New Series, More #FantasyDirt!
If you haven't heard by now, Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet, and FloRacing have teamed up for a mid-week sprint car series. Similar to the Castrol FloRacing Night in America for late models, the new K1 High Limit Sprint Car Series is focused on well-paying mid-week racing with an eye toward attracting the best and brightest in the sprint car scene.
The High Limit series doesn't kick into full gear until 2023, but tonight they are running their first show from Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana.
For us #FantasyDirt folks, this means more mid-week contests to test our metal and I'm here for it!
To prepare for tonight, I reached out to High Limit to inquire about their format and have yet to hear back. If I do, I will be sure to update this post. However, in the meantime, I think there are some pretty good indicators of how this series will operate.
The Castrol FloRacing Night in America, also a partnership between Kyle Larson and FloRacing, runs a straight up program. Meaning qualifying directly correlates to starting position in the Heat. Then the top finishers in each Heat (exact amount depends on total entrants) directly transfer to the A-Main with the remainder going to a B and/or C Main. If a C-Main is required, likely the top 4 will tag the back of the B-Main. From there, the top X amount (probably 4, again) will tag the back of the A-Main. More or less, the WoO Sprint Car format.
With this in mind, qualifying will be the most important factor in selecting a DirtDraft lineup (it's looking like Race Monitor for Timing & Scoring, if you don't have Flo). Those who qualify well will have the easiest path to making the show. Of course, factors such as who's currently running well, who's historically run well at Putnamville, mechanical gremlins, and the like are still relevant. Often times, I will grab a lower-salaried driver who qualifies exceedingly well as a way to get some cheap points to pair with higher-salaried drivers who have a higher likelihood to finish in the Top 5.
After a quick glance at the drivers and salaries on DirtDraft, here are a couple guys I like pre-qualifying:
Kyle Larson/Tyler Courtney/Brent Marks - These three are pretty easy, as I suspect the winner tonight will come from this group. You're paying a premium, however, to grab the winner.
Hunter Schuerenberg - Solid value for a driver who could reasonably find a Top 5.
Mitchel Moles - Lower-salaried driver who has been running well in a midget and has solid team that was running some early WoO races as well.
Keep an eye on my Twitter to see my final lineup.
As of now, these are the drivers who DirtDraft has listed as "Racing" and their "Salaries":
Kyle Larson - $22,500
Tyler Courtney - $22,300
Brent Marks - $22,100
Justin Peck - $21,900
Michael "Buddy" Kofoid - $21,600
Anthony Macri - $21,400
Zeb Wise - $21,200
Cory Eliason - $21,000
Hunter Schuerenberg - $20,700
Chris Windom - $20,500
Brady Bacon - $20,300
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - $20,100
Kyle Cummins - $20,000
Travis Philo - $19,900
Austin McCarl - $19,800
Chase Stockon - $19,700
CJ Leary - $19,500
Alex Bowman - $19,400
Tanner Carrick - $19,300
Kevin Thomas Jr. - 19,100
Thomas Meseraull - $18,800
Justin Grant - $18,700
Mitchel Moles - $18,600
Zach Hampton - $18,500
Jason McDougal - $18,400
Skylar Gee - $18,300
Chase Briscoe - $18,200
Critter Malone - $18,100
McKenna Haase - $18,000
Tim Crawley - $18,000
Chad Kemenah - $18,000
