DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Brandon Overton bounces back from Thursday Lucas DQ; Blake Hahn back with ASCS, adding 410 races | Daily 1-31-2022

Coming up we are talking the Lucas late model weekend, news from Blake Hahn, plus other weekend results. Let's go!

Today is Monday, January 31st, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series weekend at Golden Isles has wrapped up, but Speedweeks continues to roll along starting tonight at Bubba Raceway Park. On Friday and Saturday night in Georgia, Brandon Overton made up for that Thursday night DQ in qualifying by winning both features and grabbing $27,000 in cash. Thursday night's winner, Devin Moran, lead the first half of Friday's feature from the pole, but Overton was really good. He slipped by Moran on lap 27 and led the rest of the way. On the final lap, Hudson O'Neal tried to steal one, rolling the top side, but Moran threw a block at the line to finish second, with O'Neal third. O'Neal was the only Lucas regular to finish on the podium all weekend long. The story on Saturday night for the 50 lap finale was basically the same, just with a different early leader. Kyle Larson sat on the pole in the Rumley six, and was out front for the first 27 circuits, but again, Brandon Overton was on the move. He started fifth and stalked the six through half way, finally taking control of the race on lap 28. Over the final half, Moran tried to keep the 76 honest, but couldn't mount a real challenge. Overton drove away to the win with Moran second and Larson finishing third. Friday and Saturday were one hell of a way to bounce back for Big Sexy after that Thursday penalty for the droop rule. He's showing early on that he hasn't lost anything from last season. And it was a very good weekend for Moran, picking up the Thursday win along with seconds on Friday and Saturday. He's the Lucas points leader after the first three nights and his nine machine wears the orange spoiler with Ocala up next starting tonight. Larson had issues on Friday and ended up with a DNF, but finished third on Thursday and Saturday. Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, and Tim McCreadie all picked up top ten finishes each night as well. Remember through these opening races, that only a driver's best five races will be counted for the points standings going forward. So some guys that didn't have great weekends, like Ricky Thornton Jr., or Hudson O'Neal, or Kyle Bronson, won't necessarily be hurt by this going forward, especially if they get hot later on in Speedweeks. Of the guys we expect to run for the championship, Tim McCreadie is the only one in the top five in the standings, and only four of the top ten spots are held down by those full timers.

Coming up tonight is the first of two shows at Bubba Raceway Park. In 2021, Ricky Thornton Jr. grabbed one win, and Shane Clanton the other. Over the two nights, Bobby Pierce had the best average finish, sitting at fifth, but he's not expected to race this week. We'll see if Thornton can bounce back at Ocala, and get his Speedweeks going in the right direction. These two race nights were not on some of these guys' schedules, so I'm not sure I'd expect to see Davenport tonight. I don't think Owens had it on his schedule originally, but it's on his website now, so we'll see. I wouldn't expect Overton or Larson tonight or tomorrow as well. But there will still be plenty of talent between the Lucas regulars like McCreadie and Erb and O'Neal and others. As for win picks, the formula likes McCreadie for tonight, and I'm going to go with Moran. He had a killer weekend at Golden Isles, and over his last 10 Lucas starts, has eight top six finishes and an average finish of 4.9. So far this season, the formula is 0-4, while I'm 1-4. I got the Friday pick right with Overton, but picked Sheppard on Saturday night. Hopefully we can bounce back tonight. If you can't be at the track, MAVTV Plus will have live coverage tonight.

Coming off the ASCS national tour championship in 2021, Blake Hahn will be back to defend that crown this season. Back on Friday it was announced that Hahn will return to the series now owned by Terry Mattox, and he joins Grandon Anderson and Garet Williamson as drivers confirmed for the full run in 2022. On top of the full ASCS slate, Hahn and his team will add some 410 racing to the mix as well, joining up periodically with the new POWRi 410 series that's running the midwest, along with possible weekly shows at Knoxville and maybe some Outlaw starts. They could potentially run as many as 90 events this year, which is a serious amount of racing. In looking at Blake's resume, I'm actually a little shocked that he hasn't run any Outlaw shows before. He made five appearances with the All Stars in 2020, with a best finish of 12th at Red Dirt Raceway, but I have no Outlaw races in the dirtrackr.com database for him, and I don't see any on his page at the thethirdturn.com. He's had plenty of speed and success in the 360, and he's been really good at the Chili Bowl. Hopefully we get to see him at some Outlaw shows this year as he builds his 410 program up. He'd be a solid addition.

Out in Arizona over the weekend, it was a banner three days to start the USAC CRA season for the Demon Damion Gardner. He picked the three opening season wins for the series at Cocopah Speedway. Back on Thursday it was career win number 90, Friday night number 91 came over Tommy Malcolm and Chase Johnson. And on Saturday night he made it a clean weekend sweep for career win number 92, topping Eddie Tafoya Jr. and Matt Mitchell. He's obviously leading the series points standings, and the sprint car series goes quiet now for about a month. They are back to racing on March 4th at Thunderbowl Speedway and March 5th at Keller Auto Speedway. If you're a fan out west, make sure you keep up with them on Twitter @USAC_CRA.

Over the weekend at East Bay, Seth Geary was the modified winner on Friday night. He couldn't race earlier in the week because of his day job, but rolled into the track on Friday and bagged a WinterNationals victory over Tyler Nicely and Victor Lee. And on Saturday night, it was Victor Lee who left with the $5000 check after the 75 lap WinterNationals main event. It was his second win of the week at East Bay. He dominated the final 59 laps to secure the win over Kevin Adams and Geary. The early season racing for UMP modifieds continues this coming weekend at North Florida Speedway for three more nights. As for East Bay, the track is quiet today and tomorrow, with racing picking back up again on Wednesday night with 604 and 602 late models through Saturday night. You can find more info about the WinterNationals at East Bay by visit ebrp.co.

Yesterday on the YouTube channel I dropped a new video that is something a little bit different. You've seen me do the Daily shows and Conversations episodes, but this new video is more of an explainer and a little deeper drive on one subject. In the video, I walk you through an overview of the dirt late model world as a whole, including the big series, some history, and who races where. I think a big barrier to entry for new fans is where do they start because there is so much to watch and so much to know and understand. And even for more seasoned fans, there is a ton of nuance and things can get confusing pretty easily. I've posted on my social channels in the past asking who people are picking for series champions, and people respond with drivers that don't race that series full time. Those folks are big enough fans that they follow my stuff, and wanted to actually comment, but they don't understand who races where. That's a problem for the sport. So this is the first of some more educational type videos I want to do to help. If you're a hardcore fan, there is a decent chance that you won't find anything new in these new shows, but don't worry, if you watch, I won't tell any of your late model buddies. I've got plans in the future to add some similar videos for the open wheel side. Drop a comment, let me know if there is something along these lines you'd like to learn or know more about in dirt racing.

There are three shows on today's streaming schedule. DIRTVision has the iRacing World of Outlaws World Championship finale from the Dirt Track at Charlotte, MAVTV Plus has the Lucas late models from Bubba Raceway Park, and there is 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, have a good Monday. 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!