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.

Kyle Larson tops the hottest sprint car driver in the country for $25k | Daily 7-7-2022

Today we'll talk another Brent Marks vs. Kyle Larson showdown, plus Wednesday's Lucas show at Davenport, and more. Let's go!

Today is Wednesday, July 6th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

I caught hell from a YouTube commenter on my show last week about Brent Marks being Kyle Larson's Kryptonite during PA Speedweek. Larson did have mechanical issues at Grandview and a flat tire at Port Royal that spoiled those two races, but at Lincoln and Hagerstown Larson just flat got beat by the 19. Both times he was leading late in the feature, and both times Marks ran him down and beat him for the wins. That's not something we've seen a whole lot with Larson over the last few years, let alone twice in one week. The commenter said it was BS that I called it that way and accused me of using that idea just to get views. He is correct that I am trying to get more views. Why be on YouTube if you don't want views. But I completely disagree about his other points. It had been a few years since Larson went completely winless during PA Speedweek, and it's a big deal when one guy seems to have the keys to beat you multiple times over a few days. Nevermind the fact that Marks had five wins and never finished off the podium that week. I get that there were plenty of other talented drivers in those fields, but nobody has had the success on dirt over the past several seasons that Larson has had, between the midget, sprint car and late model. I say all this to set up last night's racing at Lernerville. $25,000 was on the line for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup and both drivers were in the All Star field. With what we'd seen the previous week, a clash between the two seemed almost inevitable and both were in the night's dash. Marks ended up winning it to earn the pole, while Larson went 7th to 6th. Once green in the feature, Marks jumped to the lead over Hunter Schuerenberg, but it didn't take Yung Money long to be in the fight. He was quickly to second by lap four, and ended up driving by Marks on the outside to take the lead on lap seven. From there, the 57 led the rest of the way, holding off Marks through a few restarts and even some late mistakes. It was Larson's second career Silver Cup win, and he's now one for one in 2022 in All Star starts. One start, one win. Marks has been on absolute fire lately, but Larson was just better last night. Marks settled for second with Justin Peck third. That podium was important for Peck, as he's now closed the gap to Tyler Courtney for the All Star points lead down to just 24. That's 12 positions. Sunshine ended up in the work area last night after problems and contact with Sye Lynch. He did drive back to tenth though at the end. The series gets today off before they head to Ransomville on Friday and Stateline Speedway on Saturday. A couple of other notes from last night. The Bryan Grove 28 was there, with Tim Shaffer back behind the wheel. Remember we talked yesterday about Brandon Spithaler departing that car. Also, Snow Racing was there with Carson Short in the seven car that had been being driven by Scott Bogucki.

The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series was also in action last night with a stop at Davenport Speedway before they head to Deer Creek for three nights. With what we saw the previous weekend and his past success at Davenoprt, I really thought Brandon Sheppard would be the guy to beat last night but he ended up being a non-factor starting 12th and finish 9th on the night. He gave up ground to both Tim McCreadie, who finished 6th, and Ricky Thornton Jr. who hard charged from 23rd to 7th after needing to use a provisional to make the field. Out front, we ended up with a really good three way fight for the win between Hudson O'Neal, Brandon Overton, and Mike Marlar. All three led laps, but at the end O'Neal was able to get away for the win, with Overton second and Marlar third. It was Hudson's first Lucas win since the Pittsburgher 100 back in October of 2021. He's been really solid though as of late with a prelim top five at Lernerville, a third at Portsmouth, and two second place finishes at Muskginum County. After having such a strong season last year with six wins, I feel like he's disappeared a bit in 2022. The win last night did bump him up to fifth in the standings, so maybe he's on his way to more good finishes coming up. The next two nights at Deer Creek are full programs, with the features paying $5000 to win. I'm guessing though these won't be points nights, so we shouldn't see movement in the standings until after Saturday's $50,000 to win race. This will be the first appearance for Lucas at Deer Creek since 2018 when Jonathan Davenport was the winner. Superman is expected to be in attendance this weekend as well. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Sheppard tonight, and he does have past success at Deer Creek with the Outlaws. I'll go Davenport tonight though, why not. Sheppard currently has just 30 on McCreadie, with RTJ 200 back in third. Those guys did put more ground between themselves and fourth place Tyler Erb. Terbo had issues and finished 19th. I also wanted to mention Nick Hoffman. He made his first Lucas appearance last night driving a second car for Shannon Babb. We hadn't seen him since Batesville last August. He finished 16th after starting 14th. Tonight's opener at Deer Creek will be on both FloRacing and MAVTV Plus.

Talking about Nick Hoffman, he's a guy I'd like to see more often in late model competition. He's such a good driver, and his knowledge of the modified chassis is so good. You'd think that techincal ability would transfer well over to the late model side of things. I'd also written down in my notes a few weeks ago about Sye Lynch kind of being in the same situation. He grabbed a podium with the All Stars at Sharon back on June 14th, and I wonder if he's a guy that could run well with more regular starts with the bigger series. He's led laps in Outlaw competition, and is always strong in weekly action at Lernerville. Who's a driver or a few drivers you'd like to see move up, whether it's in a late model, modified, or sprint car. Drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts.

There has been a lot of movement lately with drivers and teams switching things up, and we had a change out west yesterday with PJ Petersen posting that Sean Becker and Cook Motorsports had parted ways following Monday's race at Chico. Becker had two top fives and four top tens in 11 starts with Cook, and now he's off to try and find other rides for the remainder of 2022. The Cook team will be back this week at Skagit with Chase Majdic in the car.

There are eight items on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has the Summer Nationals from Macon. FloRacing has the Lucas late models from Deer Creek, weekly action from Marshalltown and Flo 24/7. MAVTV Plus also has the Lucas late models. And Speed Sport has racing from Lee County, Victory Lane, and Kossuth County. 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!