DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Chris Madden giving up Outlaw points lead to chase the money, Kyle Larson dirt stats | Daily 3-17-2022

On the show today we are talking Chris Madden dropping off the Outlaw tour, Kyle Larson stats, some weekend updates and more. Let's go!

Today is Thursday, March 17th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

The Lucas late models are back in action this weekend after not having raced since Speedweeks, and the Outlaws will be back next weekend at Cherokee Speedway. But apparently we are now in a situation where the top two in the points standings for both series are not sticking around for the season. We already knew this with Lucas, as Brandon Sheppard leads the standings over Devin Moran. Sheppard will chase the Outlaw title while Moran is pick and choose. That leaves Tim McCreadie in third to pick things up when those guys eventually fall out. On the Outlaw side, we emerged from Florida with Chris Madden and Dale McDowell at the top. McDowell was never going to run full time even with his early wins, but we certainly thought Chris Madden was. A win, four top fives, and six top tens through the first six nights was a very solid start to the year and what looked to be an early season shot across the bow of Rocket squad. After chasing BShepp all of last season, Madden would have been their main challenger again in 2022. But according to the schedule on Madden's website, we will not see him at Cherokee next weekend or the Illini 100 at Farmer City the next week. Madden is instead choosing to race the two Bristol weekends with XR for the big money and give up his status as a full time Outlaw driver. From there, we'll see Smoky at Eldora for the Flo series, at Bulls Gap for Kyle Larson's event before the Bristol NASCAR weekend, he's got two Spring Nationals shows at Wythe and Tazewell, then to All-Tech for the XR races, and he'll close April back at Bristol with the Outlaws. It's an interesting move for Madden, who like I said, would have been a serious challenger for the Outlaw title. But this move puts him in line with guys like Brandon Overton, Jonathan Davenport, and Jimmy Owens, who are all chasing the money this season. Over the next about six weeks, Madden is only racing in one show that pays about $10k to win. Everything else is $20 grand to win or more. If you would have told me we'd lose a full time Outlaw driver before Cherokee, I would have believed you, I'm just not sure I would have guessed it would be Chris Madden. In 2021, it took until about this point in the year before Madden even officially declared with the Outlaws. Running all four Bristol nights and the two shows at All-Tech would keep Madden at perfect attendance through April if he decided to chase the XR Super Series points. He hasn't posted his schedule beyond April, so we don't know if maybe that is what they are thinking. This story line will be one to continue to pay attention to as the season keeps rolling along. Madden won't be the last guy we lose from the national tours. Fuel prices and parts and tire shortages will continue to plague these guys, and the possibility of big cash to win will remain a draw for some. With Madden and McDowell out of the way, that means when the Outlaws head to Cherokee next weekend, Dennis Erb Jr. is the next man up as he sits third in the standings.

In the comments on my video yesterday about the differences between the Outlaws and Lucas, Tim asked me about a statisical analysis of Larson over the past few seasons and how he's done with the various dirt racing series. Keep in mind I don't have the unsanctioned races that Larson has competed in, and I left out the Chili Bowl just because it's a bit difficult to pull in both features and prelim stuff. That leaves both Outlaw series, the All Stars, Lucas, USAC midgets, and the Silver Crown Series. And these numbers mostly are for 2020 through 2022. There is some older stuff in here with the Outlaws for example, but not before 2017. So here you go Tim. Between the six series, Larson has made 147 appearances. In those 147 races, he's won 52 times, has 98 top fives, and 118 top tens. That's a total win percentage of 35, 67% top five percentage, and an 80% top ten percentage. His most dramatic percentages are with the Silver Crown Series, two wins in two starts is 100% everything. If you want a significant number of races though, look at his appearances with the All Stars. 36 races have led to 18 wins, 28 top fives, and 32 top tens. He's won 50% of those starts, and finished top ten in nearly 90% of races. He has an average finish of fourth in this span of races. He's made the most starts with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series going back to 2017. In 76 races with the Outlaws, he's got 22 wins, 47 top fives, and 60 top tens. Over this five-plus year stretch, only Donny Schatz, David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Logan Schuchart, and Sheldon Haudenschild have won more Outlaw races than Larson. So there you go Tim. If you want to see these numbers for yourself, head over to dirtrackr.com/analytics.

Thanks to my friend Paul Arch, I got an email about an upcoming resolution in the Pennsylvania State Senate to recognize April 10th, 2022 as National Sprint Car Day in PA. April 10th is obviously 4-10, and if you've been around sprint car social media for any length of time, you know lots of people on Twitter and the like call out this day every year. When I worked for the Outlaws, we always spotlighted the day. It's certainly a very easy tie-in. Kind of fun to see a government body recognize the day as such, and no surprise to see it happen in Pennsylvania where weekly 410 sprint car racing is such a big part of the racing culture there. If you want to see the official resolution for yourself, go find Pennsylvania Senate Resolution number 241.

If you're a non wing sprint car fan in Indiana, this weekend's No Way Out 40 at Paragon has been moved to Sunday because of weather. There is rain forecasted for Friday and Saturday, but things look much better there for Sunday afternoon. Gates open at 1 with hot laps at 4. The race pays $14,000 to win and $1000 to start and should draw some pretty good drivers. Some possible entries include Shane Cockrum, Robert Ballou, Jake Swanson, Kyle Cummins and more. If you can't be at Paragon, the event will be streamed live through Speed Sport TV on Dirt2Media. The event is pay per view and not part of a larger subscription service. I'd love to tell you how much it costs, but I can't find it anywhere. I will have it on the streaming schedule on Sunday. For event updates, make sure you're following @ParagonSpdwy on Twitter or find Paragon Speedway on Facebook. It doesn't appear as though they have an active website on the interwebs.

Port City Raceway near Tulsa, Oklahoma opens this weekend with their Non-Wing Showcase benefitting the Rayce Rudeen Foundation. The two nights of racing will feature junior sprints, and restricted and non-wing outlaw micros. I bring this up because Christopher Bell, who we all know as a NASCAR Cup Series regular and a big dirt racing guy, is bringing his micro to Port City, but it will be someone else racing it. He posted a photo of the car earlier in the week painted up with Pristine Auction and Dewalt colors, and Cannon McIntosh's name on the visor. That should be a potent combination at Port City, and it's an easy pairing given both guys' ties to the Toyota Racing program. Bell tweeted that he's trying to improve his micros this year, so we might see this more often. If you can't be at Port City, FloRacing will have livestreams both nights.

There are three shows on the streaming schedule today. Speed Sport TV has IMCA racing from Southern Oklahoma Speedway, Fast Four has caged clones from Red Bluff, 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 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!