DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Larson should have been DQ'd; Kofoid, PPM depart rides | Daily 5-8-2023
Coming up, Kyle Larson deserved to be DQ'd, sprint car silly season has started already, and plenty more from the dirt racing weekend. Let's go!
It's Monday, May 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
There is a bunch of stuff to get into today, and I'm going to warn you right off the top here, we aren't going to talk about every single race and every single series. If that bothers you, or I miss your favorite track or division or series, sorry.
We are going to talk some of the big news, including a sudden burst of May sprint car silly season, an update on Roth's penalty, and some racing, but I want to start first with the Kyle Larson DQ on Friday night at Eldora. If you missed it, during the first heat race, Zeb Wise drifted up the race track down the backstretch and clearly didn't know Larson was occupying that real estate. He ended up across the nose of the Silva 57, and went for a big tumble. It was a nasty crash for Zeb, and Larson took some significant hits and damage as well. Definitely just a bad racing deal, and although Zeb is pretty banged up, it's good to hear he'll be okay. In the aftermath, Larson rolled his car from the incident scene in turn three all the way to the work area on the frontstretch infield. Before he had really even come to a complete stop, Johnny Gibson was on the PA alerting the crowd that Larson had been DQ'd from the heat race for failing to stop for the red flag. It seemed like a fairly simple call to make, and I doubt it really even affected the team much. I don't know how keen they would have been to get the car fixed to return to the heat, and Larson ended up later transferring into the feature after starting on the B-Main pole. The reaction though to the penalty was about what you would have expected, the usual unhinged madness. Lots of vitriol for making the call against a driver who draws a bunch of fans, because that matters when it comes to officiating races. There were a ton of comments about High Limit, but again, that also doesn't matter. And plenty pointing to drivers Jacob Allen and Carson Macedo who also rolled some after the red flag. I went back and rewatched it all several times, and there is really no comparison from Larson to Macedo and Allen. From the time the red shows on DIRTVision's timing and scoring display, it was about seven seconds to the time Allen was stopped. We can't see Macedo, but he ended up stopped on the front straightaway just past the stage. He was several car lengths in front of the incident when it started, and would have been about out of turn four at full throttle when the red flew. Stopping where he did was not unreasonable. The leaders were just into turn one for comparison. But from the time the red was shown, it was nearly 25 seconds before the 57 finally rolled to a stop. This was not some sort of close judgement call. The rule book is pretty damn clear on what red flag procedures are. It reads quote "When the red flag is displayed all cars on the racing surface and in the pit areas must come to a complete stop in a controlled manner, while not stopping and/or driving through the area of the incident. Cars are not permitted to move for any reason unless instructed by Series Officials. Any car that moves during the red flag without permission will be penalized and/or parked" unquote. It seems pretty cut and dry here. Kyle Larson doesn't get to exist under a different set of rules, what he did was clearly way beyond the other drivers mentioned as examples, so that argument falls flat. And I hate to tell you this, because it ruins all the conspiracy theories, but Mike Hess in the race director seat was not sitting around this season waiting for the perfect moment to drop the hammer on the half owner of a brand new, 11 race, mid-week sprint car series. If they really were trying to send a message, booting the team from a heat race in which they were already crashed doesn't seem like it was all that strong of a play. And for the record, High Limit is not going to end the World of Outlaws as a series, so we can stop with those comments. If you think that's incorrect, go find any of Brad Sweet's comments on the deal. Those aren't my words, those are his. As for handling these situations, for every example of bias that people think they have against series officiating, I can find one on the flip side. They clearly aren't afraid to penalize big names and they don't just levy penalties against outside drivers and teams. I do not believe that Larson intentionally did anything wrong, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't have been penalized. Rules exist for a reason, and if operating without them in chaos was the right move, somebody, somewhere would be doing it. But they don't. And why don't they? Because it doesn't work.
As for the Friday night feature, it was all Logan Schuchart out front until very late. Rico Abreu made a move for the lead and had it at the white flag, but Schuchart had the momentum to get back by and take the victory. Rico finished second with Donny Schatz third. On Saturday night, Rico and Schatz backed up their Friday performances with those two battling for the win. Schatz did lead a lap, but Rico was able to fight back by and drive on to his third Outlaw win in 11 starts this season. Rico and Ricky Warner are really gelling right now. This is easily the best Rico has been in his career. He will be a serious threat for the Million later this summer. Schatz settled for second and David Gravel was third. The two weekend podiums for Schatz were his best two runs of the season and it broke a streak of seven straight finishes outside the top ten. We'll see if the TSR guys can continue that momentum into Pennsylvania this week. We did have a change at the top of the standings, with Sweet now out front by two points. Macedo was sixth on Friday, but 13th on Saturday. It was his first finish outside the top ten all year, and broke a 22 race streak of top ten results. The Outlaws will be at Lincoln on Wednesday, and Williams Grove Friday and Saturday.
And since we are talking Outlaws, it was announced back on Friday that Roth Motorsports had lost it's appeal for the James McFadden failed tire test following Pevely. I did say that when we talked about it initially, that they were going to have a hard time being successful with the appeal, and that turned out to be true. The team was absent from Eldora, they'll miss Lincoln, and be eligible to race again Saturday at Williams Grove. We still have not had anything official from the team about the issue, the decisions, or what their future plans are. And no, I don't know why the Indy Race Parts 71 had Roth bodywork on Friday. I even think I saw Bernie wearing a Roth shirt.
The other big news items to come out of the weekend are the two team and driver splits. Earlier on Sunday, Parker Price Miller announced he had parted ways with McCandless Motorsports after just a handful of starts. He basically said they had different paths mapped out for the team and it didn't work out. He will continue running with his own car, he might run some late model stuff, and he is seeking other opportunities. In a response on Facebook, Gregg McCandless said the reasoning for the split was because of their Ford engines. The team has two of those pieces and wants to continue using them, while PPM and crew chief Kevin Osmolski wanted to use something else. Gregg said they are looking at options to fill the void going forward. I don't know about you, but this one didn't seem to be all the surprising. It did go sideways quick though.
The split that seemed like a much bigger deal was Buddy Kofoid departing the Crouch Motorsports 11. Both Outlaw and High Limit wins together with a full season planned, but as of last night the pairing is no more. Crouch said they mutually agreed to part ways, and that team owner Leighton Crouch and Kofoid couldn't come to an agreement on the direction of the team. Kofoid later added that he left on his own terms. I hadn't heard anything about this, but after a few messages to some friends, it seems like maybe this was bubbling for a while. It was not about performance supposedly, but about internal team stuff. I'm sure that Crouch will have plenty of drivers to choose from going forward for the 11, and I can't see someone as talented as Buddy out of a car for very long. This one kinda bums me out a bit, because this appeared to be a stout combination and I think the future plan was to go full time Outlaw racing. We'll keep you posted as we know more on both situations.
In weekend dirt late model racing, we lost both the Friday and Saturday programs for the World of Outlaws at Mississippi Thunder. The shows were cancelled, but they will race at the track later this year. They'll have a $10,000 to win race on Thursday, August 31st, and $20,000 to win on Friday, September 1st. The Outlaws are off now until May 19th at Marion Center.
Lucas did get all of their races run, and the picture is more clear about who is vying for those 15 spots for the first cutoff in the Chase for the Championship. The Outlaw drivers have dropped out of the running, and guys like Garrett Alberson, Garrett Smith, Spencer Hughes, and Tyler Bruening are in. Ross Robinson and Logan Roberson are the two drivers on the outside looking in right now. Back to Friday night at Ponderosa it was all Mike Marlar. Hudson O'Neal couldn't track him down for the win, so the three race victory streak is over for the Rocket 1. Brandon Overton, Jonathan Davenport, and Ricky Thornton Jr. completed the top five. Saturday night at Florence, Davenport led the first 12 laps from the pole, but got tracked down by sixth starting O'Neal. With the way that team has run lately, that felt like maybe the race winning move, but RTJ had other ideas. He took control from O'Neal just before half way and went the distance for the $15,000 score. It was his third Lucas win of the season, and he remains locked in a tight battle atop the Lucas standings with O'Neal out front, RTJ second, and Overton third. All three are separated by just 45 points. O'Neal does now have five straight top two finishes. I have been a bit surprised by Tim McCreadie as of late. Just four top fives in 13 starts this year and no wins yet. Before his top five on Saturday at Florence, his past three finishes were 27th, 10th, and 15th. The late model season stays rolling this week with the mini Illinois Speedweek. We've got Flo races Wednesday and Thursday at Spoon River and Lincoln, and Lucas shows Friday and Saturday at Farmer City and Fairbury. No lack of cash is on the line this week.
There are a few items on the streaming services today. Speed Sport has IMCA racing from both Clay County Fair and Independence Motor Speedway. There is also FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a good Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.