DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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What does the Longhorn Chassis move actually mean for Tim McCreadie? | Daily 8-24-2023
On the show today, I'll explain why this Tim McCreadie/Longhorn news isn't that big of a deal, plus we'll give away the Dirt Classic tickets, and look ahead to all the big dirt racing this weekend. Let's go!
It's Thursday, August 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
We'll start today off with the news from yesterday that Longhorn Chassis will be dropping Tim McCreadie as it's house car driver for 2024. The release said they will be quote "realigning their Super Late Model House Car Program in 2024 with future plans to soon be announced" unquote. The multi-time and defending Lucas champion is currently fourth in the standings, with a very slight five point cushion for that final locked in chase spot. So far on the season, McCreadie has been to victory lane five times, including twice during the DIRTcar sanctioned portion of DIRTcar Nationals, he won a prelim feature during the Dream at Eldora, and he has split field prelim Lucas wins at Lernerville during the Firecracker weekend, and at Muskingum County. It hasn't been a bad season for TMac and the Paylor Motorsports 39, but they are off the pace from where they were in 2021 and 2022 when they won the Lucas championships. Their win percentage and top five and top ten percentages are down a bit, and their average finish is down about a spot and a half from last year. Even with the little drop, they are still in the mix for the championship as long as they are still in that top four when the Dirt Track World Championship comes around. Looking at his total career, McCreadie isn't a guy who's going to go out and win 25 times a year in a super late model. His championships were built on consistency, and he's not going to tear anything up. He doesn't get the attention that Jonathan Davenport got last year, or what Ricky Thornton Jr. and Bobby Pierce are getting this year, he just goes about his business quietly and effectively. Back to this announcement from Longhorn, it's really much ado about nothing. I saw plenty of comments yesterday on social media and message boards about who the new driver could be, someone bringing bags of money to be the next guy, and what Paylor will do now. But really it appears as though a bunch of folks didn't understand the announcement, and don't understand how Longhorn's house car deal works. Next year, McCreadie will still be driving the same Paylor Motorsports 39 he's driving at this moment. The team will still utilize Longhorn chassis, still be getting support from Longhorn, and their plan is to be back full time with Lucas. So nobody is losing their ride here. Unlike say Rocket Chassis, that fields it's own house car program, Longhorn doesn't operate Paylor Motorsports. Paylor has been running their cars out of a building in the same complex as Longhorn in China Grove, North Carolina, but it is an independent team that was just very closely aligned with the chassis builder. Going forward, the 39 probably won't be the first to get the absolute latest and greatest parts and pieces to come out of Longhorn, and McCreadie probably won't be part of as many tests, but outside of some words in a press release, I doubt many fans will even notice a difference. As for who will be called the new "house car" there are certainly plenty of options. Ricky Thornton Jr., Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, and Brandon Sheppard are all high profile Longhorn drivers who could get the nod. There are also some younger guys who could potentially be on the list, including Devin Moran and Nick Hoffman. According to Longhorn, we should know for sure in the coming weeks. But as a friend told me yesterday, this was a bunch of folks making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Before we move on, let's announce a winner of the Dirt Classic tickets from yesterday's show. These are coming courtesy of Lincoln Speedway, and don't forget you can get your reserved seats at dirtclassic.com, use code "DIRTRACKR" at checkout for $5 off. The winner of the two reserved seats is Cliff Adams. Please send me an email at info@dirtrackr.com and we'll get you hooked up. Thanks to everyone who participated, and to the Dirt Classic for allowing us to do this.
Let's talk about some of the racing coming up over the next few days. We'll start first with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. They are at Georgetown Speedway tonight for $18,000 to win. We talked yesterday about how Matt Sheppard will be in attendance to make his series debut, along with NASCAR Cup driver Ross Chastain. This will be the first ever stop for Lucas at Georgetown. Friday and Saturday, the series moves over to Port Royal for the Rumble by the River. $50,000 to win and this weekend will lock in the final eight in the Lucas chase. Daulton Wilson and Max Blair have the last two spots, and Earl Pearson Jr. and Tyler Erb are trying to get in. There is a $1500 bonus available for those guys, but outside of that, this weekend's cutoff is a bit of non-story. None of these guys has a chance to catch up to the top four, as Wilson in seventh trails Devin Moran in sixth by 415 points. Friday at Port Royal will be a split field night with drivers earning points to setup Saturday's action. EPJ is the defending event winner, and he could use a good weekend. Just two top five runs all season. All three nights will be live on FloRacing.
Across the country in Iowa, the World of Outlaws Late Models are at Davenport for the Quad Cities 150. $10,000 to win shows tonight and tomorrow, with Saturday paying $30 grand to the winner. Tanner English won the big show at Davenport a year ago, and Brandon Sheppard has had success there as well in recent seasons. Bobby Pierce continues to control the championship, and this could be a good weekend to extend that 108 point lead over Chris Madden. A lot of movement is still possible though down through the field, with second through seventh separated by less than 100 points. All three nights at Davenport will also include the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets, where Cannon McIntosh and Jade Avedisian are locked in a tight championship battle. All of the racing will be live on DIRTVision.
On the sprint car side, the World of Outlaws will begin their trek west following this weekend in North Dakota. They take on River Cities on Friday and Red River Valley on Saturday, and then next week is out to Skagit to begin the west coast swing. A tough weekend at Jackson for David Gravel allowed Brad Sweet to stretch his legs in the title fight, and he's now 50 points clear of Carson Macedo and 60 clear of Gravel. That's about 25 feature positions over the 41, and 30 over the 2. Gravel did win at River Cities earlier this season, but Sweet won this August show a year ago. And just to round this out, Macedo is the defending Red River Valley winner. We'll see several of the NOSA regulars this weekend up against the Outlaws, names like Mark Dobmeier, Austin Pierce, and Brendan Mullen. And I'll be curious to see if Tanner Holmes can continue the pace he had last weekend at Jackson in his debut with Shark Racing. I think carrying some momentum out west to his home area could be a big boost. These races will be on DIRTVision as well.
Up in Michigan, the dogfight between Tyler Courtney and Zeb Wise for the All Star championship will continue with stops at Tri-City and Butler. Just ten points separate the two teams right now in the owner standings. We talked earlier this week about Zeb using the Ford power at Selinsgrove last Sunday to score the win, and we'll have to see how Rudeen manages their engine program going forward. Talking to some folks this week, it sounds like they could still rely heavily on their Speedway Engines down the stretch.
If you're a non wing fan, the big Smackdown weekend at Kokomo is here, with big money on the line on Saturday. The USAC sprint car competitors will race for $6 grand tonight and tomorrow, and then $30,000 goes to the winner on Saturday. As an added bonus though, drivers will earn $500 for every lap led during the finale, so the winner could potentially walk away with $50 grand. Recent Kokomo winners include CJ Leary, Kyle Cummins, Kevin Thomas Jr., and Justin Grant. Things are still wide open in the points for USAC as well, as the top five drivers in the standings are separated by just 99 points at the moment. Both the All Stars and USAC are live on FloRacing if you can't get to those races.
Other racing to check over the next few days includes the ASCS National Tour at Lakeside and Salina. Jason Martin leads the ASCS championship. The Hunt the Front Series is at Needmore and Senoia for a pair of $5000 to win races, and the Iron-Man Series heads to Lake Cumberland on Saturday for $15 grand to win.
That's it for the Daily this week. Big thanks to all of you who tune in. Hope you guys enjoy the dirt racing weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday.