Brownstown Speedway
Joiner finds the front twice in Hoosier State
By Bryan Ault
DirtonDirt contributing writer
Joseph Joiner (heathlawsonphotos.com)
BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (May 30) — Hunting the front and finding the front are two different things.
Just ask Joseph Joiner and the Hunt the Front gang. They finally found the front twice during a month-ending trip to the Hoosier trip, snapping a nearly year-long winless streak as they kicked off a three-week swing in the Midwest better than they could have imagined. | RaceWire
The 32-year-old driver from Milton, Fla., captured back-to-back wins in the Northern Allstars Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned doubleheader at Bloomington Speedway and Brownstown Speedway. Raking in $20,000 in prize money for the sweep was certainly nice, but what really had Joiner excited was the speed of his car heading into June 3-6’s Dirt Late Model Dream festivities at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
“I feel like our race car right now has just a really good balance that kind of makes it where I can settle down and do my job behind the wheel,” Joiner said after winning Saturday’s Hoosier Dirt Classic at Brownstown. “The main thing I can be thankful for, and what I can credit, is our race car and how it's been really good for most of the year now. I’m just thankful to have a good and fast car right now.”
Joiner was triumphant at Brownstown in just his second time visiting the quarter-mile oval in southern Indiana. He finished fourth in last season’s Hoosier Dirt Classic won by Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., and Joiner thought he might be heading for a similar result in the opening laps of Saturday’s race.
“I knew we really gambled (on tires),” Joiner said. “I think last night (at Bloomington) we sort of gambled on tires, but when we went soft tonight, it was a big gamble. Before we took the green and we’re rolling around out there, I’m like, ‘Oh, man, this racetrack, there’s not as much loose dirt as what I thought there would be.; And I was really worried about it, especially when we took off and ran those first five or 10 laps on the bottom and those top three were just getting going out there on the top.”
But the gamble on tire choice — plus his patience — paid off. Joiner settled into fourth for most of the race’s early stages while Trevor Landrum led the first 30 laps with fast-qualifier Adam Stricker and Jason Jameson in hot pursuit. As Stricker faded, Joiner slid by Landrum on the 31st lap and drove to a commanding lead, but a caution for David Webb with seven laps to go nixed the margin.
Joiner “got really worried” when the caution came out. Glancing at Brownstown’s leaderboard off turn two while running under yellow, he knew Brownstown veteran and Northern Allstars points leader Jason Jameson of Lawrenceburg, Ind., would be a threat in the track’s upper grooves. He also looked at the track’s cushion and noticed Jameson had “a razor-thin little lip” of dirt to lean on.
It didn’t matter for Joiner. He was going to stick with hugging the hub, which was the primary way he was able to take home the hard charger award in the event held last year.
“I saw (Jameson) come buzzing by, I’m like, ‘Oh no. Well, there he goes, you know what I mean?’” Joiner said of Jameson’s move to lead laps 44-48. “And I seen him go by and I’m like, ‘Well, hey, first and a second’s not bad, you know?’”
Under caution, though, Joiner hoped the track had enough moisture in the lower grooves to gain momentum off the corners and allow him to get back around Jameson. That’s precisely what happened on lap 49. Joiner regained the lead and went on cross the finish line 0.422 of a second ahead of Jameson for his second win of the season.
“He just kind of mellowed out,” Joiner said. “He wasn’t really going anywhere, but I knew I just had to do my best to hit exactly where I needed to hit on the bottom and get as close as I could to those (infield) tires. If I hit the tires I knew I’d take myself out, but I got all I could down the straightaway there to get all the speed I could out of it. I was able to get back by him.
“I mean, it’s just wild,” he continued. “Like, this was a phenomenal racetrack tonight. I mean, we raced all over it, like, literally from the very top to the very bottom, and everything in between. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I had a ball all weekend.”
The Joiners departed their shop in downtown Milton, Fla., on Thursday and arrived in Bloomington at 2:30 a.m. on Friday. They were the first team to unload at Bloomington, where Joiner passed Tyler Collins of North Vernon, Ind., for the lead on a lap-19 restart and took home the $10,000 check at the Don Hobbs Classic.
“(Taylon Center), he helped us out,” Joiner said after Friday night’s victory, referring to his crew chief/technical consultant who didn’t make the trip to Indiana but will be at Eldora next week. “He's been on the phone and everything that we’re doing is all stuff that he’s got going.
“What we got going right now, I think, is really good, and it seems to be pretty universal and I’m excited. We kind of got all our eggs in this basket, this one car and, you know, engine and everything, and if we were to tear it up or something we’re going to be in a bind. But right now it’s running good, our program is trending up, where our race cars are really fast.”
The victory at Bloomington wasn’t just Joiner’s first Northern Allstars win; it was his first victory since last June’s Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series-sanctioned Grassy Smith Memorial at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C. It was his first Super Late Model start since April 11’s Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series-sanctioned race at North Georgia Speedway in Chatsworth, Ga., where Joiner was passed for the lead by Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., in the Kevin Rumley No. 6 car with two laps to go and finished second.
“I've run second about six times,” Joiner said after the 40-lapper at Bloomington. “Being able to finally break through and get one, you know, it definitely helps. Tonight was a really good night for us. I feel like all night long our race car was really good for the circumstances we had with being the last car to qualify in the daylight. You know, that’s never good. And we were able to go. I figured that was pretty good for the situation we were dealt there.”
It’s been a busy year for the Joiners, especially after purchasing their home track — Southern Raceway in Milton, Fla. — right before the season began and making extensive repairs to the facilities and widening out its surface. Trying to balance their racing responsibilities and track ownership duties has been a challenge, and Joiner is keenly aware that his YouTube fans would prefer to see him behind the wheel more often.
“It’s very, very hard,” Joiner said. “Obviously, like, our racing schedule has slowed down a little bit, especially trips like this or being out of town, racing Super Late Model stuff. A lot of our fans, I don’t think, are really necessarily fond of that, but it’s just where we’re at right now. I mean, we’re on a new venture and we’re trying to nurture that a little bit and get that off the ground and where it can sustain itself.”
To keep his cars fresh, Joiner hired Tucker Byrd of Silverhill, Ala., to turn wrenches and get his stable of cars ready for the season. Joiner said the new crewman was often in the shop for as long as he was at the track, and credits him immensely for their recent success.
“He would have the cars ready or at least 90 percent and I would finish up what I need to finish up or do this or that, and we would go do our thing,” Joiner said. “And I’m thankful for that. That’s been really great. And owning a racetrack, I don’t care what anybody says, that is very, very hard work. I would never have thought it would be as much hard work as what it is, and just to make things happen and to put on events and have things in place to just float.”
With the Northern Allstars weekend out of the way, the Hunt the Front team will head to Edinburgh, Ind., for a stop at Chad Stapleton’s shop to get ready for the Dream just like they did last season. Stapleton’s shop provides ample room for them to clean and tinker on their 2025 Longhorn Chassis and unveil their newest Eldora wrap on the car before making the trip to Ohio.
“Our buddy, Chad, he’s been open arms there saying, ‘Come on and come hang out with us,’” Joiner said. “We knew coming up here we could hang out with them guys, and this is all kind of his places and stuff he’s been around. And, you know, it doesn’t hurt that (the Northern Allstars doubleheader) is on Hunt the Front TV, so we might as well go race there, right? Chad's place is like two hours from Eldora, so we can go and get our trip started a little early and come up here, race a couple nights, hang out and get our stuff together and have a good time and then go to Eldora instead of driving 12 hours from the house just to go there.”
Winning at Eldora will be challenging, and Joiner knows it. Since capturing a consolation race at the World 100 in 2022 to transfer into the A-main, Joiner has never made a full-field crown jewel event at Tony Stewart’s hallowed half-mile oval. He missed the 2022 Eldora Million won by Jonathan Davenport by one spot. He led a heat race at last year’s World 100 but fell back on a restart and failed to transfer into the big show.
“Eldora is just full of circumstances like that,” Joiner said. “I mean, somehow or another, JD always finds his way to get around the circumstances, but I don’t know. It’s just someplace for us that’s been very tough. It’s tough for everybody, you know, but we’re fast there. Nonetheless, right now, we’re good. Things are great. We’re clicking really good around here. And at the very least, I’m just glad to be able to make it through and run a few races here, win some money, and not tear anything up.”
