Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Get on the Bandwagon

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Denny Hamlin is back in the studio after securing his 59th career win at Gateway and punching his ticket to the round of 12 in the Playoffs. Denny and his co-host, Jared Allen, recap his perfect weekend.2:00 Lulu gets redemption4:00 Connor Zilisch remains on a heater, but it doesn’t guarantee a championship12:00 How confident was Denny that he could win?23:00 The restart that won Denny the race30:30 Does the championship go through the Toyotas?35:30 What it takes to win at Bristol39:00 Kyle Larson wrecks Ryan Blaney50:00 Christopher Bell sounds off after the race57:00 What kind of tires will we have in Bristol? Dirty Mo Media has a new e-commerce merch line! They’ve got some awesome Actions Detrimental merch on the site. Visit shop.dirtymomedia.com to check out all the new stuff.For more Actions Detrimental content: https://www.youtube.com/@ActionsDetrimentalFanDuel Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I don't give a shit. I just want to win races and beat the shit out of everyone else every chance I get. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. I believe that I've been in 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. I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection. A 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.

Worldwide Technology Raceway, St. Louis, Gateway. We have all kinds of names for this track. But man, what a great weekend for the 11 team. Coming home with a win, 59th on my career. Ah, this is, we're getting closer and closer. One more. One more. Need it this year.

Won it this year. Don't need it this year. Won it this year. Won it this year. What are you talking about? You need it this year. What are you talking about? What do you mean?

I've got like 80 races left. What are needed. Why? I don't know. Why are we starting the narrative that like you're not going to, you don't need to win again this year. I think of needs as in like I need oxygen. I need food.

I need shelter. You need another win this year. It would be nice. I can't talk if you sell them a 59 for the rest of the season. Understandable. I work on that then. Now, a great weekend all around. Started on the poll.

I think we had the Xfinity. fastest slap again, number seven on the year for that. And then we finish things off. I mean, well, executed day on pit road, Trave, this is, we can do this. I issued, you know, a tweet to the 11 team. Someone asked if I was buying them lunch. I said, I don't know, it might be a little expensive. They want beers. We can do that. But they were consistent. This, I mean, listen, this pick early in the year was what everyone was talking about. So they have it in them. It's just a matter of can they figure it out. Yeah. And they did. Also,

apologies to Lulu. We saw her this morning. Redemption for her. It was. It was the first time we've ever had a dog in the victory lane, I think. What's Milo think about this? He was jealous. He was

so excited to see her at the airport though. Oh my gosh. You saw them. They were just nose and nose. Just Lulu was you could tell she missed. Milo because she was just I don't know

lethargic all weekend just kind of laid around wasn't really energetic but man when she saw him when we got out this plane they were they were back to being excited best friends

who knew you needed a second dog because when you got to St. Louis last year and you picked the up you're like we're not keeping this dog obviously you were overruled by three girls I'm glad it was the best decision and come to find out two dogs are definitely easier than one. They occupy themselves way more.

You know, when you have one dog, they need you to give them all the attention. And having that much time is difficult to say the least. But they keep themselves occupied and it was a great decision to keep her. where do we want to begin here you want to shout out connor zillich first next yeah yeah was this his ninth win yeah ninth win is it his car is like 11th 10 i think the car has 10 he's been in victory lane for eight and then he gets credit for parker's ninth right is that how it works oh okay i was including parkers as separate i i claimed parkers is parkers i mean he should but i think i know in the record books it goes oh so it goes it says Connor won doesn't it

Yeah. Oh, man. Parker's getting the shaft on that. Yeah. They have Connor listed as nine wins. He has eight. Parker's got one. Larson's got one, right? Okay. Either way, that team is on a heater. They are white hot. They are just so fast. And beyond that, what I'm most impressed about with the 88 team, and I actually, um, Go to Bozies X. I DMed him. I just wanted to know where did, I wanted to know where the 88 pit crew ranked because he hasn't had to go back in traffic much. Like he's, they're keeping him up front, you know,

and by the numbers, they're not crazy stellar, but it seems like the combination of all the things, you know, maybe Connor's doing a good job on pit road as well, but like he's never losing his track position. I thought that Connor had a third place car when I watched that race. And I know that by looking at the lap times, I'm in the bus, I'm able to see him.

I'm able to see who's closing, who's good in traffic. And I thought that if you just, if this thing goes green enough, I think he's going to be in trouble. But it never went green enough. And then the challengers that he had had pick crew issues. and they just kept going back to fifth, have to repass all those cars again. So the 88 team, and Connor is the leader of the 88 team, but they deserve as much credit as anyone for just executing.

It is so hard to execute, as we know, Trav, it's hard to execute these races to where you never have any hiccups, but they're doing it right now. And one hiccup can be a race, too. It's crazy. Yeah. Is he going to lose again this year? Yes.

He could not win the championship. I guess, but he just is on a role right now. Could not. I guess he'll be, if he makes it to Phoenix, he'll be the favorite, but against Justin, who's elite there? I don't know. By the way, what does happen to the 17? I just haven't. Now, I watched them this weekend.

the seven car was the seven was better than the 88 i'm certain of that the 19 had some really good speed um as well compared to the 88 they just their pick crew just is not getting them not maintaining their position i just um i'm gonna make a wild prediction i think the 88 wins 10 races and does not win the championship wild i don't know that it's that wild with this format but I just don't I don't know I think it's going to be tough just because

it's one race it's one race and yeah I don't know I don't know how the 88 did the Xfinity series run there earlier this year or not I think they did yeah they always finished

sorry I'm looking at Algeyer's stats now he finished fifth when we pulled I say the Xfinity cars are always in the garage when you get off the golf cart and walk through. Yeah, you're right. I guess really, Travis, no matter where he finished, the team and him, they've turned a corner since then, but I don't know that I'm just going to consider him a slam dunk favorite when we go to Phoenix. So you're arguing that...

That was early in his, like... You're arguing that just an Algeier as a driver is better than Conor Zillich at Phoenix. I think so. I think so. And that'll be the difference maker. I think so. I think it suits suits the seven if they can make it. But I'm going to need to see more out of the seven. They're, you know, the 88's beating them like a drum week and week out right now. How many, how many wins do you think Zillich finishes with though? I know you said at least 10. But these next, how many races, do you have less? I don't know. Seven. I think they're starting the playoffs this weekend. Yeah, they're starting the playoffs.

You got to assume that he's going to win the road course. Yeah, I mean, they're 11. You got seven more. Wow, I'm not giving him much credit. But again, this pace is extremely hard. You're going to have some hiccups along the way. You've got some intermediates. I don't know.

I think he probably has 11, 11 wins when he goes into Phoenix. maybe a little more, maybe 12. We'll see. A lot of trophies. Yeah, lots. Speaking of lots of trophies, you've got so many trophies now that they're just under your staircase in the basement

and you don't know what to do with them? I don't have any room for them. When I built this place probably had 30 wins. You didn't think that much ahead, did you? No. No, I, I, I didn't. didn't. And I don't know.

I just feel as though, yeah, they are. They're underneath the stairs. I wish I really kind of had a place. I mean, there's plenty of places I can put them, but it just, I don't like the trophies up on the main level where we live other than the entrance right there because, you know, for the year. Right. I like that to be.

Table's getting full. Table's getting full. That's great. A few years ago, I had them underneath the table. to end the entry walkway like underneath that table i was like that's a good year and and which stinks is that the martinsville is a grandfather clock um so that's not sitting in the foyer is there a placeholder i didn't notice no martin zill has nothing other than a clock there's no actual trophy at martinsville that i wish clay campbell would you get a clock dynnie what you need a

second thing i you just told me the clock business that you just told me the clock business The clock company went out of business. So the market for grandfather clocks right now is not very high. But that's not the argument about if they're pop. That's the trophy. The clock is the trophy. It doesn't fit on a table though. We're not going to go on this tangent again.

But how many people on this earth would walk in see a grandfather clock and say, that's a Martinsville trophy? How many? A handful in this region. 0.05%. That's not the argument. It is. Trophies look like enjoy Illinois 300 here.

So you like this one? I do. I do. I saw it during the driver's meeting. I thought it was quite nice. It's got my favorite color on it. Yeah, I'm all in. Just barely fit under the chandelier here.

Yeah, it's perfect. Did you think you were going to win this? I thought I had a good shot at it but not after that first run the five passed me, ripped my door numbers off if he was going so fast but we got better and then they had

the strategies just got a little mixed up throughout the day and I certainly thought that early on when the five and a few others chose to flip if you remember but then they actually came they drove through the field and actually scored good stage points We restarted 26 with only 10-lap fresher tires.

I'm like, oh, crap. Here is Darlington all over again. This is going to take forever to get this race, you know, back towards the front. But the tires did mean something for about 10 laps. I thought that they had some pretty good in them. But then after that, they definitely did level off. But then there were some cautions that really kind of mixed things up again. that swung the strategy back in our favor.

When did you take two tires? Because I feel like that really helped you get up there too. I'm not sure when it was. But I feel like a lot of people took four and Gail called for two. It was. It's because we took four like the caution right before that. And it put us inside our fuel window. So I think that was at the beginning-ish of stage two.

Was that the lap 76 caution for Ty Dillon? Because you would have pit at. stage break. Yep. And that would have allowed us to make it then to the end of second stage. So yes, that was the time. Yeah.

Yep. And that allowed you to gain a little track position back as well. It did. It did. Yeah, which is, that's what actually made this race a little more compelling. Had it,

everyone been on the same tires and the same strategy all race, um, is that these short burst of cautions allowed the field to get mixed up, um, to where there was, let's just say 10 cars with 10 laps on their tires there was maybe 10 cars with 25 laps and so it allowed and it looked like there was no it didn't look like there was actually more passing than what they would normally be at this track because of the varying strategies and this quick burst of

cautions so was that because of the tires or because of the the way the cautions fell way the cautions fell yeah that that's what made this race more compelling and more overtaking than what it was destined to be. Yeah, I feel like there were so many strategies going on, and Travis knows it towards the end of the race, you didn't know which driver or which team was on the best strategy. You didn't know, like, who was in... I didn't realize until I looked at y'all's Dennybro's group chat.

Like, it's wildly entertaining. Make sure y'all keep using that as your outlet during the race because it allows me to go back and say, you know, to see where y'all's mindset was during the course. but here we are with I've already it's 40 to go I've pitted for the last time

and you guys have no idea whether do we need a caution or we need a green exactly what's best for us I had no idea if that last one and I'm like that college should help us now we're moving up but people have fresh tires I was confused yeah

I can see why it was confusing I think there was going to be I don't know that anyone was going to make it on fuel and even if they did we likely were going to be faster we were going to catch back up and pass them you know the only one I can think maybe he's like the six was going to try to stretch it but he would have to slow down I believe too much to to keep us from retaking him so the lead was me and the 22 we pit we come out the 19 took two he jumped us I'm racing the crap out of the 19 you see us kind of go we knew

that was for the that was for the lead we put that was for the lead we put we put we come out the 19 at that moment. I knew that that was important. And I also knew it was really important to pass him right then, not five laps from now. Like I needed to get them right as soon as I could because again, like I said, the first 10 laps on tires seemed like was the most benefit. After that, they just leveled out. So I was very fortunate to pass him. And then the next corner, the caution came out.

And that allowed me to take now the front row. I race the six who's got, you know, its tires are shit. And then so I'm able to clear there and it's bosses from that point. Yeah, but you went for the pass on the 19 and didn't clear him, right? You're trying to use Cody Ware. A lap car was in front of you. You didn't clear the 19 and then you lost a bunch of ground. I thought at that point you were burned.

I did, but then I, TV didn't show it. They were focused. There were something going on at the time. maybe it was I'm not sure what it was but I rewatched that portion they were focused on some battle that was going on

but I ended up getting him right before that caution I mean there was you know you saw us we were side drafting slinging it in there there was one corner where I did pass him and then I mean it must have been

five seconds later boom caution comes out if the caution doesn't come out do you think you win this race? Yeah I think I still get them I thought I had an speed over him to be able to do it. I mean, he was putting up a great fight, but I thought it was inevitable. Yeah. I was worried about was the nine and the 20 who pitted probably 10 laps after us was catching. Because we were playing grab ass side by side down the straightaway and slurs, they were coming pretty quickly.

And so I was like, you know, this is this is where in F1 they'd say, pull over. You're You're going to hold both of us up. Right. And, you know, someone else is going to win. But I just, I thought that I had them. And once I passed him, I knew that those two were going to have a really tough time passing him. Well, while you were going through that, was there a moment there where you tried to move briscoe up, where you just tried to use everything you could get?

Not really. I didn't try to use too much racetrack. I just felt like I didn't want to slow too much momentum. and I knew the 22 was back there, 10, 12 lengths, the 9 and the 20 were coming with fresher tires. I just thought that I just needed to try to optimize lap time and pass him versus just, you know, trying to slide him. You end up slowing yourself down a second or two, one lap because of that, and then you brought everyone back into the picture. Did you know that this was 200 for Toyota? I did.

I get an email report for the weekend of kind of like my schedule. Here's what we got planned. So you read that? And it was highlighted. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I did. Okay. You don't think I read.

Wait, does you not read all emails here? I don't, I didn't say that. There just might be questions. People are wondering. That's all. People are you? No, not me. Just the people that write them.

People that write them. So Tyler doesn't know that I read his. I didn't say that. It was highlighted. He highlighted Toyota's at 199. I think, you know, they're just, he's letting me know just in case. He said, I hope Denny Reddy, he's usually motivated by those things. Good work, Tyler. I was. What's that mean for you to go into JGR and hang the Twentz banner? Well, it's important because I knew I'm not going to be around here for 300, right?

So this was my last opportunity to get a, you know, a big monumental. wind for for Toyota um yeah it's it's this is my last chance so i i certainly was very motivated to make sure that i was the one that did it what does you know like what does this mean for toyota when you have these monumental wins like when you're going going to going into the shop this afternoon like is there anything different about that banner hanging than an average one well i mean 20 years ago or so, they came into the sport, maybe into Cup racing. And, you know, they, they came in with a lot of skepticism. Um, and if you would have said to them probably, hey, 20 years from now, you'll have 200. That's, you know, that's, that's, that's a big number. Would you

take it? They, I mean, they would have jumped over the moon for that. And they had early struggles in the Cup series and just weren't, you know, very good. It was the new manufacturer blues. And it was back when you had to come up with your own simulation, you know, it's when the teams were the manufacturers, essentially. And they went through those struggles. But when they paired up with JGR in 2008, I believe it was, you know, it was the best decision for both. And they certainly got them the results that they were hoping for. What you've seen is a manufacturer. that contribute so much into U.S. Motorsports. I mean, they've got their own, you know, racing league that they run.

It's, they're all in on motorsports. You'll see them at your local dirt track. I mean, you're going to see Toyota there. They have a presence from the grassroots all the way up to the Cup series, and it's because they believe in motorsports and what that brings to their brand. And when you look at the, the, the, the, the, true fan surveys that have come out over the last 10 years or so and the fan sentiment about, hey, would you have been willing to buy a Toyota back then? You know, and the answers were no.

Like they filled them out. They're like, no, we were pushing back. That's a foreign brand. That's Toyota has since invested so much in U.S. manufacturing. Most of their Toyota vehicles are more American than the actual American brand manufacturers. And what they do in motorsports has changed the fan sentiment on how they feel about Toyota. They've always been known as being reliable cars. That was their MO. They're just reliable. Right.

Then they went into, wow, they're actually cutting edge, looking, great looking cars too. And then now in the motorsports side of things, it's like, you know, are people that are giving back to the motorsport that we love and all forms of motorsports. And so it's great to see them getting the payoff from their investment. Yeah, when you break down the numbers, 200 wins, 20 years, it's 10 wins a year, 30-ish percent of the Cup schedule. You'd think they would take that with less cars.

With less cars. With less cars. Yeah, yeah. Primarily only one or two teams for the most part. Hey, this is Dale Jr. And for the latest actions detrimental gear, go to shop. Dot dirtymomedia.com. We've got plenty of options for you.

We're adding new stuff all the time. That's shop. Dot.Durtymomedia.com. Back to that restart at the end with when you knew you're next to Brad, where you basically like, I get this restart and it stays green. It's my race. Yeah, it was, that was the second most important restart. The very first one was the Bubba one.

That one is where I went from that fourth to first in that one lap. That was the restart that won me the race. Not the six one, although that was an important one. My job with the sixth restart was that I had chase, I believe, behind him, right? So as long as I didn't let Brad clear me before turn one and then him pull down, that was then the 19 was going to get back around me and then good luck with me trying to get back around him. I needed to stay beside the six before we got to turn one. That way I knew the 19 was going to be blocked out or shoved up the racetrack enough to where my new tires, newer tires

were going to clear me the six and then get me up. And that's exactly what happened. That's exactly what happened is I stayed close enough to him on corner entry to not allow the six to come down into my lane. Why don't we see... Brad rolled the dice and ultimately did it work? No, but why don't we see more teams that you're not in the playoffs?

Roll the dice and stay out there. Like, Brad was like the only one that did that. Why don't we see more teams trying? I think that they saw how new tires were so much faster for the first 10 laps. And so I just think that they thought there was 40 laps to go.

I'm thinking the field. I don't... What the six was thinking, I don't know. More than likely they had nothing to lose. Maybe they run 10, you know, his perfect scenario would have been find a way to stay in the top five for 15 laps. Another caution comes. Now have to field pits.

You're on the front side of a new strategy with newer tires. You're now restarting 10th to 15th with new tires. You actually can make a run towards the front with that. So it's not always about trying for the strategy of right now. It's trying to set yourself up for another strategy if another scenario happens. And so they're just trying to give themselves any and every opportunity to change the complexion of the race because obviously they were not a factor any other way. Right. And they're not racing for points or anything. They're not in the playoffs.

So they have the ability to gamble more. than the average team. What was your reaction on that Bubba restart when you saw them? Yeah, I don't know what happened with the 23. He said it was stuck in first. My next question was,

what were you doing in first gear? All the restarts were in second gear. Just the way it kind of worked out the pace, first gear ratio. Second gear was the, I mean, certainly on all my restarts, it was the preferred gear. I was able to clear into turn one every time that I actually controlled the restart. Now, I got my ass out drove once we got into one.

I saw your tweet like, what the hell, Denny? Just let the five blow right by. Hell, the 19. I had the 19 cleared once, pulled up into his lane, and I was going so slow through one and two. He just pulled right back around me. And it was like, I just. grossly misjudged the grip in one and two on the restart. And so that'll be something that I work on

going back there is that I've got to get better on my first corner restarts at that track. I mean, before the race, the buildup was track positions king. And then I hear on your radio, Gail says, protect your right rear. Like the first lap gets your right rear in passage. I'm like, did you not listen? Like, what are we doing here? I'm not that good I don't know what to say I just I work my way into it and certainly my restart

I mean the twat the five nearly knocked my rear bumper off on the first lap because I went so shallow into turn one like I cleared them pulled down in front of them and I mean he I mean he had to laid on the brakes hard to keep from running

into me because I went in so shallow so so slow so I got faster as the day when on. But, you know, luckily those important restarts that I did give up the lead didn't cost me. I think that's exactly why Travis I asked him to start the show. Was it a surprise? Because there were just so many signs early on that was like, I don't know if you got this car. We're not him. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I told myself, I'm like, we're not winning today. That's like, I was like, because of the first corner. Well, because I'm like, well, Larson, like, and is on the main strategy

that are past you in the first stage. Brist goes on the same strat. Like, we weren't leading any of the strategies. I'm like, we need something to happen because right now we don't have the best car. Now I do think, I think you even said it, they made changes to the car. We got better. We definitely got better. And really that last run of the race, I mean, I was on cruise control, but I could just tell from my lap times that they made dramatic improvements to the car. And so, yeah, it's, I agree with you.

I thought that I was a fourth to fifth place driver and with a third place car. That's where I kind of netted out where I thought we were yesterday. But there's so many ways to win these races. You don't, you know, at least 30 to 40% of your competition

is going to eliminate themselves through mistakes or not executing or what have you. Just keep yourself in the game. continue to get better on, you know, those restarts like I talked about. There's, there's other ways to win. And you don't, I never, I never wavered our ability to go win because we never took ourselves out of the top five. And that was what is crucial. It's just keep yourself in there. And I don't know why I'm looking at your, your career stats here at Gateway. First, obviously yesterday, second, second before that. But I didn't associate you with being a gate.

way guy. And I still, I just said I thought I was a fourth to fifth place driver yesterday. And that's probably being a little generous as well. I thought my car was probably better than I was. I just, there's something a little unsettling entering turn one that I don't quite have a good feel for my car. And so I'm losing time there. But generally speaking, the results have been better than the speed. I think you're right on that. Does this, is this a good sign for Toyota that you win this race?

Like is, in the past you look at Gateway and assume a Ford is going to, is going to win it, right? Or a four is going to be very strong. You know, I saw that narrative. Yeah, I don't know.

Is it more coincidence? Is it, Is it just, you know, I know that the story right now from the media is that it's, oh my gosh, Toyota is just so fast and they're, they're the ones to beat. I understand beating that drum, but, you know, like the 12 came out of nowhere for the last few years, you know, non-existent for the most part in the regular season. And then the came playoff time. And then all of a sudden they win one of the playoff races. and then they win three or four of them. And it was like, where did the speed come from?

Like it was overnight like a light switch. And then the 22, you know, found a way to get through the playoffs. And then all of a sudden has a great restart at Phoenix and is your champion of the entire season from that race. And it was like, it's just too unpredictable. It's too unpredictable to sit here. And I understand based off of speed why people would say that.

But I also think that, the five showed us and certainly I was surprised the 24 didn't have a better race. He was so much faster in me in practice. It was silly. But the five had massive speed and that's

something, that's a track where they struggled. The nine had good serviceable speed yesterday. I still think it's anyone's race and you're not going to I just think the narrative could change very, very quickly. So I would pump the brakes. I think we in the sports industry like in other sports a team gets hot and like you think

okay they're going to win in I think that works in football and basketball but in racing it's two different week to week. I can't say okay the 11 teams hot it's going to continue it's it's not the same. Yeah when you're dealing with other sports the football field is the same size it's you know the ball is the same all those things. Those variables are the same each and every week. Now the competition in which you play changes but ours it's it's, What's the weather? What's the wind? What's the track?

What's the banking? What's your setup? It's just, it's hard to maintain hot momentum. Now, the 88's doing the Xfinity series, but it's very, very hard in the Cup Series to do that because each week there is so many different variables that can change or shift momentum. I mean, a debris caution yesterday could have changed the race.

Oh, absolutely. that doesn't happen in football absolutely it we could have if we would have finished 12th yesterday would have surprised you guys no like no right like y'all were it was it wouldn't have surprised me either based off of kind of where the cautions were falling i thought that's where we were going to end up by the end of the day but other cautions fell and it changed things back in our favor again so you know yesterday was a very fortunate race for us. Now we had good speed when it really, really mattered, had good restarts when it really, really mattered, but we were also very fortunate with some cautions in the way they fell.

How important is it going to be after Bristol looking at the round of 12 to get one of those first two races? Just so I look at the, I look at the schedule beyond the round of 12, and you've got six races, but two of them are just major speed bumps in Talladega and the Roval. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you need to get off to a hot start in the round, the second round. Talladega, I feel like, is level for everyone where the Roble probably isn't. That makes any sense? Like, my shot of wrecking at Talladega is probably the same percentage amount that it is for

Austin Cindrick or whoever, Ryan Blaney. So, I'm not as well. worried about Dega for those reasons just because I listen, I know it's going to be the roll of the dice and you know if I crap out I crap out but at the Roval

I don't know I just feel as though speed will matter at that track qualifying is going to matter and for the 11 team we've got to get some work done early in that round now the good news is if things started right now we would start first on the playoff

grid because we got more playoff points than anyone. But that's the hard head start we're probably going to need when it comes down to it. Can you go to Bristol now and just try to wing it? Oh yeah. Yeah, Bristol, I've said it all weekend and I believe it to be true is that it's just a very, very tough track to race scared. And racing scared means looking at points, knowing that, oh, I can't bust my ass here, get into the wall, bend a toe link, and finish 30th. If I do that, I've really, risk not going to the next round. There are, even your Ross Chastain's, your Luganos, Cendrix, they have, I'm telling you, they will race apprehensive at that track.

I just, you're an, and if you're not, you're an idiot. Because it's, it's just a track that you can find yourself in a position where you don't want to be there and then you get caught up in a wreck or to go fast you got to really push the entry up high into the fuzz maybe you get into the wall but but are you willing to take that risk when you're only up less than 20 points i don't know i don't i wouldn't do it and so what it does then is it sets you up to run mediocre and then the good news is for them i see no one on the bottom four that that is a threat to go out there and score 50 points. I don't think so.

I think they're safe just based off of who they're racing. The three car? All right. When's the last time he scored 45 points? Is that what it's going to take, though? Like, couldn't one of those cars above the cut line up in stage one? And then Austin no longer needs to score 45 points. Well, that's what I'm saying, is that their job is just,

to not give it to him. I don't think he's going to be fast enough to earn it. Is that making sense? To outrace them straight up. That's right. He might outrace him a little bit, but not enough. Now, Cendrick, maybe. We were looking up his stats before the race, and it was like,

you know, average finish of like 22nd. man, Austin Dillon runs can usually find a way to like scrap out a 10th to 12th place finish sometimes maybe that's good enough. Certainly if Cendrick then

if he finishes, if his average finish is 22nd and he was racing all out, being in the points position he is, you could maybe could move that 20 second to 25th. next to you know,

Austin Dillon now can just hang around close to the top 10. But it's going to be tough. I don't think anything changes if I had to guess. It's just the Cendrick Dillon thing that I'm a little bit wavering on because I haven't seen Cendrick run great there.

Can the 48 team go in? Can they or will they? What's the question? Well, will they? If I ask, will they, the answer is easy. So I was going to say can they? No.

Can they, yes. They have all the tools to go win. But I just, I've not seen enough to say yes. Before we dive more into Bristol, let's go back to the race. Kyle Larson doing Kyle Larson things again. Man. He goes in hard, doesn't he? I'm just laughing at Travis's relationship.

with Kyle Larson fandom. He's just not a, you're just not a five fan. No, I've made it clear. I've root for one driver and one driver only. The other 30 some drivers can go off. Yes.

He clearly misjudged it. He, you could see what he was trying to do because he did it the lap before. He went from the bottom to the top. And what he's trying to do is he's trying to get his right front fender right on the door of the 12 in the corner so then it forces the 12 to lift because he gets

a tight moment on corner exit now the five can then maintain side by side with him down the straightway otherwise if he doesn't do that the 12 has such a you know because of the line he's running the five is going to have a really really tough time getting beside the 12 anyway except for he's going to have to have a much faster car or he's going to have to show him. shift his line slightly. There's no way the five comes off the corner remotely with any speed to stay beside the 12. All he's trying to do is go up there and slow the 12 down by ramming air into his left side door. And he misjudged it by like eight feet. I mean, it was a lot. I don't know. it's a mistake and we've definitely

we've seen some Larson mistakes here lately Xfinity you know the ones that come to mind Xxfinity series and he he's he got the seven car I think it uh he got a couple of them during he's had a couple recently in cup

I know he's gotten a few guys here lately at what point like I feel like if if this was a 77 we'd be freaking out but he's doing this more and more And it's like, well, and he's just like, I just messed up. And there's no one's really holding him to the fire. Yeah, I mean, I think largely because the, most of the fan base likes them. So you're not, I mean, you're going to stick up for your guy, right?

But where's the, like, where's it, where's it, where's everyone else? Where's, like, there's, all these other fans, like, no, it, it does. Also, I'm not even calling, like, where's more media people calling him out? I would say, I don't know the answer to that, is that I agree some criticism is deserved. He's misjudging a lot. But you just, I guess you know in the back of your mind that surely that's not intentional, so you give him a pass. I don't know. I don't know how to justify it in my head right now.

I'm trying. but, you know, that certainly, luckily, did not alter the 12's day as much as it could have. But, yeah, I mean, everyone's racing for points. The 12 had a day last week. You know, he couldn't finish another day in the 20s. I mean, that team knew immediately they're telling him, keep you cool and they were doing everything good. Yeah, I mean, if the 12 finishes probably were he should have if he would have made any kind of wall contact, then, yeah, he's down there with syndric's at you know barely hanging on let me ask you this as as a driver you put yourself in

larsen shoes you go into this corner with a plan right of how you're going to slow blaney down is there there's got to be a moment before you make contact with him where you realize I'm not there yeah and then you just like you got a board yeah right there is a moment um you know some are more aware of that moment but i i mean I don't know. I get into the guys left side doors all the time because I misjudge. So it's tough for me to say this job is really, really hard. I can't emphasize that enough. And the only, you know, I'm not, Travis, I'm not trying to stick up for him, but I will tell you, in the car, when you're trying to run close to someone and you're on the inside, you have the most stuff blocking your view.

So the headrest is bigger on the right side. To see him, you've got to, you almost got to peek to like get a feel for where your right front fender is. And then you're trying to identify where their car is. And a lot of it is you're doing it off a feel. And your spotter's probably telling you he's two lanes up. One, like it's, you're all trying to time it. And so it's way easier when the person you're trying to side draft. is on the left side because it's all right there in front of you.

You can see it. You got the Winternet there that you can see holes through. It's difficult. It's just that was a extremely high risk move that was going to put the 12 in an extremely tough spot that I don't know that it was necessary. It was probably an unnecessary move and he probably wished he could do it again. But visibility-wise, you just really can't see much. You can't see it. It's really hard. So am I being too critical? No, I think your argument is fair. I do think it's fair that like, where's, where's the people calling this out? Because I do agree that over the summer, he's had his, he's gotten his fair share, certainly.

What about Chase Elliott and Josh Barry? Same kind of thing, not the same. Same kind of thing. is that the nine just came off the bottom a little bit. He drove in, you know, the 21 was clear of the nine. He could have ran the bottom, but he was trying to get, you know, if you run the bottom, you're likely thinking, well, I'm not going to get a very good run off the corner. So I'm going to run the middle here, get position on whoever he was racing, maybe the 22. And he left the door open for the nine. Nine jams it in there. And when he jammed it in there, he had a little bit too much speed got up the racetrack boom doink 21 out so another one where it's just you know you it was a it was a misjudged situation but not certainly not as as grievous as what the five was to the 12 but it was the nine

came off the line you know it's his job when he chooses to jam it in three wide bottom you do have a responsibility to keep your car as low as possible to allow those guys that were racing too wide before you to give them room to race. That's typically the way it goes and the nine just got up in the 21 space. Well, you already touched on that you don't think anyone below the cutline right now is going to make their way above it after Bristol. I don't know. You have any feelings on on anyone else left in the playoffs here? I think Dylan makes a charge on Cindrick. I think he's going to scare him.

But nothing other than that. SVG, no. Boma, no, Barry, no. What about these 2311 cars? Good run so far in these playoffs? Yes. The 45s losing his mind a little bit. A bit.

Yeah. Got to just take a breath, man. Holy cow. The 23 is doing a fantastic job. They're executing very good, and they've got a lot of speed. The 23 is as fast as anyone is right now. That feels like it's kind of Bubba's M-O when he gets these playoffs.

Like when he was in the 45 car, it just feels like there's a switch that flips. And then the team, team just performs better. Well, that's what you hope for. That's what moves you on in these playoffs. But them being plus 50 going into Bristol, they should feel like they're racing pretty loose. Nothing to really worry about, even if you finish last.

Again, we're talked about none of those guys below that line is going to score over 50 points. This is why I wish points didn't reset, because in these. guys would be sitting better for the round of 12. I wish, exactly right. It's like all the hard work you put in. It's just they keep resetting the scoreboard, which I did see last weekend, Dale Jr. had a really, really good explanation to, if you saw Joey Lugano's quote, it was that, hey, you know, if the regular season is matters and you guys are up there getting all those playoff points if you don't make it to the final four and win then that's your problem you had a head start and dale junior says you know he first he laughed for for a little while he's like

you listen i get it however joey has to identify that he was more than like five races behind entering the playoffs like the NASCAR reset the scoreboard for you um that benefited you to allowed you to catch up because you were so far behind, which I thought was a really, really good counter to the, well, if you don't step up in the moment, it's your fault. Well, I hear you, but they keep resetting. And so, you know, touchdown. No, no, no, we're going to reset you back to zero. You have the 20 yard line. Touchdown. No, no, no. We'll reset you back to zero every quarter. like and then and then the other team goes if scores a field goal and wins the game and it's like what the hell had that happen i scored six touchdowns you know wins someone comes in there

wins a race a field goal and wins the championship like what the hell i'm not talking about joey in specific i'm just saying that's what could happen and certainly could happen in the exfinity series i think that's the most vulnerable big win guy not not winning at all that we have on our have on our slate. But yeah, I thought Dale Jr. did a fantastic job when talking about the playoff format saying that that was a bad argument by Joey saying that it's your fault for not making it because you've got a head start going into playoffs when essentially NASCAR erased your five-race deficit. Speaking of drivers losing their mind, did you hear see Bell? He did. That was that was uncharacteristic.

Yeah. Yeah. He made some big comments after the race. The team said that, you know, hey, this is the kind of day we needed to, you know, rest easy at Bristol. And he was just pissed. He was like, you know, and I can tell you this. And he hinted at it after the race. I think me in the 19 running 1-2 when he looked in the scoreboard pissed him off to no end. I believe that every driver measured. themselves off of their teammates. And I think he's growing frustrated that he's not getting the results that he thinks he should be getting at this time. And when his teammates are winning, I think that that's boiling over even more into his fields. So I think that, you know, he vented about them staying out longer than everyone else. So more than likely that pit stop that they had, that's when the nine and the 20 were,

they stayed out late, pitted, you know, they had a little fresher tire in us, and they were catching us before that caution came, but I think he just was looking for the nearest dog to kick and, you know, vented that, you know, we finished

seventh place with one of the fastest cars. And so that's just, that's frustration boiling over, and I'm sure he's over it today. Yeah, I mean, he also had a extremely fast car, right, drove through the field at least once in the race. I'm sure he felt. like he could do that. Yeah, he was kind of the, you know, the gold standard for JGR at this

racetrack, New Hampshire, probably he would be, will be again. So he's the guy that I listen to absolutely the most when we come to these tracks and, uh, um, and, and try to get better with. Your post, post-game, uh, speech there, is that planned? When did that come to you? Well, y'all, you've heard me say it before, right? I mean, I've said it amongst my friends and whatnot before. I do need to clarify, though. Some are making it out to be like jump on the championship bandwagon. That's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is jump on the 11 car bandwagon because you'll win more. You're going to win more. You're going to win more than you're going to. Trave, we're going to have to have a conversation. What's wrong? There's just, there's just too much championship downplay here. How many times do I have to tell you? I want to win races.

I believe what I mean. If I win the championship, that's going to be awesome. I'm going to try my damnedest to do it. But when it comes down to a race, you just don't know, man. I don't. I like to under promise and over-deliver when it comes to that. What I'm saying is jump on the 11-car bandwagon and you're going to win more than probably what your favorite driver does.

I believe you that you're saying that, but how it came across is get on it or we're running you over on our way to Phoenix to win a championship. No, so you added all that shit at the end. But that's not what I said. But that's how it sounded. That sounds good. And by thinking,

if that's what you meant, it would have been so much at the, if you're just saying, we're going to win races, like, that's no longer as cool as what it was. 11 against the world. You know,

yes. Okay. Well, that's not, you know, you want to win a natty. You jump on the Ohio State bandwagon. No, you,

You jump on the best team and they're going to win a ton of games and hopefully they win a championship at the end. No, it's Natty or bust. That was our motto to start the year. Highest it against the world, Natty or bust. Yeah, but you've spent like $35 million to do. 20. I just, I'm clarifying. Everyone can make it their own.

Whatever you want to make it, I'm all for it. I support you. You want to support me. My fans have gotten louder. Thank you. I hear the cheers. I'm with you. It's funny.

I could hear some booze before you went with that line. They were kind of murmuring underneath and then when you went there, then the booze just. Oh, yeah. It was awesome. Yeah. And a lot of it is, you know, I don't know. You know, how many more race wins, you know, I'll have. And so you've got to take advantage.

It's the only time also that we get to talk to the fans in the stands. think about that the only time you can talk to them you either might get a 10 second interview on on the big screen like staying beside your car or you're going to talk to them after the race is over and it's usually because you won the race and so like that's the only opportunity I have to talk to those 30 40,000 people you know thousand people I want to give it to them any chance I can because I know that the bulk of them are not fans of mine, and the bulk of them hate see me winning, and I just love ruining their day.

Well, I got a few messages on Instagram, and for the rest of the season, the hashtag All Aboard has been proposed. I love All Aboard. Put it on a T-shirt. See? The fans want to hop on this train, but they want clarification that the train is, is going to Phoenix.

Yeah, what's the destination? We know the train. You're telling us the train ride's going to be fun. Hop on, it's going to be a good time. But they want to know where the train's going. What does it matter where you're going? And when you jump on a party bus, who gives a shit where the end destination is?

Because if it ends at Martinsville, then it's not going to be as fun if it goes to Phoenix. I'm going to try. You know what my dad tells me? Don't try. Do. Listen, Trav. I'm doing the best that I can do.

I know. I mean, our win percentage is, stout. Just keep it up. Stout. So like, listen, people, I'm talking to this camera. If you want to jump on the train, you're welcome aboard. We'll take care of you.

You're going to have a good time. You might get hassled every now and then. But I can assure you you're going to have more good weekends than you're going to have bad weekends. And I'm probably going to beat your favorite driver that you're currently rooting for. So I say, all aboard. And here's the thing. If you jump on the train and you have more good weekends and bad weekends and you win a handful of more races before you get to Phoenix or if you even get to Phoenix and then you don't make it to Phoenix or you don't win at least the narrative of that point.

It'd be like, oh, well, then you deserve the championship because he had eight wins this year. So that'll be in your favor. That's cool. I'm down with that. Yeah. Listen, the trolls are in my mentions of like, yeah, but another first, you know, another round of 12 exit coming or another round of eight. exit coming. I don't give a shit. I just want to win races and beat the shit out of everyone else

every chance I get. That's what I want to do. They're going to fix this playoff format for next year. Knock on wood. Think it's going to happen. Then let's talk about legitimacy. All right. That was good. Good work, Traff. Anything else? We got Bristol Tires. We got Bristol Tires. I don't know what we're going to get. So there is apparently,

Goodyear has this tire sand belt machine. I know. I know. I hate to get. Almost wore my Goodyear hat. Goodier, I will give you some. Taylor says, Dad said for you to hold on to this hat.

I don't know why he wants it. Because it was a cool hat. It is a cool hat. Good Year's got a cool victory. lane hat, which we need to replace it for our victory lane bag. When we win, we need to make sure we have it. They have this machine apparently that, like, is sandpaper, so they slide this tire. Anyway, there's a tire that goes on this sandbelt machine and then, like, checks the wear. How does this tire going to wear under certain loads? And apparently, apparently, they put on the Bristol

right side tire and it shredded into the machine immediately. Like it was, it was so aggressive that it just, it destroyed the machine. Like it, it just unraveled and got caught in the machine. I heard from a friend who heard from a friend. That's basically what I'm telling you. So this is not factual whatsoever. I'm telling you, now it didn't come from Austin. Give me a break.

My sources are far better than his. Now, what Goodyear said to the teams that were like, whoa, what is that? They said, listen, the thing came right off the line. So tires, like rubber takes time to cure. So what happens is once a tire comes off of a production line, they usually try to let it sit for a certain amount of time. Because then the rubber will cure. And it's just like, think about it like super glue. super glue is liquid and it'll mold all around but eventually that thing stiffens up over time right

same thing with rubber i'm oversimplifying this quite a bit um and they said that well when we tested it the tire came right off the line and so that's why it essentially melted in the machine but either way i'm all for team chaos this week i i hope it just i hope we can't run 50 lapse. I just hope they have enough tires is going to be my thing. I don't know if you can answer this or want to, but do you set the car up thinking there's not going to be much wear? And if there is, you then the driver that knows how to save tires, then you can take control of that because if you set the car up expecting a lot of wear and there isn't, then you're kind of screwed. Yeah, I just don't think that anyone is willing to have the set of balls to like build a setup for a tire that's

going to wear out because if you do and then it turns out to be a very typical Bristol race, you'll just, you're going to be horrible. So I think you got to set up for a typical Bristol race and then really pat the driver on the back and say, good luck, get us home. And that's where you get us home. Yeah. Now, let's assuming the tires don't disintegrate like that. Is this just going to be a better I'm trying to set expectations here. He was set expectations for the spring Bristol race, and it was in the shit. Is it going to be a good race?

That's why we under promise over deliver. Right. Well, the way you're talking about these tires, I'm getting my hopes up. I'm just giving you the, what I've heard. I shouldn't say facts as I know them, but I think that that is factual,

what I heard. It also depends on the temperature. We don't like... We got a high of 80 during the... the day, sunset 739, lowest 54. I don't care if you put something in there and it just shredded the machine in the tire, like that's certainly more aggressive than what we've had before. And I love that there, no tire test or anything happened. I love that. Just put us on that and they're saying saddle up, y'all go figure it out. We need to change something to fix this, you know, the passing at

this track and we're going to do something about it. I love that. Yeah, I like that. And it's even better when you're locked into the next round. And it doesn't matter how you finish. Sure. There are a lot of, you're right. There's five that are sweating bullets right now thinking, oh, man, just, maybe they, maybe we should build some reliability in our setup. We got a little room for error there. Friday practice at Bristol 430 on True TV and then race Saturday night, 730 on USA.

For the record, if anybody follows me on Twitter, it could get really confusing on Saturday night because Ohio State plays Ohio at 730 which should be an easy win but they still play so we'll be just firing tweets off watching two things at once so how did you feel about your 70 to nothing game they did what they're supposed to do look good get out there get the job done no injuries move on were there I didn't get to see were there any tweets saying like come on we got to do better than this no it was a it was a low tweet the whole time yeah I don't think I I maybe fired off a couple tweets but it's pretty basic uh okay all right How good did it feel to have a cupcake, though?

It was the first one since, like, November 3rd. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. When are we going to go back to the shoe? I'm looking forward to that. Well, the next big one, unfortunately, can't go because, well. Well, even if it's a cupcake game, like, what do we care? Well, I wanted to get back for the Penn State game.

When you're on the bandwagon, you're just looking to have fun. So the Penn State game is the weekend of where the wagon potentially should be going to Phoenix, so we can't go to that one. All your big games are after race season. But UCLA is a home game. Ruckers' home game in November. UCLA? We could go up to Ann Arbor behind enemy lines. You guys got plenty of, like Charlie's getting a surgery.

If I can go to the Scarlet Room, I'm not in. Okay, so it's got to be a home game. Yeah. All right. Well, I got a review here from Brian 3611. As a rural mail carrier in Indiana, I spend most of my day delivering mail in my Jeep and like to listen to Action is detrimental while I work. I'm a longtime NASCAR fan who originally wasn't a Denny Hamlin fan but have changed my mind after listening to the show.

Thanks for making my day go quicker and hope you finally get that championship this year. Appreciate that, Brian, and appreciate you delivering our mail. That's very important to us. You are the unsung heroes that are fighting dogs off left and right each and every day. Oh, boy, he's in his Jeep. You still have to fight. Sometimes you have to get out, take packages of the door. Or just, yeah.

Just kick him out of the side. I wonder if he goes doorless and his Jeep. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah, definitely. If you have a Jeep, you can't not go doorless. No, it has to be closed. Wait, what? No, a Jeep, you can take the doors off?

Doors go. But they don't, so mail carriers call their vehicles a Jeep, but it's not like a Jeep that the door can be removed. It slides. Oh, it says not an actual Jeep. Yeah. they refer it because they looked like jeeps my dad is in my oh they refer to their vehicles as jeeps okay all right you got to send me a picture of that okay I don't know um but until you brought up

your credentials of your father used to deliver mail then I was totally going to discredit you as like Austin Peyton you got you got any fishing plans this week um no I got to go down to Florida tonight. I'm sure I'm going to squeeze one in. I just don't know when. But, but yeah. That was a great morning. It was, look, it was fun.

Even though everyone's asked me, were you really out on the lake for seven hours and didn't catch a single fish? Did I just plead the fifth? I'm not sure. Everyone asked. What are you supposed to say? We had fish in our live,

well, what are you talking about? Denise's been on the pole more than he's had caught fish, I feel like. in the playoffs. I've got to change my presentation. I do. I have to change my presentation to the fish. I know some mistakes that I've made that I'm going to improve on.

And plus fall fishing, the fish are about to come up. I mean, Charlie right now is, he's got this one worm that, like, it's, it's his go-to. So why don't you get? why why would I copy him that's working for him if a driver doesn't if driver's doing something wouldn't you copy their move if it's working for them to win no I would note it and I would make it my own all right we're we're going downhill all right well um next week man be nice to get 60 in Bristol I mean I could just

that'd be a perfect place not saying i'm not saying it's going to happen i'm saying i want it to happen can you give me a heads up like do you have if you were to win 60 this weekend like what is your celebration oh i don't know we got to come to him i think we have to plan one are you going to do burnout on the backstretch burn it on the front stretch oh no i'll do the front stretch why are you trying to figure out where to be that's my that's always my issue is like are you going to do a burnout down at the first pit box with your team and then I got to get back down here to the start finish line. So you are aware of what is the rhyme or reason to my burnouts. I try to make sure I give all the fans who have a seat

at the track a portion of a burnout. Okay. So when you see me go all the way to turn two, it's because there stands over there. And those people always get shafted when it comes to getting a burnout. And so I try to give them a little taste, give them a little appetizer, and then I take it to the front stretch and give them the main course. Okay, so you'll just go all the way around the track at Bristol. I don't, it's all about tire life. And if we got a tire that couldn't make it through the shredder, I just don't think it's going to, the burnouts aren't going to be very long.

So front stretch. Front stretch. Plan on being on the front stretch. 60, go around the whole track. The banking would make it really difficult though, too. Just so you all are aware. It's very difficult with, high banking like that. All right. Well, we'll see y'all next week.