DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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McFadden, Roth have something to prove during this sprint car summer | Daily 6-15-2023
On the show today we are talking the Outlaw team with something to prove, and a ton of Thursday racing coming up. Let's go!
It's Thursday, June 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
As we get into what are now the months of money in the sprint car world, I want to spotlight one team and driver today that I think we probably shouldn't sleep on. The main guys, Brad Sweet, David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Rico Abreu, Kyle Larson, Anthony Macri, Brent Marks, all those guys will get plenty of pub in the coming weeks and months. But I feel like this guy could easily win some big cash at places like Huset's, Knoxville, Eldora and at some of these other shows. And that guy is James McFadden. It was only a few months ago that the Roth 83 team was fined, docked points, and booted from four races for failing a tire test at Pevely. They returned to the Outlaws in May, and since Atomic on May 26th have been pretty damn good. Seven straight top ten finishes, a win at Lawrenceburg, a second at River Cities which could have been a win, and two top six runs at Knoxville last weekend. This team feels like one with something to prove, and at this point, with the championship out of the question, the only thing that matters is race wins. After Friday at Knoxville, McFadden was interviewed by the Always Race Day guys sporting a cut down beard. He said the quote "tire penalty was all bullshit and that just lit a bit of a fire in everyone on this team's ass." And the numbers show it. On top of what I just mentioned, they also have the best average finish over the past five races with the Outlaws. Four wins on half miles, a strong recent weekend at Knoxville, and laps led at Huset's a year ago and two second place finishes. These guys look like they could be peaking at the right time, and they are motivated. We'll see what JMac and Roth can do this weekend at Beaver Dam.
One other World of Outlaws note for you, we talked yesterday on the show about the possibility of Carson Macedo back in the car as early as this weekend at Beaver Dam with the Outlaws, and the team confirmed it yesterday effectively on social media. So Macedo won't miss any races and will be able to stay in the fight with Brad Sweet and David Gravel.
Ohio Sprint Speedweek gets started back up again tonight at Atomic Speedway. They were off on Wednesday and the Tuesday show at Sharon was rained out. Zeb Wise, Danny Dietrich, and Tyler Courtney have won the first three races, and right now Zeb has a two point lead on Sunshine in the week long points. Dietrich won't continue though as he had a death in the family and returned home to Pennsylvania after the Wayne County show on Monday. Kyle Larson won at Atomic just a little over a month ago with the All Stars, while Justin Peck and Cole Duncan had victories there in 2022. It sounds like we could see Peck tonight and for the rest of speedweek. After tonight, they head to Eldora on Friday and Portsmouth on Saturday. Eldora is $12,000 to win and it's the final chance to get on the track before the Million in July. I think that could be a big draw for teams wanting to get in some track time. And that Portsmouth finale is more than $22 grand to win, so car counts could be strong the next few nights with the All Stars. At this point, Zeb and Rudeen are the closest championship challengers to Tyler Courtney and that NOS 7BC. Those guys will have to continue to try and match Sunshine's pace, or we could easily be looking at three straight titles for Courtney. Tonight's Atomic show is live on FloRacing.
The Summer Nationals is off and rolling, and we had two good races last night at Peoria. 40 late models, and 18 modifieds were on the property. I mentioned yesterday that Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner was listed by the series as a week one participant, but as several pointed out, the team decided to head home following Monday night at Kokomo. I missed their Facebook post about it. They had that nasty crash at Eldora that collected Brandon Overton, and their main car looked like it was hurt from the contact. With several Hunt the Front series races coming up, I'd guess we won't see them try and run back to the midwest for any of these races in the next several weeks. Brian Shirley started on the pole last night and he went the distance, leading all 40 laps. He was chased for a lot of the early part of the event by Dennis Erb Jr., but late in the going Shannon Babb got up into the mix from eighth, and he got around Erb late for second. So Shirley the opening night winner over Babb and Erb. It was not a great night for Ashton Winger who started up front but ended up out later with a flat tire. Winger does plan on running the whole thing from what I gather, and I'm sure he'll grab a few wins before the month is over. On the modified side, things got spicy between Tyler Nicely and Allen Weisser. Weisser ended up leading all 25 laps, but he was never able to get away from Nicely, who looked like he was just as fast. There was contact a few times, and at the checkered flag it looked like things got a little narrow up top for Nicely. There was some gesturing and theatrics after the checkered, and the official margin of victory was 32 thousandths of a second. Hopefully this kind of intensity keeps up all month long, and I think it might with this modified deal wide open. No Nick Hoffman means plenty of opportunity for some of these other guys to rise up and win some shows. Next up for the Summer Nationals is Kankakee tonight. If you can't get there, watch it live on DIRTVision.
The USAC National Sprint Cars were scheduled to be at Bridgeport last night, but rain during the day doomed the show. The night was eventually cancelled and racing shifts to Big Diamond tonight. I know there were some folks not pleased with how things played out last night with track work, and it's an interesting comparison to what we saw earlier this week at Wayne County. To race or not to race is always the question. Tanner Thorson won the last trip to Big Diamond in 2021. Tonight's USAC show can be watched live on FloRacing.
If you're a west coast sprint car fan, a big couple of weeks of winged 410 racing gets rolling tonight. The NARC series is at Southern Oregon Speedway today, before stops at Douglas County, Willamette, and Grays Harbor through Sunday. Then next week it's Dirt Cup time at Skagit, with the finale next Saturday night paying a very nice $62,000 to the winner. Through the first eight races of the season, Corey Day holds a slight eight point advantage over Dominic Scelzi in the standings, but guys like Justin Sanders, Justyn Cox, and Bud Kaeding all remain in the mix. Day and Scelzi each have three wins, while Cox and Colby Copeland have one each. When you bring together the top guys from California, Oregon, and Washington, we should be in for some good racing coming up. These next several nights of action are live on Flo if you want to tune in.
At Creek County tonight, the ASCS National Tour kicks off a three race weekend, with stops at Humboldt and 81 coming up Friday and Saturday. Seth Bergman leads Jason Martin in the championship, and all three races this week are $4000 to win and $400 to start. Series owner Terry Mattox has also got a bunch of $5000 to win and $500 to start shows through the summer as well as he continues to try and push for better. Through eight races so far in 2023, Martin leads with four wins, but Bergman has an incredible average finish of 2.25 and hasn't finished worse than third all year. It's hard to imagine he can keep that up, but there is no doubt he's been really fast. So far this year, 75 drivers have attempted an ASCS show. If you aren't headed out there, RacinDirt has the live stream for the ASCS. Still no word on when the ASCS might return to FloRacing.
In Wisconsin, the USMTS modifieds are at Cedar Lake this weekend for the three night, 24th annual Masters. Three grand to win tonight, five thousand on Friday, and $11,000 to the winner on Saturday. Dereck Ramirez is the defending event winner, but points leader Rodney Sanders has won at Cedar Lake seven times and this could be a strong chance for him to extend his points lead over Jason Hughes and Dan Ebert. Also on the program are super late models and USRA late models. Action starts tonight at seven, and this one will also be live on RacinDirt.
That's it for today's Daily. Drop by dirtrackr.com today to check out the streaming schedule and hit up the analytics section to set those fantasy lineups for later.
Hope you guys have a good Thursday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.