Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Everything Was Going Right Until Overtime Hit...Plus A Surprise Guest

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

What a way to leave Kansas...on this episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin breaks down a frustrating near-win and why this one hurts more than most. From late race chaos to the restart that slipped away, Denny explains how a race he felt in control of turned into another tough loss. Things take a turn when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. shows up in studio to talk strategy, speed, and why their team is showing up on Saturdays but still searching for answers on Sundays. Okay, okay... the real reason he was there was to talk about Travis’s bad takes. Denny also gets into overtime finishes, stage racing, and whether the current format is helping or hurting the sport. He shares his thoughts on tire strategy, lapped traffic, and the decisions that can change everything in the final laps. There is plenty of frustration, some perspective, and a few lighter moments too, including golf, fishing, and how a surprise visit helped turn Denny’s Monday around. Drop your thoughts in the comments. Was Kansas a missed win or just bad luck? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I feel like it hasn't really led that many laps. 199, I thought I saw it. 190. I could be, five wins with a hundred ninety nine laps lead. If that's real, who's got the fastest computer? 180. 180.

Who got there first? Trave? We'll call it a tie. 185 wins, 180 laps lead. 189. Pain. Pane. The following is a production of Dirtymoe Media.

I believe that I've been a competitive. for 20 years. Opinions from tonight's podcast, strictly biased. You're going to hear from my point of view. I'm a fighter. No, you are not. The spoils of 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, the 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 after Kansas Speedway. is it race number eight nine

nine nine well unfortunately Travis we didn't get that second win and that span of races that we talked about about a month ago

no not our fault I don't think it's from an effort lack of effort either no um gosh I'm trying to figure out how I can I woke up mad

I and it's Monday like waking up mad and it's Monday it's just did you go to sleep mad it's just not the way to be yes yes no he went to bed happy and woke up mad

I don't know I just wasn't sure of any of the Greg's attempts to cheer you up on the ride home really landed that guy's toxic positivity is driving me god's crazy you're talking about for Nellie yes I was so close to saying Greg, read the room. Read the room, Greg.

You know what I mean? Like, you all know the deal by now, but he just, but no, he knows his role, though. That's Greg's role. That's Greg's job. I can't do that. I'm not good at that. You know, like, I drove if you to the airport, I didn't really say a word. So, oh, we have a guest.

Oh. What's up, Travis? It's my best friend. Oh, Ricky. What's up, man? How you doing? I just come to see what dumb takes Travis has in person. I got great takes

No What's up Ricky What a pleasant surprise Yeah Travis Yeah I mean I don't know This is great

This is coordinated obviously right Okay all right Yeah Of course I landed last night Got a text from Charlie and Jared Of course it's Charlie I feel like you should come

You know Travis The way this works I'm not, I'm not sure a lot of people in our sport know how this works anymore. There's like, yeah, it's, 10 of us that know how it works. Yeah. Denny, Denny knows. He's taking your picture.

Denny knows that, you know, whether he's lapping me at Martinsville or lapping me at the end of that race. Ricky looks out for me. It comes back around. No doubt. He absolutely looks out. I get it. So why didn't you like that tape? Why didn't, why didn't you like it?

Because I want Denny to go for the kill. and sometimes I'm worried that. So I got to thinking about that too, and you would think correct that you just want to lap as many guys as possible. However, I don't, in today's world where, okay, the more cars that are on the lead lap, yeah, that could potentially hurt your finish, but actually could potentially help you racing so on in points. Like, C. Bell, I'm not rooting against him, but he had a worse finish because more cars were on lead lap.

so it kind of goes both ways if you're going to have a bad day you're going to have a bad day Denny's planning on winning anyway I don't yeah I don't really care with the speed we have but yeah it's I don't know it's

I'm always trying to I always if I especially if I have a lead coming to an end of a stage I'm always aware of like who's you know I asked in the radio like a few laps to go all right who's who's behind

and because I sit on the radio says, who's behind the 34? They said the 47. Yeah. Or did I ask? I said, is the 47 behind the 34? They said, yes. I said, okay, let the 34, no, don't pass me because I'm going to go ahead and give him that. Yeah, the 34 was obviously way faster than I was and you saw that. I think he pitted later.

Yeah, he did. But I was hanging on for dear life. Did you see SVG about spin me down the front straightway? I did. I was like right in front of you. And I was like thinking, you know, right in front of the leader, this is great, you know? And then, yeah, then I was like, all right, I got to keep the 71 and 97 behind me.

I'm, you know, hoping the 34 is going to go past you. And then they're like, hey, just make sure you stay in front of the 71 and 97. I was like, all right, D.H is going to take care of me here. No doubt. No doubt. We know those things. I'm here. Also, I think people have to realize when I'm tweeting things,

you got to take it with a grain of salt. The guy, listen, if he was on. If he was your fan, oh, you would be able to do no wrong. You know what I mean? Like, it's one of those things where the guy is loyal to a fault. I told in our group text, I'm like, every lap for me is like a play. And Denny knows what I'm like with every play. And so like I'm dealing with APs like the eternal optimist and like nothing bad can happen in a fucking race.

Like, like, come on. Was he, you know, 20 to go like, oh, we got this? Charlie, Denny's going to get him the next five laps. the next five laps of a redic pass. I'm like, you guys are just blind optimist. Like, yeah,

come on. Is it, uh, is it too late to submit for DAP for this or? Oh, I don't, I'm just stopping in. I was headed to Sim.

I'm actually headed to Sim right now. How does it, I question for you, how does it feel to be like the second best Chevy team? I mean, last couple weeks, we've been pretty solid. Yeah.

We, our off week and, you know, nobody took off and the guys worked hard. And we've got more speed now these last two weeks. So it seems like you've been, we're getting better. Given what you have for resources, not, I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about, you know, the information that you get and stuff. Like, we got about 28 employees. That's crazy. That's crazy. Yeah, we got 28 employees that actually work on the car, you know, in the shop. I think we got like 35, including the front office. Wow. And yeah, we get, you know, obviously limited information. Right. But yeah, my guys, you know, we just trying to build our own notebook and see what comes. We obviously, I feel like our Saturdays

are way better this year than they were last year, but we're struggling transition in that to Sundays. You know, you mentioned something about, you know, the 50% like showing up. I feel like we're showing up good. Yeah. It's trying to make sure we make those right adjustments for Sundays, where we struggled up until the break, and I think we're getting a little bit better the last two weeks. It's been pretty cool to see.

I mean, it's certainly, it's wild that there's such a disparity. And like, in the main, like, you know, when I look at Hendrick and obviously they are the flagship Chevy team, but then like the other teams that get the same information from Chevrolet. The same is like way off like last. Yeah. So it's crazy.

And so it's, we take pride in that. It almost seems like you guys are like better off not getting the same information. I would take our chances of getting the information. You would? I would take our chances. I think we got great people. Like you said, I mean, we take pride in going out and trying to beat teams. We know we're not going to go contend for a win at Kansas.

So what is, all right, I'm a tough, you know, I'm a competitor through and through, right? I want to compete and everything. So I think when I go to Kansas, I think the only way I don't win is if something out of the ordinary. you know that's just my mindset i go there i know that that's what i've got like what do you go into every weekend you have to find what is your victories yeah so what's your victories because you i'm a competitor just like you right but you have to be realistic yes but i go in with the mindset honestly that hey we're going to win this weekend mindset wise yep we prepare that way we go on the racetrack. After practice, we're like, all right, let's change our mindset, right? You shift your

goal. Yeah, you shift it. And so for us this weekend at Kansas, Saturday, pretty good, qualified 16th. I was like, man, if we could run in the top 20 all day, I'd be pumped. We ran in the top 22 all day. So we were close to our goal, not quite there. The last run, I felt like we made our car way better. But, you know, Bristol, after Saturday's practice, I felt like, man, we got a top 10 car. So I felt like we fell short at Bristol a little bit because we ended up 17th. Is that still your favorite track? It's still my favorite track. Yeah. And I think we got some good races coming up. Bristol, Kansas, Talladega, Texas. I like all those racetracks. And we run well at all those. But, you know, we got six races that we can go for sure try and win. And that's,

Daytona, Talladega, and both Atlanta's. So, you know, we make sure we try and go win those. And if you notice at the 500, I didn't try and get stage points, you know, because for us, it's like, are those 5, 10 points going to matter? Maybe, probably not a win for us would be huge. Yep. So we kind of ride around, put ourselves in position, finish second. And that's the way we look at those.

It's not that fun. I did that for many years. Most of the most successful years I had on Super Speedway was that I cared nothing about stage point. I'm not going to get in that until it's later. And then the world of next gen changed things a little bit because I was like, gosh, I get log jammed. It's harder to get to the front. Yeah. And so it became a little bit harder, but gosh, I don't know.

I've shifted my mentality this year to on Speedways. If I wreck a wreck, I don't care. I'm going to just try to stay up front as far as I can. Yeah. and I do and I wreck anyway and it's like I've just been on we've had that mindset we've gone back and forth and I've been every time I've gotten in a wreck at a super speedway I'm in the top eight well now top 10 now statistically the wreck starts at like position 2.5 yeah like it's that's we're on talladega we were leading and got hit in the door you know in that big 36 car pile up or whatever it was yeah

I was leading, got hitting the door. Man. So, yeah, we try and go win those races and, you know. My next and last question is this for you, is that how does it feel to just be the number one NASCAR golfer? I don't, have you seen my scores lately? I don't know about that. Taking the title from me as of about like really four years ago

when I got a job and started a race team. But I mean, you're a mid-70s guy now. That's just who you are. It's nice to be a mid-sevigy. Yeah. You know, I would like to like sit down and practice. You know, I took that from you and you had Harmon as a swing coach. I'm flying to Florida to get lessons.

I'm a competitor, man. I like to. I like that. I know. I know. There's competing and flying for lessons. You all remember when Dave Portnoy was like, wait a minute, you have a basketball. You have someone train you to play recreational basketball?

It's like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Tell him to show up to see how competitive it is. I need to come back for that. I know. We need you to sub. I know. I don't know what round they have you in. Probably last.

No. I actually got drafted in the last round. How does that feel? The fall from the pinnacle of my basketball career has been... Your three point percentage last week had to be pretty good. Large and steep. The fall from grace has been major on the basketball. I love coming in as the last round sub because there's no expectations.

Oh, no. No, it's great. The last, you remember the last game I subbed? I think I had 21. I know. Brain threes. Just letting it go. It's been so much better this year without Charlie.

He's not, you know, trying to manipulate. Oh, the puppet master? Yeah, he's trying not to manipulate. Is he still nursing his injury coming back? Yeah, a little knee. How about him hanging off that tree on Lake Norman? That was funny. how about you getting stuck with all the technology you have in that boat you don't have a depth finder

i do i knew we were in the so right now the the fish are in the shallow flat they're coming out of spawning okay so you got to get in the super super shallow stuff and i'm like well i didn't think i was going to get beached quite like that but i threw mud i mean you were kicking up mud yeah i was i was surprised i was like man all this technology you just run around on the Hey, I watched on, I don't know, our TV was on the bass tournament. There was a guy stuck on a tree. That was hilarious. So you felt good about it.

Professional fishermen, kind of the same. Yeah. Well, Travis. Before you leave, though, Danny's childhood friend just wants to say hello. Ronnie. He's excited that you're on the show to do. I like Ronnie. Ronnie or tight.

Yeah, Ronnie wears a 47 hat most days. Yeah. Yeah. Ronnie and Asiata. shout out to Ronnie. Dad's not doing well. So we just, we're thinking about Ronnie,

by the way. From the Denny Bros. Yep. Yeah. All right, boys, I'll let you get back at it. Thanks,

Travis. Man, I was just, I, you know, basically on my ride from the track to the airport, I just kind of scroll.

I was going to say, were you searching? Because you weren't tagged in it. I don't know how it popped up. I definitely don't follow you. And, yeah, just.

Well, usually your feed gets, whenever your name mentioned, it's going to, it will, the algorithm's going to feed you that stuff. Yeah. So did you say Ricky or did you say the 47 or? I said Ricky. Okay. Yeah. So his for him page is probably going to feed that to him. Yeah. I appreciate Ricky stopping by and just saying it. Me too. He saved me from really, I was about to go off. You, I just talked about I woke up in a sh-oh. Yeah, we need to get back to that. Monday. We need to ruin that part. And then all of a sudden, Ricky comes in.

And now I'm in a better mood. Listen, we can still talk about that restart. Todd Gellon had feelings about it too. He said Denny's his goat. Yeah, yeah. I saw that. All right, guys. Yeah, have fun.

See you. See it. Hey, everybody. It's Delenhard Jr. And there is no better way to support Denny Hamlin than wearing actions detrimental gear at the racetrack. You can also flip him the bird. Or head on over to shop.

Dot dirtymomedia.com to see what we have. Where do we go from here, Trav? I think we go to short pitting. Great call. Holy cap, right? I love Gail, so let's do it. Because you can't follow the leader, you're going to be behind leader.

Well, I'd fall into about two seconds back from the lead, which is not insurmountable. Like when I need to hit the gas at the end of a Kansas race, I usually can get a little more. than what I've been doing all day. So like two seconds, you know, how did I come in right when they come in? That two seconds, I feel like in my heart of hearts. Like I can go get that as long as the car's where it needs to be.

So on top of that, if you saw our pitch stop was a little slow, it's because we made an adjustment and they nailed it. They did a great job. Dylan's just a master of, you know, not losing a whole lot of time while actually cranking on the car. So we made an adjustment for that final run that was really the only reason we didn't dominate the day is we just kind of lost the balance a little bit,

being tight middle through the middle of the race. Once we got that thing turning again at the end, it was rather nice. And Chris gave me a shot. His mentality was like, I'm going to put you in front of them and let's see him try to pass you. And they did, but that race wasn't over.

I when when reddick got to the lead uh i saw he was starting to get loose like there's you go through such a balance shift in these cars leading versus not and that was one of the key things that where my car went through that transition in the middle is that when i lost the lead on the restart and state to start stage two i went back to like uh i don't know second third third fourth something like that i just lost the balance of the car because i'd planned on being up front all day. We made an adjustment again on that final run and it was great.

Even versus the other guys, like we short pitted everyone, but we still pulled away, other than Tyler, we pulled away from everyone else still with the older tires. So they just, they did, the team really did their part

and giving me a shot at this thing. And I was really looking forward to those last few laps because Tyler was struggling. once he got back in front of me. And it was going to be, it was going to be exciting. I saw him get into the wall. He was fighting the car.

And when he got in the wall and I was able to get around him, I thought it was game over at that point. But it wasn't. What do you make of that caution? It was a caution. You know, looking back on it.

it. Could the caution have been held? Yes. Should it? Probably not. You know, I, there was, when I went by him, it was still, there was still a lot of smoke to where I couldn't even see him. So I didn't know whether he was going up the track, down the track. I didn't know. I just kept the foot down just in case. But yeah, you just, I don't know, you can't blame it on officiating because like a car spinning in the middle of the racetrack is usually that's a caution, I would say. Now, they've been holding it this year when guys have been

spinning down the racetrack like under the apron. They've definitely held those cautions. But I think he was on the racetrack for you know, enough time to where they weren't going to just sit there and wait on somebody to hit him, T-bone them

in the side of the car. I know I'm biasing on TV. It maybe looks slower. But he gets to, does he not get to the apron and a timely... He does gather it, but still... He spun out. Smoke. I just...

I mean, I can't tell you how many things had to happen for us to not win that race, but they all happened. Like, we could go through it all, but they all happened. And that is Kansas for me, in a nutshell. I, you know, I'm... I just feel like it's... As long as, if everything is... just runs and goes.

It's just a win. It's not a guaranteed win, but it's pretty close. Yeah, since 2003, Denny Hamman has lost six races in OT. He would have won had they ended at the scheduled distance. It feels like 10.

Three of which are Kansas. It feels like 10. That's since 2020. You've won two. So since 23, I've lost on three Kansas. OTs? You've lost six total

and you've won two because of OTs. So you're a net minus four. Mm-hmm. Mm-mm-mm. When I talked about, you know, all the things that had to happen for us to not win the race, and they all happen, it was like, you know, like if the Reddick and the bell contact doesn't happen, and I drove all the way down to the apron, like Kyle's car was so bad those last two laps. I mean, he was still slow.

He was really slow. He said he got real tight. Yeah, when you put two tires on and you have really old lefts, typically your balance is going to go really tight. And he was, you know, that's why it looked like Tyler was Superman, is that it wasn't Tyler. It was, and if you look, look at the run I got through one and two. Without, you know, Chase came up.

He's trying to clear me, right? Like, as he should, but like I ran out of room, got in the wall. I was going to have a massive run coming into turn three. I thought I was going to be three wide with those guys entering turn three because of the run I got on the top. It wasn't Redick. It was Larson that was just not fast those last two laps because of his balance. So, you know, when I talk about all the things that went wrong, it was, okay, well, I thought about it. And I thought about when he, the shoes, I knew, okay, if Larson is behind me, he's

going to go three wide. I've been there before. I knew that. Um, but even still, I come off turn two, second, third, whatever it is, we're still fine because the leader didn't have the pace that you would think that the leader would normally have. Um, so that ricochet sent me down and just, it was just a lot of really crummy circumstances. Um, that happened but it was uh god it's just man it's so frustrating you know i took this one a little tougher just because it's like i want to capitalize i've only got you know 50 some six you know 50 some races left and it's like there's 60 races left so i i just man i want to get these wins when i should be winning and um it just it's not happening it's you know

that's the loose wheel at the end of Martinsville. It's just a lot of stuff. That's just not going great in the luck category or the create your own luck in not executing category, which is what I chalk most of this up to is that, you know, I got a role in this and that is when I know, because I've been there before, the five cars are not going to push.

He's going to try to do everything he can to go through. wide. I've got to just go down to the apron and say, you want to go three wide, you're going to go through the middle. And I'll send you a forewarning right now that this happens again. He's going to have to go to the middle. I will not let him. I will run to the apron or keep him on the apron next time. I will not, I will not get beat low at this racetrack again. But like, you knew that was going to do it? But didn't you know that was going to happen yesterday? I did, but there's, there's just no way to stop it. Could you? Could you? There's not a way to stop it other than what I end up doing, then, is if I, here's the risk in saying,

okay, you're not going to get below. You're just going to have to drive all the way the apron to protect. Well, then what that does is allow the 45 just to have free rain up there. And he's just going to blow by me right on the outside because I've got a horrible angle into the corner. But it's, I won't do it again. I've learned my lesson. It ain't happening. again. Why not just start on the top?

Should have. I should have. As strong as I know, my cars are all mile and a halfs on the top. I absolutely should just start top no matter what. And let me be the guy on the outside because I'm going to hold more throttle than everyone else is. Why didn't you? Because to start the race, you're on top and you got the lead. No, I didn't. It took four or five laps to get the lead. Tyler. Okay. Yeah. But you started the second stage on the bottom and lost the lead. Yeah. Really, that was the only other restart you were on the front row.

The bottom is the prefer. The bottom wins. By the numbers, it's going to show that the bottom one. Unless it's the last restart. No, all but one. Unless it's the last restart. And I think in the last restart, the rules change. I think the rules change.

Right. Because the guys, the guys are not splitting you and stand pushing anymore. Everyone's just going to go for themselves, and that's where you had to just throw the numbers out. Yeah. Then you got to, you know, but, you know, Larson had taken the top. Every time he was third, which was a lot,

he took fourth. That was the first time he took the inside from the third choose position all day, which told, that's what told me right then. I knew right then. When he chose behind me, I says, he's going three wide. So it's just a matter of what I, the mistake I made is that I need to put my,

I need to make sure I was in the, on the bottom. And if he wants to go three wide, he has to go middle. That's what I'll do next time. How are you not just emotionally checked out when it comes to situations like these? Like they happen so often and you have zero control over Cody Ware spinning seven laps down. 10 yards. It's not. it. That's what's really frustrating me about it, is that we're not getting the wins that we deserve

and it's selfish or it's arrogant or whatever it is, but it's facts. And I just don't, there's no way people are losing as many races as I am at the end because of these things, right? There's just no way. I don't know. We definitely look through it through Denny Hamlin colored glasses. But yeah, I would, I'd be curious if there's any other driver that could tweet it, Travis after this and like actually I also experience the same things six in the last three years well we're not even through year three yet so it's actually two and a half years no two years and nine races well it's including 23 it is it is three years yeah it is three years yeah yeah it's a little over what do you make of you're down Cody where I think was down six laps and upon for the

review that is not Cody where's fault that's and and and I got nothing but respect for Rick Ware and his team Tommy Baldwin. I'm I'm fans of them because they are the true underdogs. They actually run decent considering what they have. We just talk about Ricky with 20-some employees. That's way over punching their weight. The 51 actually has decent pace considering his resources. But the team, put him in a no-win situation. When they pitted, you're saying, and how long you went? 60-some laps?

Nobody could go 60 laps. How do you, tires will, there will be no air left in the tires because you can't go that long on tires. But they just left them out there and said, all right, well, we'll run 60 laps. That's just not putting him in a position to succeed or at least do, anything but cause trouble. So I don't put it on Cody that the tire blew.

Like he's clearly limping around the last few laps. You can see he slowed his corner speeds down. He did. But where's the team saying, bring it to pit road? We got an issue. You just got in the wall. We got an issue. Let's come check it out.

There's nothing that he's not, he will not gain. He will not lose anything. So why not just come down, check the thing out. and don't you know because what happens is you you risk and especially for a low budget team like that they can't afford to be tearing up equipment so fortunately for them they just self-spun no damage but that thing could have easily since he blew a right rear backed it in the wall well now you got a clip and you're spending a bunch of money because you didn't want to put you know a couple thousand dollar a set of tires on it i just that that that's on the team that's that

on the crew chief to like look out for your guy you know you can't run 60 laps that's that's ridiculous you get an allotment of tires at the start of the race right yeah and you have to pay for those regardless of if they're used or not so it doesn't even matter if he comes down and puts on a fresh set because they already paid for it that's a great point you know i was thinking to my head well maybe they didn't buy the full i think you had to buy like this could be wrong we discussed this i think you have to buy 90% of the allotment or something like they force you to buy them. And I think if they're not used,

do you turn them back in? I don't think you get a credit. I'm not sure. But what are we talking about here? If all day there were tire issues after lap 40, which by the way, there are no tire issues. Kansas's Goodyear tire, shout out Goodyear, is maybe the best tire in racing.

it goes the perfect amount of time and whatever the balance that your car is, that's the tire you're going to have issues with. If you're loose, your right rear is going to cord first. If you're tight, the right front's going to cord first. Like it's, I said right rear first, right? Yeah. It's just the perfect tire that goes to perfect distance

and it rewards you if you're easy on them and you pay a penalty when they're not. It is the absolute perfect tire. love to see if we go to uh we are testing at chicago land this this week tomorrow hopefully we run that kansas tire that would be awesome because it is that is such a good tire such a good tire and good ears just doesn't panic i love it they're like yeah over the course 50 laps you you know you'll you'll you'll start to cord perfect great job so then what do you make of the complaints about the mile and a half racing with this next gen car lately.

That it's just not what it used to be. We went, what, 80 laps, that final run? No, I mean, I mean, was it 100 laps? It's about 100, wasn't it? You might be about right. I think it's about it. 90, 100. Yeah.

Think about that. And it still came down. There were two lead changes inside the last five to six laps. What are we talking about? What are you complaining about? The complaint is for 95% of the race, It's just the same people at front. And then, yeah, at the end, when you short-pitted and you had, then Redik had issues,

there was some drama. But, like, for most of the race, it's just like, okay, this is the race. Dominant cars and drivers win. And they dominate sometimes. And I, do you want, this goes back? Stop flip-flopping. Do you want stars? Will stars dominate?

That's why they're stars. Do you want parity where whoever gets out front and clean air wins the race? No, we don't like that. You don't like anything then. I'm not really sure. It came down to 90 laps of Green Flag running at the end, and there was two lead changes in the last five laps. That's hard to do. And it was going to be rather exciting.

You know, I guess it finished exciting. anyway, but still came down to the, you know, two cars battling for the win on a 90-lap run around a mile and a half track. That's... The two lead changes being you getting past, then you repassing Redick. I think the only complaint that I could see is that it seemed like for a majority of the day, just whoever got the clean air was the best car. You know, through stage one, I would have said you were the best car. But then through stage two, it's like, oh, well, maybe Denny's not the best car.

and Larson's now the best car. That's the only. And then stage three, there were a couple, you're like, oh, is Bell got the best car? Is Redick actually have the best car? Well, you had to short pit to, like, regain all that track position to even give yourself a chance to win? I mean, the cars are close, Jared.

I don't know what to say. The top 10 cars are probably separate, well, not really. Probably the top five cars are separated by 10th. So, of course, whoever's out front is going to, have an advantage. But these cars do have enough drag on them down the straightaway to where the second place guy does get a pretty good draft down the straightaway to always keep you close. So I don't know. I think, you know, maybe it's just Reddick fatigue. I'm not sure. But it's,

it's easy for me to say, right? Because, you know, this year, if Reddick's, not winning and you know i've got my win and Toyota's you know kicking butt right now and fans don't love that for whatever reason um just I don't know

another grumpy old men another thing that some people brought up and I think it was a lot of Denny fans on Twitter but with the Cody wear caution do we need overtime boy I mean for God's sakes

if there's one person it doesn't like them that's me I don't know. We did it for the sake of entertainment, you know, decades ago. It feels like, I don't know. I think it's part of our sport now. It's tough to. Toothpace out of the tube? Yes, tough to go back on that one.

But it's, you know, I'd have a hell of a lot more wins and definitely a championship or so. Yeah, I think my. only question with it is it does it just hamper legitimacy a little more each time? Well, I mean, if, yeah, yes is the short answer because you're, you know, this is a 400-mile race. Oh, no, it's a 406 mile race. We're going to change it up because, you know what I mean? So there's an advertised distance, then there's an actual distance.

Yeah. um Nashville went 20 laps over until eventually everyone ran out of fuel with Joey Legano you know what I mean

so I don't know but it's it's what it is um I try to figure out how to take solace in it but it's like

well everyone knew that we were fast well that's I guess that's great we score lots of points uh that's cool but it's the win that matter to me. It's like putting another trophy on that table out there by the front door.

Yeah, really getting all my f***ing nerves that we're not doing it. I just find myself like, you know, texting friends during that race at the end of it. You know, it's just like, I'd say it's so NASCAR that we go an entire two and a half hour race without a single proper caution. No doubt. And the only caution is before the leader gets to 10 yards from the white flag. And these guys, the Denny are freaking out with 100 laps to go, how are we going to pass a bell again? How are we going to pass a bell again? It's like, relax, guys.

There's going to be a caution with five laps. And none of the prior 250 laps matter. You're right. You are right. And again, you know, there's learning opportunities, right? I think of all the things that kept us from winning the race, you know, I can identify at least a few that I'm responsible for, like that I've got to get better at. So what are those?

I talked about them earlier, doing a better job protecting and, you know, things of that, that nature. And, you know, watching right before we get to the restart zone, okay, what's the plan here? What's you doing? Okay, now in three wide, how can I, it's, at least get to the top as soon as possible. Like, just, there's definitely some learning moments that, even for someone that's been doing it for 21 years, like it's, this is one that I've always said,

ah, well, the end of races, they're just, there's certain circumstances and everyone's a little different, but I am putting it in tattoo that from now on, I'm, and I won't say exactly what it is, I'm, to do something different from now on when it comes down to a green and white checkers. At any track or specifically these mile and a halfs? Mount a halfs. Yeah. I'm saying any track. Trevor's listen. Any track. Yeah. And Kansas is unique, right? Because it's a white line and not a yellow

line. So like Kyle or whoever's behind you is allowed to go down there under that, right? No, it's all the sudden. It's all the same. He can't go to the apron until after we pass. to start, finish on it. That's when you can break off and go kind of wherever you want. Okay. If it makes you feel any better, adding that trophy to the table really wouldn't have done much. That trophy sucks. I saw people ask what it is.

I think it's supposed to represent a tornado. No, it's not. It's not. I don't know what it is, but it's not that. We've talked about it in Victory Lane before. It's like a spike of some sort. I don't think it's a tornado. I think it is a tornado.

Let's let's, let's chat, GPT. Let's ask chat GVT. No, I love Gemini. I'm a Gemini guy. Oh, I'm not. I ask, I ask chat and Gemini the same questions. And Jim and I,

I prefer their answers 90% of the time. The primary trophy for Kansas Speedway, a unique... Connection to American culture. Soaring trophy. Representing the tracks turns in the team's hard work. Supposed to be what? I don't know.

Yeah, it's one of my favorites. So I'm not going to say anything negative about cancer. Yeah, it probably could use a trophy upgrade. But whatever. What's next? Let's move on. Another big loser in that restart, Christopher Bell, went from having a pretty great day to finish on.

Yeah. Yeah, I texted him after the race and it's like, what happened on the backstretch? He's like, I got plowed into. I couldn't believe that thing broke his toe link or bent his toe link. It seemed like relatively minor contact. I mean, all things consider, but I wonder if it happened from the Reddit contact or when we got, because we hit pretty hard door to door. or wheel to wheel.

So I wondered if it happened then or not, but I couldn't figure out. It was like, damn, Chris. I was in the shit down on the apron entering turn three. And so my angle was God-awful horrible, and then that's when the 45 gets back around me. God dang it, man.

Just any one of these things didn't happen. Your business partner is one hell of a competitor. Sure. What you mean? And just like coming up to you post race, he's, you're just, you know, heartbroken that this went this way. Clearly not all that thrilled that your team won because you lost and he's just all smiles, you know? You've seen the clip. You know what I'm talking about. Yeah. You were there. Yeah. I mean, I don't expect him to understand where I'm at.

in that moment, right? Every other Reddick win, I've been, you know, split. Happy, sad, happy, sad, you know, just kind of depends on how my day went. But that one, I was full 100% my way on this one. You know what I mean? Like the emotions were all on Team 11 on that one, for sure. And surely y'all were talking some trash leading into

Sunday after Saturday. Yeah, I told him, you know, Friday, Saturday. Same thing I said on this podcast. If something weird doesn't happen, it's a guaranteed win. Kansas is a guaranteed win as long as nothing weird happens. And what does he say to that? He says, I believe, well, he says, I believe you for one. but we were talking Saturday night

and Blaney came over Bubba came over Riley and we were watching the O'Reilly series watching some NBA playoffs and they're just talking about Reddick or whatnot and Michael said yeah I'm worried about the 11

I didn't he says he's going to win and I just I'm worried about the 11 and I was like, I thought the 45 was quite a bit better than us in practice, but we're, we're good at making overnight adjustments. That's it. So he probably was very happy because I was trying, I was telling him all weekend that, you know, we were going to win.

And so he felt he's very happy because of how much I talk to him actually. I know it's hard to believe, but I talk a lot of trash to him. Well, he said that. He said in his front stretch interview. He said, we, you know, we talk, we talk some trash. We're going to talk some trash. Yeah. So, yeah, he probably wants to beat me as much as anyone.

Now, he roots for me when the 2311 cars, you know. But, yeah, when it's head to head, he wants to see the 2311 drivers beat me because, you know, because I talk that trash. Is Sunday the best day in 2311 racing history? Four cars, top 15, winner? You don't celebrate. Top 15s. What are you talking about? Now, if it was like one to finish,

yeah, that's a great, you know, team day. But, I mean, let me not understate that they all ran very well, right? I think this race last year, rather, was like 30th, maybe. He's competitive, running in the top 15-ish all day. Corey, I mean, if poor Corey had a day on pit road, lost a lot of spots, but we had so many injuries on the, on our primary cars that we had to take a lot of guys from the 67 pit crew and put them on our primary teams throughout the year. So that team was kind of meshed together with some developmental guys.

some that, you know, I think came, you know, we're just sitting on the sidelines at JGR. So we, I knew it was going to be a tough down pit road for him. He kind of drew the short straw on that one. But didn't he go all the way to top 10 in stage one? Yeah, he got stage points in one of the... Started 24th. I'll tell you, the most impressive thing was

when he held it wide open through turns one and two as the first car out in qualifying, that took Cahunas. 10th and stage one. Yeah. I mean, I think he just kept getting reset by, you know, when they came to Pit Road. I don't know that for sure. I need to look at the times.

But I know that Rod, his agent, it was like, yeah, they lost a lot of spots on pit road. I said, well, that was to be expected. They just, yeah, we just have, we had some injuries that definitely hurt us. well Tyler Reddick gets his fifth win of the season and he now has a winning record through the first nine races this season yeah I feel like he hasn't really led that many laps 1099 I thought I saw 199 I could be don't five wins with a hundred ninety nine laps led if that's real that's incredible who's got the fastest computer oh these boys are going fingers um it it feels like it hasn't been

a ton of lap sled. I guess Coda. 180. Who got there first? Trave? We'll call it a tie. 185 wins, 180 laps lead. 189.

Where am I? No. Well, yeah, get Jared, get Denny's lap sled. Okay. Pain. But that's this sport. It doesn't really matter all that much. Denny Hamlin.

leads the NASCAR Cup series in 2026 with 444 laps lead. Feels like more than that. It does feel like more. All right. Yeah, it's an incredible start. I mean, an absolutely incredible start. And he's doing it by executing. He's doing it by late race heroics.

They're winning in all kinds of different ways. Now, let's be honest, too, that the last run, he ran me down, he passed me. Now, he had issues. He said he was out of fuel, but they said that didn't make sense. He shouldn't be low on fuel. So I'm not sure what was going on, but then, again, with two laps ago, I saw him get into the wall. I was like, wow, that's wild. But he said, I guess he said, post-race, he just got distracted.

two laps ago that's really hard to it's hard to get distracted two laps to go but yeah they you know they without him making that mistake

you know they probably win the race anyway maybe but I'm telling you I had a little bit left that I was going to make I was going to make him earn it those last two laps like even when he passed me it was like y'all probably thought oh that's shit over right yeah no no

No. No, I'll get in the wall. I'll wreck if I have to to try give it one last go, like one last ounce. And I mean, I was coming off the corner sideways those last 15 laps or so. And then once he passed me, I just started shipping it more and more. And I mean, I was dead-ass sideways. But like I was putting the pressure back on them quite a bit. And so they're just, they're executing well, right? I mean, you don't have a 5-0 average finish without, even when he didn't, doesn't win, he's not had any bad finishes. So you would think law of averages eventually that catches up a little bit. But we're going to a Super Speedway this weekend where Tyler Redick was the number one point score on Super Speedways last year.

So I just, you know, it's incredibly proud of, you know, that team and how they're executing his racecraft. finding ways to stay in the game when it appears that they're out of it. Darlington was a great example of that, battling back, driving through the field. Like, they're the best overall team right now, and that's just not looking at the scorecard. That's just kind of all-encompassing. Apparently last week we said Blaney was, quick change. That was odd. But I knew it in practice.

I was behind Austin Cendrick and Joey Lugano. Yeah, because we're on pit road by points. And so organizational points, so whoever's your highest in points, all the group, all your other team cars get to, get to, you know, you're on pit road together when you go out for practice. So I'm behind all the Penske cars.

And I'm telling you from a straightaway back, I felt like I passed them in three, lapse. And I was like, holy shi, boys, you got one more gear, you got to shift it to fourth. I couldn't believe how slow they were. But it was a company thing.

It wasn't, they were just off. And so, I mean, did Lagano finish 30th? Again? They were all lapsed down, except for Cindric. Cinder Cinder can on the sheet that Travis wrote me.

Well, I only go to top 20. He finished 30th, two laps down. Yeah, they missed it as a team, and it started on Saturday. So it was wild to see. Trackhouse. Something's got to be going on with Chevy, right? They just... Yeah, that's something.

They don't look amazing across the board when the Hendrick cars are running at the back half of the top 10. Well, Byron's been the biggest surprise to me of like, where's, where's Byron? You know what I mean? it's been kind of a, it's just been a quiet year for Byron, right? Yeah. Just haven't spoke on him that much. But, I mean, he's getting decent finishes, but just not, definitely not wowing you.

And yeah, which is so surprising to me when it comes to the, like the Chevrolet struggles, because it's not like they went through a complete body. Like, I'm telling you, we see the numbers, and it's like not. that big of a difference. I trust me on this. This change is very small. So I just, it's wild that it's,

that they have these struggles, but clearly it's real. So, I mean, the trackhouse cars were quite a bit better on a mile and a half to end last year. I think SVG, wasn't he starting to,

you know, finished in the top 15 pretty much every mile and a half? And, you know, through the off season, it's, you know, making your stuff worse. I don't know. They have enough resources over there at track house that they'll get it figured out.

It's just, you know, it's a matter of how much time it takes, you know, because, you know, even as tough as the year's gone for, like, Chastain, he's not, he's not way out of the cut line to get in the playoffs. So, and he's a good enough grinder to, like, to carry the, to carry the, seem to like a little better finishes than probably what they had on speed. Yeah, but grinding to make the playoffs should not be where. No, I get that. But I'm saying you grind until you get your stuff better.

That's what he's going to be really good at. Do you think part of this was track house first came into play with the next gen? So everyone was on the level playing field. And they've kind of just plateaued with where they can go unless they get an influx of resources. and no idea no yeah no idea i've just i've not really educated enough on it but it's you know there's always ebbs and flows of teams but usually you don't see it go this drastically to one one way and especially like the the the one hoss team i think outran all of their cars Ricky outran all of their cars and their Chevroletes.

So it's really amazing that the NASCAR schedule goes from February to November. You all take one, two months off and you come back. And it's like a completely different picture for some teams and some drivers. It's like what possibly has changed in two months time in December and January that now everything's different. You know, Ross Chastain was 10th in points last year of playoff car.

I don't know. I don't know either. Just got to wait it out. The RFK team looks strong. They look like they're challenging for the top overall Ford team. Yeah, if you average it all out. Yeah.

Yeah, I think they, I think all they're in drivers are incredibly close week and week out. I don't think that that's like, you know, a hot take or anything like that but i think they're all close in speed they're all close in performance and they all are right right there in the back half of the top 10 every week right and so i think they do a really really good job of um you know not having the big off weeks like i just never really see the rfk cars like 21st 24 28 you know what i mean you just don't see it like

they're off weeks, they're in the teens, and then they're par weeks or back half of the top 10. That's kind of where they're at. And if races fall a certain way, they can find themselves challenging in the top five. You know, Brad and those guys qualified well and ran up front at Darlington. So they're doing a very good job, absolutely. What else we got from the cup race here? Nothing cut, but... Anything else you lose sleepover? Just that stuff. Talladega stage.

Lanks? I don't know what that really changed. I appreciate the NASCAR trying to do something different to shake it up, to shake up the fuel mileage stuff. I still think we're going to be doing it, but I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully it's not.

I much prefer a wide open race. I think the fans, everyone's going to appreciate it. would appreciate that. Even the drivers would appreciate more of a wide open race. Good news is, well, that last stage, you're in a fuel window, but we're always wide open after the last pit stop. So I don't think that that changes that much. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how this thing plays out. All it takes is a couple cars in the pack to say, screw this, I'm not saving fuel. And it will force everyone to not save fuel. And it's everyone's going to save fuel.

It's just to what degree. You know, I don't think what anyone wants is us to run three by three by three by three running half throttle. That's just not great. Yeah, I mean, I guess you have to save fuel a little bit, right, because you're trying to lessen your time on pit road. And the more fuel you hang on to, the less you got to put in it. That's right. But yeah, stage lengths for that race. First stage will be 98 laps, second stage.

45 laps and then the final stage will conclude 45 laps later on lap 188 and blah, blah, blah, points paying, yada, yada, yada. 60, 120, 128 or one, that, oh, that was the last, never mind. Do you want to move on to the Xfinity race? Sure. Taylor Gray wins. I can't figure out that Taylor or that 54 team. Like, there'll be some weeks where it's just they're running in the, like 10th and that's all they got and then they'll magically have the blue it's like here they are they're really fast and they win the race and so second win of his career right uh did he win atlanta earlier this year sounds right yeah i think that jgr cars as a whole have stepped up in the off season in o'reilly's like the jrm cars have dominated for the last couple years.

Speed-wise, you know, just this is my eyeball test. I don't have any data to prove that. But it seems like the JGR cars certainly feel faster to me this year when I'm watching races. Brandon Jones was the class of the field, which actually should be no surprise. Kansas is maybe one of his best statistically statistical racetracks, but he had that loose tire penalty

that was a killer um yeah he had lost the lead before that but still I thought it was exciting it played out a lot like the cup race where second and third kind of catching the leader and was it

was Sheldon Creek going to get there or not but ultimately Taylor had enough to hang on great win Carson Quapple goes over and over and over it wasn't a flip though right yeah It was.

It was barrel rolls. Travis is not a flip. What do you think a flip is? A flip is end over, like head over a barrel roll. It was more because I didn't see the video and in the text I said what happened. And Charlie goes, clearly he flipped. And so to counter his smart ass response, I'm like, well, actually he didn't flip. It was a barrel roll if we want to get technical, Charlie.

I don't know if I'd agree with that. A flip. If the downside is up and the upside is down, that's flipped. No, no, no. I know what you're saying. You're saying in order to be a flip, it has to be nose over tail. Yeah. Oh, Jesus.

I was just trying to point out another bad Travis take. I wasn't expecting you guys to argue over it. I'm not going to give it that much energy. But I disagree. I think a flip is when the wheels are up and the roof is down. That's what I consider a flip. But that's tomato tomato. Yeah.

we're splitting hairs yeah but that's what cars and quaple did yeah that was wild right off the bad it was it william that got him right off turn two and then it's just a you know you get it into the wall your car's light because he's at a fast portion in the racetrack it's cars light and all it takes that one hit to the side that gets that thing up in the air and then the bottom side of that body or of the car it just becomes like a it's just a billboard like take this piece of paper and hold it outside your car window when you're going 45 miles an hour. I think just, you know, it's a big, big parachute. Kalate he's okay, but also hated it for Parker Ratzloff because everyone's been talking

about him and wanted to see what he could do and his days ruined that. There's nothing he could have done to that way that. We were talking about him. Then he was hype. We hyped him up last week. That's what I'm saying. I'll be his hype boy. Yeah.

He's getting it done. What else? I don't know. What else you do in Kansas? You catch any fish? Yeah, I went out to the Bass Pro shops there. They had a little pond right, a little pond right outside the back there.

And so caught some fish, really until the 19 team got there. Then the fish started getting bombed from every direction. They just stopped biting. Is this like a Celine Dion pond? Or like you have to earn these fish? No, I mean, we didn't catch them like Celine's pond because, again, this pond gets seen lots of lures on the weekends.

weekends. But I caught three. Charlie got a couple, as in two. And then I think one of the 19 guys caught actually a pretty decent size one. But yeah, it's not the saline pond. I mean, saline pongs just need a net to scoop them out. Did you back that boat away from the tree so Charlie fell in? No. I wish we had the full video. Gosh. You don't understand how quick I was grabbing my phone, like to get the content that we actually got. But to get the story, and I told this to whoever would listen this weekend

because it was so funny and they wanted to know what happened. So I drive the nose of the boat. He gets his lure stuck. So the hook is on the main part of the tree. So I said, Charlie, I can only, you know, because of the trolling motor, I can only go in there so deep.

So I get in there. to where he reaches the main branch, the big one that he's hanging from, okay? He's got one hand there trying to get the lure off. He's holding another side branch, a little smaller, with his other hand trying to hold himself. Well, now all the weight goes to the smaller branch because he's using the left to try to get it unhooked.

It breaks. So he's hanging on, it breaks. Oh, he's now grabbing. on to the big one as you saw him holding. Well, now he's got two feet, tippy toe on the edge of the boat. Well, what happens when you're leaned and your feet are pushing it?

He pushes the boat away. And so at that point, he goes in there and he's just hanging there. And he said, come get me, get me, get me. And I said, hang on. Hang on. Let me, I got to get this. I got to get this.

And he's like, get the fuck the boat back over here. So I just, he hung there for a minute. It was well worth the content that I got. And now he's in like three feet of water. I'm like, Charlie, just put your feet down. Put your feet down. He's like, I can't. I got my phone on my pocket.

So he was convinced that I trolled away, but I did not. I can put my hand on Bible in that. I did not. He pushed himself off the boat. And then I just got the content of watching it. It was. All I have to do is look at the thumbnail. I don't even have to watch a video and I just start laughing.

The last thing I'll point out in that post-race interaction, MJ did kiss you on the back of the head. Oh, I bet. I bet he was so happy. Chicago Bulls, tar heels. Maybe it's my time. We're just for being impatient right now. You know what I mean?

We're living in the moment, not the journey. Right, Trave? Sometimes you can't go 12-0. I'd like to know. I know you like to, but sometimes you always get that. That sports bird will be a fan of. I get it because it's like you don't get, you don't, you put up 45 points. You expect to keep that, right?

Yeah. Yeah, it's the hardest sport I think to be a fan of. But also, you're going to go watch and be just as into it next Sunday. Oh, 100%. It's crazy. Until Denny retires. 60 more ish

I got a review here from pojo as a lifelong Jeff Gordon fan and Hendrick fan I found myself more and more of the last two plus years

following and taken interest in the 11 and 2311 drivers each week this show and Denny's insight in the sport got all the credit just might change my tune

go win at all so you're you're turning over a Jeff Gordon-Hendrick fan into an 11 and 23-11 fan. Well, Jeff hasn't run in like 10 years, so yeah, we'll take that transition over to the dark side, no doubt. Man, I mean, it was easy to be a Jeff Gordon and Hendrick fan, right? It feels like they didn't go through this kind of stuff. I have to start an infraredic.

Who's the toughest driver to be a fan of nowadays? Jesus. He's already mad at us. Don't do it. You are Kyle Bush. I mean, the Kyle Bush fans are going through it right now. I mean, that's for sure. I was as gentle as I felt like I should have been.

No, y'all are going to just keep. It was fair. I thought it was fair. And also, all the other people that I listened to, thought it was fair as well. Shout out Kyle Petty. He agreed with you. That's rare.

Oh, he did? Yeah, he did. Hmm. I don't know. It's tough. I mean, I don't need, where did he finish this weekend? Don't worry about it.

It's not talking about it. Okay, fair enough. I knew they were, didn't have a good day because I saw them a lot. So, um, I don't know, they're just, you're trying to figure it out.

35th. Damn. Damn. Um, son of a gun. Yeah, there's not much you can say there. It's just,

I'm rooting for them. Let's go eight. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.