Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - 60 Wins, Being the Villain, Stung by a Cactus: Best of ADDH

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

Before we put a bow on the 2025 season for Actions Detrimental, we look back on some of the most memorable moments from the season00:15 Denny recaps the ending of the championship race in Phoenix10:08 Drama in the Hoop Group draft11:27 Meaning of 60 career Cup wins18:33 The Hamlin family grows to 5 with the birth of Jameson Drew Hamlin19:35 Don’t expect an apology from Denny for wrecking Bubba Wallace27:25 Where did “11 Against the World” come from30:30 Denny wrecks teammate Ty Gibbs38:36 Molly and AP get stung by a cactus42:00 Denny has taken the villain role from Kyle Busch49:36 The 11 team gained an advantage thanks to the pit crew55:12 Horns down backfired for Denny in Texas Real fans wear Dirty Mo. Hit the link and join the crew.👇https://shop.dirtymomedia.com/For more Actions Detrimental content: https://www.youtube.com/@ActionsDetrimentalFanDuel Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up, everyone. Producer Travis here. 2025 was a crazy season for action detrimental on and off the track. Before we head into 2026, here's a highlight of the show from the past year. Enjoy. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. I believe that I've been a competitive for 20 years. Opinions from tonight's podcast, strictly biased. You're going to hear from my point of view.

I'm a fighter. No, you are not. The spoils of video. for Jared Allen. He's got better luck to drink and drink to win. I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection.

A championship and the most popular driver. Salon told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah, and I've already said it. Listening to you talk now, it sounds like you've come to peace with the ending of this race and how it all ended. Well, I think that the fans made it a lot easier. I mean, the competitors made it easier. You know, I got to give so much appreciation to Kyle Larson and how gracious he was during all this, very humble, during all this, and certainly during the banquet, given myself and my team the props that we did deserve in that final race, and, you know, he did nothing wrong.

His team knew that they had to do something to try to win. They played the game as it was meant to be played. So we definitely have a deserving champion in the five team. They scored more points than anyone else the entire year. I don't think anyone should ever question the deservingness of Kyle Larson's championship because he definitely did. and I what did

what did what did I say out in the to-it display at Phoenix and they say like who are you a fan of who did I say Larson I said I'm a fan of Larson

I just if I were a race fan only you know I just I certainly admire his ability behind the wheel and to do special things and so if I didn't win

wish it was a Toyota, wish Chase would have got it, but obviously Larson is one that I'm close with off the track and have a ton of respect for us. So I want to make sure that, you know, that five team and Larson, you know, there is no asterisk besides this one. They played the game, they had to fight back,

went to lack down at one point, got the lucky dog, another entertainment quirk that got thrown in. it just you know we we love resetting the score and unfortunately i was one of the ones that that got hurt by the reset you always said though that one of your biggest goals um in this sport was to be respected by your peers when you left it felt like that's that that's yeah that's what honestly made me feel a ton better and and i talked about the competitors obviously william baron you know saying what he said and other competitors i just i can't thank them enough for you know at least

saying the kind words and I do appreciate it. The fans themselves have just been overwhelmingly supportive and you know there was a moment that happened in Virginia that certainly I felt like I think I did turn the corner a little a little bit. I was actually just just left that the racetrack that you saw that I posted on Instagram and I went to a breakfast place on the way of the airport and I don't know I just I saw this guy and and I think that was probably his mother and his wife and the three of them were there and they were sitting kind of 20 feet from us and we're in Chesterfield we're literally probably 15 minutes from my house but it's on the main road where you know I did

I had our trailer business, Chesville Trailor and Hitch, and that was my hometown. So I see this guy, and as we get ready to leave, you know, his mother's crying. And I can see her kind of looking over and she's crying and whatnot. And he was just, you know, telling me, you know, that you don't, he's like, you know, my son would just absolutely die to be here. He says we were somewhere this past weekend, and I remember we told them to turn the race on, and everyone just be quiet because we want to focus on this race during this time. And he was just saying that, you know, how happy his son was and his family was, that, you know, things were going so well.

And then equally how crushed his son was in that, you know, moments right after. but then he told me like how much joy that I brought his family during that time and so you know his just very simple message to me is that you know you racing brings my family joy so you know a lot of us can be really really selfish at times and want to accomplish things for ourselves and I think the hardest thing for me in the moment was and I dressed all you guys after after the race behind the bust all the all the bros and all the family and everything but I hated it for all of you guys it's not it doesn't change what I think about me whether I have the trophy or not I knew on that day I was better than everyone else was my car was better than everyone

else. We did what we were supposed to do. So it didn't change my feeling of believing that I am a championship driver. I believe I'm certainly worthy of that. So I got to ask now, are you going to race next season? Yeah. I mean, I, listen, I would have begged Joe to let me quit had I won that race. I would have. I would have. I would have. because it would have just been the perfect way for me to go out. But they're not ready for that yet. They're not, you know, they have to have time to work all my succession plan. And we obviously, we set a date out now to at least, you know, come to, come to when that is.

We know what's the lifeline left. but I would have certainly really, really asked him a big favor to let me end on that one had it gone well. Does the most likely format being changed make it easier to race next year? If you would have raced in this format next year, it would have been harder to get back in the car and do this again? Very. Very. It doesn't make me want to race right now in this moment anymore. They could say 36 races, which they're not. Everyone just get over it.

You're going to get playoffs. But it's still, the off season is still so fresh. I want nothing to do with racing still right now. I've got to get some more time. I mean, again, I'm, I can't wait until, well, December 15th or 18th, whenever, whenever that part's done. because this year, like I said, it's just been so full. Does it make it more appealing?

Yes. For people like myself, William Byron, Kyle Arson, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Redick, I think we're all for bigger sample size. I think if I didn't list your name, of course you love the one race playoff because it rewards mediocrity for the bulk of the season. And it allows you to just, you've never had one ripped out of your hands.

You've taken out of people's hands, but you've never had it ripped out. So you don't know what that feels like. You don't know what it's like to dominate a season and then all of a sudden the format or whatever keeps resetting the score on. on you and then finally you end up losing an overtime those are the people that are really really excited about the one race and that we had it's because they they were able to they were

able to steal from others they hadn't had it taken from them there are 36 weeks of dominating and running well it's it's different everyone wants different things I think mediocre people want the small sample size is possible. I think that the greats, they want it, they want it to give a bigger sample size. And there might be others, by the way. I want to be careful with saying just those names.

There are others that, that do perform well over a large bucket of time. But those are, you know, those are the ones I thought about this year that were top five, like Chase Elliott. I left Chase Elliott out. I shouldn't have left Chase out.

So make sure of the clip. that you post dirty moe has got that correction he is one of the best at grinding through the season and while he might not be great he finds a way to be there week after week after week

which is why he's always a perennial guy inside the top five in total points so yeah it's average people want small sample size grates wants large I can figure out I'm going to root for

hoop group. You're going to be introduced to all the teams. What? What? I need to find out what your team is. Can I just tell you this? Week one on Thursday, we play Charlie. We're taking them down.

Are you? Because it's Charlie and Nate, right? Yeah. No defense. Charlie and Nate for those listening are the number one and number two players in this week. Yeah, Charlie made a trade to take someone else. his first rounder. So now he has two first rounders, but he didn't get another pick to like the fourth round or fifth round. I think that's... Yeah. Might be the right move. I get it. I get the strategy

because we all are, we are amateurs, right? And even if you leave us dead ass open, we're going to hit 30% of the time. So I get the strategy. It was Grant Van Wringen made the trade. I thought it was a stupid trade on his end. You can't give up a first rounder. I mean, you got to have somebody in the clutch time to like make it. I can't make all the shots. I think you needed to not let Charlie Fish for the week here. Play mine games with him. He's going to get it.

He's going to get it on Thursday. You've had 24 hours. What's 60 mean to you? Huh. I mean, I just never thought. Like when on NASCAR's post, social posts, and it was like win one. And then the ticker went to it was like win 27.

Like the 2016 Daytona 500 was win 27. Have we won so many races in the last nine years? Like, that's a lot. We're now at 60. In 2016, Daytona 500 was win 27. I mean, we've gotten hot lately. And it's just they rack up quickly. It's crazy because as a driver,

and we expect to win so much, that I feel like, gosh, if we go four or five weeks without winning, it feels like a freaking eternity. But it's hard to win. And, you know, if you can average three and a half, four wins a year, they just tally up really, really quickly. And for me, personally, what does it mean? It's like I still feel like when I look at the names on the list that I'm now a part.

of for the top 10. I feel like my name does stick out as not one of the greats of the sport. You know, I see the names. I'm like, these are the legends of the sport. These are the people that grew the sport. We're just the best of the best. And then, you know, lots of them are guys that I raced against in my era. And so I knew how good they were.

It's just very gratifying that I was able to still race at a high level this long into my career. You're usually very stoic. You don't show too much emotion, but it got to you when you won. What was that? It just has been such a buildup, I think, around the number. It was, you know, I. Obviously, you know, some home stuff going on and really happy that my dad is able to see 60, you know, because him and my mom just had so much sacrifice that they endured to keep me going, you know, to keep their son's dreams alive. Like, they just were so selfless.

And you could argue reckless. and keeping this thing alive. But it's just like working and getting a trophy. Like that's what makes you really proud is that this all paid off. It all paid off in the end. Did it make it any sweeter that it felt as if the fans also appreciated it? Yes.

Yes. You went from being the most booed driver and driver intros. yesterday to the most celebrated at the end. When you were driving your car through that, you know, up to victory lane, right? There's fans on both sides of the barrier. It just felt like a big moment that they all appreciated. I mean, I truthfully was really surprised not to hear booze from the crowd after the race. Like usually I, it's just a given.

I'm going to get, you know, usually fans in general after the race, you're going to get, even if they're not fans of you, people always just get cheers because it's the end and, you know, it's the winner. But all of my post-race interviews when I get out of the car at the start finish line, it is, you know, it's 50-50, you know, I think. I just, I'm sure there were some booze, but I didn't hear them. I just didn't hear them at all.

I thought it was all really positive. and it truthfully was before I said anything. So I don't think I influenced it in that kind of way. So yeah, it makes me very humbled and very appreciative of the fans to do that because it certainly meant a lot for me personally. That was a big accomplishment for myself, a life accomplishment, a life goal in this sport in my profession. And for them to kind of give me that moment, I really appreciate that. But also, you know, the fans in the stands don't get to see what was on the broadcast, you know, you tearing up in your car on that cool down lap.

Like people watching on TV, they're all privy to that. But the fans in the stands don't see that. So it just, I don't know. Yeah. You know, they don't know how you're feeling in the moment until you get out of it. Right. I felt like they had already felt good about it. Yeah, I mean, I went back and watched.

and like, thank goodness my shield was down. Like, y'all didn't see the heavy stuff. The heavy stuff came down far before I raised that shield. I was a wreck. We could have an MJ meme. The entire last lap and then cool-down lap was just, I was a mess. And so when I finally pulled myself together is when I raised my shield. So, yeah, it's just, I don't know, sometimes it's,

just it hits you what was that conversation like when you talk to your dad um yeah i mean he's just so proud of me i mean i don't know what to say i you know i don't want to come off super soft and this um that's not me but uh it's it's great because you know he always you know sends me messages and stuff after the race and um you know we have some Sometimes we have phone calls that, you know, talk about it. And he's always got questions. But either way, it's like, he's always like, you're the best. You're the best.

He's my number one hype man when it comes to confidence. And so, yeah, he just always says how proud he is. And certainly I'm so happy that he was able to see all those wins. What did your mom say when you got home here today? She's just super excited. Really, really excited. I came home. The kids had some confetti poppers ready to go,

and my mom was videotaping it and whatnot. So she just came, give me a big hug. You know, that's kind of what my mom does. How's the family of five doing? They are doing good. I tell you, had I won this week, I would be on an unprecedented heater. I mean, I still probably am.

on the track, off track, like, we're white hot right now. You got a Denny Hamlet baby too. On the 11th. On the 11th, I could. I mean, trust me, we didn't plan this to happen, A, during Mexico City Week,

nor on the 11th. 611. We have a James and Drew is what we have, and he is amazing. He's been sleeping extremely well. So, yeah, we are a family of five. And Molly seems to be over the moon. This is her baby.

I mean, you know how she carries around the fake baby dolls? She's doing that now with a real baby doll. I mean, just toting this thing all around the house and we're kind of like, but we would know that she would sacrifice her body if she tripped before hurting that child. All right. Now they're warmed up. Get the people what they want. Yeah, let's get into the cup race yesterday.

I can tell you this, Trav, though. if they're wanting an apology, they can turn off now. Okay? I love it. I had told the same thing on Twitter. People coming up to me. I was ready for war yesterday. I bet you did.

I didn't look at your timeline, but how was it? People coming at me blaming you. And I'm like, as folks, if you're looking for me to come at Denny, don't hold your breath. Yeah. All right. Let's get in it. Well, why is there no apology? or anything like that.

Because I'm racing for the win and I definitely won't apologize for racing for the win. That's why it's dumb. I think people are saying you're the owner. I'm like, well, if he does... No, no, no, no.

On Sunday, I am the driver. The person in the 11 car is the driver. That's where the disconnect, I think, comes from. Is that people expect me to be a different person. They expect me to be the guy with a 2311 shirt on. when I'm in the 11 car and that's just not possible.

It's not possible. Yeah, like, what's that say to Joe Gibbs if he's seeing that? Like, you're racing for him. I have zero doubts in my mind. I know because I know where my mind was in that moment is that I was racing the 23 the same as I would race anybody in that moment.

I would, truthfully, I would race my teammates the same way. I believe that. But was there any, like, little thought in your mind thinking that like, man, I know where Bubba's position is in the points. I know where my position is. You got more invested in a Bubba Wallace win than a Chase Briscoe or Christopher Bell win. Yes and no, if we're being honest.

There are open cars, by the way. So we're not, it's not like we're sure. I would say, yes, again, my responsibilities as the team owner comes Monday through Saturday. Like, it is not up to me to get 2311 into the round of eight, if that makes any sense. It's not my responsibility. My responsibility is to get the 11 into the round of 8. I'm the driver on Sunday of that 11.

Joe pays me a lot of money to make sure that that car wins a championship or has a shot to. and I mean could you imagine the outrage if I just backed off and let them have it? Race manipulation. Holy shit. People lose their minds. But instead, I think Bubba said it very accurately. We were going for the win. Both guys were going for the win.

Did you see those last few restarts? Everybody was side drafting each other so hard. Everyone was bouncing off of everything. It's the only reason I got back. in the race is the 20 and the 23 had an episode off a turn four. Like that was my like, oh man, we're back. We got a shot. You know, I've got data to prove it right here.

I'm in the blue. I didn't, I backed off early. I'm on the brakes. He's the orange. I'm the blue. Look at all my previous slaps. I drove into the same spot. But unfortunately, what was different is that I entered the corner and I can analyze this now.

I have about a second to analyze this as I'm going down the back stretch. Trying to figure out. So as a driver, what I'm trying to do is figure out angles. What angle am I going to take this corner? Where's the guy beside me? All those things play a factor into how deep you can drive into a corner or how shallow you need to be or whatever. So now that I can analyze this more out of the car and look at things and see, you know, again, while I'm in this car and this cocoon to the, going into turn

three, I don't even see the 23. I don't know how close he is. I don't know if he's a car width up. Is he right on my door? Those are all factors in how your car is going to take the next corner. And so there are things I would do differently. No doubt about it. Had I seen what I see now? No question. I would have backed off early because I would have thought, you know what, he's probably going to overdrive the corner. And now I'll just get back by him on the exit. But man, that's Monday morning quarterback. And there's no way in that split second I have to make a decision. I don't I don't know that he's right there and we have no gap between our cars. Had I known we had no gap between our cars, I would have known my car is about to go straight. But I had no way of knowing that. I did not know.

And so I entered the corner the same amount to the same point I always let off and my car went dead straight. And it's because of the arrow situation that I was in. I was closer to the 23 than I had budgeted for. And unfortunately, it took us both up to track. I took him up the track. He bounced off the wall. I slowed down enough that we, you know, gave the nine car the win.

But that is racing. And I'm not going to apologize for trying to win the race that the 11 car was the most deserving car to win that race, without a doubt. A caution happened. Bush, couldn't keep it off the wall to the end of the race. Otherwise, we're just, this is a non-story and we just go ahead and we win and we move on. But obviously, I saw an opportunity into turn three to win the race.

I'm ahead going into turn three. I'm thinking, this is, we're money. And then all of a sudden, I turn the wheel. It's hard as I can turn it. I turn the wheel and I'll get to the power steering stuff in a second. And I turn it as far as I can turn it. As far as my hands will let me turn it. And as hard as I could turn it.

But unfortunately, when you're side by side like that and that outside car, and the inside car have no space between them, we're both just going to go up the racetrack. So it was super unfortunate. I hated it for my team. I also hate it for the 23 team. Because, Jared, you've been in a million Q&As with me.

When people ask, when people ask me, well, how do you balance being a driver and an owner? What do I say? The same thing that you just said. I'm the car owner from this day to this day, and on Sunday, I want to be the one to finish first,

and they can finish second and third if they'd like. Every time. That is my answer. every time. I hope I win. I hope they finish second and third. Before we move on, let's talk about the origin story of the 11 against the world flag. Yeah, so I don't think the Fox guys knew kind of where I thought they, right, it was, they were like, what in the hell? But it was a fan gave me this. They gave it to me before the race. And obviously it came from, I mentioned it a few of my friends that are huge Ohio State fans.

You know, that was kind of Ohio State's mantra was, you know, Ohio against the world. And so we carried around this flag to all of the college football games that we went to. And it's what got us on ESPN. Like, I was so excited that like, you know, we got this flag and, you know, it was kind of our thing. Like when we didn't have the flag,

I told Charlie, I felt naked without this flag. And when Jack Sawyer took this flag in the national championship game, I'm like, damn it, We got to have another one. We didn't get another one, but we did have a fan. And the guy says, hey, by the way, Travis, he says, it pains me to give you this because I'm a Penn State fan. He says, but I am.

And so it was awesome to see him give me that. And I just knew that if we won the race, I wanted to, I kind of wanted to shake it. And so it wasn't anything other than a nice gesture that a fan gave me to say, you know, good job. and you know, kind of play into the, uh, Denny Hamlin against the fans type of mantra that we've been got going on. But it feels like that's also kind of dead now. I feel like the fans cheered more. They did.

It was definitely a balance towards the other. Balance. Because like I know most races, like your driver intro, I don't even have to be looking at that direction. Like I'm talking to crew guys before the race and I can hear just based on the booze. But yesterday after the race was like light booze. I would say it was 40% booze, 60% cheer, which is like a huge balance.

based on what I've seen in the past. But that's what makes me so excited is those that, because it was a lot of booze in pre-race, right, during the intros. But like, what do you got to boo now? Like, I just beat your favorite driver again. And it killed me not to say it. But I don't know. It's just, that's what I love is being able to silence those people and just give them the old.

What is your dad? It's nine nighttime. What did your dad think of it? He was good. He was good. he didn't say anything to me. He called when we were Victory Lane. He just said, make sure you bring me the flag and sign it and put 55th win on there.

So I'll make sure I did that. The actual flag. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The wind flag, not the against the world. Yeah, no, he didn't care about that one for sure. Yeah, it's certainly, I feel like the sentiment towards you is changing a bit. Just because after the race, me, you're signed autographs for everyone waiting outside turn four. Someone walked away and they're like, he changed me.

I got to admit it. I'm a fan now. Jared, we got to be real, though. If I would have finished second or third or bumped, you know, Larson and Chase Elliott, I mean, I would have had the golf cart ride to the motorhome lot saying, you fucking suck. Hey guys, welcome to Actions Detrimental Post Loud New Hampshire. Early in stage two between you and the 54 or what happened there.

We were racing really too hard and what in my mind was entirely too hard. and I know this is going to trigger some people about, oh, racing hard. When you're racing a teammate, you know, A, a teammate and B, a teammate with nothing to gain. Like, we're not, I agree that everyone should race to win the race. However, we're not racing to win the race. We're racing at the time for 11th place. we're battling me, the 20, the 19, we're all battling and scratching and clawing

to try to get some stage points, which is going to be life or death for us. It's our air that we need to move on. I felt as though, you know, a little bit wronged in the sense of, you know, my teammate out of the playoffs should not be the hardest car on the track to pass. I mean, for God's sake,

Ross Chastain let me buy. If there's anyone that probably, you know, he's on the cut line. But even in the first stage, like I pressured him. I pressured him. He's like, well, you know, he's more than likely what he thought was that, well, I'm not going to hold him up for this entire 60-lap run. I might as well just get back in line.

You know, try to keep it from someone else joining this party and passing me along with you. And so it's just, this is the race craft that I feel like is missing that understanding the situation. And certainly I felt as though this thing is hard enough to win anyway. But if you're going to have to race your teammates harder than anyone on the racetrack, then this will be really, really tough for any one of us to win. Is there a philosophy within these race teams or even just in, JGR on how

teammates should race each other in these situations? Or is it not like a clear thing where everyone's on the same page about it? Well, first, I don't think we're on the same page. I have always went back to what is the last thing Joe has said when it comes to non-playoff cars and playoff cars? He has had this conversation multiple times with everyone in the room. but I think it probably needs to be said again. And so what I've heard is that if you're a non-playoff car, any break that you can cut your teammates, please do.

I mean, the 20, we're fighting so hard to get around the 54 that we ended up fighting each other. And then finally, when we got singled out, we both ran him down again. And we're thinking, and I'm thinking, okay, I'm just going to go on by. I'm clearly faster. And it was just arrow block this corner, arrow block that corner.

And then when you get beside, it's like, okay, like what else do I have to prove that we're clearly faster? I'm definitely going to pass you. We got 60 laps to the end of this stage. What are we doing? You're not going to hold me off for 60 laps. The 20 is right behind me. These are your two teammates that need these points. I just didn't, I didn't understand where the mindset was there and still, and I still don't.

But if, you know, it's possible, Ty feels like he doesn't know us anything. And that's just a different mindset. And it's okay to have, but you would think that one day the roles would be reversed. And certainly, he probably would be upset if we did not let him go if the roles were reversed and he was fighting. to move on to the next round. Were you going into turn one, were you just trying to move him up out of the groove and get by him?

Well, it was twofold because I was pretty much there into turn one, and then he moved down to the middle lane to cut the nose off. If you cut across someone's nose, especially if they're running really close to you, it'll make their car kind of lift up and take off. so I think he was just trying to cut across my nose to make me lose air,

just to further arrow block me. And I was so close to him that I'm like, hell no, you're not going to do that. And so, yeah, I tried to shove them up to the next lane to get my position. And unfortunately, it spun them out. Y'all are going to have your competition meetings this afternoon. And how does this get resolved ahead of that or during that? conversation with just tie. Chris Gabehart is obviously in this now who you have a great relationship with her past years. Yeah, I mean, what I'm asking, what I want to happen is just

leadership step in and tell us what do you want us to do? If you want us all to just race each other cut throat no matter what your position is and stature in the standings, we can definitely do that. Like I expect myself and the 19 and the 20 to race really, really hard because we're all battling each other to get above this cut line or

maintain our status above the cut line. If I get eliminated or the 19 gets eliminated or the 20 gets eliminated and then we've established this no rules, you guys just do whatever you want to do that's just none of us are going to win.

You're racing against where we have seen year in, year out, and it will continue to happen more and more, like it or not, teammates are going to start giving spots this time of the year. This is just, this is the time of the year, and it's just going to get more and more. You're not always going to see it. It won't always be on TV, but starting with about five races to go, you're going to see those that are out of the playoffs or those who have affiliations will start

heating spots to those who need it. And so if you're going up against that and not only not being good teammates but yet being the most difficult ones to pass, none of us have a shot. We might as well just hang this thing up because it's just it's too difficult to win naturally much less if we're going to have the why everyone just races for themselves and it doesn't matter you know whether you're racing for a championship or not and which you know from my standpoint I would think that you know tie would want one of us to win a championship it's his his names on the building You said that you wanted them to the higher ups to, you know, handle us, but Joe said this is the drivers. So is that you and Ty just having a conversation or the four drivers getting together or?

Yeah. The challenge is I think that me and Ty are going to be on different, we'll have different opinions. Therefore, you need leadership to step in and say, well, this is how we want it done. And then we will play by those rules, whatever. those rules are, I will play by those rules. But I've been told in the past, if you're not in it, you do everything you can to help your teammates that are in it. Molly and the kids are on a,

they're on the worst sleep schedule ever. They came in at 1 o'clock in the morning. And stupid of us to say, you know, tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day. And then she freaks out. She's like, oh my God, we didn't set a trap. We got to make a trap, right? and Jared, you know, because you were in Phoenix with us,

she's obsessed with catching something. It was all during Phoenix, it was bunny rabbits. You know, there's rabbits all over Phoenix, in the middle of the desert, just everywhere. So she got within a foot of catching, you know, of touching one. Like, these are wild rabbits, you know, and so, you know, but there are so many of them, they see so many people. I think they're not tame, but they're, you know,

They're not really scared of us. So she just became obsessed all week with catching a bunny rabbit, which she didn't. And as a side effect, she got stuck by a cacti. Hang on, folks. This gets better. Hang on. So all I hear in the living room is a bunch of screaming. And I'm like, you know, I hear the kids scream all the time.

you know, you would think that I'd be like, oh, oh my gosh, what's going on? But I'm just sitting there watching TV. I'm just like, ugh, what now? You know? And so here she comes, and I look at her leg, and there's at least, I'm going to call it 10 thorns that are stuck in her leg. And so she has this thing where she doesn't. Whenever she gets injured, she doesn't want her to touch her. Like, she doesn't, I'm like, Molly, we'll just get those things out.

Like they hurt on the way in. They don't hurt on the way out. Hours and hours and hours she spent in the bathroom telling us, just give me space. Just give me space. I mean, to put an estimate on the time, you watch the entire prisoners movie. I know. And if anyone who's seen that movie, it's a long,

Yes. And so this is where it gets good, Travis. Austin's like, I'll, she'll let me do it. I'm like, she's not going to let to you. So he goes back in the bedroom bathroom where she's at and he comes out and we're sitting there watching this movie. And he says, where's the cactus at? I said, I don't know where he's going with this. Like, is he going to whack, you know, chop off the cactus and say, ah, I got it. I killed it. Nope. He goes out there and proceeds to stick himself to make her feel better.

I couldn't believe it. But he did it multiple times because he came back in. She said he didn't have enough thorns in him. So he went back out there and stuck himself. some more by this cactus and then she she pulled it out. I mean, one of my goals was to try to catch you in wins, but if we keep having these, oh, stepping on it. I don't want to hear it.

Just shut up. Do you think he's going to catch you? Yes. I, I think it's going to be hard because I think he says his runway is. I mean, I'm four years older than you are. Right. I don't know. You can be Mark Martin and run until you're 53 if you're still winning, bro.

Talk to my agent. He wishes I'd race until I'm 60, but I said, yeah, not happening. I don't know. I think that you still, I know from a driver standpoint, you're still as good as you've ever been. I think that there is an opportunity that you're going to win more, you're going to win more races. I think the number gets probably. it'd be close. What am I at right now?

63. And is Earnhardt 75? He's 76. Is that the next one? Yeah. Oh, so it's more than nine. Okay. You're going to need multiple four race-win seasons.

No kidding. Yeah, that's... But that'll be tough. Yeah, I think for me, there's going to be, when I call it, it'll be for various of reasons. Hold on a second. If I got four more years left, let's just say, 44, right, if I got four more left.

I'd like to run five more because then that'll put me in the bracket of age for then Brexton and what all happens. That's what I was about to go to is that your kids' future. If I can get above 70, for me, that would be perfect. I think for me, like where I'm at right now, for anybody, honestly, with the world we live in with this next gen car and racing and everybody wrecking on final restarts and all this BS, If you can have a three or four race win season and make it to the championship eight, that is a good season. Absolutely.

Right? The icing gets put on the cake when you make it to the final four, right? Mm-hmm. And then you light the candle if you're the champion. I agree. Or you blow everything. Whatever. Yeah, I think it's everything that you said there.

I think it, which to me, that's where. If I'm you makes the Daytona 500 more frustrating, right? Because you don't necessarily get to decide your fate as much as what you used to. The skill level of what it took to win at Daytona 500 is so different now than what it used to be. Now it's like, man, you just hope you execute on your pit stop. You're in the right lane. And you have to be at the lead of your lane. Like even the fourth or third place guy, the chances of them winning are just so small.

Two years ago, the Daytona 500, we had one of those green white checkered finishes. and I think I restarted 8th or 10th or something like that, I was literally right where William Byron, the race went green to the end, and I got shuffled out, I think I finished 11th or 12th. But anyway, the race went green to the end. It actually did finish, where this year the big wreck happens down the back,

and William snakes his way through there and wins. Like I could have been that guy two years ago. Well, you had a great shot. Is it 2022, the first next-gen, Daytona race? Yeah, first and second. You did a teammate restart. That I thought was the deciding factor. We should have held the rose.

You should have controlled the rose. Right. Yep. Absolutely. We learned our lesson on that one. But then we had another shot the year after. We were leading and I think Suarez spun out coming to the white flag. Yes.

We were at the beginning of pit road when Suarez spun out off a turn four. And then the caution came out before we took the white. and then we had to go through a restart and I don't remember what happened but we led on that restart too what what did you what do you feel about kind of i've somewhat taken your villain role way to go buddy way to go i one thing that um i gave him my manual yeah i feel as though is it fun Kyle it's somewhat fun to me when You see, when you can win. When you can be winning, when you can have the clout to be able to back up what you say.

Yes. You can do it all. You can do, you can act, act the fool all you want. Right? Because you can back it up. Yeah. I have nothing to back it up right now. So I had to put the black hat on the shelf and pull off the white one.

I'll never forget. We were there for the NASCAR 75 greatest driver's thing. And Carl, Carl was like, what happened? Yeah. We were on the stage. They woke up all of a sudden. Kyle is getting cheered and I just get, I mean, just booed out of the place. And he says, wait a minute.

What happened since I've been gone? Kyle's all of a sudden the good guy? It's like, yeah. So, yeah, I think that I think people are, you know, seeing you for, for, as, especially as a dad, kind of how you truly are. And sometimes I thought when you were younger, you're, you're. fiercest rival was yourself because you were so intense that people would read that into, that's not who really Kyle is as a person. That's who he is, his persona as a racer. Yeah, that's in the ring. That's right. Yeah. It's in the ring. Right. You can do that when you have,

when you do the things that he does behind the wheel. I remember first, I've been a NASCAR fan all my life. So I always thought you were a jerk. Thank you. in 2019, first season I started working with you. Did you say, oh, he's a jerk, not him? Well, no, you ran through New York with me. Oh, that's right. And I was like, oh, Kyle's not that bad.

And actually, he's smarter than Denny, that he knew that this was not five miles back to the hotel. That was great. You got me good. It was, yeah, look, it's 7.3 miles is like, yeah, but you can actually run in a straight line versus actually having to follow all the street. Yeah, the traffic.

So, yeah, he got me on that bet for sure. Did I use your shoes? Yeah. God, I'm glad I had those. I still have them. They were heavy. They were heavy, but they were way better than what I was going to try to do it in. Yes.

Oh. You had dress shoes. Who had dress shoes? I had dress shoes. Oh, yeah. And I needed, so he gave me his J's. So I ran in his Jays, but they were like. Didn't I pay you in like a bunch of pennies or something?

Yeah. Yeah, you paid me at the championship in, in, uh, I think I, I dumped them on his bed. Those were dirty pennies, too. It stunged so bad. I am so, there's a photo of this. You guys are going to throw the photo up. The greatest thing that happened of that for, like, the photo of it and everything, all being great.

We come back to the room and it's like, what is that smell? It's like, you don't recognize when you're holding just a couple pennies, but you put a bucket of them. Yeah, and it's bad, right? It's bad. But it's a good damn thing we didn't have to stay in that room. that night we literally went back to the hotel to change our clothes and then go to the airplane Samantha would not have stayed in that bed oh no no chance that's what I remember we were dumping them on the bed we realized at that point oh this isn't really even a joke on Kyle anymore this is

Samantha's going to be the one pissed about this right she's not going to have a room to come back to yeah so Zosie I talked to you a little bit um I think it was in stage two you're you're watching the pit stop what did you see from Denny's pit crew throughout the state because you know how important is that those guys keep this car up front with track position. That's that big part of that other 50% that Denny mentioned is your pick crew has to keep you out front. So no matter how good you are, how good your car is, if your pick crew loses, you know, a few tents, you can go from first to sixth, and now your setup that's built to running clean air

sucks back here because you're just struggling and killing those tires. And the big thing here, I think, with all the JGR pick crews and 2311 pick crews is their jack moves this year, they've just made so much improvement. on that. And that's, I think... Their jack moves? Yeah, so the next big frontier is the Jackman and what he can do. Because the changes are really tapped out by the equipment because the wheelguns are spec.

You can only do tire on, tire off in so many seconds. But that transition across the car is where the time is made. So they're relying on the Jackman. And then he's Jackman, Joel, yesterday I watched him. And when he comes across the car, he does a behind the back move where he picks up the Jack as he drops the right side with his left hand, throws the jack, behind his back as he's starting to run across the front of the car, grabs it with his right hand,

and the way he grabs it, it turns the handle automatically. So the way the jacks work is you turn the handle to the left to drop the car and you turn it to the right to build pressure to be able to jack it up. So he's dropping the car, he starts running, he's throwing the jack. While he's throwing the jack, he's retightening it. So when he gets over to the left side, he can immediately go to jacking without having to turn the handle at all. and he's doing this so tightly that I actually saw a picture the Toyota Gazoo Racing account on Instagram posted

where Joel is coming around the car and you can see his hip is almost touching the headlight on the car. So this is how tight this stuff is going. But what you see there is if you look at the other cars, you'll see the Jackman run across and you'll see the front changer step back to let the Jackman run in front and then go to the tire. Here, Joel actually beats the front changer across the car. so the front changer never has to stop.

So Austin just goes in there straight on the tire, and by the time that tires off, the car's already almost ready to come down. Like, it's incredible to just watch all the little pieces come together. And that's, I think that, you know, that movement there and practicing that further will probably produce a pit stop in the seven second range at some point this year. So you're saying that this move is not a move that every Jackman in the garage is doing.

No, so some of the Hendrick teams did something similar, not quite as fast last fall. And I think the Gibbs guys and 2311 guys develop some stuff over the winter. And it's interesting because they're doing similar moves, but even the Gibbs and the 2311 Jackman have slightly different intricacies of how they run across the front of the car and what they do. And it's like just, so the last race I went to was Atlanta and now I'm here. So it's been two or three races, whatever, you know, long it's been. And just between those two races, I've seen them fine-tune these moves. So that's how significant this stuff is. And the thing is, is that they're not only doing it one time during the race.

They're doing it every single stop. So, you know, Denny's pit crew, the 23-11, number 23 pit crew has really been also a stand-out. Like, they're just averaging pit stops in the eight-second range for the whole race now, where, you know, there's, and that's separating a lot of the groups where you have the front of the field now that's averaging eights, where an eight, you know, two or three years ago at Richmond, the 18 or 19 crew set the record at an 8-86. and now like, you know, the 23 crew two weeks ago did an 822. Like it just keeps getting more and more aggressive. It's insane like how fast these guys are moving.

What do you think the tap, what is the absolute tap out? I mean, what do you feel like two years from now? Where are we going to be? I mean, is it? Well, that's an interesting question. So I'll say that I think the stops will get to maybe a 7-8 or 7-9, I think is where the physics will allow it, how fast they're moving. But I'm also interesting.

to see if NASCAR wants to get their hands on the jacks eventually. Because I feel like that might be coming if these gaps start to grow because the wheelguns are spec. The jacks are kind of the big thing that teams can build on their own or buy off the shelf. So JGR builds their own. Hendrik builds their own, 2311, buys an off-the-shelf unit. And obviously it's not a huge difference, but the way the jacks move, the way the cars go up,

like the interesting thing right now is that Hendrick probably their jacks lift the car more quickly than the JGR jacks, but because the JGR Jackmen are doing this move, they're making up the difference. So if the JGR Jacks developed to go up as fast as the Hendrik Jacks, that's where those sevens, I think, will come. So the question is if NASCAR allows the jacks to be an open item that the teams can build, I think 7-8, 7-9 is the limit.

If they say, hey, we have a spec jack, then we might be getting close to tapping out the time we can get from them. I mean, I know nothing about a jack, by the way. I never touched one. I mean, we're both, you know, I, I know, knew about 85% of what he was saying, but still he's got enough information and knows enough to like, you know, what you see on pit road is you just see a pit stop, right? A car go in, car go out.

And while you're explaining this, you know, Travis is shaking his head. It's just like, this is the difference, right? These are the, the tenths of a second that make a difference whether we go out first or second. And whether I go out first or second is the difference in one. whether I get to set the pace or I've got to chase. The driver of the 75 lap, Progressive Toyota, here at Texas Motor Speedway this past week. What kind of insurance plan does Progressive have for cars catching on fire? Well, I mean, you know you can bundle everything and you can save when you bundle.

Flow tells you that each and every time. But I'm not too sure, but I know that they cover home and auto certainly fires. you would think are included in that, right? Yeah, I think so. Well, it was short and sweet for me this past weekend, but I did get an opportunity to hang out with Travis and watch the race. I heard, yes, Travis took Ron's spot on the plane. That's what Ron's saying is that, you know,

don't get too comfortable in that seat. That's my seat you're taking. Travis, how did this come about? Because I'm off the same to text the red with you guys. So like 1130 on Thursday night. Friday night. Friday night. Yeah.

Charlie, I was asleep, by the way. Charlie FaceTime's me and he's like, you come and I'm like, I haven't been invited. I'm not just going to show up. He's like,

well, just texting. I'm like, I'm not texting Denny at 1130. And by the way, they're doing this on a group text that I'm on. So they are texting. I wasn't.

And then Austin then chimes in. And so I text Austin on the side. I'm like, hey, like, Don't have a hard card. Don't have this. Like, I don't want to be an inconvenience.

He's like, no, it'll be fine. Just send a text. And I'm like, all right. Like, he's like, Denny's still awake. And I'm like, okay. I wasn't until the morning. But yeah, so super early flight the next morning, Saturday morning. Fun to see you on there.

However, your results were less than stellar. So I don't know. I've been getting so much heat. Like I'm the problem here. I don't feel like I am. Well, you could argue you're a bad influence. No, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right, so, Denny did Horns Down at Driver Intros. Yeah, and Texas got me back. Okay, but what did I tell you? Would you tell me? I said, when you win. Yeah, but I don't know if I'm going to get that chance. Yeah, I didn't win. want you to do it at driver entry so what inspired that well charlie and i did tell him to do horns down

okay there's the whole ohio state stuff yes yes like like i'm a you know alumni there or something okay so you came out so you didn't do that because of the booze you were getting you're like here's how i did i did say i did say to them i'm going to play off the crowd you know like after the race if i win and the crowd is really booing hard then i'm going to do it just a get get them right yeah um but you'd be surprised actually when i went from horns up the horns down actually the crowd shifted there for a minute like there was a few cheers that that weren't there before so i think that we're not necessarily right there in texas territory as far as you know austin texas right um yeah i uh that didn't last long for me uh

Eventually the karma caught up pretty quickly. But yeah, it was Travis and these guys, they're all me, you know, about Screw Texas, this, that, and the other. However, their fans, let me say something about UT. Their fans were the nicest fans in defeat that we had ever come across. They really are nice people. They're nice people. They really are. Like after the game, you know, I can.

kept saying man Travis these these fans they're very hospitable and very nice and they were like great game guys go get them next week and I was like and he was just like them screw those guys I'm like it's we won it's okay like you don't have to be mad at him anymore but he just holds grudges like you wouldn't believe I don't hold a grudge but I was in the moment but I don't you can't blame me for this weekend though it wasn't exactly like you left 2024 with a great ending. No. Maybe it's Austin and Jared's fault.

Where were they this weekend? I mean, everyone took Tyler. The whole team took off. Yeah, the whole team took off. I was supposed to carry everybody there? The whole team and the driver. You took off too. I did my part.

You watched almost just as much as this race on TV as I did. I know. You should have lots of insight then.