DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Eldora Million starts tonight! This show has everything you need to know... | Daily 7-12-2023
Back to our regularly scheduled program, we'll talk Eldora Million, entries, who to watch, and a lot more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, July 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
We're back for round number two today, and this will be much more like the show I had originally planned for Wednesday. If you missed it earlier, Anthony Macri is out of his family owned 39M for Eldora, with Lance Dewease taking the seat. We did an emergency episode earlier today, so check that out if you want more details. Also, if you don't do so already, please hit that subscribe button, whether that's on YouTube, or where you listen to this podcast. My goal for the year is 25,000 YouTube subscribers, and we are very close to 20K right now. Subscribing is free, always will be, and that helps me and it helps you.
The Eldora Million opens today with split field prelim action, which will set things up for Thursday's big showdown. We've been hearing in the lead-up to this week about how this is the highest paying sprint car race in history, but a friend in the industry pointed out something notable that I hadn't even thought about. This is actually the highest paying dirt race ever, not just sprint cars. Last year's Eldora Million for late models was $1,002,022 to win, but this one is $1,002,023 to win. So the biggest winner's share by a dollar. The entries for the weekend have already been split into the two groups, and there are currently 83 cars, but this list is just pre-entries, and we know we've lost a few. The 69K isn't coming, so that's one car down, and Dewease is moving to the 39M. There will also be no Brandon Wimmer, as the Team DGRD 6 machine had damage at Knoxville last week, and they are out. The Kiser 23 is listed as driver TBA and I haven't seen anywhere who will drive that car. Another interesting note, Parker Price-Miller is listed in his own 9P and not the McGhee 11 that he had supposedly reunited with. They ran the 11 at Huset's, but now back to PPM's own car. And Sye Lynch will compete in his own 42 car, while Carl Bowser takes the seat of the McCandless 29 that Lynch has been racing out with the All Stars since PPM departed that car. So we'll see if anyone else shows that wasn't on the pre-entry list, or if there are any that don't show. But 80 cars is certainly more than I expected they'd get. Looking at win chances, TJ over at TJSlideways.com put together a whole seeded list of every driver on the pre-entry sheet and where they stack up based on stats and his opinion. His top ten, in order on that list, are Rico Abreu, David Gravel, Brent Marks, Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet, Donny Schatz, Tyler Courtney, Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart, and Gio Scelzi. If I went line-by-line through the complete list, I could probably nit-pick a few of these. Like I'd probably have Schuchart a little higher, and Scelzi a little lower. I'd probably bump Kofoid a bit too, and drop Jacob Allen. But I do think it's a solid list and lineup of who to expect to do well. TJ went deep into the stats, and he's seen a lot of sprint car racing over his years of coverage. As a quick refresher, tonight's split field night will feature qualifying, heats with an invert determined by the wheel of 6, 7, or 8. Top five from heats go to the feature, with everyone else to Bs and Cs. Top four from the B's transfer, and the 25 lap feature will have an invert also determined by the wheel of 8, 9, or 10. Drivers earn points all night long to setup Thursday's heat races. Each main event tonight is $12,000 to win. My guy Matt Weaver will be on the property all night long providing coverage on his Twitter account, so make sure to follow @MattWeaverRA. Walkapedia will be a good follow as well, especially for the running points totals. I sent out a new Weaver piece last night via The Slider, so if you want those in your email, head over to dirtrackr.com/theslider. You can sign up to get the emails and see any past issues. I'm sure there will be more today and through the weekend. Drop a comment, let me know what your picks are for the next two days. It's about to go down for sure.
Last night, a lot of these sprint car teams were at Attica for the Brad Doty Classic. As expected, it was a healthy field, with 48 cars in attendance. There was plenty of social media chatter about the Outlaws and their announcers dancing around the Million, and for some reason that seems to make people upset. Yes, it would be nice to see everyone play nice all the time, but that just isn't how the world works. There is plenty of pettyness and marked territories, and all of that type stuff in dirt racing and it's not going to change. And let's be real, everybody already knows about the Million whether Johnny Gibson mentions it or not. Anyways, back to the Brad Doty Classic. Kyle Larson started P2, drove straight to the lead at the green flag, and never looked back over the 40 lapper. He became the first driver to ever win back-to-back Brad Doty Classics in the event's hsistory. Behind him, Sheldon Haudenschild tried to run him down, but came up short finishing second. Carson Macedo joined them on the podium. Donny Schatz and Zeb Wise had nice charges through the field, with Schatz going 14th to 4th, and Wise 19th to 6th. Zeb could be a sneaky dark horse pick for Eldora. He and the Rudeen car continue to be really fast this year. In the Outlaw championship hunt, we've got a new points leader again. Brad Sweet did not have a great night, finishing down in 15th, and that allowed David Gravel to jump up. He's now eight points clear, with Macedo 34 back. After tonight and tomorrow, the Outlaw portion of the Eldora weekend starts Friday.
At Davenport Speedway last night, Jonathan Davenport made a significant move forward towards that final four locked in set of drivers for the Lucas chase for the championship. He's been chasing Tim McCreadie, along with Devin Moran, and a victory last night brought him much closer. After battling with Moran through the opening laps, which included contact on the very first lap, JD took over for good on lap 13 and went the distance for his fifth series win of the season. Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr. joined him on the podium. Headed to Tri-City on Friday, Davenport is now only 20 points behind McCreadie, and Moran has closed to 55. This gap between the three was 100 before last night, so things definitely getting tighter. I was impressed last night again with Drake Troutman. He continues to show speed in the late model, and finished in the top ten. And Tyler Erb's miserable run continues, he was out for the second straight race early in the feature with issues. Next up is Friday at Tri-City and Saturday at Wheatland.
With the Super DIRTcar Series, Anthony Perrego led flag-to-flag at Big Diamond last night. Matt Sheppard dogged him over the final laps trying to find a way by, but Perrego was just good enough. It was his third career series win, but first in a points paying race. Sheppard ended up second with Mat Williamson in third. Up next, the big blocks head to Weedsport on Sunday with a guaranteed Super Dirt Week starting position on the line.
The fifth and final week for the Summer Nationals will be shortened, as tonight's race at Shadyhill is already cancelled. They'll try again tomorrow night at Butler, before heading to Hartford, Oakshade, and Wayne County through Sunday.
Elsewhere tonight, the USAC Midgets are at Mitchell County in Kansas for Mid America Midget Week. We haven't seen the national midgets in over a month. They last raced on June 10th at Lawrenceburg to close out Indiana Midget Week. Logan Seavey currently leads Justin Grant and Jacob Denney in the championship standings, and we've had six different winners in nine races. Ryan Timms, Denney, and Buddy Kofoid have two each, with Gavin Miller, Zach Daum, and Seavey having one apiece. Thomas Meseraull is the defending winner at Mitchell County, and after tonight they will head to Jefferson County in Fairbury, Nebraska. If you won't be watching the Million, you can check this one out instead, or double box it.
Before we close out today, a quick update on Volunteer Speedway. The track announced today that local businessman and racer Brad Dyer will be taking over the promotion of the track. They will be back racing on July 22nd for their normal weekly program. Unfortunately though, the upcoming Southern Nationals show at Bulls Gap has been dropped from the schedule, and no race will be put in it's place. You can see more details on the Volunteer Speedway Facebook page and southernnationalsseries.com.
Alright, that's it for today. Crazy day out there for sure, but glad you guys came along for the ride. Make sure to check out the streaming schedule today and enjoy the racing.
Hope you guys have a good Wednesday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.