DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Chili Bowl continues to FRUSTRATE and DELIGHT | Daily 1-14-2024

Today on the show we'll talk Chili Bowl good and bad, TMez vs. Cannon Mac, Kyle Larson is human, Wild West Shootout, and more. Let's go!

It's Sunday, January 14th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

There is a lot to unpack from last night's Chili Bowl finale. I feel like I say that every year, because this event seems to always leave us both frustrated, and yet wanting more. It's a strange combination of emotions. Logan Seavey dominated the feature last night, officially leading all 55 laps en route to back-to-back golden drillers. But that sentence itself is loaded with all sorts of traps and controversy, but also excitement and elation. It's a bummer that two years of incredible weeks for Seavey and the Swindell SpeedLab team are overshadowed by a main event track that ended up taking rubber very early on. The overwhelming sentiment today is much more focused on another year of track issues during the feature, and even last night's post-race celebrations didn't quite feel like they should have. The Swindell name has meant so much inside that building through the event's history, and now with Logan Seavey, it's back at the top. We've seen this combination of the return to prominence for Swindell, and the incredible rise of Seavey. But we can't side-step and overlook the issues last night. Did Seavey actually lead all the laps? Because I think Buddy Kofoid has a legit gripe about him being put back to second on a caution and his transponder issues. Seavey said afterwards he knew he caught a break there, and that it was probably the turning point in the race. And the track was an even bigger problem this year than it was in 2023, where it also took rubber late. We had Nick Hoffman tweeting before the feature rolled off that he was worried it would take rubber, and it he was right on it. They went lighter on the track prep, and that combined with the new tire caused the issues, and it seems like the smart people in the building knew it was coming. Clinton Boyles on the Flo broadcast pointed it out before we were even to half way that it was headed that direction. We ended up with a locked down second half where not much happened because guys went into conserve mode, and Kofoid could never make a serious run at Seavey for the win. Kofoid's car owner Keith Kunz posted to social media afterwards that quote "@cbnationals track prep gets a F grade." No mincing words there. I do think it's worth pointing out that in 2023 they did do a complete re-work before the main event and still had rubber. So maybe something else needs to change. Is that fewer laps, is it different prep Saturday, a reworked Saturday schedule, I'm not sure. But let's not pretend like they aren't trying stuff.

What the event does need to get credit for, and they won't, because everyone is too busy bitching, is the Saturday run of show. A year ago, we were talking about the terrible delays and the drawn out program, and that was not a problem yesterday. The main event went green around 9:15 local, and 10:15 eastern. That's multiple hours earlier than just a year ago. Big kudos to them for that. If Kyle Larson had somehow grabbed a locked-in feature spot back on Thursday night, he wouldn't have made it in time from Vado in New Mexico. And I know everyone will say that they would have just sped the late model program up and slowed the Chili Bowl show down, but he would have needed literally three hours. That wasn't happening yesterday.

As for some of the other topics from yesterday, Daison Pursley ended up being the real show. He went fourth to the win in his D, 16th to fifth in the C, an insane 20th to fifth in the B, and then 20th to fourth in a feature that was hard to pass in during the second half. As others pointed out, if that track doesn't take rubber, Pursley may have won the thing.

Also, the entire sequence in the first B-Main between Thomas Meseraull and Cannon McIntosh was insanity. McIntosh throws a ridiculous, and completely unnecessary bomb at TMez in the final corners, and takes TMez out. Both guys were headed for the A, and then we have heartbreak for TMez for effectively no reason. Meseraull is then ejected from the building for throwing something at an official in the aftermath and cleanup, but then later allowed back in after supposedly Emmett Hahn got involved and cooler heads prevailed. Meseraull handled the whole thing as good as it could have been handled, which was almost unexpected from him based on his past history. The guy is usually a walking soundbite, but didn't take the opportunity to spout off like he could have, and maybe should have. And McIntosh took a fairly serious metaphorical beating from the crowd and social media over the incident. In the moment, right or wrong, McIntosh thought the move was for the final feature transfer, and plenty of others in the building would have made the same move. We see it all week. I do think we need to remember that in the heat of the race, when you're that far back, it's not perfectly clear where you are in the running order. But kudos to McIntosh for owning up to it in the FloRacing interview when he was informed he was already in the transfer spot. He said it quote "definitely doesn't make it look good" and "makes me look pretty stupid there."

Looking back over the whole event, I feel the same way in 2024 that I did in 2023. The racing all week was really good at times, but I'm still left wanting more and better. A year ago I wrote "We are allowed to both love an event like the Chili Bowl, and appreciate it for all it's greatness, while at the same time offering critical feedback and wanting it to be better." 365 days later, this still rings true. Improvements were made, I liked a lot that happened, but I still want better.

I want to double back too, to Kyle Larson's attempt at doing the double, which obviously didn't end up happening. That Thursday program didn't go well for him, with a flip in the heat race, and then he needed a massive 11th to second charge in the B-Main to even make the night's feature. It was going to be a monumental task to go from 20th to a locked in spot against that group, and he ended up crashing again, ending his bid. He told several reporters that he wasn't comfortable in the car, but also he wasn't under any pressure to perform. But it was almost refreshing to see him be human for a day. I don't want it to sound like I was rooting against him, because I definitely wasn't. A Saturday double would have been epic, and I'm a Larson fan. I was bummed it didn't end up happening. But in a situation where things weren't going his way, it definitely felt like he was trying to will himself into spots, and pressing. And seeing him battle was a nice reminder that this racing stuff, especially on these big stages, is actually really hard. Larson usually makes it look easy, and I feel like in the rare instance where he struggles, in a roundabout way almost elevates his greatness even more.

Alright, let's move over to the late models. The Wild West Shootout has one more night tonight, with $26,000 going to the winner. Bobby Pierce kept rolling Friday and Saturday with two more wins, and has already guaranteed himself a $25k bonus on top of his race winnings. If he can win tonight, he will get the $100k for winning five of six races. With all the talent and drivers out in New Mexico, I am surprised that Cade Dillard is the only other driver with a late model win at the event. I figured Mike Marlar, or Larson, or Garrett Alberson, or Brandon Sheppard coming in late, one of those guys would score a win or two. It will be hard to bet against Pierce tonight though. Larson has had some good runs, but keeps starting deep and needing big charges. I do like what we've seen from BShepp for his first two nights. Fifth Friday, and second last night after starting on the front row. After tonight, Speedweeks are next for the late model teams, with the Outlaw season beginning this coming weekend at Volusia, and Golden Isles to follow. You can tune into the Wild West Shootout tonight on FloRacing.

That's it for the Daily today. A lot more racing to come, so there will be no lack of topics in the coming weeks.

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