DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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4 straight NARC wins for "Dada" Dominic Scelzi, Donny Schatz looking to replicate past Atomic wins | Daily 5-26-2022
We will whip around the country today and talk a bunch of the racing, including NARC out west, All Stars, Lucas, Outlaws, and more to get you ready for the holiday dirt racing weekend. Let's go!
Today is Friday, May 27th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
I wanted to kick today off by saying thank you to everyone who commented and reached out about yesterday's Daily show on streaming and race tracks. There is definitely work to be done, but these problems can absolutely be solved. If I call things out like this in the future, I will always offer something in the way of possible solutions, because we don't just need to be pointing out issues and complaining. I'm not here to be negative, whine, or just generally cause hate and discontent. There is a lot of good and positive stuff happening in this space, and I want to keep pushing all of that forward.
Now, keep your eye on social media and websites this weekend, as the rainouts are coming in hot and heavy. A lot of races have already been cancelled or postponed from tonight. I've already retweeted something like 15 announcements from last night or this morning, and I'm sure we aren't done yet. So if you're headed out, be sure your track is actually running before you leave.
As expected last night, we didn't get the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway. The first night of the Show-Me 100 weekend was lost to weather, but we should be good to go tonight and Saturday. As I said yesterday, Brandon Sheppard leads Tyler Erb in the points standings entering the weekend, and Hudson O'Neal is the defending race winner. I'm just going to roll my win picks from yesterday straight into tonight, so both me and the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula like BShepp tonight. In other news from the series, they announced the 2023 Speedweeks race dates yesterday. 18 days, from January 25th through February 11th will take the Lucas late models from Georgia down to Florida, and they will race 13 times along with three practice days and two off days between Golden Isles, Bubba, All-Tech, and East Bay. 2023 Speedweeks will basically mirror what we had this season between the four tracks, and some nice money will be paid out, with the finale at Golden Isles paying $25 grand, Bubba paying $10k each night, and the finales at All-Tech and East Bay paying $15,000 to win each. If you want to see the full announcement with all the dates, head over to lucasdirt.com.
Out in Oregon last night, we got the first of four races completed for the NARC 410 sprint cars for their northern swing. Last night was Southern Oregon Speedway, tonight is Willamette Speedway, and Saturday and Sunday are stops at Grays Harbor up in Washington. They had a little rain earlier in the day on Thursday, but they were able to get racing completed with a little track work through the night. I know tires were an issue at one point, but the feature turned out pretty good and we didn't have any real problems throughout. They also drew a great crowd at the track near Medford, which was great to see, and they had 18 cars checked in for the night. In the feature, Mitchell Faccinto sat on the pole in the Tarlton 21, and he looked to be in control throughout the feature. But things for him went sideways as the race was approaching ten to go. With Dominic Scelzi chasing, Faccinto caught the outside wall down the backstretch after drifiting high out of turn two, and flattened his right rear. That handed the lead to the 41 of Scelzi, and Dom drove away to the win, which was his fourth consecutive series victory. Justin Sanders and Willie Croft completed the podium. Tanner Holmes was the highest finishing local in sixth. The win for Scelzi and the issues for Faccinto have widened the gap between the top two in the standings, with Scelzi now leading by 40 points. Faccinto, Croft, Bud Kaeding, and Shane Golobic complete the top five. There are scattered rain chances through the rest of the weekend for the next three stops, so hopefully they are able to dodge the rain drops and get some racing completed. If you aren't nearby, all these races will be live on FloRacing.
Across the country last night, the other Scelzi brother was winning as well. In the KCP Racing 18, Gio started outside pole in the 410 show at Selinsgrove, and drove away from the field for a nearly 12 second margin of victory in a non-stop main event. Brian Brown, Danny Dietrich, Freddie Rahmer, and Lucas Wolfe completed the top five. Brown and Scelzi are in Central Pennsylvania this weekend to also take on the All Stars who are at Williams Grove tonight and Port Royal on Saturday and Sunday for the Weikert Memorial. Tyler Courtney enters with a 44 point lead over Parker Price-Miller, with Justin Peck just another two points back in third. Unlike the World of Outlaws in Central PA, the All Star regulars haven't had a whole lot of luck against their Posse breathren in recent years. The last All Star full timer to win at the Grove was Aaron Reutzel in 2020. The same is true at Port Royal, with Cory Eliason owning the last All Star victory there, back in September of 2020. Since then we've had a heavy dose of names like Anthony Macri, Lance Dewease, and Brent Marks. And I wouldn't go against some of those names this weekend. The prediction formula likes Dewease tonight at the Grove, but I'm going Marks. He won the last show there back in April and will be stout again tonight. The All Star full timers need to try and just maximize their finishes this weekend and avoid any issues. I think Peck could possibly steal a win, maybe tonight at the Grove, but for the most part those front runners need to just stay close to one another. All three nights will be live over on Flo.
On Saturday night, the World of Outlaws will be at Atomic Speedway in Ohio, before they head to Lawrenceburg on Monday. Brad Sweet continues to lead Carson Macedo, David Gravel, and Sheldon Haudenschild in the standings. Logan Schuchart appears to be the only other driver within striking distance currently. The Outlaws haven't been to Atomic since 2009, and Donny Schatz has the most success there of any Outlaw regular, that includes four wins in six starts. But 13 years later, things are different right now for Schatz. He does have three straight top seven finishes, but the ten time champ hasn't led laps or won an Outlaw feature since the season opener back in February at Volusia. As good as he's been at the track, I think I'd look elsewhere for a win pick tomorrow. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula does not agree with me on this one, as it has picked Schatz for the win. I'm gonna roll with Sheldon on Saturday. He's got three straight top four finishes, including that win at Bridgeport 10 days ago over Kyle Larson. I think he'll be fired up to win in his home state. If you're wondering how Sweet is leading the points right now with only one win in 21 races this year, look no further than his consistency. He's a perfect 10 for 10 in top five efficiency, meaning he's finished top five this year every time he's started top five. He's also 18 for 19 in top ten efficiency, and his average finish is more than a full position better than his closest rival. So even though he hasn't been super fast lately, with three double digit finishes in his last six races, the KKR 49 just keeps plodding along. As is always the case, this race will be live on DIRTVision on Saturday.
On the flip side, the World of Outlaws Late Models are also in Ohio, scheduled for Sharon Speedway. Tonight's racing has already been lost to rain, so we'll hopefully get to see them tomorrow. We've been following this points battle between Dennis Erb Jr. and Max Blair, but Erb just keeps stretching away, with the gap sitting at 100 points right now. In the two previous trips to Sharon for the series, Kyle Larson and Brandon Sheppard were victorious and before that it had been nine years since the Outlaws raced there. So we could very easily be in line for a first time winner at the track. The prediction formula is reaching a bit for tomorrow, picking Mike Norris for the victory. He finished sixth at Sharon back in 2019. I'm going to keep it simple here and just pick Erb. This race will also be live over on DIRTVision.
Elsewhere this weekend, there is a ton of racing, especially since it's a holiday weekend, but I wanted to point out a few other series. The ASCS National Tour has lost tonight's racing at Lake Ozark to rain, but they are still on for tomorrow, with a stop at Thunderbird on Sunday as well. They haven't raced since March 26th, so you know those guys will be fired up to get going again. Wayne Johnson currently leads Blake Hahn and Seth Bergman in the ASCS standings. Also, the USMTS modifieds will be busy with four straight nights of racing starting tonight at Chateau Speedway in Minnesota. They will then head to Deer Creek on Saturday, Winneshiek Raceway on Sunday, and Mason City on Monday. Dustin Sorenson currently tops Tanner Mullens and Zack VanderBeek in the USMTS championship race. All four of those nights will be live over on RacinDirt.
Drop me a comment, let me know what your dirt racing plans are this weekend, and who you are picking for some victories. Monday is the Memorial Day holiday obviously, but we will still have a Daily show like usual, especially with all the racing going on. If you don't have one already, don't forget you can grab a dirtrackr decal for $3 which includes postage. They are available over at dirtrackr.com/decal. They will look great on your car, beer fridge, cooler, or race car.
Even with all the cancellations around the country this weekend, the streaming schedule is still really big. Well over 100 shows between now and Sunday and Monday. Plenty of things to watch if you aren't headed out to the track this weekend. 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!