DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

Are Overton and Davenport slipping, or are we seeing things? | Daily 4-21-2023

Is something up with Brandon Overton and Jonathan Davenport, or are we just seeing things? That today, plus a big weekend at Talladega on tap and more. Let's go!

It's Friday, April 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

At 411 Motor Speedway on Thursday the World of Outlaws Late Models continued their 2023 season after a two month break since Volusia. Almost 50 cars were in attendance, but it was local guy Cory Hedgecock who went to victory lane. The last time he did so was also at 411, but way back in 2018. Hedgecock started sixth, and was benefitted by a caution for race leader Mike Marlar late in the going. Marlar took the top spot from pole sitter Dale McDowell on lap 15 and was comfortably out front when things went sideways on lap 30. Marlar slowed to a crawl down the backstretch with an apparent flat tire and immediately drove the car straight to his trailer. That gave McDowell the lead back for the restart, but Hedgecock was ready to move forward. Just a lap after the green was waved again, he dove underneath McDowell into one and seized control. The Tennessee driver then led the final ten laps for the $10,000 score. Behind him, Ricky Thornton Jr. drove up from 16th, and nipped Kyl Bronson at the line for second, with Bronson settling for third. After sitting on the pole and leading laps early, McDowell ended up fourth with a battered race car. I think all of the top three finishers had some measure of contact with McDowell's 17 before the race came to a close. Both Hedgecock and RTJ mentioned it post race, and I think Hedgecock almost appeared a little sheepish or embarrassed for the moves he made. His celebration afterwards wasn't super big for a guy that had just won his first Outlaw race in five years, and he mentioned McDowell a few times in his post race remarks. And as you might expect from Dale, he just said afterwards he got hit and bounced around and it didn't work out for him. We talked earlier this week about the aggressive nature of dirt racing right now, and McDowell was definitely a victim of that on Thursday night.

So looking ahead, the Outlaws now head south to Alabama today for a big weekend at the Talladega Short Track. A big car count will be coming, and I'd bet the stands will be packed with NASCAR also happening across the street at the big track. Tonight is two split field features with $50,000 going to the winner on Saturday. This will actually be the debut for the Outlaws at Talladega, which I find a bit surprising, especially since the sprint cars have been there several times in the past. Tim McCreadie was a Lucas winner at Talladega last October topping RTJ and McDowell, and Jimmy Owens won the Lucas show there in 2020. Besides the Outlaw regulars this weekend, you can expect Kyle Larson, RTJ, Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O'Neal, Brandon Overton, McCreadie, Mike Marlar, and a lot more to be there. Along with the late models, the weekend will feature USCS 360 sprint cars, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will run across the street to race in that one. Both nights will be live on DIRTVision if you can't be there.

Yesterday in my comments, Tim asked about the seasons so far for Brandon Overton and Jonathan Davenport and I thought we could talk about them a bit today. Tim's comment said quote "Is it me, or are Davenport and Overton having a hard time this year? Or, is it that everyone else just seems to have caught up to them? Past half dozen or more LM races I've watched, those two were really not a factor in the features. Could it be that everyone switching to Longhorn is evening the playing field?" unquote. Just to give you an idea on where the two stand right now, through 28 starts, Overton has five wins, 12 top fives, and 18 top tens. Davenport has made 24 starts, with five wins, 11 top fives, and 18 top tens. Overton is currently third in the Lucas standings, and there had been some rumblings he might run the full deal. We know Davenport is full time Lucas, and he's currently sixth. When we talk about what we've seen so far from these guys, there is definitely some measure of recency bias. Overton has had a rough go of it lately, bowing out of the B-Main last night at 411, finishing 24th at Brownstown, and picking up a DNF in the big XR show at Bulls Gap. But he does have those five victories, including most recently on April 1st. I've caught hell for saying this before, but Overton has not been a super consistent guy in his career. It is very often feast or famine for him, especially with the Outlaws and Lucas. Going back a few seasons, he always does well at Eldora and has 28 wins between the national tours, but he's also finished outside the top ten a combined 56 times in 163 races. That's 34%. For some comparison, Tim McCreadie finishes outside the top ten with Lucas just 20% of the time. That's why the current Lucas championship setup with the chase just makes a lot more sense for Overton. He's only got to stay in the top four come the Dirt Track World Championship to have a shot at the title. As for Davenport, there was already going to be no way he topped what he did last season, so really anything he does in 2023 will look like less. I think that is definitely part of why it might look like it's not going as well. I also think too that his new group of crew guys are still trying to find their groove together. He lost crew chief Jason Durham in the offseason, and it will take time for him and new boss Cory Fostvedt to gel. When they get it right, JD is still winning, but there have been some disappointments along the way. I would not be surprised to see JD and the 49 get better and more consistent as we get into the summer and racing more often. And this weekend at Talladega I would not be shocked to see either win the big money. Drop me a comment, let me know what your thoughts are right now on JD and Overton.

The ASCS National Tour season is finally rolling with last night's opener at Jackson Motor Speedway complete. Jason Martin showed he'll be one to deal with this season, leading the race from start to finish. The win was Martin's second in a row with the series, as he'd previously won the final round of the 2022 season at Creek County. Seth Bergman did make things interesting late, running Martin down from fifth, and nearly stealing the win right at the checkered. Martin's margin of victory was just 0.049 seconds. Bergman is an interesting character around the ASCS. He doesn't run full time, but he's very often a factor when he does show up. He's got multiple wins in recent seasons, and a lot of top fives and top tens. If he did end up running the whole schedule, he could definitely play a factor in the title. Tonight's race at Texarkana 67 Speedway has already been rained out, but the ASCS will try again on Saturday at Boothill Speedway.

With the USMTS last night, Tanner Mullens kicked off the three race weekend at 81 Speedway with the $3000 win. He outdueled polesitter Will Krup on the opening lap to get the lead, and went flag-to-flag for his first victory of 2023. It's been a tough start to the year for Mullens, who finds himself way down in 14th in the standings through the opening 8 race nights. Mullens finished second a year ago to eventual champion Dustin Sorensen. The traveling modified series will do it all over again tonight for $5000 to win, and again Saturday for $10,000 to win. If you aren't near 81 Speedway, you can watch it live on RacinDirt.

There are a lot of weather related cancellations and such coming up this weekend, so if you're stuck at the house, check out what's available on streaming. At last check we are at something like 80+ shows for the next three days. You can find the daily streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Hope you guys have a good weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Monday.