Daytona to Dirt returns after a week off to recap two weeks of NASCAR’s big names making their presence felt on small car tracks across the country, as well as victory lane.
Lawless Alan
The Truck Series competitor fell short in both his heat race and B-main in wingless micro sprint action at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina Wednesday night (July 26), going backwards in his heat race before falling one spot short of a transfer in the first B-main.
Kyle Busch
The Cup Series regular racked up appearances at several new racetracks in micro sprint competition over the past two weeks. Making the rounds in Pennsylvania during the week leading up to Pocono, Busch qualified for the A-main at Action Track USA Wednesday night (July 19), running as high as fourth before being collected in a crash that left him 23rd in the running order.
Busch’s strength in the micro shone through Friday night at Greenwood Valley Action Track, where he finished second in the A-main. A fellow TrackChaser that I spoke to in attendance at the track said Busch impressed all in attendance with his work behind the wheel, as Rowdy continues to show improvement in the micro since he started racing the small cars alongside his son Brexton.
Busch was scheduled to race Monday night in micro competition at Thunder Hill Speedway in Wisconsin.
Rajah Caruth
The Truck Series regular was the definition of steady in the winged micro division at Millbridge on Wednesday (July 26), starting and finishing fifth in his heat race, then starting and finishing ninth in the A-main.
Ross Chastain
The Cup Series regular made his debut behind the wheel of a Northeast modified in Short Track Super Series competition at the Utica-Rome Speedway in New York last Thursday (July 20) and visibly struggled, going backwards in both his heat and last chance races.
Chastain did qualify for the A-main via a promoter’s provisional and was not competitive, even bringing out the race’s final caution that proved a hinderance to car owner Matt Sheppard (Sheppard did still win the feature).
Sheldon Creed
The Xfinity Series regular followed the Hyper 600 Speedweek tour in Pennsylvania last week leading up to Saturday’s race at Pocono and made some noise, winning a heat race at Clinton County Speedway (July 18) and Action Track USA (July 19). The Action Track appearance was noteworthy in that Creed scored a top-10 finish in a field of 114 cars, calling the Kutztown bullring one of his favorite tracks.
Creed’s performance on the tour peaked Thursday night at Airport Speedway in Delaware, posting a second-place finish in the A-main.
Hailie Deegan
The Truck Series regular didn’t make it past qualifying in winged micro competition at Millbridge Wednesday (July 26), pulling to the infield on the first lap of her heat race and failing to return for the feature.
Stewart Friesen
The Truck Series regular had a strong run in STSS modified competition at Utica-Rome on Thursday (July 20), running as high as second and actually catching eventual race winner Sheppard for the lead before jumping the track in turns 1 and 2 with 13 laps to go, forced to settle for a fourth-place finish.
Kasey Kahne
The former Cup Series regular has had a busy two weeks of sprint car racing, attempting seven races over the last two weeks across the World of Outlaws, All-Star Circuit of Champions and High Limit series. Kahne qualified for six of those A-mains, the only miss coming in Outlaws competition at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania on Saturday (July 22).
Of all those starts, Kahne’s best was a sixth-place showing in the High Limit feature at Grandview Speedway in Pennsylvania on Wednesday (July 26).
Of note, Kahne ran the ASCoC show at Knoxville Raceway over the weekend in a likely test session for the upcoming Knoxville Nationals.
Kyle Larson
The Cup Series regular continued to make waves on and off the track in sprint car competition. Larson’s last two weeks started with a five-figure victory on the ASCoC tour, winning the Silver Cup at Lernerville Speedway in Pennsylvania two Tuesdays ago (July 18).
Larson showed up at BAPS Motor Speedway the following night on the Outlaws tour but didn’t end up racing, as the show was rain-delayed to Thursday following the completion of qualifying.
As has been customary on the High Limit tour, Larson was a force to be reckoned with, winning his heat race and dash before having to settle for second to Rico Abreu in the feature event at Grandview this past Wednesday (July 26).
Off the track, Larson’s remarks regarding the atmosphere surrounding last month’s Eldora Million lit up social media, creating two very defined camps in reviewing 2023’s biggest race.
Jesse Love
The ARCA Racing Series points leader remained hot in seemingly everything he drives, bouncing back from losing spots in both his heat race and dash in wingless micro sprint competition at Millbridge before driving from sixth to the feature win Wednesday night (July 26), his third at the North Carolina bullring this season.
Kenny Wallace
The former Cup Series regular stayed busy in the modified ranks over the last 10 days, scoring top-10 finishes in five feature races, including a race win at the Brownstown Bullring last Friday (July 21).
Of note, Wallace’s well-known crewman “Jughead” was hospitalized over the weekend. The latest updates to Wallace’s Facebook page indicates that he has been released.
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