Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Kyle Busch Still Has It… But Something Is Off

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Bristol brought the heat, and we have a lot to talk about. On this episode of Actions Detrimental, Denny breaks down Ty Gibbs’ first Cup Series win and why it did not come as a surprise, plus what it says about where he and his team are heading. Connor Zilisch gets it done in the O’Reilly race, while drivers like Parker Retzlaff and Brent Crews continue to make noise and prove they deserve more attention. We get into the Eckes vs. Heim moment and the maturity it showed, what is really going on at Trackhouse, and the challenges young drivers face when results are not matching expectations. Then it is a real conversation about Kyle Busch and where things stand after a tough stretch in the Next Gen car. Denny also takes you inside the race at Bristol with insight on tire strategy, restarts, and what could have been a better finish, plus a debate on who the best driver in the Cup Series is right now. Add in reactions to Riley Herbst, talk about retaliation on track, some off-track stories, and a look at what is coming next. And to close it out, it is Dear Denny, answering your questions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do you know who's led the most laps? No. You know, any guesses? Larson. Nope. No, I don't know. You. What a fake stat that is.

The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. I believe that I've been a competitive opinion 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 to drink and drink to win.

I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection. The championship and the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah, and I've already said it. Hey guys, welcome to actions. Detramental after Bristol Motor Speedway, the day race. Hotter than it's ever been there.

Sunshine should have raced at night. You know, you're right. We should have raced at night. I think the only way we could have or should have is if we were on prime. A spring Bristol night race? Yeah. I was thinking about it too. Like, man, after the Masters, it just, I'm sure the ratings.

Rory is teeing off like 30 months before you guys took the green. Yeah. It would have been, yeah, it would have been one that was. nice than a little Sunday night, but, you know, kids got schools and stuff like that. There's just so much it plays into it. You know what? Just be really, really good at your sport

and the people will come. Yeah, that's it. Yep. Good weekend overall, some good races. Had a really good finish to the cup race. Ty Gibbs winning. We had a really good finish to the O'Reilly race with Zillich winning.

And C. Bell, that didn't seem like the truckers really loved racing. I talked with multiple of them before the race on Sunday. The guys that ran on the truck race, and they were just like, oh, it was miserable. They were like, we just could not get off the bottom. Those trucks, you get, you know, you can't even get close to anyone, you know, to try to pass them. Just, they did not have fun. there's guys on Friday night. But there was more cup drivers in that truck race than that was the most ever.

It was like seven or eight, right? I don't know the exact number. There was a lot. Yeah. What do we think of the Echus and Heim thing? I know what they said. I know from sitting at home, maybe I was biased, but I was like, what the hell? you know, you wrecked him on purpose.

And I only say that because I knew that Corey had gotten into him once for sure. The second time, Corey didn't think he got into him. He thought he's just packed there. But from the TV, I thought, oh, he got him again. I was like, oh, he's going to be pissed. And I was like, oh, I didn't know he's going to be that pissed. But it seemed like they both kind of brushed it off as a misjudgment. and Corey,

Corey took it took it well. Heim's a better man than I am. You cost me that kind of money. I don't have an issue. Yeah, I certainly would have, I would have not reacted the way he did, which is far more mature in that situation probably than I am.

But I thought, you know, that was, you know, Christian hadn't had a great year, you know, really since being in that 19 truck, he went to call league. It didn't go well there. And, you know, he's back in that 91 truck. And you're not running as good as he was when he was with Charles DeNike, who's now above his crew chief.

But, you know, he's having a great run. And one of the best trucks. And he just seemed like took a couple of hours for him to get going. And, you know, got shoved out of the way. on a track where you can't, you know, once you single file out after a couple laps, it was probably very frustrating to him to not be able to hold the lead. But, you know, a lot of maturity from both those guys and great race. And Christopher Bell ended up, you know, being the lucky guy that got through all that.

About the only redeeming thing for C-Bell this weekend. Yeah, he got into incident on Sunday, right? Did he self-spin? He self-spun. right wasn't it wasn't it pit road no yeah that just put

them to the back but then after that he started pushing I think and yeah I think he spun probably bent something but once you lose your track position yeah I mean I think if you were good as good as what the

probably the 12 was on Sunday he you know because the 45 made it back up right yeah so I think the 12 would be probably the only outlier that I could identify as someone that was fast enough and good enough short run and

long run to make it from the back of the pack to the front if he had a penalty. Yeah. Do you want to touch on the ex-fini race before we get dive into the cup race? Yeah. I mean, it was, it was looking like early on. And if you remember probably a year or so ago, was it where, was that where Kyle Larson almost slapped the field at Bristol. Because remember we were in the chat,

we kept giving them about, you know, like, come on, man, if you're going to go down there, crush him. And I swear to God, the next race, he says, okay, you want to see me crush him? I'll crush these guys. And I mean, I think he had at some point like a 12-second lead,

which is like Bristol's 15-second lap. So he's on the same straightaway as second. And he smoked. him. And so early on in the race, I'm thinking, oh, man, he's going to do it again. But it just seemed like the field shrunk that gap to him a little bit. But he was the dominant car throughout the day, dominant driver throughout the day. And yeah, just at the end, you had those guys stay out. I mean, staying out won the races. If you look at all three, the guys that stayed out, one. I didn't think it was going to be possible, especially as far up front as Kyle Larson was

on that restart. But I couldn't believe it. I'm sitting there watching from the bus and there's there's Zilich. There's a couple other drivers. Sorry, I'm not completely prepared. But there were a few of them. Maybe it was Sheldon Creed that stayed out as well. but I'm watching their lap times and they just run 60-some laps and they played on the TV the audio from the teams saying how many laps did we run

and then even hear from Rodney Childers like I thought there'd be more cars stay out than that almost resigned to the fact that this is probably not going to go well and they go out on 60 something lap tires

maybe even 70 and run the fastest lap of the day Connor did. It was like, whoa. It just was amazing. And they did it ripping the top. And he held off Kyle. I mean, they were fast.

Oh, Brent Cruz. Brent Cruz had a great run. He's going to be a good driver, maybe. I know what you're thinking. I was going to read out. Yeah, I was just going to make that my opinion. I had the text pulled up. Read it.

What's the saying? This is in the Denny Bros. chat. I got to scroll up a bad. I just lost it. Now, this was right after the O'Reilly race, right? Okay, here it is. He's going to be so bad. He's going to be so bad.

It's worth it, though. I mean, hey, by the way, did y'all know I was being... Oh, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. When Brent learns, when Brent, this is Austin Payton talking about Brent Cruz. When Brent learns how to take care of his shit and time his passes, he'll be a force to be reckoned with, in my opinion.

Denny says, bold take AP. Austin says, you don't think so? I mean, it took him 20 laps to get by the seven and clearly had a better car. He's driving like he's on dirt. I'm obviously not a driver, but that's what it looked like to me. Kid has talent. AP, it's called sarcasm. Because, you know, usually sometimes text.

You don't understand how they're reacting. But like, I saw him saying what he was saying right away. When he was like, well, you really don't think so? Like, he was dead serious. And I'm like, Austin, I was kidding. I agree with you. Of course he's going to be a force. It's like 18 years old.

Just that was a funny exchange. You had to be there, folks. Brent Cruz looked really good, though. Yeah, he did. He did. And, I mean, even at Rockingham, right, he was fast there. William Swalich, by the way, we didn't have a pod last week. But great job by William Swalch to get his first win.

Very, very impressive. I mean, I'd venture to say out of nowhere he got that win. Like, he hadn't been running top five that much. And then. watching the race and looking at the lap times. It was like, no, he's the best. Him and the 19 are really, really strong. So shout out to William on that.

Another great run by Brent. One thing, too, that we have overlooked on this podcast when it comes to a Riley series, Parker, Resloth. Is that how you say it? Retzlough. Yes. I mean, he's still. I think we can start taking notice.

And hopefully everyone's taking notice and not overlooking his results. I mean, he's running well and no matter what he's in. Ninth and points. It's not even that. He's running better than that. So every year, I feel like his name gets brought up

is just money. Everyone talks about the kid with the talent and it's Parker. every year. He's on the short list. I mean, I just believe that, I mean, money could be the issue or whatever, but there's no doubt. There's got to be teams that are taking notice and saying he's an outlier in the sense of,

you know, we all know he is getting, he is far exceeding what we expect from that team and that's no disrespect to the team. It's just the fact that that team doesn't have the resources of the cars that he's beating week and week out, or out running. I don't even know what pit crew they have. I don't know anything like that. Now, the result is not directly tied to the driver always, right? There's the team aspect, you know, maybe the crew chiefs doing an amazing job or the engineers or, you know, there's a combination of things that equal the result. that you see on Saturday.

But what I'm taking notice of is that, I mean, he was this deciding factor in who won the Harrison Burton Cup race, if you remember. Oh, yeah. Like, he was there. And so he's changed rides

a few times, and he's still out punching his weight every week. And I think he deserves his five minutes of fame right here on the podcast that we've been straight up over looking him so yeah only one finish outside the top 15 so far this year that was at circuit the america something must have happened that race he finished 30th yeah i mean to me it's not i if

you would have said his average finish is 20th i'd say i yeah i don't care i'm watching with my eyes how he's running and he's running really really well uh cup race tie gibbs gets his first win um oh well to put a bow on o'reilly's just zillich winning, right? He made some comments afterwards. He's like, man, I'm going out here on Sundays and running last every week and just, you know, it seemed like he was a little down on himself. You know, track house is, track house has some issues. I'm a track house fan, Justin Mark's fan, but it seems like they've got some speed issues. I mean, I say that simply because Ross 20th and points. It's just not

Ross is, you know, far. That's our comp, right? That's our barrier. Now, you could say, well, SVG is way up there and points. I get it. But as the wash is starting to come out now that we're seven, eight races in,

you're starting to see creams rising to the top. Everyone who you thought would be around the bubble, starting to get around the bubble. it's starting to all come out in the wash. And Ross is 21st in point. And that's just not, that's not who Ross is. He's clearly better than that. So it tells me that, you know, they,

they're just missing setups or low on speed or something. So not really sure. Connor is not performing like we thought. Again, if Ross is my comp, I'd say, well, Conner's really running about the offset to Ross that you would think he would run. So the problem is Ross is 15 spots worse than what you would project. So, you know, they have plenty of time to turn it around, which I'm sure they will. But I only bring this up because, you know, to put a bow on the O'Reilly's is that,

Zillich just did an amazing job at the end of that race. executing and holding off Larson on those tires. So how do you overcome that as a young driver? Your team may not have speed. It's your first season, full time and cup. Everything stacked against you. How do you overcome that each weekend? I mean, you just stay the course.

I mean, that's my advice, is that you just keep rowing the boat. And eventually, you know, the, may the river flow, you know, hit you in the ass, you know, and then you start going down, downriver. So I don't know. I think, you know, some of it comes with time, right? I, again, I don't know how much of it is Connor, how much of it is car. If his teammates were up there winning races and whatnot, I would throw more of a caution to the Zillich thing, but I just think that they're struggling as an organization right now,

and I think they would admit that. Hey, everybody, it's Dellenhart Jr., and there is no better way to support Denny Hamlin than wearing actions detrimental gear at the racetrack. You can also flip him the bird, or head on over to shop.dirtymodemedia.com to see what we have. Now the cup race? Yeah. Cup race, Ty Gibbs gets his first win,

unsurprisingly, right? Yeah, I don't think anyone's shocked. I think by the way the season is playing, you're like, when is it happening? Yeah. He is, for the last five, six weeks, he's been someone that's been in the top five to eight. Finishing-wise,

running maybe is good or better than that. And going to statistically, what was his best racetrack. So I, you know, shouldn't have been really a shock to anyone, but really, really, really a great win for him. The fashion in which he did, it was able to hold off the best car of the day. And Ryan Blaney. Arguably two of the best cars.

Yes. He was about in Larson as well. Yeah. Yeah. When you show me the, when you look at the sheet here and it says laps lead, 25, 190, 284. Yeah. That's all but one lap. So it's, you had the right one, two, three. You can argue the order, but the one, two, three is all, all correct.

Since Cota ties finished fourth, fourth, fifth, sixth, fourth, fifth, sixth, fourth, first. And up to fourth in points now. And know what I love when I look at the Cup series standings now? is that first through fifth and points have four wins one one one one one one the system is rewarding the winners just like it was designed to do and so um love to see it these are all the changes we wanted and we got them and it's it's rewarding the best and there's clearly you know you know Gibbs is putting himself in that very small group of guys that are up front every single week. And, you know, he's, you know, what I've noticed personally, uh, from the off season to now, um, a much more

positive attitude. Um, you know, some of that can just come from, uh, maturity. Some of it can come from, um, a good off season. I mean, I've had this before where, you know, in the season, you know, you didn't have the season you hoped and you then go cut loose for a couple months and you come back and you got like a new attitude. Like, you know what? I'm going to approach the weekends different now or I'm not saying this is what's happened with him, but I'm telling you my experience is that you just come in with a new approach and he's like, I'm going to have a different attitude towards the good days, the bad days.

I'm going to change how I, you know, prepare maybe. And you just start seeing some different results and you're like, okay, what about all of that is making my results change? And you just start analyzing that. So whatever it is is certainly working well. He's really been working with Kevin Harvick quite a bit in his Sim sessions. And I think Kevin's a great asset to him. to bounce his 25 years or more, maybe 30 years actually now of experience that Kevin has in NASCAR. To have someone in your hip pocket like that, guiding you through this is very, very valuable.

And he's got a great team around him. And Tyler Allen, so happy for Tyler as well. getting a little kicked off the box, I guess you could say, or off the microphone for a little while there last year. I just feel like very gratifying for that entire team. And you love to see it too. When they jumped off the wall, the pick crew, I mean, within seconds, the 20 teams there, the 19 teams.

All the teams that were within the facility were right there celebrating with them. So you could tell it was just a big win for the family. And when I say the family, that's everyone that works in that building. They certainly were very pleased with that result. And great to see him giving his mom a ride. And I'm absolutely confident that Coy was very proud in that moment. So what have you seen from Ty professionally and personally over the handful of years? You've seen him grow up in the shop.

He drove your 45 car, their first first cup series start. you know, now he's in the 54. Like to get to this point over 130, however many races, you know, how has he changed? How has this progression changed? I mean, I don't know. What's that saying like he's full of piss and vinegar or whatever it is? Wake up with piss and vinegar? I don't know.

I don't know if that's what you're. No, it's full of. But that's kind of like intense energy, spunk, or aggressive. aggressive enthusiasm full of piss and vinegar yeah okay that's to me that's my interaction with him personally right um what he might show you to the camera is something different he he tones it down right and which we all have a camera personality and a real personality you know what i that's just that's you know and some people were full authentic whatever you chase elli whatever you get in the camera is what you're going to get off the camera, right? I mean, it's just, you know,

that's just entertainers. And entertainers do things a little different sometimes. But, you know, I agree, like, I saw Ryan Blaney's comments, like, you know, he's gotten so much criticism, Silver Spoon, Nepo Baby, whatever it might be, like for so many years. And he just handled it. Great. He never really addressed it, never defended it. Like, you know, yeah, but I want this or I won that. And he had his moments, right, where it was like, oh, you know, the Brandon Jones thing and the Sam Mayor comments. And it was like, okay.

But, I mean, damn, you got to give a 20-year-old a break. Like, you know, I try to explain to him a few times we're on the ride to the racetrack together. and I'm like, you know, Ty, just think about this. When I was your age, I was still barely winning late model races. Like, barely. Like, I know that not winning right this second is like, oh, I'm pissing away wins that I could be stacking. I was like, but think about how long your runway is. Like, you're still years before I actually even made it to the Cup series.

So you're far, far ahead of the, you're far ahead of schedule when it comes to, at what age should you be good, you're ahead of that schedule. Just because you've got three years of cup experience, I get it. But if you put a 16 year old in a cup car, I hate to say, he ain't going to be good for quite some time, no matter how good he is. So I just think that sometimes it takes age and some experience to figure out what it takes to be successful in the Cup series. And I think that he's starting to figure that out. That's what we forget.

He's 23 years old. Yeah, really young. I mean, that's the flaw in the system is these kids, they're not able to say no to a cup ride and they have to take it when they probably could use another year at O'Reilly. Yeah. And I think his situation, I think people were very soured that the fact that he took the ride when Kyle left. I think that that, there was a combination of the perception of Ty Gibbs. And I think some of it was the timing is that, okay, they couldn't get a deal done with Kyle. I bet he wishes he could turn back the clock, by the way, and take the offer.

That is a mess. Jesus. He didn't accept their offer. They moved on from them. They had enough. Ty gets the ride. Ty then at the end of that time, you know, during, around that time, has his whole thing at Martinsville when he wrecked his teammate. And it was just like people just, that immediate.

he was like, okay, if first impressions last forever, this is why we don't like ties. He took the ride from our favorite driver and then look what he just did. At some point, you got to forgive and forget. And, you know, I try to, I mean, I know it's very hard, but like, you know, the Chase Elliott thing at Martinsville, right? That's nearly 10 years ago. but Chase said, you know, I've forgiven him. I don't know if my fans have, but...

They haven't. But that's okay, but everyone makes mistakes. And you just, everyone deserves some grace. And they should, you should be able to evolve your feelings about a certain person based off of recent events, not necessarily one bump in the road. I mean, if I was judge personally by my, you know, my, my worst moments, then yikes. But I just try to create enough good ones to where, you know, that's where you form your opinion of me. And so I just think the tie came in at a tough time.

He did some things that didn't help. But I think slowly but surely, I think he's. given us enough over the last few years to where I think he deserves a fair shot from the fans. I think what's cool about this win for tie is that no one can put an asterisk next this win. Well, this happened or well, this happened, right? He stayed out on two tires. No. It held off Blaney and Larson the first time and then had an even more difficult challenge with Kyle Busch causing that caution with three to go to then continue to hold them off on another restart. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's earned.

Not a surprise, not a steal, nothing. He was a top three car all day, and he did the work. How much of a disadvantage potentially was he at there on that last restart with Blaney starting inside of him? Well, the outside had prevailed 100% of the time. I think the success rate of the outside is it's way, way up there. You know, just straight numbers. Let's go over the last five years. I don't know.

It's got to be 90, more than 90%, that the leader on the outside will be leading after a lap or two on the restart. So he's got these statistical advantage from there. And that statistical advantage even, you know, accounts for guys that have stayed out. So he's at a big advantage there. But again, he's, got all the disadvantages of the fastest car on the best tires, you know, that, that goes,

you know, now the odds are probably flipping to 60, 40, right? But he was able to win in that 60, 40 moment. You know, he ran the top really well. I mean, my research were absolutely, it was crazy how out of control my car was for the first, I don't know, 50. laps of a run. And so I couldn't hold it. I mean, I was restarting, is that third on? Yeah, third. Yeah, second car on the inside.

And now the disadvantage for me is I had all the new tires right on my ass. So as soon as I got passed by one guy on the outside, which I'm scheduled to do anyway, being on the inside line, if I restart third, I'm supposed to come out, I don't know, four and a half, somewhere in that range. next thing you know fifth place is on tires so here comes new tires oh now I'm split three wide here comes more tire it just it never stops and so you never want to be the last guy on new tires but we were and as bad as my car was on restarts it just this was a no no good scenario for me anyway so I think we were really lucky to get that last caution and rally back in

to the top 10 on this last couple laps. Where do you think you had all things worked out perfectly? Where do you think you should have finished? Fourth to fifth. You know, I thought the 19 was very good at the end of the race. He's probably a little better than I was. Well, I know he was. He passed me.

Yeah, so then you got the 5, 54, 12, 5, 56, probably. How was your car? Long run. Strong really fast. At the end of stage one, I just said, all right, well, I'm going to go make some hay here. And I just started ripping them. And I closed in on the leaders like really quickly. And, but I just thought the field caught up at that point.

And that was my only strong suit was the super long run, you know, after 40 laps on tires. I was. And it wasn't like, I mean, my car just never, it ran the same damn speed. New tires, 1620. Old tires, 16, 20. But if I tried to fire off on old tires at the end of the race, I couldn't run 1650s. I was in the way, just all over the place.

So I don't know. We've got to come back with something a little bit different. But, I mean, I feel fortunate to come out of there with ninth with the strong stage day that we had. How do you guys miss, like, the short run speed so bad? again this was another race where we're going we have higher horsepower lower down force so it's a new this is new like when i go back to bristol i expect to be far more honed in because again we and the 11 team guessed this this was a guess for us now that we've got some on track experience and

data i'm going to send the team down a much different path for the fall race this may be a dumb question, but I think that's what I'm here for. I asked J.G. this, and J.G. is not Joe Gibbs. Thanks for clarifying. Does the short run start after every restart, or is it start after you put new tires on? So, like, when you stay out on smaller tires, is your, are you still expecting your car to run the same way it ran before the caution, or that long run it's over? No, it should be running better. That's what was just such the head scratcher. And I said to, I'm walking out right before the tunnel and talking to Chris Gale. And I says, think about this. This is what's crazy to me. I can't fathom it with my car today. The caution comes out. I'm running 1625. The caution came out. Yellow is out.

My tires get a chance to cool down. The track gets cleaned off. I should be able to go faster. not slower unless I have on my tires but I spent the whole caution cleaning them the entire caution so it just doesn't

make sense to me and you know when I watch a Riley's race and it's like this guys stayed out they blitzed it I mean they ran the fastest lap of the day

I'm like I should be able to do that I just watched Ty Gibb last lap of the race you ran a 1580 I didn't run a 1580 all day, new tires, old tires, it didn't matter. So there's just something that was not built for short run speed. And it showed up. Where was I in practice?

25th. Yeah. Where was I in qualifying? 11th. That's below my standards on all rankings that you can identify. So it's not like the warning signs weren't there, but I didn't realize until I got in the race that like it's not good. So does a new run start after you put tires on or on a restart?

I consider short, you know, are you talking about short run, long run? Like you were, you were, you know, mowing down the field, right? And then a caution comes out. And you did not put on tires. I don't know where this was probably in stage two. And then that's when I asked Justin, I was like, so when we get going again, is he going to run just as well as he's been running or now or we're back on a short run? We're back on a short run.

Not until the tires fully build back up heat. and lap times start falling off, which there was none. Holy moly. This was, I mean, I don't know what, they didn't need a tire test here. It felt like they just said, all right, we're going to put on tires. We're going to put you all on tires that just don't drop off at all. And the lap times just did not. Did this match with the tire test?

I had no idea. What information did you get from Bubba from that? Just, you know, set up stuff. gave us a direction to start with our setup. Again, I would, I would evolve from where we were. No doubt about it. This is now the second race where it's been new horsepower, new tires, and you guys have kind of missed it.

Is there a concern that if there's another race that like the 11 team's not able to find that 50% before you get to the track? Well, if you're, when we get down to the chase, These are all second time tracks. And it's at night. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but how many more races do we have?

The points matter now too, though. So like what other races do we have with this? Is there a concern or you're like, I'm good? No, I'm good. I mean, sometimes you hit, you get the 50% that you need to win right off the truck. Sometimes you don't. I mean, we, you know, we were more of a 30, percent off the truck. And, you know, I thought our overnight adjustments were 45 percent,

but that's, those numbers just don't add up to race winner, you know? So, yeah, I mean, we can't, we can't expect to be the fastest and the best every week. And if these are your off weeks, and we'll live with that. Yeah, but you also said you expected to finish fourth or fifth. So it's not like you were, you were, you were that bad. Well, that's what I'm saying. And I, fourth or fifth would have been about where we were on pace. Um, and again, I wish, I wish we could do things a lot differently if we went back there today. So I think that's a good learning moment for us. And certainly, I mean, we ain't, we ain't running in the teens and 20s when we're off. That's what, you know, the best cars do is they, they, they run inside the top.

10 they get stage points on weeks where man we we didn't quite get it right shout to your pick crew though they kept stealing spots for you at least they did great um i told them before the race like all tight boys all tight today i just let's execute the day um and and who knows right right if i how much did i lose the larsen by i thought i because oh a slip oh they on tv on tv on tv they had you first initially. And then they showed the replaying, like, actually no. Like, what does that change? I now control the restart.

I'm on the top. I just told you it wins 90% of the time. So even no matter of shout my car was, if I'm controlling that restart, I like my chances. Was that when... And it's like, man, that could be... It's such a defining moment of like it comes down to that. But hell, I came in third.

Was that when Larson almost messed up, the pit stop coming out of his stall? I don't, I didn't. I forget. I don't know. I only see him when I merge back on. And I just knew we were door to door going through the corner. Like, you know, I'm trying to run my lights, but I can't, I can't let him force me, which he wasn't.

He was running the proper line. And I, so I don't have a really good gauge because the lower you go in the corners at Bristol on pit road, the faster your speeds are going to register. So if you run, you know, 10 lights and the normal line, if you cut lower and run 10 lights. You're going to the back. You're going to the back. Yeah. So I'm grinding on his door around to try to like make sure I use all the space around the radius that I can. And I just knew we were going into that last section nose to nose.

And I'm like just are we going to bait each other into both speeding or is like what's going to happen here? You know, we both just barely gas at the end. And, oh, he just, he had bigger nuts than I did for the first time in his life. Do you think Ryan Blaney goes to his pick crew before the race and says, all tight today, boys? I don't know. I'd have choice words. I know.

Listen, it's fortunate for us and the viewers that he's not ringing off eight-fives every race because he'd be leading a shi-tunnel laps. They said he lost, I think, going into the race yesterday, he's lost 86 spots, which is 30 more. Well, just remember, it's not, he doesn't have the worst-ranked pick crew. The issue is he's running up front. So you have way more error to lose spots than you do gain spots. What I don't get is he said that they need to get these guys reps.

They're young and they've been. got to get the reps so they're ready for the moment. You have other cars to put those guys on. You're taking your championship guy and saying, here's a shit, Jackman, here's a shit. Like, put them on the 34, put them on the two. Like, what are you doing?

I mean, you're probably happy, but. Well, if they had better people or the, or they had guys that they believed in more, they would put them on the car. But it's clear that that personnel, believes that that is going to be the best team. And when he says they're young, they just need reps. Obviously, they've seen enough in pit stop practice to say,

it might be a rocky start, but we feel by the summer and fall when it really matters, these guys are going to haul ass. That's what they're, I'm telling you, that's what they're thinking. I mean, you've experienced that before? It's, yes. And eventually they hit their stride and they take off. Yeah, yeah.

Do you think this question comes from? from a fan on Instagram. Do you think that Ryan Blaney is the best driver in the cup series right now? Gosh, it's hard to say no on that. I mean, from the pure speed to the ability to pass, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I mean, Redick has got the most wins. Has he led the most laps? I don't know. No, I don't think so. led one of Daytona, I think one of just a few. Do you know who's led the most laps? No. You know, any guesses? Larson. Nope. No, I don't know. You. What a fake stat that is. You're just trying to use it to defend your argument. I know, but it's, you know, stats do lie sometimes. We haven't, we've been really good. We just haven't been,

Short track skew that. There's a lot of things to skew that. I don't know. I'm not going to, you know, I'm a car owner, but I would say Ryan Blaney is week in, week out, the guy that you got to beat right now, just right now. Tyler Redick's right there too. I mean, it's, they're really close. But what, you know, Blaney stands out as, you know, the pace is. And we always live in the now moment, right? What did you do this week? You know?

And so I just think week and week out, the guy is just really fast. What do you make of that Kyle Busch, Riley Herbst situation at the end of the race? Kyle just wanting a little payback before a checker flag. Yeah. You okay with that? I mean, as a driver. I guess. Is it short track racing?

Is it too much? No, it's not short track racing. It's, you know, he wanted to pay him back. Did you listen to their team radio? They met their phone quota on the day. I don't think that quote is, you know, so I don't know. That things are not going well in the Kyle Busch camp. Yeah, not really sure.

They're all searching and Riley got into them. You know, they, they had the, they were, Croaching Riley right before he got into Kyle saying drive into his left rear. He didn't take air on him. And he literally drove into his left rear. Didn't take much. I mean, he barely touched him.

But nonetheless, it ended in the result of Kyle Bush spinning and getting crashed. And so Kyle saw an opportunity and he took it, which I, did I have a problem with it? I mean, yes and no. but more no than yes I mean it benefited you you made up a couple spots from it um not necessarily

oh is that yeah it came down pit road put some tires on made up what four spots oh yeah because you yeah you were like 13th and you were able to pit and you restarted oh that that happened that was our last cost of yes yeah and you guys pitted

gotcha gotcha yeah I mean I don't I don't care about that I'm just we're more more talking about on this podcast like is it acceptable for someone just flat out retaliate um i don't know i i don't love the like just blatant retaliation but it you know i'm more i'm more no than yes is this is this is this kiles last year r c rc r like i feel like it feels like they just need to where's it going to go where's it going to they can't stay there like it just isn't working there you retire then Where is it going to go, Travis?

Aren't there going to be, there's supposed to be like 15 to 20 drivers that are free agents this year? Okay, what big team is going to hire him? I know one that's not. I don't know. I'm saying in Gibbs, right? They're happy with their lying out.

Kyle's 40 years old. I think it's better to the, what are the potential open seats? Potentially the 48. Okay. What else? Maybe a Spire car. Okay.

Is that it? I don't know. This is not new news, though. We keep talking about this, but it's... In this last couple years of Gibbs, things were not good. So this is not new... This is not, oh my gosh, you know, where is this coming from? This has been like this for five years.

We had to have an honest conversation at some point. Trave, get him back on the show. Honest conversation. I mean, he's not, you know. So how much is this RCR and how much is this? I don't know. Clearly RCR is not good right now. Well, I think that's what a lot of people think is that.

But you're, you're, you're a whole. of fame Mount Rushmore driver. You carry it better than your teammate then. Okay? That's fair. Okay. If you're the greatest, then carry it better than your teammate who's won 10 races. Find a way.

I think that's what he should be able to do. But it's not happening. He's right now seven points ahead of Austin Dillon. Okay, then. it's time to be honest about, you know, what's going on. You know, and I just don't, I think he's searching. I think that he doesn't know how to get the speed out of the next gen car on a consistent basis. There's been flashes of it.

And when, yes, he won three races his first season at RCR. That was the first year of next year, was it not? it was everyone was guessing everybody was guessing at that point that's when track house was hauling ass

and they were just there were always like these isolated teams that would pop up and like dominate the weekend and it was like wow but now that everything is coming out in the wash

it's you're seeing these cars running closer together like look at any of the statistics of where the dispersion of dots were on lap times in 2022 at any particular track. And look at that same track today in 2026. The whole field went from spread like this to like this. Everyone's so close now.

So as a driver, you got to make up the difference. You are the difference maker. You're the one that sends the teams in the direction. And so it's just, my opinion. And Kyle Bush, I can't hold the guy's helmet talent-wise, but I just think that this is not new. He's struggled for five years now. And so we just have to be honest about our expectations. And if you're expecting Kyle Bush to just go back to Victory Lane on a regular basis, you are kidding yourselves and you're going to be very disappointed. I just think that until we change

cars or something changes. Something has to change. I don't know what. I have no idea. I'm not in his shoes. I'm not as crew chief. I'm not as engineer. And I'm not as team owner. So I'm not in the weeds. I'm just a podcaster that happens to be on the racetrack around him. And I can just say that it's just not working. But I don't, I don't have the answers. And we need to just live in this reality for the time being. In an era, though, where all this data is shared, how does a driver as good as Kyle Busch not figure it out after however many years? Like, I don't know what it's like to drive next gen car, but how can it be that different

from years past that he can't eventually figure it out and run to top 15 to whatever RCR's maximum is? I'm not sure. What happened to Jimmy Johnson? The last couple of years of his career at Hendrick, you went from kicking our ass every goddamn week, kicking our teeth in, to all the sudden not winning and not running well. Immediately, it was like a light switch.

Sometimes the light switch goes off at different times. I don't know. I don't know. I guess that's possible. It's easy to blame RCR and the team. change, right? Because it's just like, oh, well, now he's not running for JGR. He's running for RCR, and they are not as good as JGR. But maybe, maybe it is just the light switch. I get it, but he's right there with Austin Dillon and points. It's, again, it's, you would expect

no matter what the cars are, he should be at minimum five six, five to six spots. ahead blind every single week because he's one of the greatest or was one of the greatest. But it's just, you know, it's just a, it's a tough time right now. And it's just, man, I hate seeing it. Because I, I, I, Kyle is a competitor who hates losing. I, hell, he hated, I mean, the guy would have the worst attitude when he runs second. remember that? Like, that's how much of a competitor he was.

So I know it's eating at him alive that how bad he's running every week. But it's starting to be the normal. It's like the good weeks are actually the outliers. That's, you know? And as someone who is this teammate knows how much work the guy puts in. And, I mean, he's racing a lot. during the week and chasing his son around. He's in the racing world 24-7.

But he's not in the next-gen car. So, I don't know, though. Like, he's went through many different car changes. You know, he was around when it was like the Gen 4 car. Winning, Gen 5, winning, Gen 6, winning. He was around for all those. He was able to adapt to those. But now, I don't find that this next

Gen car needs a lot different than what it... I searched for the same feel that I did 10 years ago or 15 years ago when I go to these racetracks. But it's something is just not registering. But also, we cannot ignore the fact that Gen 6 car, his last few years, and Gen 6 at JGR was not good.

So it's just, I don't know. I don't know. And I don't think he's at the age where the light switch has gone off for him. But it just, something just doesn't feel right. You know, is it, I heard his crew chief saying, what is it now? Every week, same thing. Can't get in the corner. Can't get in the corner.

He's like, so he's sending the team down these, directions. Is that the right way? Should he just drive and let them do whatever they do? Maybe. Maybe. But Kyle's one of those people that likes to be hands-on. He likes to be the guy who says, the right rear shock's got too much rebound. I mean, I heard them over the radio. Do we do the thing with the bar load overnight? Man, I mean, that's getting, that's getting in the weeds. I'd let the guys as a driver. Yeah, trust them. Yeah.

And so maybe in the short term, he just says, you know what, I'm going to give you the feedback and let you, you know, because it is your job. It's the driver to send them in a direction. That doesn't mean tell them what to change. That just means to go faster, here's what I believe that I need. You do, however you think you need to do that, you go ahead and do that. And if it doesn't work, I'm going to give you the feedback of what I felt. that change did.

You put it in your memory bank, they log it, and they just create this big old notebook of info. So I don't know. I genuinely don't like seeing one of the most polarizing and popular and talented guys in the sport running where he's at right now. But this is the new reality we have to set ourselves in until we see any kind of change.

Alex Bowman returned this week. that was it was good to see Alex back and i know he was really happy to be back did not go as well as as they hoped um but you know again i i don't know what happened i just we're going to give him some grace for a while i mean the guy's been sidelined with injuries and and whatnot and and had some issues over the last few years and uh got broke his back i've been through that that's just not pleasant. Your feel struggles for a while. Vertigo, never gone through that, but I heard it's, you know, just wild going through that.

So the good thing is he's back on the racetrack and I didn't hear of any, you know, issues. Issues post-race. You have anything else to touch on from the cup race? I don't think so. Do you enjoy your week off? I did enjoy my week off. It was quite fun. Any purchases or we still won boat?

No, we're just enjoying our time down in Florida. Did you catch any fish? I caught two. I caught two on Lake Okeechobee. We went to Jordan's dad's. He lives right there on Lake Okeechobee. And so went there Sunday, went to church, went to his church. they were all excited. I mean, a little photo session with all the people there. It was only about

40 people there. But it was really cool to kind of get in the day of his life, which is very cool. And then go fishing with him that afternoon. That was fun. And yeah, just caught one. He went croppy fishing. I wanted to go bass fishing. So he's like, you know, you get a lot more action. If you go croppy fishing, I was like, yeah, no, but I'm chasing that big one. That's my style. I got a couple quick hitters here from a few people asking for a dear Denny segment in this podcast. So these are just some quick ones. You can spend as much time on it as you want. Does AI have a role in NASCAR?

This comes from Bethany Geeding. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, yes is the answer. That's all I'll say. Have you been fishing with MTJ yet? No, I've not. I have asked them for a few fish. And he's replied in a timely manner.

Yep. We need a fishing. He's got plenty of time on his hands now. We need a fishing podcast. You and him on a boat just talking about not like just fishing and what their old stories. I don't know if you say yes. You think you're going to get me and him to talk about fishing. No.

Why not? You think Martin's a talker? You're the same way sometimes, but you talk about fishing and get whatever you get whatever you want. Yeah. I get it. Just let me dream. Yeah, okay. Sounds good.

Has Travis ever had a hot take you've had secondhand embarrassment before? This comes from Logan Corkins. Not one. You didn't like the last one, though. Which one? Oh, racing on Easter. Travis. Do you want ratings?

Travis. You want to build the sport? You could have this Sunday off. Yeah, you got to think about, from a viewership perspective, What's better? Going up against the Masters or having Easter week off. The Easter week is more for the people. Let's, let's,

you on, the industry deserves a holiday off. There's so many, I mean, there's thousands of employees that make up the NASCAR community. And just racing on Easter is just not, not great. Now,

if you want to work in sports, you want to take both weeks off, be great. I mean, let's just make this thing a damn 25, 28 race season like it used to be. Now we're talking. We can have both off. You want to work in sports. You work weekends, holidays. That's the sacrifice you make. I hear you. So the answer that question. But I don't know that any other sport goes as long as we go. So there has to be breaks. But the answer is The answer is yes to that question. Yeah, the off-week timing was perfect in my mind.

And then last one, this one comes from Connor Carr. Can you still Dougie? Oh, Jesus, that was awful. I'd never seen that video before. There's another bad Travis take. It wasn't great. I'll be honest. It wasn't great.

No. What was I? I see some of these videos and I'm like, what am I? What was I thinking? What was I thinking? We need drivers. Like, now the driver, I just walk out and

hi. I know. Everything's toned itself down. How about that FedEx fishing commercial from 15 years ago? Yeah. Ahead of its time. You had,

did you even know what a fishing pole was back then? Not really. I used to just give AP shit about carrying his fishing poles at the tracks. You're like, Alison, what are you doing? Speaking of commercials,

got some good ones coming. Yep. Yep. I don't know how much. Not even going to say who. Not going to say what. But, you know, my sponsors did some good commercial activation. And it'll be here pretty soon. I've already, really all of my primary, I'm trying to think, National Debt Relief did a commercial.

Bob's, I'm in their commercials. at the very end. Yeah. I wonder when it's going to come out. But they put a lot of work into it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, you got to go, right?

It's very cool. I guess it'll be in the month or so, maybe two. I don't know. Excited for the people to see it. A review here from Austin Gold, 212. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what Denny thought on things happening in the sport. Upon listening to the first episode,

I was hooked by how his point of view translated to things I would see on TV. You have definitely changed the way I watched a sport, and I can't thank you enough for that. I may not be a dedicated Denny fan, but you have a fan in the stands. Go Blaney.

Right on. That guy's got more good days and bad. Go Blaney. Yeah. Well, appreciate that review, Austin. Definitely means a lot. Writing that review. How many reviews do we have?

Do we know? Do you know? I don't know. On Apple, I think it says, but then, like, Spotify, you can leave comments per each episode, which is actually like. No, it doesn't say how many reviews.

Do we know? We have almost 2,000 reviews. Spotify says 3.1K. Okay, that's just ratings. Do we, Do we know where do our listeners primarily come from? Is it YouTube, podcast, Spotify? What is it?

I don't know that answer. You don't know. That's like an analytical. I don't deal with that stuff. You go to the office. You should know. I produce the shows. I'd create content.

Let the people that do the numbers, do the numbers. I'll report back to you. Okay. All right. Speaking of that whole commercial stuff, some more exciting stuff coming this week. I won't say what You haven't looked at your calendar

Look at your calendar Okay Later in the week Later in the week Let's see Let's see Oh yeah That'll be cool

Right on Thursday Did you not know that was happening? No Oh really? No Really Yeah

Who did that AP? Yeah He did? Yeah Really? Yep. So he gave them shit early on. You can give a pat on the back later. Now, we never give AP credit. I'm done because I just unhooked myself.

All right. Well, we'll see y'all next week. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.