Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Dover: Called It

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Denny Hamlin and Jared are back after he called his shot and won at Dover on Sunday.Denny chats about why he felt he was confident ahead of the race, and how many races he thinks he could win throughout the rest of the 2024 season. Jared bought a new house and Denny has the perfect gift for him (6:00). Ryan Truex wins again at Dover in the Xfinity race, while Carson Kvapil impressed a lot of people (10:40). NASCAR has announced changes to the tires that will be used at the All-Star race this year (20:15). Denny's pit crew came up big for him coming out ahead of Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman. Denny breaks down how they came out first on that critical stop (28:00). He also details the decision to start on the outside line, moments after he took the lead on the inside lane (41:00). How can NASCAR fix aero blocking and mirror driving (43:00)? Was Dover a good race (49:00)? Was Tyler Reddick to blame for Bubba Wallace's wreck (58:00)? Plus, #DearDenny.For more Actions Detrimental content, head over to our YouTube channel: 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.

I'm curious if you have any thoughts on this Indy car cheating scandal, considering you've cheated to win a race. Oh, fuck God. We're going to a good source, you know? You are just, I know what you're doing. You're just sucking up to everyone to where they'll love you and they hate me. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Hey guys, welcome to action's detrimental.

Ow, that hurt Charlie. This is not going to be a rose color glasses show. pleading with NASCAR, who I guarantee you is listening to this. It was warm and then it was cold. But I kind of liked it. The 11 D.H. We're all in. We're going all the way that's promising.

Hey guys, welcome to a winning edition of Actions Detrimental Post Dover. We told you. We told you it would happen, right? You told them that would happen. Yeah, you're right. It wasn't a we. It was a he. Yeah, I mean, I felt confident.

If you listen to the post-race media availability that you've got after you win, someone said, you know, well, what prompted do you say that? And I said, well, I'm with one of the best teams. I got one of the best pick crews. I got, you know, in my mind, the best crew chief, engineers and all that. I should expect to win every week. so but I just you know we've got some track history there we were we were pretty strong and so I was pretty confident in that prediction just simply because I knew that if I did my job then then I was

certainly going to be top three then it's just up to us to execute to get the win but you felt more confident going into this weekend this past weekend than another week because I feel like Like you said, you could call your shot every week if you wanted to because the 11 cars that competitive right now. Certainly, tracks where we have a, you know, we have speed everywhere, but there are some tracks that I feel like we're better at than others. Like we just go like Kansas this weekend. I mean, I'm not going to say it again, but, you know, it's just we have a history of

being really good there. So, um, we'll, uh, we'll see how. all pans out. But let me read you a text I got from Chris Gavehart. This was Tuesday of last week. Hey, I'm going to need at least one more win before the All-Star break so we can enjoy North Warwick's borough without being cranky. It'd be a shame to be at cranky at such a cool place.

So that's three weeks from now. And look at the schedule. He showed me the schedule. it was a Dover, Kansas, and Darlington between, is the races before. And I said, okay, got it. So, oh, man. I mean, it's much better than the start of last year by far. It is.

I looked at our pod schedule or the titles, and on April 24th, the title was we need a dub bad. Your first win came on May 2nd, I want to say, last year. Well, we're ahead of schedule. But we won how many races last year? Two, three? Three. Three?

Three. See, that's not enough, though. That's not up to our standards as far as race wins in a season. So we're probably just on schedule now when it comes to what we expect. Now, we set some high expectations, so it's not, you know, lots of guys to take three wins and move on each year, but not us. Just two high expectations. Yeah, listening to the tear down last night, they were talking about how many races were left in the season, which I believe is 25. And they were just hypothetically speaking, you know, how many could the 11 team potentially win by the end of the year?

and if you want to win. 22 of the next 25? That'd be quite a season. You said how many could the 11 win? Sure. 22 is a lot. But it's a real number. I mean, I'm taking out the road courses. Other than that, that's all I'm taking out.

Sure. But they had said that, you know, realistically, they would expect, realistically you would win four. of the next 25 and if you won four that would be a seven win season and then that would actually probably be pretty disappointing if you only won four of the next 25

races based on how you're running. You're probably right. Yeah, it probably would be. Which is crazy to say. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, man, had we won Texas, I mean, we were running around 10 laps ago to Texas just cruise into a victory and

that turned upside down. So you just never know what can happen. Take out Phoenix, obviously. It would, Oh yeah, wrecked racing for the lead there. Well, I was talking about going forward. Take that one out. Is Brickyard the one that you want the most? Yeah.

Brickyard are really want bad. We're actually going to test there as well, the 11 car. So that's the one test we signed up for this year. We raised our hands and said, we'll take that one. I think there's a test. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a test. There's a test. So any off track?

stuff we need to cover? I don't think so. What about you? Are you a new homeowner now? I will be in a little over a month. Wow. A little over a month, yeah. This is a big change in your approach on life. You were trying to live out of a car for a while. I still am. I think that's he wanted to get this like this coyote from Denny. Well, that's still a possibility. The problem is with that the back seats don't come out. So we're going to have to renegotiate our deal. based on that. But yeah, I think that's still a possibility down the road. We'll see what happens after your career ends. Okay. Well, hey, the Ham fam got you a housewarming gift. So I'm going to give it to you, okay? Okay. Oh, I see this. You might want to pull your mic over. I know,

but I'm going to hit my head on this thing. I'll let you open it up. I have a feeling I know what this is. Travis, do you want to rework a camera here before we, or can you see this on camera? They see it on the big one right there. Okay. It says, Jared, congrats on your new house. Love the Ham fam fam. Danny, Jordan, Taylor, and Molly. There it is, folks.

There it is. He's back, baby. The purple. The purple 560 vest. Wow. We got to thank our friends at NASCAR. Just as dirty as it was when I dropped it off. Exactly right.

Never been washed. Exactly. Got the pizza stains and everything on it. You don't need pizza. Let's not get ourselves. Yeah. So thanks to our friends at NASCAR for getting that. Rob McKinney, Patrick Rogers.

They made the right calls and connections because I know they didn't do it themselves. But thank you to those guys for retrieving this vest. And then Jordan went and got it for. for you. That's cool. They mentioned it earlier in the year. They're like, hey, we might be able to get this vest for you. We'll send it to Denny's house if we can make it happen. And then, obviously, that was like 11 weeks ago. I was like, well, they just must have forgot about this thing. I don't think it's ever coming. That's cool. Thank you. Yeah, you got. I'll have some new wall space in June to find a home for

this. Yep. All right. But the one thing I was going to mention off track is that since this was Dover, and I'm from New Jersey. My parents came down to see this race. They've been to, I think they said, eight races now since I started working the sport. You've won six of them, DQed from one. Oh, they came to Pocono, huh?

Yeah. Hmm. Well, they're going to book tickets to Phoenix next week. So they must be going, are they just going to all the Northeast tracks? Well, they've been to all your Pocono wins. so you can count all those and they come to every polka no race welcome to polka no this year they came down to my brother came down to bristol last year i beat your favorite driver uh my parents then came to bristol this year

they were here for dover hmm i think that's all of them well and they were in they were in homestead i think you've had a shot to win that one too damn all right yeah they're good luck charms for sure I love seeing on social media Those that They If they don't tweet you anymore Do they X you? No

I still say tweet Yeah They tweet me And they showed like Hey I've been to X amount of races And you've won these amount You know This amount

And so it's great to see Those that are My Good Luck Charms in the stands Thank you For that Oh Steel Horse Live Is a guy that I raced online with a few times. He says he's been a three, won all three, this year.

So let's get in the Xfinity race. Ryan Truex wins, really on the last lap. Didn't lead, but one lap, I think it was the final one. Heck of an Xfinity race. You had kind of the threat of rain, the entire race for the most part. It just, you didn't know if it was coming. There was kind of a pocket of dry air and then rain all around us. And, you know, you had the double zero and the seven battling it out. They had a close battle all race long. And then the crew chief, you know, saying,

Pitt, oh, wait a minute, it's too late. No, it's fine. We're going to, we'll be fine anyway. And then they end up running out of gas. The actual race goes to distance. So Ryan Truex, after a late battle with. Carson Quaple. You've got Austin Hill there.

Man, that was a heck of a finish for that Xfinity race. Yeah, I thought for sure there. Carson Quaple was going to get his first Xfinity win and only a second start. Yeah, he does a phenomenal job. Very similar background to Josh Berry and kind of their upbringing. And, you know, it's really just won a ton of races in the late models. here in the Holman Atlantic area. So he's a great driver.

He is really, really good. Just to have two races. And I mean, Dover's nothing like any track that he probably races at or has raced at in his entire life. He just, I mean, I think he had like one of the fastest cars in practice as well. He was just wheeling that thing. So great to see, you know, these Dale Jr., giving these young guys.

some opportunities and they're showing up. I'm curious to get your take on this. Ryan Truick said that he was more proud of this win than his Dover win last year. Because last year he just had a dominant JGR car and drove around up front all day. And this one, he had to work a little bit more for it to stay up front for that opportunity at the end to come his way. You've had races like that. Would you agree with that? Like what's the, how do you rationalize that?

The emotions are just higher because you, you've, at some point of the race, you probably concede that you're not going to win. Like, you know inside that, like, the odds are stacked against you. Like, when the first rain came, he probably let his emotions start, you know, in his brain, and his body start to say, oh, I'm going to finish wherever he was, sixth, or he's like, well, all right, you know. And then all of a sudden, bam, when you win at the end, it, the emotions are always higher. So while those drivers would say they'd love to just lead every lap, dominate, and kill everyone,

it's the actual opposite. You would rather win at the start, finish line on the last lap. Like, those wins are just, I don't know, they just mean a little bit more. Do you have any reservations as a driver or competitor that you're like, man, I don't know if I deserve this one, but, hey, I stuck around and made it. happen at the time. Yeah, I mean, I think he did just simply because I was looking at the lap times in the bus when I was watching the race. And the 20 had speed all race. They were kind of stuck and mired in a certain position probably around seventh or eighth for a little while. But you kept

seeing he was able to pop off a quick lap here and there. And it was like, whoa. So you know it was possible. It just things had to work out just the way they did. He got rain cautions when he needed them. Those other guys had to peel off because they were out of fuel. Next thing he knows he finds himself in the first couple rows and executes restart and does a great job and passes them. Yeah.

So he does his job and wins on Saturday. I thought for a moment there in the cup race that we were going to get a repeat of 23 and a true X sweep. Yeah. Because Martin was also very good in the. the cup race. He was. He, you know, to get in the cup race, he passed me, I think, in stage one. Well, it was when I, I bobbled up the racetrack. Remember that one restarted into turn three. I went in there. I hit the bumps. The car took off. He got around me during that sequence there,

and I got to ride behind him for a little bit. And I was like, wow, he's strong. He's going to be tough. And then during, then one more caution after that, me and the five, five were battling, you know, side by side for five laps or so. It just showed you how much track position. We all knew how big track position was. So no one wanted to give an inch. Usually at that stage of the race on a wide track, you really, you don't fight that hard, but we all knew how important that lead was.

But, you know, my crew chief came over the radio during one of the early cautions and says, it's going to be you, the five, and the 19. That's what I see. And at the time, it's not like we're all running one, two, three. We're running, I think, first. No, I don't think they're first. I think it's like second or third, sixth and eighth. And he's like, this is what it's going to come down to is you three guys,

as long as everyone executes. At what point in the race did he say that? This was probably at the end of stage one or middle of stage two. And that's all based on lap times. Yeah, he just sees who can pop off lap times and be consistent and actually make passes. Like the five made passes, the first stage, I mean, he was passing guys from, I mean, he drove from where he started in the 20s to 6th. So he was making passes.

The 19 was making passes. And that, to me, is what indicates whether you have a fast car. Anybody can run fast when they're in clean air and up front. but who who can pass when the cars are in a pack that those are the those are the good cars and drivers that's interesting because i feel like there are a handful of drivers that felt like they could win today given the right circumstances and the five the 1911 were not the only cars yeah like given the right circumstances like what like give us the lead with 10 to go we could win yeah sure

there's probably 20 guys that could have done that. Well, like, Byron could have if he didn't have the bad pit stop, though, right? He had a decent car now. He did. I mean, all the HMS cars were good. So, but I just, if you then put Byron in 16th or 18th or whatever he was, like, you got to go forward, right? I mean, I think if your car is really good, because if you're, if, if Byron, let's

just say he was going to lead the race until he had the issues. he's still going to run into lap traffic at some point. So if he couldn't pass 18th for 18th, then his car probably wasn't the best because he got stuck in 18th. Well, when you're the leader, things are going good right up until you reach the back of the pack and you have to start passing lap cars. Well, what would happen if you're not good,

then the field's going to start stacking up behind you. And so it's like an accordion, like what we saw at Martinsville, the leader would catch the back of the pack nobody could pass and so then everyone would just start going towards the leader and at one point of that race you saw the top five or six we were all within a second of each other just right on top of each other because the leader couldn't pass and i think it was the five at the time he had a he just got stuck and he mentioned in his post race interview that he's like yeah i i i had the field stacked up behind me because i was just you know blocking trying to get the stage win there yeah does that Suarez was in the jockey American flag car this weekend. I'm not sure. Yeah. They mix that up all the time. It was when Truex won stage one.

And Suarez was trying to just hold onto the lucky dog spa. Right. And that's when that stack up was occurring. Truex just drove by both of them. Yeah. I'm coming through and won the stage. Yeah. It was, yeah, it was, it's just, everyone's just so equal.

I know that they, at one point Fox put on their, on their ticker there, their pylon, the lap times from the top 20. And like everyone was running a low 24, like between an O and a 20. And I just, I can't have says this enough. If everyone runs the same speed, you're not going to pass. That's just not, you have to have variation in speed between the cars. And what they're doing is that's what they're trying at North Worksboro in the All-Star race. is a tire to create varying lap times.

So whoever saves their tires is going to be, you know, maybe running, let's pretend we're at Dover, a 2350. And those that are struggling because they've worn out their tires would be running a 2450. And that will create tons of passing and opportunities. So one thing we didn't talk about is that, right? They announced the All-Star race. It's going to have an alternate tire from Goodyear.

So as much as we give them crap, we have to say, great job on at least coming up with something for this All-Star race. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I guess we skipped right over that off-track stuff. We've got a lot of All-Star discussion. Kevin Harvick's going to be racing. Kyle Larson's going to miss practice and qualifying, a handful of different tires for the race. Yeah, it sounds like, you know, the only concern I have with, you know, the tires is

that are they too close in speed at the beginning of a run? That would create, if they are, then you would certainly run the harder tire because it will last longer. So I don't, you know, they ran that tire and I saw the lap times of it. And it was faster. It definitely was faster for six, seven laps. But we'll see how it all pans out. I wish they would kind of let you mix and match.

the sets, you know, to where maybe you run the soft lefts and the harder rights, but they said they, you can't do that. You have to pick the set of four. You can't mix them because I think that would be the fastest set is to put softs on the left, hards on the right. Was this something that NASCAR came to the drivers and got your guys' thoughts on this? Or how did this come about? No, they didn't gather our thoughts that I'm aware of, but they used Bristol as kind of a, hey, you know, we can create that. It's an all-star race. Why not?

Let's try it. The only tricky part is, too, this is a new surface. And so, you know, it's going to be pretty smooth. So it's going to wear those soft tires out really, really quickly. And so what's cool, though, is I think that they're making us start the race on that soft tire. So the beginning of the race, who knows how this thing's going to have. pan out. I mean, it could be a survival. What would be a success in this experiment? That's a good question. A success would be lots of overtaking, passes. Let's just call it passes. That's what we

want to see, right? It's because North Worksboro was going to be a huge challenge. If you put us on hockey pucks for tires, ones that are, we call hockey pucks like really hard tires that don't wear out, it is going to be a very tough track to pass on. It just will be. It'll be like Martinsville times two, probably worse, because the cars will have so much grip that it just, it would be an aerodynamic race. I hate to say it,

just a follow-the-leader type of race. But with this alternate tire, what you're hoping is that it's got enough grip in it where people will choose knowing maybe there's a short run coming, they'll choose this tire, be able to pass people on hard tires and then they fall off. But those people were hoping for a caution

during that time. So it's, you know, I hope we get to use them all. I hopefully, you know, it would be good if they actually limited how many sets of, I'm thinking out loud here, limited how many sets of hard tires that we have.

Well, isn't it two and two? And you have to use all four? I don't know if that's true or not. I think they were talked Clinton was talking Clinton and Kevin were talking on the broadcast about having the additional set of tires was an option set

I think that's what Kevin calling Clint's like no it's not an option set because you have to use it so it's not optional whatsoever you have to use well they are saying it's an optional set but I think I saw where you have to start the race on those with it only being I think a 200 lap race is that right 200 lap race I think we won't

use many sets of tires anyway. So you're just hoping that these softer tires can at least hang on for 50 laps. That's going to be a stretch, I think. It just depends on how much the track rubbers up. All that plays a big factor into how long these tires will last. But hey, it'll be fun to at least try it. You know, a cool racetrack. We've got to, you know, the format's pretty straightforward.

not too many crazy things we're going on so i think uh it's a it'll be a great experiment for sure have you and your cruise chief spitballed ideas on how you would use these tires no not yet we won't get into that till uh the week of uh of the race because we're we're concentrated on the next one the next one um so yeah well i'm sure they're doing research in the background now on the how long they think it will go. How different does the car need to be for those sets of tires? The teams are doing all that work now to distinguish that. And then we'll get into actual strategy the week of.

What do you make of Kevin Harvick filling in for Kyle Larson? Surprising. When Kevin tweeted something about that, about NASCAR makes him do things. he normally wouldn't but he um yeah this is a i mean i think it's a big thing um it's certainly from a PR perspective i think it's golden i think they did you know great job making sure that five car is definitely going to be a focal point of what we're talking about during practice and qualifying because you've got kevin harvick in that car and so um i think it's genius

on their part for sure. While Kyle is at indie, I think he's practicing, right? Yeah, he can't afford to miss any. If he's going to really take this whole indie thing seriously, which he is, you know, you just, you don't have enough reps in those cars to miss any of those practices. So I think he's doing the right thing by staying in indie and then, you know, letting his guys, you know, they know what they need. He's got three good teammates he can lean off of for seven.

setup stuff. You know, they'll come up with their own setups and Kevin will drive it. He'll do a great job and Larson will be a factor when we go to race for sure. I think too, it adds, it gives Kevin some knowledge for the broadcast on Sunday. So here's more information to work with because he's actually in the car. Yeah, that's a good point. I certainly think that that is a factor. Back to Dover, where do we leave off here? Well, just kind of where we're all kind of stacking up. there in the middle of at the end of stage two behind the five you know because we were talking about you know a good car versus a bad car you know good car good driver in my opinion can overcome the traffic in some sort of way now it might be a grind but it you know they can do it um

the five did it early on in the race um the 48 you got to give him props because i followed him for a decent portion of the race. He was very, very fast as well. He probably had, he was probably the, one of the fastest cars in the first two stages. I know because I was right on his ass when we were running probably six and seventh, and we drove all the way up to second and third, you know, behind, behind Larson. And we did it running nose to tail. He was running a different line.

I was running a different line. But I could see the speed in the 48 as well. So, you know, kind of the key moment. moment was kind of on there on pit road. You've got us coming out three wide. And at that point, you know, I think I'm in a good spot. And they said the 14's got to come down and pit. And he's right in front of me. And you saw like where I kind of went to the right a little bit is because the 14 was pitting. And I was trying not to spin him into his own guys. And I'm not checking up for for for him turning in because, you know, this is for the race.

off of pit road. We know how important it is. Can you break down how the speed on pit road works in those situations? So for like the five car and the 48 car, they're coming behind you. The five car was pitted only a couple boxes into pit road. So he's very early on, right? So he comes in and he comes out. When he comes out, is he reaching that speed, the pit road speed limit? He's just holding that for the for the rest. How are you getting up to it? And like when you come out of the box and do you have time to see that, okay, he's coming, I can accelerate a little bit. Yeah, you can't. All I'd try to do is get to my lights as quick as I can to my max speed and then hold it.

Same as what he did. But he established, you know, since Kyle was on the backside of pit road, he established his speed very, very early. So at that point, he's just hoping cars don't, you know, slow down and pull in their pit stall or maybe their, coming out and that could potentially bottle up pit road as people were coming out, some are coming in like what we had there. So that's the only risk you run when you pit

way back there versus when you pit up more towards the front where we were at. And it's just a weird track where you have guys that are on the tail end of the lead lap coming in as you're leaving.

So if you're up towards the front, it's always kind of a merge spot there, probably around 16th to 18th place. Whoever's in that spot, you're trying to come in right as it's such a hard spot to be in because you're, you just want to get into your pit stall, but you've got all these other cars leaving, and it's like, well, who's going to yield? And, you know, my, my approach or thought process is that usually the person that's up towards the front gets, gets the right away. They're the ones that shouldn't have to lift. But for every driver, it's a little different. Is pitting in those situations the most stressful moment of the race for you? Oh, for sure, because that pit lane is so narrow.

I mean, it, as you saw, we were three wide, but it only for a second because it was, it is, like if someone came out next to me, it was, it was not going to work. We were just all going to collide. So it's just a, it's a very, very narrow pit road. the communication like between you, Gabe Hart and your spotter there when you're leaving and what they're telling you? Yeah, that's a good question. I think it's different for everyone, but the same for most. And that is that the spotter carries me into pit lane. He takes me, I'll tell you how it works on our team, he takes me to 10 away. So once we get to 10 away, he releases me and now the crew chief takes over and says, all right, you're 5, 4th, 3, 3,000,

three, two, one. And then when I leave my pit box, so what he's doing is he's probably on the box looking down pit road to see who's coming because he knows the pit stop is about to be over. So as they come over to the left side, Gabe Hart is probably looking back to see, is he going to have to clear me leaving my pit lane? And he did tell me at the time that I had cars on the outside. So he, when I drop, when the jack drops, I take off and I immediately listen to to him to see how far can I go to the right? And what is he saying in your ear? It's hard for me to remember exactly,

but he'll say one outside or two outside. And so if he says one outside, then I know that I need to come out and merge to the right, but leave at least one lane out there for whoever that car is. If he says two outside, then I've got to leave two lanes to the outside. But the pit lane is so narrow. you don't really have the ability to go any further left than that,

especially when the 14's turning left into his pit box there. So at my point, what I was looking at is that, hey, I'm ahead of these guys, so I'm going to take that inside's third lane and let them figure it out from there. Because had I come out, you know, kind of on their quarter panel or behind them, I think that they've kind of, I need to be the guy that kind of lifts there. but being that I was slightly ahead you know me and Kyle were obviously kind of nose to nose there the 14 was just or the 48 knew that he was not going to pass the five

and the where I was merging I was far enough ahead that he wasn't going to get past me either so he he made probably the right call and backed out where are your eyes looking once the crew guys come around to the left side of the car I don't I do not look anywhere but straight ahead I'm watching them. You know, I can kind of hear the tire changers when the nuts are tight. And then my goal at that point is when that jack drops is to haul ass, try to get up to speed just as fast as I can't. So you're not even looking in your river to see how many cars are coming behind you?

I don't. No, I can't. That's just way too much stuff going on for me. I've got to focus forward. so it's uh it's it's it's all those little things that that stack up and actually matter well that pit stop gives you the lead um you you gain quite a few spots on pit road in yeah they did pit crew just did a great job i'm looking um travis right down there pit stops for nine three nine three nine one nine eight six nine eight uh the nine eight one uh that's where Larson overtook me on that green flag sequence, now getting into stage three.

Yeah, he, I drove out to, I think, a couple, no, I had a 3.6 second lead when we got to the lead there. And then he reeled me back in to within a second once I caught traffic. And he just did a much, Kyle did a much better job coming to pit road than I did. it's always tough as a leader and this kind of goes back to what I said in the media center as well is that that's why next gen has had some really close and tight finishes is that it feels like it's easier to be on the offense than it is the defense when it comes to you know I know that I'm in control of my car I'm the leading the race all I'm trying to do don't make a big mistake that gives up the lead easily, right?

So I'm probably pushing my car to 85%, I would say, when I'm leading. Kyle, when he's on the charge and on the offensive, he's a guy that pushes it 95 plus most of the time. So he's naturally going to be able to run faster at the end of the race because I am more conservative in my approach, A, around lap cars, B, don't make a huge bobble because at Dover, we are on the edge of making a bobble and losing a second in one lap.

I'm trying not to do that. I'd rather milk a couple, since I drove myself out to a big lead, I was trying to just, hey, if I give up a half a tenth, a lap for the next 20, I'm still fine. Like, that's a pace where I can maintain and keep them behind. me but the downside to that is if i catch a lap car wrong Kyle is there and and he's going to pounce on it so it's just it's it's easier to chase than it is to be chased in these cars now arrow blocking is a whole other thing whole different subject but you just have the ability to

push your car more when you're chasing versus leading that's the right thing to do because when you're leading, if you're pushing your car to the absolute edge, you're more than likely going to make a mistake and you will lose the lead easier than if you just take it down one notch, keep it under the tires, and make sure that, okay, I'm just going to defend from this point on. Well, aren't you concerned as a driver in that point where you're using you as an example because this is the situation you were in yesterday, but I'm asking as a whole, right, if any drivers in this situation. If you're leading a car by three to four seconds,

and as the leader, you're kind of just milking that lead. Right now, if you let him get in to one second back, like Larson did before that pit cycle, that now that opportunity for him to jump you on pit road is greater than it would have been if you kept the lead at three seconds.

Absolutely. Well, I didn't try to milk the lead before that green flag sequence. I was trying to go as hard as I could because I wanted to put last, cars between us. But he just, he reeled us in because I caught the back of the field and I started slowing down because I got caught in traffic. There were cars trying to stay on the lead lap and everything. So I didn't, I wasn't, you know, he had the cleaner track. And so while I

drove out to a lead because I had clean track, once I got to the dirty air, he just started coming back to me. And then he nailed his pit entry. Well, he took a much different one than you. He stayed higher and then came in by the time you got to pit road you guys were bumper to bumper he was all my ass i felt it i mean it it almost looked like homestead if you all remember when he ran into the barrels there um he was trying to do the same thing to the 12 during that race but he just executed it perfectly this race like he learned from that and he uh he killed it he just did a phenomenal job getting on pit road and so much that it caught me off guard that i felt that i felt that i felt that i felt Delta bump and I'm like, what the hell? I'm like, oh, shit, he's on my ass. And so I was like,

wow, he made up a ton of time. And then their pit stop was a little bit quicker. And so I wasn't too panicked, you know, when we came out behind them, because I knew my car was really fast. And we had the ability to really push the go button when we needed to get a little more. But it was going to be fun regardless. So you were not worried about the arrow blocking then being in second at that time. I mean, I was. We always want to control the race for sure, but I just, I wasn't panicked for some reason. I just wasn't. I just felt like I had an overdrive gear that I was I was going to be able to get at some point in the race if I really, really needed it. And so all I'm trying to do is execute what it takes to win. And so that's, that's what my objective is,

run fast enough to win, push it when I need to, take the chances when I need to, and don't when I don't. Was that restart then when you're seconding, the inside line, one of your best restarts you've had recently? Because it's, Phil, you just got off real fast. Yeah, it was a combination of things. So the caution comes out. Travis is doing a great, great job keeping us in chronological order here. Caution comes out, and I'm like, so we didn't have many laps on our tires. And at that point, I started on the inside second. and second typically has been a tough place to start at Dover,

but the gearing is kind of wonky, where first gear is way too much at that track, second gear is not enough. And NASCAR does that to try to keep our gear selections the same at all tracks. So they want to do it if they can, a one-size-fits-all when it comes to gearing. So it's just the gearing doesn't match up with this track very well. so we both go you know we go into first gear there and i think he says he gets a hit from the 19

that when he starts to go he gets hit and then his wheels start spinning and then i took off and i because i didn't get hit from behind and it allowed us to be even at the start finish line i drive into the corner you know hold it down low and i clear him and i'm like yes yes Now I'm in control of the race. So trust me, I felt the pain of the other side of that when Chase Elliott did it to us a few weeks ago at Texas. I mean, that was the race. I was going to win that race for sure.

And then he did a great job on the restart. The caution comes out, and he's six inches ahead of me. And he controls the restart, and that was game over after that. So caution comes out. And then at that point, me and Chris Gay-Pard, thinking do we choose the top or the bottom now like you know because our numbers show that we probably need to take the top but i just took the lead on the bottom and i felt my car was really strong on the bottom through three through one and two uh when i cleared him and he just brought up a

great point and he was like yeah but Kyle just restarted up top and he didn't hold the lead so likely he's going to learn from that and whatever he did to lose the lead. lead, he's going to learn from it and adapt. So I caution you against giving him that same opportunity again. So I said, you're right. So I went to the top and then got a great restart, cleared him. How often does it come down to where Chris says, here's what's on the table, it's now your call? Yeah, he always says that in the end. So he says, listen, you're in the car. You know, you felt what you felt. You were, you did the restart. And so you make the right call. My job is just to give you what my opinion is and what the numbers say.

And so I think that that's why our relationship works. As good as it does is that we trust each other to make the call. When he says Pitt and in my mind I'm disagreeing with him, it doesn't matter. My job is to pit because he's convicted in that ruling, whatever it is. And I realized when I sat out during my back issues back in 2013, These screw chiefs have way more at their fingertips, and they see the much bigger picture more than we do inside that car.

How significant is the arrow blocking? Is it as significant as what social media is making it seem to be today? I think that I won, and so there's just going to be bitching. It was the restart at Richmond. It's just always something. I saw tweets from 2012 where reporters were talking about. air blocking. They asked me in the media center when I thought it started.

I thought it started back in 2019 when we were running the big ass spoilers and the 550 package on mile and a half. If you remember, there was a time where Kevin Harvick was so much faster than Joey Lugano. I think this was a Kansas. And Joey just was swerving in the middle of the corner, left and right, trying to hold him off.

And he did. He held him off. And so I think it started right around that time. I mean, it's been around for a long time, but it really started then. And then teams and drivers started paying attention and studying it and not only studying it, practicing it. And so it's been around for quite some time. Here's a tweet from Glock from 2012. This is what I thought I heard.

Boyer on McMurray. Boyer said that that was one of the biggest mere driving sons of... Yeah. I mean, it's... Mirror driving's been around for really long time. And mirror driving just basically means that someone catches you. And when you hear them say, he's mirror driving me, if I'm running my line and I want to be on the bottom, Jared,

I'm in front of you, I'm running the bottom. But you're catching me and you're running the top. Eventually when you get close enough, mirror driving says, okay, I'm just going to go to the top and run that line now. But you waited until I got there to do it. That's mirror driving, right? but it's also But aren't they one of the same?

They are one and the same. Mirror driving and defensive or blocking, arrow blocking is the same. Mirror driving, that's what I'm trying to explain is. Arrow blocking and mirror driving is the same. So you can probably search mirror driving. It's been, and I think that's what Bob did actually, was because you can see it highlighted. He looked up mirror driving and these tweets popped up from 2012.

So it's been around for forever and you're not going to change it. there's no rules that you can make to change it. I saw where people said, Kyle Orson, I think, said, well, you know, if they took the camera way, for me, I looked at my camera a few times during the race, but not very often, unless I was just kind of checking my gap on a restart.

So that's certainly not going to fix it. As long as we have spotters kind of telling us where to go, which we got to have those. there was a silly suggestion of not letting the spotters spot i mean we got to breeze over that because that's that's just not that that's not going to work um you're not going to keep people from doing what they know is the best way for them to win or protect their position so it will not go away no matter what what you have to do the only way you can get rid of this is to make it to where there's lap time variance.

That second car is just so much faster than the first car that he's going to get around no matter how much you choose to arrowblock or you shouldn't be able to swerve in the middle of the corner and hold somebody off. So I think that you've got to have a bigger variance in speed of cars. That's the only way we're going to get rid of this in the long run. But you also, if you're the leader, You also need to be able to run that line that the guy in second is running efficiently, right?

You do. If you couldn't run the same line that Larson is running, then mirror driving is not going to work for you because your car is just going to be worse. Exactly right. Yeah, you've got to be able to get to the top or the middle or whatever it is and run good lap times. And for me, that's what I care about. As I'm leading that race, I'm looking at my lap times every lap.

and I know that if I just keep doing this, that will be good enough to win. It might not be a great show, you know, or it won't be very showy to, hey, I just want to go win by four seconds. Like, sure, that's a great way for your ego, but I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to win the race. And if it means driving a little bit more conservatively, but the race is closer, then that's what I'll do. that's what's going to get me the win. But Kyle put the pressure on. I mean, he was, he got within legit one car length a couple of times. And I felt like when I moved to the top, I looked at my lap times and I ran the same

lap time as what I was running on the bottom. The only difference is I was then giving him worse air up there. So it, you know, that's, that's how you defend. So in the car, you weren't concerned in the slightest. No, I was concerned in this. I was, but I was just confident that if I really needed to push a couple corners to, because he was on my ass, then I would have, I had it, I think I had it left in the tank. It seemed like turns three and four is where you really had it. Is that correct?

I'm not really sure. Where I was quicker, where he was quicker, it just seemed like when he would run the top, he would get really, really big runs off. And he committed. it to the top early in the corner, which gives you those big runs on exit. So, I mean, again, he was willing to push his car up to the gray, which is the advantage you have while you are the chaser, you're willing to push your car all the way up to the gray right next to the marbles because that's the fastest way around. But I'm not willing to do that as the leader. I mean, how big of an a bit is what I look like if I was the leader of the race and push my

car all the way up there and then jump the marbles and let the five just blow right by? Like, that'd be just asinine. So the advantage of that second car is he's willing to take chances to get the lead. I'm just, maybe I don't have an accurate pulse of the fans today. But looking at Jeff Gluck's was Dover a good race poll. I'm on your account so I can see what you voted. But it's currently 60-40 in favor of yes. And I just feel like the common thought.

today is that, you know, Larson was faster in the end, Denny won because arrow blocking. But throughout the race, we had so... Those are people that are in denial. Throughout the race, we had so many comers and goers. I actually did not think that you had any shot at winning this race until more than halfway through. Well, Turex looked very good. See, that's probably fair.

Because when I watch it back on TV, like, yeah, you would say, if I were a casual fan and I didn't know what I know inside the car is that I've got a little left. I've got a little bit left. I know 20 laps into a race usually that I've got either a winning car or not. And at that point, I'm thinking, how do I win the race? I'd love to win all the stages too, but how do I win the race? And I race accordingly to be upfront at the end. When did you know on Sunday? Did you know 20 laps in or when did you know? It probably was towards, after the first pit stop.

Yeah, after the first pit stop, I thought that at that point we were one of the top three best. I thought for sure in my mind that the five, the 19, and us were the best. But then the 48 got around us and he drove up towards the front.

So he was a new factor in this game. And I thought that all four of those cars were pretty damn equal in speed. Was the 19s day pretty much kind of done when he got into the 48 on the restart? Yeah, I don't know how that happened. Did the 48 just spin his tires or something? I don't know if he spun or what. Yeah, I mean, it was big contact. Usually these things, you've got to make a heavy, heavy contact to get damage to them.

So, yeah, that's absolutely a factor for the 19. they were talking about on TV how amazing it was he was able to hang on the third or be that fast with that damage and I agree. How happy were you to see him behind you on that final restart knowing you got a teammate? Yeah, we can't really help each other that much at Dover. It's not like other tracks, you know, Kansas this weekend where if you got a teammate behind you, you're thinking, okay, this is great. I'm going to have a pusher all the way into turn one.

It doesn't, it's not like that for sure because as you, you heard when Truex tried to push the five that one restart he actually lifted up his back tires and got him loose so uh i'm not looking for a whole lot of help when at dover on a restart i i picked out a random tweet here under jeff gluck's poll this is from chris phineas and uh he lists uh pros great weather and great crowd which was true by way that crowd was phenomenal. First stage was good. Track to take rubber, forcing different lines. Hamlin versus Larsson's best on-track rivalry and fun to watch. Hemrick using strategy to get a much needed top 10. Those were the pros. Cons, quintessential next gen race, very difficult to pass with

arrow blocking, once again resulting in the victor able to hold off a much faster car simply by mirror driving. Track position and pitch strategy matters more in speed. That's what I'm saying. They're not taken into account that maybe the 11's got something left in the tank. Like, you know what I mean? I think that they thought I was just dropping anchor that that's just

not true. You can look at lap times. I was not dropping anchor by any means. Kyle was definitely strong in the long run. He caught us once I caught traffic. It was a very close race between two very close and equal cars

and in my mind, drivers. So I think that's why it was a close finish. So last lap, your time was 24.278, Larson's was 24.148. And then with four to go, you were faster than Larson. So to your point. Yeah, I mean, that's, we just, we know inside the car how much we really got left for sure. But yeah, it's, it is, we're going to have this. when the guy says quintessential next gen racing,

you're going to have this because all the cars are the same. And until NASCAR lets us tweak on them, which we don't want to happen because the cost will rise on that, we're all going to run the same. We all share each other's data. I can go back and rewatch the race and basically Kyle Larson's in car and see his throttle, his brake, how he's steering, how he's shifting. I can watch everything.

And he can do the same for me. and so we all morph ourselves into the same driver. I don't like that. I know. That's like, like, I'm a basketball player, I can go watch LeBron James practice in every little thing that he does. Like, there's certain things that I think should be kept to the driver and the team. Yeah, I mean, I'm torn on it for sure because I think that it's made me better at some tracks that I'm not.

When I was able to study Kyle Bush when he was in the same equipment as me for many years, I think it made me better. I've been able to study Martin Truex at some tracks. But those are teammates too. I know. So we always had that data, but you had to have it during a test.

But now it's just open to the public. When I say the public, anybody in the garage can watch it live as you're doing it. I just share the sentiment with this other tweet. I'm just reading tweets here. Yeah. I'll listen to you. I'm so tired of the car being the story every race.

Every race, no matter the size of the track, talking about the stupid car instead of the driver standing, individual incidents. It's the car. Only exception is if Goodyear brings a crappy tire, then we talk about that. I feel like Dover was... Yeah, I think we're just naturally complainers. I mean, that's just...

As humans, yeah. Right? I mean, that's what we do. It's most of the time, if you look on Twitter or X, whatever you want, call it, Travis, that's what most people do is complain. And I do it as well, right? It's because you want... Now, everyone has their reason for complaining.

maybe it's maybe it's because i beat your favorite driver um maybe it's because um maybe it's because uh you know the result wasn't what you were hoping for which is a a side-by-side photo finish at dover like those things just don't happen that often um if you look at historically some dover races usually we got like nine cars on the fucking lead lap and you know an eight second lead i mean i remember wrecking at dover once being back at my house by the second half of the race and watching Kyle Bush just, I mean,

stomp the field and be like only one of six cars and lead lap. Like legit, not because of sequences or anything, but he would lap all the way up to there. So I'm not sure what we hope for. Do I wish that there was more lap time variance

through the tire or whatever? Absolutely. You know, if you look that that last run was 50, 60 laps, We only dropped off one second. I mean, that's not a whole lot, to be honest with you. I ran a 23 teen when I was out front, and I finished the race running, you said 20s.

So I felt like once they all get, the tires fall off, but then they plateau. We got to get them to stop plateauing. So the tire, it gets to a certain heat, and then it falls off, and then it stops wearing. So then it's all just a heat thing, and then we all run the same lap time. And so whatever we can do to get that ramp to keep going.

I think we'll see that in North Worksboro, by the way. We're going to see tires that do continue to fall off versus plateauing. So it's just what we got for right now. And we can complain and we will continue to complain on here about things that we feel like need to be better. But that's just human's natural instinct is to want to pick apart something to, because it's not perfect. One of the major on-track incidents was the wreck that collected Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Christopher Bell ending each of those cars days,

all having a different run in their own right. But this in-car camera from Josh Barry shows Tyler Reddick going three-wide into, I guess this was turns one and two here. Yep. Which I guess then pushes Zane Smith, who's in the middle here, three wide up into Bubba and spins Bubba out and all the cars at Dover run into him. Who is at fault in this situation? And if it's Tyler Reddick, as a teammate of someone who's on the outside there, are you like looking at that being like, ooh, you know, something could happen here that may negatively affect this guy? Yeah, it's different because I just know how I, would feel at JGR, right? And that is that I can't complain if one of my teammates

makes a move three wide and puts me three wide. Like they're trying to win, you know, our job as teammates is to work together and then on Sunday we go race, right? Should Tyler say, oh, I'm not going to go three wide, I'm not going to take this run because Bubba's in that next, he's in the next lane. I would say no, because,

I do it to my teammates. They do it to me because that's our job. And that is to look out for ourselves and look out for our teams that we respectively drive for. You know, Dover's just a weird place where it's tough to go three-wise, especially through the first corner there.

It's always a little sketchy for sure. But, you know, is Tyler even a weird place? where that Bubba's in the next lane up and you know you stuck him three wide outside. I don't know. I think it's a 50-50 shot that he actually knew that. He's just trying to shuck the 71 out of the way who I think was multiple laps down and, you know, those cars are all in the lead lap. So like, you know, it would have been better if they were to just kind of got out of the way and let the lead lap cars get up there. I mean, but I think this is a weird sequence because you had, you know, wave around cars.

This is when that weird caution came out in the middle of the sequences where the 31 ended up, you know, benefiting from. It was just a weird sequence where you had lap down cars in front of wave around lead lap cars. And so all the lead lap cars are now trying to get themselves back in front of those lap down cars to then battle for position with the other cars. So it's just a weird position to be in. I don't fault Tyler. I hate it for Bubba because he was grinding his way to a really a pretty good day. He hung around. He was in the top 10 for most of the day.

And he was just, it looked like to me he was, he kept getting better as the race went on. So, you know, it's two tough weeks for him. Trust me, I know I came off of two tough weeks, two D&Fs to win the next week. and I think that he's probably going to Kansas knowing that he can win there as well. And so, you know, it's just one of those things where it's like, I know it's so easy to just zoom in and like just hate life right now. Just like, gosh, this sucks, you know. Why me?

But it's just a small, it's just a blip in the radar, right? It's just something that you got to just move past. You know, it's one of many, many races, and we're just going to move past. it and we're going to focus on okay Kansas how can I win Kansas we start that today here on Monday we start to how can I win Kansas how can I get better yeah we've been good in the past

so what how am I going to be good this time because past results don't mean so I think it's that's the mentality you have to have in these sometimes very very tough emotional situations where

you just you want to be negative and i thought he did a great job during his interview he he actually prefaced it by saying well i know what i normally would say but i guess i got to grow up and i guess i got i got i got a kid on the way so i think he did a really good job of of lightening up that that interview and the second half of it so um i got faith in them i think that it's just one of those weird things where everyone's battling for their own selves and he was just a part of collateral damage. He's notoriously hard on himself. Is this something that you said it here? Will you say that to him in a group? He did nothing wrong. That's for sure. No, by just how he is, he's notoriously hard himself. And will you kind of like say it in the

meeting or will you pull him aside sometimes and like, you know, remind him of how good he is? I usually send him texts kind of encouraging him on on tough days or weeks like this for sure. And, you know, he's just gotten so used to running up front being in the top. He's, he's, He's a top 10 guy now, for sure. Every week he's up front. And so when you have weeks like this, it's like, dang it. I just was on a good run and momentum. I was getting good finishes.

And then, you know, out of my control, bam, two DNFs in a row. Like that I wasn't, you know, shouldn't have been a part of. So it's just racing, racing sucks sometimes. And it's sometimes your competition can take you out when you make no mistakes. Before I get to Deer Denny here, is there anything else you want to touch on with the winner of this race? So Racing Insights sent me an interesting stat, though, about you and Larson. What's that? You guys have finished one, two, six times.

You've won all of them. Yeah. Anytime he hasn't finished one, two, he's wrecked Kyle. There's that, too. Almost a year from... You're not wrong. You're not wrong. Jared.

We see where his allegiance ride. Yeah, Jared. What are you going to do to get a Denny Hamlet sticker? There's so many comments. I love reading the comments on YouTube and stuff. After he does that, or are you going to take it off or no? No, it's a cool sticker.

No. I would happily, I tell all the JGR guys, you want to give me some stickers. I'll put some stickers. They just don't make. Hey, y'all hear that? Denny Hamlin stickers. Sure.

Maybe some stickers. Okay. Sure. You're trying to load your stuff up? Yeah. I got two. I figured. Didn't you used to have one?

I did. I had an old laptop that had stickers all over it. Well, that's an interesting stat. I think it's more than likely because we usually wrecked trying to race one to him being on the receiving end of that more often than not. But yeah, I haven't, I don't know. I feel like we've been one two a lot just week in, week out. I just, when I go to the racetrack, I, I look at the five car.

Like, where's he at on speed and how do I measure myself against that? Because I think that that's kind of the barometer of speed, week, and week out. But it just seems like, you know, we find ourselves together up front a lot. So this is going to be the, there's going to be a lot more. I don't think this is changing this year. There's going to be a lot more one-toos in our future, for sure. Dear Denny, we've got some questions that we want to ask. Dear Denny, we need answers and we need him 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. Dear Denny, how much easier is it knowing your pit crew will put you in a position to win? I can tell you, after years of pain, it feels amazing. It feels amazing. It's finally working itself out.

And I love the trolls that say, it's only because of his pit crew. Well, where in the hell were you guys for the previous three years when I was, you know, just leading races and wheels falling off and just crazy stuff happening on pit road that would take us out? So it's finally just leveling itself out now. but I love my pit crew. They are phenomenal. They do a great job. The cohesiveness between them. It's one of the youngest pit crews on pit road.

So they've got a long runway ahead of themselves. So these guys are great. I just, I love their enthusiasm, how much they celebrate these wins. I told you all last week when I got into victory lane with a 45, and I'm like, man, these guys are getting after it. They're partying.

Like, they're having a great time. I'm like, we seem so soft. bomber when the 11 car wins and it's because we win so much it it it's easy to kind of lull yourself and not be as excited but they're the ones that always bring bring the heat for sure and so uh those guys are fantastic and i'm glad they're on my team right now does it allow you to not push the envelope on going pit road entry and leaving knowing that you don't have to be as or are you still kind of i still got to do my job which where kyle did a better job than me um on that green flag sequence he he did a better job than me in a few different aspects for sure

but at that point i'm like i'm thinking well i got a lead so i don't need to push my entry i got a lead so i don't need to push my lights all the way but it's just all those all those margins matter and it equals getting leapfrogged um on that pit sequence so last thing i got for you here before we wrap this show up i'm curious if you have any thoughts on or followed it at all this indie car cheating scandal considering you've cheated to win a race on your day. Oh,

we're going to a good source. You are just, I know what you're doing. You're just sucking up to everyone to where they'll love you and they hate me. I know what you're doing. That works in my favor.

It boosts the social numbers. It's good for me. You can take that frame jersey back. Yeah, give me that. Give me that thing back. You're not getting it. I haven't really kept up with it. Other than it seems like they were adamant that it was a mistake, an oversight at Penske.

So did you hear Joseph Newgardens press conference? Yes. So I kind of actually believe in because he says if you listen to my in car audio the other day, you can hear me saying, guys, it's not working. Why is it not working? So he was expecting, so he was thinking that it's supposed to be there. Huh. I don't know.

I mean, it sounds like all the other competitors were kind of calling bullshit on it, right? I mean, they were all like, yeah, right, you didn't know. Like who overs. And apparently at thermal, which is their preseason test, you could use it at certain points that you can't in the season. Hmm. I can see why there would be confusion, but that is a large oversight on this team's part if it is in in fact a oversight yikes you know that's someone's not doing a very good job i just thought the reaction to it all was interesting coming from a nascar world where you know

historically cheating or getting a little edge here and there has been yeah but that's a that's like messing with the engine like you know the engine type like naskar gives you the death penalty if you screw with the engine or the tires. Those are the things they do not. I mean, you just are the untouchables that you cannot mess with in any way, shape, or form because it's blatant cheating for sure. Instead of just there's no... Instead of like, not going to offender.

You know, we used to, you know, on pit road before a race, the car chief would always knee the door, like, and create a big, you know, dent in it because it would be better aerodynamically. Um, those things, that's one thing. But like, if you start messing with the, the engine or the tires, you get such an advantage that it's, it is a big frowned upon moment for sure. Got it. Got it. I got one review here from T. Rice 3.

Uh, they say, Chase Ellie is my favorite driver. Was indifferent on Denny until that incident with Chase at Martinsville. Been listening to this podcast since it started and started cheering for Denny more and more over time. Now I consider myself a fan. of his, not above Chase, but I do cheer for Denny 2, got money on you for the championship at great odds at the beginning of the year, LFG, D.H. Nice. I saw the couple, Fox Panda, the couple, the Hamlin Larson couple.

The wife was a Kyle Larson fan. No, I thought it was a Kyle Busch fan. No, there was another one at the end of the race. Okay, different one. That was D.H. husband and Kyle Arson wife. And, you know, it was just funny watching him. I'm, ah, you know, at the end of the race and she was, you know, taking it like a champ.

So I like the two-biard. She's taking like a champ because he is a champ. Oh, yeah. Can we get into your little Babe Ruth celebration? When did you, that would just instinct, you just decided to do a baseball swing? Or did you know ahead of time? No, I knew because that's why when he was trying to do the interview,

I'm like, hang on, let me get this flag first. You know, so I was like, yeah, yeah. Because I wanted to make sure that the Bay, swing was on camera. Yeah. Do you think about like this in the cool down lap? Cool down lap. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I'm thinking about it. Yeah, I was wondering that too, because you got out of the car and like ran right to the fly stand. Well, the fact that you say I ran right to, like, it takes me a hot minute to get out of the car these days. Like, God, dang my body.

It's just taking a beating. And that track is one of the most physically demand that we've got. But yeah, I waltzed over to the flag stand and got the flag so I could do the Bay Ruth point out to the, or the, what's the guy on the sound, the character, what's his name? Catcher. Son of a gun. Oh my gosh. Ham. Yeah.

Hey, ham. That's right. Ham. That was a good edit you did. Put my face on him. It was a nice swing you had there. I actually had that t-shirt. I had that t-shirt.

upstairs of him doing that. Oh, really? Yes. Shit, I should have worn it. Yeah. God dang it. I totally blew it. But I think I celebrated enough.

So, yeah, I did it during the 2012, I think it was 2012, race at New Hampshire as well. I did the whole, you know, pointed to the outfield in the post race. Did you call your shot that race too? Yep. It was Thursday. Thursday of the week.

I didn't have a podcast back then, but it was Thursday of that week. And I said, yeah, we're going to win this week. This weekend, because we're already at the track. Did you get all the confetti cleaned up in your house? I saw all your girls. I haven't walked through the kitchen yet, so I'm not sure. I just walked down here, down the steps.

Grab Jared's vest that I'm going to repossess, and that was it. it was fun they they didn't get to come stinks because i knew i knew i knew we're i knew we're going to win i i told jordan um sunday morning it was like you know we're probably going to win right so um i don't know it's uh we'll see we're we got a good set of tracks coming up kansas and darlington i'm not going to say it but i think we're going to be pretty good Two for two. I'm not... You can't do it

week after week. No. No, no, because it'll lose its luster. But... We got Kansas and Darlingson coming up. Should be pretty good. Hey, by the way,

you're... Now have led your 15th consecutive Cup Series race. Yeah, that's awesome. The active driver record is 17. And then you've got like 25 more races ago before he catch the actual record. Yeah.

Yeah, when's the next road course? Yeah, Sonoma. So this will last for at six more races. Just win the pole. Yeah. That'll be a hiccup in the system. So I don't know. I mean, we're just, yeah, we're up front.

15 straight, though. That's pretty awesome to be at front at some point of the race. So that's a team thing. You know, I've been, I'm just blessed. with a great team, and I mentioned it after the race, that they deserve to get a lot of the credit for the wins that I've had and ones that we will have in the future.

Be sure to rate, review, and follow wherever you get your podcast, and don't forget to subscribe on actions detrimental on YouTube. Remember, one five-star review, get you one free boo redeemable at your next Cup Series race. Very good. 50-50 crowd at the intros. I thought. I think it's, yeah, I think it's trending up.

I think it's trending up. Okay, good. Thank you, Dover Crowd. You turned out big numbers. It was awesome to see everyone. Had a great race day and a dub. See you next week.