Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Sizing Up The Playoff Competition

Episode Date: August 27, 2023

Denny Hamlin reacts to Kurt Busch announcing his retirement from Cup Racing. Daytona wasn't as chaotic as Denny thought it would be. What happened at the end of stage 1 that saw Denny going from 1st to 8th. Brad Keselowski's car on fire. Ryan Preece with a scary wreck. Christopher Bell pushing Ty Gibbs at the wrong time causing the first wreck. Bubba Wallace makes the playoffs. New expectations for RFK? NASCAR 101 as Denny explains how the playoffs work. And, why drivers will or won't advance in the playoffs.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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My mom couldn't get the top of the Tupperware off. It's a plastic container, by the way. Right, I know. But just squeeze the bottom and the top will pop off. Yeah. Travis is laughing. I mean, I get it, but I've never had trouble getting the lid off the Tupper container before. Well, give my mom a break.

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey, guys, welcome to Actions Determinal Daytona. Nighttime is the Right Time episode presented by our sponsor, Birch Gold Group. get a free kit on goal by texting Denny to 9-8-9-8-9-8. I say nighttime was the right time because, boy, it was hot during the day there. Oh, my God. I made a, well, we, the team made a very bad decision. I think I was thinking in the afternoon turned out fine at night, but we chose not to run a

cool shirt yesterday. And, you know, that decision has got to be made pretty early in the week. you kind of look at the temperature, well, it's going to be night, 80 degrees, no problem. It was no problem. But yeah, it was a bit steamy. I did set a new record for myself for weight loss. You're doing the science experiment. Yeah, I had eight pounds lost from, you know, naked before the race to naked after the race.

So that was a record for me. And so we finished that study, basically the University of Florida's, you know, measuring a couple guys throughout the year. In different scenarios, based off of outside temperature, are you wearing a cool shirt, are you not? They measure your heart rate. They measure your, you know, all kind of internals and have a swallow pill where it's kind of a chest strap and their take data and they'll give us a kind of a, and they also put a salt patch on my arm just to kind of show us how, what's the best way for us to rehydrate?

Are we a salty sweater or not? I'm really not. So I don't need to be taken in a bunch of junk. Really water is sufficient. Would a cool shirt affect any of those stats? Like you would have lost eight pounds regardless if you were a cool shirt. Yeah. From what I understand,

the cool shirt reduces your inner core temperature by about a degree and a half. So not a ton, but some. It would have made you a little bit more comfortable. Yeah, I feel fine. I mean, I felt totally fine. It's, you know,

it's just something about. the daytime and humidity that really kind of if it gets you know 90 really we kind of set the bar at about 90 plus that I'll wear the cool shirt anytime it's below that I won't it's just a little bit of weight in the car I mean car's 35 or 3,600 pounds now whatever it is you know it's just a couple pounds so it's not a game changer but we just like to get every advantage you can but I don't know probably doesn't do anything before we got to racing we had a big announcement. Kurt Busch officially has retired. Yeah, I love it and I hate it for Kurt. You know, certainly he had his career cut short, shorter than what he wanted for sure.

Really happy for him, though, to, you know, be able to announce this and, you know, kind of get the pressure of, are you going to come back? Are you going to come back off of his shoulders? He's been a great asset to 2311. As you know, we've, he's still been working with the team this year. He will be working with the team again next year. So we have him under contract still to, you know, be, our, is it C, C, F, no, Chief Fund Director? Yeah, yes. Yeah, Chief Fund Director. CFO. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So he's, he's been a valuable asset. He's around the racetrack. You'll see him still here and there and interacting a lot with our, you know, our cup drivers. And he's just valuable.

because he's a great manager of races. He's the veteran that can help our young guys continue to help with their learning curve. And he sees things now from the outside perspective. So he can certainly be a valuable asset to not only them, but to us as well. He can say, hey, I see this car doing that. We're so focused at 2311, our engineers and our crew chiefs and our drivers on our cars that sometimes you overlook other cars, and so he's checking out all that stuff.

There was a funny moment before the race, standing on the grid. You were talking to Gabe Hart, and Kurt had come over, and he was kind of just stand there for a moment waiting to get a moment, and then he turned to you, and both you and Chris put your hands out for a handshake, and obviously Kurt can only pick one of them,

so he shakes Gay Part's hand, and you kind of just, oh, it was going here for the spoiler anyway. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't even notice that. Yeah, you went out for a handshake. He left me hanging? Yeah, he went to Chris, left you hanging,

and you kind of just were like, well, I was going to go here for the spoiler anyway. Just kind of play it off. Oh, man, Josh Harris would have never done that to me. Kurt, he chose Gabe, oh, man. So I have a picture of Kurt reaching his handout, and you and Gabe Hart. I like this.

I got to see it. I got to see it. Yeah, so that's cool. But we, yeah, it was a, I don't know. I guess I was wrong. I was wrong. I called for chaos,

wrecks all over the place. Eh? There's a couple. I can tell you for 70% of that race, I sure was hoping for some wrecks. Sitting there riding in the back, just waiting on a caution, and it never comes.

It's become very predictable that you're going to run too wide for the majority of each stage, and then with five or so to go, guys are going to get a little more anxious and that's when something's going to happen yeah i mean there was a point that i pulled out of the pack um you know i bailed on the pack because i was three wide bottom and this is when the action was actually getting pretty dicey it was three wide by three wide for a bunch of rows and i'm i'm i'm trapped on the bottom so i can't go anywhere i'm not going to go

forward i can't go to the side i can't i got someone pushing me from behind not just as like I don't have the track position I really want. So I'm just going to bail here and count on a wreck about to happen and eliminate myself from the odds of being in it. And it just never happened. And then we had a pit road penalty under green, which you just cannot have. And I then just watch the race for the rest of the race. I'm just in the back of the pack. Just, you know, I can't get in the middle of it.

I mean, it's just stupid. I did that one time. I thought that I'd be a hero and get my lap back naturally. Like up at Talladega, this is a couple years ago. It was the only laps I did not complete in 2021, I think it was. 20 or 21? It's when at Talladega, I went to lap down for some, I don't know. I might have sped on pit road.

So I had a penalty. And I says, oh, that's fine. If you want to give me a penalty, I'm going to get this. back the hard way. I'm going to go through the pack. And I got to third or fourth place in on position. And then I got wrecked. So I went a couple laps down from there. And that was the only lap so we didn't complete that year. I remember that because your quote after the race, you did something stupid to go a lap down. You're like, I'm just going to lay my on the table and get it back the old fashion way. Yeah, it was not a good choice. So when you're a lap down,

on a speedway, it's silly for you to go up there and race, especially when I was on my own lap. I mean, you must have heard on the radio a ton of times. You're on your own lap. We just need a caution, any caution. I'm like, surely these guys are going to wreck. I mean, and then they decided to go single file, you know, for 30 of the last 40 laps. And I'm just thinking, are these guys really in 15th place thinking they're going to win the race from their position running single file? But they did get dicey, just no one. And then you get a caution and you're at it. Oh, well, we finally got a caution.

And of course, the 45 had enough damage. He was so slow that he ended up getting the lucky dog right before I did. So it was uneventful for me. I was just a fan watching the race for most of the day. We did have a shot to win stage one. We got through the pack pretty quickly. Started in 19th. We got with our Toyota teammates pretty early,

and we were all running one, two, three, four, five. And it's like, wow, this is going right to script. And at the end of the stage, the outside line at the end of stage one was, it was coming on. Riley Herps was leading it. And the inside lane was kind of getting jumbled up. Like tires are getting hot

and you're having to lift a little bit more so the outside lane starts coming. Well, I'm looking, and it's a couple laps ago. Coming to the white, I go ahead and pull up in front of Riley. And I certainly, on hindsight, it's like I had the 19 behind me. The best thing to do at that point was at least try to gain a point on him

to keep myself in the battle. But I'm trying to go for the stage win. Did you really think the top line was going to win the stage? Well, they just came from 10th on the outside and just picked off row after row after row. And finally on the white flag lap, they were up beside us. They had the momentum because Bell got separated from Turex. And that was the story was the third car. If they got too far back from the second, it lost the power.

And that's what happened. The top lane was moving forward. So, I mean, again, it's hindsight. But ultimately, I made the wrong decision trying to go up and block Riley versus and then when he got shucked by the four, I'm like, oh, no, the top line's going to be dead. Like, as soon as the four made decision, well, I'm shucking Riley here, it's whatever row decides that they're not going to get disorganized or decides they're going to get disorganized, that line's going to be dead.

Which always seemed like it was going to be the top line because you have the Toyota's and a row on the bottom. If you just park yourself in front of Turex, you're going to finish one spot in front of of the truck. Well, that's easy to say now, Jared, right? I don't know. You're right. It's a big and easy to say.

You're right. I'll give it to you. You're right. I agree. I didn't even know if I was ever clear. And then I looked at the replay and I was like, oh, for, yeah, 75% of the back straight away, I was clear to pull down back in front of the 19. Just didn't. I mean, my brain watching.

I mean, and you got to realize, too, from my perspective, I'm mirror driving, right? I'm straight up just looking up or looking at my camera. trying to follow the 36 and stay in front of him because I hear that the top lines got a huge run off of two. The bottom lane was still, you know, separated but getting organized. Like, listen, this is like a yo-yo effect.

If you get disorganized on the bottom because someone bobbles, eventually they all pack back up, and especially on the last lap, they're going to get more aggressive pushing. I just messed up and had a brain lapse of like the bottom lane at least you can't go anywhere. Like if you're on the bottom line,

there's no chance really for anyone to pull out. Like you've got the yellow line on the inside of you, so that's essentially like a wall. They can't go that way. And then they've got the top lane down on their door, so they can't go to the right. They can't go to the left, can't go the right. The lapse of judgment surely should have stayed in front of the 19,

probably, well, would have won the stage, but we didn't. And, you know, that pretty much at that point, I'm like, well, now, you know, Truex gained five more points on me. And it's unattainable. So that's why I pulled out of the pack during that crazy moment because I was like, well, now I just need to focus on trying to win the race versus trying to gain points on Truex, which is why I chose to give up track position during that metal stage. Were you not concerned besides not winning the stage? Were you not concerned in those moments of your move going back to the top, just being a little? little too late and then getting hooked and put in the fence there was a couple times i don't know if

i was clear i think riley maybe have gave me a break there i need to i need to check that for sure it seemed watching it in last time it seems like you asked for a break a couple times really like i mean i'm kind of at the mercy of what rick allen's saying on tv and he goes oh late blocked by denny hamlin i i believe it i believe it um man it's just it's so You've got to be quick with those moves. And sometimes when you're indecisive and you, what you'll do as a driver is if you don't, if you're not sure, you'll go halfway up and then see if that person's just still coming or are they, or are they like, did their momentum stop?

If their momentum stopped, you're like, okay, I'm clear to go ahead and keep going to go ahead and keep going to let me in or not. Exactly. You're going to let me in or not. But thanks to write. If he did cut me a break, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, he was fast.

He had a good run going. I don't know where he finished. But he was strong leading that outside line. It was pretty impressive. And they qualified super well as well. I wonder, was that a, I wonder if that was a Stuart Hoscar or front row car? 36 wasn't it a front row car?

You can put a number on anything. It qualified, honestly, when you think about it, it qualified like a Stewart Hoscar, right? Like, were they qualified versus... Well, nobody qualified like a front row. row car. McDowell was a way back yeah I talked to him after

I don't know sometime after qualifying before the race and he was like man we just we want to check it out but NASCAR won't let us you know we got to present something that's broke or we got to prove something is not right but we

we don't know until we look at it but they won't let us look at it so I didn't see man this could be I didn't see McDowell all day. Did he race okay? Well, Riley finished 38th. Hey, he got into wreck. Yeah.

McDowell, give me that. 13th. Okay. How did Gilden do? 32nd. Oh, another wreck. Yeah, so it seemed like his car must have been fine, but you didn't really see McDowell up front like you normally did.

So maybe his car did have some issues that made it slower. He's usually always a guy that's going to be up front on the Super Speedway. In hindsight, great job. by McDowell winning the Indy Red Course. Oh, yeah. That was it. He had to have it, right? Had to have it, got it done.

Racing season is well underway, and it's time to go full throttle. Feel the excitement of every lap like never before with Draft King Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets instantly, no matter what goes down to the track. Before placing your bets, make sure to check out Dirty Mo Doe and their Draft King's five bets to watch. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now with Code Denny. New customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets instantly. That's code Denny only on the Draft King Sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. For state-specific disclaimers, check the show notes.

21 and older in most eligible states, but age varies by jurisdiction. See draftkings.com backslash sportsbook for details in state-specific responsible gambling resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility, wagering, and deposit restrictions apply. Terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com slash auto racing terms. Terms at sportsbook.org dot draftkings.com slash auto racing terms. What else was interesting? We saw during a red flag, Kuzowski, um, doing, uh, donuts in the, in the, on the backstretch. First, I asked my crew chief, I said,

what is he doing? It's a red flag. Isn't he supposed to be stopped? That's why I'm wondering. Are you even allowed to, to, I didn't think so. I don't, I don't think you're, you're not supposed to be moving.

Like, which is why they even say, they don't even let you catch up to the field. So did they just kind of pay? He might be on fire, so we're going to let this one go. but certainly by the letter of the law, Kazowski shouldn't have been moving. So what they'll do is even when they throw a red flag,

wherever you are, you stop. It's like you've ever seen sprint car races, right? Wherever they're at, they're just, the red comes out, you hit the brakes and you stop in your position where you're at. I guess he thought he had something burning underneath. Even Alex Bowman, I think I heard him say that Kuzalski, his underside was on fire

and what Kizalowski said is that hey I'm if I sat there it was going the fire was going to get worse so I was just trying to dissipate it I guess what he could have done is just run through the grass that would have killed it that would have killed any fire right away

he said the smoke was billing this is what he tweeted by the way the smoke was billing faster around my feet no I had to do something the red and the ECU gets clearer with every second as the fire is going out and smoke dissipating hold on the ECU gets what clear How does he know that?

I don't know. What's ECU? Well, that's a little thing that's on the dash. Maybe he saw smoke. Oh, okay. He said he saw smoke in the car. So he's looking at the light in the ECU probably, and it's getting clear as in he's able to see the...

He doesn't see it better. Yeah. I guess. As the smoke dissipates. Yeah, he said it came out of the left front rocker panel. Okay. So did anyone actually put out the fire or did it just die? It just died on its own head.

So many donuts. Yeah, stop drop and roll in... Talladega nights. Effectively. All right. Well, it was a winning move for RFK. So you can't hate on that. So we had that red flag for...

That was a big one at the end of Stage 2. where that was really the only major wreck that involved other cars, lots of other cars. Then at the end of the race, we saw the priest incident where he made the, it was the most incredible barrel rule I've ever seen.

I mean, I finally got to watch the replay as, you know, again, I'm just in the back of the pack not doing shit. It's under yellow and I'm cruised around and they start to play the replay on the big screen. We used to have a big screen on the backstretch when we had stands here and now there's like a big, there's four big screens starting from off turn four all the way into turn one. So they start to play it and so I'm driving and I'm looking through the win-in-net and I'm looking and seeing him turn and start to flip and I'm like, oh wow. Wow, he gets some good air.

Oh, no. I mean, as soon as his car hit the grass, it, I don't think I've ever seen one have that many rotations in the air. I mean, not since a U.S. gymnast have I seen that many barrel rolls before making contact. Holy cow. I mean, we got news that Ryan's, at the hospital on his way to Charlotte now,

so it seems like he's fine. We got a tweet from him last night, so I think he's going to be okay so we can comment on it, but holy, that thing was violent. That was the most violent barrel I've ever seen. Usually, you've seen in the old days when the cars would barrel.

It'd be a little bit slower. The car would dissipate more. His car really kind of stayed together, except for the roof hatch and the win-in-net. yikes was he the one that was with the Kyle Larson

Big Destroy Tal Daga Remember when the door bars And was he the one that power drove Larson Is there him or Bisher I think it was Preece Right? I think it was Preece

I feel like it was Preece and Larson So Preece is Essentially our crash test dummy For the next year Yeah it was Preece Yeah Oh man Yeah man

And it, whew, so he's taking two good licks this year. That was, that was just an incredible visual wreck. I'm sure, I don't know, it's hard for me to put myself in that position to feel what he felt. And I was looking to see, like, he was very lucky to not, when he hit the ground each time that it would, so he would hit, the car grabbed, went up, started twisting. where then when it comes back down, you don't want it to land flat on anything. And he was very lucky that when the car first made, when a car made contact again for the second time to the ground, it was kind of like on the corner of the car. And it kept rolling.

And then so then it twisted more. The next contact, again, kind of on the side of the car. So he never really had, and I don't want to downplay this, he never had one where, bam, it lands flat on, on the, the base of the wheels, that would have, he would have risk... Like Bowman's injury, right? Correct. He would have risked kind of a spinal compression fracture there if he would have landed dead flat on his wheels,

especially with how rigid the bottom of these cars are. Once you've blown the tires out, you know, these things are going to land flat on the stops, and it's going to be harsh. So luckily, it looked like all of his limbs stayed in the car. Nothing big came in the car, even though he was very, very exposed. We have to figure that one out. But man, this was an incredible wreck that NASCAR surely is going to diagnose in the R&D Center to figure out what we can do better.

I'm curious. Are you, we see in wrecks like Blanies, which I guess we'll get to shortly here, is that you go, you hit the wall, your body. goes forward, right? Does your body move up and down in the card all? Because he didn't land flat on his wheels, but he did land pretty flat on the roof. So like, is there any movement where, like, your head could hit this? Yeah, but let's just say you land on your roof, right? There's enough stretch in your belt that, you know, everyone's pulled tight. Right. But you're not, it's not a limiting factor. You still have some compression to go up.

right? You have a way to go up. Is there ever any worry that if you were to land flush on your roof, that your head is hitting the top of whatever? In this case. Yeah. I mean, the halo bar where the Winnanet is, for some odd reason was designed,

it's closer to the driver's head than what our previous car was. It's more sturdy. but it's without a doubt it's closer to our head you can't argue that fact I don't know how that bar responded to this wreck I you know I need to look at more pictures of it and I'm sure we'll get to see that but yeah it's yeah there's a concern absolutely your head you know I know when I put on my helmet I have to be very careful not to unlatch the roof hatch so it's close I actually I did it during the test at Charlotte, one of the very first next gen test, I put my helmet on. And so I leave my

helmet and my Hans connected together. I don't put them on separately. I put the Hans over the back of my neck. And when I did that, it unlatched the hatch. Okay. And the hatch blew off the first lap of testing. So I noticed I was like, man, it's sunny in here. Like I had like a moon roof. it was it came right out it was i mean let me tell you that hatch is not i mean does that mean it is not rigid does that mean there's a chance that on this first i'm watching the crash back on twitter that on this first impact when he lands on the roof that he does unhook it and that's why it flies off no i think more than likely the compression when the when the top of the car started crushing.

You know what? This is like the Tupperware. Remember the top of the Tupperware? My mom couldn't get the top of the Tupperware off. It's a plastic container, by the way. Right, I know. But just squeeze the bottom and the top will pop off. Yeah.

It's the same. Travis is laughing. Do you don't think it relates? I mean, I get it, but I've never had trouble getting the lid off the tubware container before. well give my mom a break she you know she she had a very tough time she's like and she's in the motorhome she's like look at this trick diddy taught me you just got to squeeze the bottom

well we're leaving out a very crucial part of this story what is that yes this did happen she was like look at this trick that then he taught me and then she squeezes it and the top does not pop off and she has to pry it off and it's like well dynnie was wrong again well that's the story that tupperware in particular was so it was it was in the one where i'm sorry that it doesn't have a tab on the outside of the tupperware we're getting so off track but i need to be clear on this it's the tupperware the where the top insets into the tupperware

so there's very little tab right it's like a the seal is on the inside not on the outside yeah if you go to publics and buy just squeeze it boom pops off. That's what happened, I think, to his roof hatch, is that the top of the car, hit the ground, compressed it, boom, popped out the roof hatch. Because if you saw the roof hatch and, like, how it's secure,

it's, it's, I mean, we're going to add another 100 pounds of this car. It's going to weigh 4,000 pounds before you know it, with all this bars and we're going to add. I guarantee the, you know, the roof hatch. is going to be all metal now instead of aluminum. Like, this thing's going to weigh just so much. It's ridiculous. We've got to have our next gen 2.0 soon.

It's very flunzy. It's flinty. I mean, we always check right before I go out that, like, make sure that this thing is, this aluminum hatch device is secured. So I think that the Tupperware top popped off his roof hatch. It's my opinion. I'm watching the video, and I just can't.

Like, I can't stop watching it. It's, it, you know, until Degah Nights, when Ricky Bobby flipped down the backstretch, you knew that like, oh, well, they blew that, they blew that wreck up. They made it more dramatic than what we really crash. That was, they couldn't create something as exciting or crazy as that was, right?

I mean, not if you drove, you couldn't drive that thing off a ramp and get more air. than that car got. Yeah. And it helped, the video helps that he's going through the grass because all the grass is flying and the dirt and everything in it.

Yeah. I know the drivers have been really on this for a long time, but getting rid of the grass. I guess I'm in that camp for sure. Certainly the car doesn't bite as much as it would if it was on, you know, it's not going to change it from getting air.

The car is going to get, it was going airborne way before grass. Um, it's just the grass made it bite. And then that's when it caused it to twirl them here. So when it comes back down the first couple of impacts. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. So what's going through like your mind then when you're just sitting there and then to go from that and then to a restart?

Like what's going through a driver's mind? Well, what's going through my mind is different than what was going through the other 35 guys mind. Um, I was just sitting there thinking, man, I need you all to wreck one. more time because the 45 just got the lucky dog and I'm still sitting back here just watching the race the entire time. But at that point I started looking at the scoreboard because obviously my interest shift into well what's going on who's going to win this race, right? Is but we're going to get in or not? And I look in the top four were race winners, previous race winners from this year. and I'm like, is someone in a green-white checkered really going to win this from row three?

Probably not. I thought the odds were favorable as long as another caution didn't come. So what my thought was, was I took the green and I saw green lights and I'm laying back just enough to be able to avoid it if it crash happened, but I was still close enough to be able to see it out my windshield to watch the racing. and I'm just thinking, stay green, stay green. Like, once it got to the white, especially, and I knew my race was over and I wasn't going to get back on the lead lap. I'm thinking just stay green and six push that, 17 as much as you can.

But for the competition, they put it out of their mind pretty quick, honestly. There's not really much. They're just thinking, how are they going to improve their position or give themselves a shot to win? While we're on the accident topic, let's go back to that first one real quick, the one that caused the red flag, right? The one you were in that you were close to getting through. You saw the replay. What did you make of that on how it happened and then the accident itself? Blaney's impact is pretty incredible.

Yeah, I didn't see. Did Seabell make contact with Ty or did he just get loose? It was a little pushing the corner. He just can't push in the corner. I mean, I think we all should know by now you just cannot, you can't push in the corner with these cars. It's just the track is just too slick. Turn 4 is by far the slickest corner that we have at Daytona. I don't know why.

Maybe the corner's slightly tighter than what it is off 2. I'm not sure. But turn 4 has always been the slickest corner that we've got on Super Speedways. and you just can't push. You just cannot push as long as you're in a corner. I think if the track was 40 degrees cooler, maybe we get away with it, but the teams just have made the cars,

they've got less downforce and less drag than they've had when we first initiated this, first came out with this car. So it just, they're just on edge more. We're putting them on the edge more with our setups and stuff like that. So, I mean, I get it. They were pushing, you know, trying to come to the line, but it's just a stage.

Like, it's not the end of the world. And, yeah, you saw the 54, you know, get pushed from the 20. So he got out of shape. And then it hooked the 12 in a, man, tough spot. Wow. Did you see the wall deflect? Yeah. That was crazy.

It's pretty incredible. We talk about the, you know, the safety and all that of this. next-gen car, but it's pretty incredible that this same accident more or less occurred 22 years ago, and there's a massive difference in the result. Yeah, it is, yeah, it's hard to, you know, equate, you know, are the impacts the same as one more than the other? Certainly the safety innovations that we've come up with, the Hans being the number one thing. I mean, I don't know if the Hans or the safer barriers, I would say probably the Hans,

but it's close. You know, just the head neck restraint in general has changed the game and certainly made it more safer as far as a fatal impact is concerned. But, I mean, Blaney's taking some massive hits in the wall in the next gen. Lucky for us,

we've got to hear him talk in an interview afterwards. So it's tough. These things are tough. I mean, his car did deflect more, certainly from the changes that NASCAR's made with the front clip to make them compress more. That certainly probably helped his impact over what the first iteration of NextGen was.

So it's getting better. But yeah, that's one of those worst-case scenario type things where you're driving in a corner and you get sent the other way. It's a bad one. It's also one of those wrecks we've talked about on this show a handful of times that these wrecks are more and more coming from the front of the field. Yep.

Yeah, it's just there's... I mean, I know for a really long time, the worst statistical place to be in the field was 7th to 8th. That typically was the first where the first part of the wreck would get started and as we've gone to this two by two type of racing with next gen the number is like two and three it's it's at the front so there is no place to hide anymore except for the very back but if you're in the very back you lose track position and unless the field clears itself out you're not going to win and when i decided to bail it was because i assumed the field would clear itself out to be

I don't know, 10 runnable cars. That's, you know, been pretty typical at that track in the summer race. So if it's 10 cars, then absolutely I can kind of weave my way through there and have a shot to win. But I just, I wanted to not be part of the 26 that got in a wreck, but we never saw that extra big one that we had except for stage one or stage two. Do you ever see these wrecks and the impacts and think, man, what am I doing? Why am I out here? Sure, sometimes.

I mean, Charlotte really did it for me. That was the toughest one that I had in Next Gen, probably ever. That one rung my bell quite a bit. I was really sore for a full week. I still have some lingering effects from that in my foot. So it's just, yeah, this thing is, this car is brutal when it comes to those impacts, but it's what we got right now. How close were you from not getting,

caught up in that accident. I was clear. Somebody hooked me in the right rear. You know, I was in the lucky dog position too, which would have changed the race for us. But, you know, I, normally I'd be further back, but I wasn't in that moment because I was racing JJ Yaley, who I brought back to me. So we were spread out and you constantly heard us on the radio. I'm like, he was, he had, I'd lost the draft because I had to come back.

in he had lost the draft for whatever reason and so he was 20 links behind me and falling back I thought the best opportunity for me to not go a lap down was I said well I'm going to slow down bring him back to me and then possibly we won't go neither one of us will go a lap down but I don't want him to get to the pack first and blend into the pack and then boom he's right past me bam, he's got, he's the lucky dog. So I wanted to blend in the pack with him versus letting him get in the pack first. And unfortunately, you know, he even still being right behind me blended and we were side by side at the time. So we were going to be racing side by side to the line for the lucky dog. But we had to put ourselves in the middle of this storm off turn four where normally I'd been

the single car one lap down all day where I could lay back. I didn't because I was actually racing someone and I think we both got we're JJ fans she must have got in the wreck because I didn't see in the rest of the race maybe not but anyway there was no lucky dog that that caution

because I think all of us were in the wreck yeah so 19th oh maybe not he survived yeah he was running and he got back on the lead lap oh he must have got the lucky dog then so he must not have been in the wreck I don't know.

Yeah, because you would have got it, but because you were in the accident, you didn't get it. But, but, hang on, there was no other caution to give a lucky dog. So he must have not been caught up in that. So he got it, maybe. Yeah, I don't know. But yeah, that's what kind of was the downfall of us. But, yeah, you know, I thought the racing was kind of predictable. There was one moment there where the field was three by three.

But other than that, you know, we've seen these wrecks start from further up front than ever because it's too wide and you just can't pass anyone in that instance. And anyone, the reason we stay too wide is these cars have so much drag on them that if we go, like the Harvick situation at the end of stage one, if someone pulls out of that single line, it's going to kill the entire line. So, you know, the old package that we had on Super Speedways had a ton less drag. Now, they had less horsepower, but they had a lot less drag. So what would, what I think would be better is to get some of the drag out of these cars and reduce to horsepower, but then the engine builders have got to build a whole new package for 350 horsepower, whatever they were back in the, you know, back in a few years ago. but they wanted to run the same 600 horsepower or 650 or whatever we're running.

It might be 550, but they didn't want to have a bunch of different engine packages. So this is just another instance of where engines and efficiencies and cutting costs is hurting the racing product because it's just not good for competition. And so the tails wagging the dog once again on this. Is Coke Zero Sugar the best Coke ever? I know that's a bold question, but it's got that irresistible taste to back it up. Well, one thing's for sure. When you've got an irresistible match like Zero Sugar and Zero Calories, something sensational is bound to happen.

It's like when me and my co-host Jared team up to make a podcast. It's too bad you can't taste 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. Some of the more noteworthy news of the night, Bubba gets in the playoffs. We see Chris Busher win.

This is third win, so we don't have a new winner. And Bubba is the 16th and the last driver in the playoffs. Yeah, really happy for him. I know that he's been super stressed over the last few weeks. And, you know, I think this is a test, you know, he's battled tested now. I think Bubba's, he earned his spot in the playoffs. He did it through, you know, performing better than he ever. has. He's getting stage points and contending more top tens, more top fives. So he certainly has

deserved his place in the playoffs, and I'm excited to see where that 23 team goes in the playoffs. I think the tracks actually lay out very nicely for him. But yeah, this is a big deal. And, you know, for the 17 car winning three races in the last, I don't know, five or six, man it's they're they're on a roll they're they're they've now put themselves as the four seed in the playoffs only four points behind us so three wins for the 17 car i mean he's running consistent and good enough where he can make a deep run as well so i think i listen to comments from r fk and about like you know i think we're deep we could make a deep run you know we're gonna make the final four and but like i think they're their their goals of shes of shes and

shifted. I really do. I think that at the beginning, they were probably saying, we can make it to the final eight. I think that's possible. I think now they might be shifting to, we can make it to the final four. Yeah, they certainly have the playoff points to get there. Yeah. And if they continue to run consistently, I'm just so fascinated. Every race when the 17 pops up at the front of the pack, the six is right there behind them. I mean, it's, it's uncanny. Yeah, yeah, they run together. Whatever the performance of one is, the other, that's good teamwork, that's good execution in the race shop. So, you know, that's good to see.

Back to Bubba. It's got to feel good getting into the playoffs, but also especially on a night that Michael Jordan is there. Yeah, yeah, I knew Michael was coming and certainly he wanted to be a supporter. You know, it's close to home for him. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump when you can hop on the plane and be there. But it was great for him. I saw that, you know, kind of the Dwight and a couple of the guys that came with him. Ken from the Grove was there as well.

You know, all of those guys going up to Bubba and showing the appreciation and gratitude for getting that 23 car in the playoffs, it was awesome. And certainly I wanted to pay my respects as well to kind of say thank you. And he deserves it. and now go out there. You've been battle tested. You went these last three weeks having to go through two row courses in a super speedway and try to hold a lead.

And you did it. So now there's only one place to go for him now. It's up. Like he's got nothing to lose from this point forward. So I'm excited to see what happens. This is going to be an exciting playoffs. I think we got the field is tighter than probably it's ever been. at the request of a few friends of mine Travis I've actually I want to do a new segment called NASCAR 101

because when we talk about playoffs a lot of people don't understand if you're not an avid NASCAR fan like what is the NASCAR playoffs how does it work you know well I want to explain this and this segment by the way is NASCAR 101 is presented by birch gold group and if you want to learn more about Birch goal group and get a free info kit you can text Denny to 9 8 989.98. So what we're going to explain is kind of now that the NASCAR playoffs are starting, here's how it's going to work. There are 16 drivers, and we have now been seated based off of how many playoff

points we've earned through the regular season. So this is very similar to the FedEx Cup and golf where when you win events, you go up the standings, and then you start the final event at Eastlake with Ali. Now, when we get to the final, we're not, there will be no lead. They'll just be four drivers. So we have 10 weeks, and every three weeks, we're going to cut off the bottom four drivers and the standings. So right now, the bottom four is Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse, and Michael McDow.

McDowell is minus one from the cut line. So he's minus one from the 12th position, which is Ryan Blaney. Ricky Stenhouse is minus three, Kevin Harwick is minus four, Bubba is minus eight. So Bubba started the playoffs, he starts the playoffs with 2,000 points. He's the bottom guy. He hasn't, the reason he's at 2000 means he doesn't have any stage wins, which gives you one point. So if he had one stage win, he would be, he had 2001. And if he had a race win, he would have 2005.

Each race win gives you five bonus points that you carry into the playoffs. So since Bobba doesn't have any and he just pointed his way in, he has 2,000 points. Kevin Harvick doesn't have a race win but has four stage wins. So he starts with 2004. Ricky Stenhouse won the Daytona 500. He has 2005. So that's his five points. And Michael McDowell has won two stages and a race, which is seven total points.

That's the points they have. Ryan Blaney has 2008, which is why he's one point up. So after three races, what we're going to do is we're going to eliminate the bottom three. So now we all go racing. Bottom four. Bottom four, sorry. The bottom four get eliminated after three weeks. Then we reset the points again.

So whoever makes it, so this is basically a three race season that we're about to have. We're going to cut off the bottom four, then reseat. them based off of the playoff points just like we started if if no one were to win a race or win a stage in the playoffs the points would then reset to these exact same numbers so we and byron would go back to the top wherever he was as long as he stays in the top 12 these next three weeks he's going to go back to the top with martin true x now they can earn more and add to their total that carries into each round but you know it this this just say the bottom four these four guys are gone so now ronnie ryan blaney joey legano tyler reddick brad kazowsky are now in the danger zone in the next

round then you got to put yourself in the top eight to make it to the next round and then once again you know make it to the final four for the final race so each three we're cutting off four so that leaves four drivers for the final race. One thing you need to understand, though, it does not matter how many points you have if you win in a round. You are automatically going to the next round. So Bubba Wallace, let's just say,

could be still 16th in points after two of these three races, but if he wins that last playoff race, doesn't matter what his points were, bam, he goes to the next round. So there's a lot of different factors in this. So basically win and you're in. You'll hear that a lot on TV. When and you're in, just win,

and you're going to find yourself in the next round of the playoffs. I can't remember it was two years ago that I didn't have a win until I won the very first race of the first round moved on, then won the very first race of the second round moved on. So I really had five stress-free weeks. It was pretty easy. So this is how it's going to start. Just to let you know where the rankings are, William Byron has 2036.

He and Martin Truex ranked number one at 2036. I am in third at 2025. Chris Busher has 2021, Kyle Bush, 2019, Kyle Larson, 2017, Christopher Bell, 2014, Ross Chastain, 2011 Brad Keselowski, 2010, Tyler Redick, 2009 points, Joey Lugano, 2008, Ryan Blaney, 2008. Those are the guys in currently if we started the next round now. Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse, Kevin Harvick, Bobba Wallace,

have to dig their way out of the bottom four over these next three weeks. So, we set our final four predictions, I'm going to stick with what I said months ago about the final four I had the 24, the 19, the 11th, and the 5 in the final four. I don't see that changing. It definitely, the likelihood of those actually being the final four

is low. We always see someone in the top eight seeds going into the playoffs, stumble in the first round and not make it. who would be your most, let me ask you this year, who would be the most likely in the top eight to not make it out of the first round? We have Darlington, Kansas, Bristol.

In the top eight. Well, I think for the guy, whoever this is who doesn't make it out, I don't think it's necessarily going to be based on performance. Nope. It's usually something just happens. That's right. And looking at these eight numbers.

don't make it typically you know that really the first round is is execution base like you know don't have any major blowups you know that's wrecks and failures and mistakes the eye test tells me kyle bush yeah i always whenever i'm negative on kyle or i don't pick them to be in the final like kyle bush fans they they come heavy uh i would not disagree with that because he has been hot and cold. I mean, the guy could win all three races and nobody would be surprised or he could have mistakes or trouble.

I think the tracks lay out too good for him to be the guy who misses in the first round. Man, Chris Rebell lived on nine lives last year, right? He was struggling to make it in like the round of eight. eight and ended up making the final four because he won. He kept winning because he was so far in the standings. So Bush has five DNFs this year. Larson has six. It's interesting because when I think Kyle Larson, I don't think, I don't see that. Early in the year, I feel like he was either

he won or he did DNF. He was. He was so up and down. It's hard to, it's hard to imagine any of those guys not making it right but yeah but Kyle was in the same situation was it last year or the year prior we went into Darlington and did he blow up at Darlington this is I'm not hating on him but I'm just going to say Ross because they just haven't been strong they don't make he doesn't make a whole lot of mistakes though like he doesn't get it caught up in a lot of wrecks that probably counters that argument right but I was say he's been the weakest of this top eight that I'm looking at for sure but being the guy it finishes 15 15 15 15 that's probably that's good enough yeah yeah yeah yeah's good enough um

so you're going to go with cowbush I'm at cowbush yep ah sheesh um I'm looking at thinking about the tracks either Larson or Ross Only just because you're, I don't think, I'll go on the record, I don't think any of these guys don't make it, but it'd be Larson or Ross, just simply from the performance perspective of Ross, eh, you know, it's just been, eh, other than, you know, his, when at Nashville was dominating, but the Larson up and down, you know, I just think that Larson doesn't have as many playoff,

points as he's had in the past. So there's less room for error there. That's interesting because you just said you're sticking to your final four predictions, but picking that guy is mostly good. I also said I think they all make it. But if I had to pick one, which I'm clearly not, it's hard. I'll say Ross, but I'm wrong. I'm wrong on that.

But we'll see. He's only four points. up from the cut. I don't see any of the bottom teams out running Ross. I think that it's going to be tough for McDowell. There's no road courses here. He's going to need to execute really well. I love doubting McDowell because it fuels him.

So I love this playoff talk. There's something to talk about here. I want to hear from social. All right, social media. When you hear this clip, tell me someone in the top eight that will not make it out of the first round. Because we've had it before, many times, I think. What's the percentage of the fans that are going to say you? 35%.

What do you think, though, so Ross lately has kind of, everyone said like the reins have been pulled in. Do you think now the playoffs, he might kind of revert a little bit back? He doesn't need too early. I don't think so. he doesn't need to I think he just needs to do what he's been doing he's fine

again like what I say that a lot I know what Jared's saying is true is that it's not going to come from lack of performance by any of these guys it's going to come from who gets caught up in a wreck at Kansas who gets

you know whose wheel falls off at Bristol and goes a couple laps down yep it's just about being consistent. Yeah. And just doing the little things correctly. So, you know, that is NASCAR 101.

We talked a little bit about the NASCAR playoffs, how it works. What we didn't talk about is when we do get to the final race of the season, the 10th race of the playoffs, is it's four guys that are left. So when we talk about cutting four out every three races, that's nine races. That leaves four. and those guys will race heads up in a final race at Phoenix for a chance for a championship. And there's no handicap in it once they get there.

All their points are erased. Points don't matter. It's whatever driver finishes ahead of the other, others win the championship. And so far, you've had to win the race to win the championship so far. I want to go through... I want to go through this driver playoff list and just pick out a few names

and get your thoughts on their playoff outlook, what they may need to do to advance through each round and how far you think that they'll go. Starting with... All right, give me three. Just give me three names and we'll tell you why they will or why they won't. Won't what?

Make it wherever you... whatever we say. Deep, deep in the playoffs. Okay. Let's start with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Why he will, he is consistent. He finishes very well. He's running better than he, he's running a career best. The best he's ever run through a full season, they're putting it all together.

You're not seeing him have his big finishes, big number finishes that he's had. And let's just set the goal at the final eight for Rick. Okay. The why he will is he's finishing really good, and he's not having the big blow-up races that we're talking about.

He's very consistent. I think that that's why he will. Why he won't, none of enough stage points. I don't know that he has enough speed, or the team has enough speed to qualify in the top five and collect enough stage points to make it to the round of eight. Bubba Wallace. Let's set the goal again at the final eight.

Why he will, he's the opposite of Ricky. He collects a lot of stage points. He qualifies well. And he's, you know, you can see. I think he's finished in the low teams pretty consistently over these last six, seven weeks. Why he won't, they fade at the end. They have to figure out how to finish. finish better. Again, he is the polar opposite of Ricky Stenhouse. They flip-flop throughout the race.

So he's ahead of Ricky most of the race, finishes behind. Ricky comes on strong at the end. So I think that that would be the negative for the 23 team as keeping up with the weekend and maintaining track position throughout a race. The lone Stuart Haas racing car, Kevin Harvick. Wow, what do you want to set his goal at? I think final eight's probably a good number, right? I think it probably is. I think it'd be a lot to ask that team to make it to the final four. If they made the final four, what a freaking accomplishment.

I mean, that team is not, I'm not singling out the four team, but the team he drives for has been struggling mightily all year long. So why he will make it to the final four is he's Kevin Harvest. and he has Rodney Childers making the calls. And those two together, they don't go out easy. And even though he's only got four playoff points, which is the lowest maybe, it's got to be the lowest ever for that grouping of guys,

I'm actually pretty freaking amazed he's got four playoff points that he's won stages. I mean, I don't know. Where do he win them? Yeah, you don't know, right? When's he been up front? I guess Phoenix earlier this year, right? But I just, they, they'll find a way because he's great, his team's great.

You know, that four team, they just, they'll find a way. Why they won't, no speed. Just they don't have speed. They've shown glimpses of speed over the last few weeks or so. but man, you can't continue to just outperform all your other teammates that much. That just means there's not enough room for air and speed in your car. So I think that they execute better than anyone in the series, but if he doesn't make it,

it's because this is just the slowest four car that we've seen since they've been together. And one more bonus number, the 11 of Denny Hamlin. What's the goal? A championship. Wow. All right. Championship, why we will. I feel I'm better than I ever have been.

I've got experience. I've got the most playoff points I've had in a couple years. Yeah, probably a couple years. I think we're coming in hot. I do. I think that we're peaking at the right time. That gets us into the final four. The tracks lay out very, very nicely for us. Winning Phoenix, I think that our cars are better on the short tracks than they were last year. I think that that was kind of a downside to our cars. We were very fast on intermediates, just not very fast on short tracks. with exception of the very, very short tracks like Martinsville.

And I just think that this team's ready. I think our pit crews really coming into its own. We have every piece of the puzzle together to win a championship. We need some things to fall our way. Let's just say not fall our way. I'm sorry. Not go against us. Don't have ill time cautions.

Don't have crazy things happen. and we absolutely have a shot to win a championship. I firmly and truly believe it that we're better than we've ever been. Why we won't, man, I've just been super unlucky in the course of my career. I'm the black cat of death when it comes to having bad luck

when at the most ill-timed things in the playoffs, crazy things happening, but you can only knock on the door so much before eventually somebody opens it. And this is the year. Someone's going to open it. I was about to ask, how many more times can someone tweet? This is the year for Denny.

This is the year. We got it. We'll see. NASCAR 101 segment was brought to you by the Birch Gold Group. The precious metals can be a great way to diversify your savings. So learn more about the benefits with no cost or obligation, just text Denny to 98, 98, 98.

Speaking of 98, their truck is in trouble. 98. Time of Jeski. Big trouble. Big trouble, right? They confiscated a tire and wheel. Somebody got, I think, a crew chief or somebody got ejected too, right? Well, people get ejected all the time.

But how crazy is it for a tire to be taken? I'm just saying... They found the secret formula. Maybe. Maybe. I had heard the same thing in the Cup series. I ain't going to throw any teams under the bus, but I heard there were some shenanigans going on,

which is why they put a new rule in that only air can be in the tire. They don't just say that out of the blue because they dreamt up somebody was doing something. They saw something that was not right. that would have been detrimental, very detrimental to a playoff team's chances. They better straighten up. It must have picked the wrong numbers because that was not included on the why not of any of those drivers I mentioned. Yeah. Before we close out here, I have a review from Kegan Beck.

They say, I love the show. It's awesome to have a current driver team owner give his point of view week in and week out. I do have a dear Danny question. How do you feel about being approached by fans away from the racetrack? I was at the 2022 ProM Jam event in Charleston, and I saw you from afar, but ultimately decided not to bother you. I don't mind people saying hello. You see me out.

I mean, most of the time I'm out. I'm grabbing a bite to eat. I went to the Metro diner in Daytona on race day and, you know, for brunch. And, you know, it was filled with race fans. And they were all very polite. and just said hello and, you know, good luck today. So I've noticed, like, I just want to shout out the fans that, I mean, they've been really polite to me.

Like, when I'm closed and I'm signing autographs and they're very nice. Like, thank you. You're very nice. You always give a shout out to the podcast and where's Jared? You know, hear that about a thousand. Yeah, you're lagging back far enough. You don't hear it. But again, the fans on the other side of the podcast.

the fence that have some distance. They have some other things to say, but overall, the fan interaction's been really, really nice and appreciate. I went to the Toyota stage for a Q&A, and man, I've never seen so much of loving gear. Gaining fans, one by one. Yeah. Even the Denny Hamun-Sucks T-shirt guy was there. I know.

I appreciate him showing up. Listen, even if they don't like, they're still listening. So appreciate it. Denhamel sucks guy. He gave me the thumbs up. So back at you, buddy. And hopefully we'll have a successful Southern 500. We've won that thing three times. Going to go make it four this weekend. Reminder to rate, review, and follow wherever you get your podcast. And be sure to subscribe to Dirty Mo Media on YouTube. Each week, we put up a couple of clips. And then on Friday, the full video podcast goes up. See you guys next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media.

Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.