DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

Should they make late model tire choices public? Earl Pearson Jr's new deal | Daily 1-21-2024

On the show today, we'll talk the full 22 car Outlaw late model field, Devin Moran's early season performances, Hoosier late model tires and broadcasts, Earl Pearson Jr's new ride, and a lot more. Let's go!

It's Sunday, January 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Over in the DIRTRACKR merch shop, I'm down to the last few logo t-shirts, and only have smalls and mediums left in stock. I'd love to get these out of here, so I've dropped the prices to $10 each. I do also have a few late model stickers left as well. I've been asked when we'll have new things in the shop, and as soon as we clear this other stuff out, we can start working on some new items. Grab a shirt on sale now over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

It's nice to get up on a Sunday and have a few different races to talk about as we start getting into the 2024 season for real now. Down at Volusia, the World of Outlaws Late Model Series got rolling with their first two shows. The Thursday program was rained out, and on a big, fast race track like Volusia, that doesn't usually bode well for the rest of the weekend. I figured we'd have juiced up, follow the leader racing, but come the feature on both nights, that's not what we got. The track was still really fast, but it did widen out and allow for a ton of passing. Friday we had four different leaders and the hard charger go plus 14, and Saturday we had four lead changes among two drivers and the biggest mover go 23rd to fourth. The saying has always been "don't tell me there's no passing in sprint car racing" but it felt like that applied to the late models at Volusia. Really good racing and hat tip to the Volusia crew for a great race track. Friday night, Ethan Dotson, Bobby Pierce, and Ricky Thornton Jr. all led laps early, but it was fifth starting Devin Moran taking the victory. He started fifth, took the lead on lap 26, and drove on to the win. Brandon Sheppard went 16th to second, and RTJ was third. Earlier in the night, Pierce set the track record at 15.100. He ended up fourth in the opener. Had RTJ not run out of tearoffs, he may have won the race. Last night, we ended up with a serious battle out front between Moran and Hudson O'Neal. The two started together on the front row, and neither could get away from the other. They traded the lead four times, with O'Neal eventually getting away late for the win. Kyle Bronson went seventh to second, and Moran slipped to third at the checkered. Thornton had a poor qualifying effort on the night, and was playing catchup the rest of the way. Fourth to second in his B-Main, and then he nearly caught all the way up on the feature, charging from 23rd to fourth. With a couple of weeks off now until DIRTcar Nationals, Brandon Sheppard leaves the weekend with a very slight six point advantage over Bobby Pierce in the way too early points standings. If you go look at the standings, remember that full timers get a couple of hundred points as a bonus for signing on. That's why Moran is 23rd, even though he had a win and a third on the weekend. The standings though, show us there are a few more drivers signed on who we weren't aware of. We'd already talked about 19 with the addition of Daniel Hilsabeck, but 22 drivers show as full timers. That includes Ethan Dotson, Jimmy Owens, and David Breazeale. So all three of those signed agreements. One driver not included who thought was, is Tanner English. He was listed on the Dirt on Dirt preview, and his schedule is pretty ambiguous through the spring, but clearly by this evidence did not sign. So 22 Outlaws leaving this opening weekend. The Outlaw late model portion of DCN starts February 15th. Next up for the late model competitors is Golden Isles and the Lucas opener. They've got practice on Wednesday, with racing starting on Thursday.

Back to Devin Moran. It's not surprising to see him have success down south early in the year. It seems to be a recurring theme for hom. He swept this Outlaw weekend a year ago, and heads to Golden Isles with a win and a third already. The question though, will be can he maintain the pace once they leave Florida and Georgia. It's something they'll need to do better if they want to contend again for the Lucas title. In 2023, it took this team some time to find their footing, but here's why I'm hopeful. In August last year, they really seemed to hit on something, and 17 straight top nine finishes to end the season nearly won them the Lucas championship. That included five straight podiums to close. Moran then finished fourth at the Dome, and now two podiums. This could be a team to watch as we continue.

One other note from the weekend, I saw Matt Weaver tweet about dirt late models having tire options with the current setup of the unified national dirt late model tire from Hoosier. Teams have three right rear options allowed by the rules, between the NLMT2, 3, and 4. There is a 1 as well, but it's not included in the current rulebook. Hoosier's documentation says the NLMT2 is quote "Lower traction but a very durable, repeatable compound," the three is "Tough, repeatable compound, that stands up to abrasion well", and the four is "similar to old standard 1600 rubber. Likes black, slick slow conditions." Basically the four is the hardest compound, and the one is the softest. This tire rule was announced later in 2022, and first implemented for the 2023 season. Are we at a point where it would add to the value of broadcasts if we knew who was on what tire for the features? In Formula 1, they have graphics on the timing and scoring rundown to show us whether teams are on the hard, medium, or soft, and I think it could be fun if we had that same type of information for these late model races on Flo or DIRTVision. It could definitely help explain sometimes I think the comers and goers in the features, and could add a level of depth to broadcasts. Gives the announcers something else to dive into, beyond just what we are watching on a surface level. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Before we move on to some sprint car stuff, it sounds like Earl Pearson Jr. has found a new ride. According to a Facebook post from Friday, EPJ will team up with Iowa's Jason Rauen to run the full Lucas schedule. This deal has only come together in just the past few weeks, so the team will have a lot of work to do before heading to Brunswick this weekend. Rauen is a racer himself, having made scattered national touring starts the last few seasons. He was 23rd with Lucas at 300 Raceway last May, and appeared with the Outlaws during their big Davenport weekend in August. EPJ is coming off a tough Lucas season where he ended up 10th in the final standings, and had just three top fives on the season. He lost his ride after the year ended, parting ways with Jason Papich, and you wondered if maybe this was the end for his national career. In the Facebook post, it was even revealed that EPJ mulled retirement, but has instead decided to return. The team will field Longhorns, and EPJ has brought along his sponsors, including Lucas Oil. We'll see if the 51 year old driver can get things rolling in the right direction again.

Down in Australia early this morning, we had the finale for the Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic. Warrnambool was tricky, with several drivers being caught out by the treacherous cushion. That included early leader and polesitter Sheldon Haudenschild. He was into the wall ten laps in after tripping on that cushion, and the crash ended up taking out front running James McFadden as well. That handed the lead to Aaron Reutzel on the restart, and he was never challenged again out front. Reutzel's Classic victory was the first for an American in the event since Kyle Hirst took the win in 2015. Brock Hallett and Lachlan McHugh rounded out the night's podium. Other Americans who had issues included Chase Randall who blew a right rear while running second. Brock Zearfoss had a big crash driving a Roth Motorsports tribute car, and Cory Eliason bowed out early driving the Monte Motorsports machine. At the fuel stop, it looked like both Rico Abreu and Carson Macedo had to swap out jacob's ladders after wall contact as well. Macedo ended up eighth, Rico was 11th, and Justin Peck 13th. Later this week, Volusia will host the 360 USCS sprint cars, and then the first big 410 action will be at Volusia starting February 7th. Most of the American drivers down under will be headed back to the states following the Classic.

That's it for the show today, hope you guys have a great rest of your Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!