Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Atlanta: Denny Hit His Wreck Quota of the Day

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Denny Hamlin gives his unfiltered analysis of what went down at Atlanta and explains why superspeedway racing can be so mentally taxing. With Tyler Reddick's back-to-back victories and Bubba Wallace running up front, does 23XI have a superspeedway stranglehold on the Cup Series field? Denny debates if Hurricane Hocevar's late-race move was fair or foul...and what went wrong for Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch.   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/@ActionsDetrimental Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

That was going to be my question to you is what is the benefit of doing that. Why don't you ask him? Yeah, he's your friend. Okay, let me text him right. I mean, you got a sticker on your computer for him. What are you going to ask? Word for word. Hey, Kyle.

Denny wants to know. Whatever you want me to ask. 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. This spoils a victory for Jared Allen. He's got better luck than Rick and Drake to win. I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection. Championship and the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah, and I've already said it.

Hey guys, welcome to actions detrimental. Post-Atlanta, Race 2, are the 2026 season. We had Kyle Busch winning the truck race. Continues his streak of winning in NASCAR's top three. I don't know. There's a statistic or record for everything nowadays. Winning at NASCAR's top three level for 22 years in a row,

something like that. Congratulations, Kyle Busch. Yeah, awesome. congratulations oh here it is no that's an old that's an old stat it seems like if you search

Kyle Busch streak on X this random thing comes up random stat comes up for every year well that stack continues the

it's good for Kyle I'm sure to get back to Victory Lane I know that when he was running running all those, I'm going to say Bush series. I know it's, you know, but it was Bush series back then. When he was running that series on Saturdays and winning a lot, it was big for his self-confidence whenever he did that. And I'm sure he felt good going into Sunday after a Saturday win. The biggest takeaway out of this race is the throw-a-sport.

trucks were really fast. I was looking at the, even on TV, the back of their trucks were like two inches lower than everyone else's. They apparently had their stuff trimmed out pretty much. Ben Roads was really, really fast. He had issues. They run them out of gas. I think they ran them out of gas.

It was quite a good truck race. You know, the field got strung out. It wasn't stuck two by two. it looks like trucks that really were fast and handled well could make their way to the front. It was a fun race to watch. Social media had a buzz about kind of the shortening of the race, but I don't get it, that there had no issues with that.

They all knew it was happening. Well, yeah, the only thing Fox could have done differently was just give us an update because I'm sitting there keep looking at my clock on my phone versus like it should just be on the screen you know 20 minutes left count it down from 20 minutes whatever it might be right

because I was looking at my phone I was like it's 420 it's 420 isn't the white supposed to be out and so I got a little confused on why the white wasn't out at the world clock 420 it seemed like it was a couple

of about two laps later than what I expected to be but if you just have the counter, I think that that cleans it up. No issue there. Otherwise, because, you know, think about it, you didn't miss anything. You saw the great finish.

That great finish would have happened just a couple laps later. So you didn't miss anything. You just missed a few laps of there towards the end, but they raced that way because they knew the end was minutes away. So you just got that ending sooner than what you did before. So, yeah, the race fans, you really didn't miss anything.

I thought it was good for NASCAR to really commit to. We're going to get these two races in today, not drag these guys back here on a Sunday morning or Monday or whatever it might be that they have to do. So I thought it was a good move. And it's really important overall for the sport to hit certain TV windows to make sure you're not switching channels. when a network then comes in you got to make sure that they have there a lot of time so yeah no issue on my end on that Sheldon creed big winner in the O'Reilly series finally finally um like he said after

the race not kind of how he thought or was going to draw it up being that you know some other guys had issues and then he finds his way there but he's had plenty go the other way and so I think he's deserving of some good fortune at the end of that race on the last lap. I knew, like, I felt it brewing because I knew with Ross up there and Austin up there, I just thought, you know, where Austin is particularly good is, is the blocking. And typically when he, you know, if he, he doesn't do it much. If he does throw a late block, which again, he doesn't do it a lot, typically he gets those guys to back off. Like he gets them to just check up and then he just keeps his

spot. I knew Ross wasn't going to do that. I knew that Ross thought he had an inch of position he was probably going to take it all. And I mean, it was a great finish. I don't think it was any fault of either one of them.

Austin was trying to hold his position knew that with the run that the 32 had, he likely would have cleared him in three. There was such a a disparity at speed difference between the two that if austin just chooses to not block there the 30s come 32's coming with such a run he definitely's not going to win so he just tries to shut it off maybe it's a millisecond late i mean just really really small it wasn't even it was close to not even

being considered a late block um and you know luckily austin held onto it didn't have a terrible finish and also chastain got a decent finish for Jordan Anderson there so I thought it was a fantastic race again strung out a little bit more it seemed like the cup race was the most bunched up the field was between all three series we talked about that a lot of that is just how much drag and and downforce this this car has it just puts everyone in a little bit tighter bubble but it also there was no fuel saving on Sunday simply because track position was the more important factor

and he had a little bit more field spread than a normal speedway race so Sheldon Creed deservedly gets his win for the first time after 15 second place finishes congratulations to him is that like and the Hoffs racing team the house factor team yeah

congratulations and then did you see Sam Mayer after the race oh forgot about that congratulate Sheldon Creed. Yeah. It's so interesting because you saw many of the cup cars sliding through the infield grass and not have any damage or anything like that. And then Sam's going like 30 miles an hour and just bulldozes a drain apparently.

So yikes. Yeah. Yeah, big winners at the storehouse and then big losers at the same time. Right, right. They're coming home with two cars. and now they're only coming home to one. Yeah, is that kind of what we're looking to see out of the Super Speedway racing,

what we saw on the Cup race on Sunday? Yeah, it's what we want. It's to where handling means something, right? It means something more than what it does on the big speedways. So yeah, that's kind of the recipe. We talked about it last year after Atlanta was that this is what we aspire Daytona and Talladega to be. The challenge will be is that you're really going to have to,

take out a lot of downforce and drag to do it. And, you know, from the aerodynamic people that I talk to, they're like, this just, this car has so much drag. Forget the spoiler. Like, for the same size spoiler that the gen 6 car has to the gen 7, the new next gen car has, the new next gen car has 200 more counts of downforce and 100 more counts of drag for the same roughly the same spoiler size so you'd be it'd be really really tough and dale junior had an idea was that hey if you're running 100% throttle you should be able to pull away from a pack running 60 and i really like that there's there's some sort of math equation there that that can be had the issue will be I don't know that you'll be able to get it

even with a ton of spoiler taken off because it's the body. It's the body of these next-gen cars that are just super, super draggy. So I really don't know how you get there. But anything would be better kind of than what we've got. Like any amount of spoiler they could take off on the bigger tracks,

I think would be a step in the right direction. So incrementally, it'd be like everyone wants 900 horsepower or 1,000 horsepower. Hey, we can't get there, but we'll give you 80 more. Like, that's what I'm saying. Like, if you cut and you just take the Lexan off the spoiler or something, like it'd give you just a crumb of what you want. Is running, racing this Atlanta race mentally taxing more so than another race? And I ask that because it feels like watching it that if you fall asleep on a lap or two

and miss two to three runs, you can easily go from the top. five to outside the top 20 real quick. And then all your progress you've made is gone. If you don't have a super fast car. Yeah, absolutely. It is. Yeah, and it seems like the best way to do it is just take every run that you get. Kind of the mindset on the other super speedways is that you get in line and you find a line that you think's going to go and you just stay in that line.

It seems like the guys that are staying up front are the ones that are just taking every run they get. And yes, they might wash themselves from second to six, but then they take the next run, they're back to third and what have you. So there's not much patience to this type of racing. So absolutely, you're on kill more here at this track every lap than you are like a Daytona Tadaldega for sure. Does that take a certain skill set? I don't know that takes a different skill set because everyone can do it. It's just some are really good about understanding the runs that they have.

They know that they can clear, so they go ahead and take it. I don't know. I think that there's just some that are better than others, obviously. Like Bubba Wallace, for instance, he's always at the end of these Super Speedway races or towards the front. You know, Tyler Redick scored the most points on Super Speedways last year. Now he's won two in a row. Like it might seem a shock to everyone, but it's really not. He actually scored the most points in everyone last year on these tracks.

So it's, I don't know where the surprise is there other than the guy didn't have a fender at the end. So they're fast and they're getting it done. But as far as skill set-wise, I don't think it takes a different skill set. I think if you can create runs at one speedway, you can create them others. Is it a mindset thing that like you just have to... It's more of a mindset thing. You just stay aggressive. Yeah.

Yeah, that's probably more, more true. It just seems like the guys that are up front are the ones that we know as being consistently aggressive. Everywhere. Yep. Yeah, that's fair. Did that not having a right front effect, Tyler at all? It looked like it helped them. Maybe.

I mean, yeah. I mean, did you see the clip that Bozzy put holes? Unreal. It was unreal. Now, we don't know what happened up top. So when you're looking through Tyler's windshield on that restart, they said he was 21st to 3rd? I thought it was 18th maybe.

Maybe. Dale Earnhardt could never. Just kidding. But remember Dale's big thing was 18th to 3rd? It showed 20th is when the video started. Yeah. I think Tyler's happened in a much shorter amount of time. I love it. People are just going to get so true. That's going to be the title.

No, don't do that. Don't do that. By the way, Travis is the one that comes up for the titles of this thing. So it was incredible watching them. He held the bottom. And it just looked like he could hold more gas than everybody else. And then everyone was washing up top. everyone's pushing. But it was

it was amazing to watch. He got to the front really, really quickly. And yeah, usually you know, as long as you can keep your bumper, like the fender is not that important. As long as you can keep your front bumper intact,

the fender over the tire usually doesn't mean a ton because it hits the front bumper and then it goes over the car. Well, the fender is not something that's sitting straight. It's not a high pressure, low pressure, I don't know, not into that part of it. But it's just, it's more horizontal with the air. So it's just going over it.

It's not hitting it necessarily straight. So I think you can get away with no fender. It appears you can get away with no fender and still be fast. but it looked like it just kind of broke in a really advantageous area where it didn't affect his handling too much. See, I figured as long as he was the second car, he'd be fine. And once he got out to the lead, though, that's where he wouldn't be able to hold on. But at the end, though, it didn't matter. It didn't.

It didn't appear he lost much of any speed at all. Yeah, I didn't see any difference in his car post that fender gone. that's the amazing thing with these cars. I think you've said before is like if it looks bad, the car's probably fine. It's the stuff that you can't see that is when the car gets screwed.

Yeah. I think it's also just a testament to how fast those 2311 cars were and how well they handled. Because you saw the same amount above it. He was able to stay up front all race. Yep. Yeah.

And they were, they were fast. They could hold line. I noticed, you know, when I was around them, they were behind me. They could hold their line a little better than I could.

with being closer to me. So they certainly had some good handling characteristics that they really leaned on and it helped them. But beyond that, they just were aggressive as well. And so, yeah, they were found. And to talk about what you were saying, Travis, is that like on the body of my car, it was intact. But every wheel had gotten hit. And so, you know, we're trying to fix toe links on the right rear, then the left rear. and I'm like, I think the front got hit as well.

And so they just tried to fix what they could. And it was actually what stinks is I kind of had resigned to the fact that, you know, I'm going to be able to hang on to the pack but not do anything. Like the minute I got around a car and especially was running up high, I mean, I was out of control. So I figured I met my wrecking quota for the day. So I was just at that point. All right, let's get this thing to the finish. They worked on it again, got it quite a bit better.

So for that green and white checker, my car was actually back to 93% of normal. So I think there was still some front-in suspension damage or left rear suspension damage that they couldn't fix all of it. But our team did a great job not losing a lap and getting those toe links fixed. It was really good. How were you up until that point where you? suffered that damage. I felt like I was okay. We played the strategy at the end of the second stage to save a little fuel so we could take less, then take two tires to then flip back towards

the front of the field. That works. We get the lead. I got shuffled. There was a few moves I wish I could take back is the reason I got shuffled. I think it was not being aggressive enough. And so I lost my track position there. I mean, when I say I went back to, about six or seventh. Joey came in there. He got tight. I was really stubborn to not just get back in line instead. No, I want to hold the top.

I want to be the top lane. I don't want you to come merge into my lane. And, you know, ended up losing it at that point. Yeah, they were TV. So did you lose it as a result of what Joey? What happened with Joey? No, it was a mix. Joey apologized for it, but I, again, I feel like I had, I could have done something different.

It appeared to me when I watch it back and I look at the data that more than likely when the 20 drove to his inside left rear, that more than likely dumped some air on his spoiler, caused him to get tight. And you see us on these mile and a halfs, right? they turn the wheel, you slide up the racetrack, you get really, really tight. I was starting to make my run back on the outside of him. As he's getting tight, I now get in a horrible arrow position with my left front, just off his right rear corner. He comes up, it taps my left front.

I then start getting loose because, I mean, that arrow spot is really, really, really bad. And it just at that point, I just then bounce off the wall and cause the havoc. Did the weather or the wind yesterday in Atlanta cause any issues? It was less of a factor than I thought it was going to be, but it was a factor. Everyone was tighter in turns three and four with the wind direction that it was. It didn't have as big of an effect in turns one and two. but I just thought, you know, for me, it didn't have much of effect. But no, it wasn't as much as you, I certainly thought it was going to be to start the race.

You know, the wrecks had happened. Most of them are on straightaways. Ours started in the corners, but I didn't think the win really kind of started any of the wrecks. Are you glad to take a break from Super Speedways? Yep. ready. I saw a stat out. The person on Twitter provided 13 drafting races since 2024.

You've been in 12 accidents. Does that sound right? Sounds right. Feels right. Are you excited to go to a road course? I'm excited to use the break. Sure. Yeah, I'm excited to go to Kota.

I mean, it's painful, right? because it's, you know, I've really changed my mentality to try to stay up front as much as I could. They'd turn a 500. We had the best average running position of anyone by two spots. Still crash. Like, I don't know what else. Some of it sluck. Some of these wrecks that I've been in, it's like, I feel like I kind of had a role in them.

So, I don't know, just on a bad Super Speedway. run. That's for sure. I get that with the chase format, the points are more important everything. But our fans, media, everyone kind of overblowing the importance. Like I feel like we're overreacting to the standings after week two. Well, of course. I'll tell you this. No team knows where they are on actual speed until we get to, you know, race three or four, whatever it might be. Even at Cotto, you know, we're not, yeah, we'll have an understanding of kind of a little bit of car speed, maybe short, you know, you draw some short track connections there, but until you get to the Phoenixes, the Vegas's, tracks like that, that's where most of the

development will go on in the off season. Now, there is some development, no question about it, on Super Speedway's and what have you. But, it's yes it's it's always this season it's always the season to overreact when you're a couple races in especially when you have these types of racetracks but but they matter yeah you can't just downplay them say well it doesn't matter you'll win and then you'll vault yourself up the playoffs it doesn't work like that anymore which i'm happy about oh well i'm not happy considering you're 27 i'm 27 um but what did aaron rogers say a few years ago?

R-E-L-A-X. Relax. Relax. Unless you're Tyler Redick, I don't, you got a 40-point gap on the guy in second. He's very relaxed. I'm impressed because I assumed you win the 500,

you party, you do all the media obligation you have to do that, like, there's going to be a little bit of a hangover. Well, he was sick. I was about to say. I heard Tyler had a little bit of the flu. That is a, classic working your ass off.

And once you're done, you know how your body just crashes? I mean, I don't know about you because you're granola and you, you know, you feed your body all the right things and whatever, probably part of the 4 a.m. club. Let's forget you. Trave. Bring it over here. All right. So like, you know how sometimes you go on vacation or, you go on like a two-day bender?

not even a bender like that's an understandable sickness but yeah you're traveling also you're traveling you're doing this you're doing that and then all of a sudden your next day at home you relax you're like oh and next you know you're sick and different climates you're in new like it's warm weather cold weather like you're just and so i totally expected tyler to be sick going into um Atlanta uh unfortunate we had a a big Pinnacle event, which is Pinnacle Bank, one of the sponsors on the 45. They got their very first win, by the way, as a primary for Tyler, which is awesome. It's a great ride to be on the 45 right now. And so he didn't make that event on Saturday.

I believe it was Saturday night. So it's cool that they got to experience that on Sunday. But Tyler was like, you know, I got some meds on Sunday morning. felt a lot better. And so he still finds a way to lock in. And that's what is important is that on Sunday, when you strap in, the winning net goes up, have you done everything that you're supposed to do

to prepare for the event? And I always had no question that he was going to be ready for that. What's it like racing sick? I don't know. Do you kind of forget about those other symptoms? Like you're in a sauna more or less? Yeah. I always feel better.

usually after getting out of the race car. It's something about the heat, the vibration actually makes me feel better when I'm not feeling great. But that's just me. I mean, Tyler, I know got really sick at Darlington in 2024 actually threw up in the car during that last.

Wasn't he sick at Homestead too? Yeah, he does get sick a lot. He does get sick a lot. I don't know. I'm going to ask him. his immune system. Yeah, we got... Jared, can you help him out? Not sure what it is. But, but yeah, he got through it and I don't know. For me, it just, it doesn't bother me that much in the car. It's more out of the car. While we're on it, you know, back-to-back wins for 2311. Are you getting

sick of going to victory again and congratulating another driver? Nope. No. I actually felt I actually felt a little better about, like I wasn't as bummed after Atlanta than I was Daytona. Now, Daytona was a bigger win for the team and whatnot, so that made up for it. But it was like we're still able to rally. And when I say rally, a lot of it was because of attrition and cars that had crashed. But I'd been on the other side of that as well. So to get a 13th place finish, I don't know.

Had you asked me before the weekend, would you take 13th? I would have said no. But considering all the things that happened in the middle of the race, I would have said, yes, I'll now take it. So it's not what we drawled up.

We're not where we want to be, but on to the next. Just done what we can do about it now. What, that final restart, Bubba's got the lead. He makes a move. What could have you done differently, should have done differently? Well, do you want to talk about that one or Hosevar?

Because Hosevar got one of the guys before that. You're talking about Bell? Mm-hmm. Can you go that one first? I thought that the TV guys did really well at calling a spade a spade right off the bat. They started backing it up a little because they were like, oh, well, maybe there's a hole. Harvick stirred firm.

He's like, there might have been a hole, but it wasn't a hole by the time he got there. And so I agree with all that. You know, it's very, very tough. It's tough to watch. The media loves it, by the way. If you'll hear, if you want to see what the media thinks, just ask him and they'll tell you,

oh, we love host FAR. Well, no question you do, because he's giving you some content for you to talk about. As a competitor, though, like eventually it does, it's going to come back around. He'll be in a position where he thinks he's about to win, and then someone will decide that he's not going to, and that's going to suck for him and his team on that day. but it's just you're just never going to get anyone to give you a break when you clearly won't

give anyone else a break and his style is his style and he's free to be whoever he wants to be he certainly is exciting to watch if you're a race fan he's not exciting to watch if he's racing your guy because you know that there's a heavily possibility that he's going to run into him um so it just um just seems a little wild right now and i feel like those it's not the moves those are not the moves that you have to make to win the race nowadays i i don't like i think he's missing a little bit of the um just the the craftsmanship of winning these races beyond just having a fast car. There's just so much more to it.

And I don't know. I just, it's tough. It's tough to watch as a competitor. But I don't think we're going to do anything about it. I think you've got to just let it play itself out over time. I think that he knows that anyone he gets into, he's going to have to be on his tippy toes from when he's racing around those guys, which is a tough way to race. It really is. But if you don't care, you don't care. And that's,

that's okay too. So I think you just on kill, like we said earlier in the show, that for this track being aggressive rewards his drivers. And so he's just on kill normally anyways. And so, but there's times where you need to just dial it back just a touch. Let me ask you this. I keep hearing while he's going for it. So if, If I'm three car links behind Carson Hosebar and I go through the grass into turn one and then wipe them out, is that just me going for it or is that me being an idiot? An idiot. Okay, so that's, I think we have to stop using the, well, it's just going for it.

Well, there's a difference and certainly feel like that there's better decisions that could be made. but we're talking about the same thing we've been talking about for a year and a half. I almost hate that we're bringing more attention to it because it's just, I think he likes that.

But didn't, like, so last week, Riley Herps went for it. What's the difference? Riley Herps went for it. Is it because he doesn't have the track record of doing this repeatedly? Well, Riley wrecked into a guy

that was on his right rear quarter that he could not see. Carson could see that there was no hole there to be had. Riley is coming to the start finish of the Daytona 500. The two cars in front of him are side by side. He's running five miles an hour faster. He's just turning right into the, what he sees is open racetrack.

And unfortunately, the six gets there and he makes contact. I think that is vastly different than just bowling through someone that's right in front of you. Yeah. Now, do you think that those should be like he's the new Ross?

A couple years ago, Ross was doing that and we saw Ross now grow. Well, I think that, well, then there's a conversation that he probably should have with Ross.

So why aren't you doing the same things that you were doing two years ago? And maybe Ross could give him some help to say, I thought it was the right way, but here's why it didn't work. Maybe. Yeah.

I know that, you know, I think he looks up there. Well, maybe not. I mean, they were trying to help each other last night. Yeah. But they also had issues as well last year. So I don't know whether Carson is going to be as receptive to advice. I don't know whether he is or he isn't. And he's openly said he doesn't have friends in the cup. Like, so does he have someone that he can talk to?

I don't know. I don't know. For what it's worth, Carson knows the worst quote after the race was that. he choked. What do you mean? I mean, I guess he saw himself having an opportunity to win and he blew it. I would say he didn't choke though.

That's the wrong world. Choke means that you never had the lead, yeah. I didn't see an opportunity for him to win the race. Yeah, even that is, I don't understand his reality there. Is that I never saw an opportunity where it's like, oh my God, this is Carson's race to win. Now, he did, there was in the interview, he did say like, I haven't seen the video so,

but like, yeah, probably I did mess up. Like, so he, there is some quotes of him owning his mistake with Bell. But, yeah, I mean, I guess he did start on the front row after that. True. Yeah, but. Yeah, but he never was in position to win the race. Yes, just because you started on the front row, it doesn't mean you get the push.

It doesn't mean you got clear. That doesn't, that wasn't your race to win unless you had the lead at some point. and then made a move that that made it to where you didn't win. Does that make any sense? He just was in the mix, but it wasn't. Choking means that you made some sort of decision that kept you from winning. I mean, I guess this transitions perfectly into that next lap where, you know, the outside lines come with a run, right?

Bubba moves up to try and block the move. Yeah. And went too far. Yeah. If you look kind of as a straight on view, Bubba's shifted lanes. And listen, there's, it's easy for us to say here on Monday after we know how it all happens, what to do. And everybody, every driver, including Bubba would have said, I'm going to go ahead and stay on the bottom.

He thought in the moment, because, listen, he had been controlling both lanes throughout the whole second half of that race. So more than likely, and, you know, I'm going to speak as a podcaster trying to let you guys know that are listening. If I'm Bobba, here's what I'm thinking. Here's why I'm making that move. Me. I see the 77 coming. I'm thinking, okay, he's pinned in beside the 45, so he can't go anywhere except for if he wants to try to pass me, he's going to have to go high. So he's pinned. So I'm going to go up there, take his run, probably. to get hit by him, it's going to push me out, and then I'm going to go right back down to the bottom. So I'm going to just make sure he never gets beside me, so I don't have that 50-50 shot racing to the flag. I want to just control both lanes. The downside is that when he moved up,

you could see he went from below the first dotted line on the bottom to actually left sides right at it or above it and now you've left the middle and it was just for a split second so open that Carson was you know we saw the restart before he's he's going to take a a hole that's not there much less one that's pretty much there so I just I wouldn't have counted on him pushing you I think that he was he was going to do everything he could and everything he could and everything that he couldn't do to win. And so it just was a risky move pulling up in front of him, knowing that the likelihood of him pushing you out is low.

But I think what Bob was thinking is that he's pinned by the 45. I don't think he realized how much space was between the 45 and the 77 side to side. And so when he pulled up, the 77 had just too much of a gap there that he could hit and it shoved him out. If he stays in front of Tyler, though, one, two, is Josevar going to be able to make that run and get around him? Because they were talking about how like the second place car controls. Let's think about it.

So more than likely what happens is it comes down to whoever gets the push down the front straight away. So if he doesn't pull up in front and the 77, the 77 does get to Bubba's right rear. He now gets beside him. we enter turn three, both of them are going to be wide open. They're going to stay side by side. Then it's going to be a matter of which

which car in the second lane gets through three and four the best. Because when you come off turn four, then it's a battle of who gets the bump first down the front straightaway. Is it Tyler pushing Bubba or is it who is up there behind Carson? Was it Ross? It was Briscoe, wasn't it? I'm not sure. But it just was going to be a battle over who was going to be closer.

So again, I think Bubba didn't want to put himself in that 50-50 chance of, you know, I'm going to be side by side on this final lap. It's going to be one of the two of us. I think he was just trying to ensure that Carson never got beside him. I think he would have done it no matter who was having that run up top. Bob had made that move 100 times before in the last half of that race

and just it had worked but you know just just barely overshot the middle there and went a little too high to give too much of a gap do you have to take into account that that guy that you're moving up to block on if you

overshoot it just a little bit he's also going to make a hole yeah which was my point is that you know he shot a hole that wasn't even there in the previous restart So you got to expect something, you know. But also do you think that's part in Bubba's mindset here's like, I just got to keep this guy behind me at all cost.

I do not want him side by side with me. I think you're probably safer with Carson when he's beside you than behind you. And plus you're in the bottom lane. So you're actually in the leverage spot. When it comes to the air dynamics of this car, I think you would certainly choose to be the bottom car versus the top. Now, the top will have the most momentum, usually off of turn four because of the banking.

But if it comes down to who's going to crowd who, Bub is in a more powerful spot by being on the bottom. So just stick to the bottom here in hindsight. In hindsight. But he had two-tenths of a second to decide, and we had 12 hours or 15 hours. And a bunch of camera angles. Yeah, and a bunch of camera angles.

The scissors are easy to make on my couch on Sunday. I don't know what the problem is. I get it. What's surprisingly is even post-race, when I kind of look back at certain scenarios and kind of what I could have done different, it seems really, really obvious when I watch it back from like a bird's-eye view

and when I choose this lane or that lane, I'm like, oh my God, why did I get up there? Like, it's certainly easier when you have the bigger picture painted. Yeah. Some other events in this race go back a handful of laps. Kyle Busch slid up in front of Noah Gregson and then solo car spin to the inside wall.

I never saw a good replay of that. All I saw was the one from the inside camera when he's sliding down towards the inside wall. So what happened there? Well, TV, Kevin Harvick and Clint Boyer said that, you know, he slides up and then gets out of the gas and then Gregson just runs him over. But not Gregson's fault whatsoever because Kyle was a little out of shape. Yeah.

Some people said Gregson maybe should have lifted. Well, so was it like me and Corey at Daytona where I got out of shape, lifted and then he got in the back of me off turn four. Kind of, but it's like, Kyle slides up the track. You leave the guy and not much choice when you hit the brakes in front of him. Yeah, Kyle sliding up the track into a hole. He's going from the bottom to the top lane. Yeah.

It's tough on the next car. So if you're Noah, if you do this giant lift and break moment to give the guy the spot, then you're opening yourselves up for someone else doing to you. He ended up doing to Kyle. Again, when you make these really tight squeezes in the holes and you lift to get in the hole, you're leaving the person that you cut off in a very tough position to where you're forcing them to lift and then open themselves up to getting wrecked. So most guys nowadays just don't lift their say they say, if you want to go ahead and put your car in that hole,

be ready for the freight train coming. Here's what Kyle said. I didn't get the best of exits off a turn two, but when I drifted out to the wall, I was trying to get back straight, and Gregson never checked up. Just ran me as hard as he could to get me back going, to get my momentum back going again.

When a guy's a little out of shape, you got to give him a second to collect it before you just ram him, or at least try to check up and push gently. But yeah, that's kids these days. Yeah, so it sounds like what he acknowledges is that A, he was out of shape. he acknowledges that B, Gregson was trying to help him,

but just didn't help him correctly is what he's saying there. Again, it's very hard to do. I mean, Gregson's more likely got someone right on his ass too. So it's, again, if you're the first guy that gets out of shape, you almost have to deal with whatever consequences come from that. Another note worthy incident, Kyle Larson, that was coming to the end of stage two.

He miscalculated. There's a car there, Kyle. Carlo. I saw him in his spotter saying, you know, his spotter said, I told you three wide, and then Kyle said something like,

I didn't know I was three wide. Well, he wasn't three wide. Yeah, because Kyle says, I didn't know he's three wide, and it spires like, you weren't three wide. Because he cleared the middle car, but then there was a car way, way down low.

Correct. It's kind of just a, it's an interesting spot. I'm trying to figure out how I can justify it here. I'm thinking really, really hard. I mean, certainly when the two cars are separated that far side by side, you know, so say you're side by side by someone, but there's 30 feet between you, that's when you're going down the highway, someone's in your blind spot.

That's your blind spot. Like you can see cars that are directly beside you. You have your mirror. You have your camera that's on the back of the car. But that's only got a certain field of view, okay, that it's looking out. So this is the back of the car. Okay? That camera is kind of like this.

Well, that car is here. So it's too far away for him to, you know, you can't just turn your head sideways and see it. you do have a side mirror, but even that is more facing like this way. You know, Shane's here. This is the back of his car. So it is a blind spot, sort of. But you also,

you can feel it usually as you're coming down. Like you can hear it and you can feel it that a car is there. But more than likely what happened is he was going down the track so quickly that he had no time to see or hear it. But that's an aggressive move. Making a just top to absolute bottom move,

I don't know, first of all, I don't know what he was gaining by it. That's what I'm about to ask. We're coming to the checker. There was no one spot. Well, no, because he knew the car was there, he would say, I'm clear of the guy. I just, I'm on the outside like I'm going to insert.

I don't know what the reason for the move was. It's my, That would be my question to him is that if you didn't see it, which appears he didn't see it, what were you gaining by going from the very top of the racetrack all the way to the bottom? Like it wasn't to block someone, I don't think. Yeah, that was going to be my question to you,

is what is the benefit of doing that? You're coming to the end of the street. Why don't you ask him? Yeah, he's your friend. Okay, let me text him right. I mean, you got a sticker on your computer for him. I have a group text that's perfect. for this. Is there, is there, are you going to, are you going to, yeah, I'll text. Is there a, is there a

is there a Larson Bros. text group? Uh, let's find it here. I'm on this text that he's talking about. Yeah. What? Yeah. Read it that out. We can't have you. Um, there it is. What are you going to ask? Um, hey Kyle. Denny wants to know. And then whatever you want me to ask. That's fine. Go ahead. Um, what were, say, what were you trying to gain? Um, what were you trying to gain? from going to the top to the bottom if you didn't see SVG. I'm saying, hey, Kyle, Denny wants to know what you were trying to gain

going from top and bottom if you didn't see SVG. That's fine. We'll see what the response is. I don't know. I really don't have any other justification. I'm trying here, my best. I was going to say Ricky's in here too. Should we ask if he waived to Riley

on the backstretch as well when they were front to front? Did he do the standard, I'm pissed, just gas it while your nose to nose? It seemed a little long. They were attached to each other a little. What happened in that wreck? I didn't see that wreck. Do you have a clip of it? I had and took it off.

Just irrelevant. I'll find it. What were you saying about this Larson, wreck before I cut you off? Nothing. I just, it is a blind spot with your cameras. That's all. I'm telling you, that spot. that far away to the left,

your camera's not picking it up and your side mirror likely is not picking it up either. But again, I don't know what he had to gain by sweeping across three lanes in the middle of the corner. Okay. Not a great replay of this other incident, but I think

Riley gets into Austin, Dylan, and then those two cars just sideways in the middle track. Ricky just had nowhere to go and ran into Riley. I think Ricky was fun meter because he had reached his rec quota as well for the day.

Yeah. Yeah. You were probably happy, though, to see him be done for the day, right? For pitting reasons? I'm never happy to see a buddy

crash, but it was, we were in a tough spot on pit road and obviously with qualifying rained out, the first pit stop was just an absolute mess because it was the classic

at Charlotte Motor Speedway a few years ago. If you remember, I was like, so, so fast. And every time I came on pit road, I'd lose nine spots because I had to go around Busher. Someone had to go around him. Someone had to, it was Busher, Nemechek, Austin Dillon. And every person was right behind the other guy. So everyone came in late. So everyone just kept going more and more sideways in their pit box. I blocked Ross in. He was nice enough to wait for me to finish

fueling my car and getting tires. He just sat there in his pit box and he was like, I'm not going to go in reverse because by the time I go in reverse and go forward, you're actually going to be leaving. So he just waited. You went in reverse. I did because Ricky came in quite a bit later.

So there was time to be gained there. It's just whenever the lead car is the last on pit road. So, you know, the guy that's run the highest is the furthest back. back on pit lane and then that's the next guy and then this guy comes in late it just causes mayhem it's amazing we don't have at these bigger racetracks like standard pit box lengths um but everyone every track is different um you know if you go to a place like indy of course it's

such a long straightaway that the those pit boxes are like double what a normal pit box is you'll never get blocked in uh phoenix you're not going to get blocked in there big big pit stalls um But yet, just a weird scenario there where without qualifying, you can't pick around people that you think you're going to outrun or they're going to outrun you. How do you practice that? Because you guys got this pit barn at 2311. You know, your guys are out there practicing.

But unless the driver is consistently driving in for these guys, like in the pit box are different, like, does that change the choreography of each? Absolutely. So how do you practice that? Do you put new lines down each week? I don't practice. that. I don't know. It's one thing that I certainly don't feel very good at is getting in. I think I'm

probably running too fast into my pit stall because I'm always kind of deep and left where I should just go slower, wrap around, then try to get my car pointed more correct. It's really hard to, it's hard to practice. And it's really tough for the pit crew because their timing is, all right, I'm jumping off the wall when you reach X spot. And when you change your speed coming in your pit stall, that changes that. Interesting. Yeah. We're still waiting on a reply here.

Okay. Hopefully there's no Chevy meetings this morning. I mean, I think this is more important. He can take it. But anyway, Tyler Redick wins two in a row. 2311's one, two in the standings. We just talked about standings aren't super important right now. but it's certainly if you're at the top of them,

you feel good about how you're, you know, because everyone is thinking these first two races, oh, I got to just get through these speedways and be in an okay shape, then we can get to our strong tracks. Now, the difference is, right, is that it's Reddick that's leading, right? So while we're 100 behind, whatever we are, it's not like we're a hunter behind someone that's going to run 25th every week. You know what I mean?

So you're behind a car that's every year in the top six, seven, in the regular season. So it'll be tougher for the field to make a comeback on Reddick versus someone that would just happen to get into two Super Spooeyway wins. Does complacency ever, does that something that worries you? What's that? Like 2311, it's the great start of the season, like some complacency kicking in. Does that something you worry about, think about?

They better not. no that's not how we do things nor what i expect so you you're racing against the best teams the best drivers you you no weeks off no weeks off bad news for the field tyler redick has never finished outside the top five at coda in a 2311 car in fact he's never qualified outside the top five either yeah turns out he's a good driver you guys might have found a good driver there, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah, exciting from Michael Jordan. Um, back to back weeks. He's celebrating a victory lane. That's cool. He's, you know, I don't know how many races he, he has been coming to each year. It's more than people think, but it feels like a,

usually makes a third of the races. Like, he wasn't at indie, right? He wasn't at indie. The indie win. Bob is Indy win. No. During the summer, uh, golf and he's, he's, he's, floating on water. Oh, fishing weather. Okay. Or he's on his floating home. Yes. It's just nice you come to these first two races. In a different country. Yeah. It's just nice you come to these first two races and you know, you get the full experience. Yeah. I also appreciate that he gives Fox these interviews. Like he doesn't just sit there and say, I'm not doing these. He's done four interviews with Fox in eight days. Like that's powerful for the sport. was someone that we had a meeting with in Daytona that said Michael Jordan does nothing for the sport and he is a prominent figure in the sport and I said hmm okay that couldn't be further as a podcast but anyway moving on Jesus Christ that narrows it down that couldn't be further from the truth though this morning the amount of repost I've seen on these viral sports accounts you know the complex accounts the

you know, the sports accounts that repost highlights of Michael celebrating on the front stretch with Tyler. I mean, that's huge for NASCAR, right? That puts NASCAR in front of so many people's eyes. If Michael Jordan thinks NASCAR is cool, I mean, NASCAR is cool then. Well, you can see it through the outlets that pose. Complex sneakers. They're posting things about the races. Like, they never post anything about that. The only thing they post is like maybe a 2311 collab, you know, shoe, you know, where it's like a part of a paint scheme. But there's no question it is that he is reaching outlets far beyond our current media outlets. And when he does these interviews, he doesn't just give like stock answers that you would see from other people.

He gives like the true emotional Michael owner fan thoughts. Yeah, he's speaking from the heart. He loves the sport. He said that over and over. I don't know how many times he can say it, but you can see from the reaction, he's a fan first. Anything else you want to touch on from this race? No, no.

Figure we got it. Some other off-track news we at least have to acknowledge Chris Gabehart and JGR lawsuit. Yeah. certainly, you know, disappointing to read what I wrote. My offseason was very, was taken up by a lot of things. So I was not, you know, not aware of all the things that were kind of going on behind the scenes as far as that's concerned. You know, I really can only speak from like a 2311 standpoint of like why the information is,

is so protected, right? And I think you saw Chris Gabehart's contract and you saw all the protections and stuff that the teams have to have, is that no one person owns any information. You know, if it is a, if it's a setup or what have you, I collaborated in that. I put my time in to help develop that. The engineers put time in developing that. The Arrow Department. There's so many departments that that contribute to whatever that piece of paper says,

that car is running that weekend. No one person owns that or has the right to take it anywhere. That's someone else's work. And so that's why as race teams, we have to protect that because, we race a spec car now. I mean, do you know how much faster we could possibly be if we had all of Hendricks information?

Theirs and ours? Like, it's, you just can't let that happen, which is why the teams are so very protective over their, um, their information. It's what separates us is what our employees come up with, um, during those weeks and, and, and, You know, I'm sure Joe Gibbs Racing has spent tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars over the last decades coming up with what they think is the right answer every weekend. And they deserve to protect that. And it's awfully disappointing to see, you know, two people that you've cared for, you know, not at odds right now. but I can only, listen,

Joe Gibbs Racing is willing to go to court, I think they're pretty serious. I'll say that, is that Joe ain't looking to fight anyone. So it's tough. You got a big fishing trip coming up this week, I hear. I am going to go to Lake Fork. I hear that the biggest bass that you can find in the country are in Lake Fork, Texas. So we're going to make a little stop there.

Johnny Morris has hooked me up with one of the pros, Chris Zaldane, and we're going to go out there on Friday and see if we can't catch a PB. Is Charlie gone? Uh-huh. Who do you think is going to catch a bigger fish? Me? Like I always do. I just needed that for like bait, because, you know,

Charlie will clip this if he catches a bigger one and use that in the Denny Bros. I have a proposal for you. I heard he doesn't know how to back up a trailer. Heard. Yeah. You have any video of this? I'm not really sure, but I know that him and Austin took the boat out and Charlie took a picture of himself sitting in the driver's seat, but Austin said he can't do it.

He got stage fright and could not back up the trailer. Oh, no. I know. Talk about losing your main card. Did he ever have it? Not really. So, according to AI, Lake Fork in Texas,

is a premier trophy, bass fishery, famously holding the state record for the largest large mouth bass at 18.1.8 pounds. The lake has produced seven of the top 10 and 36 of the top 50 largest bass in Texas history. Wow. See, I want to tell. temper my expectations. I like to get under promise over delivered.

My, listen, my personal goal, anything over four pounds, I'm going to do cartwheels. A 14. My P.B. is 5.5. Right off my dock. Don't you poachers come over here and start. They do. They love to go over there and just. I know. 5.5, right off the dock. A 14.35 pounder. was caught last week, February 2026. I just could not imagine. Know what I would do.

I thought about it is that I would fight that fish. I'd bring them in. I'd weigh him, hold him, and I'd re-hook them. Throw them back in the war, I'd say, come on, fight me again. You know what I mean? I just want to feel it. Just want to feel the fight. Hundreds of seven pound or better bass are caught regularly.

So, like, if you don't like... I don't believe. If you don't get a record, I don't believe it. With a pro, like, listen, this isn't Celine Dion's

like private pond that you're fishing. You gotta go out there and earn this. It is a big lake. It's not, it's not like a, again,

it's not a pond that, you know, they can't, they can't escape. You got to earn this one. Travis, I'm excited. I want to see Denny catch a huge fish.

I have yet to see it. Are you going to be out there capturing this? I think he's my ride to Coda, so I hope so. I didn't know if you're going to go or if he had like some like granola trip planned while he's fishing.

Well, I was going to make that proposal to him because I hear the accommodations around Lake Fork aren't. Oh, we got a... We got a real dumpy spot. It's awesome. You just, you want to camp instead? No, I don't want to camp,

but we're going to stay in a... We're going back to our roots. You have a mattress, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone will have a mattress. Here's my problem, though, Jared. Do you know that bass boats only carry a certain amount of people. Yeah, I know. I think I know that. Right now, we're scheduled to have

four, and that is like, that's the maximum. Someone is going to get a hook in the side of the head. It's bad, AJ. What moves is that from? It's, no, it's a reel where this guy gets hooked in the side of his neck. And he's like, oh my God, AJ. It's, it's bad. It's, it's been on my feed for forever. I just, because I never can stop watching it every time it comes across. And he's like, oh, I feel like you got a hook hit by a hammer. He's like, he's like, it's not that, oh, it's bad. It's bad. Let's get it like a jet ski for Jared to drive around and film on. Yeah. Because eventually they say, eventually you'll get a hook to the, to your body somewhere. I don't want that. I do. Well, you imagine with the four of us, someone's getting it. So you got the

pro you got austin you and charley yeah we got we're going to be on all four corners the fisher's just going to get i know bombed from every do we have any wagers between the uapin we will we just don't know why yet maybe someone has to pay for the 65 dollar a night accommodations uh that's all i got what's the benefit to this is maybe a stupid question but why Why do you need a bass boat? Why don't you just take a pontoon out? Pontoon boat? What's the difference?

You need places to cast. So if you look at a bass boat, it's pretty flat on top and it's not got anything on the sides. Well, you just need room to cat. Like if you have a pontoon, you've got a cover on the top. There's rails.

If you got to lean over, get the fish out of the water. Yeah, how are you going to lean down there and get it? The boat can needs, if you're on a big lake in a tournament, you got to get out fast. Plus there's technology.

on the bass boats that show you the bottom. They'll have live sonar on the front. You can actually see the fish. Wells to put the fish in it. Some people argue that's cheating. I just don't know. A boat's a boat in my opinion. Does it float on water or not?

Wow. For fishing, you're just, I don't know. Okay. Well, that's our week. You got anything else? I got nothing. We're right at an hour. That's our quota.

The people have, they've had enough. I got a review. And just got a note that practice and qualifying this weekend is 10 a.m. on Prime, 10 a.m. local time on prime. So if you're on the East Coast, it's 11 o'clock. And then race Sunday, 3.30 p.m. Eastern on Fox. And then we got a review here from no name, but it comes out of Harris, Georgia. Action's detrimental is a fun. Candid Listen, Denny and Jared bring sharp takes, even though I'm not a fan of Denny's driving. Still, when the Green Flag Drive. it's all about the nine. Go chase. Go chase. Did you, right before we wrap up, just check your text again.

Make sure we didn't get a response. I've got nothing, but, all right, we'll just assume that he was thinking what I said. All right, we'll see you all next week. See you. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.