DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Danny Lasoski splitting crew chief time, Millbridge is a gem on Wednesdays | Daily 3-30-2023

Today on the show, why Millbridge might be the best kept non-secret in dirt racing, plus Danny Lasoski has two new jobs, Brian Brown's curious stats, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, March 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I try and mention Millbridge Speedway here each week because I think they have something really cool going on. It's starting to feel like a gem on Wednesday nights and maybe one of the best kept non-secrets in dirt racing. I say that because I know most dirt racing fans are probably not super tuned in to a micro sprint show mid-week at a little track near Charlotte, North Carolina. But if you get the chance to watch, or head out there, you will be in for a treat. Last night they had 18 winged micros and 44 non-wing micros and the field is super interesting. It's a mix of NASCAR drivers, dirt racers, local kids trying to get experience and more. The winged field included Kyle Busch, Cannon McIntosh, Nick Sanchez, who is running in the Truck Series this season, Lance Dewease's son Cole, Dale Earnhardt Jr's nephew Wyatt Miller, and more. The non-wing entry list had Busch, Sheldon Creed, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, Jack Wood, Brent Crews, Gavan Boschele, Cannon McIntosh, Carson Kvapil, Ethan Mitchell, and others. It is quite the eclectic mix of drivers, and something that isn't really possible in other parts of the country. These guys just want to race, and Millbridge is close by and offers the perfect opportunity to compete during the week, which works well for a lot of their busy schedules. And we are treated to some pretty kickass racing, as Millbridge is perfect for ripping the fence and throwing huge sliders. Last night's winged feature win went to Cannon McIntosh, who has been flying in from Oklahoma to race each week. He topped Busch and Darin Naida in that one. The non-wing victory went to Brent Crews, who beat Jesse Love and Sheldon Creed. McIntosh went ninth to fourth in that one. Besides the racers, you'll also hear Chris Wilner and Steve Post on the call along with Casey Lajoie. If you haven't already, I would check these races out each week on DIRTVision.

In some sprint car team moves, World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski has a couple of new crew chief jobs going forward. Tony Rost, who runs 360s weekly at Knoxville, and is a past guest on my Conversations show, announced yesterday he has hired the Dude to crew chief his 99 Catalyst Autosport ride for the upcoming season and be his driver coach. Rost made 13 feature appearances at Knoxville last season while also racing scattered shows at I-80. I say a couple of crew chief jobs for Lasoski, because he's also going to wrench for Dusty Zomer's 410 ride in the 3J that will make starts at Huset's, and with the World of Outlaws and High Limit. We'll see this new pairing of Lasoski and Zomer at the High Limit show coming up in a few weeks at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas. Zomer is a guy we used to see all time in a sprint car making 60 or 70 starts a year, but in the last several years his schedule has been very small. In 2022, he made just 12 appearances, mostly at Huset's, with a few at Jackson Motorplex as well. He even has a World of Outlaws victory on his resume, from World Finals back in 2015. The Dude had spent much of the past two seasons crew chiefing for his nephew Brian Brown, and pretty successfully. They won the 2022 410 track championship at Knoxville, and won the second Outlaw night in June at Knoxville. Going forward though, Brownie has brought back long time crew chief Chad Morgan, and they got off to a decent start down in Florida, picking up two Outlaw podiums at Volusia. Brownie is headed to Devil's Bowl this weekend, with the start of the Knoxville season still a few weeks away.

Looking at Brownie's World of Outlaws driver page over at dirtrackr.com/analytics, he's one I'm always curious about with the Outlaws. Plenty of success, five wins since 2017 in 201 starts. And he's a great qualifier, averaging just inside the top ten, better than guys like Logan Schuchart and James McFadden. His results from there though are a strange feast or famine situation. 41 heat race wins, which is 12th best over the last six plus seasons, but he's also near the bottom in heat race plus minus, at -28. Meaning he's lost way more positions in heats than he's gained. He's also 10th overall over during that span in dash wins, with 15, but he's at the bottom of feature plus minus, at -318. The only driver to lose more spots in features than Brownie is Jacob Allen. His feature finish has only been better than his feature start in 28% of races. He's also very low percentage wise in top five and top ten value finishes, meaning he's not driving through the field to earn better finishing positions. If he starts up front, he does a decent job staying there, but if he starts low, he finishes low. He has just a single hard charger award in his past 201 Outlaw shows, a 24th to 12th run last November at Charlotte. Definitely an area for him and Chad to work on, is getting better for features. If you want to see Brownie's stats, or those for thousands of other dirt racers, check out the analytics section at dirtrackr.com.

If you want to check out some racing tonight, the USMTS Modifieds are back this weekend for three more shows. They are taking on Ark-La-Tex Speedway, with $3000 on the line tonight, $5000 to win Friday, and $10,000 to win Saturday. Terry Phillips enters as the points leader over Dan Ebert and Jason Hughes, and Phillips is the most recent winner at Ark-La-Tex, from back in 2021. Might be a good chance for him to try and extend this points lead. The aptly named 1/4 mile speedway is located north and west of Shreveport, Louisiana, not far from the Arkansas and Texas borders. Joining the USMTS competitors this weekend on the card are USRA limited mods, factory stocks, and tuners. Grandstand tickets tonight are $20 or you can watch live over on RacinDirt. They should have a big car count again and some tight racing with that group on a bullring.

Before we close out today, one more weather issue for the weekend. The Asparagus Cup at the Stockton Dirt Track coming up Saturday has been cancelled. This was a dual NARC 410 and Sprint Car Challenge Tour event, and wet weather is the cause yet again. The Sprint Car Challenge Tour will try again on April 22nd at Merced, while the NARC 410 sprint cars are back next Saturday, April 8th at Hanford. The SCCT is one race deep with Justin Sanders winning the opener last weekend at Placerville. The NARC competitors have now been rained out twice to start the year.

Not a whole lot on the streaming schedule today outside of FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. If you subscribe to RacinDirt, you can watch the USMTS modifieds from Ark-La-Tex tonight. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Have a good Thursday out there, we'll see you guys back here tomorrow.