DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Clarity on World of Outlaws race restrictions, Jade Avedisian moving to Keith Kunz Motorsports | Daily 2-9-2023
Today we are talking mad Donny Schatz, which races do and don't count against the Outlaw limits, news from Jade Avedisian and FloRacing and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, February 9th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
I've got an absolutely packed show for you today, so let's dive right in.
Wednesday night at Volusia, Donny Schatz was again at the top of the list of things to talk about for the second night in a row. Tuesday it was because he had to leave the show early for pilot training, and last night for racing the entire feature with the nose wing knocked off the TSR 15. On lap two, Schatz was chasing Anthony Macri, and into turn three, Macri decided to go from the bottom to the top right across Schatz's nose. The rear bumper on the 39M made just enough contact with the nose wing to knock it askew, and the battle was on from there. Schatz initially fell back after the contact, but then he roared forward, getting to second around half way and then taking the lead from pole sitter Carson Macedo on lap 20. The time out front though was short lived, as that wonky nose wing finally gave up the ghost and flipped all the way over. Macedo drove back by and streaked away for the win. Schatz was able to hold on for second, with James McFadden nipping Macri late for third. Afterwards, Georgia Henneberry asked Donny what happened, and he said quote "It's probably better I not say. Just the way it goes. Back in the day when you raced like that you'd expect to get your ass whooped in front of the truck but we can't do that in 2023" unquote. Absolutely classic Donny Schatz, and again a moment in his career where he clearly shows his disgust for drivers not racing how he thinks guys should race. I've talked about this before, but Donny is and has been one of the cleanest racing drivers on the planet, and his old school nature is completely offended when other drivers don't race the same way. I love that about him. He wants to race hard and battle close, but do it right and by the book.
Elsewhere down through the field, Tuesday's winner Brad Sweet was hard charger, going 17th to sixth. And the big surprise was a difficult night for David Gravel. He ended up 10th after starting 20th, but his evening started off rough. Gravel is probably the best time trialer in the sport, leading the Outlaws over the last six seasons in average qualifying position and most quick times, but going 30th of 34 cars was not what we expected from the 2 team on Wednesday. From there, it was a battle the rest of the night, but an eighth to fifth run in the heat put him locked into the feature. In an interview with Matt Weaver after the race, he said they were slow in hot laps and backed it up in qualifying. And it was the second day in row he mentioned that they are on a different setup. Tuesday night he said it was what probably cost them the win, and last night it really hurt their qualifying effort. I don't know specifically what he was referring to on the car, but he said for tonight's Outlaw opener they'd go back to a more basic package and be better off.
And looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, the All Star sanctioned shows are done, and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday kick off the 2023 World of Outlaws season. I feel like we are probably in for another slug fest of a year. Brad Sweet going for five in a row, with a team focus on race wins. David Gravel again trying to break through for his first title. Carson Macedo back again after leading the Outlaws in wins a year ago. Donny Schatz clearly still hungry. Sheldon Haudenschild back on tour as probably the most exciting driver in all of sprint car racing. Logan Schuchart capable of winning anywhere. Jacob Allen coming off a career year. James McFadden on the hot seat at Roth. Gio Scelzi out for his rookie campaign. Spencer Bayston looking to impress in year two. Kasey Kahne still after that first career Outlaw victory. And guys like Brock Zearfoss, Kraig Kinser, Noah Gass and Bill Rose ready for the grind. I mentioned yesterday about these All Star shows at Volusia not counting against the platinum agreement race restrictions, and Walkapedia gave us some more clarity on some other races to come this season. If you don't know, Walkapedia is Brian Walker, who is the series PR guy for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. It sounds like the two Eldora Million nights will count against the four and eight race restrictions, but he says the Capitani Classic at Knoxville and the Front Row Challenge will not count against the drivers if they choose to race those events. So that would mean if drivers race the million, they would have two other freebies available before they would lose out on the added points fund money. What extracurricular activities the teams decide to participate in will continue to be an underlying story all season. And depending on how things go, we could still very easily see drivers and teams drop off later in the year to chase money. Drop me a comment, let me know who your choice is for Outlaw champion this season. You can tune in the next three nights live on DIRTVision. No more streaming shenanigans.
In last night's modified portion, we had Kyle Strickler, Charlie Mefford, Michael Long, Ethan Dotson, Justin Haley, and Tyler Nicely pick up feature wins. Haley, Nicely, and Dotson are all three for three on the week. And if you weren't watching last night, go find the Charlie Mefford victory lane interview. This was the kid who blew up on social media after flipping at the Dome. He was in tears last night after winning his main event.
At East Bay last night, we got what was basically the final tune up night for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series before points paying races start tonight. As expected, we did have a much fuller field, with 65 cars on the property. Davenport was back, Overton was back in the 76, and the field was more indicative of what we'll see the rest of the weekend. Interesting to hear that Davenport actually went home after Saturday night at All-Tech. We'll see if the rest at his own house will pay dividends the next few nights. I feel like that's something that is starting to creep more and more into dirt racing where it's possible for some of these guys. If you have a few days off, get the driver home for some rest. We're definitely seeing that more and more on the winged sprint car side. In the night's main event, except for one lap just past half way, it was all Ryan Gustin out front. Kyle Bronson was able to briefly take the lead after a restart, but Gustin raced back by and held on for his first career Lucas victory and $7000. Tyler Erb was second and Bronson fell to third late. It was another all Rocket podium, and they seem to be going much better at East Bay. Not sure if that has to do with setup changes, or just the track playing more into their hand. There seems to be some talk about track conditions at East Bay and if they can make it a little racier for the big money nights. And no harm done, but it was another tough night for points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. He started 12th in the feature, but ended up 23rd on the night. Tonight's show bumps to $10,000 to win, Friday is $12,000 to win, and Saturday's finale is $15,000 to win. These next three nights are for points, but remember that drivers are only taking their best five finishes out of Speedweeks. After Saturday night, we won't see Lucas again until March 17th at Atomic. A lot of these teams though will head over to Volusia next week. You can watch the next three nights live on FloRacing if you aren't headed to East Bay.
The Short Track Super Series got their 2023 year off and rolling last night at All-Tech Raceway. Stewart Friesen sat on the pole and went the distance, leading all 30 laps for the $4000 win. He said afterwards they had engine issues and that he was worried about it down the stretch. Definitely something they'll have to take a look at for the rest of the weekend. Matt Sheppard and Alex Payne joined him on the podium. Still three more nights of racing for the big blocks at All-Tech before they head to Volusia next week for the Super DIRTcar Series portion of that event. Tonight's race is $5000 to win and you can again watch it live on FloRacing.
The midget silly season still seems to be in full affect, and yesterday we had another driver swap teams. For 2023, 16 year old Jade Avedisian will move from Chad Boat Industries to Keith Kunz Motorsports. Jade is expected to run the entire Xtreme Outlaw Midget schedule, driving the Mobil 1 sponsored 71 for KKM. There is nothing from the team about a USAC schedule, but I'd guess we'll see her a lot over there as well, especially with no schedule conflicts between the two national series. Jade was a winner twice last year with Xtreme, winning in June at Jacksonville and at the end of the season at I-44 Riverside. I think she's one of the more exciting young dirt racing prospects in the country, and she seems to have drawn the interest of Toyota and Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby. Both Boat and Kunz will have different lineups this season and we've seen some swapping already. Bryant Wiedeman has flipped to CBI, while we know the KKM lineup will include Ryan Timms, Taylor Reimer, Jade, and Brenham Crouch. Kaylee Bryson and Buddy Kofoid have left Kunz to pursue other things. The Xtreme Midgets don't start their season until March 10th at Du Quoin, while the USAC season starts even later, on April 21st at Kokomo.
We talked last Friday about Lincoln Speedway scaling back their FloRacing schedule for 2023. Instead of showing their entire weekly schedule this year that's something like 35 races, Flo is only streaming 11, with the two Outlaw nights also available on DIRTVision. This is a major shift from the previous two seasons. The idea being that maybe they can fix their attendance problems by scaling back. There was some thought out there that maybe Port Royal would scale back as well, but earlier this week they announced that their normal weekly schedule will remain on the streaming service. They do encourage fans to attend if they can, but if not, Flo streams will be available. And in in a similar vein, the NARC 410 sprint car series out west also announced they have renewed with FloRacing to stream their entire 2023 schedule. NARC was a part of the Flo slate a year ago, and all 24 events at 15 different race tracks in 2023 will be available for Flo subscribers. Series board member Brent Kaeding said quote "They bring a level of media expertise that has helped grow our series exposure, not only in the United States, but across the world" unquote. So even with all the negativity out there from some groups, there are still plenty of tracks and series that are finding value from being streamed regularly.
This is my last daily show of the week, going to spend a little quality time with the family over the next few days. We'll be back to regularly scheduled programming on Monday.
The streaming schedule stays busy through the weekend with more DIRTcar Nationals on DIRTVision, Lucas and Short Track Super Series on FloRacing, and more. There is also still some sprint car racing happening down under. The Australian Sprintcar Championship is at Perth Motorplex this weekend, and you can watch that one live on Clay Per View. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Have a good weekend out there, so you guys Monday!