DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Bronson is a fan of bologna sandwiches but not of Bobby Pierce | Daily 6-30-2023
Kyle Bronson is a fan of bologna sandwiches but not of Bobby Pierce, more Winger vs. Troutman, and what to watch this weekend around dirt racing. Let's go!
It's Friday, June 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Quite the entertaining night of late model racing on Thursday between the Outlaws at Red River Valley and the Summer Nationals at Benton. With the Outlaws, two of the three main points contenders had issues, with Nick Hoffman done for the night before the first lap was even complete. He started from the 10th position, and into turn three made contact with a slowing Dustin Walker and that was it. Hoffman finished 24th and gave up significant ground to Pierce in the championship. Watching the replay, I have no idea what Walker was doing, or where he was going. He got into turn three, got out of the gas, and basically made a right turn in front of the field. If he was having a problem, that's not how you handle it. We're probably lucky more cars weren't involved. Hoffman tweeted afterwards quote "My fault for screwing up in heat and getting passed by him but holy smokes he’s a rolling hazard. He crashes someone just about every night. We already got our stuff fixed and ready for tomorrow" unquote. Walker definitely getting himself a reputation amongst the other full timers. As for Chris Madden, he also had a tough night with issues late in the feature, and he ended up 20th. This is now three finishes of 13th or worse in his past four races. Out front in the feature, Ryan Gustin led the first 27 laps from the pole, but had a flat tire late and finished ninth. Gustin's trouble gave Mike Marlar the lead, and he drove on to the win over Tanner English and Kyle Bronson. Bronson was none too pleased with Bobby Pierce after the race. Those two tangled at one point racing for third, and Bronson took offense. He swerved at Pierce after the checkered and then had one of the quotes of the year in his podium interview. He told Hannah Newhouse quote "He was wanting to run over me, so I ain't like the rest of these guys, I'll slap him in the mouth and go eat me a bologna sandwich tomorrow. You know I ain't going to deal with this shit. This guy races everybody that way and I just ain't going to put up with it" unquote. Some spicy comments from Bronson, and clearly no love lost between those two. The 40B hasn't had the greatest swing through the midwest the previous four race nights, and I think some of that frustration was probably mixed in. It should make for some interesting moments going forward. Up next for the Outlaws is River Cities tonight, and I-94 on Saturday.
At Benton with the Summer Nationals, the fireworks were all on the track with Ashton Winger and Drake Troutman going to war late for the win. Big sliders, some close quarters moves, and eventually Winger coming out on top, even with his deck knocked out. It was back-to-back victories for Winger and this third total of the season. The victory extended his week three championship lead with still three races left to go. Troutman led a bunch of laps in the feature before settling for second. The leaders lapped all the way up to eighth by the end, with the pace out front being so fast. Troutman still looking for that first win. In the modified main event, it was all Tyler Nicely out front. He topped Lucas Lee and Kenny Wallace, and has taken over the series points lead from Kyle Steffens. The rest of the week three slate includes Paducah tonight, Clarksville on Saturday, and Lake Cumberland on Sunday.
Over to PA Speedweek, it was all Freddie Rahmer last night at Lincoln. He led flag-to-flag for his first victory of the week. He topped Anthony Macri and Brent Marks who had a nice battle for second late. Tanner Thorson was fast again last night, but late issues left him with a DNF. Headed into the weekend, Macri's points lead continues to grow, with Freddie Rahmer and Justin Peck in tow. Those other guys will probably need Macri to have a down night to climb back into this thing. PA Speedweek is at Williams Grove tonight, Port Royal on Saturday, Selinsgrove on Sunday, and Port Royal on Monday for the finale. If you missed yesterday's Daily, hop over there and let me know your thoughts on the streaming situation we've seen with Speedweek.
Looking around the rest of the country, you have a lot of options this weekend for races to attend or watch on streaming. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is headed to Muskingum County for two nights. Three, 20 lap prelim features tonight, with a $30,000 to win show on Saturday. Ricky Thornton Jr. leads Hudson O'Neal by 205 points in the Lucas championship standings. Tim McCreadie, Jonathan Davenport, and Devin Moran are all fighting right now for that fourth and final locked in spot. Davenport seems to be the hottest of the three, with eight top six finishes in his last night features. Brandon Sheppard won this show a year ago, with McCreadie the winner in 2021. We'll see if RTJ can continue the torrid pace he's been on.
Up in Wisconsin, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are back in action after that huge weekend at Huset's. They take on Cedar Lake Speedway for two nights, where Brock Zearfoss and Jacob Allen were winners a year ago. Show-up points only at Huset's meant no changes in the championship, so Brad Sweet enters Cedar Lake with a 10 point lead on David Gravel, with Carson Macedo 40 back in third. This could be a good weekend for Sweet to extend, as his average finish at Cedar Lake is a series best 3.33 over the past 12 races there. He won five straight times from 2019 to 2021. I was a bit surprised he wasn't more in the mix at Huset's last weekend. And it seemed like a few of those nights they were battling back to try and salvage good runs. As for his closest rival, we'll see if David Gravel suffers any sort of hangover from the $250,000 score last Saturday night. He's been on a tear lately, and that Big Game 2 will need to be right to match pace with Sweet. If you want an outsider to watch, Rico Abreu could easily be a guy to come in and steal a win or two.
If you want some non-wing action, the USAC National Sprint Cars have two nights at Lincoln Park coming up tonight and tomorrow. Emerson Axsom continues to lead Jake Swanson in the championship, with Brady Bacon, Justin Grant and Kyle Cummins completing the top five. Mitchel Moles, JG, and CJ Leary were Putnamville winners a year ago, but all the momentum right now is on Axsom's side. He's led laps in five straight races, which includes two wins, two seconds, and a third. Swanson had led the points after his own incredible six race straight that saw him win three times, but in the five races since then, he's come back down to earth a bit.
Some other sprint car action to check out coming up includes the ASCS National Tour at Boone County and WaKeeney. Matt Covington is trying to keep pace with Jason Martin for that championship. And the Sprint Car Challenge Tour heads to Antioch on Saturday for round number eight. Justyn Cox leads that title fight over Dylan Bloomfield and Kaleb Montgomery.
Other late model racing to dive into includes the Hunt the Front series at Senoia and Duck River coming up Saturday and Sunday. Wil Herrington has the points lead there over Josh Putnam and Joseph Joiner. Whoever leaves the weekend at the top will earn a $5000 midseason championship bonus check. Check out my Tuesday Daily show for some of the struggles that Hunt the Front has dealt with during this first year of their traveling series. And the MLRA late models were rained out last night at CJ Speedway, but they still have weekend stops at I-70 Motorsports Park and Adams County coming up. The Simpson brothers, Chad and Chris, hold down the top two spots right now in that points chase.
And for the northeast fans, the Short Track Super Series has a Sunday stop at Fonda coming up. The north region will be in action with sail panels on for $10,000 to win. With two wins in four races, Matt Sheppard currently leads the north region over Mat Williamson.
That's it for the Daily this week, make sure to keep an eye on the daily streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight through Sunday. Like I said earlier, no lack of options coming up.
Hope you guys have a good weekend out there, we'll see you right back here on Monday.