DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Hoosier, World of Outlaws, Lucas announce consolidated tire rule for 2023 | Daily 9-9-2022
On this Friday we'll talk a wild night at Gold Cup, Thursday World 100 results, and late model tire news from Hoosier. Let's go!
It's Friday, September 9th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Last night was the first of two prelim nights for the revamped Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway, and I think we were probably all reminded of how much fun those California bullrings can be. Chico was technical last night, and it made for a fantastic feature. We eventually had five official lead changes among three drivers, and watching Ryan Timms, Kyle Larson, and Kalib Henry mix it up through lap traffic was really entertaining. Timms ended up leading the most laps, and last night was the first race in his career where he's led laps with the Outlaws, but a late mistake cost him a chance at the win. With five to go, Timms got crossed up on the cushion in three and four and that let Larson get away for the win. Without that bobble, I feel like that race was going to be a dogfight all the way to the end. Timms was clearly not afraid to mix it up and go wheel to wheel with Yung Money and hopefully this was just a preview of what is to come for Saturday night. As for Henry, he started on the pole and led just a single lap, but was right in that battle for the lead for a lot of the feature before fading to fifth at the end. Super impressive run for the California driver who has only made three Outlaw appearances in the past two seasons. We also saw Corey Day and Tanner Holmes run towards the front at various points, but both had issues late and didn't quite get the results. James McFadden had a nice 11th to third run, and Sean Becker was the night's hard charger going 24th to eighth. There were definitely a lot of comers and goers in the race last night, and I think the track conditions had a lot to do with that. I'm a fan of when things get technical like that, the cushion is sketchy, there is some slick out there, because the drivers really have to work hard inside the cars. It becomes a battle against both the race track and the other drivers. I also liked the little bit of insight we got from Larson in victory lane when he talked about the move to get by Timms after that one restart. The top guys are constantly thinking about strategy and lines and moves to make, but you don't often get to hear them talk about their thought processes. So after night number one, Brad Sweet and Ryan Timms are the two drivers locked into the Saturday main event on points. Larson was the top points earner last night, but he supposedly isn't coming back for Saturday's action with NASCAR happening out in Kansas. He is in the midst of the playoffs, so his focus will be there. Tonight they will line it up and do it all over again, just with a different set of drivers. The Friday field includes names like David Gravel, Jacob Allen, DJ Netto, Shane Golobic, Dominic Scelzi, Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz, and Kerry Madsen. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Macedo for tonight, and I'll agree. These first two nights are non-points for the Outlaws because of the split fields, and I had a question yesterday about the points situation for Saturday. It is show-up points only, so we won't have any movement in the standings this weekend. I feel like we need to get to a point where every full field race counts towards the championship. This idea that if the format is different it shouldn't pay full points is lame. You can watch the remainder of the Gold Cup weekend on DIRTVision.
Before we move on to the World 100, I know there are some new viewers and new subscribers lately. First, thanks for joining in. Second, if you want to support what I'm doing here, you can grab some DIRTRACKR merch over at shop.dirtrackr.com. I've got t-shirts like the one I'm wearing, and decals. I do only have a handful of the bigger decals left so if you want one, your chances are running out. Shipping in the US is always free, so head over to shop.dirtrackr.com.
At the World 100 last night, we got the first two prelim features in the books. Earlier in the day, we did get an update on the Scott Bloomquist situation from Wednesday. He told Dirt on Dirt's Derek Kessinger that they had an issue with a power steering line which is why they were late to the Dream feature. But I will point out that there was more than an hour and a half between the time the Dream field hot lapped and when they rolled out for the race. Anyways, on to last night's racing. In the first 25 lap feature, Jimmy Owens led the first five laps, and then it was all Jonathan Davenport. JD had a five second lead at the end, and he said in his victory lane interview that they were probably one adjustment away from being perfect. That doesn't sound good for the rest of the competition. Owens, Brandon Overton, Chris Madden, and Johnny Scott were the rest of the top five in race one. Those of you that are hard core late model fans, educate me on something. Is it common for drivers to switch back and forth between engine builders? I know that James Essex mentioned last night that Davenport was running Clements power this weekend, and I know he also uses Cornett engines regularly. I'm not sure I've heard of that where guys switch back and forth. In the night's second main event, Shane Clanton just barely led lap number one, and then it was the Hudson O'Neal show from there. He led the remaining 24 laps to score the victory over Clanton, Chris Ferguson, Tim McCreadie and Garrett Smith. I don't want to overreact to last night's results, because we still have two more prelim features tonight, and then guys have to get through heats on Saturday. But the usual suspects are fast. Davenport, Overton, Madden, McCreadie. I like O'Neal's chances. Fergie looked good in his backup car. So we'll see where things are after tonight. You can again watch live on FloRacing.
Also at Eldora yesterday, we got the announcement from Hoosier about the future consolidation of the national dirt late model tire situation. Going forward the two national tours will mandate one set of tires from Hoosier that include three 90-inch tires and three 92-inch tires. There are no more four digit tire codes, with the compounds now just numbered one through four. There will also be no grooving or siping allowed. The announcement was made by Hoosier with officials from both the World of Outlaws and Lucas present, along with Tony Stewart. I'm not going to share an opinion on this one, because I'm not knowledgeable enough about the situation, but I think the reasoning behind this is to simplify the rules and hopefully keep teams from buying a whole bunch of tires they only use periodically through the season. Initial reaction from a lot of the drivers I saw interviewed seemed to be mostly positive. I'm sure we'll get some complaints though, and there will be the detractors who will come at Hoosier for kicking money back to the series and all the usual negativity. We'll see how it plays out starting next season.
Up at Port Royal last night, Anthony Macri put it on the All Star field to take the victory on the first night of the Tuscarora 50. That was a correct win pick from me. At the end, Danny Dietrich and Logan Wagner were also on the podium. I said yesterday on the show that Lance Dewease wouldn't be in attendance, but sure as hell he was there. The schedule that Don Kreitz has pinned on his Twitter account did not include last night, but I guess they changed their minds. I do wish we could find a better way to know who's going to be where for a lot of these races. I spend entirely way too much time scrolling social media feeds and looking through driver websites hoping to get that information. Looking at tonight, the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula likes Dewease for the win, but I'm gonna go Macri again. The Tusky 50 is live all weekend over on Flo.
Besides the racing we've already mentioned, there are two other series to highlight today. The USAC midgets are back racing after over a month off from competition. They take on Sweet Springs in Missouri tonight and tomorrow. Buddy Kofoid enters the weekend with an 86 point lead in the championship over Justin Grant. Buddy Kofoid and Cannon McIntosh have won the two previous races at Sweet Springs, and the formula likes McIntosh. I'll take the other side and go Kofoid. Another story line to watch with the midgets this weekend is the return to USAC competition for Daison Pursley. He's coming off that POWRi win last week and continues to fight back from that spinal cord injury.
Also, if you want some non-wing sprint car action, the Xtreme Outlaw sprint cars are headed for Jacksonville and Spoon River tonight and tomorrow. Shane Cockrum leads the championship right now over Alex Bright and Matt Westfall. So far this season, Thomas Meseraull, Brady Bacon, CJ Leary, Jake Swanson, and Bright have all picked up wins. The Xtreme Series can be watched over on DIRTVision.
Drop me a comment, let me know weekend win picks you've got, plus where you're headed or what you'll be watching.
The streaming services will be busy all weekend with so many big shows going on. DIRTVision will have the Gold Cup and Xtreme weekends, FloRacing has the World 100, Tusky 50, USAC midgets, and more. You can also find a ton of local and regional stuff across Speed Sport, The Cushion, XR+ and RacinDirt. To see the full daily streaming schedule, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, enjoy the dirt racing weekend.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!