Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Next Year Is Our F****** Year

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

Denny Hamlin reacts to the ending of the Xfinity race between Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed. Plus, the drama that ensued after with the RCR team. Lack of tire falloff was a big problem Sunday in the Cup Race. What does NASCAR and Goodyear need to do? What happened between Denny and Ryan Blaney on one of the restarts? Apparently there is beef between Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano. Carson Hocevar reverting back to his old ways? Pace Car gets a DNF. Ryan Blaney punches his ticket to the Championship 4.DraftKings State-Specific Problem Gambling Information:In Massachusetts, call [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org, In New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369). In Tennessee and Kansas, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). In West Virginia, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.1800gambler.net. All games regulated by the West Virginia Lottery. Please play responsibly. In partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. In Connecticut, Help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles (LA). 21+, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. See DKNG.co/autoracing for eligibility, terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Put out an announcement. We listened to Actions Determental with Danny Hamlin. He says they want these tires to be super aggressive. We went super aggressive. Here you go. You're playing with House money then. If it works, then Bravo. If it doesn't work, hey, the drivers told us they wanted this, blame it on them.

The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Hey, guys. Welcome to Actions Determinal. I'm Denny Hamlin. Driver the number 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and co-owner of 2311 for Bobo Wallace and Tyler Reddick. My co-host, Mr. Jared Allen. Purple vest number 560. I was going to be like driver number 560 because the first thing on my list here is our bi-annual

Purple Vest, Go-Cart race up at trackhouse motorplex. Now, Travis put this on here because somehow he saw the results and mine was not very noteworthy. By noteworthy, he finished 21st. Like, let's not... How many were there? Like, 25. God. That's terrible.

But see, here's the thing. We have a... We have a practice. We have a qualifying, and we have a race. Got it. In the practice session, it's like Russian roulette for the carts.

And they tell us beforehand when we get there, like, hey, guys, just so you know, we don't allow 25 cars on the track. It's because we only have 25 cars. So... And by the way, I've heard their carts

are no longer equal. I heard that there's like a three second difference between go carts there now. It's not, they haven't maintained them very well. Yeah, it's kind of like the Cup Series. You might get a cart that's broken. You might get a car that's good. Well, we're all within three-tenths in the Cup Series. We are not three seconds.

We're about 10 seconds. Anyway, yeah, the car I got for the race was not very good. I did qualify eighth in the car that won the race, which was won by Ben Walton, the fellow Dirty Moe and Police. so 21st, we're going to have to work on that. That's subpar.

It's not good. It's a bad look. You didn't wear any Hamlin. Did you? I didn't know. Okay, good. I see you are today.

It's the first. Yeah, I got the new T-shirt. Okay. Awesome. All right, well, you stunk in go-carts. What else we got?

Halloween's coming up. We're going to have, I was debating, coming down in my Halloween costume for today, but we're going to save it for social media.

You'll see it shortly in a day, maybe. Tomorrow, yeah. Tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. Halloween, tomorrow. Should be tomorrow

or should it be Wednesday morning because it's the morning after. It should just be Halloween, right? Probably. Okay, Halloween.

All right, so, yep, that was funny. We actually took some pictures. here in Martinsville is rather good. I think you'll like it. It might make Netflix too, for what it's worth. Good.

So the race at Martinsville, man, we finally got some good weather there. The fans were blessed with, you know, T-shirt-type weather for the first time maybe ever. Martinsville's always had a very tough date, but it's always been the perfect track to lead up to the finale. Start with the Xfinity race. Man, that one, that race has just gotten so out of hand. Just when you watch it, it's painful to watch, and it's like people keep raising the stakes on how hard they want to hit each other, what's acceptable, what's not.

And then now you've got the younger guys looking at, well, look what they did last year, look what they did the year before. And it's just, it's, it's bad now. And I don't know, it's tough because what is, NASCAR do to fix it. I mean, some of these wrecks were just absolutely egregious and people were just wiping each other out. Um, I, you know, it depends, I guess, on who you are and what you like, but that certainly is not a good look in my opinion. Um, you know, if you want to be considered an adult, you got to act like an adult to sit at the adults table at dinner and, I mean,

that's what it comes down to, right? Just the, the driver's behind the wheel. Yeah. And, and, what's happened with them is that somebody might be innocent and just got wiped out. And then they're like, well, if this is the way you got to race, it's time for me to me. I got to do it too. It's a dog eat dog. And so until penalties get handed down or someone gets black flag for, you know, intentional wrecking, you know, it's going to continue next year as well. But some people might like it, right?

I mean, I think while it was an exciting finish at the end of that race, I mean, look at the mess that happened. It took forever. That race felt like as long as the cup race, which is ridiculous driving. And everyone was at fault. No one was at fault. I don't know. It just was, to me, not a great look, but I'm more of a, you know, purest when it comes to how you want these things settled in the right way. and man, it was

crazy. So, you know, the fallout from it was, you know, you've got these two RCR teammates with Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill up at the front. Both have an opportunity to make it to the final four. Sheldon needs to win. Austin Hill doesn't need to win, but he needs to be in the top couple because Cole Custer is charging there towards the end.

And I believe that's who he was fighting. It was him, Algeyer, and Custer that was battling. So, you know, you watch the final restart, and the 21 kind of started at first. He drove in there, and then he just kind of sidest wiped the two. He gassed up early and then drove up the track to try to get the two up out of the groove, which he was already.

and then the two kind of just paid it back, and then they were racing, and the next thing you know, it was just, you know, the two got in the middle of turns three and four on coming to the checkered, and it looks like he slows down, and I'm not,

I don't know why he would do that. That's the only question I would have is, well, the checker flag is 200 yards in front of you. What are you, you know, this is all assumptions you know like what are you doing slowing down like your ticket of the file four is right up front like I don't care who you're mad at

or whatever like you got to just get to the checkered and work it out later could you have I'm watching the replay here and there's smoke coming from his right front could he have yeah I saw that too like overcooked it

or maybe maybe the fender got caught in the tire where he couldn't turn and he had to slow down to get a stop to get the car pointed out. Yeah. Those are all possibilities. We don't know.

I certainly don't know, but just kind of looking at it looked weird because as hard as Austin Hill hit him, it was clearly a big variance of speed there. But, you know, what's interesting, I see people trying to put place on Austin Hill, put place on or blame on Sheldon Creed. I don't think it was anyone's fault, really. Like, I didn't think anyone did anything crazy or egregious between those two on the racetrack. You know, I think that, you know, certainly Sheldon, you look at social media, they clearly kind of have his back and think that, you know, he's racing for the win. He knows he has to win. He's doing what he needs to do.

he gave Austin Hill a fair shot to race him. And it just didn't work out. They ended up wiping each other out. And Creed doesn't make it. Austin Hill doesn't make it. What's your first thoughts on that? I'm watching this replay over and over again. I didn't think that Creed did anything too egregious.

I'm wondering when they're coming down the backstretch here, is Austin Hill the one that? him. Yeah, he turned left on him pretty hard. Yeah, it just seemed, I feel like there's probably been something brewing here at RCR for a while. Because big picture, you know, if, if Austin Hill finished a second here, he probably makes championship four. Yeah, there's been, there's been mixed, um, facts on that, whether he was, he needed

to win or not because at the time, Cole Custer was, like I said, he was kind of charging and running six or something at the time. So they didn't know if he was like, one to the good, two of the good, or not good. There's mixed reviews there, right? But certainly, I don't know. It just, it didn't work out very well for either one of them. No, I just don't feel like Creed didn't anything necessarily.

Yeah, I didn't think so either, especially after Hill threw the first stone, right? And that was to sideswipe them on the initial corner. Hill's upset after he makes comments, you know, about Creed and then Creed, I thought, had a very good interview where he was like, listen, I don't love it, but it's like, what else am I supposed to do? Like, this is, it's what happens in these races. I feel you. Like, I think that I definitely sympathized with where Sheldron was coming from here.

And, you know, I don't think any racing purists love how these races at Martinsville end up playing out in the Xfinity series especially. But, man, it's, I guess it kind of got viral that you're seeing Andy Petrie went up there and chirped at them. This is executive management. And then I saw someone else, another. another RCR executive go up and climb up the pit box of the two and start, you know, yelling to the crew chief. And the crew chief is visibly upset. And he, like, he takes his uniform off.

Like, I don't, I don't know that's his normal routine. Well, Austin Hill yelled out of him too. And the crew chief responded, I don't drive the car. Yeah. Jeff Stankowitz, right? Does that? Sheldon Creed's crew chief. Okay.

Well, it just seemed like he was defending Sheldon, and you got this RCR exec coming up to him and questioning it. And the race is over. The pit box is getting cleaned out. And the crew chief is like, he's visibly upset, and he keeps grabbing his shirt like he's going to take it off. And then finally he takes his shirt off, which is the, you know, RCR. Now, he had an RCR T shirt underneath. So I don't know what that means. maybe he didn't realize or maybe I'm just looking way too much into this.

But do you, this is a bad look for RCR. Do you feel the same way or now? Sure. I mean, I don't know. I think it's entertaining. I think the best commentary to come from this, I don't know if it was Jeff Gluckus said of Jordan Bianchi, but they said that the RCR,

like when you signed Tyler Redick to 2311 and the RCR tweet was going to get into that for sure like they clearly get bitter very quickly always but also the PR announcements that the timing could not be worse it's just coming verbatim from Richard's mouth I I you're you're nailing it we're thinking the same as I'm walking down the steps to come in the studio today I'm like I I don't know how PR works there but I'm thinking they just say tell me what you want me to write down Yeah, exactly. And we'll tweet that. And so it's, you know, I don't know that it's strategically thought through or anything like that.

But I mean, we've just seen in the past, right, you've had when Harvick, he announced he was leaving, it was not good. You know, they did not appreciate it. And it's like, I don't know, I would say RCR. probably is the biggest family feeling organization you could possibly go to. And this is coming from someone that raises at Gibbs because they are isolated kind of on their own island up there and welcome. And so you don't really have a lot of people that bounce around from, you know, from team to team to team.

Like the people that work up there live up there, right? And so they are a sense of community. And when they feel like it seems, this is my opinion, it seems like when someone chooses to leave, I'm going to go search for greener pastures, they do not take kindly to that. They just feel like, you know, you're part of it up here and you should stick it out with us. And you see the contrast in that, right? Austin Hill just resigned and he says, you know, I'll drive here forever. if I need to, right?

Or the offer is here. Right. And then Sheldon Creel on the other says, I fucking can't wait to get out of here. Yeah, and I mean, I don't know. I don't know how it goes up there. You know, I definitely respect them for sure at RCR Richard and his whole team. It just was a, listen, we all have our moments of bad looks, right? And I just think that this is not a great one.

you know, Richard's comments after, you know, that Sheldon was the stupidest driver he's ever had. I don't know. It's just not, it's just not a good luck. That's all you can really say about it. You know, hopefully they mend the fences sometime this week and Sheldon gets to finish out, you know, the job that he was hired for. And then that was running that two car this weekend. But, you know, it would be interesting. I know Andy Petrie actually goes on race hub, I think, weekly.

So I'd like to I want to hear what he has to say Post You know Having a night to think about it Having a couple nights to think about it Before he talks about it publicly again Actually

One comment I'd sorry I hate to keep piling on But it's just too funny Someone said On X they said If Andy Petrie should have been more pissed about Today than yesterday

than yesterday, you know, because both their cars finished really, really bad in the Cup series. And so on, it's just the context in which they said it was like, you know, why are you pissed about yesterday? You're running one too. You're running 26, 27 or something. I know we, Kyle was struggling. I got around him quite a few times and man, he's, he was struggling big time. But, you know, let's, again, let's, let's hope that this ends on a good note for them. And, yeah, They get this thing figured out. Do you think there would be any chance that coming in in Phoenix, they would just be like, you know what, Sheldon Park it, don't drive for us?

Oh, I think they would. I mean, they, you know, they were threatening to put Tyler in a really bad car. And they basically take them out of the eight this year and put them in like a terrible third car. And so it's tough. But there's a difference between threatening to do that. and then actually doing it. Yeah. For the sake of themselves,

I hope they don't do it. I just think that that would be, you're adding on fuel to the fire. You know, I think let's just save some face here and move on and understand it is what it is. And I think that certainly Sheldon felt like Austin Hill was the favorite child there,

at least in the Xfinity series, and that, you know, they were always going to put effort towards him. I don't know that. That two-card could be identical to the 21. We don't know. But, you know, we're all speculating because we have a microphone in front of our face right now and need to talk about it.

But Sheldon's going to leave and search for greener pastures. And hopefully both teams end up on their feet next year. Well, not search for greener pastures. That was also the funny part about this. Is that Austin Hill spoiled the Sheldon Creed's plans for next year. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Supposedly he's coming over.

I haven't heard. Who knows? Not officially yet. How do you think the comp meeting is going to go this week for them? I mean, there won't be one. I wouldn't think. I mean, I don't think. Sheldon wouldn't go.

I mean, there's no way. I just don't see any way. I think if he wasn't already leaving, then maybe, you know, because, hey, listen, we've got to get back to work. We've got to get better. but no I just think that there are too many broken hearts is this how maybe it's not but is this how end of seasons typically go when drivers are planning to leave a team like do the competition meetings just break down at the end of the year

if you're not racing for a championship no no I mean everything I mean I can only speak to the ones that I'm in their their status quo no matter what no matter who's in who's out I mean there's there's work to be done I can't fathom someone just shipping it in at the end of the year. It just doesn't make any sense. But not unless, I mean, you can do that. But, I mean, and I think probably maybe some drivers or teams do. But certainly, you know, I would expect my 2311 team to continue to work no matter what.

Like, I want you preparing for Phoenix. Yeah. Tyler Redick and Bubba Wallace, just like you normally would prepare. So, yeah, I don't think so. The season's best drivers are on their way to Phoenix for this weekend's championship race, and Drafking Sportsbook is giving you the keys to the action. New customers can turn burnt rubber into big bucks. All you got to do is bet five bucks on the race to get 200 instantly in bonus bets,

no matter what happens on the track. The round of four is set, and even though a champion will be crowned this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, anyone could win the race. Teams will put it all in the line, so be sure to tune into Dirty Mo Doe as they handicap the field and recommend bets to watch for the 2023 season finale.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit www.1-800 gambler.net. For state-specific disclaimers, check the show notes. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario. See dkng.com slash auto racing for eligibility, terms, and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance, eligibility and deposit restrictions apply. Moving on to Sunday, a cup race, where should we start here? Where do you want to jump off?

Well, I would say it's hard to, I'm looking at kind of the little highlights here. It's really hard to find some giant highlights of like big moments. Right. Passing was extremely, extremely difficult. The tires took 150 laps to actually wear. I mean, once the rubber got laid down on the track, it stopped tire wear. So, you know, this is where Goodyear's really got to get it out of their comfort zone and get really aggressive.

You know, build a tie. we will wear out and then we will pit. We won't blow the tires. We just wear them out if we abuse them. That's what we need to get, because the passing, so much of the passing did not happen until there was 100 plus laps on tires. When finally somebody started burning their stuff up a little bit,

rarely will we ever have a run that long. So what you're going to see is what happened, I mean, I got stuck behind the 17 for 60, 70 laps, it felt like. And eventually I burn my stuff up trying to get around them. The 12 passes me. And then once the 12 passes him, he clears out he goes. And then I finally go once I pass 17, and then I start going forward. So it's just like, I appreciate the effort.

They brought a new tire. They brought one that's a little thicker. and so they kept the construction the same, the compound the same, but the thickness of the tire itself caused more heat, which what they were hoping was that it would cause more wear because when you have heat, you have wear. And that's why you saw the track being as black as it was, is because there was more heat and then it got laid down to the concrete.

But what happens is they'll tie, you know, when the pores of the tree, track. So, NASCAR 1-1 again, here we go. So when the concrete is raw, you'll see it, it's bright white to start the weekend. It has pores in it, just like your face, right? And as we run on that racetrack, the tires, they heat up, and it lays rubber on the track. You see the track gets really black. Well, what happens is it fills all those pores up, and then it makes the track really smooth. And then the tires don't wear because it's not running on that cheese grater anymore, right? Because where there's pores in the track, there's edges, right? And those edges is what's

grating, cheese grading the tires, the wear on the tires. Well, as that gets filled up, there is no more, right? So it just, it's just, the tire wear stops happening and then everyone starts running the same speed, which is what happened. Goodyear has to get way, way out of their comfort zone and build something that wears out. I saw Rodney Childers said he put on left side tires for the last time with 200 and some to go. That is bananas. We used to go 15 laps in practice at Martinsville and wear out a left rear tire. In 15 laps.

Let me ask you this real quick. If you have the cheese grater to start and as you run on the track, the cheese cheese grater gets filled over and become smooth. How do you build a tire that wears on the cheese grater, but also then wears on the smooth track? That's a very, very good question. So you still have something called a grip to horsepower ratio. So you need to have enough horsepower,

enough torque when you hit the gas to spin them. And that will also create wear. Or slide them, right? With the fronts, Maybe you overshoot the corner and you turn the wheel and it's sliding across the racetrack that way. That can create heat and also create wear. So it's either spinning them or sliding them is what causes it because the next gen does not

have nearly the load. And when I'm saying load, I'm talking about the weight of the tire being pushed down in the racetrack is significantly less on a next gen car versus a gen 6 car. So when they say this is the softest tire. we've ran in decades. No question, because there's less load. You should be able to run significantly softer tires. So I still believe Goodyear has a big, big role in what we see on a weekly basis.

I appreciate the change for them taking a risk, bringing up a tire. Not really a risk, what they brought. But you've got to get more aggressive. You have to get more aggressive if you want to help us fix the, the, racing product and help have some variation of speed because it's so difficult to pass. I mean, we stayed out, what was it, 50 lap tires or something and just nobody with tires could even remotely make it. And the reason that I believe that we need to have comers and goers is because that's

what creates wrecks. We can't even get close enough to each other to wreck. So you got to have a variance of speed in the cars to create these exciting moments. And when a Martin Truex has a speeding penalty, man, his race is over. It's over because he knows he will never make it back to the front because it's entirely too hard to pass. I mean, I sat behind a car that was a half a second slower than me a lap for 25 laps. Could not pass him.

I think it was Eric Jones, right? It was everyone I came across. I know they tweeted at one point. You were behind the same car for like 15 laps early in the race. Oh, that's a short amount. I mean, it's incredible. that it's that everyone's running just the same speed because everyone's tires gotten to the same temperature and it's not wearing out anymore and everyone runs the same cars what do you expect they're all

going to run the same speed you have to create laptop variants through different compounds or just a tire that wears out in general two questions you said that good year needs to to get more aggressive is there a situation where they could get more aggressive and then just completely overdo it. How? No, there is no chance of that. Because what would happen as soon as the tire wore out to be bald, we would come pit. We would come pit.

And so we would never blow a tire. It's just, it would lose so much grip that, A, you would either continue to stay out there and just be really slow. But could they overdo it to the fact where now you have to pit way too often? No. No. No. I mean, I don't know how much Rodney Childers' left side tires wore and those 200 and some, basically the half of the race he ran,

those last left side tires. But my guess is they still were not even halfway worn. And that's after 200 and some laps. So technically, probably could have ran the entire race. Could have on the left side tires. Now, you wouldn't have been as competitive because once they do wear a little bit, they do lose some speed. But you should not be able to run tires that long.

That's just, that's not good for the problem. You're not creating pit stops. You're not creating, oh, well, these cars with tires run through the field. You've lost that whole element of what we used to be. Lap 218 was when they put them on. That's incredible. Second question, can this be fixed by our next Martinsville race in April? Mm-hmm. Yeah, they can just, they can just, the mixer that they're mixing these compounds, they'll just, they'll put something else in it to make it softer.

Why can't they just say, all right, hey, put out announcement. We listen to actions detrimental with Danny Hamlin. He says they want these tires to be super aggressive. We went super aggressive. Here you go. Here's our aggressive tire for April. If it f- if it's up, then- Drivers have already sat down with them and said, we will have your back. If you overshoot it somehow, some way. some improbable reason we will have your back that, you know, you guys did a great job building a tire that we wanted, but we just haven't got there. But why? It seemed you're playing with house money then. If it works, then bravo. If it doesn't work, hey, the drivers told us they wanted this, blame it on them.

Jared, you're speaking to, because there's lawyers, because there's executives, there's red tape. It's just, it's different. They have a different agenda than what we have, right? We want to put on an amazing race, and we want to see passing, and we want to see people wear their tires out, and then other people with tires charged through the field. They want to build a reliable, durable tire that doesn't blow out. That's it.

That's their objective, because they're a big company that sells that product to the American people. So I guess it's like a fan can't watch the race and see well Denny Hamlin blew a tire so I better not get tires from my Toyota Sequoia. Like I don't see how like y'all y'all laughing like I'm talking this is real what I have no

what tires are on my car. Same. I do not know. Y'all tell them then we've told them. We've told them. I'm trying. I don't know what tires are on my car. I don't know if they're good year. I doubt it.

I might be surprised. I don't think so. I don't think I know because I didn't recognize the company. I've had them replace once. I didn't recognize the company. You know where you can't get Goodyear's Mavis tire and brakes at discount prices. Now, that's a good plug. I've actually used them recently.

They're pretty good. Good. I like that. I shot a commercial for Mavis and it'll be pretty funny. My tires broke my previous car when I first moved here and they took it in that day and fixed it, boom. Green means good. Green means good.

That's right from the commercial. Inside joke. Just following up on this. Can we actually talk about the race? I'm going to try to, yeah, I'm going to try to segue into that. You're saying passing was so difficult, but per the good race poll, 79.7% people said it was a good race. Can I tell you why?

Yeah. Because it was compelling. because the NBC does a... Travis is nod in his head. It had nothing to do with the battles on the track. It was compelling because, is Byron going to hang on? Is Hamlin going to gain spots?

Who's going to win Blaney or Hamlin? Like, TV did a good job of playing that up. And that's what made it a good race. If that was a spring race, no, this race is in the 50s. And we joke that when, Denny wins, people vote no more often, probably got a boost for the yes.

Good point. You, Travis. If this is the spring race, it's low. It's got to be so low. But it's not because NBC did a great job of making it compelling. I mean, now they talked about it over and over. Rick Allen, the guy loves drama.

He must get told, Rick, we need you to play up the drama. And he's like, I got you. And so they keep talking about the same things over and over. And at the end, they pivoted to like, will there be enough fuel? And it's like, yeah, yeah, there will be. Yeah.

Yeah, we're going over. But listen, I'm not ever going to get on any TV commentators making it exciting. Have you heard the Australian announcers when they're like just doing qualifying? It's amazing. They make me feel like I'm on the edge of the seat and like, oh my God, what I'm seeing is super natural. Right. It's all persuasion. Just make it feel like you're watching something. They do a great job over there in the Kiwi.

In the Kiwi. It is. It's really awesome. And then NBC is like kind of our closest partner that does that, you know, over on the cup side. But yeah, it's, that was a, it was exciting because of the story. The storyline. It wasn't anything on track that had you captivated, for sure. So let's actually talk about the race. That was my segue.

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with your ears because Coke zero sugar tastes so amazing it's hard to put it into words but hey that's my job at least on Mondays you have to taste it for yourself coke zero sugar the best coke ever there was really nothing to speak about the first kind of thing that was like oh was when me and blaney got together down the backstretch um and it looked like and tv says denny might have he just barely misjudged that. And then did Blaney say something on the radio? He was like, yeah, that was just a mistake or something like that. Yeah, Blaney took, he didn't blame you for any of that on the radio. Because Blaney hit the brakes. So what he was trying to do, and this is a, you know, he's, he's playing the game is what he was trying to do, folks, is so he knew I was trying to get in a hole

behind him. So he hit the brakes and let off the gas to try to keep me on the outside. outside. That way somebody would come past me because he probably yeah he knew that I was stuck on the outside of your train. Correct. Correct. So he was trying to keep me on the outside while I was trying to get in the hole. So I slowed down to try to get down. He slowed down even more. So I crossed over and yeah, I, I nicked him because he wasn't running straightaway speed. He slowed down to to make that happen. So I think I sit on the radio at the times. Well, why do you do that? Like, you know, he almost wrecked himself because, you know, of course, I would have got the brunt of the blame on that one, but it was like, damn it, he's got the 12 by the ball, I mean, the 24 by the balls, points wise,

like, don't do that. You don't need to take that risk. Right. And so, yeah, that, that happened, and that misjudgment happened because he was, he was trying to play some games on the backstretch, which was, which is all good. It was fine. It all worked out for sure. But it led to some really, good battles for the next few laps of us going back and forth crossing each other over, which was certainly the most exciting part of the race that we had by far. Blaney was just better than I was. No doubt about it. His car was much better on the long run.

I think even, you know, we were probably a hair better on the short run, but not by much. There was the one run where we were going back and forth. my car was the worst that had been all day. And we just didn't have the it that it took. But yeah, he was really strong. And I thought we were kind of second best to him all day. The only other kind of restart one that was head scratching, and I got some more clarification on this,

I texted Joey after the race and I says, hey, why would you do that? because it looked terrible. Can you explain first what you're talking about for people? Yes. So there was a restart where I got in line or I was battling the 54. I cleared him. I pulled down in line.

And then the 54 got in line. And the 12, I mean the 22 is a car length back from the 54 and just power drives him into the corner. into me, I nearly wreck, and it just destroys the 54, and because it causes a huge pile-up. And so I just wanted clarification from Lugano, like, I just didn't know. Why did you do that? Like, were you trying to hit him into me? Because that's what it felt like. It's what it looked like. And then I remembered. I was like, he brought up, he's like, well, me and Ty have been going at it here for the last. a certain amount of time. And I'm like, oh, that's right. Ty talked to me about this on the way of the racetrack on Friday. And he says, listen, you know, from Ty's perspective, he had been used up by Joey

for the greater part of the season. And Ty says, listen, over the last few weeks, I've just pushed back. And he's like, I don't know how to handle it, right? And so what's the best way? And my advice to Ty was extend the olive branch first. when he catches you next time let him go he'll notice it he will notice that and um hopefully it then gives him the because he has unrest whenever he catches you he's probably thinking oh shit i got to race this guy again and the minute you pull over and let him go it's like oh i appreciate that

i i should i should give that back and then it just starts a series of of good deeds between the two of you. I think Ty has a legitimate argument, and upon talking to Joey about this a little bit, and I was kind of the middleman, you know, listening to his side and Ty's side, I don't think Joey really, in retrospect now, I've slept on it.

I don't think Joey gave Ty a chance to give him back the good deed of, you know, hey, if Joey pressured him right after that restart and was all over his ass and Ty didn't get out of the way, then Ty didn't do what he said he was going to do, which is give him the spot. And so Joey just said, listen, I got used up by him the last couple weeks in a row, and I said, screw it, I'm going to use them up right here. And it wrecked him. So I see both sides of it, but I definitely side a little bit on Ty's side.

here that he was just running a race he wasn't he didn't do anything ill-willed towards the 22 um on that restart the 22 just used him up and and in turn you know it it knocked us uh up and so i didn't quite understand it and then i realized oh these two have beef that's where this is coming from but i thought it was just again a bad i thought it was a bad look for joey um for just power driving the kid into the corner not even giving him a chance and obviously ruining his race yeah i guess when when tie asked you for advice you probably didn't think that oh y'all are going to create a show out of this behind me while i'm racing for a championship and that was my point in my interview right i think i spoke with bob about it um when he asked me i says you know i just thought and again this is before

i had realized oh yeah that's right these these two have beef i didn't realize it wasn't you know it wasn't a tactic by Joey to try to take me out because, you know, Joey was up there and he was, you know, he was, he was battling hard for sure. And so immediately you think about, well, was he trying to take me out because he just saw that me and Blaney are battling? Like, what's, what's going on here? And my point in the interview was that I thought it was a little disrespectful to me and Blaney because we had earned the position to try to fight for a championship. We were up front and to have a cheap move like that, a cheap shot, I didn't agree with it. If the rolls were reversed, I said I thought that Joey would have a problem with it,

which he 100% would. But again, upon talking to Joey, this had nothing to do with me and Blaney's battle. This was just something between him and Ty that had been boiling over. Did he recognize like, oh yeah, yeah, maybe that wasn't the right time or or you don't like not get into that? No we really didn't get into that. You know, it's it's their issue and they got to work it out. You know, they need to have a conversation again and work through this for certain.

Because it's just, listen, I can tell you from experience with the Ross thing, it just never ends. You just keep going back and forth until somebody has to weigh the right, right, flag and for for me and ross it was eventually having a face-to-face conversation on pit road at phoenix and from that point on i've been raced entirely fair by ross and you know for the bulk of the year we know we've been faster than ross so he's let us go now it's my job next year if he is faster to then repay that favor back to him because he extended the first olive branch after the Phoenix incident to start letting me go. I mean, it was multiple times just in a row. And so he hasn't been fast enough really for, you know, we had a few battles at Vegas or whatnot

where he finally got some speed back. But, you know, it's in the memory bank of things you got to, you know, you've got to think about moving forward rates in someone. So I think someone's going to have to be the first to make the move with those two. And hopefully they'll get it figured out for next year. The Ross beef. That was a good time. That was a few good months. I know you liked it.

So there wasn't much else that caught really my eye to really bring out other than, damn it, Carson Hosevar. he's losing his mind again. I know. You just said last week. I just said last week I was singing his praises about what he was doing in the truck series, but I've now seen consecutive weeks in Cup where he's driving like an idiot. Okay, please elaborate.

So it's because I come up to lap him and he's running into people. He's pinching people down. It's, I don't know what he's. he's doing he's got his ride for next year what is he you're just pissing people off for no reason for what i mean he wrecked tie gives tie is on the lead lap he is two laps down what are you doing there's something in the brain that cuts off the circulation when he puts the helmet on it's it's frustrating because you see these younger guys with talent and they can do it.

They can be at a very high level and they just don't get it. And Carson is a head scratcher for me because, and I appreciate Dale Jr. on the broadcast calling him out again saying you do this in the Cup series. Go ahead. It is a bad choice.

And I don't care what Ty did to him. I didn't see any, Ty do anything to him. We didn't see it on TV. We don't know. there might have been something. Time might have knocked him up the racetrack because he's on the fucking lead lap. Your two laps down, get out of the way.

It's bigger picture stuff, right? Yeah. So it's, there's got to be some maturing going on there that he's got to work out because it's frustrating and watch. If it was someone that really sucked, you really wouldn't care because it would just be like, well, you'll never have to race this guy,

but it's this is this he's he's better than than what his brain is allowing him to be uh the pace car breaks down the first time i've ever seen this that was apparently the rubber from the racetrack clogged up on the pace cars good year tires oh yeah wow so maybe we need to put the tires that are on the pace car on the race car i'm not going to use good year tires anymore i'd be all four that. I'd be all for that. I mean, problem solved. I hate to keep beating this dead horse because it's just

we're just beating it and kicking it. But like the rain tires that Goodyear came up with was maybe one of the greatest tires that it had ever developed in the history of racing. And I guarantee you they put zero development behind that rain tire because it was so soft

because it's made to be soft because it's supposed to grip the track when it's wet that it once it wore out, it was everyone's lap time just dispersed into high, low, there were good cars, terrible cars. It was

fantastic racing at Wolksboro with the rain tire. The tire wasn't even designed to run on a dry surface. So yeah, the Pace Car had a D&F because it ripped out all the wiring, I guess, for the Pace car.

At what point did you realize something was going on with the pace car because I saw some cars like realize like do I keep driving with the pace car like stopped or what did you know? What do you do when you don't have a pace car? You get one of the safety trucks which is what they did.

And then they had a backup backup go. Then they had a backup pace car too. Right. I think I saw there was two of them. Nothing. I mean our race we're focused on our. We're not NASCAR you know having a it was very NASCAR of a

pace car to to break down um but it was um i mean it's nothing my my spotter tells me hey the pace cars broke down up in term one uh follow the safety truck that's all they said simple as that no drama to it rick allen sorry sorry Travis um so let's just wrap it up blaney wins the race convincing fashion he started right where i did on the restart um and he was was just exceptional. He didn't really go anywhere till about after a hundred laps. I think he broke free of me and the busher battle with about 60 to go, and he just ran down the leaders really quickly. And by that time, again, we're well into a run where cars do start dispersing on speed a little bit. And so he showed he had the best car, went out there, one, stamped his spot right there in the

final four. Yeah, Blaney stamps his spot in the final four. These last five weeks, that team has just been on fire. Do you look at him now as a favorite going into Phoenix with the run he's been on? I do. Yeah, I think that he's historically been good at that track. And not just historically, I'm saying he's been good at that track in the next gen era. And that matters, right? You can look at all the past stats that you want. It doesn't matter. It's who's been good in the next gen era. And Blaney has been. I think that he has really fast speed

right now. I mean, this looks eerily similar to Joey Legano from last year. No. Did Joey win the championship last year?

He did. Yeah. Where, you know, through the summer months, it was just, I don't know. I mean,

did you, I almost, can you racing reference? I have Blenny's racing reference pulled up already. He did finish second at Phoenix in the spring for what it's worth. Okay, just give me the 15 races before the playoffs. Where was this finishes?

All right. Let's just start at Sonoma here because this number fits what you're looking for the most. 31st at Sonoma, 36 at Nashville, 33rd at Chicago, 9th in Atlanta. Now, let's be clear. Let's be transparent. Hold on, hold on. Let's not try to steer our viewers into thinking Ryan Blaney sucks. He had those 30-some finishes.

That's not where he ran. He had trouble in those races. If he starts telling me teens, that's probably where he ran. Go ahead. Okay. 33rd of Chicago. 9th in Atlanta. 22nd at Loudoun.

30th at Pocono. 14th at Richmond. 9th. 19th, 9th, 36. 9th, 12th, 22nd, 28. And then he starts his Taladega win. Wow. So, yeah, it's just been average.

Just been okay. that's being very nice cheer well you're trying to tell me not to not to steer the viewer no well i mean so again when it when you see with a caliber driver like ryan and a caliber right he's not he's not anything that's 25th or worse it's likely because of something happened um but something probably happened but you're running it kept saying blank ninth blank 12 blank ninth blank 12 like that's where he kind of was right Right. And then all of a sudden, here we go.

The last four weeks or so, he's been on fire. He's been, I think, consistently one of the best cars. Vegas, one of the best cars. You know, he was up front. Homestead, him and Larson, tip for tat. And then this weekend, he was the best. So. Andy, almost won Phoenix last year, right, and helped push Lugano to the victory.

Yeah, he, yes. Without playoff implications or championship implications, yeah, Blaine, he had the best car last fall for sure. So how can you not consider him a favorite? He is the hot hand. He is fast right now. And they've clicked on something or they have found something that has greatly increased their speed.

Yeah, since, I want to just say the next gen era, but he's finished fourth, second, second. Yeah, and that's pretty damn solid. Dating back to 28. He's only finished outside the top 10 once. Yeah, I mean, you know, let's just handicap this and break it down. You know, you got Larson, Byron, Bell, and Blaney. I think that we saw the first chink in the armor with Byron at Martinsville.

Like, I genuinely think he was nervous. it's very easy to get panicked. I've been there a thousand times. You could hear them the car audio yesterday. There was panic throughout that race on them. Just keep doing what you're doing. We're fine where we are. What does that mean?

Yeah, so this is going to be his first go-round at the final four. I think he's going to be nervous. That's just my general feel. I think Larson will be, he's been here. Now, the year that Larson won the championship at Phoenix, he was by far the worst car in the field of the four and then had some good circumstances work out. But he's going to race freer.

I think Larson is going to be himself. I think he's, you know, you're not going to, I don't think he's going to alter too much for the way he puts his car on the edge. Now it's high risk, high reward with him. But I just think that he has a chance to, if he races as free as he normally does, or practices or qualifies as free as he usually does, he could stamp himself as like by far the fastest. You wouldn't be surprised to see after practice,

oh, Larson is by far the fastest of the guys. that's just that's a style. But it doesn't sound like that would, you would, you would be too convinced by that is to what I'm getting out of you. I, based on the way. Yeah, I know I'm talking in circles. I'm not making sense for sure. What I'm basically, you're not, you're not, you're not, you're not picking Byron. You're saying Larson would be the fastest, but I'm not picking Byron for a few reasons.

Um, but I think this, I could be totally wrong on this. I just feel like the Larson and the Blaney had the raw speed that is going to be tough to match. I think about Bell, I don't know. He qualifies well. He doesn't always race that well, but he executes well. So you just know what, you never know what can happen. I mean, this is a one race championship.

When does, you know, you tell me when the costas are going to fall. Tell me if it's going to be a short run or a long run. Who's going to have tires? And I'll probably tell you who the champ's going to be. But there's just so many variables in all this. And so I'm going to go with Kyle Larson because I think he has a pit crew advantage over the 12 as well. That is a factor. That is a factor.

Qualifying. I'm going to give the edge to Larson as well. so to me I don't see how you don't don't pick him I think the Larson Byron Bell pick crew teams

they're close and then I think Blaine needs it's just a smidgin slower just a smidgen slower and I think that every 10th is going to matter who you know I want to look at who's that who's fast on pit

Road. Who rolls through Pit Road on the season rankings really good. All those stats are going to matter when it comes to figuring out who's going to come off Pitt Road on the last stop with the lead. Because that's going to be your champion, most likely. And it's just when you put all that together, I think the five is going to rank pretty high and all the metrics. Byron's going to rank fairly high, but I just worry a little bit about the panic that I saw with him this weekend. Um, Bell, while did not have the fastest car last year, I was really impressed with how he still challenged up front in Phoenix last year. Um, I still think he needs just a touch more experience, but I'm rooting for Bell, obviously. He's a teammate. Uh, a great kid. I call him a kid. He's like 30 years old just because he looks younger.

But, um, yeah, I think it's, uh, yeah, I think it's. If I had to pick one, I think Larson wins it again for all the reasons listed. In years past, we've gone into this race and you've said, well, Larson's the favorite or Chase is the favorite because they drive a Chevy and Chevy's been the best on this type of track. I guess it's good news that you're not saying that this year, that it seems like every manufacturer has a fighting shot. You just brought up a good point of why maybe my pick is wrong.

because I think on the shorter tracks, the lower downforce tracks, Chevy's not been as good. Certainly the Ford's, I thought, were by far the bulk of the cars up front, which is that makes your argument of why Blaney is going to be your champion. Toyotos have been pretty good everywhere.

So I don't know. I just think that it's going to be close. It really will be close, it's going to be compelling. I think you've got a good fast four that they've all got their strengths, but their strengths are a lot of, they're all different from each other. What each one is good at is different from what the other guys are good at,

which could end up making a one, two, three, four battle. Take out the fact that you're rooting for Christopher Bell to win because he's a teammate and whatnot. Do you look at this championship four at all and think, you know, I'd be okay with Byron winning because he put together the most complete season. He has the most race wins. He has the most top fives in the Winston Cup standings. He's at the top.

Like, do you, is there any? He doesn't have the most top fives. Top tens, maybe. You're staring at. Great. Well, you're not in Phoenix. I know. No, I think I think we're actually tied.

Do you look at it and think it's just good for the sport if the most deserving driver based on the, you know, total performance of the season just also happens to win this final race? Like, do you care about that at all? Yeah, I mean, you want to see the most, you want to see the driver that's put together the most complete season. You would say Byron has put together the most complete season. while there's been a few hiccups here and there,

generally speaking, he's been up at the front for the bulk of the year. And the only reason he wouldn't say Larson over him is that Larson's got like 8 DNFs. So, you know, I think that, but in this format, you can do that. Like, he's got 8 DNFs because he knows he can. Right.

You know what I mean? If you would see a more conservative, of Kyle Larson if every race mattered to the same extent. But they don't. So you're able to have those bang bust type of events. But is there a purist in you that says, man, I hope that this guy who put together the most season also happens to win this race. Sure, sure, sure.

But the seven seed who got hot five weeks to go doesn't steal it. Yes. Yes, that is how my mind's thinking. right now. But I think that the most likely scenario is this guy that you just rang off his finishes who just got hot here recently is probably going to go

up there and steal it. So that's what it is. And it's certainly going to be compelling. I mean, I'm a race fan too. I think it'll be a good show. Other championships being decided this week at Phoenix,

we've got Exfinity. We'll start with truck. We got truck on Friday, our final four. We got Corey Hyme, Carson Hosevar, Ben Rhodes, and Grant Enfinger. Who's your pick of those for? Corey Hime, just based off of speed, he'll be the fastest. I think that that track is going to line up very well for him. That team, the Tri-Con team, has been fast everywhere. Something I keep staring at the name because there's a gut, there's an instinct,

there's something in my being that says, Grant and Finger is going to win this title. I don't know why, but it's, I drew, my eyes went right to it and I said he's going to win. Just because, you know, Grant's been really good on the shorter tracks. You know, it's what he's done, the bulk of his life. And he's really good at it. So I think that, I think Grant has a chance to do it. He really does.

He's going to, I think he'll need some help. It could be cautions coming at the right time or different tire strategy, something. But I think if we're going off total speed or I think Heim is going to be P1, host of our P2, Enfinger, and then Rhodes on speed. But something says Grant Mfinger is going to win the title. That's my pick. And then on Saturday Xfinity, we've got Sam Mayer, Justin Algae. John Hunter, Nemetrek, and Cole Custer.

Mayor Algae, Nemech, Custer. Okay, same thing here. I think Nemech will have the fastest car. My mind's doing it to me again. Is my mind playing tricks on me? Because I just looked at Sam Mayer's name. I said, he's going to win. I don't know what to think.

I have no idea. He just got his first over win here recently, but he's just, he's on a heater. He really is. he's racing well and um you know algyre's got a lot of momentum i'd love to see justin win it he's he's put so much time and effort into winning a championship over in exfinity hasn't done it yet um custer always seems like he's like the second or third best car of the weekend always he's very consistent like he's he's getting the most out of his stuff um but i just now he's i mean he's got

Cup experience, so that might help in this scenario, but there's just just enough of Sam Mayer's I don't give a fuck type driving style that lends itself to winning this race. And he's got a lot of it. He's got a lot of it. Before we wrap up here, I want to ask you, it seemed like yesterday you were in a pretty good place despite not advancing to the championship force. yeah i mean i am i'm content um you know barring anything crazy happening this is going to be five straight years being in the top five points um so if we don't make it we're always like the best when you add up

kind of all the points through the playoffs um this is due to you know i got such a great team and you know what else could I do I drove the car to the most of its capability this weekend we finished you had a 53 point day um we just had too big of a hole from from um the power steering issue at at homestead so I mean what can I do I've had years where this thing has slipped through and felt like I've had a bigger role in you know not getting it done, but I mean, just over the last, I mean, literally five years, there's nothing more I could have done differently to get a different result. You know, in Gen 6, when we went to Phoenix and Coy Gibbs tells my mom, you know, yeah, it's great we made it, but we got no shot. Let's say,

you know, we've been terrible in the short tracks. We have no shot, Mary Lou. So I, you know, and of course, that sinks my mom's heart when when the owner tells them. says that, but it was true. We've had just years that we just have not been fast enough. We've made it, but not been fast enough to compete. This was a year I thought we were fast enough at all racetracks that we were going to compete, but we still had to go through the process to get there. And I love Chris Capehart's quote on X saying, you know,

while the result is not guaranteed, the performance has been a near lock. like what he's saying is that we're a lot to run well and run up front almost every single week pretty much every week and we just don't have weeks where we just run 10th that's just not we're better than that but the result varies based off of all the different things that make up your result on a given week some things are in your control some things are not and i've just been at peace later on my career to deal with the things I can't control because I know that I know that what I'm capable of. I know that I'm plenty good enough to go win at Phoenix, which that's where they crown a champion. But it hasn't happened for various reasons. And I know that I've done my job

as good as I can do it. I've prepared as hard as I could prepare. And it just hasn't worked out. so it is what it is. I've made a heck of a career for myself and got to accomplish a ton of things. But we just haven't won the last race when we've been in it. We've won the last race before, but just not when it's been, you know, us been in the final four. So, yeah, I mean, while I'm disappointed and certainly am for my team who I believe is deserving and if the Vegas odds makers had to pick who the toughest four teams are I guarantee our name would be in there but that's not how it works and that's how and Nick Saban brought it up last year when they got left out of the college football playoff he's like really you had this team in why just because

of their record. Like, they get in the final four of the college football playoff and then they get blown out by 50 and he's like, really? You think we would do that?

Like, no, just because we're in a tough conference and we play tough people every week, you know, there's got to be a better way than just a team that plays in a week conference that, you know,

I'm right up Travis's alley here, that plays in a week conference that's got two losses. Like, they're going to be a tougher out. Yeah, he was talking about my team last year when he made that comment. I'm just generally saying, right? No, you're 100% right, though.

What are they going to do, though, Travis, right? They're going to expand the playoff. Yeah. Because it's leaving out teams that they know are better, but they just can't not choose teams that are undefeated or one loss in a weaker conference. It just would, it wouldn't, it'd be tough to face themselves, right? That's correct.

Can you just reassure your fans? Some fans were, and maybe they're not even fans, but on Twitter. You're retiring. They think you're retiring because of your post. Can we just reassure fans? Sure. I'll be at Phoenix this weekend. But what about next year?

What about next year? It just, obviously you just signed a contract extension, but the tweet did come off as if you were retiring. It's been a hell of a ride. It has. It has, hasn't it? This whole summer with the fans back and forth. worth like it's our year. It's not again.

Like it has been. It's been a fun ride. I'm not sending any other subliminal messages. It's just, I'm saying it's been a very fun ride. I mean, you know, the fans have been passionate about me all year long. I appreciate that. It's been fun for me. I appreciate the noise.

I really do. I thought by far this weekend, more 11 gear than I've ever seen. By far. So thank you for the 11 fans that continue to support and cheer. You make me want to keep doing this for sure. And even the ones that boo, like it's, you know, we've got their attention. We know that we know that they're paying attention and it's been a, it's just been a, very fun year in that instance of being so competitive,

weekend, week out, and then, you know, then this back and forth with the fans weekly has been, been fun as well. Hey, NY-I-O-F-Y-D-H. Next year, it's our fucking year, did you type that out? I did not. I personally did not, but yes, I have it here right now.

Ron's going to have to come up with a new hat, isn't he? We're going to run out of letters. It's going to just wrap around the side of the head. my boys hey appreciate it Greg the dream team he gave a hell of the pregame speech i saw on your instagram account hey i appreciate him that he's not the most mobile human in the world right now but he still finds a way to come to come to these races and support so charlie ron Nate Greg appreciate you guys for supporting me

going on this little journey with me each and every week and i mean they're the They're the ones that keep it light for me. You know, some people are so serious before races or whatever, and we're cutting up. They're trying to figure out who they're going to bet in football games and asking my advice on them. I'm like, dude, I'm working over here. Like, give me.

But it's like, that's what I need. I need the mood lightened. I can't be serious all the time. So, yeah, it was a great year, but we're going to need a new hat. This review is from Clyde. perhaps from Dawsonville, Georgia. It says still not a fan of Denny the driver, but love Denny the podcaster.

Thanks for all the insights and giving the listeners actual personality following a race. Holy shit. Thank you, Chase. I know it's you. Thank you, Mr. Elliott. I appreciate it. Be sure to rate, review, and follow wherever you get your podcast. Also subscribe to Dirtymo Media so you don't miss anything.

We put up shorter clips during the week. and then Friday, the full video is available on YouTube. Well, that wraps it up. We got one more. We'll see who the champion is. We'll talk about them on Monday. See you all next week. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.