Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - All Of Them

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Denny Hamlin and Jared get into the news that happened off the track this week. Bristol Dirt is going away next year. The Clash is returning to LA. Live Fast selling their charter to Spire. Trackhouse signs SVG and Zane Smith. Plus, their deal with Spire.On the track, Denny wins at Bristol and is on to the round of 12 in the playoffs. Why it was good NASCAR sprayed the tracks overnight. Why Denny got a speeding penalty and his mindset after that happened. Reaction to the 4 drivers who got eliminated. A great weekend for 23XI with MJ there as Bubba Wallace advanced in the playoffs. Reaction to the fans booing after Denny's win. And, what to expect in Texas next weekend.DraftKings State-Specific Problem Gambling Information:In Massachusetts, call [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org, In New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369). In Tennessee and Kansas, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). In West Virginia, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.1800gambler.net. All games regulated by the West Virginia Lottery. Please play responsibly. In partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. In Connecticut, Help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles (LA). 21+, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. See DKNG.co/autoracing for eligibility, terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do we want to talk about why there's this sword on the table? They give out a sword here. It's not crazy sharp on the edges, but the tip of it is like a needle. So you've got to watch out there. You have a couple of these, right? I got three or four of them. Three or four, you could have like a full-blown sword fight. Molly gets one, Taylor gets one.

No, no, no, no, no, no. No ideas, please. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. What's up guys? Welcome to a winning edition from Bristol Night Race of Actions Determinal. Finally got a dub. This episode is presented to you guys by our sponsor at Birch Gold Group. Go check them out. You can text Denny to 9898989. If you want to learn a little more. Before we get it in the weekend, too, we want to offer our condolences to Sherry Pollux's family. You know, she has been a huge advocate for cancer survivors and those who are.

who were battling cancer for so many years now. And, you know, she's been a staple in our sport and, you know, done a lot of great things for a lot of great causes for many, many years. And she unfortunately lost her battle with ovarian cancer today. So our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family and everyone who's helped support her. We got a win that we deserved. You know, it was the final race of the first round of a lot of a lot of a lot of, Eliminations. We'll talk about that a little bit and then some on track off track stuff. So definitely want to check out some off track stuff first with you guys. You see the list here. What do you think we should hit first there, Jared? I think it's probably most fitting to talk about Bristol dirt going away next year. Yeah. You know, who knows if this means that the dirt race entirely will go away, whether they take it to another place or not. But.

But it sounds like, you know, definitely the Bristol dirt's going away. I think that's, you know, the right thing to do for sure. I think that that kind of ran its course. And, you know, the fans came out hot and heavy the first year, you know, second year. But, but yeah, it's, you know, that's such a great venue that you hate to cover it up for dirt. And I'm sure SMI probably sees it too. I mean, there's a cost and expense to load a bunch of dirt. in that place and then cleaning up afterwards, right?

So, you know, we've had that happen. So we know that Bristol Dirt will not return next year. We're going to be back on the concrete for two races. Me personally, my opinion, I'm looking forward to that. We got the clash that just got released today, right? Today is Sunday. We were going to shoot this on Monday, but I was sitting around and I texted. You realize you don't have much going on on Sunday if you're not racing?

I know. I was sitting there and I was thinking, I'll just take the day off and everything. And by 3.30 or 4 o'clock into the football games, I'm like, let's just get the shit over with. Let's just do this. And that way I can sleep in tomorrow. So thank you guys for showing up for that. So the clash is returning to L.A. I like that move too. I mean, I think that, you know, it is a long way out there. It's tough on the race teams for sure. But I think, I think, it's still a cool venue and a cool type of format. Yeah, I like the idea of staying in L.A. Yeah. I just think that, I mean, I would be okay if the clash went away for something else that was

in L.A. or in the L.A. market. But if we don't have that yet, I'm okay with sticking with the clash. I don't know what the expenses are and what that does the teams, but from a fan perspective and just, you know, a way to build excitement for the season, I think it's cool. Yeah, and for those you don't know what we're entirely talking about, about from the team standpoint, why I say it's tough for the teams. Logistically, we start the season. We go all the way out to L.A. for this exhibition race. Then the following week, we've got to go all

the way out to Daytona, the other side of the earth, basically. And then the week after that, we go out to the West Coast. So it's just back and forth. So that part of it's tough. And then from the financial standpoint, the clash isn't really a heavy paying event. So all the teams pretty much lose money on it. So, but it's, you know, in the past, it's been good for the sport. It's certainly got better ratings in its first couple times than our previous class races. So that's cool. And then we've got Spire.

These two kind of go hand in hand. Yeah, I was going to say they go hand in hand. Spire buys B.G. McLeod's and Matt Tiff's charter from LiveFast for $40 million. Yeah, I mean. Cha-ching, right? for BJ MacLeod. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Great for BJ.

I mean, he's, you know, he really wanted to be competitive in the Cup series, and he really enjoyed competing. And I believe this was one of the only teams that had their own engine program, whatever that might be, right? It's very, very tough to compete if you don't have a top-tier engine program. But, but yeah, you know, I think he just, this is an opportunity like, well how much probably a financial thing of BJ's thinking this is all speculative right it's hard for me to get in his brain and figure out what he's thinking but you know how much will I have to invest to really be competitive it's a single car team there's no efficiencies I gain because I am just a one car team and then what investment will I have to put in my team to be competitive or I could just cash out when maybe we're at the height of this maybe we're not um I've think probably made the right choice. It would be really, really, really an uphill battle to

compete at a high level without, you know, proper resources. And it was going to be an uphill climb to get those resources. Do you know what he paid for the charter a couple years ago? That's a good question, but I wouldn't think more than a couple million bucks. Yeah, definitely seven digits, right? Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, for sure. It was, it was when chartered were just a couple million. But yeah, I think it's a, you know, we're still going to have BJ and live faster around. They're going to be competing in the Xfinity series. So, you know, that's an influx of cash now to that program that hopefully they can continue

to build on that program as well. So, you know, BJ's not going anywhere and he's a great dude. And, you know, Matt Tift is, you know, giving back to the sport through his driving, his owning as well. So happy for them. Trackhouse announced two new signies this week, one earlier in the week, and then one yesterday, Saturday. Shane Van Gisbergen. Yep.

Good job. Good job. And Zane Smith. Yeah, this is a great sign for Trackhouse. And I think that this is, you know, Zane is certainly deserving of this opportunity. He's, he's, every time he's had the opportunity to compete in cup, he's done a great job, got great results. This is great forward thinking by Trackhouse and Justin for his team to look towards the future, right? And if you look at it really quickly, he's got more drivers than seats.

That's what I was about to ask. Now you have, I'm guessing, four Cup Series drivers, presumably competing for three seats in 2025. I think you said a key word there, competing. You know, there's nothing wrong with competition. If you have more drivers than seats, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. You put pressure on those guys to, hey, let's let the best man win, right? So I think, you know, I don't think there's any secret that the SVG thing is more of an experiment than anything. I really look forward to SVG running in, you know, multiple series next year and getting to run ovals and learning it.

I think he's a great dude and tremendous talent, obviously. But that that experiments could take some time. You know, would he be ready to run cup full time in ovals in a year? No way. Just no way. I mean, these guys are just too good. But you want to see him have a steady progression of it. So if track house can keep under contract for a few years, maybe you see the progression that

you like after a year or two and then you move them up to cup if the opportunity presents itself. Zane, I think, is more of a given as far as, you know, where he thinks he's going to be in 2025. You know, it sounds like he's going to get kind of leased out. Not leased out. It's kind of a weird word, but, you know, kind of farmed out to Spire for next year. With that, Spire has an alliance with Trackhouse, which is interesting. I thought they had alliance with Hendrick.

So it sounds like Spire is just kind of being this farm AAA team, and that's probably downgrading them more than I should. But it's like they're kind of a feeder for these bigger teams. Like I know their pit crews really come from Hendricks, so a lot of their Devo guys or development guys, young guys on pit crews that they develop, start at Spire. Bam, you know, if you perform well enough, you get on a house card on a pick cruise.

I don't know that their personnel really runs through Spire, like mechanics or anything like that, engineers. Not that I'm aware of. It doesn't mean it's not true, but not that I'm aware of. So this is obviously a big move by Spire to invest this in their team. I guess the only question I have would be, you know, did they spend $40 million on a charter? or was this part of a deal with the Gainbridge group that allowed them to own a stake in all three charters? So I guess, you know, you don't know the devil's in the details, but you don't really know, is the headlines right,

or is there more to this deal that meets the eye? That's just a question, I guess, I would have, because it certainly affects charter values, right? If they just paid 40 for this one charter, which is, you know, BJ's charter's been ranked last for a couple years now. Or is this part of a bigger deal that unless you're in the know or NASCAR or somebody in the financials would know, is this part of a bigger buy-in to spire from the Cambridge group? And so it'd be interesting to know that for sure.

but either way it's a big investment. You know, they're working, the Spire Group's getting better and better. It's great to see that they're continuing to invest in the sport. And obviously they had a great night last night with Corey LaJoy going before he crashed. But yeah, they're running better and better for sure. I don't think there's any secret to, you know, you got Carson Hosevar, probably going in the 77. You're going to have Zane in the third car, Corey, in the seven.

So they've got some good young talent there that is ready to, you know, when probably dad wants to call them up, you know, dad being track house on one size, Hendrick on the other, like they're ready to make a move. For argument's sake, let's pretend that they did purchase this one charter for 40 million. How does that make you feel as a fellow owner who's also in the charter market? Well, first of all, that's speculative. to say I'm in the charter market. I feel much better about my investment.

If it is true, right? If it is exactly what has advertised, you know, with what we paid, if you combine what we paid for the two, it's, you know, just a few years ago. And then, yeah, I like my investment. It's turned out well so far. But all it really does, you know, it's not worth anything to sell it. So it's still, you know, for us, it's still cost. a significant amount to compete.

And it's still, if you don't have the sponsorship, you're not going to compete and you're going to lose money every year. So it's just a matter of, you know, it's good that the franchise value, though, is worth something because, you know, these owners like Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske and Richard Childress that have been around for such a long time deserve, you know, getting paid for their commitment to this sport for decades and decades, right? They deserve for their franchise to be worth something, you know, a big number, whatever that number might be. That's kind of what I'm getting at. If BJ McLeod's charter is ranked at the bottom and was just purchased for $40 million, what does that mean for the 11 charter, the 5 charter, the 9 charter?

Well, I think that when it comes to getting sold, right? Let's use, let's just use, you know, you got the group that purchased into Gibbs, right? more than likely they purchased into the assets, the contracts. So they bought into not just the charters, more than likely they purchased into the whole franchise of Joe Gibbs Racing. Now, a lot of that includes, well, how much money worth of, you know, contracts do they have with sponsorship and manufacturers and things like that. So there's a separate evaluation than just for the piece of paper saying you're allowed to compete in this, Yeah, and have a charter. So, you know, it's tough to say. It's tough to say what really

the big teams are worth because certainly they have more assets. They have more contracts with sponsors. And certainly the more contracts you have that, you know, of revenue, the more revenue you have, typically your value of your franchise would go up at a multiple. You can argue with that multiple might be. So I think it's good for everyone. Certainly, you know, we're still in some trying times when it comes with, or negotiations with NASCAR. You know, we're only three months and some change away from like our charter agreement running out. The work, there has got, there's needs to be some serious work on that, like in a hurry, you know, to redo our charter deal in just three months is is very optimistic on you know on NASCAR's part you know and what last thing the teams want

is this deal to be rushed we want it to be right and beneficial for everyone involved and and I believe that you know we can get that done so overall that this is a good good sign for for the teams you know still need to make it at least viable on a year to year basis but certainly it looks like there's some long-term value there. Do we want to talk about why there's this... Big sword. Sword on the table? I just want to grab this.

I think Travis is going to... I guess that's a Coliseum thing, is it? Did you get one at the clash? No. I mean, I would know. I guess you would know. I haven't won the one in L.A. I've won the one in Daytona plenty of times.

But yeah, they give out... a sword here. It's not crazy, sharp on the edges, but the tip of it is like a needle. So you've got to watch out there. I said afterwards I was going to use it to fend off all the haters. Just, you know, guard myself. Is that going to be like your letter opener at home going forward? Yeah. Micro Gatella actually at JGR, the chief competition guy there, who was like, yeah, you need to use it to swipe open a champagne bottle. So I've never really, I've never, done that before I'll end up cutting my hand so I'm going to stay out of that you have a couple of these though right I do yeah the sword is not new yeah no we've got I got three or four them for sure I'm

not sure if I've ever won the spring race three or four you could have like a full-blown sword fight molly gets one Taylor gets one no no no no no no no I'm done no ideas please um let's uh that that that kind of covers the off track stuff oh you know just to kind of wrap up to you know Zane, super happy for him. I know that he's really accomplished a lot in the trucks, and he was really excited about this opportunity. You saw kind of his emotion in the press conference. Well-deserved, you know, obviously shows that, you know,

continue to excel and perform well at whatever level you're at, you're going to get opportunities at the higher level. That always hasn't been the case, but it's looking like it's starting to get a little better. So that's great. And let's kind of talk about the race now. The fun stuff. Football is back in full swing with another week of epic games.

And who's got you covered on the action for every single one of them? Draft King Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. New customers can bet $5 on football and get $200 instantly in bonus bets. Nobody's missing out on the action this season. All Draft King's customers can take advantage of two new offers every game day this September. Download the app now and use Code Denny to sign up. New customers can bet just $5 and take

home $200 instantly in bonus bets. Only on the Draft King's Sportsbook with Code Denny. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. For state-specific disclaimers, check the show notes. 21 and older in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario. See Draftkings.com backslash sportsbook for details and state-specific responsible gambling resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance eligibility wagering and deposit restrictions apply cdkng.co slash football for eligibility terms and responsible gambling resources the crown is yours what should we start with you want to start with um your race or should we talk about the overall race yeah let's just kind of talk about the overall race um you know i thought that it's

kind of what we expected with bristol i know there was a kind of a kind of a split when you there was kind of a driver text overnight should we respray should we not um i thought that while the inside lane was very very dominant for the first probably certainly a hundred laps it wore off quite a bit and i thought it by the end of the race the top and the bottom were the were the same um now if you were good if your balance was very good you could you know like i thought ours was you could i ran the same times it didn't matter whether it was the top or the bottom. My car ran the same exact time. That's what really allowed me to get through the traffic as good as we did. Now, others, if your car didn't handle as good, you would be pinned to

the top or the bottom. Most people top if your car is not handling great on the bottom. So I thought that the decision to spray overnight was a good one because you just don't, I just don't know that we wanted a end of the race, everyone running the top of the racetrack. I, I don't, I just didn't know that that was going to be great, but I thought at the end, certainly the last 200 laps, 250, the inside and outside lane was very equal on speed. But really, what you saw was guys that could get out front, could control the race.

And, you know, when they caught lap traffic that was running the same lane that they were, they definitely were getting held up. And if you couldn't maneuver your car, like the people would start catching you really, really, really, quick. I know me and C. Bell pulled away from third, which is I think McDowell at the time. Really, really quickly early in the race, we had about three and a half seconds. The minute we caught the back of the pack, I mean, they were right on our bumper.

So it was nervous moments trying to move up the track and dealing with lap cars. But I thought that it was a pretty racy race. I looked at the Jeff Gluck pole. Looks like this thing is going to be around the 60s or so. much lower than you anticipated. It was. I mentioned on the teardown last night that I thought it'd be, in retrospect, after thinking about it more, I said, you know, kind of a mid-70s. But, you know, you've got to take into account.

He's like, you know, well, take off a few points. You won, so you're going to have to take off a few points there. Then you've got, you know, we had a long run at the end. I don't know that fans love super long runs at the end. That always hurts numbers a little bit. But overall, I think that, you know, there was no. real surprises when it came to that race. But yeah, it was Bristol Night Race.

It's very typical of what we've kind of had there in the past. The great thing about at least this short track is there was no shifting, which was good. But generally speaking, we know that this is a very aerodero-dependent race car that is tough when you get behind other cars. You know, and that has to do with the, the ratio of horsepower to grip on this car is, is quite a bit different than what we had in the previous generation, which was 750 horsepower with tires that were a couple inches narrower, right? And we've widened the tire, we've killed the horsepower.

So it's just, everyone's just got so much grip. And, you know, forget the arrow side. The arrow has nothing to do with on the shore tracks, as we found. it just has more grip and so it makes it really tough to pass but you know I know myself and Kyle Larson

got well he got a penalty I got a penalty which that was a fun little game I came out of my pit stall and I'm battling for the lead and those you saw we were kind of side by side I was the last car on pit road on the backstretch

well he is coming in because he had to start last because he had a poor qualifying effort, whereas he was dead sideways. He's coming, he's just making the corner to round the corner between the backstretch and the front stretch, and I'm pulling out of my stall. And I usually, I guess my thinking is that I usually adhere to whoever's running in front.

Like, so when you have a car coming out of a stall or a car coming in, usually the higher position guy should get the yield there in spot. But Kyle pretty much had me cleared, but I accelerated and I'm like, I'm trying to get the lead off a pit road. So I'm running tight up against the wall. And as I'm doing that, I'm gaining more and more up until like I'm up beside him. And then they're like, well, he's about to pit. And so I'm like, I don't want to hit the brakes and to let him in a stall because I'm going to lose a second doing that. And I could come off pit road third or fourth at this point.

So I had to put him the decision to, hey, he's going to have to check up because he was at the back at that time anyway. We were about to lap him because he was stuck in traffic. But while doing that, I sped on pit road, which is such a bonehead move. So correct me if I'm wrong. You were caught speeding on pit road because on the radius. Right. So you're too far inside.

Yeah, which NASCAR warns us for that. You know, those who don't know, it's, they do timing. They don't actually have a radar gun out there pointing your pit road speed. They don't have a, you know, police officer there checking all that. Yeah. They just do it off of time. You know, it's a time and distance thing that they do. And if you shortcut a radius, like if it's a circle, right, the tighter.

You're going to go from point A to point B foul. Quicker, right. And so where I was running my pit road speed there, I was running my lights correctly, but I kept, I was too low. basically and it caused me to speed. So at that point, me and Kyle go to the back of the pack together, and we were coming to the front together at that time, but I kind of got caught behind a few cars, and Kyle went by me,

and he was one of the first guys to get up top, him and Ty Gibbs, and he was blown to the front really, really quickly. So at that point, I kind of knew that Kyle was going to be one of the toughest competitors that we were going to have to face in the evening, and it turned out that way. So anyway, we both went to the back of the pack, and usually you can't come back from speeding penalties or any penalties nowadays, but there was so early in the race in a 500-lap race,

we had plenty of time. But I thought it was... It just sounded like you kind of knew that you were speeding, or you knew that the possibility was there. You weren't surprised. No, I wasn't surprised. I'm never really surprised. It always makes me laugh when some of these drivers are like,

no way! I was speeding. like of course like the the numbers don't lie right it's you know nasker isn't making this up it's just straight numbers um most of the time my speed is not uh it's it's i'm accelerating out of my stall or something like that so it's usually just i'm trying to get up to speed as quick as i can and then oh i'm i'm over right so and then you try to back it down and or or it's coming to pit lane green flag pit stop or something you're trying to get all you can on entry boom you see speed there.

So, yeah, I hadn't had a speeding penalty in a very, very long time. Twitter would not know that. Well, that's just like a narrative that was set such a long time ago that it just kind of lingers on. But yeah, certainly we're not even remotely near the top five or I don't even think 10 in speeding penalties. So, but I'm glad we're able to come back from it. Were you concerned at all in the moment?

Not really. That's kind of what I get at. Just because I tell you this all the time, like I know within 15, 20 laps of the race, like do I have a race winning car or not? Yeah. And I just knew early on that we did. And I knew that it was early enough that I was going to be able to come back from it.

So you're just making the race more fun for yourself? Not intentionally. Not intentionally for sure. But certainly cut down on the lap sled that I was going to have that night. But yeah, it was just one of those weird, quirky things that happened. It was interesting because, you know, I was kind of racing Kyle on pit road there and it kind of just baited me into making a bad decision. But, but yeah, it was a, I look at kind of, you know, how this first round has played out. You know, certainly the five car and Kyle's just been

super strong every single week. They were a top two car at Darlington. Certainly a top two car, I think, at Kansas. And then this weekend, they were super strong as well. They were really fast in practice. And I think they were just probably a little bit too loose there in qualifying. And he got sideways a bunch. So, you know, they're going to be tough to beat, no doubt about it. You know, I got asked in the media center quite a bit, you know, what about the challenge?

Or, you know, what do you have to do to beat the five car? I'm like, I don't, I don't have to beat the five car right now. if we get to Phoenix together, then certainly he will be a competitor I have to be, but I feel as though you always have to concentrate on yourself and what can you do to be your best? And I feel like when my team's at my best and probably their teams at their best,

like, yeah, we're close. It's very, very close. Now the 19 car, he makes it back in. He's going to be, when they're at their best, they're crazy, tough to beat as well. So it's, you know, just you never know what can happen and you can't get too far ahead of yourselves because there's six races to go to even put yourself in a position to win a championship. So, you know, who knows what happens this next round.

And yeah, it's shaping up to, you know, you're seeing some of the cream rise to the top when Kyle Larson this time of year, he's on it. He's up front and the 24 cars ran good all year. and they're running pretty good. They've had a okay start to this playoffs. If I kind of handicap it, it's certainly the 5 and 11 are really, really close, and you got kind of the 45, you know,

we're really strong for the first two, not as strong at Bristol. The 24 has just been steady, I guess it is, and then there's just kind of been everyone else, but you just don't know what happens when we go to Texas. Like who shows up and it's just this sport is so week to week. You just never know.

And it's so hard to handicap for that reason. Yeah. I mean, that's the big thing, right? Going to this next round is how much of a wildcard it is. You got Texas, which is, you know, pretty straightforward, you would think. But then after that, Talladega and the Roval. Yeah. Well, I definitely want to talk on a couple of guys that did have some great runs at Bristol.

to kind of wrap just the individual race up itself. Carson Hosevar, fantastic run. It looks like Legacy has turned the corner. Unfortunately, like for Noah, right, as soon as he got out of the car, the organization got better. Do you think that's what it is? Like all driver?

No, I don't, because I think the 43 car started running better as well. How Legacy could flip the switch in a matter of a couple days between race. like that? There's just, it doesn't take much. There's a home base probably in set-up world that they found something, they hit on something at a racetrack, and then that became their home base when they set-ups at other tracks.

It can happen like that, right? Because, again, the parts and pieces are all the same. It's doubtful that they're getting any Chevrolet information anymore. So they're having to kind of do this on their own. So, you know, the old-fashioned way is pinning a piece of paper and these engineers trying to figure out what the right setup is. And it just takes hitting it one time for you to come up with some sort of baseline that helps you at all racetracks.

But, I mean, Eric Jones didn't have a very good, you know, race this weekend. But Carson Oswald had a great race. He was running in the top 10 for the most of the night. Yeah. I guess just credit to him for bringing the spotlight on the team. He's doing. He's doing a great job. Yeah, you can't say enough about, you know, we gave him a lot of shit for a long time in the truck series,

kind of making some really boneheaded decisions. But he's certainly growing up quickly and he's showing that he can compete at the highest level. Him, Ricky Stenhouse, although eliminated, you know, I guess we can kind of go into this, right? I want to talk a little bit about all the four drivers that are eliminated. First, I'll start with Ricky. Great job by that team. It was going to be an uphill battle for him to make it the next round, but they did their jobs.

They really have done their jobs. Ricky has ran the top 10 for a lot of the night as well, finished 10th. I think that that team really made big gains this season and their performance. and, you know, certainly they're going to look to, I think I heard them say that, you know, being top 12 in overall points before the end of the years, their goal, I think they can achieve that as long as they keep on this steady-eddy type of runs that they're doing.

Michael McDowell, I can't sing his praises and his team's praises enough because in a year where, you know, everyone seems to want to blame Ford for every, you know, Lugano not running well. SHR is not running well. Like, well, the 6th, the 17, and the 34 are in the top 15 pretty much every week. I mean, they are running extremely well. And McDow had, in my mind, one of the best oval races he's had in his career.

He was in the top five pretty much all day. And he gave himself a chance. I mean, if there's a yellow at some point, in that last 100, I think that 34 team probably takes two tires and then good freaking luck trying to get around them. I think it would have been interesting for sure. But they have just performed great. McDowell is stepped up his game. They're not just qualifying well. They're practicing well. They're racing well. They're legit. We can't, you know, we can't just ignore the fact that it's a weekly thing now.

and even though they were eliminated, you know, they deserve a ton of credit this year in what has been a down year for the manufacturer. Yeah, it's also telling that in a race that that team needed to come into and compete for a win,

they did just that, right? They showed up with a car that could win the race. Certainly, certainly they performed better than I would expect or anyone else. Like, hey, they got to win or it's over, right? well, they showed up, and they showed out.

And so they gave themselves an opportunity. If cautions or things fell differently, you just never know. They nearly did it. So that wraps them up. Now you look at the two bigger name guys that are past champions of our sport that were eliminated in Ligano and Harvick.

I guess Ligano first. he kind of said in his interview that like you know we we were running crappy and we got caught up in a wreck because we were running crappy I think he finished 34th I think he was running 31st when he got he was running 31st certainly at some point in the first stage before he got wrecked

that's just not what you expect out of Penske racing or Joey Lagano certainly if they're running running like that, there's something off. It's just not some accident. They've performed really well at that track in years past. You can say that for Harvick as well. We'll talk about that in a minute. But, you know, as a competitor, I'm like, man, I'm glad Lugano's eliminated because he's just, it doesn't matter how fast his car is. He finds a way. He grinds his weight. Very similar to Harvick, they find a way to just finish better than they run most weeks, right? So, you know, they still,

you know, were part of like, will they make it, will it not because of the way the 19 and the 23 were running. But it just, I was really surprised to see them running so bad. He was in the way at the beginning of the race. I think they took two tires at some point. And they've got. ping ponged around like it was just bad they they they they their car was all over the place and it looked hard to control for my seat uh so yeah i think this is probably the first round first time legano has been eliminated first time the previous champion has ever been knocked out in the first round of the playoffs yeah and you know i they won one one race i think early in the season i don't know where but they just they just weren't themselves you know i

I don't know what it is. You know, when you look at kind of the resources that Penske's got versus like someone like a McDowell's team, you know, it's hard to blame it probably on bodies or, you know, maybe it's a simulation. I don't know. It's got to be something that's kind of off there. But, you know, this sport is so ebbs and flows. You just never know. They could show up, you know, next week or start next year. year and just be on fire. So they certainly, it's not Joey for sure. It's not Harvick for sure.

These are champions of our sport. But surprising to see them eliminated. You won at Atlanta. Yeah. Super Sueway, right? So this is also a product of what we talked about going into this race, though, is that something was going to happen to somebody above that cut line. Yep. And this was just it. Because Joey didn't finish that many points out of, he didn't finish that many points below the cutline. And had he had an average day, he would have made. Yeah, but he ran like, at Kansas. Like, he was bad. He finished good, but he was running bad there too.

Right. Well, you know, those races put you in this position where if something does happen to you, you're going to be. And, I mean, they didn't win as many stages or races, you know, they didn't come into the playoffs with as many bonus points as they had in years past, right? So they couldn't afford races like this. And now, had he just done his thing, right? And I got caught up in wrecks at Bristol?

he probably still makes it. But again, was it going to be a true threat to go win a championship? Not likely. Not likely this year. So, you know, that's tough, but that team will bounce back. Now, for Harvick, certainly this is not how he wanted to, you know, end his, you know, playoff career. He summed it up with his interview as well. He's just like, man, I mean, what do we?

we had really expect. We've been marginal at best all year. I will, I'll say, though, that it still can't be understated. And this was a very uncharacteristic Rodney Childers race car. I saw Rodney's tweet about, you know, I just don't understand this is the same car, same setup from last year. I understand all that, but typically in these situations, and well, let's just say 90% of the weeks, or maybe even higher, the four car carries the SHR banner as far as performance, right? They are, you look at their results and it's like Harvick's blank and the rest of the three are way back here. And it was just the opposite this week, which is really, really unique. You know, I think that he got in, you know, I was kind of watching the race back.

It looked like he got on the wall a few times. Did that knock a toe link or something out of sorts? You just don't know. But even in practice, they were slow. They just, they just had a knife to a gunfight. And it just was a very dull knife. And it's just, that was very out of characteristic for that team. It's unique because, I mean, you look at Darlington, they had, you know,

top, you know, three-car, Darlington it looked like. So, man, that's this sport. That's this format where you got to just put it all together. And again, he's the same boat as Lugano, just didn't have the playoff points he's had in years past. You know, Kevin didn't seem too shocked when he did his interviews. Rodney was more shocked. I was probably on Rodney's sign being more shocked that, you know,

they didn't perform better. But man, you know, he's still just like one of the best drivers. He proves it week, in, week out. Rodney proves it with what he brings to the racetrack weekend, week out. It just, this happens in sports. Sometimes you just, sometimes you just miss it. And they miss it this weekend. And, you know, they were, the points battle was tight throughout the entire night.

But their tough position was they didn't even. have an opportunity to try something different or do a different strategy because caution just didn't fall that way. Even when he's three or four points behind, you're like, oh, he can just go get that. He couldn't because he was on his own lap. There was never three or four points right there for him to get. He just never was in contention. He was more just on the defense the entire night. It's interesting, though, that when you look back at these three race seasons in the round of the playoffs, right? Like you look at Darlington and Kevin Harvick, where if he doesn't have that situation, where the caution comes out right in front of him and he's on pit road, right?

Maybe he finishes in the top five or something and then it doesn't really matter where he finishes at Bristol at that point because he would have had the points to advance. Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah, that's what it is. And I think that it, you know, it's good that we reward the guys that, you know, like Truex that while he's had a lackluster first round, he deserved the opportunity to move on because he performed great for 26 races, right? So that's the good thing about this is that it does reward what you do for the first handful of races. So, you know, that kind of wraps up all those guys. Is Coke Zero Sugar the best Coke ever? I know that's a bold question, but it's got that irresistible taste to back it up. Well, when you've got an irresistible match like Zero Sugar and Zero Calories, something sensational is bound to happen.

It's like when me and my co-host Jared team up to make a podcast. It's too bad you can't taste with your ears because Coke Zero Sugar tastes so amazing. It's hard to put it into words. But hey, that's my job, at least on Mondays. You have to taste it for yourself. Coke Zero Sugar, the best Coke ever. What does this mean now for the guys that do advance? Like the Truex, right?

It goes right back to the top of the point. Goes right back to the top. You're giving Goliath another life. So they're a team that, you know, again, when they win, they win big. Usually nobody's even close when they hit it, right? Like it's just they can really be a juggernaut some weeks. And so I look at the list and, you know, my original Final Four are still kind of one, two, three, four.

I guess I want to know from you. Interesting what I want to, maybe you and Travis can. let's take out the tell me someone that is in this the next eight right

who would be the a surprise final four let's just say things don't go as everyone plans right where it's Byron and Chu X Hamlin Larson

give me someone that surprisingly will make it to the final four I like Redix chances now a lot. I'm hearing that quite a bit. Understandable. He ran top three, the first two.

He ran mediocre, kind of at best last night. My thing is with this next round, right? You got to go to Texas and have a good day. If you go to Texas and have a good day and get out of Talladega unscathed and then go to the Roval and be competent, which drivers then are most likely to win

at those final three tracks before going to Phoenix, which is where I like Tyler Reddick. Yeah. Like at Homestead. I'm going to go Chris Busher. I just, he's so solid right now. He's finding, he's putting himself in the top five most weeks.

And if any one of us four, you know, have a bad round or two, which is very possible, you know, the Bushers could, you know, the,

the Kislawski's, like they're, they're, fast enough. They have enough speed to make it to the final four. So I look at those.

I mean, you know, Blaney's will have an uphill battle just because of, I mean, he's fighting the same thing Lugano's fighting, right? And so I think that, you know,

Blaney's will have an uphill battle. It's not impossible. You know, he's, he's gifted, he's good enough. It's just, it's going to be uphill. Chastain hasn't shown the speed really the last, I don't know, you can say Nashville,

he definitely was the best car there. But other than that, I just haven't seen the speed out of the one. You see it in glimpses, a little bit during practice. You see it a couple runs during the race here and there, but they certainly don't have this all-out speed. I do think- To me, it's got to be a guy that's showing you that they can win a race. You would say Bush or then. Since his win in Nashville, Ross has only had two top 10 finishes. You know,

but I will say this about Ross, he is racing way, way smarter. He's understanding that he doesn't have the race winning speed, so he's, the way he's managing the races is what's keeping him alive

most weeks. I like the old Ross better, though. Yeah, you did. I didn't. I just think that, you know, sometimes this is a point in your race team where you're thinking, well, if I don't have race-winning speed this week,

how am I going to get the best finish I can get? And I think he's doing that right now. And he's just trying to manage this wave until it hopefully comes back around and they gain speed, right? So because there's ebbs and flows. It's like it's just, you're not the fastest car every week and you're not going to stay the fastest car every week for the next 10 weeks. There's going to be waves of other cars that start to hit things that show up.

And, you know, I think he's just riding this downward wave until it goes back up. Yeah. What about Bubba? This was a big, big night for Bubba. It was. And, you know, certainly he had some bad luck last week at Kansas, but a great resilient job by that team to point their way. and he did his job the very first stage. That was the key, right?

I mean, he ran. First day, right, to qualify well. First day, yeah, good point. It came, it's qualifying. It's everything, right? That is what, where you get the stage points from is qualifying well. He did that. I finished P3 in the first stage.

And then he just, he managed the race after that. The whole race team did. They did a great job of kind of educating him on the situation. Here's what we got. And, you know, they managed it perfectly, right? They just didn't put themselves in trouble, didn't take any unnecessary risk. And now he moves on to the round of 12. So it's great for, you know, personally for me, it was a fabulous night, right?

I won my two cars now go to the round of 12. Great night. Couldn't have been much better for me. How aware are you of Bubba's situation when you have your own race to manage? The only time I can see is during caution. So there's a big screen there. Bristol and, you know, under caution, as soon as we get to the straightaway, I'm turning my, poking my head, looking through the winning at, looking at the standing. So I know. Now, I don't know the threat

of how far can they go forward, how far, you know, I don't know what lap they're on, I don't know any of that stuff. I just kind of am looking that constantly. And I knew that throughout the race, it was really tight. But as you saw, I mean, I didn't hesitate to lap the 45, 23, anyone. I'm just, I've gotten the bad end of these races so much. I'm wide open. I want to lap as many cards as I can and win for my team. What I'm curious is they mentioned it on the broadcast. Is it going into this race, the 23 team came up with the math that they needed to score

something like 55 points in history tells them that that would be good enough to advance to the next round. Are you a part of that discussion midweek as like, okay, here's what y'all need to do to advance? or are you not really in that? You know, I kind of leave it up to those guys. They've got some really good engineers and guys that work on the numbers there quite a bit. Yes, there's some guidance from me on that, but they do a great job of preparing the drivers

every single week with all the information they need. And really, you just kind of look at past history. I mean, we spoke about it last week on the podcast that somebody was going to stumble. You had all these guys that were plus 18, plus 12, plus 15, someone was going to have a bad race. Now, we didn't know that Harvick was going to finish where he did. We didn't know Lugano was going to get a wreck, but we knew someone was going to stub their toe, and that was going to allow that team an opportunity to point their way in, even though they were 18, 19 points back.

Yeah. MJ seemed to have a good night. He did. Yeah. I mean, speaking to which, man, I was such a fanboy over Tyler Redick's suit, the Jay Balvin suit. I told our president, Steve Leda, make sure I get that suit whenever he's done racing it this evening. So that was super cool collaboration. The car was just sick.

It just was, it looked so good. You couldn't really tell on TV, but it had this elephant print, like deep down in the, in the, kind of the tan color of it. It's like those basketball jerseys that have... Yeah, it was very faint. Yeah. But it was the details that they had on it was cool. And to have, you know, Jose come, it was so cool.

Yeah, it was a cool night for Tyler and that whole partnership. Yeah, and you saw, you know, Michael to the very end was sitting on the pit box. And he's right behind poor booty. He's, you know, he's nervous anyway of what's going on out there. He's got MJ talking in his ear. you know asking questions and you know that just shows the the passion that Michael has for for this race team and the people that we've hired and it's great it goes a long way certainly to our employees to see how passionate Michael is about the performance of the race team

and glad we're doing a great job for him speaking of mentally strong I mean booty's got to sit up there call this race coach Bubba right keep him level all while Michael Jordan sit behind him like toughest job in the industry yeah booty's got the toughest job in the industry, no doubt. Most of that is trying to get above his head. Yeah, yeah. It's been great that I'm really happy with where that team's at and obviously they've already exceeded goals. Now you just keep digging. Just keep putting solid runs together. The round of 12 will be no different than the round of 16. There will still be guys that stub their toe that have bad days. And if you can put together,

to, you know, he's going to, he's at such a point disadvantage. He's going to need to finish top 15 every week, be top 10, two out of the next two out of the three. And he's probably going to have to get 30 stage points, 25, 30 stage points during this round to to make it, which is all feasible. They can do it, especially with the tracks, you know, coming up. So we'll see how it goes. I think we're shaping up for a great round in the playoffs for all the drivers.

And I'm excited to see how it turns out for everyone. Yeah, what's your expectations these next three races? Yeah, I mean, it's tough. We tested at the Texas Motor Speedway during the summer on a new tire there. The 11 team did. So I think that we should be pretty good when we go there. Talldega, who knows, Roval, who knows, right? So we just hope we put together some solid races.

here in the next few weeks. And you don't want to go into the Roval's sweating points. That's just we want to get the work done early in this round. That's my mindset. Yeah. Someone's going to sleep really well if one of these 12 playoff drivers wins Texas. Absolutely. Yeah.

You're going to have a good three weeks. This is an important race, no doubt for, especially for the, you know, guys that are, you know, that probably me through Redick, right? It's, we're all kind of, we're in a good point spot. not great, but it's everyone, everyone really is, this is an important event for those competing in the round of 12 because you just, you can't count on, well, we're going to be great at Tal'Dago. We can be great and get taken out. You know, the Roval, now they've added the stage cautions there.

Who knows, right? He could take it on and restart there. So you just never know. The post-race reaction from the fans, would you, your video seemed to go pretty viral this, past 24 hours. What did you make of that? Yeah, Jared did a good job with that edit for sure. He did, he did great. You know, this just goes right into my wheelhouse. I don't think people knew that I love banter. I love talking shit. I do. And now I'm just running well enough where I can back it up. Like so I, you know, this, I'm feeding off of it. It's great because I get the

capitalize on that. Yeah. I'm feeding off of it because I'm proving so many people wrong and it's like all I want to do at this point is, you know, if you root against me, I just want to make these next seven weeks a living hell for you. I do. I just, I just, I want to live in the misery that of you watching us run well. So right now, am I feeding into it? The villain's up absolutely 100% because I've got some confidence. Our team is running well.

And, you know, it just seems like now, you know, Jared has done some work on social media that's fed these people and the booze and like you just keep the they're getting louder and they're getting more but we're also getting more cheers than ever so it's like it's been a fun case study because these pictures of you doing a burnout or anything on the front stretch and then the fans behind right it's cool to see their reaction and the last two weeks the darling tin ex finney win and then the polka no win middle fingers galore right but there's not that at bristol there's more like woohoo denny one or

I acknowledge that Denny One and just kicked everyone's ass. Well, what I've noticed on social media is that many people that I see in the comments are like, I just boo because the person next to me is doing it. So that's what my theory is you don't have any more haters. The haters are just more loud, but you are bringing in more fans of you. Yeah. I just think you're taking that neutral crowd that really didn't care and you're either pulling more of this way or you're pushing more than that way. And doesn't matter which way you're pushing or pulling them.

It's good. This is from the bottom of my heart truth, is that I'm not trying to get more fans, but I love the back and forth. I mean, you've been around me. Anybody that plays in my basketball league or golf league, I love talking shit to people. I, you know, I just do. It's fun for me. And it's, to me, there's a mental aspect of it that I'm just self-motivating myself through doing it.

And it's, and it continues to just make me better, right? And so, um, I don't know. I'm just in a good spot right now. And, uh, it's, it's been fun. This whole thing's been fun. And certainly this kind of all started, um, around kind of the, the Pocono thing with Larson, but it's just, it's taken on a mind of its own at this point. And, uh, you know, we're just having fun with it.

Hopefully we can just keep it going, right? Because obviously, uh, you know, the first, um, you know, the first. thing of someone that, you know, isn't rooting for you to do. They're just waiting for one week to like, for you to not do well. See, I told you. I told you you suck. And, you know, but, you know, you don't, where are you at? I don't see you this week. Like, they've got that tweet, they've got that tweet saved in their drafts. I know, ready to press it. Right. But, hey, I, I, I deserve it because I'm not afraid to tell them off too, right? Like, so it's. Travel. I'm rooting for a championship so hard.

Just the social ideas that are out there of what can be done would be so much fun. Jared, there's so much work to be done. Not for me. I know. I'm just long for the ride. That's what actually adds more pressure because as well as we're running like, well, hey, I can't jump towards Phoenix and start thinking about how I'm going to win this championship at Phoenix.

Like I got six weeks of work left. Like, there's a lot of this process that is still yet to be done. And, but again, I've said many times this year in the press and the media before this playoff, this year just feels different. Well, that's an interesting thing is the reporters keep talking about Phoenix. They were just this week talking about Trux might not making it past this round yet. We're still like all these reporters want to just jump to Phoenix and just forget about these races that they have. Well, I don't know what the odds would be, but I'm smart enough to understand them.

right now, if let's just pretend, let's just take the top four, the Byron Truex, Hamlin, Larsen, and the odds maker at Phoenix would probably make me the third favorite. Just because of historically, you know, Larson's won the championship there, Truex's record at Phoenix is great. I don't, it's easy to get caught up in what's this week's, results or last weeks and oh tricks is not what he was yeah bullshed like at any point you just some some tracks fit guys and you just you just you just don't know and and i think that we would we would be an underdog right now i think going into to uh phoenix now that's not the mindset i'm going to have i i think that again like i say when we're at our best like good luck i feel like

we're really good, but it's going to be fun seven weeks. Yeah, as you said, you can't jump right to it, right? If I was a driver, these next three weeks would scare the shit to me. Yeah, no doubt. I love the round of eight. Man, I just hope I get there. Like, those tracks are right in the wheelhouse. But, yeah, you got to get there first.

Dear, Danny, we've got some questions that we want to ask. Dare, Danny. We need answers and we need them fast. We tried to ask Junior, but his answers were lame And with DBC, it was more of the same Now we're caught on you, because you're our own hope This ain't the raged track, so maybe you won't choke Dare, what do you do with the checkered flags from your wins

That are giving you on the front stretch? Checker flags usually go to my dad. He's asked for many years for me to bring the checker flags back. I only have two, though. I gave the one back. It might have been Kansas. Yeah, I think Kansas side. No, it was Darlington.

I gave that flag back. So I have to order a replica. But, yeah, they usually go to my parents' house when they frame them. I had something real quick. I don't know if you saw on my story last night. It was a good night because you won and there was the victory lane and all that fun stuff. But you came around and did a burnout on the front stretch and then you went to the backstretch. and I was like, oh, you're going to the back stretch because the pit crew is back there, right?

So then I decide to book it from the front stretch. And I do this a lot and I realize I shouldn't do it. But when I'm approaching the pit wall, I kind of just jump, going to touch the pit wall and bounce off, right? So I'm approaching the pit wall. I leave my feet. The 19 crew guys are packing the pit box and a guy comes out from behind the pit box. It makes me do a double take. I trip over the wall.

down I go Oh man Camera lands Face first Broke the The front of the Are you being me? Yeah

Yeah There is a there is a Oh I don't care about that I would just pay anything to see Face Plan There was at least two people that saw Kellin being one So if you see Kellyn at the shop

I don't care about that I need to get the security I want to get the security footage from the track To somebody out there Do you have a video I'm asking The citizens

of Bristol County, please tell me you have a video of Jared busting his ass over the wall. If someone's got a video of you doing a burnout on the front stretch, it's probably on there. Backstretch. No, this was on the front stretch.

You burned out on the front stretch, then you went around the backstretch. You got to find it. Is there the cameras on the pit box? There used to be. I don't know if there is anymore, but I'm not sure. Well, if you can't find a video,

ask Kellan on Tuesday. Is it during the burnout? Yes. So anyone with a view of the burnout, but then where were you at when he fell? So I want to make sure we try to get this video. We're going to SCI this. Okay.

Or CSI. There's a clip of you on Twitter. Sorry, you're laughing over there. There's a clip of you on Twitter. I'm in the background. So we just need to get an extended version. Where did you fall? What pit box?

The 19. The 19. Okay. All right. If you have a video of the burnout and a view of the 19 pit box, please I'm asking social media help us find Jared busting his head. Yeah.

If not, ask the 19 crew guys. They'll probably recount it for you. Perfect. Reminder guys to rate review and follow wherever you get your podcast and be sure to subscribe to Dirty Mo Media on YouTube each week. We put up a couple of clips and then on Friday the full video version of the podcast is up. And then also a reminder, Las Vegas.

We've got the Dirty Moe experience. You've been talking about that quite a bit. I yeah I just trying to get to everyone to go out there support Dale Jr. and all of his his podcast guys what were they going to be it'll be at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino and if you aren't going to go there you're not going to be able to see it because we're not podcasting this because this is must be present no filter like this is yeah so people that complain about hearing bleeps when we bleep out cuss words on the podcast go to the Vegas show

because it's unfiltered. DBC unfiltered is going to be, that'll be something to see. I don't think they complain. They're more like, oh, he just missed that one. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, we'll go check that out. But go to dirtymo media. com slash live for tickets. Right on. Well, check those guys out. And anything else you got, Jared? Just one more review here.

This one's from Corona Glenn. I love your NASCAR 101 feature. I look forward to it every week now, and I love hearing the little nuances of NASCAR. I appreciate that. That'll be back next week. Yeah, yeah, we, that's something we started new. And actually, I've had a couple people tell us that, you know,

really appreciate the 101 stuff because I don't know all these stuff that you're talking about. And it's so easy for me to just assume everyone knows the lingo and the inside information that I'm talking about. So we'll try to simplify this stuff pretty often for you guys as much as we can in the NASCAR 101 feature. That's also sponsored by the virtual group. Don't forget them. So, yeah, thank you for the review. you kind of leave us another if you're out there listening and we'll read them here on air check out dirty moe media on twitter facebook tick tock and instagram