Here’s the latest edition of Fast Talk, a DirtonDirt.com feature each Monday sponsored by Out-Pace Racing Products. Staffers Michael Rigsby, Todd Turner and Kevin Kovac gather weekly for a roundtable discussion about who’s hot, who’s not and other issues regarding Dirt Late Model racing (edited for clarity and length):

Todd Turner: While weather limited the three-race Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series weekend to a single event, it was a doozy. Scott Bloomquist came out on top of a three-way battle with race-long leader Ray Moore and Ryan Gustin in the closing laps Saturday at ArkLatex Speedway in Vivian, La.

The thriller probably elevated ArkLaTex a few notches higher on the tracks-I’ve-gotta-visit list for all of us. Watching the video, I wasn’t sure that Gustin didn’t have the best car in the final laps if things had fallen his way. Pretty good one, wasn’t it?

Michael Rigsby: I hate to say \"I told you so” — wait, I actually love saying it! — but once again ArkLaTex delivers, hitting a home run. It's always three-wide, there's always multiple grooves, and it's always down to the last few laps it seems. I'm tired of talking about how good it is at this point … people just gotta go! As for the race itself, I found myself feeling bad for Ray Moore, who you know wanted that one badly.

Kevin Kovac: Bloomquist was praising the place during his postrace interviews, and why not? Last month's Pelican 100 showed ArkLaTex's excellent racing off to a wider audience, and then Saturday's Lucas show … wow, that was some good stuff. When you have three guys (Ray Moore, Bloomquist, O'Neal) go three-wide for the lead early in the race and then have three cars in a battle for the win at the end (Gustin was definitely on the move!), you've got yourself a great track.

TT: Kevin, I know your Inside Dirt Late Model Racing column plans on delving into Moore’s runner-up finish. I know he told DirtonDirt.com in his interview that he’d finished second to Bloomquist any day, but when he had such a golden opportunity to beat him, that had to be a tough one to lose.

KK: I talked to Moore last night — he's a great interview, by the way — and he said all the right things about not being ashamed to lose to a superstar like Bloomquist. But he's a top-notch regional racer, and he admitted that coming so, so close to a national-tour win was disappointing. He said he'll be replaying those final laps and how he decided to deal with lapped traffic in his head for awhile.

Still, for a guy who concedes that open-motor racing has never been his cup of tea, Moore showed he's got talent.

TT: Moore has been a solid if underrated regional racer over the last several years, even if his work schedule keeps him from stringing together long stretches of racing. He'd hinted before about perhaps getting his work to a place where he could squeeze in a few seasons of mostly full-time racing, and that'd be great it it could work out that way.

Let’s go elsewhere. While Gustin was mixing it up in Louisiana, his fellow modified ace Rodney Sanders of Happy, Texas, notched his first career Late Model victory at I-80 Speedway, where Gustin had his coming out last summer. Sanders outran some tough competition — including two-time World 100 winner Brian Birkhofer, six-time MARS champ Terry Phillips, four-time Corn Belt Clash champion Chad Simpson — in as tough as a $2,000-to-win race you’ll find. I’ve gotta feeling we might be talking about Gustin and Sanders even more this season. What do you guys think?

MR: I think this is the year the modified guys really start to flex their muscle. They've been on the horizon here for a season or two, flirting with great results, but I think 2014 is the time we see them really shine. I-80 Speedway isn't an easy place to win, nor is ArkLaTex an easy place to navigate, so both of those runs just continue to signal that Sanders and Gustin's arrows are firmly pointed up.

KK: Gustin seems to be popping up near the front of the pack whenever he enters a Late Model show this year. Now Sanders gets a quality win at I-80. Looks like the open-wheel modified ranks are starting to produce some fine talent. With some solid teams behind them, I don't see why they won't be making some national noise in the very near future.

TT: There were some scary moments this weekend at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., first when Mark Vineyard’s car flipped violently in hot laps, then when race leader Chris Madden’s machine slammed the turn-one wall after contact with a slower car. No serious injuries were reported, but Madden’s driver’s-side first contact with the concrete was reminiscent of Billy Moyer’s tough shot last fall in Charlotte.

For Madden, top-ranked in DirtonDirt.com’s Top 25 power rankings, it’s more than a speedbump as he’ll have to shake off soreness and shuffle plans for a backup car heading into a busy three-day National Dirt Racing League weekend. Madden will have to quickly regroup, won’t he?

KK: That was a rough way for Madden's hot streak to get slowed down. When I read that Madden had been knocked out of the lead at Smoky Mountain — yes, it appeared he might be headed for another victory — after tangling with a lapped car, I didn’t think too much of it. But after a saw the video of his wreck, it got my attention. Anyone who hasn’t yet seen it should go take a look — Madden hit that turn-one crossover gate and concrete wall real hard with the left side of his car. It definitely had the scary look of Billy Moyer’s Charlotte crash last November; Vineyard's high-speed flip was wild itself, but the way Madden hit might have made his crash even more disconcerting.

Fortunately, unlike Moyer, Madden escaped without having to make a hospital trip, though he reported that he was very sore. The wreck did badly damage his fast race car at an inopportune time — just days before he heads out on a three-day NDRL swing to Pennsylvania and Virginia — but hopefully the setback won’t turn out to be a season-changing moment.

TT: Wrecks are never good, but the wreck at Smoky Mountain would be high on the list of the exact kind of thing Madden might've been worried about in committing to the full NDRL schedule. You wonder if this wreck had come a week earlier he'd have other thoughts about his NDRL title chase.

MR: That's the first thing I thought about with Chris was the points chase. A guy like him in the past never had to worry about rushing to get things back together, but now he's just four days away from the first of a three-race swing and has no choice. That's why guys like him sometimes like avoiding points racing, but in this case the option of not going isn't on the table. He has to be in Pittsburgh on Thursday, and we're hearing he's getting a backup car from Scott Bloomquist to make the trip.

TT: Madden’s rival Jonathan Davenport never made it to Smoky Mountain because of brake problems on the team’s rig, but he salvaged Saturday night by rerouting to Fayetteville, N.C., for his second straight Carolina Clash victory. Suddenly Davenport has victories in last three starts overall, and five 2014 victories counting one Crate Late Model triumph. Davenport and Madden have duked it out in the Southeast in recent years, and they might be doing the same with the NDRL traveling to Pittsburgh, Pa., Winchester, Va., and Virginia Motor Speedway this weekend. Will they be battling for the NDRL title?

MR: I think it's been set up for awhile for those two to have a \"battle\" somewhere. They really are the Southeast’s best rivalry, and if they can take that to a national scale, it will be good for the sport. Both of them are more than capable of winning that title, and are both exciting guys to watch.

Early pick from either of you two? Hard to bet against either I guess. A tie? Ha!

TT: That’s a tough call, but if there's anyone that can finish ahead of both of them, they'll have earned the title for sure.

KK: I’d rate the odds of them facing off for the title as being pretty good — and I think that would be pretty cool. I spoke with Davenport last night and he acknowledged that he's looking forward to taking the battles he's had with Madden in the Southeast and hopefully reproducing them in front of some new audiences.

TT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series invades Tennessee this weekend with $10,000-to-win events at action-packed Duck River Raceway Park and high-banked Tazewell Speedway. Both tracks seem to have their share of unexpected winners — any chance we’ll see a WoO surprise this weekend?

MR: Talk about two places that can produce some wild racing. I expect both nights to be hammer down, and I'll almost guarantee late in the race lapped traffic plays a serious role in the outcome. Let's hope we can avoid the Big One at the Taz, and that Duck River is as cushion-banging as it always is!

KK: I could envision a Billy Ogle Jr. or a Vic Hill knocking off a home-state win at one of the tracks. Both are successful, veteran racers, and sometimes you just get the feeling that guys like that are due to have everything go right at an Outlaw show so they bag that win.

TT: Outside of who wins, there will likely be some interest on who shows up at which Tennessee track after Volunteer Speedway — not far from Tazewell — on Friday announced an unsanctioned $10,000-to-win event event for April 12, the same night as Tazewell’s WoO race.

MR: Yeah it will be interesting to see what happens with the Bulls Gap split on Saturday night. Tough one for the fans there — hopefully everything goes off without a hitch.

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