DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Can anyone beat Tyler Courtney this season with the All Stars? | Daily 4-12-2022
Coming up we'll dive head first into the All Star season ahead, who's racing full time, and who the contenders are. Let's roll!
Today is Tuesday, April 12th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Even though they've completed a pair of shows already, the 2022 All Star Circuit of Champions season really begins this weekend at Attica. Those early season shows don't pay points, but things get real Friday and Saturday as the championship fight gets underway. Yesterday the series released the list of 14 full time drivers and teams that will chase the title, and there aren't any real surprises on the list. Starting out though, 14 teams is the highest count of full timers in All Stars history. We'll take that all day. So here is the list. Tyler Courtney is back with Clauson Marshall to defend his 2021 championship. He'll be chased by Cory Eliason and the Rudeen team, Zeb Wise and the Wise-Priddy 10, Justin Peck and Buch Motorsports, Hunter Schuerenberg is back for year two with Vermeer Motorsports, as is Bill Balog and the B Squared 17. Also returning are Cap Henry and the Lane Racing 4 and Kyle Reinhardt in the RQM 91. Parker Price Miller joins McGhee Motorsports in their 11, Bradley Howard is in the Coldren 07, Tim Shaffer is in the Grove 28, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Scott Bogucki are teammates with Snow Racing, and Chris Windom has committed to the full schedule with Hayward Motorsports. It's a very solid mix of veterans and young talent, plus some newcomers and it should make for a good season of racing. This list of drivers just adds to the good news for the All Stars in 2022, which included the addition of new series sponsor Tezos, which is a blockchain company we talked about a few weeks ago. The All Stars will chase a championship purse of $358,000, with the champion taking home $80 grand of that. That's a $15,000 bump from a year ago.
Out of the gate, Sunshine and the 7BC squad will be the favorite to repeat as champion. They led the series in average finish, wins, top fives and top tens a year ago, even though it was their first full time season. There was some thought that after the quick success that Courtney may jump to the Outlaws, but the team wants to take things slower, and so they are back for year two. Sunshine was lights out through the summer in 2021, but struggled down the stretch with only three top tens in the final 10 races. It didn't matter though, as his championship lead was massive, and the team could afford to cruise to the title. In this early part of 2022, Sunshine won the All Star opener at East Bay and was third the second night, plus he's got four top tens in seven Outlaw starts between the CMR 7BC and the Works Limited 57 out west. I'd say they've shaken that bad stretch off from last year quite well.
Behind Courtney, Justin Peck and Cory Eliason should be his main challengers. Peck had the second most wins a year ago with four, and was second in average feature finish, but ended up way down the order because he had to miss races due to injury. A fifth and a sixth at East Bay were a strong start down south, and the Buch team has been getting plenty of races in early on, including picking up with season opener at Williams Grove last month. As for Eliason, I thought he'd be a shoe-in for the championship last year with Aaron Reutzel out of the way, but that Rudeen 26 team just didn't find their speed until later on in the spring. By the time they got rolling the hole was just too deep to dig out of, and they also struggled to the end in 2021. They won the second night at East Bay in February, and have made 11 Outlaw starts already, so plenty of track time should hopefully help them get out of the gate quicker this year. They've got four Outlaw top tens in their last five appearances.
From there, drivers like Zeb Wise, Cap Henry, and Hunter Schuerenberg would need to make leaps from a year ago to be in contention. Wise improved from year one to year two, including a lot more top fives, top tens, a nearly two spot average finish gain, and his first two series wins. But that team had some terrible luck and some crashes through the year that I think held them back, especially with putting equipment together. They need to find more consistency, as they were only top ten in 48% of races, and their average finish would need to jump at least three spots to really challenge the top guys, which is a big ask. I like Cap Henry's experience, especially in Ohio, but that team needs to be better in qualifying and at some of the race tracks outside their geographic base. Hunter Schuerenberg proved he can win on tour last year, but that team also needs to be better time trialing, and they need to be towards the pointier end more often to contend for the title. They only had 10 top fives in 53 races.
Depending on his health status, Parker Price Miller could be in the mix early and often in the McGhee 11. He's been undergoing cancer treatments, and has had to miss some starts early in 2022 because of it. But if he can be at 100%, we know he and that team are capable of winning. We saw that last year with Bayston in the 11, and PPM is a multi-time winner with the World of Outlaws. This pairing could challenge the top teams if things go right.
Bill Balog and Kyle Reinhardt were both winners a year ago, and will be looking to improve this season. I don't see either as title contenders though, as this is only year two for each, and they would need to make really big jumps from a year ago. Tim Shaffer in the Grove 28 is an interesting addition for 2022. Shaffer is a past All Star champion, and he's won in that car before, so race wins could be possible. But I don't see them contending for the title. Shaffer only had four top tens in 16 races a year ago, and he hasn't won with the series since Attica in September of 2020. It will also be an uphill battle for Bradley Howard in the Coldren 07. That car has had multiple drivers in it in recent seasons, and Howard only has a single All Star top ten on his resume in the past three years, a ninth at Bubba Raceway Park in 2019.
As for the three newcomers, two are moving over from the non-wing world in Kevin Thomas Jr. and Chris Windom, and the third is lesser known in the 410 ranks, but Scott Bogucki has had plenty of success with the 360 crowd, including multiple wins with the ASCS National Tour. I think expectations should remain low for KTJ and Windom, as that jump to winged competition is big, and they don't have quite the same amount of seat time that Sunshine did when he made the move. Bogucki could be a darkhorse though from this group. He won't win the championship, but I could see him sneaking up and winning a race. He was a top five runner a few years ago with the All Stars at Devil's Bowl, and ran decent with the Outlaws at Cotton Bowl in March.
So there is your 2022 All Star field and where each of them stands headed into Attica this weekend. Drop me a comment, let me know who you are picking for the All Star championship this season. Can anyone knock off Sunshine? Let me know.
Before we close out today, I wanted to point out a video that the Xtreme Outlaw Series posted to social media yesterday. In it they had some B-roll footage and short clips from several drivers talking about why they like racing with the series. I expected it to be the usual fluff, but this wasn't really the case. Several drivers mentioned the improved race payouts, and there were comments from CJ Leary about following the rulebook, and Robert Ballou about less politics. While nobody came right out and said it, they were obviously referring to USAC. It was an interesting shot across the bow of the incumbent from the new guy, and a well put together subtweet. In the beginning, there was talk of the Xtreme Series trying to work with USAC and POWRi, and while the POWRi stuff remains intact, the relationship with USAC is clearly damaged. This competition between the two groups will continue to be something to follow in 2022 and beyond. If you want to see the video I'm talking about, go find the Xtreme Outlaw Series on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
The streaming schedule has two shows on it today. DIRTVision has outlaw karts from Millbridge 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 Tuesday. 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!