DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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World of Outlaws add another platinum team, Kyle Cummins has a new ride | Daily 11-27-2023

The World of Outlaws have added another sprint car team for 2024. We'll talk about that, plus what other moves to expect, Kyle Cummins new ride, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, November 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

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Just a little bit ago, the 2024 World of Outlaws Sprint Car full time field grew by one with the announced return of Gio Scelzi and the KCP Racing 18. Gio was the 2023 series rookie of the year, and finished fourth in the final Outlaw standings with a win, 18 top fives, and 49 top tens in 72 races. It was a historic rookie run, as Gio's fourth place finish in the standings matched the previous best for a rookie with the Outlaws. It had happened twice before, but many years ago. Jeff Swindell did it in 1981, and Brad Doty in 1982. Although 2023 was his first full season on tour, Gio was no stranger to racing against the Outlaws. In total, he's appeared 241 times with the series going back to 2018, and has six career wins. They did only have one Outlaw victory this season, at Beaver Dam in June, but they did pick up the $50,000 High Limit show at Lakeside. If you're a car owner, it's hard to fault Scelzi as a steering wheel holder. He can win, he showed a ton of consistency this year, and he doesn't tear up much equipment. That's not always a common trait among younger drivers. He had the fourth most top tens on tour this year, and topped some serious veterans by year's end, including Logan Schuchart, Donny Schatz, and Sheldon Haudenschild. He joins David Gravel and Brock Zearfoss on the list of publicly committed teams for next season. If you are a regular here, this one shouldn't surprise you, as all signs pointed to a return. In several recent interviews, including in a recent Slider piece, Gio has spoken positively about the series and KCP's place in it. If Gio can take another step forward in 2024, I think that, combined with the exit of Brad Sweet, could put the 18 right in the mix next year. He probably doesn't get the attention he deserves around the nation, but he's got the motorsports pedigree, and appears to be on his way to a fantastic sprint car career. He's one you can definitely build a championship winning organization around. I wondered if we would have to wait until the schedule was released to get some more of these announcements, but clearly teams feel good about what they are hearing. Looking down through the possibilities, it seems like the Outlaws should easily get to at least 10 full timers for next season. We had 13ish or 14 in 2023, and some team plans still remain ambiguous, including the Sides 7S, and things for Noah Gass. I still think Spencer Bayston and the CJB five could leave for High Limit, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Gass go pick and choose. As for High Limit, Brad Sweet remains the only publicly committed team, but with the chatter out there, I'd expect them to possibly get close to 10 as well, and with some good teams and drivers in the mix. We've talked about those possibilities before on this show, like Zeb Wise and Brent Marks, and last week on David Gravel's livestream, Jeremy Elliott talked about several others who could be in play. With the midweek championship returning, you could potentially have two groups on the High Limit side. One running the entire schedule, and another who could just hit those Tuesday and Wednesday shows, depending on where they fall in the final calendar. I think we'll have a lot of this get settled in the next 10 days or so as we get closer to the PRI Show.

Speaking of PRI, I am finally going this year for the first time ever. I'm going to do a blitz of things on Thursday, so drop me a message or email if you'd like to meet up in Indy. I'd love to find a few more businesses to partner up with for next season. Also, I am going to bring some camera gear and do some content, so stay tuned for that late next week. I want to bring you guys along for the day, so maybe we do like a vlog style video or something.

Before we move on, today is the last call for the big Black Friday/Cyber Monday merch sale. All orders get a free koozie, and stock is getting low. For example, I've only got one XL hoodie left, and only a few each of the other sizes. Also, because the t-shirts are down to just smalls and mediums left, I've knocked another $3 off, so they are $12 for today only. Stickers and koozies are marked down, and I've knocked the hats down another couple of bucks to $24.99. So take advantage while you can over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

After last week announcing his departure from Rock Steady Racing, Kyle Cummins' new plans are official. Jerry Petty, owner of Avanti Windows and Doors, is starting his own sprint car team and he's hired Cummins to drive for him starting in 2024. Avanti was the main sponsor on Cummins' car with Rock Steady this past season, and we've also seen them back Justin Peck on the winged side with Buch Motorsports. The release says they are planning to tackle the entire 2024 USAC National Sprint Car schedule, along with select winged 410 starts, and some midget action in partnership with Glenn Styres. Cummins didn't run the entire USAC season in 2023, but still had four wins and 27 top tens in 35 appearances. He immediately becomes one of the guys to watch for the championship next season because of his ability to win a lot and be consistent. He finished sixth in the standings this year and missed multiple races. I'll be curious to see what their winged schedule ends up looking like, as Cummins is a guy we don't often see crossover, unlike some of his counterparts like Brady Bacon. Cummins didn't make any winged appearances in 2023, and just one in 2022. With his prowess around the Indiana tracks, this could be a perfect driver combo to run the Maverick Winged series here and there in 2024. We haven't seen the USAC national schedules yet, but things will open similarly in 2024, as they did in 2023. Bubba Raceway Park will kick things off February 8th through 10th, and then they'll head to Volusia February 12th and 13th to again be part of DIRTcar Nationals. Unlike this season though, those DCN races will be full points paying races. I would guess we'll see the USAC schedules at the PRI Show next week.

That's it for the show today. Things have been pretty quiet across the streaming services, and that will continue into the winter, except for scattered shows here and there. We do have the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars going on, so you can check that out on DIRTVision or YouTube. See that streaming schedule any time over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

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