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.
Three sprint car drivers who might not be racing in Australia after all | Daily 1-9-2023
On this overreaction Monday, we'll talk about Jonathan Davenport winning every single race he competes in in 2023, we'll preview Chili Bowl night one, and there is an interesting situation brewing for some US sprint car drivers trying to get down under. Let's go!
It's Monday, January 9th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Two wins in two nights at the Wild West Shootout over the weekend was a resounding way for Jonathan Davenport to start the season, and answer any questions we may have had about all the changes to that team in the offseason. If you don't remember, or aren't aware, Davenport's Lance Landers' owned team is starting 2023 with a new crew chief in Cory Fostvedt, a new tire guy in Michael Bixby, and they've returned the shop to Landers' place in Arkansas following the departure of Jason Durham. And none of those changes seem to have slowed them down. On Saturday night, JD started fourth, and got to the lead for good following a lap 27 caution for Terry Phillips going around. On the restart, he threw a turn three slider at leader Bobby Pierce, and was unchallenged from there in the clean air. Pierce later spun while battling with Brandon Sheppard for second and finished 13th. BShepp did lock down the runner up spot, with Ricky Weiss in third, Cade Dillard fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth. On Sunday, Superman took advantage of a front row start to lead early, but the action really got going late with Larson and Pierce in the mix. Davenport survived multiple slider attempts from Larson down the stretch and drove off to the win, with Yung Money settling for second, Pierce third, and BShepp and Weiss rounding out the top five. Larson looked really strong late, but the challenge from Pierce and a couple of mistakes on a treacherous cushion allowed the 49 to get away at the end. JD said afterwards he was a little wore out after the battle with Larson, and that the car was probably better than he showed. Both of the top runners were smiling on the podium following the battle. Since it is an overreaction Monday, obviously Davenport is going to win every race this week, get the $300,000 bonus, and win every race all season long.
For those of you rational human beings out there though, I do think there are some interesting takeaways from these opening two nights. First, the change to Longhorns for both Sheppard and Pierce did not slow either of them down. Even with different track conditions each night, we had about the same top five runners, and Sheppard and Pierce were right in the mix. I think it's a good sign for both of their seasons. Obviously Davenport is going to continue to be a serious problem for his competition, and the Lucas field better be ready when that season starts here in a few weeks. As for the rest of the Wild West Shootout, I would absolutely not sleep on Kyle Larson. Fifth on night one, second on night two. And that was with him not being super comfortable back in the car. Larson admitted after the feature last night that Kevin Rumley had changed a bunch of stuff, and they were clearly pretty damn good. A few more changes, and I think they could get a couple of wins before this event is over. And if you remember back to the Friday show, this is what I talked about. Giving these two several nights on the same track to get both the driver and car dialed would be a big deal. Larson hadn't been in a late model since last October, and only made three late model starts over the final five months of 2022. Once he's really comfortable, look out. So yes, two nights, two wins for Davenport, but Larson and Pierce and Sheppard and these other guys are not just going to roll over. As for the other racing at Vado, Jake O'Neil and Dereck Ramirez picked up modified wins, while Kris Jackson swept the weekend with the X-mods. The event goes quiet tonight, there is a practice session on Tuesday, and they'll be back to racing on Wednesday.
The other late model race over the weekend was the Ice Bowl at the Talladega Short Track. And it was a mess of a feature. The 50 lapper took nearly an hour to complete because of cautions, and only eight of 24 cars were running at the end, with just six lead lap runners. Ray Cook started 12th and survived the melees to win his third career Ice Bowl. Chris Jones and Will Roland joined him on the podium.
Before we talk Chili Bowl, I've got two other things to mention today. First, it sounds like we've got an interesting situation brewing with a few sprint car drivers who are supposed to be headed down under to race this month. I've heard that Brad Sweet, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Aaron Reutzel are having issues getting their visas approved and might not be able to make the trip. Reutzel's schedule was initially slated to start on December 30th at Eastern Creek and run through the Classic at the end of January. Sheldon was going to run races at Toowoomba, Avalon, and Borderline before the Classic, and Sweet had Avalon and the Classic on his schedule. I've heard they have lawyers involved, but as of yesterday nothing had been resolved yet. As I get updates and hear more, I'll keep you guys posted. I know we've got quite a few of our friends from Australia and New Zealand who tune into the show.
Also, we've talked about the documentary coming from FloRacing that followed Kyle Larson around all of 2022, and the trailer for it dropped over the weekend. The first episode of the series is premiering next Sunday, January 15th during the Wild West Shootout. If you want to see the trailer, I'll link to it below in the video description.
Alright, the 2023 Chili Bowl Nationals gets underway tonight with the first of five split field prelim nights. The building was open all day yesterday for practice sessions, and if you missed it, we did a live stream yesterday morning and talked a bunch about the event, the Chili Bowl pool, and a lot more. Check that out if you haven't yet. Today at the Expo Center, hot laps are scheduled for 4PM central time, with racing at 5. Looks like we should be in the mid to high 60s for car count tonight. Remember that drivers draw for heat race starting positions, and then it's all about passing points from there. Drivers will either earn enough points to make a qualifier, or be forced to D and C mains. The qualifiers will then decide who's locked into the night's feature, or who's headed to a B main. The top two feature finishers tonight will lock themselves into Saturday night's big main event. Some notables who are running tonight include Nick Hoffman, Chase Briscoe, Cannon McIntosh, Gavan Boschele, Shane Golobic, Ryan Timms, Jerry Coons Jr., and Chris Windom. We've also got our guy Tanner Holmes going tonight. The Monday schedule also includes the Race of Champions, which is a 25 lapper. The field for that race is Tanner Thorson, Justin Grant, Tanner Carrick, Rico Abreu, Buddy Kofoid, Chad Boat is eligible, Blake Hahn, Brenham Crouch, Zach Daum, Spencer Bayston, Cannon McIntosh, Kody Swanson, Logan Seavey, Sammy Swindell, Tim McCreadie, Damion Gardner, Michael Pickens, Chase Briscoe, and Alex Bowman. And if you are going to participate in the Chili Bowl pool this year, don't forget that entries are due before hot laps roll off. If you are looking for some possible winners, I like both Golobic and Cannon McIntosh tonight. Cannon Mac has two past prelim night wins, and will be strong. Golobic has led laps on his prelim night three of the past four years, and knows how to run top five. The action all week, all the way through next Saturday night's feature, will be live on FloRacing. If you need a Flo subscription, and want to help out DIRTRACKR, click the link below to get one, or the links at dirtrackr.com. I think we are in for a hell of a week of racing.
Four shows today on the streaming services. FloRacing has day one of the Chili Bowl and Flo 24/7. DIRTVision has the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars from Cedar Lake and 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 Monday. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.