DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Sprint car teams bring out the BEST for Knoxville Nationals | Daily 8-8-2023
It's Knoxville Nationals eve and today we'll talk about all the good stuff the teams bring out for this week, plus some thoughts on the Toyota powered cars, another sprint car team with a Ford engine, Bobby Pierce's continued late model dominance, and more. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, August 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
If you missed it on Sunday, we are shifting the Daily show schedule from Monday through Friday to Sunday through Thursday. I know I caught some of you off guard with the switch, but hopefully it will allow us to react a little quicker to Saturday night's racing. Also, if you are participating in any pools or pickem contests this week, make sure to check out the analytics section at dirtrackr.com and DIRTRACKR Plus. You can grab a month of plus for just $4.99, and get access to a bunch more stats and analysis tools to give you an edge in those games. There are currently 1,672 races in the database, and thousands of data points to explore, all neatly organized by series. If you want Knoxville stats specifically, there are currently more than 40 past races there between the Nationals, Outlaws, and All Stars. To check out DIRTRACKR Plus, click the link below in the video description, or the Plus button in the nav bar at dirtrackr.com.
We had a couple of $20,000 to win shows last night between the Front Row Challenge at Osky and the XR Super Series at Gondik Law. We'll start first with the sprint cars and some observations. James McFadden took down the belt at Osky, leading from flag-to-flag. He won the foot race earlier in the night which put him on the pole over Carson Macedo and he took full advantage. Macedo couldn't run him down, and settled for second, with Corey Day impressive yet again going 10th to third. In recent races we've also seen Day go 17th to fourth with the All Stars at I-70, and he went 15th to fourth during the Ironman 55. There were some nasty crashes during last night's program, including Rusty Hickman right at the start of the B, and Scott Bogucki got some big air in the main event. Both drivers were okay. Kyle Larson did fly straight from the Cup race at Michigan yesterday to Iowa to race the Front Row Challenge as I thought he might. And I did get asked on Monday about how he does it, and it's my understanding that he doesn't have his own plane, but does have a nice network of friends with planes. He was on the ground in Pella just right before 4PM local time, so plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately for him though, his bid for a third straight belt went south just a few laps into the main event when he slowed suddenly and took the 57 to the trailer with apparent engine issues. I feel like it's pretty rare to see a Paul Silva prepared car have mechanical trouble, and it makes me wonder just a bit if they weren't trying some engine stuff last night in advance of this week at Knoxville. Just a thought anyway. The win for McFadden though got me to thinking about preparation for this week at Knoxville and how everyone always tries to bring their best stuff. You see special paintschemes revealed, and the good cars stay in the trailer until prelim nights. That was certainly true of many teams last night. The cars run at Osky for several big players are not the same ones you'll see Wednesday and Thursday. And that doesn't even include all of the guys that didn't race last night, with plenty of heavy hitters staying off the track until later this week, like Brad Sweet and David Gravel and Donny Schatz. Even with all of the other big money shows we've had this year, Knoxville is still Knoxville, and teams will build special cars and pull out all the stops to try and win this week. The good, lightweight components, carbon fiber everything, those engines that were just right on the dyno, and of course the fresh looks. I've even seen some polished headers floating around on social media. Knoxville demands a lot of speed, and the teams that are able will bring their best pieces. Talking about McFadden specifically, that Toyota power could come in handy this week, and I wonder if you've noticed their performances as of late. McFadden a winner last night. Buddy Kofoid was quick time in his qualifying group for the Cappy and McFadden won the first heat race. JMac the polesitter for the Ironman before the rough track bit him. And Kofoid good in the recent All Star midwest shows, third at Lake Ozark, the win at I-70, and second at Knoxville after leading laps early. And that doesn't include what Kofoid did at Huset's not that long ago, and big charges for both drivers in the Eldora Million main event. Those TRD powered Roth cars might be peaking at the right time here. It's also worth noting that Zeb Wise and the Rudeen 26 are using Ford power from TSR this week. I've had a few friends send me photos of it, and supposedly they ran it at Kokomo with High Limit for the first time. We'll see if it works out for them. Things are quiet today around the Knoxville area in terms of sprint car racing, but there is outlaw karts at English Creek, the Knoxville Queen Contest, and the kick-off party. Visit knoxvilleraceway.com for more details.
Up at Gondik Law last night, it was more of the same from the Smooth Operator, Bobby Pierce. He started on the outside of the front row, and led all 50 circuits to score the $20,000 XR Super Series victory. Chris Madden went fifth to second, and Ricky Thornton Jr. 15th to third. Pierce became the first series repeat winner of 2023, and is on an insane run right now. It looks like his last finish outside the top 10 was a 21st at Deer Creek on one of the Gopher 50 prelim nights. In the 16 features he's run since then, his worst finish is 10th, he has seven wins, six second place results, a third, and a fourth. Absolute domination. He extended his XR championship lead over Hudson O'Neal, and if he is somehow able to maintain this torrid pace, he could win two championships this season. And to be fair, he's only 24 points behind O'Neal for the Flo series. So three isn't out of the question. XR is right back at it tonight in Wisconsin, with a stop at Red Cedar for their Workin' Man Series. $10,000 to win and live on XR Plus.
One dirt late model related news item from yesterday, Jonathan Davenport will make his debut with Tony Stewart's SRX series next Thursday night, August 17th, at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. He'll join names like Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, and Clint Bowyer in that field. The SRX races are running live on ESPN.
Other racing to check out tonight includes the Short Track Super Series at New Egypt Speedway for $6000 to win. This is a south region show, where Billy Pauch Jr. leads the championship right now over Matt Stangle and Matt Sheppard. Sheppard is the defending race winner. All three will be in action tonight, along with Ryan Godown, Anthony Perrego, Danny Bouc, Mike Gular, Mike Mahaney, and more. This one is live on Flo if you aren't nearby.
Up in Pennsylvania, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets being their Appalachian Midget Week with a stop at Clyde Martin. They'll continue through Saturday with other races at Action Track USA, Linda's, Path Valley, and Bridgeport. Jade Avedisian has won three of the last five races and has taken over the championship lead with Cannon McIntosh eight points back. Those two have stretched away a bit, with everyone from Gavin Miller in third and on back at least triple digits behind. This one is live on DIRTVision if you can't get there.
That's it for today's Daily, you can check out today's streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com and make sure to subscribe where you watch or listen and hit that like button.
Hope you guys have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.