DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Buddy Kofoid a World of Outlaws winner; Dirt Cup, Firecracker 100, and more coming up this weekend | Daily 6-24-2022
Buddy Kofoid is a World of Outlaws winner, Mike Marlar is victorious with Lucas when I don't pick him, and what to watch this weekend. Let's go!
Today is Friday, June 24th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
It was very clearly on a matter of time, and last night it finally happened. Buddy Kofoid is now officially a World of Outlaws winner. He battled by early leader Brock Zearfoss, and then held off a mid race challenge from James McFadden to win $15,000 and the opening night of the High Bank Nationals at Huset's Speedway. It was Kofoid's 25th career Outlaw start, and not shocking, given his talent and the speed he showed on Wednesday night. Kofoid is running a partial sprint car schedule this season for Leighton Crouch and Bernie Stuebgen, and it was a bit of a struggle through his first four starts this year, with a best finish of just 17th at Atomic. But that 11 car has showed up at Huset's ready to roll. They were fourth on Wednesday night, and now the victory. Kofoid is in the midst of his title defense with the USAC National Midgets, and has made multiple truck series starts this season for Kyle Busch Motorsports at the dirt races. This Outlaw win now joins his multiple All Star victories as well. He's definitely going to be one to watch the rest of the weekend. That car is fast, and this win should add some confidence for Kofoid. Behind the winner, James McFadden picked up his best finish of the season in second after leading a lap. It's been a roller coaster 2022 season so far for JMac in his first season with Roth, with 10 top five runs, but also 13 races outside the top ten. That team has plenty of speed, and I'm sure that first win is coming. They just need to start working on some consistency. Parker Price-Miller was third, Brock Zearfoss bagged his first top five of the year in fourth, and Hunter Schuerenberg completed the top five. Feels kinda like an All Star race. Elsewhere through the field, it was a bit of a strange night I felt like. The top five in the standings were all shut out of the top five on the night. Gravel was the highest finisher in sixth. Sheldon came through the B-Main, and hard charged from 23rd to 7th. Points leader Brad Sweet ended up 14th after an early crash that also involved Donny Schatz. Everyone picked up ground on the KKR 49, with Sheldon 32 back in second, Macedo third 34 back, and Gravel and Schuchart now 58 and 64 behind. Remember that tonight is the same format as last night and is full points. The big Saturday show that pays $100,000 to win is show up points only. For tonight, Kofoid has jumped to the top of the win chances from the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula. I'm gonna go McFadden though. He's got three straight top nine finishes, was fifth on Wednesday and second last night. It could be time for him to break through this year. Don't forget you can watch the rest of the Outlaw weekend live on DIRTVision.
At Lernerville last night, the Firecracker 100 weekend got underway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. I had picked Mike Marlar a few times lately to get a Lucas win, and of course now I didn't pick him for last night and he comes through with the victory. Pole sitter Ashton Winger led the first three laps, and then it was all Marlar out front from there. Brandon Overton was in attendance and he finished second, with Earl Pearson Jr. third. We did have a rare late model flip last night when Chub Frank got over the cushion and went for a ride. His car was hurt pretty good, but Chubzilla was okay after the incident. These two opening nights, including last night and tonight, are full programs with the results setting up Saturday's racing with the Firecracker 100 winner bagging a cool $50,000. It's also important to remember that with Lucas, a lot of these prelim nights for these events do not count towards season long points. So no movement in the standings after last night's racing. The prediction formula likes Overton tonight, and now that we have confirmation that he's racing, I'll pick him too. This weekend's Firecracker 100 is live on MAVTV Plus, and you can actually watch it for free.
With the Summer Nationals last night, we had heartbreak for Cade Dillard. After dominating the main event, he had a drive shaft come apart with just two laps to go. He was done and out of the event, and that left Tanner English in the catbird seat. English charged from 10th to the win afterwards, and had to hold off Bobby Pierce right at the line. It was English's third career Hell Tour victory. And on the modified side, not even a ninth place starting position could hold Nick Hoffman down. He earned his seventh straight Modified Nationals win and continues to dominate in the standings. Headed into the weekend now, the battle is on for the Summer Nationals regulars. The next two nights at Pevely are joint Hell Tour, World of Outlaws nights. So two big late model series on a seriously racey track like Pevely should be really fun. Pierce now has a 53 point advantage over Ryan Unzicker in the Summer Nationals points, while Dennis Erb Jr. continues to lead Max Blair on the Outlaw side. This will be the first Outlaw trip to Pevely since 2019. The Outlaws will then split with the Summer Nationals on Sunday and head to Jacksonville Speedway for their debut on the 1/4 mile track. Joining the late models at Pevely will be the Xtreme Outlaw sprint cars for both nights, will the Xtreme Outlaw midgets will be at Jacksonville on Sunday. One good piece of news for the weekend is that it appears as though we'll see Josh Richards. He's been cleared by doctors and his planning on racing this weekend. The prediction formula likes Shane Clanton tonight. I'm going Dennis Erb. You can watch all weekend long live on DIRTVision.
Elsewhere last night we had Tim Kaeding just nipping DJ Netto at the end of the Dirt Cup opener at Skagit. It was a nice win for Kaeding who is back in the car after sitting out due to injury. Things were a pretty wild in that feature with quite a few incidents. Austen Wheatley was shaken up after a crash and had to be transported for further evaluation. Hopefully he's feeling better today. It was cool to hear my guy Blake Anderson on the call for FloRacing. Don't forget that Saturday is $50,000 to win out there. You can watch live all weekend long on FloRacing.
And POWRi Illinois Speedweek continued last night at Fayette County, with Bryant Wiedeman picking up his fourth career series win. Speedweek continues through Sunday.
Looking around the rest of the country, there is a ton of other racing coming your way over the next few days. Pennsylvania Speedweek starts tonight at Williams Grove, with weekend races also scheduled for Lincoln and BAPS. We should see some big names racing over the next week, including Kyle Larson. The USAC sprint cars are up north with Wilmot and Angell Park on tap for Saturday and Sunday. The ASCS National Tour has two nights at I-70 Motorsports Park, and the Super DIRTcar Series is back in action at Albany-Saratoga tonight. Ryan Godown, LJ Lombardo, Stewart Friesen, and Matt Sheppard each have wins this year. Friesen currently leads Mat Williamson in the standings.
I've gotta head off to Nashville for the day job, but before we shut down, I want to thank Ed for the Super Thanks on the Wednesday Daily show. I appreciate your support and tuning in.
We are approaching 130 shows on the streaming schedule this weekend, so no lack of things to watch over the next few days if you aren't headed out to the track. That includes the World of Outlaws sprint cars and late models on DIRTVision, PA Speedweek across several services, the Lucas late models on MAVTV Plus, Dirt Cup and USAC on FloRacing and a whole lot more. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, head over to 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!