DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Dirt racing, NASCAR stars head to Indy for the BC39 | Daily 8-3-2022
Today we'll talk the BC39 getting underway at Indy, an update on Larson's Monday pavement midget penalty, a wild ASCS finish from Tuesday, and more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, August 3rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
The BC39 on the Dirt Track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway gets underway tonight for the USAC National Midgets. Looks like we are just shy 90 cars for the two night show, and this is very much a clash of motorsports superstars from all sorts of backgrounds. Of course all the dirt stars are incoming including the USAC full timers like Buddy Kofoid and Justin Grant. We'll also see Tyler Courtney, Ryan Timms, Michael Pickens, Chris Windom, Donny Schatz, Brady Bacon, CJ Leary, and more. But the entry list also includes Kyle Larson, Sheldon Creed, Ryan Newman, JJ Yeley, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe, and Zach Veach. Veach has been a full time IndyCar driver in the past and is running in IMSA this season. He'll be in Team Ripper car fielded by Flea Ruzic. So a big mix of drivers from dirt, pavement, and elsewhere should make for a great show the next two nights. Heat races were set last night with a draft and the ten polesitters are Travis Buckley, Timms, Veach, Chance Crum, Adam Taylor, Kyle Keaton, Russ Gamester, Newman, Briscoe, and Ryan Thomas. You can find the heat race lineups on USAC's social media channels and over at usacracing.com. In tonight's heats drivers will earn passing and finishing points which will determine the lineups for Thursday's qualifying races. Also on the card tonight is the Stoops Pursuit race, which is 25 laps, split into five lap segments. At the breaks, the 24 car field will be pared down, with drivers having a net loss in position exiting the race. The pursuit race winner will get $1500 plus $100 for every position gained. Larson is the defending Pursuit race winner, and this is one you won't want to miss tonight. The need to go forward and quickly makes for some frantic action, and this race last year was pretty wild. I went back this morning and watched the highlights of both the pursuit race and the BC39 from 2021. Larson ended up winning the BC39, but the end got wild between Meseraull, Larson, Grant, and Brady Bacon. Gloves off, massive sliders, just everything you'd want from a big midget show. Cars will be on track tonight at 6PM for hot laps, with opening ceremonies at 7. If you aren't headed to the track, you can watch it all live on FloRacing. If you need a Flo subscription, click the link below in the video description or the links over at dirtrackr.com. It's a win/win. You get Flo and dirtrackr gets a little cash at no extra cost to you.
I've had some people ask about the Kyle Larson situation at IRP from Monday, and I wouldn't normally talk about a race like that because it's a pavement race. But because I've had the questions, here's a quick update. They did a paved midget special event at IRP Monday night following the Indy NASCAR weekend, and Kyle Larson ended up getting the win. He led 28 of the 30 laps and topped Kyle O'Gara and Nick Hamilton. Larson was driving a car fielded by Jerome Rodela. In post race tech however, Larson's ride was found to be 5/16 of an inch too wide. Larson was allowed to keep the victory, but second finishing O'Gara was given the winner's share of the purse money. This was a USAC special event and not part of the points championship. Also, TJSlideways tweeted this morning that apparently because it was a special event at IRP, the track handled the officiating and not USAC. This has certainly been a topic of discussion on social media, but while USAC nor the track put out a separate release regarding the penalty, at the very top of the original post race release, it does say that Larson was penalized, so they aren't hiding anything. You can find the release over at usacracing.com.
The ASCS National Tour had their final tuneup last night at Lakeside Speedway before they head to Knoxville on Thursday to start the 360 Nationals. After a tough start to 2022 with three finishes outside the top 20, Matt Covington has been trying to battle back into the championship fight, and last night looked like he was on his way to back-to-back wins. He dominated the show from the second starting position, and was completely gone at times through the 25 lapper. But late in the going, Blake Hahn was able to run him down. On the final lap, Covington got a little sideways on the exit of two which allowed the 52 to close, and the two were side by side through the final two corners. Hahn had a little better drive up off the bottom and was able to steal the win from the 95 car right at the line. It was actually Hahn's first ASCS National Tour win of the season. Covington had to settle for second, with Brandon Anderson also on the podium. Hahn finishing ahead of Wayne Johnson puts the defending champion back on top in the points standings with Johnson now trailing by nine. Tim Crawley finished 10th, which means he gave up a little ground and is now 48 back. Covington still has work to do as he's fourth, 106 out. The series now has today off before the competition ramps up significantly starting on Thursday at Knoxville. Like I said yesterday, well over 100 cars are expected for the 360 Nationals. Gio Scelzi is the defending event winner. I know things are a little confusing on the streaming side, but the 360 Nationals will be streamed all weekend over on DIRTVision. If you have the yearly DIRTVision Fast Pass, the 360 Nationals are included, but not if you have the monthly pass. You can still purchase the event as pay per view as well.
Up in Pennsylvania tonight, if you're looking for some other racing to check out, the USAC East Coast Sprint Cars are at Action Track USA. If you aren't aware of this series, it's a non-wing 360 series that runs around the northeast. Briggs Danner is currently leading the championship over Alex Bright and Steven Drevicki. So far this season, Danner has six wins to Bright's four. Action Track USA is a tight little quarter mile that always produces good racing, so if you have a Flo subscription, maybe go dual screens with this one and the BC39.
I'm not the only one out there doing dirt racing shows each week, and this is the part of the show where I like to spotlight other episodes out there to check out. This week LoudPedal has Sheldon Creed, the Dirt from Knoxville has episodes with Terry McCarl and Gunner Ramey, Quicktime has Eric Arnold, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters and the Dirt Nerds. To catch up any time on these shows and more, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
Five shows on the streaming schedule for today. FloRacing has the BC39 from Indy, USAC East Coast Sprints from Action Track USA and Flo 24/7. Speed Sport has weekly racing from Buena Vista and Arlington. 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 Wednesday. 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!