DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Open sprint car seats for 2024, plus the World of Outlaws Late Model field up to 12 | Daily 12-21-2023

Coming up we'll talk more World of Outlaws late model full timers, plus sprint car drivers who haven't committed yet and two big open sprint car seats. We'll also take a look at the Tulsa Shootout entry list, and Kyle Larson's 2024 late model plans. Let's go!

It's Thursday, December 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

While we continue to have a big focus on the full time sprint car fields for next season, the late model series continue to grow their groups as well. As of yesterday, the World of Outlaws Late Models full timer list is up to 12 with the return of Brian Shirley. In 2023 as a platinum team, Shirley ended up sixth in the final standings, with a win, nine top fives, and 24 top tens in 38 races. From Brandon Sheppard in third, to Tanner English in ninth, that group of seven drivers was locked in a tight battle really all season with less than 200 points separating them. And Shirley was right in there. Overall, in 98 late model starts, Shirley had seven victories, including with the Summer Nationals, some local stuff, and an Eldora prelim. Shirley has previously run the full Outlaw schedule three times, and has obviously had a ton of success elsewhere, like with the Hell Tour. For 2024, if they are going to take a step forward, it needs to be in consistency. They were fast a lot this past season, but a negative feature plus/minus isn't a good sign, and they need to convert some more of their good starts into good finishes. So as it stands today, the Outlaws are up to 12 with the addition of Shirley. He joins Bobby Pierce, Ryan Gustin, Todd Cooney, Nick Hoffman, Max McLaughlin, Tristan Chamberlain, Cody Overton, Dustin Sorensen, Cade Dillard, Dustin Walker, and Parker Martin. There are still a few weeks left to go before Volusia, so I'm sure more are coming. Some names we haven't heard plans for yet that were Outlaws in 2023 include Chris Madden, Brandon Sheppard, Kyle Bronson, Dennis Erb Jr., and Tanner English. I have heard we could have a series decision from BShepp very soon.

In sprint car racing, no series announcements in the last day or two, and there are still a few teams whose plans we don't know yet. Tyler Courtney and the Clauson Marshall 7BC have been rumored as a High Limit pickup, but still nothing official. That one does surprise me a bit, especially since it seemed like Brad Sweet spilled the beans on them during that PRI interview. I have heard rumblings about the Roth cars, and I would expect announcements soon on that front. It sounds like both will be full time series members in 2024 with Buddy Kofoid and James McFadden returning and continued backing from Toyota and their 410 sprint car engine. I still think Anthony Macri will be a pick and choose guy, and I've been asked about Sam Hafertepe. I wouldn't put a series declaration past that team, they certainly have the capability to run a coast-to-coast schedule and a lot of races, I just don't know that I see it for them.

As for open sprint car rides, the two that really stand out to me are the Crouch Motorsports 11 and the Lane Racing car. There was chatter that maybe the CMS 11 had a driver, and the expectation was it would go High Limit, but it sounds like things maybe didn't pan out, and very recently. I've seen multiple comments about that team just focusing on Brenham Crouch, which they could certainly do, but don't forget they ran two full teams a season ago with the 11 with Buddy Kofoid and Cory Eliason, and Brenham out full time with the IRA plus other shows. It does seem like the options though for a top tier driver are extremely limited at this point. I think team owner Leighton Crouch was hoping to replace Cory Eliason with a proven championship contender, but he wasn't able to get a deal done. And I haven't heard anything about the Lane car, although I don't see them going full time with either national series. The All Stars worked for them, but I can't see that team towing to California. So they could revert to a more Ohio and pick and choose squad with a new driver.

Out in Oklahoma, the Tulsa Shootout gets underway in just less than a week. Teams start loading in on Tuesday, December 26th, with on-track action starting next Wednesday. Looking at the entries, we are north of 1600 cars at the moment across the six different divisions. Those will be jam packed days to get everyone racing through the weekend. There will be a lot of names you won't recognize, but plenty you will through the event. We talked yesterday about Ricky Thornton Jr. running the four divisions, and some other names to expect include Logan Seavey, Kyle Busch returns, Joe B Miller, Cannon McIntosh, Jason McDougal, Daison Pursley, Chase McDermand, Emerson Axsom, Kaylee Bryson, Tyler Courtney, Noah Gass, Jerry Coons Jr., Jonathan Beason, and Blake Hahn. There will be plenty of big crashes, bent metal, and bent feelings. We'll put the over/under on top of the ramp fights at three for the week. You can always figure somebody will get thrown out of the expo for a pointless C-Main incident. Looking at the FloRacing schedule, the Shootout is actually the next event they have, and you can watch it live all week over there.

Yesterday on FloRacing, Derek Kessinger had an interview with Kyle Larson to talk dirt late model stuff, including Larson's upcoming appearance at the Wild West Shootout. For the second year in a row, Larson is trading a midget and the Chili Bowl to run the late model in New Mexico. As for the rest of his 2024 season, Yung Money told Suave that he thinks maybe 15 late model races are possible. It seemed for a while that the late model had become a big focus for Larson on the dirt side, but it's definitely shifted back to the sprint car. By the time he gets in the Rumley six at Vado, it will have been like seventh months in between late model appearances. And that will continue next season with the addition of High Limit and Larson set to race more than 20 times over there, plus scattered other shows with the Outlaws and for big money. The Silva 57 showing up to High Limit races will be key for promotion and eye balls, so when he has opportunities to race dirt in between NASCAR and his Indy 500 attempt, you can be sure Larson will be in the sprint car a lot. You can watch that full interview right now over on Flo.

Each offseason, we get the bombardment of schedules for the next year, and while I try and cover the big stuff, things like track schedules usually get ignored, because there are just too many to talk about. Yesterday's release from Volusia is normally one I wouldn't pay much attention to, but there were a few interesting bits at the bottom. While we haven't even started 2024 yet, we already know some important 2025 dates. The early season Sunshine Nationals for the World of Outlaws late models are back January 22nd through 25th in 2025, followed by the USCS Sprint Car Shootout January 30th through February 1st. And then DIRTcar Nationals takes place February 4th through 15th in 2025. While some tracks and series are still trying to secure dates for next year, WRG is already marking down dates for well into the future.

That's it for the daily show today. There's a reasonable chance I could do a Friday Daily show this week if we have any news break in the next 24 hours or so. If not though, I've got two really good conversations episodes already done and ready to go for next week, and I'm hopefully recording a third today. So stay tuned for that and plenty of other content to come over the Christmas week.

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