DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Can Kyle Larson dominate All-Tech again? Anthony Macri looking for fifth straight sprint car win | Daily 4-22-2022
Coming up we are talking a fourth straight sprint car win for Anthony Macri, and what's ahead this weekend for the Outlaws, XR Super Series, USAC and more. Let's go!
Today is Friday, April 22nd, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
It's been a good week to be Anthony Macri, and that continued last night with the first ever appearance by 410 sprint cars at the Bloomsburg Fair Raceway in Pennsylvania. Last weekend, Macri won Friday night at Williams Grove, went to Port Royal on Saturday and won again. Then on Wednesday he was the benefactor of broken gears on the final lap for Brent Marks. He spun trying to avoid the 19M, but still went on to the victory. And last night with the All Stars at Bloomsburg, it wasn't an easy path to victory lane, but regardless of the way he did it, the result was the same. Macri won his fourth straight sprint car race, and with more Pennsylvania tracks to go this weekend, the streak could continue. He started on the pole of the feature, but was docked a row for jumping the initial start. That gave Scott Bogucki a chance to lead early. He looked fast, but both Macri and Balog ran him down in lap traffic, and that seven machine ended up out of the race after Bogucki tagged the outside wall in one and turned over. I said before Attica that I thought Bogucki could turn some heads this year, and that's been true so far. A top five in the opener and some laps led already. Race wins are definitely coming for the Australian graduate of the 360 ranks. Balog led through half way, but on lap 17 Macri made his move, driving by the 17, and he led the rest of the way for the win. Balog finished second, Justin Peck third, Tyler Courtney fourth, and Zeb Wise was fifth. Alex Bowman grabbed another top ten result for the week, and the struggles continued for Christopher Bell and the Swindell SpeedLab crew. They had engine issues at Bridgeport, but recovered to a top five. But last night, brake issues plagued the car, and they ended up 22nd. Looking ahead, the All Stars are on their way to Williams Grove tonight and Port Royal on Saturday. There is also a 410 show on Sunday at Selinsgrove, but it's not All Star sanctioned. I'd guess you'll see at least some of these guys finish out the weekend there. Through three nights, Courtney leads Balog, Peck, Parker Price Miller, and Zeb Wise in the championship standings. As for a win pick tonight, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Lance Dewease. But I'm gonna go with the hot hand and Macri. Maybe he can really go five straight, which would be like some Kyle Larson type stuff. The All Star shows tonight and tomorrow will be live on FloRacing if you want to tune in.
In other 410 compeition, the Outlaws were supposed to be at Tri-City Speedway in Illinois tonight, but that event has been postponed because of wet weather. I think this is something like four straight Fridays that the Outlaws have been rained out, which sucks because these teams end up with a full weekend's worth of travel expenses, and only are getting to race one time. On the flip side though, at least they aren't burning up Hoosier H15's right now. I'm trying to be positive. With tonight lost, the series will now head to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana tomorrow night. Brad Sweet continues to lead the points over Carson Macedo and David Gravel who are tied for second. Sheldon Haudenschild and James McFadden complete the top five. I have the last six Haubstadt races in the dirtrackr.com database, and Carson Macedo has won the last two. Carson Short, Christopher Bell, David Gravel, and PPM have the other four wins. Of drivers with multiple starts over that stretch, Brad Sweet has the best average finish. The Big Cat's recent finishes, along with that strong average at Haubstadt have him atop the win chances from the prediction formula. I'm gonna pick Macedo to go three straight at the track. He's coming off that win at Pevely, and I think will have some momentum coming into a track he's had previous success at. This could be a chance too for him to gain some ground on the KKR 49. The Outlaws will be live on DIRTVision tomorrow night.
If you're a late model fan, you've got plenty of options this weekend with both the XR Super Series racing down in Florida, and the World of Outlaws late models back in action at Atomic Speedway. We talked on yesterday's show about who's headed for All-Tech and the XR show, and that race should draw plenty of attention. Nick Hoffman led the open practice session last night with a lap of 16.985. Tonight is a $25,000 to win race, and Saturday's finale is yet another $50,000 to win show. I'd keep an eye on Kyle Larson both nights in the Rumley 6. The last time we saw him at All-Tech, he blew the lucas field away, winning by double digit seconds back in 2021. He shouldn't have any problem going back and forth between Talladega and Lake City tomorrow, with Cup qualifying scheduled to be done before the early afternoon. If you want to watch the two nights at All-Tech, you'll need a subscription to XR plus.
Up in Ohio, the Outlaw late models are back in action for the first time in nearly a month. THey haven't raced since March 25th and 26th at Cherokee. Michael Brown and Max Blair were winners that weekend. The winners on the high banks of Atomic will take home $10k tonight and $15k tomorrow. With eight races complete for 2022, Dennis Erb Jr. leads Brandon Sheppard by 30 points in the standings. Blair, Tyler Bruening, and Hudson O'Neal and Tanner English complete the top five. If you're an Outlaw regular not named Brandon Sheppard, it should be pretty disconcerting that he's yet to win a race this season with the series, and only has two top fives, but is still second in the points. You know that group won't stay down for long, especially with how we've seen them do with Lucas so far this year. This will be the Outlaws' first trip to Atomic since 2018. Recent winners include Tyler Erb, Devin Moran, and Josh Richards. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Brandon Sheppard tonight, but I'm going Devin Moran. He's won here before, and has been red hot this season. You can watch this one live on DIRTVision.
In Oklahoma this weekend, the USAC national midgets are at Port City Raceway for the Brady Bacon promoted T-Town Midget Showdown. Thanks to Kokomo being rained out a few weeks ago, this is the first race weekend for the midgets since the season opening weekend at Bubba back in February. Justin Grant swept those opening two races and is the points leader because of it. The last four race nights at Port City have all had different winners, with Tanner Thorson, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Grant, and Tyler Courtney taking victories. Of those drivers that will be in attendance, Justin Grant has the best average finish, sitting at 3.75 through those four races. I'd say he and Kofoid are solid picks for the weekend. Another might be Cannon McIntosh. They ran a six car dash for cash last night and McIntosh outdueled JG for the win. It will be a tough weekend though, as the field is expected to be north of 30 cars, and we'll see all the heavy hitters, including Logan Seavey, Tanner Thorson, TMez, and a bunch more. Friday's show is $4000 to win, and Saturday is $7000. You can watch live on FloRacing.
The early season hits from the weather just keep on coming. The ASCS had a weekend in Missouri and Kansas planned, but both of those shows have been lost to weather. The series will race at Salina on September 9th now, and a new date for US 36 is in the works. With the weekend lost, the ASCS National Tour will now be in action again on May 13th at Black Hills Speedway in South Dakota.
If you haven't watch it yet, I dropped a new conversations episode yesterday. Chase Briscoe announced this week that along with his busy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, he's going to run a sizeable dirt racing slate. Something like 25 races across sprint cars, midgets, micros, and even some super late model shows. He joined me on the pod to talk about the added races, how the deal came together, why he went pavement racing instead of dirt racing in the first place, and a lot more. We talked about it briefly at the open, but Briscoe used to hang around the World of Outlaws offices years ago when he first came to Charlotte, and it's crazy to see him now as a Cup driver for Stewart Haas. The episode is on the YouTube channel and in your podcast feed.
There are 24 shows today on the streaming schedule, with something like 80 total for the next few days. That includes both World of Outlaws series on DIRTVision, the All Stars and USAC midgets on FloRacing, the XR Super Series, and a whole lot more. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, enjoy the dirt racing weekend. 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!