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Devin Moran's long Lucas odds; What happened to Sheldon Haudenschild and Ryan Timms? | Daily 10-16-2023

On the show today, two sprint car drivers have struggled this year that I didn't expect, and I have a theory why. Plus we talk Logan Seavey, Devin Moran in the final Lucas four, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, October 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I want to start today off with the plight of two sprint car drivers this season and a possible cause. One full time World of Outlaws driver, and one young guy still trying to find his feet. The Outlaw driver is Sheldon Haudenschild. Still a handful of Outlaw races left in 2023 between Devil's Bowl and World Finals, but Sheldon and the Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing team are on their way to their worst statistical season in five years. Seventh in the standings, just three wins, and their worst top five and top ten percentages, and worst average finish since 2018. For reference and context, that 2018 season was Sheldon's second on tour ever, and his first with the NOS 17. A year ago, I think that team believes if a few things go their way, they could have been in contention for the title, but this year they have been almost completely out of the national conversation. While we've been focused on the championship battle between Brad Sweet, David Gravel, and Carson Macedo, they have struggled behind even Donny Schatz. The 17 has almost as many finishes of 15th or worse as they do top fives. There had even been rumors recently that Sheldon could be on the hot seat, although that talk seems to have quieted in the past week or so. The other driver I wanted to point out, is Ryan Timms. He burst onto the Outlaw scene in 2022 with a ninth in his debut at River Cities, and a second at Red River Valley the next night. He also led laps during a Gold Cup prelim. Overall in 2022, 44 winged 410 starts, eight victories, and 20 top tens. But 2023 has seen him take a major step backwards. In 24 Outlaw appearances, he's only made 11 features. And his lone top ten was an eighth on his prelim night at the Knoxville Nationals. Overall, 57 410 starts, and just two wins with ten top tens. He has been solid in midget competition though with five victories and currently sits fourth in the USAC standings. These are clearly two drivers with a ton of talent, and Timms' midget stats I think help show that he hasn't forgotten how to drive. So what's the different here? I really wonder about how these drivers and teams have adapted in 2023 to the new Hoosier sprint car tires. That seems to be the real main difference we can see from the outside. I've talked to a few folks about just how much some of these teams were thrown for a loop with the new tire, and some figured it out and have thrived, and others have struggled. James McFadden was just on Winged Nation talking about their struggles at Roth Motorsports and trying to figure out if it was the engine, or the tires, or some combination. And it's clear that Lance Dewease lost his ride with Don Kreitz because they couldn't find a setup to get Lance fast and comfortable since the switch. I don't want to turn this into a Hoosier bashing session, but both of the drivers I've talked about here have had signficant falloff. It's certainly not uncommon for stats to fluctuate from year to year, but with what we know about how others have handled this, it really makes you wonder. Both Sheldon and Timms are plenty talented and have had success, and what we've seen this year doesn't make sense, until you factor in that big difference. Hopefully they will be able to find some solutions this offseason with some time to reflect.

We have four days of the show left this week, and we have four drivers who will be competing for the Lucas championship come Saturday night at Eldora, so I want to do a spotlight of each every day on the show through Thursday. We'll start today with number four on the list and that is Devin Moran. Moran is back on a national tour this season after a few years away, and he's in a different car. After a run with Tye Twarog, Moran joined Double Down Motorsports following the departure of Hudson O'Neal to the Rocket house car. With weeks to go in the Lucas season, Moran didn't look like he'd be joining this championship four in the Lucas chase, as he trailed both Brandon Overton and Tim McCreadie in the standings. But a strong last month and a half, along with those strange decisions on the final weekend from Brandon Overton and his Wells team, vaulted Moran into this spot. From Florence on August 11th, through the Pittsburgher, Moran's worst finish was ninth, and through those 16 Lucas main events, his average finish was a very strong 4.94. In the last 10 races, the only driver with a better average finish than Moran on tour was Ricky Thornton Jr. Things were a bit up and down for Moran this season all the way through the summer, and he didn't get a Lucas win until the Show-Me 100 at Wheatland in May. He didn't technically even lead a lap in that race, as RTJ crossed the line as the winner, but was knocked back to fifth in the final rundown after failing the droop check. Moran's only other Lucas win on the year was a prelim night at Deer Creek in July, but he does have three wins elsewhere. Two with the Outlaws at Volusia in January, and an XR prelim win at Off Road. Of the four in this final group, Moran has the longest odds to win at Eldora and take the title. Going back through 2021 in the Eldora crown jewels, Moran is the only one of the finalists without some sort of Eldora win, he trails all three in top fives, and in average finish. He was eighth in the Dream back in June, and 23rd at the World 100. That team seems to be peaking at the right time, and we've seen Devin get hot before, but I think beating these other guys for the championship is going to be very difficult. I'm a Devin Moran fan, I've interviewed him for this channel, but I just don't think this is there year. Drop a comment, let me know what your thoughts are on Moran headed to Eldora.

The 2023 USAC Silver Crown season wrapped up yesterday with the finale on the pavement at IRP. After winning the final dirt event of the year during an incredible non-wing sweep at the Eldora 4-Crown, Logan Seavey entered the last race with a 16 point advantage over Kody Swanson. Things started out in Swanson's favor, with fast time in qualifying which gave him the main event pole, and he led the first 23 laps. But things went sideways from there, with an ill handling race car, contact with the wall, and multiple trips to pit road. Swanson did battle back to finish fourth, but with Seavey in sixth it wasn't enough to eclipse him for the title. Already this year, Seavey had won Chili Bowl, Indiana Midget Week, swept USAC at the 4-Crown, and now he's got his first ever Silver Crown championship to add to that list. An incredible season in the midget as well have him positioned for that championship with just the USAC west coast swing to go. He's not in position for the sprint car title, but he could very easily win two of the three USAC national championships this year to cap off an incredible 2023. Of all the accomplishments, I feel like the USAC midget stuff might be the most impressive. He jumped into the Abacus Racing ride, which was a car and a team that hadn't had much success on the national level, and he's bagged six wins in 21 races, along with 16 top fives and 18 top tens. He's not far off the pace set by Buddy Kofoid in 2022, which was a record breaking midget season. Seven races remain for the USAC National Midgets, with that west coast swing beginning November 14th at Bakersfield. They'll then go to Placerville for two nights, Merced for two, and close out for two nights at Ventura.

If you want to see Seavey's USAC stats, all three national divisions are apart of the analytics section at dirtrackr.com. A bunch of free information is available there, and it's a great resource for those fantasy and pool picks, or if you are a member of the media looking to do research. You can grab a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus as well, which gives you a ton more information and added stat tools like driver comparison and information by race track. Plus is $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year and you can easily cancel at any time. The year subscription gets you two months free effectively. To dive in, click the analytics and plus options in the nav bar over at dirtrackr.com, or the links below in the video description.

That's it for today's Daily. The streaming schedule is quiet today as the season starts to wind down around the country, but you can see it anyway over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.