DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kevin Thomas Jr. departs Snow Racing, Lucas at WVMS, Indiana Midget Week begins | Daily 6-3-2022
Domination from Buddy Kofoid, Indiana Midget Week on tap, plus news from Kevin Thomas Jr. and what to watch this weekend with the Outlaws, All Stars, and Lucas. Let's go!
Today is Friday, June 3rd, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
A quick DIRTRACKR merch note. I went ahead and added a second size of decal to the available offerings. So we have five and a half inch stickers for $3, including tax and postage. And now I've added an eight inch decal as well. Those are $5 including tax and postage. You can find the smaller size at dirtrackr.com/decal and the bigger size at dirtrackr.com/bigdecal. You can also click under the Merch tab in the nav bar at dirtrackr.com. I have had some requests for other items, so I might explore that for the future. I'll keep you posted.
We've got another stacked dirt racing weekend on tap starting today, and we'll get into everything you need to know, including what to watch and some win picks. Let's start with last night's racing at Tri-City Speedway for the USAC National Midgets. Buddy Kofoid went from sixth to the lead in four laps and just flat drove away for the remainder of the feature. He became the first driver in three years to sweep a USAC midget night, going quick time in qualifying, winning his heat race, and taking the feature victory. The last time that happened was in 2019 at Eldora and it was Tyler Courtney doing the sweeping. Last night's win for Buddy and a third for Justin Grant means that Kofoid has taken over the series points lead as Indiana Midget Week starts tonight at Bloomington. So over the next several races, we'll be watching the series points closely, and we'll have midget week standings to watch as well. Kofoid leads Grant by 10, while Cannon McIntosh, Mitchel Moles, and Bryant Wiedeman complete the top five. Buddy and JG have already separated themselves quite a bit from the rest of the competition. Behind the winner, Kyle Larson hard charged from 13th to finish second in a Chad Boat owned car. We also talked about Tanner Thorson returning to a midget seat, and he was in a Malloy owned car as a teammate to Logan Seavey last night. He ended up ninth. So with Tri-City complete, the focus turns to Midget Week with the competitors headed to Bloomington tonight, Lawrenceburg on Saturday, and Haubstadt on Sunday. They will then get Monday and Tuesday off, before going four straight at Circle City, Lincoln Park, Gas City, and Kokomo to finish. Buddy was the midget week champion one year ago, and I think he's probably the favorite entering the week. He's got back-to-back wins with the series, and will be tough to beat over the next several days. He's the defending winner at Bloomington from a year ago, while Seavey was the last winner at Lawrenceburg, and recent Haubstadt winners include Kyle Cummins and Thomas Meseraull. Cummins won during midget week, while TMez was a winner in October last year. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula had Kofoid last night, and it has Kofoid again tonight. I'm going to agree. The correct pick from Thursday was the formula's first win since Brandon Sheppard won with the Outlaws at Atomic on April 23rd. It's sitting at 12.5% for the season in correct picks. I've actually faired pretty good lately, and am at 23% for the year. Tonight and all weekend long, you can watch Indiana Midget Week live on FloRacing.
Also at Tri-City last night, we had DIRTcar late models in action for $5000 to win, with that race being a late add following the Wednesday Flo show postponement. Kyle Larson and Bobby Pierce were out front early, but neither would actually finish the feature. Pierce pulled off, and Larson broke something on the front stretch not long later and ended up in the wall, giving up a more than three second lead. That handed the top spot to Ryan Gustin who drove away to the win. He's really hot right now, and I think it bodes well for tonight with the Outlaws. He's the most recent winner with the series from a week ago, and showed plenty of speed last night. Dennis Erb Jr. enters tonight with a 106 point lead over Max Blair in the standings, and I think is in a good position to keep expanding that lead. Kyle Larson should again be behind the wheel of the Rumley six, as long as the issues from last night aren't super bad, and we'll again get names like Pierce, Babb, Shirley, Heckenast, and plenty of others in the field to battle the Outlaws. The series hasn't raced at Tri-City since 2004, so I'd say nobody has a notebook or setup advantage tonight, and it looks like most of the guys that will race tonight were in the field last night as well. The prediction formula likes Shane Clanton tonight, I'm going Kyle Larson. You can watch this one live on DIRTVision.
Out in West Virginia, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series begins a two race weekend as part of the Historic 100. Tonight's race is $15k to win, and Saturday is a big $50,000 to win show. It will be the first Lucas race at the big 5/8 mile track since 2013. The track was brought back to life in 2021 after several years sitting dormant, and they have already run several big shows there, including both super late model and sprint car events. Speeds will be up and things will be fast over the next few days of racing. Brandon Sheppard is chasing his first Lucas title with Rocket Racing and they currently lead the standings over defending champ Tim McCreadie. Tyler Erb, Jimmy Owens, and Ricky Thornton Jr. complete the top five. Chris Ferguson is the most recent series winner, from one week ago, taking down $50k at the Show-Me 100. The prediction formula favors Brandon Sheppard tonight, but I'm going to roll with Davenport. It's tough to make picks for this one, just because there have been so few races at the track, and there aren't any other 5/8 mile tracks on either the Lucas or Outlaw schedules. If you can't get to the track this weekend, MAVTV Plus has the live stream.
Not far away in Ohio this weekend, the All Star Circuit of Champions will be at Attica and Atomic. Unfortunately though, we've already had our first team and driver shakeup for the year with the series. Kevin Thomas Jr. announced yesterday that he has parted ways with Clayton Snow and is seeking other winged sprint car opportunities going forward. It had been a slog so far for KTJ in his first season with the All Stars. Just one top five and two top tens in 16 races this year. Their best finish was a fourth at Waynesfield on May 15th, but their last two starts were B-Main finishes at Port Royal. They were also 22nd with the Outlaws back on Monday at Lawrenceburg. KTJ is currently 11th in the All Star standings, way behind the leaders. It sounds like this pairing never really got on the same page, and folks I have talked to weren't expecting this one to last the season. It's a shame for KTJ, but this is just the nature of dirt racing. Sometimes things don't work and personalities don't mix. The Snow team will continue with Scott Bogucki in their other car, and it sounds like KTJ could be back in the seat tonight with another team already. The battle at the top remains tight with Tyler Courtney, Parker Price-Miller, and Justin Peck all within 46 points. Hunter Schuerenberg isn't much further back either. Sunshine swept the opening two nights at Attica back in April, while the series hasn't visited Atomic since 2019. Aaron Reutzel and James McFadden were winners that season. I do think Courtney is the pick for tonight at Attica and the prediction formula agrees. I think tomorrow at Atomic could be a wild card show. I would not be surprised to see a guy like Cole Duncan run very well there. He has two podium finishes this season already with the All Stars. Both of these nights will be live on FloRacing.
Up north, the World of Outlaws are headed for River Cities tonight in North Dakota. That place always produces incredible racing. And then Sunday, they will take on Huset's Speedway, which should be ready to roll following that Monday storm that damaged the race track. Just like the All Stars, the points are tight at the top with the Outlaws. Only 80 points separate the top five, with Brad Sweet leading Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, Carson Macedo, and Logan Schuchart. Brad Sweet is the most recent winner at River Cities, while David Gravel has won the last two of three stops at Huset's. Donny Schatz has had an incredible amount of success in the past at River Cities, and the formula has picked him for tonight. I'm going Schuchart though. He's got four top fives in his last four starts at River Cities, including a win. He's also second in average finish over the last five races and leads in average finish over the last ten. This feels like yet another weekend where things in the standings will continue to stay tight. I don't really see anyone separating themselves from the pack right now, and this is shaping up into one of the toughest championship battles we've had with the Outlaws in a long time. I definitely like where we are right now with both the big sprint car series.
Drop a comment, let me know where you are headed this weekend, your win picks, and what you'll be watching on the streaming services.
There are over 100 shows coming up on the streaming schedule over the next few days. That includes both World of Outlaws series on DIRTVision plus weekly racing at places like Knoxville. FloRacing has Indiana Midget Week, the All Stars in Ohio and plenty more. We've got Lucas on MAVTV Plus, and a ton of local and regional racing across the other providers. 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!