Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Is Tyler Reddick Already a Top 3 Lock?

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Denny Hamlin is back from COTA on this week’s Actions Detrimental, breaking down a huge weekend for 23XI Racing after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas. Tyler Reddick’s scorching start has created early separation in the standings, and Denny explains why that kind of cushion completely changes strategy under the new format. He also touches on Bubba Wallace’s continued growth. Denny reacts to his top-10 and apologizes for causing a wreck he had no idea he started. Corey Day, for the second consecutive week, has drivers upset at him. Plus, failing cool shirts had drivers in a rough condition during the race. Denny shares his thoughts on the All-Star Race format and a competitive fishing trip recap.   Real fans wear Dirty Mo. Hit the link and join the crew.👇 https://shop.dirtymomedia.com/ For more Actions Detrimental content: https://www.youtube.com/@ActionsDetrimental Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And Zillich was smart about this. And his interview was like, I looked over at him thinking, come on over here. Come apologize. And he said he just looked at him with a stare. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. I believe that I've been a competitive for 20 years. Opinions from tonight's podcast, strictly biased.

You're going to hear from my point of view. I'm a fighter. No, you are not. This spoils a victory for Jared Allen. He's got better luck than Rick and Drake to win. I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection, 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 post-cota, race number three, 2026 season. 2311's on fire. Absolutely in fuego. Who are you? you. What do you mean?

Who am I? I'm Denny Hamlin. Oh, okay. Just in case we get new listeners that don't know who the host of the show is. Okay, hey, I'm Denny Hamlin. Draw the number 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owner of 2311 racing. Who's on fire.

Who's on fire? Absolute fire. Who are you? I'm Jared. I'm Red Vest number 311. I've gotten so used to that. What were you before? 560.

I like 311 better It just goes It flows, yeah Who are you? I'm producer Travis Okay Short and quick commentary there Yeah

Not a whole lot this weekend How'd you feel about the weekend? I didn't see much on the Dennybro's chat I mean You're inactive Well, with all due respect For a while there You were just kind of

chilling in like 18th And the race was boring for most of it. Then it heated up at the end. Huh. What kind of racing did you expect at the road course? No, this is what I expected. It's just like...

For ovals, right? Yeah. Like, yeah. Let's start the season. Yeah. Not that 2311s wins don't count. They definitely count. I think he's got...

I thought, I think I saw like 155 points or something like that. It's like, it's incredible. He's 100 points up on 8th in the standings. That's amazing. And what he's done is now if he has a bad race or the issues with the car or something, he's created some Mulligans for himself. Yeah. They're hot.

You got to think that they're really, I mean, I hate creating narratives so early in a season. And typically the knee-jerk reaction on Mondays is always to overreact, overreact. But, and I don't mean to, and I'm not trying to jinx either, but like I don't see a world where they finish outside the top three in the regular season. That's what I was about to ask. So under this new. Just because the questionable tracks that they have, like this isn't a 16th place team that happened. to win the first three races.

This is a top team. And then the contenders in which you think that will challenge them are buried. So like they're not like they're not the ones that are 60 points back or 70 points back. It's it's other people, right? And so I don't know. I think that they've, this is just a dream start the season obviously. But in this format, man. I don't know that it would be a reach too early to say he's a lock for the top three in the regular season.

Already, though? Like, how can you predict if something happens, like? Because if anybody, because of winning means that much more this year with the points format to where they give you those 15 extra points, anyone with three or four wins in the regular season is, that's a chunk of points. That's why you see the gap here. And so, I mean, I'd give you, if you wanted to bet the other way, I'd give you plus 150 on it.

Is this a sweeter? People can't see me, but I'm like, not about it. Okay. So is this a sweeter start to the season under this new points format than it would have been last year with six, however many playoff points you would have? at this point?

No, he'd have 15. Right. So let's, if we're under the same point structures last year, he had 15 playoff points. But under this new format, is this a better start to the year than what it could have been if he was under that? Yeah, because if you can win the regular season,

you're going to have a 25 jump on second. Yeah. Right? 30 or 35 on third. Like, it's really hard to get that big of a jump. you have a significant amount of wins more than everyone else when they reset the points. And your gap now to 10th is definitely going to be bigger than what it would be under the old system. So do you feel better if you're, if you're Redick, do you feel better about your chances to win a championship with your start to this season under this format versus the other one?

Oh, yes. Absolutely. That's what I'm getting at. Yep. So he's got three wins. If I put the over under on season win total for Tyler Redick at six and a half. That's aggressive. I mean, very doable.

I don't know. What was it to start the season? Probably two. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So we had two to whatever it is right now, and that puts you at five. I know everyone are always over people that are like, oh, yeah, over. But it's, I think that coming off a week.

winless last year. You know, I think two has kind of been the average for him, with the exception being last year. Yeah, it's probably five and a half. Yeah. The nice thing, too, is like this team can make some decisions now going forward and they can, you know, roll a dice here. You know what? We've got a solid points day.

Let's not do anything dumb here. Let's just, let's get a fourth place finish here and get out of here. Well, not only that, here's the advantage I think that it gives them, is that when it comes down to there's a caution with five laps before the end of the stage, or we're going to go green five laps before the end of a stage. He now is probably not going to be chasing points, stage points as much. So now he can flip stages where others will always, we're always going to take them. right so now that puts him

bam back in front of us now to start the last stage or whatever it might be so this gives them tons of flexibility tons of flexibility in their strategy so you've been in NASCAR a while obviously

first time a driver is one of the first three races of the season how significant is that it's never happened before Jared I don't know if you saw that I know if that's part of the question Okay. But like we saw Christopher Bell win three in a row last year. Yeah.

So drivers have won three in a row before, but the first three of the year. Yeah, there's something about the first three. And I don't know. I think that there's a statement that happens in golf, right? Where it's like they'll say, after you burdied the first hole, they'll say, you can't birdie them all unless you birdie the first.

And there's a statement of race. you can't win them all unless you win the first you can't win them all unless you win the first three like you know what I mean it's you know this this guy's the limit on on how many races you can win and you know what you can accomplish during the year so it's just um I don't know I I can't fathom where the people in the team where their heads are at right now right I mean, they are probably just sky high as they should be. I mean, I saw them in Victory Lane. It was like they won the first race.

And what you've made? Just celebrating like crazy and just, man, I love seeing that. You said that a couple of years ago that you hate when people are in Victory Lane and they're not acting like it's a big deal. Yeah, just when your team wins a lot, it's very easy to just, oh, this is the old hat, you know, and we're just going to go through the motions during our celebration. but they didn't they they treat victory lanes very special and if it's you know if there was a gap like do they celebrate this hard because it's three in a row like what if they didn't win atlanta do they do they act the same either way i was just so happy and watching them celebrate made me feel good let's expand this because he said 2311's hot we're talking about how right now but

Bubba with an 11-place finish and he's still second in points. Yeah, started deep in the field, mid-20s, didn't have the qualifying effort that he was hoping for. He should be just so proud of his evolution on road courses. And he downplays it quite a bit. You know, I struggle. You know, yeah, maybe compared to your teammate and Tyler Redick, but versus the field, you know, Bubba was a mid-20s. I would say when he first came to 2311, where he was on road courses was mid-20th,

that might be a little optimistic. And I think he is a solid back half of the top 10 as far as able to get speed and his craft on road courses now. I think he's really taking some big steps. And what that allows him to do is now, again, he's P2 in points, now getting going to a bunch of oval.

so they love where they're at as they should yeah i mean that's where you want to be right you get through the first three race of the season which you could consider wild card races and now you get into the the meat of your schedule it's wild card for the field right um like the road courses are not wild card for Shane um or whatnot and super speedways are wild cards for everyone so yeah they've gotten through those with three draw four cards Multicolor draw four. You know what I mean? Those are good ones to pull.

Yeah. Have you seen the, or in Rumming Cube, they, do we want to talk about that's not on this, that we played Rummy Cube on the way to Texas Travis? I love some Remikube. Denny got smacked. Well, I guess I only won one game, but I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar with some wilds. By who?

Me. Jared, you're going to get smoked one of these days holding on your, chips like you're doing and I'm going to go out or someone's going to go out and leave you with all the points that I had I welcome you to try okay

we'll play this week again I'm in Phoenix I'm sure yeah have you seen the the driving etiquette at all change now that we're in this new point structure towards the end of these races

it seemed calmer to me it seemed calmer to me I mean short of the Zillich thing in turn one that newsflash

I had no idea that I caused that Twitter did I had no idea I had no idea I had no idea I just barely got in the back of

Byron I think and then it ricocheted him, ricocheted him. So I was that guy this weekend. God, that sucks. I really thought that I had a complete race in the sense of like

I did from a lap time perspective. My goal, this race is like not if you look at the lap time graph, my goal is to never not have any of these laps that pop way up and then you lose eight to ten positions. You know what I mean? I just

let's just like have a day and no incidents no contact no nothing and I thought I did and then I see it at the end of the race and I'm like oh shit

like actually I was part of that turn one thing so apologies to them Connor holy crap was he did he have a legit shot to win this race on speed I mean he drove through the pack right I don't know if he did or didn't

but he just seemed like he was everywhere. He did drive through the pack, though. He got wiped out twice. What was the first time? Suarez? Hmm. He had a weekend, Conor Zillich. He did.

He did. That's actually top of the list. Zilich and Day. We'll get to that. But I think that SVG is about to have company. in the road course domination bracket. It appears Zillich is really, really, I mean, he's already got the racecraft to pass and make speed.

He didn't qualify well, didn't practice, you know, great. I mean, he had good speed, but not great speed. But as the weekend went on, he just kept getting better and faster. So I think that we're going to be talking about him for definitely a handful of races here. We'll return left and right. Yeah, Connor's one of these guys, too, that he's buried in points in 32nd. But I feel like in the first three races, he's passed the eye test. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. No question about it. I mean, Atlanta, he was a little aggressive and whatnot. I get it. He's wanting to just go right from the beginning. But yeah, passing the... Passing the eye test. That's why I think that whole you need three years,

but such a sham. That is a Ponzi scheme. I mean, if you come in and you get it and it clicks, then you don't need any years. That's right. How much of SVG not just dominating had to play with him starting off 13th and having to use tires and work his way up there and not just being able to control the race like you normally would?

That's a factor. Had SVG had the lead and it was Reddick on the other? No question. You would have saw a different type of race. When you can control the front on either a short track or a road course, you have the ability to really, really, really manipulate the car behind you. In the sense of that, giving them that dirty air, you can run just enough pace to keep them there. and then what happens is they get closer and closer and their car just keeps getting worse and worse.

It starts heating up all their stuff. And then it just lets you easily pull away again. And then what do you do? You slow back down, let them get a little close. And then you just do this whole thing all over again. So the leader has such power on these shorter tracks that, yeah, it's what SVG does amazing is when he gets the lead on these. things he controls the pace he he allows he makes everyone else burn their stuff up chasing that rabbit and the rolls were reversed this week is the dirty air is much of a factor on road courses

believe it or not it is really affects breaking quite a bit uh temperatures a lot um there's high enough speed corners that um it does it plays a factor i don't care we're martinsville air arrow plays a factor and the corner speeds there are super low. Yeah, I didn't, I don't think I ever realized that. I would have thought that road courses, the dirty air was less a factor just because of, I don't know how spread out the cars get and you would think so, but when cars are separated by at a track like that, think about this in a 20-turn track.

And I know it's not technically 20 with the cut through that we have. Let's just say 15 turns, right? at Martinsville, think about we have four turns. Our four turns are really two road course turns. You know what I mean? They don't count the entry of one, the exit of one is turn one, turn two. So when you're one-tenth off at Martinsville

in those two turns, now you have 15 of them. What's the quick math on that? Right? it's your seven your seven tenths off you know what I mean so like being one tenth off at Martin's Hill

is like being seven tenths off at a road course because it just keeps adding up you know all these corners and that's why you see the disparity of the field times versus others it's just there's all it takes is your car to be off a little bit in each corner and it just compounds

compounds compounds and it looks like a big lap time so that being said it's the field was still really close and the difference between having a car in front of you and car or not is is a second of time and so even at the end of the race we saw I was at a tire deficit and still could hang with the guys with new tires and my lifetimes drop just it's the closer you get to the front the faster you're going to go naturally okay so the So the gap is so I always thought that at a road course just you're seeing the guys that are up front or for the most part the guys that are able to make the best lap time at a road course. That road course kind of the best guys are always at the front, right? Because it's, but you're saying that's not necessarily the case is that if you're, you can hold off better drivers behind you manipulating air and. Well, they've got to be good enough to get to the front.

first, that means they qualified well. You know, they're good. But then once they get there, the gap to the speed of their car versus others widens. That's basically what I'm saying. Top 10 finish for you

this weekend? Pretty much a win. It's not a win, but it's a top five on another racetrack. Or top three. You know what I mean? Like a win is like, Big. You don't get them that often. I don't get top tens on road courses often,

but still. A win on the weekend. It's a win on the weekend. If you were to have been told 10th place, take it, you're running. Move on. Move on. Yep.

One stage point. Got our first of the year. It was a good weekend. I mean, truthfully, I felt like it was one of the more better executed races that I'd had on a road course. Again, really concentrating on not not having these one-off laps that are three or four seconds behind because I blew a corner,

something like that. Just overall a solid weekend for the 11. I could have qualified a lot better. I think our day actually would have been contending. When I say contending, like fringe top five had I qualified well. But I just got mired in where I started. I actually drove a little bit towards the front right off the bat. when I say to the front, like from 19th to 14th-ish,

and so many cars stayed out, and we stayed out to get some stage points. I only got one. I wish we would have flipped stage one and then really been towards the front for stage two. But, you know, it's really hard to predict. And they were trying to keep me on my toes of like, be ready to pit if we tell you.

But so many cars stayed out. That just shows you, Trave. The people were chasing stage points more than they have been. before. Why is it hard to tell, though, like the cars are ahead of you? Because at that time, when I was at the back half of the top 10, they were all right in front of me. Like, when I say right in front of me, just two, three seconds. So, you know, the difference between go ahead and turning and turn 20 versus peeling off really quick and going to pit lane, like it's a quick decision. Gotcha. Heat seemed to be a factor for many yesterday. Yeah.

Yeah, it did. And, you know, I don't know whether it's the cool suits or just the first warm race that we've had all year. But it seems like road course has always takes its toll on some guys. And yeah, I don't know. I felt fine afterwards. But it seemed like there were some cool shirt issues. And that's definitely the downside to it is that if it does not work, it is worse than not having it at all. So, yeah, I don't. know is i think it's interior i think that the car heat soaks that's what i think is causing these things to go bad is that it's they're they're going out when temperatures are up um they're they're not going out and these guys wear their cool suits when it's like 50 degrees outside it's it's quite bizarre but they'll once the car goes to caution all the heat gets trapped inside because you're not cutting through the air, right? You're not having the air push that hot air. You know, it's like having a fan on an ice cube, right?

And then, you know, you're driving. It's blowing. And that gives you your cool air. Well, once you go caution, your car stops going fast. You shut the fan off, right? Then you don't have that cube pushing air onto you anymore. So in the hot sense, right, the car just gets really, really hot during cautions. and I think that that's when these cool units are failing.

They're getting overheated and tripping, and that's when they're out for the count. I mean, I know that you don't wear it, but apparently it's worth the risk for a lot of drivers. Yeah, I know it makes a lot of guys feel certainly better and whatnot. I think my body's just gotten used to it for doing this for so long that just the heat doesn't really bother me. Yeah, I like Gluck and Bianchi's comment that if you want to make a million dollar company,

figure out how to make a cool suit that doesn't fail. Yeah, those guys are taking bullets. So Bozzi tweeted, a broken cool suit system just means that the arrow engineers won the battle for the weekend because it usually is a result of the system not getting enough air to the box from the outside. Which means it's a overheating issue. That's what we just said. Yeah, I don't know. I know that NASCAR is very, very strict with these teams on restricting airflow to the drivers and their cool units.

So I'm sure he talks to people that probably are in the know. But all I know is that NASCAR really frowns upon, you know, diverting any air that should be going to the driver. Before we get to our next topic, I want to tell you all about a new show at DirtyMoh Media called Sons and Daughters hosted by Shannon Spake, where every week she'll be having a long form interview with notable athletes, singer, celebs, or anyone else at the top of whatever they do. Are there any guests currently scheduled for that, Travis? Yes, so Marty Smith will be the first guest,

Coach K, week two. That one we just taped a couple weeks ago, and that's a really good one. And I think I know a lot about Coach K and I was listening to it. Like, I've never heard some of these stories. So looking forward to it. Yeah, Shannon's so good.

at her job. And she's been on this great run with the Hornets. She's been the sideline reporter for now for a couple of years. And now she's seeing the team take a turn. But excited to see her, you know, joining the Dirty Moe family. That's amazing. Everyone has an origin. Before I was a broadcaster, I was a daughter.

And that part of my story never changed. So in this series, I'm going to talk with people whose achievements you know, but whose beginnings you don't. The family, the identity, the moments that shaped them because every extraordinary person starts as someone's child. I'm Shannon Spake. This is Sons and Daughters. And new episodes drop every Wednesday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. Carson Hosevar, Cole Custer.

I didn't really see that one. Y'all talk about it why I look at it. I'm watching it too. I was standing behind, I guess it would have been the 23 pit box at the time. Maybe it was the 54. But I don't know. You just see smoke go up along the front stretch. And then a host of ours turned sideways in the middle of the track. Huh.

Looks they're just racing aggressive and Cole decided, screw it. Kind of kind of. So, yeah, what y'all posted here is like the end result. My question is, what, why did Cole run them off the racetrack? oh, he ran them. He said, no, I'm not letting you on the pavement. My only, you know, the only thing that I just kind of observed this weekend as a competitor and someone that is a podcaster and talking about, you know, hot topics.

And it's my job to talk about, you know, when Carson had the, you know, a lot of headlines. from last week. I would prefer not talking about it and not giving it attention, but it's our job to do that. Now, I had more of a front road seat to this. And also, I get after, well, why do you do something about it then? Well, Carson's actually not done anything to me. If he did, then you might see something.

We're not going to talk about it on the podcast. At least not afterwards. So, but I did see something, and I very hesitantly, you know, I don't want to like help them or help him. I think that he's just going to have to learn on his own. But I, I raced around him and Jesse Love for the bulk of the first stage. And I got to see them. And the one thing that really. made me say, hmm, so this is, this is what we're all talking about in a nutshell.

Jesse Love gets to the inside. I'm right behind them. Jesse Love is working Carson over. Carson's struggling. I made a few moves on Carson. He didn't let me go, you know, which is fine. We battled. And it let Jesse Love in, now into the picture. And Jesse then makes a move on him, into turn one. Carson doesn't want to give up the spot. So Jesse comes a little wide. When I say a little wide off of turn one, they touched, but I mean like, like that. Like it was, it was so small. Nothing didn't send Carson off anywhere. It just just very, very little contact. And then I, then I watched them and I'm like, all right, let's see. Let's see. Let's see. how this goes.

And they got it in the carousel, and Carson just ran him so far off the racetrack. And it was like, that is the gross overreaction that I think that, for what? You know, people make contact on short tracks and road courses and whatnot. And it's like,

I don't know whether it's just short circuit something where it's like, I got to do something like, I can't believe he made contact. or I'm not really sure what it was, but I didn't see anything that Jesse did that was like beyond just a normal pass of two guys and neither one is willing to give up the spot,

especially when Jesse's on the offense and Carson's on the defense. If you're going to defend your spot hard, you have to expect that the person that's on offense is going to be just as aggressive. And I just, when I saw them, off the racetrack and the carousel just a half a lap later it was like that's that's what they've been talking about right and that's just the stuff that you know how do you let that get to you

just a such a minute little thing and um here i don't you know it seemed like cole definitely deliberately did not let carson back on the racetrack which uh is is a tough move but I don't know what Carson did to him before that, but it clearly upset Cole, whatever it was. But I can, what I'm saying, to wrap this up, is that I can, while I can't see it, and I have no proof of it, my guess based off of the reputation

and what I saw firsthand, Carson likely did something that one of the competitors said, no no I ain't putting up with that and it's one of those things where Cole's probably like I'm having a rough day you're having a rough day but you're gonna about to have a rough day yeah I have a theory and Carson loves to race online and when you see that you'll see someone kind of get door to whatever and the other driver will just instantly door them back or whatever and I just wonder that like playing online and the quick reactions to retaliate impacts his

real-life driving. Really, really good point, Travis. Maybe. I mean, I do think that racing has changed over time. I don't know if it's for the better, for the worst. I think it's probably better for the consumer who's watching. I think the racing is as good as it's ever been. But it definitely seems like the reaction of the drivers.

And I think that when I came into the series, it was one of the things that like Tony Stewart preached to me. And it was tough coming from Tony Stewart. But it was like, how do you got to find a way to not lose your shit when someone barely makes contact with you. Like, that just, that just happens at Martinsville. And it's the ones that can't get through Martinsville races. And this was, you know, back in the 2010s and not,

it's just the people that would just absolutely lose their mind over the simplest little things that didn't affect anything. And then next thing you know, you got your radiators leaking because you went in the next corner and just power drives. to the guy that barely rubbed you. So it's just maintaining that composure is kind of the next step. Was there an age in your racing career where like that really, you really start to get that?

Well, it happened a little bit earlier for me. I think a lot of it was, I mean, I had to work on my own cars. And we didn't have really the money to repair the cars. So, you know, when I was impatient on a row, restart. I remember there was times at late miles at Southside Speedway. And I was always the guy in, you know, in the second or third row, like just etching, ready to go, go, go, go. And when they don't go, I just, bam, I run into them. Next thing you know, my hoods popped up for 100 laps. It's like, my dad was like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, you know, the race doesn't he started. You're

running in the back of people. And he's like, and then he's like, get out there and fix that. And I was like, all right. You know what I mean? So I just think it's a little different for everyone. And I knew that, you know, that, hey, that fender's 85 bucks. Like, I don't, I don't want to have to go fix that. And so I just, it's just over time. And, you know, for me is what did it. But I also, you know, him always making me have to fix the crap that I tore up was helpful for me to learn. quicker. You want to move on to Xfinity race and Zillich and Day? Or you want to touch on the cup race? No, I think, you know, to put a bow on the cup race, I thought just, man, what composure Redick had, right? I mean, SVG is behind him.

And to let him get that close. Well, I don't know. I think it might be a gross overreaction to say that he let him get that close. My guess is SVG was driving the crap out of his car. and you could see it like he was slipping tires every corner. He was whipping that horse. As hard as it would go, SVG was doing everything. And he gave himself a shot like he got close,

but by the time he got there, he had nothing left, and then Reddick just etched back away. So just tremendous composure. Listen, you can't get road course poles like he gets without being disciplined. And I said this, yesterday. So he clearly has a good understanding of this is my breaking marker. There's no reason to vary from that, no matter who's right behind me or whatever, like he has his marks. And when he just

doesn't move off of those very much. And to get road course poles, you have to hit your marks. Like that's 90% of the game is hitting the proper marks. And he, he does it. And not only that, but his racecraft, when he gets in the heat of the battle, and that's where I struggle as a driver, is that I typically can make, you know, when I got three road course poles, I think, what was it, two or three years ago, I was able to get one lap out of the car.

Like I could maximize lap time for one lap, but it was once I got into the racing itself, you know, oh, I got a mark on the right side of the track, but I don't have one on the left side track. So when I go to pass somebody, I'm like, oh shit I let off and next thing you know I'm overshooting corners and running into people and just it was that's the next step for me is how do I continue to run good decent lap times I thought this weekend was a good step for that while racing versus having such big variation and I think that's

what the greats do is just they can run fast by themselves or they can run fast right behind somebody and they don't vary yeah I mean there's immense pressure on Redick at the end of this race, right? Surely he's thinking about that I've got this three Pete on the line, three in a row on the line. I've got SVG behind me, whether his car is great or not, it doesn't matter.

It's still SVG, the guy who's won the last five of these things. Reddick's three in a row breaks SVGs potential six in a row on road courses. Yeah. So, yeah. I think that's what MJ touched upon in his post-race interview with Jamie, is just the pressure that Reddick,

was able to withstand and then win the race. Xfinity? Xfinity. Scott Riley? SVG had a, is it a cakewalk? Like, you know, Zillich kind of had his mechanical issues. So it just kind of took away the... Once Zilch is out, it was...

Yeah, the battle. Sam Mayer actually hung tough. Sam Mair's really good road course racer. Kept SVG honest, you know, was right there. Jesse Love was right there as well. So the gap didn't look as bad. big, but we have no idea how hard SVG is pushing it when he's, again, when he's in the lead, especially in Xfinity race, we just don't know. The Corey Day, I'm not really sure.

There's one hand where I'm thinking, well, Larson thinks he's really good. Now, does he think he's really good on dirt because we've seen you know there's been guys that come from dirt that have been successful and there's guys that have come from dirt when i say come from dirt they they win they dominate they kick ass and they get an asphalt and that's just not their thing it's not everyone is as well-rounded as kyle that can get in a dirt car and goes that you know hot laps fast time and then go in a cup car with no practice and go set fast time. Like that's that's an anomaly. I don't know. I mean, how long does the experiment continue to go? I mean, you've seen good runs out of him. I haven't seen a lot of great runs out of him. You've seen more mistakes than you've seen

great runs. And like when I say mistakes, like big old blatant mistakes. And every weekend, there's, there's some guys that are upset. And it's so different, it's very different than Carson hosts for, right? Like it feels different. Like in the sense of like Carson's just really, really aggressive and makes contact where day just makes contact. That's what you're saying. there's a difference right yeah one's just doesn't give a the other one's just making mistakes um yeah okay all right we'll go with that so but you also have to put this in perspective he is really really young has not got a lick of asphalt experience um so is he doing what he should be doing or is he running as well as to be expected in this moment or is he underperforming?

I don't know the answer to that, right? Because I just, I can't, it's hard for me to see what others in the know that have watched him race tons of tons of times. No, right? There's people, a lot of people that would vouch for all. He's great. Yeah, but is he going to be great on dirt? are you saying he's just a great all-around driver that's going to be a star in NASCAR? I don't know.

But can you blame age? There's plenty of 20-21-year-olds in that series. How old is he? He's 20. Roughly the same age as Zilich, right? Yeah, same as Jesse Love. Jesse's 20? Like he's in that same.

Jesse Love's 21. It's the same. Yeah, but those guys. guys probably have significantly more asphalt experience. Again, you're asking someone that has been doing dirt his whole life to, hey, come over here and do this and show us how great you are. And it's just, it's probably a lot to take in. So I guess maybe you got a little more patience, but I think by the end of the year, you're going to have to see something. There's going to have to be less mistakes and more running up front, especially in that car.

We know that car with any experienced, you know, good driver in it, is going to be running up front, winning races. And what doesn't help is the cars that he's wrecking? They're basically teammates. I couldn't figure out what he was saying in his interview about, yeah, these cars, and my splitter, downforce or something with the Zilich thing, I was like, no, you just drove because he was, I think he even said when Zilich came across my nose, I was like, what is he talking about?

And I think what's happening is, and Zillich was smart about this. And his interview was like, I looked over at him thinking, come on over here, come up, apologize. And he said he just looked at him with a stare. Like, I don't know what it is with these guys. Why can't they? Youth? Yeah. You got to think too, right? Corey's this, he's this dirt phenom from California. He's moved all the way across the country for this opportunity with Hendrick. He's been tabbed as a great up-and-coming driver by one of the world's best, right? There's a lot of pressure there. Yeah. And he just maybe out of his element and still try. trying to adjust both in the sport and mentally.

Yeah, my question will be for Hendrick, because obviously I don't think they're in this that's just for charity reasons. I think they're trying to develop someone. How long do you, how long of a rope do you give them? Is it true, is it to the end of the year? Is it next year also? Like, okay, by next year, you need to be winning

three or four races or more. How long is the rope? Because when you make a ton of mistakes like it seems like he's making, um, you just got to think that you're not as willing to deal with not winning. If, if you're also making mistakes, like if you,

if you win a lot of races and you make mistakes, it sounds like Kyle Larson. You know what I mean? But, yeah, you're, you're willing, you're willing to deal with it in a Kyle Larson sense because,

is the guy is going to win you a ton of races. But that ragged edge is what he lives on. It's what makes him fast. It makes him win a lot of races. It also makes him do some things that are unorthodox at times. But this is also Corey's first full-time season in Xfinity. Is this first full-time season on pavement? I don't know.

I think it's probably a little too soon for us to to be too harsh. I think we need to... He ran 11 Xfinity races last year. I just keep saying Xfinity. O'Reilly series races last year and nine truck races. Let's see where this goes. Let's give them three months and then let's re-evaluate.

Three months? Yeah. To see like, do the mistakes slow down? Does the performance start to ramp up? I mean, you got top five, but, you know, let's just see. Let's just see where it goes. Okay. And then we'll reevaluate.

But I think let's give him a little break for now. It's on him now for these mistakes. He needs to own up to those. He needs to go to those guys and acknowledge that. But other than that, I think he is very young and very inexperienced on payment. So I think it's okay giving him a little bit of a little bit of rope here for the next few months to see where it goes. Does it also because one was on at Atlanta, does it kind of like, okay, like, if he's doing this on true ovals and not super speedway like then it's even greater indictment on him

again i don't know how much he's ever run a car with fenders so does he know where his right front fender is i mean that's a legitimate thing like if i got in a emsa car right i would have no idea where my right front fender is not until i hit something then i would okay that's my depth okay so it's taking a while probably for him to you know if you think about how close his body is to the right front tire of his sprint car it's wildly different than what it is on the right front of it of a nor Riley's car so that stuff takes time to to understand now again once you hit one thing like all right i'm leave more room it's it's the repeated mistakes that's starting to throw the red flags up

uh lane rigs wins the truck race down in st pete yeah uh that was a good race, right? I mean, compelling races, guys didn't have hardly any practice. Lane Riggs is really proving the short track asphalt guys. Those are the ones I like to stick up for that comes from the local late models. He's just doing a great job for front row there and winning the races, and he's going to be tough to beat this year, tough, tough to beat. It was a solid race. No big issues that you thought trucks might have. Yeah. Ben Rhodes is starting hot. Now, not necessarily on finishes,

but seeing more speed out of Ben Roads than what we have before. Not, I mean, he's a champion. But usually he's a grinder type of champion, one that, like, will run 6 to 8th and finish 3rd and just keep doing that and everyone makes mistakes and he finds himself in a great spot. But he, um, he's impressing me. to start the season.

So I'm interested to see where that goes. Do you have any thoughts on the Dover All-Star Race now that we got a little more information on it this week? Fast thoughts. Yeah, I don't know. Last segment, 200 laps at Dover, that is, it's going to feel like a normal race. I don't know what...

The problem is the venue. you. I am of course very against Dover losing a points race, but then you ended up having this racetrack because, you know, we were so gung-ho on give them what they want. Okay, Wilkesboro, we're going to put that as a points race. Nope, Dover, you're the odd man out. Well, that's got to be our All-Star race now. Nobody would pick Dover for an All-Star race. And so hopefully they just fix it for next year and put us back on like an all-star type of track. But that is

that ain't it. We're not even getting the hypothetical Dover night race. Who wants that? That'd be more exciting than just the same Dover race. We've seen not a points race though now. Sure. Bring in some temporary lighting. I'd be down for that. It's just

I mentioned obviously I said something on social media about everyone participates. You get a medal I just why we kind of make things harder not easier

this is like this is this is a society problem like why in the hell our 36 car is going to start the all-star race I just that is why not just make it a points race at this point it should be just 37 points

I don't know I'm sure there's a rhyme or reason listen listen, Dover is not going to be compelling if it's a short run. So they had to put in long runs to make it. Like, that's the only way the track races kind of good. So they're just, they were in a box by the venue. And so I don't think that there was any format that they really could formulate

to make it this All-Star type thing. And the next thing you know, you got a mile track that if you only have 17, 18 cars starting, this thing's going to spread out and be a, snoozer potentially. So it's just, this was the first swing and miss, no doubt about it, that NASCAR's had this season.

Yeah, you know, you lost the prestige of when and you're in the all-star race. I mean, that was always special. I don't know, was there any first time all-star participants scheduled for this year? like I don't know it's just that moment you take away that moment from that team and stuff like that it was just this was not I'm sure some effort went into thinking about it but

they had whoever did it did the wrong it was the wrong mindset um one more topic for this podcast and the one that I was looking forward to the most the fishing trip the fishing trip what what's the talk about. Let's make sure we're honest. There's so much to talk. What do we say? I caught the most fish and the most and the heaviest fish.

So what, what is the debate? Just the whole experience. The lake, first time at Lake Fork. That was an interesting area. The lake was cool. I would have never been able to keep up on a jet ski. No. That would have been the dumbest thing ever.

Wait. What were you on? We're on a bass boat. No, what was Jared on? On the bass boat. Chris Zaldane One of the pros took us out He lives in Texas

Made the two-hour drive to come Host us out there at Lake Fork Talk about a dangerous lake Holy moly I mean there's trees Everywhere in it And a lot of them you can't see Because they are right below the surface

Oh damn Yes Chris is There's a body of water That it was like Clear you wouldn't think there's anything And he is weaving and bobbing and all this and I'm like what the hell? And I look on his

GPS and he's got these skull and crossbone marks all over that he's just weaving in and out of. He's like, yeah, you run right over that. It'll rip the motor off this thing and send us upside down. So dangerous lake, but that's

what the fish love, man. That habitat is perfect for it. And we saw a monster, didn't we? Holy Mol. Didn't catch it, but saw it. Didn't see it. Didn't catch it. Didn't catch it. but I'm talking about one that absolutely goes on the wall. What was the fish count for each person? I had 13 and Austin, or, we're not going to bring up Austin.

We promised we wouldn't embarrass him. There's no reason to embarrass him. No, he, there's no reason to embarrass him. No. He took one for the team, right? He secured an extra bass boat. So we got there, well, before we even got there, realized the jet ski was not, Probably not going to be a...

Jared needed to get content. Okay. And so then he got four anglers and a content guy. Five people on a bass boat. Not going to work. No. Somebody is getting a hook to the neck.

So we wanted to make sure we got an extra boat. Ideally, we wanted to have, like, Jared, like, follow us and get the content so that way the anglers could go. And then, you know, maybe Charlie and Austin, alternate onto the other bass boat. That way, you know, we don't want any more than three people really on a

basboat fishing at one time. Well, you know, the bass boat was not top notch. The troll motor would maybe send you in directions that you didn't necessarily know you were going to go. Had no depth. No depth. Oh, jeesh. We had to rely.

I had to give Austin my iPad with my C-map on it saying, like, hey, watch out for these spots because, like, It was sketchy out there. Thank God we went with somebody who knew what the hell he was doing. But regardless, yes, I caught the most and the heaviest. Charlie's fish count? I think he caught 11 total fish on the weekend. Look, I told Charlie I'd back him up on this show.

I feel bad sitting here not saying anything. You guys had a competition on Friday? I thought the competition started when we got to Texas. The official competition draft started on Friday. Denny went up early for nothing. It wasn't a good morning for Charlie. We had a half-time pep talk, and then Charlie came out in the second half of the afternoon

and just started reeling them in, just one after another, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Denny did catch heavier total fish. I go for the big boys. But Charlie... He likes catching the little babies. And Charlie had less... help. I'm a trophy fisherman. Charlie had less help. He didn't have a pro in his back pocket

90% of the time. Is there any question who won if Charlie then chat GBT, how can I catch bigger fish? That's the nail on the coffin. Bam. I wasn't searching that. Not a good look. I wasn't searching that. It was fun. And the Lake Fork rental, wherever you found that, that was cool too. One thing I did realize, though, Travis, is that, and I said it, Jared puts us on 0.5 Zoom. I kept trying to figure out. I've never seen a guy. We pulled a fish. Self, uh, concerned about his fish size.

Well, I mean. It's what it's all about. Yeah. But I didn't realize every time we pulled the fish out. And by the way, I told him, don't ever post a video where someone else pulls my fish out of the water. Yeah. That's. That did not happen.

but like a twice, okay? And it just happened to be because Chris was at the bow of the boat and he's like, bring it over here. Like, you missed that part of the video. I said, Jared, it just looks, that looks bad. No, that's not good. Don't do that.

It was the biggest fish you caught all day. I could have put it up a smaller one. But listen to me, he, where was I going with this? The Zoom. He goes 0.5 Zoom. And so I kept saying, why does the fish look so damn small?

all in these videos. The dude has us on the lens where it's the opposite fish eye that you would want on a fish. Jared. Photo. You just got to get the whole scene. You got to get the whole scene.

No. How about you do some legitimate camera work and go like maybe one or maybe one point two. Get in there. Move your body. Don't just, don't just, you know, hey, let me get a panoramic shot here. It'll cover everything.

I can't wait to film some fishing with you again. Well, anyway, it was a really fun trip. The place we stayed was just epic. Awesome. It had a hot tub in the living room. It's pretty cool. Wait, so we've got a text that just came in. I'm hearing the pot is trying to take me down.

Jared, I need you to stand up for me. I did. Is he on a Zoom? Is he listening? Austin's listening and he's feeding this information to Charlie. And then Austin says, ask them if the boat came with minnows in the live well. So he just needs to shut the fuck up because we have not run over him with the bus. We've left him out of the conversation.

Did the boat come? For good reason. For good reason. So he just needs to shut up. Did the boat come with minnows in the live well? No. Austin definitely woke up at 5 a.m. and went to the bait shop and got live minnows.

Charlie did good. Charlie did not have a pro on his side and caught double-digit fish. Yep. Very admirable. Nothing wrong with silver. These guys. I think the funniest part was I don't think Chris knew what he was getting into. The competition level that these, this NASCAR driver and his friends would have the

shit talking. Yeah. It was fun. I'd love to do it again. I'm going to hit Chris back up when we go to Texas for. for Texas Motor Speedway here in a few months. So that'll be fun. And you got a badass reel.

Yes, he got me some awesome reels that were custom. So thank you to Chris for that. Appreciate it. He has his own podcast, by the way. Zal Dangerous. He has his YouTube channel. If y'all want to go check him out. Zal Dangerous.

We got a feast coming up this weekend. Practice qualifying at 12 on the CW. starting at 12 on the CW. I guess that's 12 Eastern, Trave or 12 local? 12 Eastern. Pockers tweeted it. Pockres, 12 Eastern.

And then a race Sunday, 3.30 Eastern on FS1. Are you able to return to Phoenix and not think? No. Like, how do you return? I don't know. I don't know. I'm just ready to compete. We'll see how it goes.

but you know things change in the off season so you just you never you never know when you saw a penske cars like go there and freaking dominate and then they go the next spring and run 8th but I don't know you just never know the competition's always working on things I personally hope that I've got a super strong car that my car handled just kind of how I wanted it for last fall certainly would love to get redemption on that track, but we'll see how it goes. I got a review here. This one doesn't have a name, but I was not a Denny fan until two years ago when I started listening to Actions Detrimental. Denny, your detail on the cars, set up, handling, and driving is always outstanding. Also a big fan of 2311.

You're having a good time right now, then. That reminds me, the review, Travis, I read last week. I got a message on Instagram. said, hey, Jared, I left a review for your podcast on iTunes, and you read it this week. I found it funny because you said the review is from no name, but from Harris, Georgia. Then you read the review. My name is Harris, Georgia, man. Come on. I just said Harris, like, like, GA or something. So, like. It's like that riddle. Cowboy rides into house on Friday, stays three days, leaves on Friday.

Yeah. All right. Well, we appreciate y'all tuning in. And we'll see you next week. On the road. Oh, yeah. Next week is going to be on location for staying out in Phoenix. Make sure you get all the s'clock. That's on Jared.

I won't be there. I got it. Bye. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.