DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Larson's late model show on tap, would open tire rules fix the issues in dirt racing? | Daily 4-14-2022
Coming up we are talking Kyle Larson's late model show, NASCAR windshields, open tire rules and more. Let's go!
Today is Thursday, April 14th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
The Kyle Larson promoted late model show at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee takes place tonight, and after some morning rain, it looks like they are full go for racing. Earlier, Ben Shelton tweeted a photo of the track and said they are racing tonight with hot laps scheduled for 6:30PM ET. Along with the super late models, there are also local sportsman late models on the card. They show is being promoted by Larson with the assist from the Flo group, including Shelton and Michael Rigsby. The event is being sponsored by Tezos, who just recently became the All Stars' series sponsor through an existing partnership they already had with Flo. The NASCAR Bristol dirt weekend is happening just about 55 miles up interstate 81 this weekend, and I think the hope was they'd draw some NASCAR drivers wanting to get some dirt laps ahead of time, and some of those fans who are headed for Bristol. Larson even said he's hoping this maybe becomes a new version of the Prelude to the Dream that happened at Eldora. But it sounds like it was an issue finding rides for some of the NASCAR guys, especially with all the parts and tire shortages going on. In the end though, the field is really Larson, a bunch of late model big timers, and Hendrick driver and last week's winner at Martinsville, William Byron. So not a big NASCAR contingent in the field, but Clint Bowyer will be on the call on FloRacing, and the field does include names like Scott Bloomquist, Ricky Weiss, Kyle Strickler, Dale McDowell, Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton and a bunch more. We should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 or 30 cars for the program. The feature itself pays $20,000 to win and $1000 to start. Hopefully this can be the start of the something bigger for the future, and some nice money on the line will continue to draw the big name late model guys. I'm a fan of Bulls Gap, big high banks there always lead to good racing, since guys can kind of run all over the track. So if you're around tonight and want some racing to check out, this will be live over on Flo.
And speaking of Larson, I had a few comments yesterday on my NASCAR at Bristol video about the windshields, and Larson didn't mince words about that in an interview on SiriusXM's NASCAR channel. He said that the windshields shouldn't be in place, they should do bars like the late models. He also said that he doesn't like that we've lost a pavement race at Bristol, which echoes what I said yesterday. When Stewart Friesen recently tested the NextGen car at Bristol on the dirt, NASCAR did experiment with not using the windshield, but eventually decided to leave it in place, with the reasoning given that it's a safety issue. The windshield obviously provides protection for the drivers. Now, before you attack me in the comments, this wasn't my decision, this was NASCAR's decision. I'm just relaying what they said. I don't really care either way if they run a windshield or not. Both situations obviously create some unique challenges as obviously someone like Larson has no issue not running a windshield, but how many guys in the field have actually had to pull a tearoff at speed? Probably not many. In some ways this is NASCAR trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and things just aren't going to go like some think they should. Windshields or not though, we can still enjoy the show for what it is, and get back to regularly scheduled dirt programming following Sunday.
Speaking of issues that trigger people, there was an interesting piece from Bill Foley today over at Dirt Track Digest regarding opening up the tire rules. I've had the comments from my own audience, and I've seen the chatter from a lot of other places that people think if Hoosier didn't control the tire space that we wouldn't have the shortages we are dealing with right now across the sport. On some base level, that makes sense, more companies making tires would in theory mean less shortages. But it sounds like a lot of the series and even drivers don't agree with that theory. The piece from Foley is heavily based on the northeast modified racing, as you might expect, but the ideas would be the same across car types. Big series like the Outlaws or Lucas opening up the tire rules would allow for competition and maybe greater supply, but it would also skyrocket costs for teams. Instead of just needing a small inventory of the same tires and maybe a compound or two, teams would need to invest in much bigger selections of tires to deal with changing and different track conditions. Dean Reynolds from DIRTcar said that in the 90's and early 2000's it wasn't uncommon to see teams have 30 to 40 tires mounted on a given night. That's insane. And in the end, there would probably be a tire or a few that would become the preferred tire for a lot of races, and that would then lead to competition to buy that specific tire, leading to shortages and rising costs. I was actually surprised by how in step everyone was in the piece that Foley spoke with. There have been points in the past where tire rules were more open, so it's not like there is no evidence of how this would go. The sport has clearly gone this way for good reason. Definitely an interesting piece and it gives good perspective about what both the series and a lot of the drivers think about the situation. Obviously not a lot of people are super stoked with Hoosier and what's played out over the past two years, but it seems like opening up the tire rules isn't the solution. If you want to read Foley's piece, head over to dirttrackrdigest.com.
The Knoxville weekly season opener was scheduled for this Saturday night, but the racing has been cancelled because of cold temperatures on tap for the weekend in Iowa. Overnight lows were in the 30s I believe, so it would have been really chilly out there for fans and teams. So things are pushed back a week. The sprint car competitors will get a practice night next Friday, April 22nd, with racing getting going for the year on Saturday, April 23rd.
The Knoxville cancellation has since changed the weekend plans for at least one sprint car team. Kerry Madsen and the Toyota powered Roth machine were headed to Knoxville for the opener from California, but they are now diverting to Missouri to take on the Outlaws at Pevely this weekend. We'll see if any other teams make a similar decision, but that Outlaw field should be a pretty dang good one for the two nights at Pevely.
The MLRA was also supposed to be in action this weekend at 34 Raceway and Davenport Speedway, but rain has postponed both of those races as well. A makeup date is in the works for Davenport, and the Slocum 50 at 34 Raceway will become a one day show on July 2nd. For more info on the MLRA and their schedule, visit mlraracing.com.
There are three shows on the streaming schedule today, all of them happening on FloRacing. The Kyle Larson Late Model Challenge is at Volunteer Speedway, there are late models and weekly divisions at Georgetown Speedway, plus Flo 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
If you want even more dirt racing stuff, head over to dirtrackr.com. All the day's news and stories from around the sport, updated every 15 minutes. An analytics section with data on more than 1000 races, the streaming schedule, track listings, and more. And most everything on the site is free.
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!