DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?! 3 big dirt racing events, 3 wild finishes! | Daily 8-6-2023

Man I hope you guys have had a chance to catch your breath today after a wild Saturday of racing. We'll talk Ironman 55, USA Nationals, 360 Nationals and more. Let's go!

It's Sunday, August 6th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I'm sure if you clicked on this video you are wondering why there is a new Daily show on a Sunday. We usually only do shows Monday through Friday, but I want to experiment a bit, so we are going to shift the schedule to Sunday through Thursday for a little while. YouTube tells me that more of you are around on Sundays versus Fridays, and my video stats seem to bear that out, so we'll see how it works. I'm always looking for ways to make things better, and you'll probably notice other things different on this video and future ones. Doing Sunday shows will allow us to react a little quicker to fun stuff that happens on Saturday nights, and this was a good first week to do this as the racing last night was incredible. If you are new here or don't do so already, make sure to hit that subscribe button wherever you watch or listen. The Daily is available on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

I'm not really even sure where to start today, because we had three big races last night and all three were incredible. I guess we'll do 360 Knoxville Nationals first. After what we've seen from Aaron Reutzel this season and earlier in the week at Knoxville, it was clear he was going to be the favorite, and sitting on the main event pole last night was going to go a long way towards helping his cause for a second straight event win. He ultimately led 29 laps, and at various points in the 30 lapper had sizeable leads over Brian Brown. Late in the going though, a caution, and then a red flag re-racked the field and gave Brownie the chances he needed. On the white flag lap, Reutzel made a couple of small mistakes and it allowed Brown to close and get into the fight. Out of four, Reutzel was in the fluff, and then two ended up drag racing back to the line, with Brownie taking it by two hundredths of a second. Reutzel knew he was in trouble and tried to close out on the 21, but Brownie held his line and it paid off. It was Brown's second career win in the 360 Nationals. He was complimentary in victory lane of Reutzel and the battle, and it was no surprise that it came down to those two. Behind them though, there were plenty of other stories. Big hat tip to Rico Abreu for charging from a seventh place start in the B-Main all the way to the podium. Seventh to fourth in the B, then 24th to third in the main event. Don't tell me there's no passing in sprint car racing AND don't tell me Rico can't pass race cars. Incredible charge and he will be a factor the rest of the next seven days at Knoxville. I was bummed for Tanner Holmes who was really impressive. He ran strong in the top five but was out with just a few to go with steering issues. He continues to show improvement and that he belongs in these big time events. Also glad to see Kaleb Johnson and Garet Williamson okay after their late crash. Williamson got big air out of turn two. I know that 360s don't often garner much attention, but last night was great racing and I hope this is a trend for years to come with the 360 Nats.

At Pevely Friday and Saturday, the Outlaws were in town for the Ironman 55. Friday turned into the perfect no-win situation with the weather. It turned out to be a nice day after getting a bunch of rain, but the track was always going to be a big problem. If they cancel, people complain and say they should have raced, the weather was nice. If they run, the track gets rough and everyone complains about that. So as a series and a track, what do you do? In this case, the Outlaws decided to run. Cole Macedo started on the pole and led the first few laps before Spencer Bayston grabbed the lead on lap five with Macedo bouncing around. Eventually everyone migrated to the bottom I think for self preservation, and the race went open red on lap 19 for tearoffs for the drivers because conditions were so tough. The night came to an end just a few laps after going green again, when Corey Day went for a big ride in turn four and knocked down part of the catchfence. Because of the conditions and the lengthy fence repairs, the race was called official and Spencer Bayston was the winner over Gio Scelzi and Brad Sweet. Good to see Day was okay after the incident. Nobody will listen to me and nothing will change, but dirt track walls and catchfences continue to be a major problem. This is a problem that can be solved, but who knows when we'll actually try. Last night at Pevely for the 55 lapper, the track surface was better with more time to dry out, but it was still tough to navigate. Polesitter James McFadden found that out on lap five when he bounced wrong out of turn two and smoked the outside wall, ending his night. The whole show though was absolutely ferocious. Nobody was trying to save anything, and the pace was pretty wild. Logan Schuchart led through half way, but Kyle Larson had made the trip from Michigan, and he was after the 1S after starting fifth. Past half way those two had a nice battle, and then it got serious again late. Huge slidejobs, lap traffic in the way, and each officially leading inside four to go. Both were actually in the lead at times on the final lap, but the 57 was able to get the win out of turn four. Both drivers were grinning ear to ear afterwards and the fans watching definitely got their money's worth. Looking ahead, most of these teams will haul ass to Knoxville to run the Capitani Classic tonight and get those all important final laps before Wednesday. If I remember correctly, tonight does not count towards the Outlaw full timer's freebies with the bonus program. With show up points only during the Nationals, Brad Sweet will carry his 14 point lead over David Gravel into the next few weeks.

Also at Pevely this weekend were the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets. Karter Sarff picked up his first career series win on Friday night, with Zach Daum and Jade Avedisian on the podium. Last night, it looked like Sarff might go back to back, but Jade took the lead after a restart past half way, and went the distance for her fourth victory of the season. It was her third win in five races, fifth podium in six races. The recent charge sees her take the Xtreme championship lead by eight points over Cannon McIntosh. The Xtreme season continues Tuesday In Pennsylvania.

Up at Cedar Lake for the USA Nationals, we had another door to door finish with again Bobby Pierce and Hudson O'Neal battling it out. And just like with Lucas at Deer Creek, Pierce edged out the win by 73 thousandths of a second after leading 66 of the 100 laps. O'Neal led early and never led the 32 get too far out in front. With lap traffic in play over the final few laps, O'Neal was able to close and nearly grab the win. It was win number nine ont he year for Pierce and his third in four races. He's nearing $250,000 in earnings just with the Outlaws this year, and his championship lead is triple digits over Chris Madden with the series now going quiet for a few weeks. One thing I loved from last night, was something caught on DIRTVision before the race even started. Cade Dillard had his battery go dead during pace laps and his crew guys had to scramble to get him going again. As he was pulling away from the truck, I loved the high fives and hugs from all the guys who worked to get the battery swapped and Dillard back into the show. They busted their asses and it was neat to see them celebrate each other and their work. Dillard ended up 12th.

Elsewhere this weekend, Freddie Rahmer was a winner at Lincoln, Kody Lehman was a 410 winner at Port Royal, Jeremy Campbell won the 305 Nationals at Belleville, and one of these lame-O iRacing guys won again. Hat tip to Kenny Miller on his USAC east coast win at Lincoln. Shame it's just a video game. Two of the three USMTS nights were rained out, but Rodney Sanders struck last night at Wheatland for $10,000. He extends his series points lead over Jason Hughes.

In fendered racing, Michael Chilton was a Friday Iron-Man winner at Ponderosa, Chad Finley won at Merritt, Billy Moyer Jr. was a Comp Cams winner at Arrowhead, Rusty Schlenk took the $35,000 Wood Tic with Kyle Busch ending up 22nd. Mike Marlar and Ross Bailes bagged $20,000 wins with the Hunt the Front Series and the Southern All Stars, and Stormy Scott and Michael Brown were winners at Brownstown and Sumter.

There is some racing tonight, so make sure to hit up the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Hope you guys have a good rest of your Sunday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.