DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Larson races. Kyle Larson wins. Kyle Larson crashes. | Daily 1-30-2023
Kyle Larson showed up for one Lucas show this weekend, won it, then crashed. We'll talk about that, plus a stunning Classic win for Brock Hallett, and commenters who try and come at me. Let's go!
It's Monday, January 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
There are some folks out there in my audience that just absolutely kill me. My show last Thursday was about the struggles that we've seen to start 2023 for Rocket Chassis, and I've had a few interesting comments since then. It's like some think that I'm rooting for Rocket to be bad, when in reality, I was just pointing out facts and stats. For example, William made sure to come at me yesterday about a couple of top five finishes for Hudson O'Neal at Golden Isles, and asked me how my shoe tasted. Like he somehow got me, or I was proven wrong beause O'Neal had a few respectable finishes. But as I pointed out, apparently he wasn't paying attention to the fact that Longhorn locked out the top four positions all three nights at Golden Isles, and were the winning chassis manufacturer again on Monday at Bubba Raceway Park. Yes, O'Neal did have two top fives, and probably should have had three at Golden Isles, but they are not in serious contention right now for victories. They continue to be without a win in 2023. And that's notable because of how much success we've seen both the Rocket house car have and those running Rocket chassis. Max Blair ended up second last night to Ricky Thornton Jr., and that's the highest finish we've seen from a Rocket between six nights at Vado, two at Volusia, three at Golden Isles, and now one at Bubba. I did not have Max Blair having the best Rocket finish through 12 nights on my 2023 bingo card. And I'd guess none of you did either. So yes, definitely some better runs, but also work to do.
The Friday show at Brunswick was a great race out front between Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Kyle Larson. Larson ended up nipping RTJ late for the win. Yung Money did not race Thursday, and was only in action Friday because he had a Hendrick celebration on Saturday. So one race, one win. Afterwards, following the droop check and scales, Larson ended up crashing the Rumley six trying to celebrate. He hit the turn three wall and basically knocked the nose off of it. In his victory lane interview he said quote "I'm an idiot" and mentioned that it was probably his most embarrassing moment driving a race car. I'm sure the $12,000 check that he bagged though should cover the cost of the repairs.
The Saturday feature had a similar outcome for Ricky Thornton Jr., as he again led a significant amount of laps, but was beaten late for the victory. This time, it was Brandon Overton who rolled the high side out of four on the final lap and beat RTJ for the $25,000 in a drag race. So two of three at Golden Isles for Overton, which included the Thursday win. And three straight podiums for RTJ.
Last night at Bubba, the feature was marred by a lengthy red flag after safety crews had to clean up an incident involving Tyler Bruening, Tim McCreadie and Dennis Erb Jr., where Erb's car actually ended up on top of McCreadie's. All three drivers ended up finishing way down the order. Devin Moran took control of the race from RTJ early, but on a lap 14 restart, Moran slipped up the track with an apparent issue, and handed the lead to Thornton. The 20RT then survived the final laps with a tire going flat to finally score a win after being so close the previous couple of nights. Like I said earlier, Max Blair ended up second, with Ashton Winger third. With one more night to go at Bubba Raceway Park, which is tonight, Overton and RTJ top the Lucas points standings, with a fairly sizeable gap back to O'Neal in third. Definitely some work to do for guys like Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, and Tyler Erb who all find themselves down the order. On the list of declared full timers, we talked about Kyle Bronson, Tanner English, and Jordan Koehler being declared with both national tours, and other drivers who used provisionals over the weekend who haven't been talked about officially as full Lucas members include Jimmy Owens, and Logan Roberson. So that means we are near 20 declared with Lucas, with some crossover with the 23 or 24 with the Outlaws. You can watch night two of Lucas at Bubba tonight on FloRacing.
Down under over the weekend, the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway wrapped up, and it was a local stealing the $50,000 crown jewel from one of this country's best on the last lap. Sheldon Haudenschild was in control over the final few circuits, but he slipped up in turn three on the white flag lap, which allowed Brock Hallett to rip the high side and beat Sheldon back to the checkered. Huge win for Hallett, and a nice mix of locals and American invaders in the top ten. Behind Hallett and Sheldon, Lachlan McHugh was third, Jock Goodyer fourth, and James McFadden fifth. Tate Frost, Cory Eliason, Kerry Madsen, Aaron Reutzel, and Jamie Veal completed the rest of that top ten. There was a strange situation after the night's B-Main, and a rule I didn't even know was a thing. Coming to the checkered, Grant Anderson broke the rear end, but was able to coast to the line and grab the final transfer spot. But, the process, he collected two cars racing full speed, including Cam Waters who went for a tumble. Afterwards, officials DQ'd Anderson for being the quote "primary cause" for the incident and gave the final feature transfer to Waters. Definitely not what you want to see at an event like that, and I think officials need to reevaluate that rule and how it's enforced. Hat tip though to Waters' crew for getting that car put back together in such a short time and having it ready for the main event. Later this week, a lot of the American drivers will be back to racing here in the states with the All Star season opening at Senoia.
Just one sidenote here, we have talked a few times about the status of Tyler Courtney, and whether he's going Outlaw or All Star racing this year. Initially, all signs were pointing to a rookie Outlaw run, but lately it's sounded like a third All Star run is on the table. He was interviewed over the weekend and said he doesn't even know what the plan is right now. I'm sure we'll see them in Georgia and Florida, but we'll probably have to wait for a while after that until an announcement or decision is truly made.
At Volusia on Friday and Saturday, we had two pretty solid USCS 360 sprint car shows. Ryan Timms absolutey dominated the Friday feature, lapping up to eighth and topping Dylan Westbrook and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for the win. And Saturday night was all Tyler Clem. Davie Franek tried a late move after a restart, but Clem was too strong. Franek and Stenhouse joined Clem on the Saturday podium. It's a shame the USCS doesn't do a better job promoting their series, because they are basically the top group in sprint car racing in the southeast. But we got two tweets from the weekend, and the website is still not updated with post race reports. There are a few more updates on Facebook, but if it wasn't for DIRTVision and this race being at Volusia, we would have known and heard a lot less from it.
One event note for you today, this weekend's Short Track Super Series event at Lakeview Motor Speedway in South Carolina has been axed. The facility is already wet, and more rain is expected this week, so no racing. The series will try again next week at All-Tech Raceway in Florida.
Looks like four shows on the streaming schedule today. That includes Lucas at Bubba and Flo 24/7 on FloRacing, and the iRacing World of Outlaws and DIRTVision Now on DIRTVision. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Alright, that's it for the show today. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.