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Yes, it's too early, but... What wild cards could we see attempt the Eldora Million? | Daily 12-29-2022

What will the Eldora Million look like in 2023 in terms of entries? Today we'll get into this probably six months too early and talk about the possibilities. Let's go!

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

This topic for today is one I've had a few side conversations about, and it got brought up in the comments on yesterday's video by NMS Sportscards. And I'll admit right off the top here, that it's entirely way too early to have this conversation, but who cares, let's do it anyway. So the question is what could the car count look like for the Eldora Million next year, and what, if any, outside drivers could make a serious run at competing in this event. For the Million in 2022, when it was a late model show, the the race drew 124 cars according to the results, and there were a handful of drivers in attendance who you wouldn't normally see at a late model show. That short list included Chase Briscoe, Tyler Courtney, and Donny Schatz. Courtney hadn't competed in a late model before 2022, and ran just a little bit to get himself ready for the event. Schatz has made pretty regular late model starts in previous years, including at DIRTcar Nationals, World Finals, and elsewhere. And Chase Briscoe ran a few late model shows last season as part of a larger dirt schedule with his NASCAR sponsor Mahindra. As for the car count, it was definitely pumped up over the other big late model special events we've seen at Eldora. The World and Dream often draw 70 or 80, although the World in 2022 had 107. For the sprint cars in 2023 though, I would not expect this event to go into the triple digits like we often see at Knoxville. The Kings Royal and Historical Big One drew near 60 in 2022, which is very similar to past years of Kings Royal weekends. And if you look at other big events through the year, Gold Cup was around 50, same with the $100k show at Huset's. The Knoxville Nationals draws more cars because the pay down through the field is so strong. The Saturday night main event pays $10,000 just to start, and teams can come for the week and get to race a few times and make some decent cash. That won't necessarily be the case for the Million if you're lower down. The two prelim features are $12,000 to win and $1000 to start, while the Million purse is really top heavy, with 24th paying $6000. A tenth place finish is only good for $8000. Because of that, I think the best we could hope for with the Million field is maybe something in the 70s. The other question is if we'll see any crossover from maybe the late model world or NASCAR. Not long after the announcement was out, people were tweeting at Jonathan Davenport about racing in the sprint car version, and there was even a paint scheme floating around. Davenport did say that he'd probably just have to stay in his lane on this one. And I think that will probably be the overwhelming sentiment from the late model crowd. I dug into the dirtrackr.com analytics database this morning to see what drivers have made appearances with both a national sprint car tour like the Outlaws and All Stars, and also a national late model tour like Lucas and the Outlaws. In the last several seasons, the list is pretty short. It includes Kyle Larson, Brandon Overton, Donny Schatz, Chase Briscoe, Parker Price Miller, and John Garvin. PPM and Schatz are already in. Chase Briscoe has made sprint car starts in recent seasons, but hasn't raced with the Outlaws since 2018, and he doesn't appear at all in my list of All Star drivers, so he hasn't raced since at least 2018 on that side. I'm not sure I'd hold my breath on Garvin either. He hasn't been in in an Outlaw show since 2020 at Lernerville. Overton would be an intriguing one, but his lone appearance with the Outlaws was at World Finals in 2021 and he only raced the one night, and nothing since. All the other possible names that got mentioned include Ricky Thornton Jr., Nick Hoffman, and Brandon Sheppard. Those all feel like pipe dreams, even with RTJ's recent forays in Tulsa. The same is true for someone like Devin Moran. Moran has been in a sprint car, but he hasn't competed on a big stage. As for the NASCAR drivers, you have to assume Larson is in. I'd wonder about Christopher Bell. He could certainly win, but would need the right ride and permission from his JGR bosses. His dirt schedule has definitely been lighter since getting the big call up. I definitely would not expect Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Chase Elliott, or Kyle Busch to get involved. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is usually good for a few sprint car starts a season, but those usually come in 360 competition. His last Outlaw appearance was in 2019. I do think that Alex Bowman is a possibility with his car. He made 11 Outlaw starts in 2022, including at the Kings Royal. He did deal with that concussion late in the NASCAR season, so that could be a factor as well. The only other wildcard I was thinking about here is Stewart Friesen. He's obviously incredible in a big block modified, and has made national touring late model starts. And don't forget that Friesen has a World of Outlaws Sprint Car win on his resume, from back in 2015 at Ohsweken. He hasn't run a ton of sprint car stuff in recent years, but he is a guy who would be respectable. Feel free to weigh in here and let me know what you think about the car count and any possible wild card entries. It feels like going from a sprint car to a late model is maybe a safer move then going in the opposite direction.

We talked earlier this week about what sprint car teams would do for 2023, and as of yesterday we've got our third confirmed full time World of Outlaws driver. Joining Noah Gass and James McFadden on that list for next season is Robbie Price. Price will return to the seat of the Sides 7S and get a chance to run his first full Outlaw season and compete for rookie of the year. Price took over the 7S in 2022 at Attica in May, and ran 52 races when Jason Sides decided to step out. Sides will continue his role as team owner and crew chief, but did say in a release from the Outlaws that he'll still run a handful of races next season. Price is from British Columbia and was a regular runner up and down the west coast before getting the opportunity with Sides. He competed a bunch in both 410 and 360 competition in Washington and California. In his 52 races in 2022, he had two top fives, two top tens, and an average feature finish of about 18th. He appeared in features 35 times and had top five results at Red River Valley and Skagit. Price was much more consistent later on in the year, only missing the feature twice over the final 22 race nights. Getting to go back to some of these tracks for the second and third time should make life a little easier for him next year. And since we are talking about full time World of Outlaws drivers, it sounds like we can probably include Logan Schuchart and Jacob Allen as well on the list of drivers for 2023. There hasn't been a release or anything, but Schuchart did tell Steve Post at PRI that the plan was for Shark Racing to be full time with the series again. The Post/Schuchart interview is available on the Racing Electronics YouTube channel if you want to see it for yourself. So that would take us to five total right now with Gass, McFadden, Price, Schuchart, and Allen. We won't see the Outlaws start their season until February 9th at Volusia for DIRTcar Nationals.

There are four shows on today's streaming schedule. Clay-Per-View has sprint cars from Avalon Raceway later on tonight and into tomorrow morning here in the US. FloRacing has another day of action from the Tulsa Shootout and Flo 24/7. There is also DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

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.