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It sure looks like Brad Sweet and KKR just committed to the World of Outlaws | Daily 1-18-2023

Did Brad Sweet and Kasey Kahne Racing just bury the lede about their 2023 schedule in a sponsorship announcement? Let's dive into that today and what it means for the World of Outlaws season that begins next month.

It's Wednesday, January 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Yesterday morning we got the oft-used announcement before the announcement from Kasey Kahne Racing pointing towards today for some bit of news. And already this morning that announcement has hit the airwaves, with the team revealing that they have agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Brad Sweet's primary sponsor in NAPA Auto Parts. NAPA joined KKR in 2017 on a partial deal, but has been the main branding partner on Sweet's 49 since 2018. The announcement doesn't give a term length, it just says multi-year and that Sweet will continue to drive the car. This is obviously good news for both KKR and the sport, as it's important to keep corporate sponsors involved where possible. It's also relevant because of the ongoing unrest around full time World of Outlaws drivers, with Sweet being at the center of a lot of it because of the creation of his and Kyle Larson's High Limit Sprint Car Series. There remains quite a few question marks about who will or won't declare as a platinum member with series, but this announcement seems to maybe provide some clarity about Sweet and KKR. The third graph in the release talks about the past history and the big races the team has won. And it includes the line quote "Sweet and the NAPA No.49 team are looking to Drive for Five consecutive championships in 2023! The new season will kick off Thursday, February 9, 2023, at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida" unquote. That certainly seems to suggest a return to full time competition with the Outlaws, although I guess an argument could be made that it doesn't necessarily say that specifically. It doesn't say a fifth Outlaw title, although the date they give for Volusia is the Outlaw opener, and not the sprint car opener at Volusia, which is actually on Tuesday, February 7th, with the All Stars. No mention of High Limit, or any other series can be found in the release. If this does indeed mean Sweet is back, he'd be the first top five driver to commit in any way publicly. So far we know that James McFadden, Noah Gass, Bill Rose, Logan Schuchart, Jacob Allen, and Robbie Price are in, so that's six, and Sweet's addition would take us to seven. We don't know anything about Kraig Kinser, Brock Zearfoss, or Spencer Bayston, but I haven't heard they won't be back as full timers. I'd certainly got out on a limb and say they'll return. And from there, that leaves David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild, and then any potentional newcomers, which I've heard could maybe be as many as two. Gravel has reiterated several times that they still haven't decided, and I think the jury remains out on Sheldon's return. I've heard mixed things on that front from a few different places. In all of this though, and I've mentioned this before, it's important to remember that teams can declare and then fall off later. And that will be a very real possibility this season. Start the year with the series, get the benefits and provisionals early, and fall off later to chase the cash and wins elsewhere if things don't work out. It's a very easy hedge, and one the series won't really try and stop. So regardless of whether teams and drivers actually intend on running the full season, I think many will be signed on come Volusia. We are still about three weeks away from DIRTcar Nationals, but we will see a bunch of teams in action at Senoia on February 3rd and 4th for the All Star opener. With the All Stars, I know we don't have a lot of public info, but I wouldn't fret about that. Don't forget the early season trip south is non-points, and teams can technically wait to declare until the points opener in April at Attica. So plenty of time for decisions to still be made.

On the High Limit side of things, they have made a schedule change for that non-points opener at Tulare. It was originally scheduled for March 28th, but as of last week they have moved it back to March 21st. It sounds like Kyle Larson had a scheduling issue, and they moved the race to accomodate his plans so he could be in attendance. The full time High Limit field right now includes Larson, Rico Abreu, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Peck, and Brent Marks. And this morning, Danny Dietrich released his 123 race schedule for the season that does include all 11 points paying High Limit races, along with his usual heavy slate of Central PA appearances, and races with the Outlaws and All Stars. It's interesting to note that Dietrich has the August 15th High Limit race at Huset's on his slate, but not the Knoxville Nationals that weekend before, or the Jackson Nationals the week after. Dietrich tweeted that the High Limit schedule will be run with Randy Gass, and not his usual Gary Kaufman team. The addition of Dietrich brings the High Limit field to six.

I'm starting a sale today over at shop.dirtrackr.com on the two different t-shirts and the hats I have left. I've been asked about a fresh round of logo hats and some different shirt designs, but I want to clear out some of what I have still in stock before we make moves on new stuff. So if you want something, grab it now for a discount. I'm still covering shipping and sales tax in the US, and you don't need a coupon code for the sale. Things are just marked down already. Head over to shop.dirtrackr.com to order and I'll have your items in the mail today!

After a few days off following the Wild West Shootout at Vado, the 2023 national touring dirt late model season begins tonight at Volusia. Teams are loading in this afternoon ahead of practice sessions, with racing set to officially commence tomorrow night. Thursday and Friday at the Sunshine Nationals pay $8000 to win, with Saturday's finale $20,000 to win. We'll get to see the full field of series regulars for the first time, and there should be no lack of other challengers in the mix. I don't believe there will be any streaming tonight, but if you are in the area, I'm sure they wouldn't mind selling you a pit pass to come hang out. We'll do a full run through of the expected field and what to watch on tomorrow's show.

If you missed the premiere of the new DIRT docuseries from FloRacing that features Kyle Larson, apparently we are just out of luck. I've been asked about this, and I've seen others ask. Any sort of replay of the episode is not available on Flo's platform, so I guess the only way to see the first episode was to be watching the Wild West Shootout live. I reached out to try and get some clarity, but have not heard anything back. The official press for the series says that episodes will be released quote "later this year." I missed it as well, as I figured we would just be able to watch a replay, so if you missed it too, you aren't alone.

Around the other dirt racing podcasts this week Passing Points has several new episodes with a lot of content from the Chili Bowl. SuaveTalk from Dirt on Dirt has Nick Hoffman, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, Quicktime, and Hoogie's Garage. To see the full list of shows and episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

It's again a quiet day on the streaming services, but it will be the last one for at least a few days. Just FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now to check out. 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 Wednesday. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.