DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Haudenschild, Macedo split Outlaw weekend; strong weekend for Brandon Overton | Daily 3-7-2022
Coming up we are trying a little something different as we talk the weekend's races. Let's get into it!
Today is Monday, March 7th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
We are going full experiment mode today, as normally the dailies are recorded and then posted, but I wanted to try and do a live daily and see how things went. So we are live on YouTube right now, and then this will be available later on in podcast form and obviously on-demand later on the YouTube channel.
We'll start things off with the World of Outlaws in Texas at Cotton Bowl Speedway.
Friday night: James McFadden led early from third, but had a right rear go flat while leading. Battled back to 13th at the end. That gave Cory Eliason the lead, but Sheldon Haudenschild was coming. Sheldon to the lead in lap traffic on lap 22. Sheldon, Eliason, Sweet. Schatz hard charged from 13th to 5th. Sheldon was really fast. Car looked like it could go just about anywhere.
On Saturday night I was curious if Eliason could maybe grab a win after the speed from the first night, but he never got the chance. Eliason broke a shock after first lap contact with Jacob Allen. Done for the night. On the restart, Sam Hafertepe Jr. grabbed the lead. Gravel stalked Hafertepe for much of the race, but Carson Macedo came on late. Macedo big slider coming to 3 to go to take the lead. Drove away at the end. Hafertepe second, James McFadden third. Schuchart hard charged from 12th to finish fourth. Gravel faded to fifth at the end. With five races complete, Gravel is still the points leader. He tops Sheldon and Schatz by 16 points. Sweet, McFadden complete the top five. Schatz and Gravel the only drivers to finish top 10 all five nights. Schatz has 18 straight top tens, Gravel 13. Gravel leads all drivers in average finish through the opening five nights, that's why he's the points leader.
Brad Sweet's average finish is 6.8 through these opening nights. He's trying to win that fourth straight title. Was curious about how many nights it's taken him to win in the past. In 2021 he won the season opener. In 2020, he won the second night out. But in 2019, his first championship year, he didn't win until night 10. It was 16 nights in 2018, and 9 nights in 2017. So not uncommon for Brad to be winless at this point so far.
Some other notes. Kasey Kahne did race the first night at Cotton Bowl, but sat out the second, with Daryn Pittman getting in the nine. The team said he still isn't feeling 100% after that big crash at Volusia a few weeks ago. Hopefully he'll be good to go by the weekend. Pittman was an easy choice, as he lives in Texas now.
Also, apparently Tanner Thorson is a full time Outlaw now. We told you a few weeks ago his plan was to run something like 50 races, but according the series he's a full time member now. Which is a little odd, since he did not race at Volusia, so he's way down the order in the standings. Thorson was 24th on Friday night and 15th on Saturday night.
One more note, apparently Scott Bogucki, who we've seen a lot in 360 competition and with the ASCS in recent seasons, is planning a larger 410 schedule this year. I heard Johnny Gibson mention that on the DIRTVision broadcast. Yet another 360 guy moving up the ranks. We'll see where he races through the season.
Another tough weekend for the win picks. Both me and the formula 0-2. I had Sweet both nights, the formula had Gravel and Sweet. We'll try again this weekend.
Moving over to weekend late model competition.
Spring Nationals Overton in his own zip code at Swainsboro on Friday. Page, Whitener on the podium.
Senoia: Madden led the first, than Clanton took over. Madden out early after damage because of contact with a slower car. Ashton Winger chased Clanton, but shredded a left rear late and ended up with a DNF. Clanton drove off to the win.
Smoky Mountain: Camaron Marlar early leader from the pole. Overton took over on lap 12 and wasn't really challenged from there. Mike Marlar and Tim McCreadie were the other podium finishers. Tough field, included Dale McDowell, Hudson O'Neal, Ricky Weiss, Jimmy Owens, Davenport, Fergy, others. Almost like a national touring series race. Smoky Mountain has their own streaming deal now. Looks like they charged $29.99 for the race. Interested to see how that works. Not many tracks have their own deal. Will folks buy those events on a per race basis with the other streaming services out there?
Brian Rickman and Tyler Stevens bagged Comp Cams wins at Boothill. Cory Hedgecock and Dennis Erb jr. grabbed wins at Clarksville for the Toilet Bowl.
Cherokee Sunday: Big crowd. Became a battle of attrition, as we've seen at Cherokee plenty in the past. Chris Ferguson led the whole race from the pole, but lost the right rear coming to two laps to go. That gave Chris Madden the top spot. We also lost Kyle Strickler late to a spin, and Brandon Overton from second to a flat right front. Madden was able to hold off Mike Marlar in the last few laps to take the victory. Marlar was second, Davenport third with a damaged nose.
We talked about modifieds and the UMSTS last week. Over the weekend, Dustin Sorenson grabbed the opener and $5000 at Rocket Raceway Park, topping Jason Hughes and Rodney Sanders. And Saturday night it was Tyler Davis earning his first career win and $10 grand beating Hughes and Sanders. Hughes leaves the weekend as the points leader over Davis, Sanders, Sorenson, and Tanner Mullens.
In other weekend sprint car action...
Lincoln Kofoid, Peck, PPM, KTJ in the field. Macri by Chase Dietz with 10 laps to go. Macri, Stutts, Dietz. Dietrich was fast late, but ran out of time.
Port Royal Mike Wagner led early, but Lance Dewease ran him down and took the lead before half way. Wagner couldn't run down Dewease in traffic through the final laps. Dewease topped Wagner and Justin Peck at the line. The field also included Hunter Schuerenberg, Kofoid, Brent Marks and PPM.
Friday at Silver Dollar Justin Sanders got by Kaleb Montgomery late to take the victory. All Faccinto at Silver Dollar on Saturday. Sanders ran out of time late. First win in the Tarlton ride with Drew Warner crew chiefing.
The only thing on the streaming schedule today 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!