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.

Sheppard's save, Pierce's win, plus Erb vs. Casebolt; Tim Kaeding out his ride | Daily 9-29-2022

Coming up we'll talk Bobby Pierce's Flo win, Steve Casebolt vs. Tyler Erb, Tim Kaeding is ride searching, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, September 29th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

The FloRacing Night in America late model series was at Atomic Speedway last night, and we had some drama out front, we had some drama a little deeper in the field. Just exactly what you'd hope for from a Wednesday night super late model race. Bobby Pierce went on to the win, which was his second series victory in a row. He started third and got into a nice little battle with Brandon Sheppard for the lead. Pierce was able to get away though after the two came together down the backstretch on lap seventeen. Pierce was up high with Sheppard down low, and the 32 looked like he was trying to make a move for the bottom into three, and they made contact. Sheppy got big sideways, but was somehow able to right the Rocket house car and continue without a yellow. From there, Pierce was basically unchallenged out front. Devin Moran drove up from 13th to finish second, and he tried to make a run at Pierce, but to no avail. The immediate future for Pierce is a little sketchy right now, because apparently they have just one car and one engine at the moment. They have a big weekend at Fairbury coming up, and it sounds like they are trying to figure out what to do about Tri-County next week. Behind the leaders, we had a little kerfuffle between Steve Casebolt and Tyler Erb. It was tough to see on the broadcast, but it sounded like they traded contact before Casebolt ended up over the track in turn two. Under the caution, Casebolt then made his feelings known before being instructed to head back to his trailer for the night. I think my favorite part of the retaliation was Boom Briggs with his arm out the window after Casebolt nearly collected him trying to wreck Erb. Afterwards, Casebolt said he's just tired of Erb running over him every week. And when Kyle McFadden of Dirt on Dirt asked Tyler Erb post race about the incident, he replied quote "What? He was on the race track?" unquote. About what you'd expect out of Terbo. Kyle Larson was also in the field, and he was running inside the top five late but had a right rear tire completely explode, which ended his night. As for the championship, Sheppard faded to 10th at the end after the contact with Pierce, but he's still out front by 91 points. He McFadden after the race that his car was damaged after the incident with a bent right front tie rod. We'll see the Flo series again next Thursday night at Tri-County Race Track here in North Carolina. And according to Michael Rigsby from last night, they are apparently getting ready to announce an addition to the Flo schedule for this season. One more to come, so we'll wait to hear where that will be.

With Atomic in the books, a lot of these late model teams and more will now head to Tyler County Speedway tonight in West Virginia. The Hillbilly Hundred for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series takes place tonight after being rescheduled from Labor Day weekend. Tonight's 100 lap main event will pay a very nice $30,000 to the winner. The card also includes RUSH late models, UMP modifieds, and hot mods. Points leader Tim McCreadie comes into the weekend with 180 points over BShepp, and just five nights left. That means Sheppard must makeup on average 36 points a night to pull back even. Not impossible at this point, but not very likely. McCreadie is coming off the win one week ago at Brownstown for the Jackson 100. Nobody has been super hot lately with Lucas, as Spencer Hughes owns the longest top ten streak right now at just three races. And the best average finish over the past five features belongs to Earl Pearson Jr. at 7.0. We haven't seen Lucas at Tyler County since 2019, when Josh Richards went to victory lane, and Jonathan Davenport was a Flo series winner at the track in 2021. Don't expect Superman tonight though, as his schedule is clear until next week. You will see Kyle Larson again though in the Rumley six, as well as Brandon Overton, Scott Bloomquist, Devin Moran, Zack Dohm, and of course all the Lucas regulars. Be prepared tonight for all the tweets about how nobody can tweet from Tyler County as it's apparently in a cell phone black hole. You will be able to watch the racing live though on Flo.

The silly season continues, this time striking out in California. Bates Hamilton Racing announced late yesterday that they have parted ways with veteran driver Tim Kaeding. TK was third in the NARC points a year ago, and picked up a couple of wins, but this season has been a struggle. In 30 sprint car starts this year, spread across NARC, the Sprint Car Challenge Tour, some midwest stuff, and various other shows, Kaeding has just a single win and four top fives. The win came during prelim action for the Dirt Cup at Skagit back in June. The last race for TK in the Bates Hamilton 42X was last Saturday night at Petaluma for the Adobe Cup. Kaeding started on the pole and was in the mix out front early on, battling with eventual winner Joel Myers Jr. and Ryan Robinson. But things went sideways about seven laps in when the lap car of Colby Fox got turned around on the front straightaway and Kaeding had nowhere to go. He ended up 20th on the night. On Twitter, Gary Thomas says we are waiting on future plans for the 42X. The Sprint Car Challenge Tour is back in action this weekend at Chico for the Tyler Wolf Memorial, while NARC is off until October 8th.

On yesterday's show, we talked about the zoning issues for auction company Copart as they attempt to buy Grandview Speedway in Pennsylvania. Another track they are set to acquire is I-30 Speedway in Arkansas, which itself is hosting it's final Short Track Nationals this weekend for the ASCS National Tour. These will be the final race nights ever at the track as owner Tracey Clay has made the decision to step away. She told Little Rock's KTHV that she can't comment on who is buying the facility, but zoning and planning documents show Copart as the buyer. Before that happens though, we do have some racing to watch for the next few nights. Saturday's finale pays $15,000 to the winner, and we should be around 60 cars for the event. Right now the entry list is stacked and includes Ryan Timms, Aaron Reutzel, Sam Hafertepe, Riley Goodno, Justin Sanders, Derek Hagar and more to go up against the ASCS regulars. Blake Hahn is the defending Short Track Nationals winner, and he enters the weekend with a 101 point lead over Wayne Johnson for the championship. Matt Covington has battled back to third in the standings after a slow start. After this event, two more race weekends remain for the ASCS, with stops at Devil's Bowl and Creek County coming up in October. Tonight's racing at I-30 is the Ralph Henson Tribute which pays $5600 to win, and is part of the ASCS Mid-South region. The Short Track Nationals prelim night is Friday, and includes twin 20 lap features paying $1500 to win, with the top two from each locking into Saturday night's big show. If you are in the area, I would certainly recommend getting out to I-30 for this last ever race weekend. Local favorite Tim Crawley is also in his final full season of racing, so don't miss that either. You can also watch this weekend live on FloRacing.

There are four shows on the streaming schedule today. FloRacing has the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series from Tyler County, the Short Track Nationals at I-30, and Flo 24/7. XR Plus has IMCA action from Cedar County Raceway. 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. Please hit that like button, and subscribe to the show if you don't already.

Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!