DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Larson wins ESPY, Outlaw show at Port; McFadden's struggles; Lanigan update | Daily 7-21-2022
Lots of good dirt racing bits and pieces for you today. We are talking Kyle Larson's Port Royal win, thoughts on James McFadden, 360 Nationals entries, other racing today, and an update on Darrell Lanigan's future. Let's go!
It's Thursday, July 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
On a night where Kyle Larson was being crowned at the ESPYs as the best driver for 2021, instead of wearing a tie and giving a speech on a stage, Yung Money was dominating the World of Outlaws at Port Royal. The Cup Series is at Pocono this week, so it's a short drive to run with the Outlaws this week at Port Royal and Williams Grove. Larson went third quick in qualifying, won heat three, went fourth to the win in the dash, and led all 30 laps of the feature. It was his fourth Outlaw win of the year in just 16 appearances. It was a pretty quiet week at Eldora for Larson following the win at Attica in the Brad Doty Classic. He was 11th Wednesday, ninth in the Historical Big One, had to miss the Knight Before, and finished fifth in the Kings Royal. This was a strong night though, and Larson was basically gone from the drop of the green. With the Knoxville Nationals on the horizon in a few weeks, I think right now you'd have Larson and Brent Marks near the top of the favorites list. I'd also throw in Gravel and Macedo, and you can never count out Sweet and Schatz went the lights shine the brightest. Behind Larson last night, the Outlaws were shut out of the podium places, with Danny Dietrich ending up second and Anthony Macri third. The finishes for the two Posse drivers were their best Outlaw runs of 2022. Sheldon Haudenschild was the highest finishing Outlaw regular in fifth. And in the race for the Outlaw championship, Sheldon, Carson Macedo, and David Gravel all gained ground on Brad Sweet in the standings, with the Big Cat starting eighth, but fading to 13th at the end. Headed to Williams Grove on Friday, Gravel trails by 38, Macedo by 48, and Sheldon by 64. Logan Schuchart and Donny Schatz lost more ground, each with issues on the night. Schuchart ended up tipped over right at the start, and Donny was good early, but ended up having a tire delaminate late in the race. He finished 19th after starting second. The series is off today, before the Summer Nationals get going at the Grove tomorrow.
I had one of my regular watchers Benny ask about James McFadden earlier in the week. He asked what my thoughts were on his season so far, and rumors about him getting fired. It's certainly hasn't been the year we thought it might be for JMac after what he did in 2021. He had two wins a year ago and a very solid average finish of 8.3. This season though, all of his numbers are off, including qualifying average, average feature start, and average feature finish. He's not finishing up front as often, and he has yet to win. Things looked at Huset's a few weeks ago like they were turning around in his direction, but following a second place run at Wilmot, and a top ten at Attica, the last five races have not been good. McFadden never finished inside the top 15 at Eldora, and he was 20th last night after getting into the feature via a B-Main transfer. There is no doubt about McFadden's talent, and he's working with effectively the same crew as he had last year, just instead of it being listed as a KKR team, it's the Roth 83. So I'm not sure where they have gone sideways this season. The rumors about him being let go are because of the history of the Roth car. There are all sorts of examples in the past of Dennis Roth not being a patient car owner and moving on from guys if they aren't running up front consistently. Hopefully though, the team will have some time to right things as they go forward. I like McFadden a lot, and think he has a bright future in the US.
If you're looking for some sprint car racing to get into tonight, ASCS Speedweek starts at Tulsa Speedway. The National Tour will race three nights straight between Tulsa, Batesville, and I-30. They'll have a few days off, before the second half of speedweek kicks off at Caney Valley next Wednesday. We talked earlier in the week about the National Tour and how tight the standings are, and we could see plenty of movement over the next nine days with so much racing coming up. Blake Hahn is the current points leader and defending champion, and he was the winner in 2021 at Tulsa. Also looming for the ASCS is the 360 Knoxville Nationals coming up August 4th, 5th, and 6th. Knoxville Raceway's Eric Arnold tweeted a few days ago that Ryan Timms has been granted permission by the track to run the 360 Nationals this year, so he's on the entry list. No Timms for the 410 Nationals though. Kyle Larson is also on the entry list for the 360 Nationals, which is a bit surprising. We don't see him run a lot of 360 stuff. Other names that are entered right now include Aaron Reutzel, Chase Randall, Corey Day, Anthony Macri, Zeb Wise, Parker Price Miller, Buddy Kofoid, and Brian Brown. We should see that list continue to grow over the next week or so as well. If you want to check out the ASCS tonight, they are live over on FloRacing.
Out in Nebraska, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series starts a three race weekend at I-80 Speedway. Tonight they will run a full program paying $12 grand to win, and then Friday starts prelim action for the Silver Dollar Nationals. The 80 lap finale on Saturday night pays a very nice $53,000 to win and $5300 to start. Kyle Bronson is the defending event winner, while Brandon Sheppard took down the big money in 2020. Other drivers who have won at the track in recent seasons include Tyler Erb, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, and Kyle Strickler. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes McCreadie tonight. That's actually five straight TMac picks from the math equation. I'm gonna go RTJ. He was fast at Huset's before he knocked the deck out of it, and he's been fast at I-80 in the past including six recent top five runs. McCreadie continues to lead Sheppard, RTJ, Erb, and Hudson O'Neal in the Lucas standings. You can tune into James Essex and the Lucas squad tonight over on FloRacing.
The Summer Nationals move over to Butler Motor Speedway tonight, after last night's program at Thunderbird was rained out. It's been rescheduled for Sunday, so it will now be the new finale for the late models. If you want to watch the late models and modifieds, this one is on DIRTVision. Unfortunately though, you won't see Bobby Pierce at all this week or Nick Hoffman. The two drivers that will eventually be crowned champions with the series are headed to I-80 this weekend to race with Lucas. So we will probably see some different winners through the weekend.
And up in New York tonight, the Short Track Super Series is back in action with round seven for the north region. They take on Utica-Rome for the Richie Evans Remembered 61. The 61 lapper pays $6100 to win and $610 to start. Matt Sheppard leads Mat Williamson and Danny Creeden right now in the north region standings. Tonight's race will include plenty of northeast modified star power, with Sheppard, Williamson, Stewart Friesen, Anthony Perrego, Alex Yankowski, Tim Fulller, and a lot more expected to attend. You can tune in and watch over on Flo, you'll also get to see the crate 602 sportsman.
Before we close out, I wanted to spotlight another Kevin Kovac piece over at Dirt on Dirt. He's been turning out some bangers lately, and the newest one is an update on Darrell Lanigan's status. We haven't seen the hall of famer since the Million and Dream weekend at Eldora, and it's had some people whispering about retirement. He told Kovac that isn't quite true just yet, but he has pulled back to work on a new trucking business. He's a little burned out, but does still have some big shows on his schedule for the rest of 2022. You can read more about Lanigan's current situation over at dirtondirt.com.
It's a busy day on the streaming services with 16 shows on the schedule. That includes the opening night for Lucas at I-80, the opening of ASCS Speedweek, the Southern Nationals at Senoia, the Summer Nationals at Butler, and the Short Track Super Series at Utica-Rome. 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!