Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - ROVAL: "We Made It; Sky's The Limit"

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Denny Hamlin and Jared Allen react to the breaking news that Alex Bowman has been disqualified for his car failing to meet the minimum weight and won’t be advancing in the playoffs. The guys discuss how this could happen and the benefits of having a lighter car.Kyle Larson won his second playoff race this year and once again in dominating fashion.Things looked bad for Denny when Tyler Reddick hit him in stage 1. Just how worried was Denny that his chances of advancing could be gone? And, he explains what he was thinking as Kyle Busch put pressure on him at the end of the race.Reddick put on a show at the end, coming from the back to avoid elimination. The round of eight is a star-studded cast and Denny believes that’s what fans want to see. Jared puts Denny on the spot asking him to name the four drivers who will advance.Track limits was a big topic going into Sunday’s race and apparently drivers weren’t 100% of the rule. And did NASCAR give William Byron a pass right after punishing Bubba Wallace?On Saturday, Parker Kligerman thought he had a walk-off win but a last second caution ruined his plans. The call was the right call, but how they got to the call is something that needs to be looked at. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I did see on social media that someone was like, oh, my gosh, Larson's going to Cabo. He shouldn't be doing that. He's a distraction. And I didn't have the heart to try him in. I guess I'm going to be distracted too because I'm going to coppo. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Hey guys, welcome to action detrimental.

Ow, that hurt Charlie. This is not going to be a rose color glasses show. Pleading with NASCAR, who I guarantee you is listening to this. It was warm. And then it was cold. But I kind of liked it. The 11. D.H.

We're all in. We're going all the way that's promising. Hey guys. Welcome to Action's Determinal. I'm Denny Hamlin. I drive the number 11 sport clips Toyota. Today, it's tonight.

Of the Roval. I got a busy week ahead. So we're going to knock this thing out. Quick. We're going to have it to you. You're hearing this right now. Everyone, it's Monday. early right Travis we're gonna get this up tonight or you you know gonna go back watch football

no I was waiting sorry Molly I was waiting for that so anyone that uh follows Travis um on social media knows this guy is a he takes the word fanatic and I mean he you are a fanatic I'm crazy yeah You are crazy. Yeah. But you at least admit and aware. Yeah. You know, I asked you this morning, how are you feeling? How did you wake up after Ohio State lost?

And you said, you don't like to lose. No, I don't handle these losses well at all. Like, I didn't watch. And you would think as much money as y'all spent on your roster that y'all would never lose a game. Because Phil Knight's broke. That'll work in roster ain't free. Oh, man. Hey, what did you think about the coach for Oregon putting on the 12th player intentionally?

It's brilliant. Absolutely. I don't like, people are like, oh, like, if you want to change the rule and they stop the play before happening, fine, but it's brilliant. I mean, it could backfire on them, but it's a smart move. I don't have an issue with it. Yeah, I got to watch the game with some friends down in Charlotte. It was an exciting game for sure, but.

How's Charlie doing? He's fine. He's fine. I think, I don't know, he may have been searching out a comfort companion to make him feel better after that. I don't know if he succeeded. Anyway, where are we starting to... Let's start with the breaking news. So here's the breaking news. Look at my sheet here. Can we zoom in? No, you can't. I can't even really see it.

We had Bowman. Bowman was in, and Travis just gave him the old scratch through and said, no, you're not. I guess this got announced 30 minutes ago from when we started this podcast. So he's out for now. His car was too light in post-race tech, and now he's going to be out. And this was such a key moment because I didn't realize until I listened to Joey's interview when he was like, well, I guess we're just going to confuse everyone because we're still in on the owners, but we're out on the drivers.

And I was like, oh, my out then? Is my car out? And I was like, no, the 45's out. I'm like, no, dang it. Out by one point. And the reason is because, I mean, this is just so complicated. Like, avid fans when they, I mean, we own the team and we couldn't for a little while figure out, why were we five points short but our drivers in?

And this goes back to the Kyle Larson missing Charlotte. So actually the five car won the owners championship in the regular season, but Tyler Reddick won the drivers. Tyler Redick, the driver had five more points than what the car had. He made the cut by four points. well, the car was one point shy. So that was all pre-Alex Bowman DQ and now everything changes for now.

Yes, pending an appeal. I could say it, has Indyric ever lost an appeal? I just, every one of their penalties has been tweaked. But there's most of their penalties, I feel like there's a little more like there's levels to it. where this I feel like is more black and white. So I agree with you. I agree with you.

Because I'm thinking about this. I'm like, hmm, how are they going to get out of this? They can't touch the car. NASCAR is going to impound the car. Surely they're dying to just get within a few feet of that car to find a way to get some weight in that thing somehow, some way.

But I just, I think they're screwed. But I don't know, you know, I just think, you know, you heard Brad Moran, well, if you didn't hear him, he said that they give a weight, they kind of give you a fudge factor

there. He said 5%. It's 0.5% of the car weight as a kind of a buffer. And that's 17 pounds. And they didn't even meet that. They allowed them to fuel it up. They allowed them to purge the water system. That's the first I've heard of that.

but maybe that's that's pretty normal. I'm not sure. And he said it still was not enough. So, um, hmm. Can we back this up a little bit? How does the car go from being in weight to out of weight in a race? Well,

it was in wait on Saturday. A lot of things happened between Saturday and Sunday. I mean, you just don't know. I mean, um, sure, but we rarely, I mean, we rarely see these types of disqualifications, you know? Oh, I know. I was first in 63 years, buddy. Um, I just, I don't know.

I, I don't know how or why, um, you know, listen, I, Blake Harris's crew chief used to work for Jogub's racing. He used to work for, uh, Fern Rowe back in the day. I mean, he, he pushes it. He pushes the edges, all the edges. And maybe he just got too aggressive. I don't know. But if they're more than 17 pounds underweight,

I mean, that's a big chunk. So I don't know. We don't know if it's 17 pounds. He said they give you 17. Well, he also didn't specify how much weight he was off. They could be one pound under. Right. So if he's 18 pounds under weight, then it's DQ.

Right? Because you're 17 under you're like, okay, you're within that point five. I see what you're saying. Yep. Right. So, I mean, listen, all weight matters, all of it. I mean, you know, these crew chiefs, these teams, they fight for every pound that they can get out of that race car. These things are tanks when it comes to how heavy they are.

And so, I mean, it's hard to even get your car, you know, down to minimum weight. It's just, it's, these things are heavy. So I don't know. It's, I just, I would say it's pretty black and white like you're saying, Travis. But I just never count out Hendrik when it comes to an appeal. People are going to immediately look to that when Bowman took flight on the front stretch. and question, does that have anything to do with this?

Do you think that would have anything to do with this? I mean, I don't know. I'm uneducated in this moment. Again, we're 30 minutes from the news. You'd have to lose a pretty heavy component. And that'd be easy to prove. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

But also, wouldn't it be laying on the track? Possibly. I mean, it can bounce off the wall. It could go into the... Who knows? And didn't you say this car is so sensitive that if you did damage to the bottom, his car probably wouldn't have been running like it did, right?

Yeah, I just think maybe... I don't know, suspension. Listen, we're spitballing together right now. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how it could lose significant weight. I mean, I know there's a way. I just don't know how or why. And so...

And the problem is that, just don't think NASCAR cares. That's why they give you that buffer. It's just like speeding on pit road. You know, if you speed on pit road, you didn't, you weren't 0.3 miles per hour over the speed limit. You were 5.3 miles per hour over the speed limit. That's why they give you that buffer. They don't expect you to take that. They're allowing for things to happen on the racetrack that could alter the weight of your car. Let me ask you this from a ownership standpoint. How big of a move is this for you guys having the 45 and the final eight? I mean, big. I mean, what else do you want to say? I mean, we were at the best we were going to finish. What are you

doing? Taking a photo of you and Molly in the background. She's beautiful boys and she. I just, what was the question? I just, how much monetarily are we speaking? Well, we don't know yet, Right. What's the dims between eighth and ninth? Well, in the historical, usually a good rule of thumb, right, is wherever your car is ranked in the rankings, right? And they use it. Currently, it's a three-year average. Starting next year, it's going to be on a two-year average.

You basically can say that the car will bring in about $135,000 more per position that you move up. now that doesn't include the purse you know the year in purse now that that's a number as well i just don't know it off of my head um but you know yeah every position you can move up it's an extra 135 000 um so but if if tyler were to get eliminated not go to the final four then he'll get reorganized back in points with the other 12 that didn't make the final four so they all get receded based off of how they did for the entire 10 weeks. Which I propose, in my opinion, that's how they should do it for everyone. Like the win and you're in, you know, should someone go from 35th and points to no worse than

16th because of one win? I don't think so. I think that once you're eliminated, you should just go back to rewracking wherever you were in points or that's where you're at. Just, you know, the final four sure lock them in or whatever. everyone else should be your whole season should be taken into account on your on your charter ranking not just one race this puts joey lagano back in the playoffs now like i said i'd be hard pressed for now right i'd be hard pressed to think that they're going to overturn this

midweek and then switch it back you got to be pretty damn sure it's black and white in the I mean, I think NASCAR, listen, they don't like making this call, you know, but what do you do? And it's, if it's under, it's under, you have to, you know. I was looking at the text from the 45 team, and obviously they knew that he was light right away. So it's not like you can hide it. So they were like, oh, his car's sitting over and timeout because he was light. Yeah. So everyone in the garage knew it.

So, you know, what do you do? do you just they gave them an opportunity to try to get it up and wait and it just didn't so tough tough break for Alex Bowman tough break because I mean you got to give him credit

on how he's performed in the playoffs really or really the last we run six races you know the last 10 races right of the season he's been you know he's stepped it up really ever since they said they were going to kick him out of the I mean, yeah. I mean, from that moment, he's stepped up.

He has, you know, he's not been like a preemal top five guy, but he's certainly running better. I think he scored fourth in points in the round of 12. Yeah. So, you know, he did the job that he needed to do to make it to the next round and was going to fight for a championship. And now he's not. If you're Alex Bowman, do you have any hint? of anything like this when you get out of the car? You see finding out more or less

when the team's finding out? Yeah. Which is such a tough, tough break. I mean, I went through it, right? I had the trophy. I was on my way out of Pocono. I went through the tunnel and I saw Chris call.

He called me. And I immediately, my heart stopped because I'm like, oh, you know, I know the race is not official. and so at that moment I'm just thinking why is he calling me is there something wrong with the car

you know it's the first year of the next gen everyone's kind of trying to figure out like what can you push what can you not and he's like hey man they're throwing us out

you know and so your heart drops and it I felt it and it sucks for Alex Bowman how much weight would you have to have missing for you to notice when you're driving do you think

I don't know Because those cars are so heavy Yeah Hundreds A couple hundred I mean I don't know Certainly it would be a significant amount Before you would actually know or feel

But you know It's that's just That's our ass telling us that That's not The performance of the car It's a linear line You just keep lighting it up Making it lighter

It will keep going faster So what's the weight difference, you know, between X car and Y car before you would start to see those advantages? Yeah. So I think that, you know, there's a formula to it and every track is different. But weight is one that is certainly advantageous at all racetracks, right? If you are lighter, it's an advantage at all racetracks. Now, there's some that, you know, there's things that people, you know, we pay attention to as race teams, and that's the center of gravity. Well, you know, you want your center of gravity as low as it can get, you know, on short tracks, right?

But at Talladega, it doesn't matter. You know, it's just, it's not a needle mover on lap time. Wade is one that is, if you look at the kind of the graph of, okay, if I were five pounds lighter, 10 pounds lighter, 20 pounds lighter, you know, There's a number to it on how much per lap it's faster. Let's just pretend he's 10 pounds underweight. That's just a random number, 10 pounds. My guess, and this is an absolute guess, is it's probably 0.01 or 2.

laps per second faster than if you put 10 pounds but you know over the course of a hundred laps

add that up right it's you're you know it matters so you know that's uh you know it's a couple of seconds

right is that right does that math add up in 0.01 yeah it's like a hundred faster and it's 100 laps it's it's a second you know that's if everything was totally equal but again i mean all these cars are really close to being the same right so if you can ever gain 0.01 or 0.02 it's you're gaining it against the field everyone's not just one car you're gaining that over everyone and and again i

these numbers are not i'm sure many crew chiefs who will at me that hey it might be worth more or less but there's a table of, you know, sensitivities and certainly weight is one that will be beneficial everywhere. So Hendrick did say that they're working to understand the issue and will make a decision on Monday whether to submit an appeal. Okay, so there's no guarantee that there will be an appeal. I think if you're Hendrick, what do you got to lose? Yeah, you file it, and if you lose it, you lose it, you're already out. Yeah. Yeah.

Even if it's a black and white issue. you're like up yeah I mean if they were like if you lose the appeal then they dock you a spot

and the standings in you maybe not but the worst says you're already out so you go for it swing for the fences mm-hmm I'm guessing

you know there's not really anything underneath the car that could be you know I don't know more info to come

you know I'm sure there'll be more over the next couple days, but that covers that part of it. So where do we want to go? Should we get to the race? Yeah, let's talk about the race.

I thought we were coming on here and having a short and sweet episode. We are. NASCAR went on and had, how much added a topic of discussion. Well, we talked about it for 20 minutes. That's not bad. 15.

Well, I know it's a shocker, but Kyle Larson wins. I mean, and he, he dominated this race. And so I think he was at really a good position entering the day, and it allowed him to keep flipping stages, right?

So he was able to qualify well, so they did their job there, which then allowed them to pit and still have pretty good track position even after they pit. He pitted and came out six on one of the times. Because he had gotten out so far, you know, through field spread, and field spread is basically, you know, the difference between each car, you add it all up.

You know, when you go in and you pit, you roughly are going to add 25 seconds to wherever you're at on track. Say, you know, if you were to have a 20 second lead, you could pit and there'll only be five seconds then in second behind the leader. So when you add all that up, he just, he had enough pace that allowed him to continue to pit to flip stages, then keep his track position because of how far up front and how far out he was. And so it looked on TV like an easy win. I'm sure it wasn't easy, but they just,

they dominated. I mean, the only thing that kept it exciting was the cut line. Like, at one point, they didn't show, they're like, Larson's,

like, it wasn't a storyline. It's pretty typical, you know, TV does that, right? They're going to play into what, what is the drama,

right and the drama is the cut line and i went back and watched kind of you know did a real quick sweep of the race on tv um so i was a little bit educated for i got on here i knew what i experienced but still what did the tv cover and uh yeah they they really the last run were kind of concentrating on the reddick myself and and legano because we were the ones that were kind of near that cut so um yeah but the five they just they were gone no real challengers throughout the day. The 20 kept them honest. They kept them within a

couple seconds. I was looking at lap times after the race and they just were faster than everyone else. And certainly track position is a factor in that, but he passed his way to get to the front. He started

I don't know, six or something like that. But I just, yeah, he just, he passed everyone. And the best car driver one, one today. Yeah, this is his second Roval win too. So clearly he is pretty good at the Roval's. Yeah, I mean, he's just really, it's hard to say underrated,

but as far as like the Rogue Course aces, like I would put him right up there with the best, truthfully. I mean, I know that he thought that like SVG kind of was just touring with him when they were running that Xfinity race. but I don't know I just feel like you know yeah you're gonna get the

edged SVG and certainly you're gonna argue that Hendricks probably bringing a better car to the track than what you know colleague is for SVG just I mean

don't mean to upset anyone but that's just you know they had four cars in the top eight so let's just be real so SVG probably has to overcome more you know so but it's going to be interested to see how this all plays out

in future road course races. Were you worried about your day at all throughout this race and your point situation? A little bit, yeah. When we didn't score any stage points I was I was a little worried Let's start with when you first

got in that accident with Reddick, what was your thought process there? Were you worried about the car? well I was worried about the car because it was hurt my car you actually could see the left rear tire on TV it was bent in it looked like it was bent in and up like the rear my car was not aligned correctly

after that wreck the credit I got to give is to my team though they just I mean my car was not good it was terrible under braking all the sudden you know with the damage and whenever I went to the lefts, the thing was spinning out and to the right, it was crazy tight. Not as tight as I was loose, but still, this thing was hurt. The car was hurt. And they just made some good adjustments. You know, Chris said, listen, I'm not going to be able to fix it. Wouldn't give up the track position anyway to fix it. But I'll give you an adjustment in here to try to help the handling. And just did a great job.

absolutely a great job they got the balance where you know i could at least maintain and and hold my spot i wasn't lights out by any means uh but you know they just gave me a car just good enough there to get a top 15 finish was that the moment where you know you get run into and you're like here's that bad luck that's going to come get me well i say that but i mean i was in the i was 20th right I mean, that's where you get wrecked. So, you know, that's on me to do better, right? You know, and I tried to explain after the race. Like, when it comes to, like, my gripe with the schedule and things like that,

it's because, you know, I, my whole life, I tried to, you know, be a Cup Series champion, right? I wanted to, well, I wanted to get to NASCAR first. And then, you know, back when I was training for this, right, or moving up the ranks, all I did was our oval track racing, because that's what NASCAR racing was. We raced on ovals and they were just all different sizes, right? You had real small ones, real big ones. And, you know, back in the day, there was a road course and then when I started, there was two, right? You had Watkins Glen and Sonoma. And that was it. You know, it was just such a small part of the schedule.

It was like just a, not an exhibition, but it was like, hey, this is, this is not what we do, but we're going to do it this week. And now, you know, we took Atlanta and turned it into a Super Speedway. We like, we've changed the game and we've changed, you know, and you can argue that, you know, super speedway racing it definitely still has elements of skill to it it's got a big element of luck in it um and so yeah i i i get frustrated when it's like you look at the schedule and it's like wow so you put two super speedways in there and two road courses in the first six races we get two conventional naskar tracks that we we have been that that's our roots that's what we've always done and it's what we know what made

NASCAR great is circle track racing. And so, yeah, it, the schedule never really, this schedule never really suited me or my skill set, right? I'm not great on road courses. I need to get better at them. I'm trying, you know, but I'm also 43 years old. You know, I, there's a point where, you know, there's diminishing returns on the time and effort that I spend to try to get better at road courses. Now, if it's going to continue to be such a

big part of crowning a champion, then yeah, I've got to do what I got to do. But now it's why I have am overjoyed with, yes, I'm still in it. And now we're going back to traditional NASCAR racing, which is what I wanted to be is, you know, the best guy that knew how to make circles faster in everyone else. So it's just, we made it through the first six races with all these wild cards, with the penalty, the 14 points penalty for that engine. We made it. And now, now, you know, sky's the limit. I commend you for, you know, realizing that you run 20th, that's where this stuff happens. But didn't you watch that replay back and think like, man, Tyler, where are you going? Yeah. I mean, I was giving them a little.

post race about it because I was like, you know, damn it, you almost, you almost killed both of us, right? And certainly he didn't do it intentionally. I think after talking to him, what he was planning on is that first, he didn't anticipate the three car getting spun around. So we would have all made the corner in some way, shape, or form without having to stop. But when the three car turned sideways in the middle of seven, he, you know, the feel, is stopping like we're all checking up well he's coming in the bottom lane and can't get his car woe down and just piles in there um the only thing i'll say though is he went so low the track was dirty he was out of he was out of control anyway so whether we were going to make the coin pretend the three

wasn't there i don't think the 45 was going to make the corner anyway he was just he was out of control before he even got there so i i know what he was trying to do but i think it was a you know a little bit of an ambitious move during that time you missed out on stage points and stage two um when larsen got by you for 10th i assume in that situation you just sir he must have been 25 seconds ahead of you know just doing the best he was yeah and my car was hurt like it just wasn't i was hanging on at that point um yeah my my team did the best they could but i was hanging on and he's like, hey, I think we might be able to get a stage point or two. And at that time, I'm thinking,

I don't know if I, should we just pit and flip this thing? Because is the one or two points that I might get worth restarting in 30th or whatever it might be? But Chris was, they were on it. They had to write strategy. They played the strategy right for me and my skill set and the car speed that we had. and yeah, I mean, it was certainly demoralizing, but he was on new tires. There was no way I was going to be able to hold him back.

He passed me there on the last lap before the end of stage two. You didn't say much on the radio today, were you just kind of like, let there's nothing. Because I never, I didn't say much all weekend. Because I just, you know, Chris was asking, well, what do we need to do to make the car better? And I just felt like the bulk of the time was me. So I don't want to send him down some rabbit hole.

trying to fix, you know, the big bad ghost, you know, and ended up making the car worse. So I'm just, you know, it's one of those things where I, if I got to get better to give him proper feedback on really truly what I need at the car. You know, I just think that it was interesting. I thought Bell raced well, but like none of our car, none of our JGR cars were very fast this weekend. Like, we didn't qualify well. We didn't practice well. How much of that is down to the driver and what the driver can get out of it? Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, silly enough, I thought, like, Ty Gibbs should be, like, the barometer. Like, I felt like he's been had the most outright speed on road courses for the JGR cars. Seabell's right there with them. Seabell's got better results. But I felt like, you know, when I saw how slow tie was, it was like, man, I'm that slow too, you know, and it was like three quarters of a second. So it was no small amount. But I feel like I close that gap on race day, but I still have more work to do. And it's just something about the Roval too that just, I don't know. It's it's, it's off cambered. It's, you know, there's banking at one, you know, you could be running like in turn two and there's more banking on the high end than the low end.

and it's all it's just again this this was put together a little different so from your own perspective where do you think your skill level at the roval is comparing to the rest of the field uh i'm 20 23rd best 25th best probably truthfully um yeah i think that um yeah you could probably put 24 other drivers in my car, my go, my go faster. Now, you still,

there's more to it. You got to manage the race. You got to manage your risk. You got to get the best finish, right? But I finished, you know, I was going to finish 13th until right in. I gave Caldusbach.

But I don't know. I just feel like, you know, raw speed-wise, that's where I'm at. That's where I was this weekend. I've been closer than that. I've had more speed than that.

Last year I had more speed. you know there's been other road courses where i've had more speed but this one just wasn't wasn't very good yeah i just think listening to you talk about this it's fascinating perspective and that you know you said you were quiet this weekend you didn't want to give chris any rabbit holes to go down because you realize okay we're not going to win this race so then what is a win for us which is just managed my risk um yeah it was but i just you know I also just, I was also trying. I don't want to make it seem like I was just, hey, don't get in a wreck here or whatever.

Like, I was trying. I truly was trying. And there were no laps really that I took off and said, you know, let me just be a little more conservative here. So again, it'll take some work and some breakdown to figure out, you know, kind of where I can improve. but generally speaking I'm just really happy these first six races were done speaking of Kyle Busch

the one time that you were kind of talking on the radio was right at the end when Kyle was on your tail what's going through your mind how nervous are you there where because it was Kyle and then there was like three more cars right there right yeah so I was you heard me on the radio

and then obviously right at the line there I gave them the spot because I said I was going to give them the spot and it's I there's going to be a lot of people saying oh the 100% rule by the way that rule doesn't even exist anymore

realistically we've we've documented that he was going to pass me anyway so I was just you know I was going to finish behind him but at that point what like I didn't want to get passed with three to go and then get

swarmed up by another car and then another car and the next thing you know there's a caution two feet before the line like Parker Cliggerman, and the next thing you know, I've given up the spot or two, and I get swarmed on a restart, and next thing you know, I'm out. So I'm like, you know, I'm looking at what is Kyle's ceiling, right? And his ceiling was that he was probably going to pass me. But, you know, I just felt like, you know, if I could just get him to not make a mistake and run into me,

I was trying to avoid it an accident, first of all. So I'm like, hey, just, I know you want to get around me, but just I'm going to try real hard here to hold you off. But trust me, I'll give you this spot up, you know, when it counts. And, you know, people let each other by all the time. And that's pretty normal protocol. But I just feel like generally, you know, I'm just trying to pay it forward to Kyle just simply because he, you know, I feel like he's cut me some breaks. and when I say cut me breaks, he's just really looked out for me in precarious situations on restarts

where, you know, hey, we're three wide, you know, he'll back out. He's raced you fairly. He's been, he's treated me pretty well throughout these playoffs and certainly not put me in spots where others probably would try to take advantage. They referenced that on the broadcast about how many points above the cut line. you were and you're thinking about who's behind you and who you're driving around. And it was ironic that it was Kyle and how much

you've commended him on how well he's raced you. Yeah. In the past that that was the guy's behind you. Just two old grizzly veterans. It's hard to say that, but like he's going to be 40 soon, right? Like in a year or two? I think he's in his high 30s now. So I don't know.

You know, he, I just feel like I would do the same for him. If he were in the playoffs, I'm out. you know, I have that kind of respect for Kyle that, you know, I think that, you know, what goes around comes around. Next year he's 40. Really? Next May.

Wow. Wow. He got old fast. He's aging quicker than me. Wait, if he's getting old, sorry. I know, but he's, I don't know if he knows. He's aging quicker than me. I do.

I certainly, I feel like when he came to JGR, he was 10 years younger than me. Maybe, you know, just kind of the way he acted and whatnot. But, yeah, he's caught me in age. That's amazing. Mentally. Actually. That's what you're saying. Were you impressed by Reddix drive at the end of this race?

Watching when you watch the broadcast back? Super impressive. Because when you look at kind of the damage that they had on their car, I mean, obviously they were fixing something back there. The car went airborne, so there's no telling what bent. Certainly it bent up the, left rear of tire on mine. So I don't know what damage he had,

but I saw him working under it under caution. And when they fix it, it's not going to be back like 100% more than likely. I mean, there's probably all kinds of damage. And so, you know, they did a great job fixing it,

and he just did a great job driving. I mean, to gain 15 spots in that last run is so impressive. Well, there was a moment in this race where he was seconds off the pace because they were wanting him stay competitive so he didn't go a lap down. He was seconds off the pace. Yeah, my crew chief told me that. He said that 45 is he's not out of the race, but he's uncompetitive right now.

And so, you know, whatever they did to fix it or, you know, more than likely get the alignment back straight, straight-ish, straight as they could, he took it and he just drove it to the front. I mean, that's almost a car lap. And, you know, it was super ballsy of them to pitch. it, right? I mean, he was, was he in? He was right at it, right? And you got to think that, you know, he was driving, already driving back forward. I think he was two spots behind me. The caution comes out, and I saw that he pitted, and I was like, at the time, I didn't know he was back competitive yet. And so I was thinking, oh, he must have just got back up to the top 15 because he stayed out at some, you know, point. But he restarted 26th. And,

bam yeah he was 24th with 25 to go and by 15 to go he had overtaken legano on points so he got up to p 15 so yeah but he said a position i can't emphasize how ballsy it is because he's he he pit when he knows what he's pitting he knows he's taking himself and putting himself below the cut line he's like i'm just going to drive through here and get it well who's the decisions that? Is that Billy Scott's decision? Is that Tyler's decision? What is the back and forth on the radio? Usually the team makes the call. The drivers just, you know, they're the quarterback. They run the play that the head coach says to run. But more than likely, there's probably some dialogue there on what do you think you need? Do you want tired? You want to be on the offense or you want to be on

defense? And you got to think with him being the road course racer, he is, you want to put him on the offense. But talk about the pressure, Billy Scott, you know, the person behind you is your, not only is the but it's Michael Jordan that you're making this call in front of. And for them to go put out that performance was amazing. It was very, very impressive. There's no other word you can use for it. But resilient by the team and gritty by the driver. Andy, I mean, he won stage two, right?

No, Bowman won stage two. He won stage one. Stage one. And there was talk of should he pit? And it was like if you're going to, if you can win the stage, you've got to take those 10 points. Yeah. Yeah, well, in his spot, because he was only plus 13 or 14 or something like that going into the day. So, yeah, he knows that Ligano is going to be going, you know, fishing for points.

And so he has to defend that by going for points for himself. Speaking of Ligano, and I know that, you know, I was preparing in my head, you know, giving and tipping the old cap to the 22 team for today. because, man, they held all of us honest. Like, it was certainly felt like one of the best road courses that they had had all year. They scored stage points in every stage and finished in the top ten. That is really, really hard to do. And it's not a track that you would put really high on Team 22 or Ligano.

But, I mean, they stepped up. And so you've got to give them an out of boy. Reddick also owes Daniel Hemrick a thank you too Yeah he told me that after the race he says I wiped out Hemrick and I love Daniel Hemerick He's nicest human ever And at the time I was like There's always a little collateral damage

You know But I didn't see what happened but yeah he was like Daniel he felt bad about it because it's the first thing he told me Well Redick was going around Redick was at turn seven. Redick was going around and the back end caught Hemrick. Really? And took hemrick out, but straightened Redick out.

And he was able to make the corner. Oh, wow. Yeah. I can't wait to see that. Yeah, Tyler was out of shape going into it. Shocker. He was out of shape and turn seven. He's just an animal.

What was that conversation, you, Tyler, and MJ? Just, you know, I went to Tyler and, like I said, I thought you wiped the sposed out. and then, you know, we end up both making it. But then I'd just congratulate him on a hell of the drive. Just coming back there was awesome. And then Michael came in, obviously, and said the same thing, you know, because he had came in after I'd already talked to Tyler. So, you know, said, we got both cars in.

Let's go get it. It looked like Michael gave a little fist pump when Reddick passed you, too. No, of course, yeah. He knows where his money lies. Yeah. Are you surprised that these are the eight drivers advancing to the round of eight, considering all the chaos and whatnot that's mixed into these rounds of the playoffs? Let's list off the eight just in case people won't know.

Okay. Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Redick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Joey Lugano are the eight drivers in the round of eight. And despite Super Speedway here, Super Speedway there, Roadcourse here, road course there, throughout the playoffs I think these have been the top eight drivers throughout the entire season. It's hard to believe and NASCAR will use that as their

selling point that see you guys survived we need to throw more at you we need to have a jump and have you running through a there was a jump we're going to have a yeah they did actually we're going to have you running through hoops of fire and then you know you're going to have to do something else

so you know NASCAR they love these little you know, gimmicks here and there. So, no, in all seriousness, you got the best eight. The best eight's in there. It's going to be tough. It is going to be tough because all these teams, they're all threats to win any one of these three races,

and they're all threats to run one through eight, all three races. So I think it's just going to be heavyweight battle. Is there a mental? shift that you have to make. Not that you haven't been focused in these first races, but like these next three races, like you said, it's heavyweight. Do you that, like...

Yeah, I mean, it's a good question. Yeah, my mentality does focus into, okay, we got to go win now. Like, you know, there's still an element in the round of 12 where it just don't beat yourself. That's, for the end of time, that's the way it's been in the round of 12. Round of 16, literally don't be a buffoon and you'll make it. round of 12 don't eliminate you as long as you got some regular season points don't eliminate yourself don't have a blow-up race certainly can't afford two of them and but then in the round of eight you typically need to win or run top five pretty much in all of them if you want to make it to

Phoenix what's your mindset going on this one have to win no I don't have to win but I have to run really, really well. We need to score stage, we need to qualify well, stage points. We need big days. Next three weeks in a row, big days. But, you know, this is a track where Vegas,

we, at the 11 team, we were really in a sweet spot there for like two years, two to three years. And then last year and this year, just not spectacular. You know, not like we had been. Every time I went to Vegas from like 2019 to 2022, like I felt like I had one of the best cars every single time. But we just, we got to hit back on what we had.

Is there anything to momentum in this sport? Like, are you at all concerned that the playoffs have been up and down rocky throughout this year? I mean, like for me? Yeah. Not really because on, we. We've had two ovals, and I've been strong in all of them. Now, the results haven't been awesome, but like Kansas, we know. We had pit crew issues.

We finished eighth when we probably should have finished 15th, but speed of the car was there. Like, we were, we were good. Bristol? How was I in Bristol? Fourth? Oh, yeah. And you were racing for points, and that's when I was running away with that. That's right.

That's right. That's right. You were like just advanced to stay where you're at. Correct. It was a cutoff race. I was running second. And then all of a sudden I just popped off the gas slightly. Just barely.

But also, Larson was lights out. Yeah, you weren't going to be. No one was going to beat him that day. I'm just saying, the two ovals that we've had in the playoffs, there's been nothing that alarms me that we're not. We can't just turn it on right now. and go. So when you look at these eight drivers,

who you think the eight or the four will be in Phoenix? I'm going to assume you're putting yourself in there. So give me the three other drivers and why they will be in Phoenix. I love that Jared did this. Larson, Bell's, God, dang it. He's been there the last two years. I know. He's had some good fortune to do it, though.

There's been, he was in trouble. homestead last year. All of a sudden a very, very timely caution when I think, dangone Larson hit the barriers or something like that. So Larson, I don't know. I'm going to hurt some feelings here.

Damn, I mean, this field is stacked. This is the way it should be. This is the way it should be. These are the, in my mind, these are the best eight drivers that we've got. You've got what? You want? Four champions in there.

You know, the whole, what do you feel about rooting for underdogs? Does anyone really want to see an underdog win? I mean, you tune into the chiefs and the Ravens. Like, you're not tuning in to the chiefs and the Jaguars, and you're rooting for the Jaguars to beat the chief. Like, that's not a big, you want your superstars, and these eight. I'm looking at them like,

damn it, I can't pick four out because I'm going to be wrong because somebody's going to stub their toe. Somebody will win that you don't, I mean, they're all good. They're all really, really good. Fans want to see

the underdog. No way. The fans want to see the best four drivers race for the championship. But I think it's different. It's different in racing. So case in point, Butler versus Duke and NCAA championship.

people wanted Butler to win I get the Cinderella thing but let's just pretend the networks want Can we can we pretend All right let's do it these were players that were in the playoffs

in the final four Kyle Larson's going up against Austin Cendrick Daniel Suarez and Harrison Burton yeah how great with

if Harrison Burton brought a championship to the Wood Brothers. Are you being, you're, I'm being, you're being smart. If I don't have a favorite, if I'm just a NASCAR fan, I don't have a driver.

No, they want to watch Larson beat Hamlin, Bell, Byron, Reddick, they want to see those four that are like, these guys are going to be running one through four

because they're the best. That's what they want to see. But it's funny, I think they want to see that because of the way this playoff a structure. Like I actually, there's a part of me that, like, I don't want to see, I wouldn't want to see one of those guys win the championship because then it would feel like it's illegitimate. Because it's like, well, Kyle Larson had the best season of the bunch. He's the rightful champion.

So it's like if an underdog is ever to win, it illegitomizes the, how? But think about this. Larson could have one bad race and not make the final four. That's crazy. Like he deserves to, like, he should just have a one-way ticket right now to the final four because of his body of work all the first 30 some races the five teams been great they deserve to be but like they're plus 33 that's against this field I one bad race and he's on the cut right one he's like he gets a free race effectively and it's not like he's like martinsville goddess. No, but if you're Kyle Larson, you've got to have a pretty bad, I mean, it's like Kevin

Harvick a few years ago, right? One, ten races, nine races in the regular season and then had it. That was a biz round of eight. That was bullshit. He missed that final four. But if you race that bad, if you're that bad over three races. I hear you. We just have a difference of opinion.

I think you want the best NFC team. The Seahawks got into the playoffs that like they were below 500 and they go on the little run like and that got their teeth kicked that's when they had the the beast quake i believe but they got their teeth kicked in because it wasn't everyone knew that hey this is nice but you ain't gonna beat the heavyweight x y'all y'all at me what do you want to see do you want to see the best four and like you really don't know who's going to win or do you want to see the an a driver and a b and a c and a d you know there's a lot to it this is driver and team so you're not singling out everything.

But I'm saying this is, this is maybe the best eight ever assembled as far as like how even it is. You could put Larson on an island and tell them, you could say that,

okay, there are a step above. I mean, he's better than max. So obviously. The other seven. Stop it. But the,

but two through eight is fire. And it's going to be close. You never answered my question. Because I'm going to get it wrong. Me, Larson, Bell, and Elliot. Is it even years? Ligon going to make it? Why no?

Huh? Ligano and even years. I know. I know that was going to end, wasn't it? Yeah. Wow. The drive is still alive. So that means you're betting on Chase Elliott to win one of these races, most likely.

I just think it's things never go as as you think they I think we're going to have at least one non-playoff winner and I just think he's solid enough I think he he's got the best average finish so what tells me that he's not going you know not going to just run top three at all the races if not win I don't know

that's just my that's my final four and I know it's wrong but it that's what I got okay do we want to go to this exfini race do you want to touch on this cup race more no i i think we pretty much got the cup covered i mean oh we should talk we should try we should mention this this stuff at the beginning um early on in this race nascar was enforcing their rules and that you need it air quotes you needed to have i don't even know if i want to get this right four tire

or at least two tires on the pavement or the rumble strip they couldn't four tires couldn't be in the blue at the same time so y'all saw my tweet where I was like wait a minute

no I think it has you have to have two tires on the asphalt and then so then I went to the NASCAR comms chat let me make sure this is really concerning a driver tweeting about the rules before a race I'll tell you what's even crazier

I'm gonna make sure they didn't respond before I call them out for not responding. I got to make sure. I just, I got to make sure. But isn't this what they responded at 207. I was in the fucking car, Brad, Moran. So you texted the comm shot.

Yeah. What? At 11.09 a.m. I said, hey Brad, because he says all four tires on the non-track side of the red and white rumble strips. we reviewed it and it was in conclusive.

Oh, because someone sent a picture with all this car. McDowell says, oh, we still playing it. So anyway, I said, so your Lusat tires can be on the red and white

or they can, or they can be on the asphalt? I just, I said, hey, can you clarify? And so when we were all riding in those horse trailers, they got us pinned up on,

like horses now. They put them on us on these trailers and they prey us around. I was, I think they had 13, of us on each trailer or 12 on each trailer I had at least six or seven

asked me, hey, did they clarify what the rule was? So we did not know. But don't you have a driver's meeting? Yeah, but they didn't address it. Why didn't you bring it up? No one ever asked questions anymore. We have our own chat to ask questions.

But if there's a, what's the purpose of a driver's meeting if you could. Oh, that's just, it's a charade. It's there, it's just for the people. It's just for the VIPs. Well, that's your chance to speak up and make them. There's not one driver listening to that video that they play. How do you know they didn't say it there in the video?

Because he stated it and I still didn't understand it. It sounds like he's deflecting, Travis. I mean, to your defense. I love the response at 207 p.m. though. Yeah, Green flag was 238. Okay, so I would have been at my car. Still, like. Yeah.

Oh, well. All right. Well, we were confused. There were a lot of drivers confused. I'm still confused. Because of the, you know, itself policed itself before because you had, you were going over this jump, this ramp. So you kind of, it wasn't advantageous to jump over it. But I know where you're going with this.

You're talking about William Byron did the same thing. Bubba. No, who was it? Yeah, Bubba. Bubba got called for it. And then William Byron was right behind him did the same thing. and didn't get called. He was in the video

and Tartrester to tell us the station. And boom, there's firing. Not only that. They replayed it on TV. You can see blue on the driver's side of his car.

So, I thought it was, I thought it was funny that they're like, here, look at this. This is why Bubba got penalized. Oh.

I see the tweet but the clarification Bubba's was more egregious there's no question about that we got to be real here and say that okay well Bubba missed it by two feet

you either miss it or you don't I don't disagree with you you're either you're not kind of pre-ed or you're not speeding your car is light or it's not late. Byron missed it by 10 inches, Bubba missed it by 2 foot.

That's the only difference. But if you can see blue on the other side of your car, that's, to me, I thought it was a penalty. And I just thought it was funny that they replayed it on TV. So NASCAR had a second and a third look at this and still didn't call it. So Mike Ford tweeted, the 24's front and rear lefts are touching the red white strips, very close no doubt but not a penalty

my thing is is yes they're touching them in that frame shot but if you just if you rewind it didn't say that he tweeted Mike Ford stop it we have a picture a still picture so what he's saying how about this is that the tire is touching

the white the left front and the left rear tire is touching the red back here but he's clearing he still has to run over the blue It's impossible for him to not run over the blue here. He quote tweeted, Ed, all things fast 89.

And the first thing he did was give Ed credit for a good screenshot. Really? He said, first, there's a damn impressive screen grab by Ed. That was the first tweet. And the second tweet was, even better shot. So he's saying that all four tires have to be on the blue. He's justifying the call by NASCAR, but at least he had four tires on the blue. blue, Travis.

If you see blue on the left side of your car, that is a penalty. I'm saying what he said. I just found it ironic because I didn't go on social media. I was watching the, I watched the raceback. And when I saw the bubble penalty, I watched them slow-moe this thing. And I was like, didn't the 24 just do that same thing? Before we wrap up, we have to touch one more time on NASCAR officiating. And this comes in the Xfinity race,

is that they did not see a car buried in the wall for a good 10 to 15 seconds before throwing the caution milliseconds before Parker Klingaman takes the life flag. I was hoping we were going to have to, I was hoping we just skim right over this. In the end, let me just say this. In the end, they made the right call. but they what were they doing waiting that long is my question so jeff culloch said on the tear down tonight that there was someone in the booth that has the tv broadcast when he saw it he made attention to the person that's going to make the call he then has to verify it though and that's where the delay was and

so he verify what so it's like let's say you and i are in the booth and i'm the race director but you're watching the broadcast and you say hey there's a car i then need to verify it apparently I can't just act off of your is what I picked. I could... But by that, by the hell. Are you serious?

That's what I thought I heard Jeff say is that that's part of the... That's what that person's job is. Is to say he's like a corner worker. Hey, we got a car buried under tires. Are you sure?

Well, this person was watching... Yeah, I'm sure. Hmm. Okay. You're absolutely positive? Okay. Caution. Right.

That's how long that took. By that explanation, that would mean that every caution is on a five to ten second delay. No. That wouldn't. Oh, we've seen no way. Don't even try it. We've seen cars brush the wall and keep on going. And that freaking yellow comes out quicker and you can shake a stick at it.

It depends on if the person gets to see it or it's just that's, I feel bad for Parker. I feel bad for Parker too, but it was a caution. It was the right call. It was the right call. I was rooting on Parker. Like, you wouldn't believe it was. I was in Burkdale and I was watching with my mom. We had it streaming on my phone.

And we just had dinner and like we're both just, come on. Get to the white. Get to the white. And you see the white flag and then you see the yellow, you know, until they started giving you some alternate camera angles. And indeed, you know, they provided us proof on TV saying, here's the yellow light, bam, and it was two foot in front of, you know, before he got to the line.

It's just, I just don't understand why. Listen, this happened with Ryan Priest at Indy, right? We're like, that car was wrecked for 10, 15 seconds, and he was not moving. that car, by the way, was not moving out of those barriers. And by the way, even if it did move out of the barriers, there was going to be tires everywhere. So it's just,

there's just not doing a good job. It's just happening too often. And it's frustrating because you continue to hear the same thing. We'll look at it. With the information, these are the clap, every week, it's the same thing. We'll, take a look at it and we'll make adjustments. We made decision off of the information we had at

hand. I mean, just copy and paste every week you're going to get these same quotes. But eventually you have to hold people accountable and say they're not doing a good job. Or they're not getting enough resources to help them do their jobs better. It's one or the other. There is no in between either the team up there that is making the calls don't have enough help or enough technology and information or they're just not good enough at it that's just that it's one or the other it cannot be anything in between do you think we are being over critical because you look at other sports and this is a constant issue this is a constant issue in every sport in the highest state organ game there's multiple miscalls and and that's that

that happens in sports. Let me guess. All the missed calls were all the Ohio State staff. One of them, right that started the game, it probably should have been an interception for Oregon, and they missed it. So, like, are we just being a little over-critical to where this is a judgment call

that's happening very fast? Jared, what do you think? I got to gather from my thoughts on this. I think it just, it's because it happens to be a call that ultimately seems like it decides the outcome. of a race. Yeah. Right.

And we're hyper fixated on it because, you know, there's tens of football games every weekend. Of course there's going to be a miscall on a bunch of games, but there's one race, and we're focused on this one race. You're right. And it, and it, it's, it's worse off because it doesn't pass the eye test, right? Is it you see the car buried, in this particular case, you see the car buried in the tire race on TV. And they're like, oh, they're still racing.

but I see that this car is clearly not getting out of here. How can the guy officiating the race not see the same thing I'm seeing? How am I seeing it before he's seeing it? It doesn't make sense. So let me say then I'm going to shift a little bit and say that the people that are there are not, they don't have proper technology or autonomy to say, that's a yellow. That's what's interesting to me

is that I think this showcases that TV and the people call on the race aren't necessarily using each other or even working together. The race official is not using the broadcast to their advantage. I don't know if they can use it to the advantage, but they're clearly not even referencing it.

You just told me that there is a designated person staring at the broadcast. And by the way, we used to have corner officials all over the place. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe not. I thought I saw someone waving a flag right where that car was buried. During the pace laps,

the track workers will wave their flags to kind of signify where they're at. We used to have track officials and workers all over the place. We clearly are not putting enough resources into officiating. And that must be, I think the owner should demand something change because the stakes are way, way, way, way too high.

And the inconsistencies are coming way, way, way too often. I mean, Formula One, they you know, they're not they're not the ones who officiate the race, right? I mean, but Denny...

The NFL, the officials, it's not, they're not NFL employees. Okay, but do you not remember the controversy with Max winning and beaten Lewis for a championship so like oh I get it that was that was bull that was a terrible and I don't know like listen MLB they have their own union for their ums and that's a they're awful so like let let's be careful on if you want it on their own I get it I you know maybe we're being too harsh I hear you but it just seems like it's week after week after

like it's I think Jared brought up the right point it's we have one race it's it's It's not, we don't have 20 races and like we're pinpointing someone putting their foot on the line or, you know, a bogus holding penalty. This is a, this is a big time decision. And it's not like this is a gray area. He's just saying we just, there was a million people that watched that Xfinity race that said there's a car not moving. And yet we let it play out. That doesn't make sense, Travis. saying that that wasn't a mistake.

I mean, but they, so they made one mistake in a three hour, two hour race. Well, if you make one mistake in the bottom of the ninth, that's the mistake that people are going to remember. Like,

and I just think that while they could probably tweak things and prove it, I just think we are just going in on them a lot. I'm all for NASCAR giving the people there more resources. Let them, you know, give them an opportunity. to redeem themselves.

It's not going to come in one week, not going to come in the next four. Let's check into the next year and say, are we more consistent or not? Because I just truly believe we're as inconsistent as we have ever been in this sport. And the stakes are just too high. Sorry, it's just too high.

We've got, I mean, we could go on for days talking about this. some calls are just worse off than others. We got a review here from JKZ 3319. I grew up a Tony Stewart fan, but now after listening to your podcast, I'm a Denny fan. Thanks for all you are doing for this sport and great podcast. Appreciate that.

Thanks for that review. Yeah, just met a bunch of our podcast fans this past weekend. I appreciate y'all all getting me shouts out there at the racetrack. I saw you sign a some 11 stroller set up car. I did.

That thing was homemade too. It was pretty awesome. We did it during JGR Fan Fest Day at Charlotte Motor Speedway. So just did, we signed 300 autographs and did a little Q&A. So that's what their fan day has been over the last couple of years.

It's worked well. Just so you're aware, Danny, before we wrap up here, that NASCAR had a call with the crew chiefs this week and told them that DVP towing will be officiated. I thought we were done. We are done.

I'm just letting you know so you're aware because crew chiefs are aware. They said the rule, okay. Travis, this is what we're talking about. I'm not saying they're perfect.

Like, it's as if I don't even want to get into it. But this is what we're talking about, right? They went from, we're not towing your box back to the pit stall to all of a sudden, we're going to start pit stall. We're going to start pitting.

We're going to send you all back to the pit box. Let's just figure out whether you... They changed the rules mid playoffs. In the middle of the race. I mean, Travis, they threw the yellow flag while we are still in a red flag condition. I... We have to do better.

This is my plea. We have to be. better because I'm telling you there's there's people in my mentions that have had enough and as a car owner I spend way too much money for there to be this many inconsistencies. Okay. Yep. Expect VP change, by the way, for those listening. They will now, if you've wrecked, they're going to tell you your pit box.

Technically, there's been no rule change because they said we're not changing the rule, but here's how we're going to do it from now on. Sounds like a rule change to me. Expect DVP to undergo significant changes for 2025. Okay, I finished the read. I'm done. I'm done with officiating. Be sure to rate, review, and follow.

I love the NASCAR features, though. Everyone, they're nice. They're nicest people ever. When we... I have such a good relationship with them one-on-one personally. But damn it. You know, they probably say the same thing about me. I wish he would shut up about this.

this, but man, we got to, we deserve better. Is there any that you're close enough with that would come chop it up with you in the offseason? Oh, yeah, yeah. Like Elton Sawyer, we talk, and certainly he's, you know, he's had to hand me down penalties that he probably thought were, you know, close. I'd love Elton and, you know, David Green. He's kind of head of the track, on track, boots on the ground officials. they're all just great people.

They're working their tails off. We don't say thank you enough to the NASCAR officials who got to put in tons of hours. It seems like as many is what the team guys have to put in. I love watching Bob Pocker's tweets when he's like, cars are going through tech and it's still nighttime. Yeah.

Man, these guys work hard. Be sure to rate, review, and follow wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, click subscribe on our YouTube. YouTube channel. We put the full video every Monday. Well, appreciate y'all tuning in. We live to race another day. So let's go

let's go tear them up on the tables and tear them up on the racetrack. I saw where I need to just kind of let these podcasts in, but I did see on social media that someone was like, oh my gosh, Larson's going to Cabo.

He shouldn't be doing that. He's going to he's gonna that's man if this is a distraction NFL he didn't have the heart to try him in oh I guess I'm gonna be distracted too because I'm going to coppo if this was NFL that would be leading off

first take remember when like Tony Romo went to Cabo was the biggest thing ever playoff distraction we'll go there run one too Larson and Hamelin headed to Cabo before the Las Vegas race that's right

all right well I'm gonna go get distracted see y'all later