DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Josh Richards out, Max Blair in with Boom Briggs-owned dirt late model team | Daily 10-12-2022

The dirt late model game of musical chairs continues, and we've got news about Max Blair's future. We'll also talk Flo series at 411, the Chili Bowl broadcast and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, October 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Later on last night I posted a new DIRTRACKR Conversations episode, and I wanted to point it out to you today right off the bat, because I think it's an important episode. I've talked quite a bit lately on this show about the High Limit Sprint Car Series and what it means for full time World of Outlaws drivers, and after my comments, Brad Sweet reached out to me and wanted to talk about the series on my show. I have mixed feelings about what this series could mean for the future of sprint car racing, especially with how High Limit and World Racing Group get along, or don't, and with Brad jumping on, I really wanted to ask him some very specific questions. And to his credit, he was all for it. We talked for about 45 minutes about all things High Limit, and he answered every question I had written down ahead of time. That included how the series came to be, what their schedule will potentially look like next season, how it's been working with World Racing Group and the Outlaws on the future of the platinum agreement and the restrictions. I also asked specifically about World of Outlaws drivers dominating this series, and I expressed my concerns over sprint car racing becoming late model racing and the free-for-all it's become on that side. If you are at all interested in open wheel racing in this country, I would highly recommend checking it out. After you've watched or listened, I'd love to hear what you think about the conversation and your thoughts on High Limit. You can find that episode on the YouTube channel and in the podcast feed.

Also, a quick update on what we talked about to open yesterday's Daily on two World of Outlaws nights at Knoxville replacing the sprint cars at Bristol. My connecting of the dots is apparently correct. I heard through the grapevine yesterday that Bristol is indeed out for the Outlaws in 2023. This is probably not the first schedule difference we will see next season. And again, like I said yesterday, the picture should continue becoming clearer over the next several weeks.

At 411 Motor Speedway last night for the FloRacing Night in America Series, it was O-Show domination. Jimmy Owens started on the outside front row, took the lead down the backstretch on lap one, and that was just about the last time anyone saw him. At the end of the caution free 50 lapper, Owens was nearly three and a half seconds clear of second place Chris Madden. Mike Marlar, Cory Hedgecock, and Bobby Pierce completed the top five. I heard Dustin Jarrett say this on the broadcast, but Owens has now won his last eight appearances at 411. That's a crazy run of success at one race track. At the end, only 10 cars were on the lead lap, and of those cars that went a lap down, one was Kyle Larson and another was Hudson O'Neal, if that tells you anything about how good Owens was. We've been keeping an eye on this points chase as well, and Pierce did make up a little ground on Brandon Sheppard last night, but probably not enough. Headed to the final two nights at Senoia in November, the gap is stil 100 points. BShepp should have this one in the bag, and that means $75,000 with perfect attendance.

Around the Flo broadcast last night it came out that after recently announcing his split from Viper Motorsports, Max Blair will join up with Boom Briggs for 2023. Boom's team expanded to two cars for 2022 with the addition of Josh Richards, after Richards parted ways with what seems to be the now defunct Clint Bowyer Racing operation. Both Boom and Richards planned to run the full Outlaw schedule, and while we have seen Boom all season, the same hasn't been true for Richards. The former Outlaw champion missed races because of a broken nose he suffered at Eldora thanks to a rogue dirt clod. He missed the USA Nationals because of COVID, and Richards and wife Andrea lost their camper during speedweeks to a fire. Just an absolute brutal year for him. As of today, Richards has just four top fives and 13 top tens in 34 appearances with the Outlaws. So now Blair will take over that second Briggs owned car, and Boom told Dirt on Dirt's Kevin Kovac that Max will bring crew help, some funding, and he's much closer to their shops so he can help out on the cars more often. I didn't hear or read what the plans are for this team for next season, if they will continue full time with the World of Outlaws, or if Blair will go back to running a schedule much more centered around Pennsylvania. He did win the ULMS championship in 2021. As for Richards, Kovac was not able to get a response from him on the move and they haven't posted anything publicly. Right now, the one big open ride for 2023 is the Roger Sellers' owned Double Down car that is currently being driven by Hudson O'Neal. There are lots of rumors about where that team could go for next season. And I'm not sure where this leaves Richards. Like I said, not a ton of good fortune this season, he hasn't won on the national stage since 2021, and I'll be curious to see what the market actually is for him. The dirt late model silly season continues.

When we talked about the FloRacing and MAVTV deal way back in June, I very briefly mentioned the Chili Bowl being affected, but I wanted to double back to this today. Late last night on the Chili Bowl social accounts, we got the reminder about how the broadcast will work come January. In the past, we've watched all week long on FloRacing up until the D Mains on Saturday night, and then racing shifted over to MAVTV for the rest of the show. But now with Flo and MAV working together, we will get to watch the entire Chili Bowl live on FloRacing. So no switchover on Saturday night after the Ds. I don't know about the broadcast crew and how all of that will work, but at least we can stay on one service which is a nice improvement.

There are plenty of other dirt racing podcasts to check out this week. Winged Nation has Ryan Hand and Tyler Courtney. LoudPedal talked the All Stars finale, Passing Points has Sheldon Barksdale, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Todd Hobson, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters and the Dirt Nerds. Find the full list of shows and episodes over at dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

There are two shows on today's streaming schedule. Speed Sport TV has IMCA racing from Batesville and there is FloRacing 24/7. 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. 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!