2015 DIRTcar Nationals Notebook Day One
By: Brooklyn Kennedy
-It was nice to see Kasey Kahne in the pits at Volusia Speedway. The hands on presence of the team owner certainly played into the success of Brad Sweet and Daryn Pittman during the weekend.
-Daryn Pittman looks to be the early championship favorite picking up a win and the overall Nationals championship, although it will be a dogfight between him and Donny Schatz to the end with Brad Sweet playing the dark horse.
-I think this will be the first of many feature wins during the season for Brad Sweet. His rebound to take the lead for the second time during Sunday night’s feature event showed why he grabbed the Ollie’s sponsorship and confidence from team owner Kahne
-It was great to see Greg Hodnett do so well in Florida. He picked up a win at Bubba Speedway and finished 6th in the final Nationals point standings as one of the only Pennsylvania guys to make the trip down to the Nationals.
-Lucas Wolfe garnered a lot of attention during the weekend for a new product he was running on his car for the first time. Wolfe was running a new Vahlco Wheels left rear wheel on his Zemco Racing machine.
-Austin Dillon showed he knows how to wheel a UMP Modified. He’s collected two wins so far and hasn’t finished worse than third. The UMP Modifieds conclude their Nationals on Monday night.
-Its nice to see former NASCAR stars David Stremme, Kenny Wallace, and Ken Schrader joining today’s NASCAR stars Austin and Ty Dillon racing the UMP Modifieds. All are returning to their dirt racing roots by competing for the Gator
-There was a great crowd on hand Sunday night for the World of Outlaw Sprints and UMP Modifieds. With the Sprints moving out and the temperatures expected to drop over the next few days, it will be interesting to see how the crowd holds.
-There is a very unique vendor alley set up behind the grandstands at Volusia. I highly recommend the Steak on a Stick! It was the best $12 I’ve spent on food in a while. They also have Shrimp on a Stick and Pork Chop Sandwiches that I will be trying during the course of the week.
