DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The formidable team behind Corey Day's rise, ranking the Lucas title contenders after World 100 | Daily 9-11-2023

Based on what we saw this weekend at the World 100, I think things have shifted for the Lucas championship, and we'll talk about the contenders today. Also, Corey Day appears to be on his way to stardom, but I want to spotlight the pretty incredible support system that's guiding him through his rise. Let's go!

It's Monday, September 11th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Don't forget to take a moment today to remember all those we lost on 9/11 back in 2001. It's hard to believe it's been 22 years already.

Later this week, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series heads to Knoxville for the Late Model Knoxville Nationals, and we are down to just seven race nights left until they hit Eldora for the Dirt Track World Championship. For those like me that care about these series championships, I wanted to talk a little bit today about what we can learn about the Lucas title contenders from recent races at Eldora, and who could be the favorites towards the end of October. If Eldora was today, the four drivers going for the Lucas title would be Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O'Neal, Jonathan Davenport, and Brandon Overton. It feels like the top three are pretty set, with only Overton in any danger of dropping out. Regardless of how he did at Eldora though, Overton has been much better as of late, and I think it will be tough for Tim McCreadie to climb back into this thing. So assuming the top four doesn't change, let's rank those guys in terms of championship chances based on recent Eldora performances. Starting at the bottom, at four, it has to be Overton. Better on the road as of late, but Eldora has not been kind to Big Sexy this season. Just a single top ten in a feature, he missed the Dream finale after the prelim crash with Joseph Joiner, and was never a factor this past weekend at the World. He made the main event, but was 22nd. He was lights out in 2021, winning six features, and could still jump up and surprise us, but compared to the other three at this point, his odds are the worst. At three, I'm putting RTJ. He's having a historic run, the most Lucas wins ever in a season, and has a huge margin in the standings at the moment. I'm just not convinced though that they can win at Eldora. It's going to be a shame if the 20RT can't cap this season with the title, but a 12th place finish on Saturday night wasn't confidence inspiring. RTJ was into the pits multiple times during the main event for adjustments, and even though they led laps in a prelim feature, their package still clearly needs some work. They've been better at Eldora as of late, but they still need to close up that margin even more. From here, I think the top two in Davenport and O'Neal are much closer to each other than I would have thought initially, and definitely before this past weekend. I'm still going to give the very slight edge to JD, with an average Eldora feature finish of four over his past ten races, but man it's close. Without the Friday night flat tire, we could have easily seen a weekend sweep from O'Neal, and it's clear the Rocket team has taken a step forward at Eldora with Huddy in the seat. His recent average finish isn't as good as Davenport's, but he's got more wins, and he's led laps in seven of the past ten features, split field and big shows. The World 100 score feels like a weight off their shoulders, and driving around Davenport to do it should not get dismissed. So four Overton, three RTJ, and I'm going to call it 1A and 1B for Davenport and O'Neal. Drop me a comment, let me know if this past weekend changed your mind at all about the Lucas title fight.

The other thing I wanted to get into today is what we are seeing right now from Corey Day. On yesterday's show I wanted to focus on the tech stuff from the Gold Cup weekend, but I've been wanting to dive into this a bit more for a while. And Day's first Outlaw win is a good tie in here. 17 years old, obviously one of the top young talents in the sport, gets his first Outlaw win, is leading the NARC championship, and is another in a long line of open wheel talent to come out of California. It took 29 Outlaw appearances to get his first victory, he's got five straight top five finishes, was in the Knoxville Nationals main event, and now has nine 410 sprint car wins on the season in just 40 total starts. But while we've seen him travel this season, and some in 2022, don't expect a significantly larger national tour next season. Corey's dad Ronnie told FloRacing in advance of the Knoxville Nationals that Corey won't pursue anything full time until after he graduates high school, which won't happen until the spring of 2024. Ronnie wants his son to enjoy being a kid for the time being, and having had his own successful driving career, he would know what's ahead. Ronnie was a fantastic racer in his own right, with all sorts of wins on his resume, including with the NARC King of the West, Civil War, Ocean Sprints, Western States midgets, and more. But besides Ronnie, the rest of the support system around Corey is top notch, and maybe a tad underrated. I don't think enough has been made of how influential Jason Meyers has been in the careers of a few of these drivers to come out of California. He has mentored Carson Macedo, who has become one of the top drivers in the country, with 35 Outlaw wins and a regular championship contender. And now he's helping guide Day through his young sprint car career. Still in his mid 40s, Meyers could conceivably still be a full time World of Outlaws driver, but has instead shifted his focus towards his successful businesses and and supporting other racers. Not that long ago, Meyers was one of the few drivers who was able to go toe-to-toe with Donny Schatz during the peak of his powers and actually beat him. Schatz's incredible ten World of Outlaws titles were won between 2006 and 2018, but two of the three years he didn't win were because Meyers was in his way. And it took Meyers doing some drastic things to make that happen, which he talked about when me and Ross interviewed him on Open Red back in 2017. That included sports psychology, and an incredible commitment to preparation around the team. If you were looking for someone to build a sprint car operation to compete on the national level, especially to put around a very talented young driver, you probably couldn't find better than Meyers. From there, leading the crew for Day is veteran crew chief Shane Bowers. He's been going up and down the road with the World of Outlaws for 20 plus years, has won championships with Schatz and Meyers, and worked with other drivers like Kerry Madsen, Tim Shaffer, and Stevie Smith. He's a steady hand who has seen everything, and he's guided Day to not only nine 410 wins in 2023, but also 29 top tens in those 40 races. Looking at the total package, there is obviously no way to guarantee success, but Day has all the right parts and pieces in his corner, and they appear to be committed to allowing him to develop slowly and not push him forward too quickly. And in an age where teams expect drivers to win and win now, that patient approach might be the most important aspect of all of this.

Alright, that's it for the show today. The streaming schedule is pretty quiet, but if you want to see it anyway, head over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

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