars, with Saturday paying $5000 to win. You can find more details at racexr.com and racexr.plus.
In more cartoon racing, last night was the season finale for the DIRTcar eSports weekly racing series. We basically had a three way tie for the championship going into the final night of racing. The series took on the Dirt Track at Charlotte in big block modifieds, and you've heard a lot of these names before. Alex Bergeron and Blake Matjoulis were tied, with Evan Seay only one point back. Late in the feature, you had exactly what you'd hoped for with Matjoulis leading, Seay second, and Bergeron battling inside the top five. Coming to the checkered, Matjoulis was able to squeak away and bag the win and the championship, with Seay just barely finishing second over Hayden Cardwell, who came all the way from last. Logan Rumsey and Bergeron completed the top five. If you are unaware, these events pay $250 to the winner and are open to anyone who wants to register and pay the $20 weekly entry fee. For more details, check out dirtcar.com/esports.
There are four shows on today's streaming schedule. DIRTVision has the first night of World of Outlaws Late Models from Volusia, XR+ has the opening night of the Las Vegas Dirt Nationals, and FloRacing has the first night of the WinterNationals from East Bay and Flo 24/7. Apparently yesterday's omission of Flo 24/7 was a snafu, as it's back on their schedule, so it's back on our schedule. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
On the show tomorrow, we'll talk Thursday night results, plus look ahead to the racing weekend, which includes more action from Volusia and Vegas, plus the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic down under at Premier Speedway.
Before we close out, I just want to say thanks again for tuning in regularly and coming along on this journey with me. We crossed over half a million total views on YouTube this week, and we are fast approaching a million total between YouTube and the podcast. Not bad for a show that's not quite been around two years yet. If you don't already, please make sure to like these videos and subscribe to the channel. You can also subscribe and follow the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Onward and upward friends!
That's it for the show today, hope you have a good Thursday. 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!