DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Do Knoxville Nationals winners run well after they win? | Daily 8-19-2022
Could we see a Knoxville Nationals hangover for Donny Schatz? We'll look at the numbers today, plus who will fill in with the McGhee 11, and the weekend ahead for Lucas, the Outlaws, All Stars, and more. Let's go!
It's Friday, August 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
The Jackson Nationals were supposed to get started last night, but a band of storms rolled through and the track and series were forced to cancel the night's racing. We'll see if they can have some better luck tonight. When we previewed the event on yesterday's show, we talked about car count and some thought out there that things might be light, but that didn't end up being the case. Before the rain came, they had 40 cars signed in, which is more than last year when it paid less to win. The midwest contingent in the field includes guys like JJ Hickle, Tim Kaeding in the Lunstra 3, Brooke Tatnell, Brady Forbrook, Matt Juhl, and Ian Madsen among others. We've also got Anthony Macri, Kevin Thomas Jr., Kerry Madsen, and Marcus Dumesny. So a stout group when racing does finally get underway. I tweeted out a bunch of numbers and stats yesterday, and one of those was that Donny Schatz is entering this weekend with seven straight top four finishes, which includes wins at Weedsport and obviously the Nationals. He's also led laps in four of those races. I didn't pick him to win yesterday, but it did get me to thinking about any possible Knoxville Nationals win hangover. I have Nationals races in the dirtrackr.com analytics database since 2017, so here you go. Schatz won in 2017, and bagged the next race at River Cities as well. Brad Sweet won in 2018, and won again three nights later after Schatz took victories at River Cities and Red River Valley. In 2019, after Gravel won the Nationals, he did the same as Sweet, winning three nights later. There was technically no Nationals in 2020, but Larson was on a hellacious streak that year, winning five times in six races, including both shows after Knoxville. And in 2021, Larson won the big show, but didn't race the following week. So I wouldn't assume there will be any hangover or ill effects from Schatz getting number 11. You can watch the World of Outlaws as always on DIRTVision.
In the racing we did get complete on Thursday, Matt Sheppard again dominated the Super DIRTcar Series with a flag to flag win at Brewerton, topping Adam Pierson and Jimmy Phelps. Sheppard now has a strangle hold on the championship standings going forward. With MARS last night at Dubuque, Chris Simpson topped Ryan Unzicker and Chad Simpson for the win. The MARS late models have two more stops this weekend, with Jason Feger and Unzicker fighting it out in the points right now. And up at Bloomsburg Fair, Briggs Danner bagged another USAC East Coast Sprint Car win. That series is at Selinsgrove tonight.
If you want high paying late model racing this weekend, look no further than the Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be joined for the two nights by the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series with racing culminating on Saturday with a $50,000 to win main event. Things get rolling tonight with a complete program that pays $5000 to the winner. Hudson O'Neal is the defending Topless 100 winner, leading 62 laps a year ago, and beating Jonathan Davenport and Brandon Overton. Jimmy Owens was the event winner in 2020. Owens also owns the best average finish at the track over the previous five races, sitting at second. In that stretch, he has three wins, a second, and a fifth. This could be a good place for a bounceback for the 20 team after they finished 13th and 21st a week ago at Florence. In the Lucas championship standings, Tim McCreadie has continued to pull away with Brandon Sheppard now 200 back. If you want a win pick for tonight, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Davenport, and I'm not sure how you go against that right now, so I'm going to agree. Lucas is live this weekend on FloRacing.
Up north, the World of Outlaws Late Models are in Pennsylvania and Ohio for three stops this weekend, between Williams Grove, Sharon, and Tri-City. Dennis Erb Jr. is on his way to the championship, with Tanner English second, 164 out and Max Blair third, 184 back. The Outlaws' three previous trips to the Grove have been won by Gregg Satterlee and Brandon Sheppard. Ryan Gustin won at Sharon earlier this season, and there hasn't been an Outlaw race at Tri-City since 2010. The formula likes Satterlee to repeat tonight and I don't see any reason to not agree with that selection. I think the locals could shine tonight. All three Outlaw races will be streamed on DIRTVision.
In other late model news from yesterday, entries for the World 100 opened up, and we've already got five confirmed drivers, with Kent Robinson, Dale McDowell, Hudson O'Neal, John Blankenship, and Jonathan Davenport hitting the entry form early. The World 100 at Eldora takes place September 7th through the 10th.
After a couple of weeks off, the All Star Circuit of Champions is back and they begin a stretch of eight races in 10 days starting tonight at Outlaw Speedway, and continuing through the weekend with races at Utica-Rome and Weedsport. Before the break, Tyler Courtney had extended his championship lead to 106 over Justin Peck and that 7BC team looks like they are in a very good position to repeat their championship success from a year ago. We will have a shakeup in the top five in the standings with Parker Price Miller sitting out because of his recovery from those injuries sustained at Knoxville. Cap Henry, Zeb Wise, and Hunter Schuerenberg will all bump up into that top five. The Sam McGhee team announced yesterday that Cory Eliason will drive the 11 this weekend, with Anthony Macri then taking the wheel during the Pennsylvania races and at Sharon. I wouldn't be surprised to see either of those guys win in the coming days. The All Stars haven't visited any of these tracks since 2019. Brock Zearfoss was the winner that year at Outlaw, Aaron Reutzel won at Utica-Rome, and Danny Dietrich won the last stop at Weedsport. For tonight, the prediction formula likes Sunshine and I'll agree. The All Stars can be watched on FloRacing.
A couple of other notable races for you this weekend. The Silver Crown Series has two shows, on today, one tomorrow. One is pavement, the other dirt. Today they are at World Wide Technology Raceway as part of the IndyCar weekend, and Saturday they will take on the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the Bettenhausen 100. Kody Swanson currently leads Logan Seavey and CJ Leary in the Silver Crown standings. Swanson has two wins on the season and leads the series in that category.
There are almost 100 shows across the streaming platforms coming up over the weekend. That includes the Jackson Nationals on DIRTVision, the All Stars, Topless 100, and USAC Silver Crown on FloRacing, and a ton of local and regional racing as well. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, 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!