DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Rico Abreu, Anthony Macri, Justin Peck highlight 360 Knoxville Nationals entries | Daily 8-1-2023
We'll get our first look today at the entry lists for the two big weekends coming up at Knoxville, plus talk High Limit at Kokomo, Outlaws at Boone and much more. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, August 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Over the weekend I sent a new edition of The Slider email newsletter that featured an interview with World of Outlaws driver Robbie Price. If you missed it, it's on the website at dirtrackr.com/theslider. You can also sign up there for free to get the emails. I've got another issue queued up for tomorrow talking some regional late model stuff around purse money, so get in now to have that to read tomorrow. If you are a content creator that would like to contribute to a future edition of The Slider, drop me an email or DM on social media. I'm hoping to have veteran reporter Matt Weaver back in the mix next week covering the Knoxville Nationals, just like he did during the Eldora Million and Kings Royal. So stay tuned hopefully for that.
Speaking of Knoxville, I did want to take a look today at the entry list for both the 360 and 410 Nationals. The 360 Nationals start this Thursday, the Capitani Classic is Sunday, and then the 62nd Knoxville Nationals start next Wednesday night, August 9th. As of this morning from the Knoxville website we have 107 cars on the pre-entry list for the 360 Nats, and 101 for the 410s. Looking first at the 360 list, I'm going to go out on a reckless limb here and say this might be the toughest 360 Nationals field we've ever seen. Aaron Reutzel is back to defend his title from a year ago, but it won't be easy. Guys bolting 360s into their cars include Chris Windom, Ryan Timms, Chase Randall, Sam Hafertepe, Justin Peck, Rico Abreu, Justin Sanders, Kerry Madsen, Hunter Schuerenberg, Zeb Wise, Brady Bacon, Anthony Macri, and Daryn Pittman. And that doesn't include guys like Matt Covington, Tanner Carrick, JJ Hickle, Blake Hahn, Shane Golobic, Colby Copeland, Ayrton Gennetten, the McCarls, and so many more. It's going to be an insanely difficult week to just make the main event come Saturday night. Rico is an interesting one here as he has been a regular at Pevely for the Ironman 55 in years past, including winning it. But it's clear him and Ricky Warner are very much focused on Knoxville this season, and I think a lot of other guys are as well. There is $20,000 to win this week, plus all the valuable laps around Knoxville, even if it's with engines down on power. Looking at the 410 list, no real surprises or anything here. All the Outlaw guys obviously, and the usual 410 suspects like Peck, PPM, Rico, Cory Eliason, Macri, Buddy Kofoid, etc. We've got Pittman and Shane Stewart, Kyle Larson, Corey Day in the 14, all the Knoxville regulars, and lots of others dropping in 410s. It's possible we could add a car or two, and lose a car or two, so we'll probably hover right around the 100 number when things get going next week. Especially if guys have issues this weekend ahead of the Nationals, like during the 360 stuff, the Cappy, or at Pevely. If you want to look at the full lists for yourself, you can find them over at knoxvilleraceway.com.
If you want some 410 sprint car racing tonight, the High Limit series is headed for Kokomo. This race was originally supposed to happen back in May, but it was rained out and pushed to this week. The pre-entry list that was dropped yesterday shows 29 cars. We do know though that Robert Ballou isn't coming, so that's 28, but Bernie said add Shane Stewart, so back to 29. This will be the first appearance for Corey Day in the 7BC as part of the plan to have subs for the injured Tyler Courtney. Anthony Macri moves over to the Indy Race Parts 71. We'll also get Emerson Axsom with the wing on, Logan Seavey is listed in the 24S, Kevin Thomas Jr. is in a car for Kevin Newton, and the rest of the regulars like Kyle Larson, Rico, Cory Eliason, PPM, Peck, Justin Sanders in the 39M, and Jake Swanson in the Alex Bowman 55. With three wins in six races, Larson is the points leader by 44 over Rico right now, and they are two of the just five cars that have run ever feature so far. That short list also includes Eliason, Brent Marks, and Chase Randall, but Marks' streak will come to an end tonight. He tweeted back on July 23rd that they would be taking time off until the Cappy at Knoxville, and he isn't on the entry list released by the series for Kokomo. Tonight is again $23k to win and $1500 to start. Looking at possible winners for tonight, Larson will obviously be P1, but Zeb Wise was an All Star winner at Kokomo in 2021. Rico and Peck have run well there before also. You can watch the stream live on FloRacing tonight, or if you want to go, you can get seats on the TicketHoss app.
In Iowa tonight, the World of Outlaws Late Models are right back at it at Boone Speedway. Tonight is $15,000 to win, before teams head to Cedar Lake this weekend for the USA Nationals. Jonathan Davenport won this race a year ago, but he is not expected to compete tonight. Other recent Boone winners include Bobby Pierce, Cade Dillard, and Shannon Babb. Pierce maintains the championship lead after running second to Ricky Thornton Jr. this past weekend at Fairbury, and RTJ could very possibly continue his hot streak, as he is expected to race today. Ryan Gustin and Brandon Sheppard will continue to try and close down the gap on Pierce, while Nick Hoffman and Chris Madden could use good runs as they haven't been as fast as they were earlier in the year. After tonight, the series will have Wednesday off to travel, and action gets going at Cedar Lake on Thursday.
Up in Canada on Monday, Erick Rudolph was the beneficiary of a late mistake for leader Francois Bernier, and he drove on to the Super DIRTcar Series win at Autodrome Drummond. Bernier was driving away, but got over the track in turn one with two laps to go, and ended up 17th. Chris Raabe was second at the line, but later DQ'd for being light the scales. That promoted David Hebert to second and Steve Bernier to third. They'll do it all over again tonight at Drummond before moving to Brockville on Wednesday.
Also in action tonight is the Short Track Super Series. They've got a special, non-points show at the quarter mile Action Track USA in Pennsylvania. With a lot of the heavy hitters in Canada with the Super DIRTcar Series, things should be wide open tonight on the tight confines at Kutztown. The next points show for the Short Track Super Series is next Tuesday night at New Egypt.
With the iRacing World of Outlaws Late Models on Monday night, it was more of the same from the dominant teammates. We had some other guys lead laps in Kendal Tucker and Logan Rumsey, but at the end it was Evan Seay beating his teammate Blake Matjoulis to the win. Through four races now, they each have two victories apiece, with Seay holding an eight point lead in the championship. Dylan Wilson ended up third, and he kind of killed the awesome racing we had inside the final ten laps. There were a ton of sliders among the top three, but a sketchy one from Wilson on Rumsey late really broke the momentum of everyone out back and let Seay get away in the end. Next Monday night, the series has Knoxville coming up, and you can watch these races live on DIRTVision and YouTube. You can also catch them on-demand for free.
That's it for today's Daily. The streaming schedule for today is pretty solid for a Tuesday. I count nine shows on it, so make sure to hit up dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see what your options are.
Hope you guys have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.