DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Carson Macedo wins Merced, Jimmy Owens takes Atomic, Logan Wagner vs Anthony Macri at Port Royal | Daily 3-21-2022
On this Monday we are talking World of Outlaws, Lucas, Wagner vs Macri, and more. Let's go!
Today is Monday, March 21st, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
We lost a few of the races over the weekend to weather, including the Saturday shows for both the Outlaws and Lucas. But there was plenty of other racing that did get completed.
Out in California on Friday night, the World of Outlaws took on Merced Speedway for the first time since 2014. Brad Sweet sat on the pole, and led the first 21 laps, but on a restart with 14 to go, sixth starting Carson Macedo powered by on the highside and led the rest of the way for the victory. Sweet finished second, Gio Scelzi was third, Tyler Courtney was fourth, and Spencer Bayston completed the top five. I said on Friday that David Gravel's 36 point lead could be erased in a few nights, and it was nearly completely wiped out just on Friday. What was 36 is now 10 after Gravel had issues and ended up 15th. He started fifth, but was involved in an incident and had to spend time in the work area. It busted a 15 race top ten streak, and Gravel was the last remaining driver with a top ten in every race. He's now tied in top ten finishes with Sweet and Sheldon Haudenschild. With the win, Macedo is now third in the standings behind Gravel and Sweet, with Sheldon fourth, and James McFadden fifth. Donny Schatz has tumbled to eighth after getting involved in another incident. He's now had three straight finishes outside the top ten after starting 2022 so strong. Elsewhere, it was a nice run for Sunshine driving the Works Limited 57. He continues to show that he belongs near the top of the sprint car heap. Also another solid top five for Spencer Bayston in his rookie year with CJB Motorsports. It'd didn't go great for him down in Florida, but he looks right at home in California, even though he's from Indiana. With Kasey Kahne again a no-show and Noah Gass missing features, Bayston is the shoe-in right now for rookie of the year. When I talked the World of Outlaws championship before the season, some were mad I didn't include Sheldon Haudenschild. I heard it again before this last weekend because I didn't talk Sheldon for win picks. Yes, I know he's got two victories already, but the problem for him is never about winning races. It's about consistency. Average finish and consistency is what wins these championships, and Sheldon has not yet shown he can run top ten and top five enough to really challenge guys like Sweet and Schatz and Macedo and Gravel. If you aren't in the upper 80th percentile for top ten percentage, you aren't going to win one of these titles. Through the eight races so far in 2022, Sheldon has seven top tens, but he's working way too hard for them right now. He leads the series in feature plus minus and races with a positive plus minus count, but that's bad. That means he's starting further back in these races. His average finish for the year is seventh, but he's starting nearly 13th. Both Gravel and Sweet are averaging about a fifth place start. And it starts in qualifying. Sheldon is averaging nearly a 12th place result in qualifying, which is worse than Sweet, Jacob Allen, Gravel, Kraig Kinser, and Carson Macedo. Until they can start timing better and rolling up some more top five and top ten finishes, we cannot seriously talk about that 17 team as a championship contender. The Saturday night show for the Outlaws at Ocean Speedway was lost to rain, so that means one more weekend of racing before the trek back east begins. The series takes on Bakersfield on Friday night this week, and Perris on Saturday.
Just like the Outlaws, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series only got one race in out of two this weekend, with Saturday's show at Brownstown lost to weather. On Sunday at Atomic, Devin Moran led the first lap from the pole, and then it was all Jimmy Owens out front. Moran and Tyler Erb chased him throughout, but couldn't get a pass completed. The win was Owens' second of the season with Lucas. Moran, Erb, Hudson O'Neal and Brandon Sheppard were the rest of the top five. The second place finish for Moran moves him into the series points lead over Brandon Sheppard, but again, neither will run full time this season with Lucas, so the race for the championship right now starts at third. That place was previously held by Tim McCreadie, but his 11th place finish and a third for Tyler Erb, sees Erb now third and McCreadie back to fourth. O'Neal and Ricky Thornton Jr. aren't far behind in fifth and sixth either. The second place finish for Moran was his 11th top five with Lucas in 2022, and his 13th top ten. He's finished 10th or better in all 13 races with the series so far, which makes him the only driver to do so. His average finish right now is an incredible 3.23. That nine car has been on an absolute rail early in 2022 and I think Moran will be a threat wherever he goes all season long. Lucas goes quiet now for the next two weekends, returning to action on April 8th at Tyler County. Things over the next few weeks will be interesting in the late model world with big cash on the line at the Bristol Dirt Nationals, but the Outlaws also in action at Cherokee and Farmer City. Who will go where will be interesting to watch. We know Chris Madden has already been lured away by the money, and we've been talking about Jonathan Davenport, Owens, and Brandon Overton. McCreadie will be at Bristol, as will Chris Ferguson. With so many heavy hitters headed for Tennessee, will some call the audible and go to South Carolina and Farmer City instead? I can't wait to find out. We'll have a lot more on the late model weekend ahead later in the week.
In the win picks department, the dirtrackr.com win prediction formula was 0-2 on the weekend. I went 1-2. The predictor had Sweet and McCreadie in the two races that happened, and I had Macedo and Moran. So right now the predictor is at 19% for the year, and I've improved to 16%. Tough sledding out here, but it goes to show just how difficult it can be to correctly pick winners on a nightly basis.
Up in Pennsylvania this weekend we had some wild moments during the 410 sprint car feature at Port Royal on Sunday. Early in the race, Logan Wagner threw a slider at Anthony Macri in turns three and four to take the second position. Out of four, it was a little dicey about whether or not the slider was going to clear. On exit, Macri went to dive low to cross him back over, but the two were just too close. Macri tagged the rear bumper on Wagner's car and sent him into the outside wall on the frontstretch. I think both moves were probably ill advised, but Wagner ended up on the losing end. Wagner expected Macri to get on the binders to let him in, and Macri just didn't do that. After some time in the work area and a new right rear tire, Wagner was able to rejoin the field, but we weren't done with this just yet. A few laps later, while trying to work his way back through the field, Wagner tangled with Justin Whittall and flipped in turn one. Under the subsequent red flag, Macri's 39 came to a stop just into turn one, and after Wagner got out of his wrecked machine, he ran down to the 39 to show his displeasure for the earlier incident. It didn't look like any punches were thrown, but definitely words from Wagner. Macri, incredibly, went on to win the feature over Brent Marks, and afterwards, he took blame for the incident with Wagner. He told Jeremy Elliott that he felt bad about what happened, and that he didn't want to tear up someone else's car. From my perspective, it was just a racing deal. Macri wasn't trying to wreck the Zemco machine on purpose, and I certainly understand the anger and reaction from Wagner. There was definitely a better way to handle it from his end, but again, I get it. What I don't get is Wagner's statement today on Twitter. I'm with him in the first two paragraphs. Standard stuff, equipment, team, respect, etc. But he loses me in the third graph. In it he says quote "I was raised to address bullying face to face and stand up for what I believe in" unquote. Regardless of who you think is to blame in this instance between these two drivers, Anthony Macri was not bullying Logan Wagner. Maybe next time we just put Twitter down.
Elsewhere in Central PA this weekend, Justin Peck was a winner at Williams Grove and Brent Marks took the Saturday night feature at Lincoln.
With the ASCS over the weekend Wayne Johnson won the opener on Friday night over Blake Hahn and Sam Hafertepe Jr. And on Saturday night it was all Seth Bergman. He led flag to flag to take the victory over Hafertepe and Tony Bruce Jr. After the opening nights, Bergman and Johnson lead the way too early points standings, with Hafertepe, Hahn, and Dylan Westbrook completing the top five. The season continues this coming weekend at I-30 in Arkansas.
In other weekend results, big shoutout to Joseph Joiner and the Hunt the Front squad. Joiner lost a right rear with two laps to go in the Southern All Stars feature at Southern Raceway, but held on to win anyway. Gregg Satterlee and Colton Flinner were ULMS winners in Pennsylvania, and Ben Watkins, Cade Dillard, and Ricky Weiss were $5000 winners at Lancaster, Cotton Bowl, and Boyd's. CJ Leary took down the No Way Out 40 at Paragon Speedway, Davie Franek and Derek Hagar were USCS winners, and Lachlan McHugh was the Saturday winner down under at Premier Speedway.
The only thing on the streaming schedule today is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule, 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!