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.
Ryan Timms making much anticipated World of Outlaws debut tonight! | Daily 8-26-2022
Ryan Timms is making his much anticipated World of Outlaws debut tonight, we'll talk about that, plus another win for Justin Peck and the weekend ahead for the Outlaws, Lucas and USAC. Let's go!
It's Friday, August 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
When the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars roll into River Cities tonight, there will be a notable entry in the field that I'm sure you've already heard and read a bunch about this week. Today is Ryan Timms' 16th birthday, and along with that, and an approval process, has come his eligibility to race with the Outlaws. Timms is a young driver from Oklahoma that you've heard me mention a bunch on this show, and up to this point, he's done a lot of winning. And remember, today is just his 16th birthday. Timms has spent the last few seasons racing a lot of high level open wheel stuff, including midgets and 360 and 410 sprint cars. Just a quick look through his resume to this point and you'd find two wins in a USAC midget, three top tens in three starts in a USAC sprint car, five ASCS National Tour victories, plus sprint car wins with POWRi, NOSA, at Trophy Cup, and earlier this season in weekly competition at Huset's in a 410. When you want to talk about a young kid being prepared to debut against the best sprint car drivers in the world, few have been as prepared as Timms is. He'll run tonight at River Cities, Saturday at Red River Valley, then head to Huset's for their regular Sunday show. His dad Randy tweeted they'll be on the road for the next two months, so a lot more racing is on tap as well. This is probably one of the more anticipated World of Outlaws debuts in a while, and Timms added fuel to the fire after he won Huset's in June, posing for a photo in front of a World of Outlaws trailer and tweeting quote "They don't want the smoke." At the time, he wasn't yet eligible to race. Looking at this weekend specifically, I think everything and anything is on the table in terms of results. If he were to run well, we wouldn't be shocked. If he ran poorly, we wouldn't be shocked. Timms is talented for sure, but racing against the Outlaws is a different beast. River Cities is a wild little joint, and to win there, or just get a good finish, he'll have to beat the best in the business. The last nine Outlaw races at the track have been won by Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet, Kyle Larson, Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart, and David Gravel. That's basically the top of the sport right now, sans a few names. Do I believe that Timms has a legitimate shot to win? No, of course not. If he can get into the feature and run all the laps, he'll get a decent finish and some incredibly valuable experience as he moves forward. That will feel like a win from my perspective. I do think expectations will be high though, and it will be interesting to see how he handles them. As for the Outlaws, Carson Macedo and David Gravel are coming in looking to shrink that points gap to Brad Sweet. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Donny Schatz, and I'll agree. Drop me a comment and let me know how you think Timms will do tonight against the best in the business.
Onto the All Stars from last night. I spent a good deal of time yesterday talking about Justin Peck and his chances to run down Tyler Courtney for the series championship following two straight victories. It will certainly be a tall task, but not one that is impossible. And it won't be impossible if he continues to race like he did last night. Just for some back story on what went down on Thursday, Jason Leffler was killed at Bridgeport in 2013 driving for Buch Motorsports, so returning to that track is always emotional for the 13 team. Going forward though, Justin Peck's charge from tenth to the win last night will be a good memory that will hopefully make it easier for that team in the future. Brent Marks started on the pole, and with him and guys like Courtney and Anthony Macri starting towards the front, you figured one of them would have been in line for the win. But Peck was really good, and he took the lead from Marks with 10 laps to go after charging through the field. Unfortunately for the 19, they suffered a flat right rear late and ended up 15th. So the win will definitely aid Peck in his quest to run down Sunshine, but Courtney and that 7BC team won't make it easy. Sunshine was able to clip Anthony Macri late last night and finish second to minimize the damage in the standings. Runs like that from the NOS team will keep the pressure on Peck in the coming weeks. And hat tip to the Sam McGhee owned 11 team. In the past four races they have had two different drivers in Cory Eliason and Anthony Macri, and they've picked up finishes of 5th, 3rd, 3rd, and 3rd. With more PA tracks coming up, Macri will continue to be one to watch for wins. The All Stars are headed to Williams Grove tonight, Lincoln on Saturday, and Bedford on Sunday. The formula likes Lance Dewease tonight at the Grove, I'm gonna go Macri.
At Davenport, Iowa last night, Jason Feger led a bunch of laps with the World of Outlaws Late Models, but Devin Moran, who won at the track last season, was better. Moran took the lead on lap 29 and quickly got away from Feger, but it wasn't to be for Moran. A flat tire under a caution with six to go relegated the nine car to a 10th place finish, while out front with Moran out of the picture, Feger was able to hold off Bobby Pierce on the last lap and score the $10,000 win. Feger hadn't won a World of Outlaws race since 2009! Pierce and Tanner English joined Feger on the podium. I got asked this morning on Twitter if English has a chance to catch Dennis Erb Jr. for the championship, and while it's still mathematically possible, I don't believe it's very likely. Even with Erb finishing down in 11th last night, the gap to English is still 148. That's 74 positions with just 14 nights left. Erb would have to suffer some pretty serious bad luck for English to have a shot. Tonight at Davenport the Outlaws will do it all over again for $10,000, and that will lead into Saturday's $30,000 to win big show. The formula likes Moran tonight, and I'll agree with what I saw last night.
Also on the card tonight and tomorrow at Davenport with the Outlaws are the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets. Zach Daum enters the night as the championship leader over Brenham Crouch and Bryant Wiedeman. We've had five different winners in five races so far this year, with Taylor Reimer, Chance Crum, Jade Avedisian, Gavan Boschele, and Michael Pickens all victorious. This will be a kick-ass addition to these two race nights at Davenport.
If you want to check out other late model racing this weekend, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is headed to Port Royal in Pennsylvania for two nights of racing. Tonight will feature two $5000 to win features, with Saturday's heat races set by Friday's results. The Saturday main even then pays $50,000 to the winner, a bump up from $30,000 last year. Jonathan Davenport is expected to race this weekend and he comes in absolutely on fire, having won five straight races with the series, which includes the Silver Dollar Nationals, the North/South 100, and the Topless 100. We'll see if that team can maintain their dominance. We are also watching that Lucas points battle. Tim McCreadie has continued to slowly stretch away from Brandon Sheppard, and the Rocket team are going to start running out of race nights to reel TMac back in. Because of the split field format tonight, I'm not going to do win picks, but Sheppard and McCreadie should both be fast tonight and tomorrow. They lead the series in average finish over the last six races at Port. Davenport's recent past history at Port Royal is mixed, but he does have a win, so you can't count him out in any way.
Out in Indiana last night, Smackdown got underway at Kokomo, and surprise, surprise, Justin Grant dominated the main event. He started on the outside front row and led all 30 laps to earn his fifth win at Kokomo in his last six races. Kyle Cummins ended up second after a flat tire before the feature even started pushed him to the back of the field. He drove from 22nd to the podium. Robert Ballou was third. The win for JG extended his points lead, also aided by a flat tire for Brady Bacon that left him with an 11th place run. The USAC National Sprint cars still have two more nights at Kokomo, tonight and tomorrow, to settle the Smackdown. The formula likes Cummins tonight, an interesting choice. I'm gonna ride the hot hand though and pick Grant again.
Let me know where you're headed this weekend or what you'll be watching on the streaming services. A lot of good storylines to follow entering the weekend. And if you want to support what I'm doing, head over to shop.dirtrackr.com and grab some merch. It would help my bank account and you'll get some cool stuff.
It looks like we are at 33 shows on the streaming schedule for today, with a lot more to come this weekend. The highlights on the schedule include both World of Outlaws series on DIRTVision, plus the Xtreme Midgets. FloRacing has the All Stars, Smackdown at Kokomo, and Lucas at Port Royal. And then you can catch a lot of local and regional racing across Speed Sport, Dirt Track Digest and the others. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, enjoy the dirt racing weekend. Make sure to like, subscribe, and comment.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!