Jonathan Davenport was a FloRacing Night in America winner in 2021
There are only so many weekends on the dirt racing calendar and with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series dominating so much of that calendar, there aren’t enough open dates remaining for another national tour, are there? Even with that seeming to be the case, not one but two promotional organizations who sanction races on a wide scale are in the process of emerging on the Dirt Late Model racing scene.
In 2021, the Castrol FloRacing Night in America and XR Super Series each made an appearance in the world of dirt racing with features that offered enticing purses on dates that did not often conflict with the national series. As a result, most of the races held by the two were contested by some of the sport’s top stars.
Jonathan Davenport, Tyler Erb, Bobby Pierce and Scott Bloomquist were among those frequently seen in races sanctioned by one or both bodies. And More, NASCAR drivers such as Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott were on hand for the events held at Bristol Motor Speedway prior to the return of the NASCAR Cup Series to dirt.
FloRacing Night in America acted much like a touring series as it offered an end-of-season points fund while the XR Super Series staged races that played out individually with no final points fund. However, the XR races offered significant bonuses to drivers who ran all of their events which provided Pierce a $100,000 payout in their final event in Las Vegas.
The two more traditional national tours have certainly stepped up their games going into 2022 by adding to their respective points funds, offering higher paying races, and laying out more incentives for their regulars. With so many lucrative races on tap, there had to be more reasons for drivers and teams to remain on their tours and they have provided those reasons for them to stay on board or to join in.
The newcomers have looked to find ways to fit into that already crowded schedule. As a result, some of the few open weekends have been exploited as well as midweek events being placed on the slate.
The races proposed by these relatively new sanctioning bodies are worthy of attention. The Castrol FloRacing Night in America has a twelve-race schedule with legendary tracks such as Eldora, Fairbury and Brownstown playing a part. Most of those features will pay no less than $22,022-to-win in 2022 with the finale at Georgia’s Senoia Raceway offering a $53,053 payout.
Chris Ferguson won an XR Super Series feature at Bristol Motor Speedway
The XR Super Series has a bold 25-race schedule on tap for the upcoming campaign with races being held at locales such as the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway, The Dirt Track at Charlotte, as well as the dirt tracks located adjacent to the Texas Motor Speedway and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. All of those features will pay at least $25,000 to the victors with numerous races doling out $50,000-to-win.
Racing full-time on one of the two Dirt Late Model national tours has always carried a certain degree of prestige among those who have been able to take on and complete the task. That most likely will never change. However, Brandon Overton showed in 2021 that there can be another way to make good money as he scored several wins that came with monster paydays across a wide range of sanctioned and unsanctioned races. Now, it appears as if there will be even greater possibility to make big money outside of the national series races.
While most of the sport’s top stars will more than likely continue to participate on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series or the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series, these new up-and-comers have certain gotten the attention of many within the dirt racing world and that will continue as long as they offer up big money and can find ways to get their races in while at the same time avoiding major scheduling conflicts.
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