DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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The reasons behind Jonathan Davenport's return to Lucas full time | Daily 12-22-2022
Jonathan Davenport is back on a tour for 2023, and we'll talk about why, plus news from Ryan Timms and Buddy Kofoid and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, December 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
I gotta be honest, after the season he had in 2022, I did not expect this bit of news from Jonathan Davenport that came out yesterday. A pick and choose schedule, with 24 wins in something like 80 races, led to more than $2 million in earnings for the year. But for 2023, Jonathan Davenport and the Double L 49 team are headed back out on tour with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Davenport was last a full timer in 2021, ending up third behind champion Tim McCreadie. His last series championship was in 2019 when he topped McCreadie and Josh Richards. This decision to go back full time with Lucas joins a list of changes for the team, that includes the loss of crew chief Jason Durham and the hiring of Cory Fostvedt. They've got a new tire guy in Michael Bixby, and the team's shop is moving back to Batesville, Arkansas, from Durham's place in Kentucky. Davenport joins a growing list of Lucas regulars for next season that will include reigning champ Tim McCreadie, Hudson O'Neal in the Rocket car, Devin Moran with Double Down, Ricky Thornton Jr., and most likely names like Tyler Erb, Earl Pearson Jr., Garrett Alberson, and Daulton Wilson. In the release from the team, Davenport said quote "The series really worked hard on some things like minimizing their schedule a little bit and boosting their point fund, which made it more attractive for us to jump back on tour" unquote. If you probably remember from PRI, Lucas has added cash to their point fund for 2023, with the champion now taking home $200,000 from a possible $935,000 total fund, that also includes another $66,000 in bonuses. These increases were alongside the announcement that the series will have a playoff format for their championship next season, where the top four drivers will battle it out for the title at Eldora during the Dirt Track World Championship. In 2022, after the big money year Brandon Overton had in 2021, the cool thing to do was go pick and choose. Davenport did it, as did Jimmy Owens, and Chris Madden. But now, both Madden and Davenport are back full time on a series. So what changed? Well, as Davenport mentioned, the points funds are getting better. Lucas champ gets $200,000, the Outlaw champ now gets $150,000. There are also added bonuses, and guys can still race the crown jewels and with series like Flo and XR. The XR schedule is much lighter next year as they have refocused their efforts, and that might have a small part in all of this. There is also no million dollar race happening this season. Neither national tour schedules against Eldora anyway, but not running a tour allowed those guys to focus more on that event, take some weeks off, etc. And for Davenport specifically, the Dirt Track World Championship moving to Eldora and being the site of the championship decider plays right into his hands. He's insanely good at Eldora, and all he has to do by season's end is be in the top four. No need to try and match the consistency we've seen from Tim McCreadie or a guy like Brandon Sheppard. Just hang in that top four and go win the final race for the title. If a driver gets into that final four, they will earn at least $5000 in bonuses, and possibly as much as $25,000. And even fourth in the championship pays $100,000. So these guys that go the distance will be guaranteeing themselves a nice chunk of change. And that seems to be the question mark in all of dirt racing right now with these big series. Do guys go with the guaranteed money, or try and chase big paychecks at a bigger risk. That is very much what some of the sprint car teams are weighing at this exact moment. As unexpected as it seemed to be for Davenport, this move actually makes a ton of sense.
The other driver news from yesterday concerned the futures for Ryan Timms and Buddy Kofoid. We talked last Wednesday on the Daily about the Chili Bowl field, and I mentioned that Kofoid was listed as being in the 71W while Timms was in the 67, which had been Kofoid's number. That was our first clue that maybe something was up, and we got clarity on the situation yesterday. For 2023, Ryan Timms will take over that Mobil 1 67 midget at Keith Kunz Motorsports from Buddy Kofoid and chase the USAC midget title. Timms told Speed Sport that the deal got set in motion after he won with KKM at Red Dirt Raceway back in July. Timms was impressive in 2022 in a sprint car, and we will still see him plenty with the wing on next year. He tweeted he'll pick and choose sprint car races between midget shows, with a total schedule of around 75 races. And that seat was open at KKM because Kofoid is going to focus on sprint car racing for 2023, with a full national schedule planned with Crouch Motorsports. Kofoid ran select races with Crouch this year, which included a World of Outlaws win at Huset's. In a story at sprintcarunlimited.com, team owner Leighton Crouch said they will run 80 plus races, with a heavy focus on the Outlaws and All Stars. In between Kofoid will also fit in a handful of midget shows. With Kofoid behind the wheel, and veteran crew members like Brad Alexander, Stephen Hamm-Reilly, and Jakob Weaver, this team could hurt some feelings next year.
One other Chili Bowl note for you from this morning. We've had a bit of shake up with the KKM lineup. Reinbold Underwood is bringing four cars with drivers Hayden Reinbold, Alex Bright, Emerson Axsom, and Daison Pursley. Pursley was originally slated to be in a KKM car, but we've had a late change. Pursley had already announced a full USAC sprint car run in 2023 with KO Motorsports, and now it appears as though his tenure with Keith Kunz is over. Emerson Axsom also confirmed what we already pretty much knew, that Clauson Marshall is not competing at the Chili Bowl this year.
In some schedule updates from this week, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets have added three more tracks to their 2023 slate. They'll take on Ohio Valley Speedway July 28th, Path Valley Speedway Park on August 11th, and Highland Speedway on September 16th. The series has also posted an $80,000 point fund, with the champion taking home $25 grand of that. Remember that all these Xtreme shows are in addition to the USAC schedule and no dates are in conflict. So it will be a good year to be a midget team. Along with this schedule news, Chase McDermand and Mounce Stout Motorsports have become the first team to commit to the full season with Xtreme. McDermand was an Xtreme winner in 2022 at Davenport.
Also, there were a couple of changes on the NARC schedule. They are adding a race at Antioch on April 29th, the originally scheduled April 29th race at Silver Dollar has been moved to May 6th, and both nights of the Peter Murphy Classic will now be at Hanford. To see the full NARC schedule, head to narc410.com.
Looking at the daily streaming schedule, again just FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now going on. To see what's playing every day, head over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
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Alright, that's it for the show today. Have a good Thursday. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.