DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Just 16 points separate Brad Sweet, David Gravel in Outlaw title fight with three races left | Daily 10-24-2022
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championship fight has been blown wide open. We'll get into that, plus a big win for Lance Dewease, Dennis Erb Jr. clinches, and we had more droop rule drama. Let's go!
It's Monday, October 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Just when we thought that Brad Sweet was on the cusp of World of Outlaws championship number four, we got a dramatic turn of events on Saturday night at Williams Grove for the National Open. Sweet was the final car to transfer out of heat race one, and he was already set to start pretty deep in the main event, from 17th. With Gravel in the dash, the night was really going to need to be about damage minimization, but that all went out the window on lap five. Out of turn four, Sweet broke a rear axle and spun to a stop on the front stretch. In the work area, crew members descended on the car, but a broken rear axle isn't something you can normally get done in two minutes. And that was true on Saturday. They needed to basically replace the entire rear end and reconnect all the suspension, which was just too much to get done. Sweet's stricken NAPA 49 was still in the infield when the race went back green. The DNF and 27th place finish snapped a 166 race streak of finishing every main event and 5,461 consecutive completed laps. The last time he finished that far back in a main event was actually at the Grove in 2018. Going back through the 2017 season, he's only finished outside the top 20 eight times in 427 appearances. So that 27th place result combined with Gravel's fifth place result means the difference between the two contenders is only 16 points with three nights at World Finals left. Going back to Brad Sweet's win at Sharon on September 24th, the gap between the two was 96. So in just six races since, Gravel has knocked 80 points of out Sweet's advantage. Looking ahead, 16 points is about eight positions, divided over three nights is 2.67 positions per night that Gravel must beat Brad to pull even. Something to keep in mind though, is that the winner gets four more points than second, then it's two points per position after that. So if Gravel could get a win or two, he could cut that lead down quicker. And I bring that up because the driver of the Big Game two has won five times in the last 14 races at Charlotte, including four of the last six. Going back to World Finals in 2019, the only other drivers to win are Logan Schuchart and Brent Marks. Gravel also has a slight edge in the average finish stat at Charlotte, with Sweet trailing him by about eight tenths of a position. This will not be a situation where Sweet can just come in and cruise to the title. Gravel will be full send all weekend because there is no reason not to be, and Sweet will have to try and match the best he can.
As for the National Open, Lance Dewease officially led all 40 laps on Saturday night to score the $75,000 and his fifth career Natty Open title. Dewease started from the pole, and was chased throughout the race by second starting Brent Marks. Marks actually took the lead before ten to go, but the move was negated when a caution flew for a crash involving Gio Scelzi, Brock Zearfoss, and TJ Stutts. With Dewease winning, Marks second, and Anthony Macri third, it was a Posse sweep of the podium. Spencer Bayston was the highest finishing Outlaw full timer in fourth. The balance of power in Central PA really shifted this season, with Posse drivers winning four of five at the Grove and two of three at Port Royal. Dewease isn't done just yet with the Outlaws either, Don Kreitz tweeted this morning that we will see them at Charlotte for World Finals. One other note, Danny Dietrich earned the Williams Grove track championship for 2022 with his eighth place finish on Saturday.
While one Outlaw championship battle has been blown wide open, the other has come to a conclusion. Three weekend top four finishes for Dennis Erb Jr. have closed out the 2022 World of Outlaws Late Model Championship. He'll just need to show up at World Finals to get the title. His closest challenger was Tanner English, but a 25th place finish last night at US 36 thanks to some broken right front suspension bits have ended his bid for the title. English had looked pretty secure for that second place in points and the rookie of the year award, but that's up for grabs now too, with Max Blair only 20 points out headed to World Finals. On Friday night at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas it was all Chase Junghans. It was his first Outlaw win since Red Cedar in 2019. Saturday at 81 Speedway, Brandon Sheppard held off challenges from Billy Moyer Sr. and Ryan Gustin to lead flag-to-flag and earn his fourth Outlaw win of 2022. He did it behind the wheel of his B5 machine. And Sunday at US36, Tyler Bruening and Junghans each led through the first 25 laps, but fourth starting Mike Marlar took the lead from the Shop Quick 18 in lap traffic and drove off to the victory. Marlar also has four Outlaw wins on the year. So just like the sprint car series, three nights are left in the year, with World Finals on tap next week at Charlotte.
On last Tuesday's Daily show I did some quick math to try and estimate Matt Sheppard's winnings for the season in northeast modified action. On a low estimate, I had him in the $400,000s for the year, but some of you pointed out that he's won quite a bit more than that. And that figure grew even more substantially over the weekend at the Orange County Fair Speedway. Friday night in the Short Track Super Series Hard Clay Finale, Sheppard got beat late by Anthony Perrego, but still finished second and wrapped up the north region championship. And on Sunday in the Eastern States 200, he got around Stewart Friesen with six laps to go and picked up yet another crown jewel victory and another $40,000. With another Short Track Super Series race left and three nights at World Finals, Sheppard should easily get into the mid $600,000s and maybe more than that before the year is over. An incredible season for Matt Sheppard just continues to roll along.
Out in California at Trophy Cup, Ryan Timms and Tyler Courtney picked up the Thursday and Friday prelim show wins, while Zeb Wise went to victory lane in the Saturday night finale in the Rudeen 26. The Trophy Cup championship went to Shane Golobic who went 20th to third in the Saturday main event and outscored Corey Day and Tyler Courtney in the weekend points.
Not dirt racing, but the Silver Crown championship battle ended quietly on Saturday at IRP. Logan Seavey entered the finale with a three point advantage over Kody Swanson, but there was no epic fight to the finish. Seavey went out of the race on lap 12 when his oil pump belt broke, and that handed the title to Swanson. It is the seventh Silver Crown Series championship for Swanson in his career. Swanson led 65 laps of the race, but finished fourth, with brother Tanner taking the victory.
At Port City on Saturday night for the KKM Giveback Classic, it was northeast micro racer Kyle Spence who took the victory and chose the Chili Bowl ride with Keith Kunz Motorsports instead of the $15,000. Spence started second and outdueled Steven Snyder Jr., Frank Flud, and Cannon McIntosh for the victory. So we'll see him in January in Tulsa.
In other weekend late model racing, we had a few notable winners. Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner took the biggest paycheck of the weekend, winning the crate late model Powell Family Memorial at All-Tech. He held off Cory Hedgecock at the end of that one for $27,000. Jeff Rine was a $22,000 winner at Bedford for the Keystone Cup. And Bobby Pierce won $10,000 at Florence in the Fall 50 after early leader Josh Rice had issues with a lap car.
And before we close out, I have to mention the Ultimate late model show from Saturday night at Cherokee Speedway. We've talked about the Ultimate series a few times here recently, and we had drama yet again. Brandon Overton was the winner at the checkered flag, and afterwards, the top finishers headed to the infield for the droop check. It was something like seven or eight minutes from the time they got to the check, until we watched Overton drive his Wells 76 out of the track and back to the trailer. It was then another few minutes before we knew that it was Ross Bailes who was the $10,000 winner. So Overton DQ'd over the droop rule, and Bailes your winner over Cla Knight and Trent Ivey. Zack Mitchell's sixth place finish was good enough for him to clinch the series title. At least this wasn't Ricky Weiss at Eldora getting DQ'd after going to victory lane, but I hate that it took ten minutes after the checkered before we had an answer on who the winner was. It's such an awkward ending to the night when things go like this. I know we want things to be fair, but there has to be a better way to do this.
The only thing on the streaming schedule today is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
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