DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Overton's quiet Lucas status, Outlaws have smallest field of the year | Daily 6-19-2023
Today on the Daily we'll meander through the dirt racing weekend and talk about a low Outlaw car count, Brandon Overton's Lucas status, and a whole lot more. Let's go!
It's Monday, June 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
There was a boat load of dirt racing over the weekend, and at least among the big main series, not a ton of weather related issues. I'm going to do something a little bit different today, and instead of talking about every race, just maybe hit on some bigger points, some things I noticed, and just kind of wander through the weekend.
Before we get started, if you missed it back on Friday, there were several new items added to the DIRTRACKR merch shop. Unfortunately for those that didn't get one, the Flexfit logo hats sold out in seven hours. I have already sent the emails to get another batch started, so hopefully those will be back in stock in a week or two. I do still have some of the distressed, adjustable logo hats available, and there are new alternate logo stickers. I should hopefully have another new, small addition to the shop tomorrow, and there are fresh shirts in the works for the coming weeks as well. To snag some merch, head over to shop.dirtrackr.com.
We'll start first with the big Lucas show over the weekend at Smoky Mountain Speedway. The Tennessee track was shortened for this season from a 4/10 mile, down to a 3/8 mile, and with any change usually comes some sort of transition period. And for the record, I don't understand why it's a 4/10 mile track and not a 2/5 mile track. Didn't we learn in elementary school to reduce down? Anyways, things were not great on Friday night for the dual Lucas prelim shows. After qualifying, the heat races were scratched completely, and everyone just went right into the features. There was a little passing in the two 30 lappers, but not a ton. It didn't seem to bode well for a much longer feature for Saturday, but honestly I thought the track crew at Smoky Mountain did a nice job for Saturday and really bounced back. It wasn't the best $50,000 to win show I've ever seen, but it was a massive improvement from Friday. We often point out when things go sideways for tracks, so I wanted to make sure to give those guys a hat tip today for doing something right. Ricky Thornton Jr. won again, and he's extended the Lucas points lead to now 185 over Hudson O'Neal. That's eight victories in 23 races, or nearly 35%, and that 20RT doesn't seem like it's going to slow down anytime soon. The crazy thing of it is, is RTJ could have a massive points lead headed to the Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora, and not come out of this thing with the title. This playoff situation could really throw us a curveball later this year. It hasn't been a great few weeks for Brandon Overton, and that continued Saturday with a 23rd place result. He had a few hard hits at Eldora, and I think I read somewhere he might be feeling some affects from that. He is still third in the Lucas standings, and for all intents and purposes, he's a Lucas full timer, although I don't think anyone has really talked about it. He originally had through the Show-Me 100 on his schedule, but now the remainder of the Lucas races have been added. And I wonder when we start to worry about whether or not Jonathan Davenport will even make that final four come the DTWC at Eldora. He's sixth right now, but 135 points behind Tim McCreadie for fourth. McCreadie is still winless on the year, but has been much more consistent as of late. If that continues, JD is going to have to catch fire this summer to climb his way back in. The big money continues this week with the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville starting Thursday.
I got asked over the weekend about the car counts for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Beaver Dam and if we should be concerned. We did have 24 on Saturday, but 22 on Friday was the smallest field we've had in 2023. I do not think it was indicative of any sort of car issue for the series, and more just that there were a ton of options this weekend. The All Stars closed out Ohio Sprint Speedweek with big money, the winged POWRi series had two races, you had the Border Battle at Jackson and Knoxville, plus a lot of the regular local shows ran. There were also some racers, including some of the IRA guys who might normally have run these two nights that took the weekend off. Like I know Jordan Goldesberry didn't race because of a function with his family. Gio Scelzi and Sheldon Haudenschild were the Outlaw winners, and David Gravel ran second both nights. Gravel really could have played dirty and won both shows, but stayed clean and didn't. Gio has been super consistent as of late, and has nine straight top tens, along with James McFadden. Sheldon's weird up and down season continues. 15th and 25th at Knoxville to fifth and a win at Beaver Dam. In terms of average finish, this is Sheldon's worst year since 2018. He won the big Huset's show a year ago, and I don't know what to expect from that car headed there again this week. The points are still tight, Brad Sweet out front by 10 over Gravel, and Carson Macedo third, 40 back. Those guys continue to stretch away from everyone else, including Donny Schatz. A good run through Ohio in May had everyone on the Schatz train, but he's back to where he was, down right on the fringe of top tens every night. The massive week at Huset's starts Wednesday.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Brent Marks closed out Ohio Sprint Speedweek with victories against the All Stars. Hafertepe was the benefactor of a late flat tire for Rico Abreu at Eldora, and Marks came out on top of a wild race at Portsmouth that also saw Buddy Kofoid, Rico, and Justin Peck lead laps. Tyler Courtney was the speedweek champion, after Zeb Wise broke a drive line late in the feature. The Friday win at Eldora was the first All Star victory for Hafertepe since May of 2021, and his first series top five in a year. He was fast all night, but didn't back it up on Saturday, DNS'ing in the night's B-Main after a disappointing heat race. As for Rico, at this moment I think he has to be the favorite for the Million at Eldora. A win and a second there with the Outlaws in May, and he was going to win on Friday had that flat tire not happened. The only driver with more 2023 winnings right now than Rico is David Gravel. Gravel is at $153k, and Rico is at $148k.
The USAC Eastern Storm mini championship went to Emerson Axsom after last night's finale at Action Track USA. He ended the week with two wins, and was never off the podium, leading laps in four of five races. He's finished in the top ten in 21 of the last 22 USAC National Sprint Car events. The good run this week also saw him jump ahead of Jake Swanson for the season long championship lead. Justin Grant and Kyle Cummins were also weekend winners. Hat tip to Daison Pursley for two hard charging podiums between the Grove and Port. He went 14th to second on Friday and might have won if that race was one lap longer. He then went 10th to third on Saturday. There were two scary incidents on Friday at the Grove. Anton Hernandez left the ballpark in the warmup for heat three. He flipped big, and cleared the turn two fence. The Grove has no actual catchfence in one and two above the guardrail, and Hernandez disappeared down the bank. The chassis for the Baldwin five was a mangled mess that will end up in the scrap bin, and Anton posted on Instagram several photos and a map of where he landed, nearly to the tree line. Not a great look for the Grove, and neither was the fire response to Alex Bright's burning tail tank. I hate to keep harping on this safety stuff, but we've seen some glaring examples of not great situations lately. On the Silver Crown side, Logan Seavey won Saturday at Port Royal and continues to lead the series standings over Kody Swanson.
The move towards weekly championships with the Summer Nationals seems to have helped the car counts during week one. Solid fields every night, and it was Brian Shirley who bagged the first big check. He won three of five races, with Bobby Pierce snagging the other two. Pierce now has 49 career Summer Nationals wins after victories at Tri-City and Fairbury. Weekend modified wins went to Michael Long and Mike Harrison. The teams are off today and week two begins tomorrow night at Moberly Motorsports park.
The NARC weekend through Oregon and Washington was flat dominated by Corey Day. He won three of four races, and was second in the other show behind winner Cole Macedo. Even starting deeper in the field couldn't keep him from winning, as he went 14th to the victory on Sunday at Grays Harbor. The car counts never really improved through the weekend, which is a shame, but hopefully guys show out for the big cash this coming weekend at Skagit. The All Stars are off for a bit now, and we know that Zeb Wise will be there with Rudeen. The Sunday race at Grays Harbor went checkered with still six laps left because the track and series were worried about tire wear. It was a very strange situation, and apparently teams were told under an open red just minutes before that the next caution was going to end the race. Bud Kaeding went around shortly after the restart, and Day was declared the winner. Hat tip to Tanner Holmes for bouncing back from a crash in the dash to finish on the podium in the finale. It sounds like a bunch of teams jumped in to help get that car ready to race.
A couple of other notable winners. Matt Covington and Jason Martin picked up ASCS wins over the weekend, and Martin is now the points leader. Seth Bergman, after a hellacious start to the year, bowed out of the championship fight following Thursday night's show at Creek County. He and his wife own a small chain of coffee shops in Oklahoma, and they are opening a new store this week, so he had to leave to attend to that. Martin now leads by 38 over Matt Covington. Dustin Sorensen was the big Masters winner with the USMTS modifieds at Cedar Lake. He scored $11,000, while Rodney Sanders continues to lead the championship. And Sunday at Devil's Bowl in Vermont, Stewart Friesen charged from 15th to the win with the Short Track Super Series.
That's it for today, make sure to check out the streaming schedule today over at dirtrackr.com. There are a few local shows on the slate today.
Hope you guys have a good Monday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.