DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Superman Jonathan Davenport wins Eldora Million | Daily 6-10-2022
Jonathan Davenport is a millionare and a busy dirt racing weekend ahead. Let's go!
Today is Friday, June 10th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
The Eldora Million is complete, and in the history of dirt racing we now have two names that have won a million dollars or more in a single main event. Jonathan Davenport added his name to that very short list last night, joining Donnie Moran. Through much of the feature, Davenport was on cruise control, and at times had leads as big as six seconds. As the laps started to wind down though, ninth starting Tim McCreadie got into the mix, and we had a nice battle on our hands with TMac eventually leading two laps officially. The race went green for 82 laps before we had our first caution for a slowing Jimmy Owens. Over that final run to the finish, we had several more cautions for flat tires and it mixed things up a bit, with one victim being McCreadie. Fortunately for him though, there were only five cars on the lead lap at the end, so he didn't have to go to the back. On the final two lap shootout for the win, Chris Madden tried sliders at both ends of the race track, but JD was able to fight him off and drive on to the million dollar pay day. We had to wait a few minutes afterwards to make sure the 49 cleared the scales and the droop check, but the car passed both with flying colors, and Superman was officially the winner. I hated that it was for flat tires, but those late cautions really gave us quite a bit of racing and drama over those last few laps. I think it was about the best we could have hoped for. Behind Davenport, Madden ended up second, Devin Moran third, McCreadie fourth, and Chris Ferguson was the final car on the lead lap in fifth. Names like Dale McDowell, Bobby Pierce, and Brandon Sheppard were never really factors in the main event. With the speed Pierce showed early on, I thought he would have been more in the mix. We also didn't get Bloomquist in the finale after he had issues in his heat and finished 16th. There was also no Brandon Overton, who missed a feature transfer from a B-Main by four spots. Things got off to rough start earlier in the day for Overton after he was involved in a crash in his heat race during prelim action that really put him behind for the rest of the event. He was just never able to climb back out of that initial hole. Out of the 124 cars on the property, I felt like the feature starters all ended up not being a big shock. The only real surprise felt like Trent Ivey. His third place finish in heat five put him in the main event early. Davenport and Ferguson were the two prelim feature winners earlier in the afternoon, and they were obviously both fast in the night program as well. A few other names who were left wanting more included Tyler Erb, Ryan Gustin, Max Blair, Ashton Winger, Cade Dillard, and Kyle Strickler. All of those guys were either out in B-Mains or their heat races. As for Davenport, his hall of fame career was already cemented in stone, but this just adds to his mystique, especially at Eldora. He's won the Dream, multiple Worlds, plenty of other crown jewels, championships, and is now the second Million Dollar man in the sport. JD was already approaching $300,000 in winnings for the year, and this will obviously make him the highest earner for 2022, regardless of what happens going forward for any other driver. The Fast 49 sits at the top right now, and I'm sure the party went early into the morning for that group. For the teams in attendance though, the weekend isn't over. Eldora is re-racking everything today and beginning the weekend for the 28th Dirt Late Model Dream, and another $128,000 will get paid out on Saturday night to the Dream feature winner. Could we see a Davenport sweep? Possibly, we'll just have to see how bad that hangover is today for prelim action. Tonight will again see split programs with two 25 lap features before Saturday's Dream. There is a lot more racing to come, so if you aren't headed to Eldora, stay tuned to FloRacing.
Drop me a comment, let me know your thoughts on the Million and all the racing from yesterday.
Last night at Lincoln Park Speedway we had round number five of Indiana Midget Week for the USAC National Midget teams. It ended up being really the first surprise night of the week with the winner. Jacob Denney, driving for Mounce-Stout, sat on the pole, but it was veteran Jerry Coons Jr. who led early. Coons hasn't raced in a national midget event since the BC39 at Indy last August. He was strong out front through half way, but Denney was able to track him down before ten to go and sneak by for the lead on the bottom out of turn four. Denney drove away over the final 11 laps for his first ever nationl win, and the first for the Mounce-Stout team. Zach Daum ended up second, Coons dropped to third, with Brenham Crouch and Mitchel Moles completing the top five. Midget week and season long points leader Buddy Kofoid was ninth, with Justin Grant eighth, and TMez 14th after an early incident. We did also get to see some history last night, with four women locking out the first four spots in qualifying. Jade Avedisian was quick time, with Kaylee Bryson, Taylor Reimer, and Mariah Ede following. Bryson ended up as the highest feature finisher of the four in tenth. Midget week continues tonight and through the weekend with three more stops. Tonight they head to Gas City, Saturday is Kokomo, and things close out on Sunday with the rescheduled Circle City race. Kofoid and Cannon McIntosh own the most recent victories at Gas City, Chris Windom has three of the last four at Kokomo, with Emerson Axsom and Tanner Thorson the other two winners, and as we talked about earlier in the week, Corey Day was the Circle City winner last year. We won't see Windom, as he's running Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the All Stars, so we will probably see a different winner at Kokomo. The same is true for Circle City. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula does like Kofoid again tonight, I'm going to agree. All three nights to close out Indiana Midget Week will be live on FloRacing if you cannot attend.
As USAC gets set to close out their Speedweek, the All Stars are just getting started on theirs, as Ohio Sprint Speedweek opens tonight at Attica. We'll go Attica, two nights at Fremont, Wayne County, Sharon, Atomic, Waynesfield, Limaland, and Portsmouth over the next nine straight nights. Tyler Courtney is the current All Star points leader, and he's the defending speedweek champion from a year ago. He's headed to Attica tonight after racing all day yesterday at Eldora with the late model. The Eldora Million didn't go quite how he had hoped, as he was fifth in a B-Main during prelim action yesterday afternoon, before ending his night with a 13th place finish in the second heat race and not making the feature or a B-Main for the Million. Attica will be a nice place for him to bounce back though, as he's already won there twice this season, and was fifth just a week ago. He and Justin Peck, who trails him in the standings, remain the two hottest drivers with the series right now. The prediction formula likes Sunshine, and I'll go with that pick as well. Zeb Wise won a week ago, and I think he and Peck and Schuerenberg are all good choices also. Fremont I think will be a little more wide open and that could be a place where the locals shine. Cole Macedo and Cole Duncan each won there a year ago, and we've seen Buddy Kofoid and Cap Henry take victories there in the past too. It will be a grueling week of racing, so as much as guys will want to push to try and win, sometimes it will be best to just survive until the next night with nothing torn up. We'll see all the series regulars, plus Ohio favorites, and probably a few others along the way. These will all be live on FloRacing.
In Knoxville this weekend, the World of Outlaws roll through for the first time in 2022. They are in action tonight and tomorrow, and besides the Outlaw full timers, we'll get a heavy dose of midwest favorites, the Knoxville regulars, and probably a few others who will be in attendance to get some laps on the track ahead of that big week in August. Carson Macedo swept this weekend a year ago, and Kyle Larson is the defending Nationals champion. Other drivers to pay attention to include Brad Sweet, David Gravel, Logan Schuchart, and Donny Schatz. All have average finishes in recent seasons at Knoxville of 6.4 or better, and that's over more than 20 races. The championship battle remains tight with Sweet in the lead and Schuchart in fifth only separated by 88 points, with Gravel, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Macedo in between. Sheldon and Schuchart are the two hottest drivers with the Outlaws over the last five and ten race stretches, and all involved will be looking for wins and ways to stretch away from the competition. Unfortunately though, it seems like all of our contenders are really good at Knoxville, so I have a feeling we'll leave these two nights with things in a similar situation. Nobody has been able to really get away in recent weeks. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula has Brad Sweet at the top of the win chances, but I'm going Macedo. They won a week ago at River Cities, and this team loves this race track. Both nights at the Sprint Car Capital of the World will be live on DIRTVision.
In Missouri at Lake Ozark Speedway, we were supposed to get two nights of joint Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Cars and POWRi War Sprint Cars this weekend, but the Friday show has been cancelled because of rain. The Saturday show is still on as scheduled, with $6000 going to the winner. CJ Leary leads Robert Ballou and Shane Cockrum in the Xtreme points, while Kory Schudy tops Jack Wagner and Anthony Nicholson in the WAR standings. I'll be curious to see how car counts work out on Saturday up against Indiana Midget Week. It's obviously not sprint week, but a lot of those guys are running the local 410 shows that are in conjunction with midget week, so we'll see how many travel to Missouri for the one day show. These nights of racing can be watched on both DIRTVision and MAVTV Plus.
Out in California, the NARC 410 sprint cars take on Ocean Speedway tonight for the Pombo-Sargeant Classic, and they head to Placerville on Saturday for the Dave Bradway Jr. race which also includes the 360 Sprint Car Challenge Tour. The NARC competitors are back in action after that recent northern swing through Oregon and Washington where Dominic Scelzi, Willie Croft, and Trey Starks picked up victories. Scelzi leads all drivers with four wins on the year, and he's got 45 points right now on Croft in the standings, with Mitchell Faccinto, Bud Kaeding, and Justin Sanders completing the top five. Jeremy Elliott mentioned earlier in the week that Corey Day could be in the Works Limited 57 this weekend with NARC, which isn't his usual ride. With Kyle Larson not racing, Elliott also said that Paul Silva would be crew chiefing, so it will be interesting to see what young Day can do in that car. Day already has a NARC win this season, and there is talk that he could head east and run more 410 winged stuff later this summer. As for the Sprint Car Challenge Tour, Shane Golobic leads that championship over Andy Forsberg and defending champion Ryan Robinson. I'm going to continue referring to these races as west coast after dark, and if you want to watch these races, you can do so both nights over on FloRacing.
Elsewhere this weekend the USMTS modifieds are at the Belleville High Banks for two nights, tonight and tomorrow. The Friday show pays $5000 to win and the Saturday race pays $10,000 to win. This Belleville weekend is part the larger Belleville Dirt Nationals for the XR Super Series, with late models not joining the event until Monday and Tuesday. We'll talk about the late models next week, but as for the modifieds, Dustin Sorensen continues to lead the USMTS points over Tanner Mullens and a charging Dereck Ramirez. Right now, 22 drivers have competed in every single event, so a big field of guys is battling it out right now. Jake O'Neil leads the series with four wins, to Sorensen's three, but O'Neil hasn't run the whole schedule. Both of these nights will be live on both RacinDirt and XR+ if you want to watch.
The weekend streaming schedule right now is over 120 different shows. That includes the Dream at Eldora on FloRacing, the World of Outlaws from Knoxville on DIRTVision, Ohio Sprint Speedweek and Indiana Midget Week also on Flo, and a 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!