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Busting the model, High Limit series draws 25 full time teams | Daily 4-4-2023

Coming up I'm diving into the odd phenomenon that is the 25 car full time field for the High Limit series, plus more dirt drivers going NASCAR racing and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, April 4th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

On Sunday, we got the first look at the full High Limit Sprint Car full timer list and it's big. We knew about the first four, but this final list is 25 drivers strong. The first High Limit points race is exactly one week from today at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas. So here are the 25 drivers signed on for this first season. They are Rico Abreu, Bill Balog, Alex Bowman, Brian Brown, Paulie Colagiovanni, Tyler Courtney, Danny Dietrich, Cory Eliason, Riley Goodno, Sam Hafertepe, Blake Hahn, Justin Henderson, Buddy Kofoid, Kyle Larson, Anthony Macri, Brent Marks, Conner Morrell, Justin Peck, Parker Price Miller, Chase Randall, Aaron Reutzel, Justin Sanders, Hunter Schuerenberg, Dylan Westbrook, and Dusty Zomer. Whew, that's a big list. Obviously these won't be the only drivers to race each week, and not all of these guys will end up making all of the races, but this list is an interesting phenomenon. Brad Sweet told me back last year that there is no tow money for this series. The cash is all in the purse. I haven't seen the agreement that these teams signed to be a part of this deal, if anyone would like to share it with me, that would be cool. But the rule book does not make mention of any other benefits for full time teams outside of some free pit passes and the points fund. So in a current sprint car world with tow money, bonus programs and the like, High Limit seems to differ big time here. And even the point fund only shows payouts down to tenth place. So that means 15 of these teams won't get a points payout. And with only 24 feature starting spots, one of these drivers is guaranteed to not make the race every night. With other guys coming in and out, the number could actually be higher. So no guaranteed money, points fund cash, or feature starting spots. The big caveat here is that it's only 11 races, midweek, and guys can race wherever they want elsewhere. Also, I don't know if there was some sort of deposit that teams had to put down to sign up, but even so, the barrier to sign on was probably fairly low. So it's not a big commitment to start the season as a declared full timer. It seems as though some fans out there don't understand why most big, traveling series never have more than 12-15 full timers, and it's because the economics really start to break down past that 12th position. Those guys don't make features all the time, and the B-Main cash plus tow money becomes very difficult to exist on. But clearly with only 11 races and very few scheduling issues, the usual economics of series racing completely break down, or the teams just don't care. This season of sprint car racing is already full of intrigue, and I'll be curious to see how many of these 25 actually make it to every race. I'll probably add High Limit to the analytics database too once racing begins so we can track stats. Let me know what your reaction was to seeing this big list of teams declared.

Coming up this weekend are the NASCAR races on the dirt at Bristol. We already knew that Jonathan Davenport is in with Kaulig Racing for the Cup race, but the truck series race will have some dirt racing ringers in it as well. Davenport will take part driving a truck for Spire Motorsports, so he's in for the double. The added track time should aid in his run for Sunday. Tanner Carrick will also get his first ever attempt at a NASCAR national series start, as he'll drive the number 30 On Point Motorsports truck with backing from his family's concrete company. Other dirt racing names on the truck series entry list include Jessica Friesen, and Tyler Carpenter, who will again make a start for Niece Motorsports. There are currently 43 entries on the list, with two drivers TBA, but I believe only 36 trucks will start the race, so there is a chance some will go home. Davenport will for sure be in the Cup race though, as there are 37 cars for 40 available spots. Like we talked about a few weeks ago, dirt racers don't have a great history of doing well in these NASCAR dirt races, but maybe this will be the year that changes. The trucks race Saturday night, with the Cup race Sunday night.

And since we are talking about NASCAR, Kyle Larson's late model show at Bull's Gap is coming up later this week, on Thursday to be exact. We know Larson is racing, as is Kyle Busch, who's teamed up with Wells Motorsports and Brandon Overton. Chase Briscoe will also be there, along with Davenport, Chris Madden, Jimmy Owens, Mike Marlar, and others. Briscoe announced yesterday a nine race dirt schedule for 2023, and he'll be in a Kyle Strickler car on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get a better idea of the exact field as we get closer, and once we do, I'll share that on the show.

A couple of news notes for you. First, Boyd's Speedway in Georgia has been sold and the 2023 racing schedule has been suspended. The track sits near the Tennessee border not far from Chattanooga, and a local construction company now owns the property. The future plans for the facility are uncertain, but it's probably not a good sign that racing is now off. The track could be a prime place for redevelopment, sitting right off I-75 and near hotels, other businesses, and neighborhoods. The World of Outlaws late models were supposed to have raced at Boyd's just a few weeks ago, but the event was cancelled because of weather.

Also, two regional super late model series have signed on to be included under the DIRTcar sanction for 2023. The Comp Cams Super Dirt Series had already made the move, but in recent days the Iron-Man Series owned by Chris Tilley adopted the sanction, and the new series from Hunt the Front will do the same. For competitors, this means DIRTcar rules, which includes the unified tire, plus benefits like insurance. Racers do need to get a $125 membership though.

Finally today, I know some weren't happy with me for not mentioning the modified show over the weekend at Delaware. Matt Sheppard ended up beating Mike Gular back to the line on the last lap for an $8000 pay day. Good race and a nice car count. But in my defense, I didn't even know that race was happening. Even on the FloRacing schedule, the event is listed as the Jake Marine Memorial at Delaware which doesn't really mean anything to me, and the location shows US13 Dragway & Delaware International. When I looked at the streaming schedule, I probably assumed it was a drag race and overlooked it. Neither the Short Track Super Series or Super DIRTcar Series have raced, so this modified show was nowhere on my radar. I'm not going to guarantee though that I'm going to cover every dirt race under the sun. There is just too much of it once the season really starts rolling. If you're a promoter though, it's not a good thing that someone like me didn't know that race was even going on.

The streaming schedule today is again just FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, jump over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

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