DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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The Outlaws cancel and people are pissed... For inexplicable reasons. | Daily 4-20-2023
Today on the show RTJ wins on a rubber down Brownstown, the Outlaw late models are finally back, the Outlaw sprint cars cancel and everybody is pissed, and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, April 20th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
At Brownstown last night for the backside of a FloRacing Night in America double header this week, we got a dominant Ricky Thornton Jr. victory. He started outside front row, jumped to the lead at the start over Devin Moran, and never looked back over the 50 lap main event. The track took rubber pretty quickly, so any passing needed to be done early, and it sounded like RTJ knew it. He said afterward that watching the modified B-Main showed him where the track was probably headed and getting to the lead early was going to be key. Second pace finishing Mike Marlar echoed those comments saying the track was probably a bit too dry to start the main event. Moran ended up third after starting on the pole, which was a much needed good finish for that Double Down Motorsports team. Those guys haven't been in contention for wins like we'd expect, but they have maybe found and corrected some issues they were dealing with. It was the first top three finish for Moran since way back in February with the Outlaws. With a win and a second these first two nights, Marlar will take the points lead to Spoon River which is coming up in a few weeks on May 10th. RTJ, Tim McCreadie, Moran, and Brandon Sheppard complete the top five. I did want to give a hat tip to Ben Shelton and Dustin Jarrett for not glossing over the fact that the track took rubber. From the announcer's booth, they talked us through it, pointed out some signs of when it was starting to come, and I appreciated that they didn't try and sugar coat it. We need more of that on nights when things go south with track conditions. I also thought the field did a nice job managing their tires. Normally when rubber goes down you can expect at least some measure of flats, but we didn't have that on Wednesday night. At least if we are going to have a track like that, let's get through it in a reasonable amount of time and not have to sit through 47 cautions. And if you were curious, Kyle Larson was back in the modified. He ended fifth behind Tyler Nicely's win.
Looking ahead to the dirt late model weekend, the focus will very much turn to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Lucas has cancelled their stops at Tri-City and Macon because of weather, and the Outlaws have three nights of racing coming up. Plus, with $50,000 on the line Saturday at Talladega, I think you'll see a lot of the heavy hitters go that way. RTJ tweeted last night after his win that the 20RT team would be at 411 tonight and I'm sure plenty others will follow. It's been two full months since we last saw the World of Outlaws late models at Volusia, and they'll get this weekend started tonight at 411 Motor Speedway in Tennessee. As a quick reset, through four races at Volusia way back at the start of the year, Chris Madden is the series points leader by 14 over Brian Shirley. Kyle Bronson, BShepp, and Max Blair round out the top five. Moran, Bobby Pierce, and Hudson O'Neal took the four wins. McCreadie finished top five all four nights, while he and RTJ were also top ten all four nights. Madden is the most recent series winner at 411, from back in 2020, while Jimmy Owens won a pair of super late model shows there a year ago. After tonight's $10,000 to win main event, the Outlaws will head to Talladega for two nights of racing in conjunction with NASCAR across the street at the big track. Friday will feature split field, $4000 to win features that will help setup action for Saturday's big money. That will be a fun couple of nights at Talladega, as the Outlaws will be joined by USCS sprint cars. If you can't get to 411 tonight, DIRTVision will have live coverage.
Besides Lucas cancelling for the weekend, we've already lost some big open wheel races as well. Because of very low temperatures and wind, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars have cancelled their Friday and Saturday races at Knoxville. The events will not be made up. The comments on those social posts are certainly interesting. None of the people complaining about the cancellations would ever sit in the stands on a 40 degree night with 20MPH winds. It will be miserable. I think some forget that these series and race tracks are businesses, and that in certain instances, the right business move is cancelling. A track like Knoxville and a series like the Outlaws know what a crowd is going to look like on a night like those coming up. This isn't their first rodeo. You can't sit here and complain about race tracks failing, or purses not being high enough, and then also be pissed when a track isn't willing to take a loss on a race night. That is completely illogical. There are also a ton of complaints about an off weekend where the Outlaw teams can't race. Many out there seem to continue to not understand that the full time teams agreed to the terms of the platinum agreement. It wasn't forced on them, and a sprint car team can run every single Outlaw show, and every other race they want, with zero restrictions. Just don't sign the paper. Ask Brent Marks, or Anthony Macri, or Justin Peck, or Buddy Kofoid or Rico Abreu about that. Nobody, even the all powerful and evil World Racing Group, is stopping anyone from racing anywhere if they want. This isn't that hard to understand. The Outlaws will try again next weekend at Granite City and Haubstadt. I think that one was probably going to draw a big field of cars, so we'll see where else some of those teams will scatter. There was already no All Star racing this weekend. That leaves Central Pennsylvania and Ohio as options, plus a few other scattered weekly shows.
We've also lost the opening USAC midget weekend with Kokomo cancelled as well. Remember they didn't race in Florida this season, so this was going to kick things off. With Kokomo cancelled though, we'll now have to wait another full month, as the next racing on the USAC midget schedule is May 19th and 20th at Belleville, Kansas.
On top of the Outlaws at 411, there are a few other shows to check out tonight. It looks like the ASCS might actually get to finally start their 2023 season. They are at Jackson Motor Speedway today and Texarkana 67 Speedway tomorrow. They've had six rainouts since March 17th and they continue to be the most snake bitten dirt racing series the last year and a half. They've got a big field of full timers expected, plenty of new faces and usual suspects, and with Blake Hahn off to do more 410 racing, we should have a new champion. It's not showing right now on the FloRacing schedule, but if you aren't near these race tracks, you should be able to watch on Flo tonight.
Also tonight, the USMTS kicks off a three race weekend at 81 Speedway. Tonight is $3000 to win, Friday is $5000 to win, and Saturday is $10,000 to win. Jason Hughes is the series points leader right now over Terry Phillips and Dan Ebert. Through seven race nights so far, we have yet to have a repeat winner with the modified series. Points leader Hughes is without a victory, but his six top tens in seven races are good enough to be out front currently. If you can't make it out to 81 Speedway this weekend, RacinDirt has livestreams.
Before we close out, thanks to the double digit comments yesterday pointing out that I said Hudson O'Neal blew a right rear at Eldora and not a right front. Not that it makes any difference whatsoever to the topics discussed on the show yesterday, or O'Neal's eventual fate, but yes, you were correct. I watched the race on replay, and as usual, skipped through the caution period because a flat tire is a flat tire. If there is anything I know after doing more than 800 of these daily shows, it's that once in a while I'm going to screw something up. Sorry!
There are six shows today across the streaming services. DIRTVision has the World of Outlaws Late Models from 411 Motor Speedway and DIRTVision Now. RacinDirt has the USMTS from 81 Speedway, Clay Per View has action from Perth, Flo as the ASCS sprint cars and there is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a good Thursday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.