DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Sides Motorsports looking for drivers, Jonathan Davenport cruises with FloRacing at Brownstown | Daily 4-28-2022

Today on the show we are talking Jonathan Davenport cruising to the Wednesday night win at Brownstown, Short Track Super Series results, the Outlaws at Bristol tonight, and a full time World of Outlaws team looking for drivers. Let's go!

Today is Thursday, April 28th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

So after going several months without grabbing a dirt late model victory, Jonathan Davenport has now won twice in five days, taking home north of $70,000 in the process. Last Saturday night it was the $50,000 victory at All-Tech with the XR Super Series, and last night he flat dominated the FloRacing Night in America show at Brownstown. He started inside row two for the 50 lap feature, and after pole sitter Mike Marlar led the first few laps, JD got by on lap five and was never seen again. The race was only slowed by a single caution, and at the end Davenport's margin of victory was over five seconds. Bobby Pierce, Marlar, Brandon Overton, and Kyle Larson completed the top five. Larson started 12th and was one of the few big movers in the race, another caution or two and he may have been in contention. Only the night's hard charger, Ricky Thornton Jr., passed more cars than Larson did on a night where it was tough to move forward at Brownstown. The other NASCAR driver in the field last night was Chase Briscoe, who was making his super late model debut in a Longhorn prepared by Kent Robinson. I think on the show yesterday I said Ross Robinson, so my bad on that mixup. Briscoe's debut wasn't quite as smooth as Tyler Courtney's was the night before. Briscoe qualified 20th in his group and started deep in heat four. Then a lap two spin by Dylan Thompson collected Briscoe's 14, and he was effectively done for the night. The next time we'll see Brisky on dirt according to that initial schedule he posted, is when the XR Super Series takes to the Dirt Track at Charlotte May 11th and 12th. So with two of 12 race nights complete, we have two familiar names atop the FloRacing Night in America standings. Last year it was JD and Larson one two, and that's what we have again. Davenport leads Larson by nine markers, with Overton, Brandon Sheppard, and Bobby Pierce completing the top five. The Flo series is back in action May 11th and 12th at Spoon River and Lincoln, which creates a little four night Illinois Speedweek, joining with the Farmer City 74 on May 13th and the Spring Nationals at Fairbury on May 14th. The shows at Farmer City and Fairbury are MARS sanctioned. With the two Flo shows, guys will race for $22k to win, $22k to win, $15k to win, and $30k to win over the four nights. To keep up with the Flo series, hit up floseries.com.

We talked yesterday on the show about Stewart Friesen looking to turn his luck around with the Short Track Super Series, and that's exactly what he did last night at Delaware International. Building off that Fonda win from last weekend, Friesen started fourth, took the lead from Jordan Watson on a lap 19 restart, and drove away to his third consecutive win in that event. He bagged $5700 for his efforts as well. Mike Maresca ended up second, Watson faded to third at the end, with Matt Sheppard and Ryan Godown completing the top five. I haven't seen updated south region points yet, but things will remain tight at the top, with both Godown and Maresca finishing top five last night. The south region returns to action on May 24th at New Egypt Speedway, while the north will be back on May 10th at Accord Speedway.

Looking ahead to tonight, the World of Outlaws Bristol Bash gets underway with open practice sessions for those teams in attendance. Both the sprint cars and late models are in action for full programs Friday and Saturday, so these laps tonight will allow teams to get reacclimated to the fast, high banks. We should get a pretty good idea of who's going to race this weekend with tonight's sessions, but don't expect a heavy field of cars. As of this morning, the MyRacePass page now shows 19 sprint cars pre-entered and 21 late models. And you won't see those numbers swell at all with potential late entries, as don't forget these races were invite only. You obviously get the all the regular Outlaw teams on both sides, and then just a few others. We know Kyle Larson is running double duty this weekend, and it sounds like Jonathan Davenport is coming with the 49 late model. Roth Motorsports has also shifted weekend plans for Kerry Madsen and the 83JR team. They were headed to Knoxville, but forecasted weather there means they are now on their way to Bristol with that Toyota powered sprint car. As much as people seemed to want these events at Bristol in the past, I wonder how much longer we'll see the continue going forward, especially with the Outlaws. The XR shows a few weeks ago didn't draw huge car counts or crowds, and we'll be down on cars this weekend for several reasons. Obviously we've talked about the parts and tire shortages, and there is just a lot of other racing happening this weekend around the country that is competing for drivers. You need big power to be fast at Bristol, passing will be at a premium, and smaller teams don't want to risk destroying cars and equipment because of big crashes. So unless the streaming numbers are just off the charts, it feels like these races could go away. World Racing Group even fattened up the purses for this weekend, and it seems to have had no effect on growing the field. One other interesting World of Outlaws note from yesterday involves Jason Sides and his 7S machine. That team is opening up their car for either young or veteran drivers seeking opportunities to race with the Outlaws going forward. The team will be at all Outlaw races in the future, either with Sides in the seat or someone else. In a release from the team, Sides said he's not retiring, but that he just can't compete to the level he once could because of his body and that it's time to allow some other drivers the chance to race. Anyone interested in driving the 7S can reach out to Paul Sides for details. Jason's performance has definitely been declining in recent seasons, and this year they've only made eight of 15 features, with a best finish of 15th at Vado a few weeks ago. He hasn't finished top ten in a series race since Wilmot back in July of 2021, and his last top five was that month at Cedar Lake. If you want to drive for an established Outlaw team though, this group definitely has all the tools and experience you could need. If you want to tune in to practice tonight, sessions begin at 6PM ET and end at 9 PM ET. If you aren't going to be there to watch live, DIRTVision is showing the practices for free tonight. So check them out for more info. We'll talk more about the Outlaw weekend on tomorrow's show.

One news item from yesterday I wanted to pass along was from the All Stars. They have cancelled the upcoming May 14th show at the Dirt Oval at Route 66, which was a co-sanction with the IRA sprint cars. They cited uncertainties involving the track opening. Instead, the series will now go to Wayne County Speedway in Ohio on May 14th. Teams will head there after racing at I-96 Speedway the day before. Also, if there are weather related issues this weekend at Waynesfield, that race will be moved to May 15th. So we could potentially have that May weekend host three races in three nights. The All Stars are in action this weekend starting tomorrow at Lernerville, followed by Saturday at Sharon, and hopefully Sunday at Waynesfield. For more details on the All Star schedule, hit up allstarsprint.com.

There are two shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the Outlaw practice sessions from Bristol 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!