DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Daryn Pittman subbing for Kasey Kahne, Corey Day's sprint car season, random late model thoughts | Daily 3-31-2022
Coming up today I've got a bunch of odds and ends for you, including the Xtreme Midget entry list, some details on Corey Day's future, Daryn Pittman back with the Outlaws, a Bristol double for Kyle Larson, and more. Let's go!
Today is Thursday, March 31st, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Before we get into the news and notes for today, I've been thinking about something this week that I want your opinion on. On the open wheel side of things, we obviously don't get a lot of crossover between series for a lot of the top drivers. The Outlaw regulars aren't really allowed to do much outside of Outlaw shows, and even the All Star regulars stick to their series for the most part, and if you look at the non wing stuff, there is more extracurricular activity for some of those guys, especially in the midgets, but less in the sprint cars. I say that, because on that side of things, I feel like it's a lot easier to have a sense for how drivers are doing at any given point in the season. I think momentum can be a really big deal for drivers and teams, and like right now with the Outlaws, we know things have been going really well for Brad Sweet. Even if you aren't super up on his stats and results, you just have a sense through the eyeball test that Sweet is on a roll. On the late model side, I feel like it's very different. Because guys race with so many different series and tracks through the year, it can be hard to judge that mythical momentum for some. Unless you are literally watching every lap of every late model show and studying each guy's stats, and who they are racing against, judging where guys are is much more difficult. Take Tim McCreadie for example. A quick glance at the Lucas points, and the defending champion is fourth, and already has a win this season. It would seem like things have been going pretty good for him so far. But when you dive in, it's not really true. He had just the one top ten finish with the Outlaws at Volusia, and had an abysmal weekend at Bristol which included a Saturday night crash. If you were just following along with his Lucas exploits, you'd think he was okay. But depending on how this week goes at Bristol, when Lucas is back on April 8th at Tyler County, I think you'd have a hard time picking him as a win favorite with how the last two months have gone for him. The same is true for guys like Overton or Davenport, or even some of the regional guys like Dale McDowell or Chris Ferguson. Unless you are super plugged in, it's just hard to get a sense for how their seasons are going. It's an interesting thought experiment I think and something I grapple with as we talk late model racing on this show. Do I have a real sense for these drivers and their performances. Drop me a comment, let me know your thoughts on this.
We haven't seen Kasey Kahne in a sprint car since the first night at Cotton Bowl a few weeks ago with the Outlaws, and he continues to try and get back to 100% following that nasty crash at Volusia during DIRTcar Nationals. The future of the nine team has been in serious doubt here lately, but the car will be back at the track this weekend, just with a different driver behind the wheel. Kahne tweeted this morning a photo of the KKR 9 and said he'll be back at the track this weekend, but his name isn't on the car's wing cap. When the nine rolls out of the trailer it will be Daryn Pittman who will be climbing in the seat. Pittman filled in for Kahne the second night at Cotton Bowl, and is obviously a big part of KKR's history, having won the Outlaw title in 2013 driving that nine car. Pittman stepped away from full time sprint car competition following the 2020 season, and ran a part time slate of races last year in the Swindell SpeedLab 39, which included an All Star win at Port Royal. Pittman has shifted his focus to UltraShield Race Products, which he acquired last year and is running with wife Mandy. Besides being the 2013 champion, Pittman is 9th all time in Outlaw wins with 86. The World of Outlaws are at Lawton Speedway tomorrow night and Devil's Bowl on Saturday.
And speaking of sprint car drivers...
Over the last few weeks as the Outlaws have been out in California, we've talked about Corey Day a bit as he made his Outlaw debut, picked up two second place finishes and led his first ever lap with the series. The 16 year old from Clovis, California is the son of Ronnie Day, who won a ton around California in the 90's and 2000's. Ronnie was the first ever Trophy Cup winner and is a past champion of the NARC King of the West Series. Along with that, Day has been driving for and being mentored by two time World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers, so plenty of good resources around Day as he finds his own way in sprint car racing. I've seen and heard in a few places this week that Day will spend the early part of this season driving out in California, but is expected to head east later in the year and possibly run the Knoxville Nationals and a bunch more Outlaw shows. It's good to see his schedule expand and for him to get the opportunity to get experience on some of these other tracks around the country. He's already got a NARC 410 win, he won a USAC midget show last season, and very much feels like he's next in line for really good open wheel racers that have come from California. If you look at the Outlaw points right now, Brad Sweet, Carson Macedo, Gio Scelzi, Cory Eliason, Rico Abreu, Kyle Larson, all California guys. Throw in Carson's brother Cole who is racing in Ohio and Buddy Kofoid who continues to grow and be impressive. Day is definitely a driver to watch this season.
Yesterday on the show we talked about Kyle Larson getting back in a late model this weekend at Bristol, and thanks to this week's Open Red Credentials Denied episode, we know that Larson will be back at Bristol next month with the Outlaws. According to Chris Dolack on that show, Larson is pre-registered to run both the World of Outlaws Sprint Car portion and the late model portion that weekend. Thursday night April 28th is a practice night, with the 29th and 30th being race nights. All four features that weekend pay $25,000 to win, so if Larson was somehow able to sweep the weekend, he'd get a very nice hundred grand. The Cup Series is at Dover that weekend, so not too far to go back and forth for Yung Money. With the Cup cars back to practicing and qualifying, I wasn't sure how much we'd see Larson this season on dirt tracks, especially closer to the weekends, but the miracle of jet aircraft is allowing him to make some of these weekends happen. So we've seen Larson do the Tulare-Phoenix double, he'll do the Richmond-Bristol double this weekend, and then at the end of April it will be the Bristol-Dover triple. I don't know about you, but I'm here for all of this. Now we just need to get Larson an Indy 500 ride at some point in the future.
The Illini 100 is coming up this weekend at Farmer City Raceway, and while most think of this event as a late model show, this weekend we do get to see the debut of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series. The sprint cars for Xtreme got their season started back at Volusia, but the midgets take the stage this weekend. The series released a pre-entry list for the weekend, and it's 35 cars strong right now, with the possibility for it to grow come Friday. We've talked about some of the full timers in the past like Andrew Felker, the Boat cars, and Kyle Jones. The list for Friday and Saturday also includes Keith Kunz cars for Bryant Wiedeman, Taylor Reimer, Kaylee Bryson, Mariah Ede, Brenham Crouch, and Kaidon Brown. Cannon McIntosh is coming, as is Zach Daum, Chad Boespflug, Ethan Mitchell, Chance Crum, and Ohio standout Jacob Denney. It's a very strong field for the first weekend out and as long as the weather cooperates at Farmer City, we should be in for a good show. I think this race would have even attracted a little more USAC flair, but the sprint cars are at Lawrenceburg on Saturday, so a lot of those guys are headed that direction. We'll talk more about the Farmer City weekend on tomorrow's show, but don't forget you can watch live all weekend on DIRTVision if you can't get to the track.
If you were hoping to see some sprint car racing in Iowa this weekend, you'll have to wait a little longer as the IRA and MOWA opener that was set for Friday and Saturday at 34 Raceway has been postponed because of precipitation and cold temperatures in the forecast. Series officials are hoping to reschedule the event for later in the season. Jake Blackhurst is the defending IRA champion, and with this weekend's racing off, the 2022 season will now open at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin on April 23rd. For more info and to see the full IRA schedule, head over to irasprints.com.
There are two shows on the streaming schedule today. XR+ has today's action from the Bristol Dirt Nationals 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!