Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - That Was a Debacle of a Restart

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

After coming up just short of winning the Brickyard 400, Denny Hamlin breaks down exactly what happened during the final restart and why he believes the Next Gen car has made passing at Indianapolis nearly impossible. Denny explains the strategy behind his late-race decisions, what went wrong with Joe Gibbs Racing's restart, and why the track isn’t at fault for the racing product that we all saw yesterday. Plus, he gives high praise to Corey Heim after another impressive victory, weighs in on Hendrick Motorsports' recent struggles, and Ryan Preece’s late-race call for four tires. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here's a trivia question. Which Chevy team is highest in owner's points? Joe Gibbs Racing. It's our satellite team. Keep it together, track. It's interesting. Everywhere that I had good runs last year, it seems like their cars got a lot of speed.

The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. I believe that I've been a competitive for 20 years. Opinions from tonight's podcast, strictly biased. You're going to hear from my point of view. I'm a fighter. No, you are not. This spoils a victory for Jared Allen. He's got better luck. The drink and drink don't win.

I know, you do. Two trophies missing from your collection. The championship and the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah. And I've already said it. Hey guys, welcome to a Sunday night edition of actions detrimental. They won't be getting.

getting it tonight though that's okay they're going to be getting it earlier on monday though yeah it'll be ready for the editors oh oh you're non-committal no no so i'm going to take the footage in in the morning the editors will get the start on it at nine instead of 1230 oh you know at my appearance my Q&A i've really kind of oversold that they're they were going to have a pod tonight well that's fine sorry everybody's under delivering today Mm. Oof. Oof.

Mm. Well. Well, we just got home, literally, just got home. We landed 45 minutes ago to an hour ago. Yeah. Just another indie. Just another indie race. I don't know.

Where we start this show? I haven't even pulled up our notes. what do you think trav i mean i've got him here i don't know what's going through your head let's just yeah rip the band-aid off um i don't know it was you know this was a race that was definitely shaping up it to be um truthfully i thought the 11 or 67 because just of how the fuel mileage was like the 54 got his track position by short-filling his car. You know, that the old tax eventually got to pay the tax.

And the moment that I was able to stay right on his ass that run and knowing that he's got to run two, you know, it's got to sit in his pit stall for two more seconds than me, you know, then it comes down to can we pull away by two to three seconds over the 67? I guess you're all following that, right? Yeah. So yeah, I thought that the race was just kind of shaping up that way. And it turned out to be the 1167.

And there was one defining restart that was in our favor and then one that was not. And you called the first one. I think it was you. I was reading the transcript, but we were like talking about do you go behind him or just take up there? And you're like, hopefully you can just get ahead of him. And if there's a wreck, then you get the, you're now you're in first. And that's exactly how it played out. Well, the thought, my thought process was, is that if I choose behind him, there ain't been a pass for the lead in next gen, in the next gen era, I don't think.

You know, just, I know we're talking about, we can talk about the race and the lack of passing and stuff. I want the fans to know real numbers and real stats. After one lap of a restart last year, through the entire field, there was eight passes. Jesus. Eight for the entire race after one lap of a restart. So it's not like this race was that different than what we've had. So just keep that of mind. It's the field, yes, the field just keeps getting.

closer because we're on year four or something of the next gen car like we talk about it at the field just it's going to keep getting tighter and we're running really fast in the corners and you know it's just that this we need to just understand that this is what indie is um i would love to work with the competition committee on coming up with a fix you know or something that moves the needle for the next-gen car at Indy. You know, I'm a absolute firm believer. And this is, Joe Gibbs Racing would hate me right now because, you know, we're so dialed with the way things are.

But we've got to get the back of the cars up. We've got to get the front of the cars down. That is the way to fix the racing at Indy. You have to make it to where the air, the down force is coming from the over by. not the underbody. That is the way. And I just saw where I think NASCAR's head,

Aerodynamics just left the company. I, fuck. So I just, that is the way. But like, why is that the way? What does that mean? So that's what the O'Reilly cars, that's why they put on such a great race, is that whoever's in front,

they can't get away because the second place guy just keeps jamming, jamming. they're jamming the nose up their ass and it's getting them loose where like I tried over and over with Chase Briscoe that last run the guy was pulling an anchor behind him for crying out loud. I mean, I bet you I was at three quarters of a second faster than he was. But just that's not enough. A second is not enough to pass someone.

And the field does not have that big of a dispersion of lap time. So I get in the corners and I'm like, you know what? I'm tired of trying to get a run on the exit because I'm looking and I'm like, yeah, I draft up to them by like, I gain like a car link, the whole straightaway. So that, so I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to go in there and try to just pack, you know,

pack on them. You know, I got a good run and turn three one time. I said, I'm going to turn forward. I'm just going to, like, really ram it in on them. All it does is his car just sticks. And mine just ticks off. And so you got to get the front of the cars down. You got to get the back of the cars up.

That is the way. And even if it's an experimental thing for next year, like for just this one race, what do we got to lose? Truthfully. I mean, nothing because this race, like, nothing. There's nothing. I mean, listen, it's very prestigious. Good cars win it. Good drivers win it.

good teams win it. It's because it is an execution race. It starts on Friday. Practice, get your car dialed in. How are you going to work on it? Get it right for Saturday. Everyone had a qualifying was as level as you could ask for. If anything, the track temp was best and cleanest at the beginning of the session.

It actually heated up towards the end. So all those guys that went earlier in the mid had great. cloud cover, sun starts peeking out a little bit, track temp goes up, but that was the most level qualifying session we've had all year. So then it comes down to how well does the driver execute its qualifying lap. Oh, you're starting up front. Okay, the race is going to be one inside the top 10. As long as all those guys don't do something wonky with their strategies, execute well and restarts, and that's what this thing comes down to. Every year, it's It's this.

So we need to understand and appreciate it for what it is. It's a fabulous facility. They do it first class there all the way. Doug Bowles and his team, they sold 70,000 tickets for fans to come out. It's historic. We don't need to be complained about being on the Oval. This is a car problem, not an indie problem.

And yes, passing at Indy has been difficult for decades. but it ain't been impossible. Tony Stewart ran down Kevin Harvick, packed there, moved him. Like, that's been a thing. Passing's always been difficult. It's never been impossible. And right now, it is impossible

unless something dramatic. Someone has to miss the corner. So that's where I ran on it. And it's not a rant against anything other than I just love, would love to see us in the competition committee come up with. You know what? At Indy,

we're going to do something about that race. You know, and I don't know what it is. It's counterintuitive, but I think it needs a little bit, a little bit bigger, rear spoiler. That the underbody,

I don't know, got to do something to take away all that down forces coming from the underside of the car. I think, I don't know. But we got nothing to lose, truthfully. Let's get back to the execution part of this.

Things work out in your favor of that first restart. Yeah. 22 gave 67 a bit of a peak there at the bottom going into one, allowed you to go around them on the outside. Yeah, and it worked the opposite the other way around, right? It's, we talk about it so much these restarts come down to the third car. What does the third car do? He's responsible for keeping the second car close to the first car.

Now, if they want to start battling each other, your line's dead. We weren't the three Joe Gibbs racing cars, they weren't battling each other. It was just way, way, ill-timed. And I think it was from Briscoe. I mean, Bell came to me after the race. He's like, dude, I'm sorry. Brisco had me jacked. I said, I said, Christopher, we, we, I got to get on the break.

I can't go. I'm we're 500 yards from the three start zone and I'm you know you're rolling you know you're pushing me into the zone and it looks like I'm accelerating I'm trying not to get a penalty he's like dude I got briscoe pushing me into you and so just you know that that was just a debacle of a restart it couldn't it couldn't have been worse um it couldn't have been more disorganized and but the intent was good. The intent was there to, hey, you push him, he'll push you. But yeah, we just, we fumbled that one, no doubt about it. And it just, you know, what it did is that, you know, I'm sitting here and I don't want, I can't accelerate. I can't show NASCAR that I'm picking up

my speed before the zone. And so I'm, you know, I'm on the brakes a little bit. And next thing, you know, the back of the car is jacked up. I'm now sliding sideways. like as I'm approaching the zone and I've got to hit the gas at some point and then you know as I hit the gas me and the 20 come detached the 19 comes detached from the 20 and it looks like we've never restarted before

did you talk to briscoe I just sent him a text but he said that him and the 20 were talking via spotters and stuff and that they had a plan to push and I think it I don't know I think that maybe

just the understanding of where they were on the straightaway because the restart zone is quite a ways down the front straightaway at Indy. Like usually the restart zones on normal intermediates or maybe even Michigan, it's not that far off of turn four where this is like, it's a long, it's like half a mile down there. Like you leave turn four and then, oh, the restart zone's way down there. So, you know, that's a basic thing that everyone knows, but it's just that, that was, the timing was horrible, obviously. None of us got a good restart. One of the things the broadcast brought up was sometimes you see drivers with their hand out the window.

My hand was trying to hold my car straight. I'm telling you, when they started shoving and I started going to the right up against the 67, and I hadn't even hit the gas. said, I'm like, oh, this is, this is not good. This is not, this is not what we want for sure. You had asked for, for help before that restarted. Do you think if you just like, don't say anything? Maybe. Maybe. I just, I really was just trying to get confirmation that the 20 was not going to try to poke three wide. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you were, yeah, I knew, I knew you were going for. I don't know. But me and, but, but, but, Because me and Christopher had been in these situations where, you know, I didn't do a good job for him at,

at Charler. Remember the whole Suarez thing? Yeah. Like, I didn't get a good enough push. I forget who was behind me, maybe the 45. Yeah, I think it was the 45. And like we just, man, it's just, it's a timing thing. We've got to get better with our timing.

And so we talked about, like, here's what I want, right? and then he tells me, here, on a restart, here's what I want. So we kind of know what each other wants, but I think that Bell was kind of just the man in the middle that was like in the sandwich of like, I don't want to be on you, but I'm getting shoved into you just way too early. Yeah.

It sucks. I mean, because it's, if I'm just a foot more forward, then Corey can't come down. And like, it's just, then I'm there in the turn two, and we're still fine. We're still good.

But I know you know it because you watch the same race. It's frustrating that 99% of other restarts, it just works out for the guy on the inside, you know, firing off. It's, yeah, which was why I was like, when I took the lead, I was like, oh, my God, which is defy the odds. And by the way, what I was talking about was with the team, they were like, hey, the numbers of the days, like the third plate, if you restart, if you stack behind the leader, that's been statistically

better than the outside. But I'm like, well, I'll never win. I'm just hoping to get lucky by starting on the outside pole. What I'm hoping for is we launch, we go into turn ones, and I don't know, maybe John Hunter piles it in and wrecks someone. And then you got to, hey, your nose is ahead. Bam, you're now the leader. That's what I was hoping for. I I didn't think we'd go a whole lap before we wrecked, but I was just hoping for an immediate caution. You're hoping to get a good jump and an immediate caution. That's the way that I was actually hoping it was going to plan, work out.

But, you know, we took it a different way. But it was because the inside line didn't, you know, wasn't super organized. Was the run to the inside of the 67 there off of turn one? Was that just a prayer? See, the only way, Jared. I mean, it's like... But, like, you didn't really have an opportunity.

How was there? Well, I had no angle. I mean, I was running... I was so low. And when I'm down there, I can hear rocks and shit hitting the fender wells. Like, I knew that I was just... It's a bad angle. How low is he really willing to block me?

I think if I have it to do over again, especially as vulnerable as his car looked at that last run, like, man, if I just... man, because I could stay close to guys. Like the 54, I could stay on them. And I think with as vulnerable as his car got at the end of that race with being loose, I maybe could have manipulated them enough to get around them. But that is a hope and a prayer.

I mean, that's, yeah, tossing a penny in the fountain there. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm curious about. But I don't know that. What's a high, what's a marginally higher percentage chance at passing him? Going all for it there. I'm going all for it there and hope he misses the corner trying to mirror drag. That's, that's the play is that he's so, you know, because I know he's looking to see, he's checking left, he's checking his camera.

He's not really looking at what's in front of him. And so you just hope that he, so what I hope to do, and if you saw me, I backed out early, I was hoping that he'd missed the corner, go up, and then now I wrap the bottom again and have a good exit of two. Instead, I just oversloughed the car, had to, you know, I was in the brakes. Here comes the whole field blowing by me off turn two. Any issues with how he raced you there?

Because they were talking about they were like, Denny would have raced the same way. So they kind of were saying you wouldn't, but some people were wondering. Yeah, I mean, I, if you're clear by an inch at indie, you're taking, you're taking it.

Yeah, I mean, I certainly, if that was him, if rolls reverse, yeah, I'm running him really low. No doubt. I tell you what, though, this kid, Coreyheim, his composure is next level. He's, as Austin Payton say, I think he's going to be something. I mean, it's, yeah, it's the racecraft.

It has, it's got nothing to do with the speed that he's got, he's got speed all kinds of drivers can have speed but it's the racecraft well beyond his age well beyond its experience are you able when are you able to remove yourself from upset driver

to proud owner right now because truthfully when we came out of the pit lane second by that much I was like dang it

thought that I thought that was the race, you know, and again, then I'm like, all right, I'm just going to start on the front road, I hope and a prayer. Oh, we take the lead. Holy shit, we might win this. So it was like, yeah, it was a roller coaster, but we only finished a couple spots worse than what I thought we were going to finish coming off pit lane. I mean, it's just that that's racing, man. I mean, it really is. Sometimes you get a great restart. Sometimes you don't. Nashville. got us a win there great restart things worked out great but this one just couldn't get those boys linked up at the right time i know we just saying the the praises of indy and whatnot but like

do you look back at least the last few years of this next gen car i guess we've only really there's only what last year was the only race here the next gen car there's a road course before that two this is the third third time we have a larcen we had a larson win and then above a win right yeah that's right i don't know just like do you look back at you know

maybe the missed opportunities to win the brickyard were much earlier in your career when i don't know was the racing different it just feels like you know like this one got away but is it was it would have been that prestigious of a win I mean, it's at this racetrack,

but the racing was not prestigious. Yeah, I get it, but that doesn't matter when you're at a historic facility. And you know everyone's got the best of the best. You know, these are their best cars. So everyone in the field brought whatever chassis they deemed best to this racetrack. So yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, match of best. But it's not best.

Yeah. Yeah, I see your point. Where's this, where is this raise one? Fuel mileage. Well, no, if you don't qualify well, then you don't qualify well, then you have no chance. So where, it's a, you have a very slim chance. So where is it one? Like, is there, what's, how do you, how do you come here and qualify well?

Fast car. I mean, that's, that can mean anything. But like, where is it? But it's up to the driver to steer the team in that fast car direction, right? You don't just sprinkle fast car ferry dust. Right, but you're only on track for 50 minutes before you qualify. Not today. It was a different day.

Yeah, we qualified a different day than we practice. Right, right. You had 50 minutes. You came to the track. You unloaded the car. You had 50 minutes of practice. Boom. Now you're qualifying.

And where you qualified on Saturday is where more or less you were going to finish today. If you didn't qualify well, we're going to have a shot at the win today. Yeah, I mean, all the contenders, yeah, were... Qualified well. They qualified well, right. So was their fast car built in the shop off of last year's data and SIM data earlier in the week? Sure. Did you make major changes on Friday that set you up to qualify well on Saturday?

Hmm. There's a certain amount of... There's only a certain amount of speed your car is actual capable. of running, even if it's set up perfectly. The driver loves it. It does everything that the driver wants it to do, right? I don't know. Let's just say Ty Dillon's car, right?

When he's got a neutral car, it's doing everything I need it to do, it's, that car's capability is not the capability of what the Gibbs cars are. It doesn't have the top, you know, doesn't have the top end speed, the center corner speed.

just doesn't, doesn't have the capability. So it's a balance, right? Because there's a lot of fast cars. I'd argue on Friday that Larson, I mean, he was fast. He was, he was extremely impressive on Friday. And there were several things I, looking at, you know, the things that his car could do that I was like, Ooh, that's, that's going to race really well.

Yeah. Yeah, maybe disregard everything I just said. Bell qualified 23rd. I get it, but yeah, but there's, if, again, you need cautions to fall. If you, if. Yeah, I'm got lucky with the first caution. Yeah, there's, right, he's on pit lane. Caution comes out.

Like, he was behind us. That's very prestigious. I, I understand. But, but what, okay. let's talk about this what is more of a lucky win a Daytona 500 today

or a Brickyard 400 probably a Daytona 500 100% that's fair so I mean we're listen we're trying to fix that we're going to see here in a few weeks we're trying to fix that

but that's why it is I mean it doesn't mean that's not prestigious, but it's, you know, it's changed from over the years. When Dale Earnhardt used to show up to Daytona and just dominate all the time, it's because the guy knew how to get around that track, he knew what he needed out of his car, it was handling mattered, and he had to rock a ship down the straightaway, and like, it wasn't just by chance that he was always in contention for these 500s, it just, but now it's like, man, we're just

in a big cluster and, like, who's got? going to cause the reckon, are you going to get in it? So it's different, but that doesn't mean it's not prestigious. And so I think when you win a race like this, like the 67, it's really, really earned because they did it on Friday they were good. On Saturday, they were good. They qualified seventh. And then they, yes, they got a little bit, a little bit lucky with a caution when it fell and they're sitting on pit lane, that jumped him ahead of, you know, a bunch of the cars that they were behind,

and then he just executes. That's the winning formula right there. It's not complicated, but it's hard to do. How impressive is it that the 67 team, Coreyheim, did this in his first time at this track? Well, that's really impressive, just simply because, you know, while the track seems symmetrical, it's really not.

All the corners drive very, very differently. Like two, the difference between two and four is huge. You look out on a map, they look the same. The difference between three and one, huge. But on a map, it looks the same. It's just, it's very, very unique racetrack. And so, and it takes time to, learn all the little things of how to approach each corner to get speed out of the car.

Now, you know, he's with a team that is educating him very, very well on that. And he's got lots of time to prepare for this one race, right? I mean, that that is an advantage. I remember Booty said that at San Diego. Yeah. What happened in Phoenix when we had two weeks or three weeks to prepare? I mean, look like we were on a, we had a different car than everybody else, right? It's just when you give someone some extra time to work on it, it's, you're going to squeeze a little bit more juice out of the lemon. So it's very, very impressive. And, you know, that team is doing a fantastic job.

The thing that impresses me about Corey Himes' performances in car his audio, like he doesn't get high or low. Like he had a bad restart, Legano. Like, I mean, we all knew that was going to happen. He doesn't overreact. He stays calm and goes out there and performs the next restart.

Like, he's just, you wouldn't think that he's not even a rookie technically. I don't think he technically is. That's what I'm saying. Like, he's not even a rookie yet. And he's, You know, if we keep running on part-time, we can make them rookie the year in 2030. Though I think he might need to rethink.

He might need to ask for 67 as his number. You got two wins. Like you might need to just, like, it's not like sexy looking number, but like you got two wins and 15 starts, Corey. Like you might, this can be your number for your career. He says this is a stupid goofy number. Oh, he's not wrong. But listen, he's got two wins. I like the 60s.

That's just because of the memes. Yeah, the meme did ruin the number. Yeah. I kind of like it. I don't know why. Listen, I gave him the choice. He wants 35, so.

Wait, is that official? Because wasn't it not official? No, it's official. All right. Yep. I'm still watching some highlights here.

Did, uh, did Hosevar's pit entry on that, um, that pit stop that Corey, that caught you out on? Did that affect your exit? He gets in his box.

All crooked here. Maybe a little bit. I mean, these stalls were massive. No one really should be able to box anyone else in, but, yeah, I mean,

I had to go around him, yeah. What do you make of, uh, well, we'll stick on hose for a second, the middle finger. I'm not,

I'm not talking about it. All right. I, I have to ask. I think he's playing chess, not checkers. I think he does, dumb,

just to get people to talk about him when he finishes the ninth place. And he was just waving to his daddy on the way by. I mean, I said it. Like, you asked for war. He brought it to you and stayed in front of you and held you up. He owns him. He owns him. Chestnut checkers. Next subject.

Priest taking four tires. That final. I don't know anything about that. So he had more. fuel than Heim and they elect to take four tires. He came in, he was pitting, he was in fifth place and they elected to take four. He would have needed less fuel than Heim. Marginally though.

Yeah, but Heim was what? Third, right? I would, it was, it Gibbs, me, Heim, somebody and then Priests? priest's fifth hyme is third and he took four mm-hmm yeah he loses spots

to Lugano you know that meme you know that meme where the dog's squinning like you know which one I'm talking about yeah that yeah that that probably wasn't the right call

matter of fact I know it wasn't but I mean I was thinking hey, priest finish eighth. Great day. I didn't know he was fifth.

He got lucky. And he had more fuel? Yeah, he was in the best fuel scenario of anyone on the track. I'll have to rewatch to see how that happened. One of those cautions cycled him.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's why like starting up front just gives you a really good head start on your strategy. when you qualify bad like you got to you're gonna have to get lucky you're gonna have to

like remember I talked about there was eight green flag passes last year if you look at the stats I started last and finished third last year I don't think I was one of those

I don't think I was one of those eight passes I didn't pass anybody on the racetrack it was all restarts, and I must have got a caution that was lucky. So, pre-qualified, started 34th. He didn't get to fifth on speed. I mean, you got to be fast. You know, I think the 17 was good. So RFK cars had speed.

I'm not disrespecting that. But, like, he didn't drive through 30 cars to get to fifth. like there was clearly some sort of caution that helped them out. I just don't know what because I, like I said, I just got up the airplane. Yeah, man, he's lap 56 here. He's back in 32nd with Briscoe. Briscoe too.

Say what again? On lap 56 here. Yeah, lap 56. So what's that start stage two? Yeah, I think Brisco split the first stage. 31st, 31st, 32nd. Yeah. Okay.

Again, apologies to the listener. I literally just got home. So I didn't get to rewatch the race or anything like that. That's why this is heavily leaned on what I saw because that's all I've really got insight. I've got some highlights here that Trav gave me. Thank you. I can send you a graphic of the Pits strategy report. I saw Bozzi had one.

Yeah, he's got some good interesting stuff that hopefully our listeners will give him a follow to. Yeah, between him and he'll help you. Yeah, he'll help you kind of navigate where strategy stands. But yeah, he said both Briscoe and Lugano had less fuel than priests when the caution came out. Definitely shouldn't be taking tires then. Not when you're in the bed. It's counter, you don't need fuel then. Like, you know, you might as well just short-filled your card at some point if you're going to take tires.

The whole point of having a fuller tank is to be on pit road less time. So he wasn't, I don't think he was, he wasn't going to pass me and. No, so is that, is that where the four tires comes in play? Like, hey, we're not going to pass these guys on the exact same. Well, he would restart a third. You hope for cautions. He's going to restart third. You're in the game.

Yeah. You're in the game. Yeah. Well, then why take four? I don't know. That's the question. That's Derek. That's screw cheap, right?

I don't know. I don't know. Listen, we're all guilty of why did you take four on a green white checker to Phoenix? Not really sure. Hey, everybody. It's Dellenhart Jr. And there is no better way to support Denny Hamlin than wearing actions detrimental gear at the racetrack. You can also flip him the bird or head on over to shop.

Dot dirtymode.com to see what we have. We move on. A bad day for Hendrick. That's the norm. I, you know, I look at their graphic after the race and like, I mean, Stuart Haas, they, they were getting, they were getting beat like a drum in their comments the last year of their existence. And like, the old Hendrik bros, they're starting to get. in there. Like, what, is this our norm now? Are we just a teen's team? They're not, folks, but

six, eighth, and twelveth and points. They're, they're not, they need to, they need to have a Snickers. They've not been theirself in a while. You know, Larson, I'm sure, was fast, blue left rear. You know, it's hard to say that it's not air pressure related, so that's, that's, There's a video, though, of him Xing Pit Road that Bozzi had, and you can see the car just. Yeah, it's beating the shit out of the left rear tire. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, my car was doing it pretty bad, too, but, I mean, there's always, usually the more air that you have in the tire, the more it can take some bouncing.

Now, if you have a cushion ride, you can run your air pressure lower. So there's always a balance there, but, I mean, usually you blow a left rear. it's it that's that's not luck folks that's can't call things luck that someone has a role in and that was likely too low

of air pressure or to you know ran it too hard on low air or the load on the left rear was too much who knows I have no idea but they found their limit

of how much area they could put in or need to add more. Chase Elliott, I don't know, he cleared himself off turn two.

With the 47, right? Yeah. Yeah, that was not good. They just, I don't know. I mean, I mean, we're sitting here,

we're clowning on it, but it's, I mean, it's, it's not really indicative of their speed. They, you know,

North Worksboro, I thought the nine was really, very strong. Yeah, they've got, they've always got like a couple cars that are in the top five or near the top five. I mean, but just the standard in which we expect from Hendrick Motorsports from the legacy

is just winning a lot. We expect lots of race wins and top of the standings. And when I see like William Byron and 12th, that's just, that's mind-boggling to me. Corey Hyman is as many wins as Hendrik Motorsports. Here's a trivia question. Which Chevy team is highest in owner's points? Joe Gibbs Racing. It's our satellite team.

Keep it together, trash. It's interesting. Everywhere that I had good runs last year, it seems like their cars got a lot of speed. But I digress. What else? Do you want to keep talking about the race or you want to stick on Hendrick? Because one of their drivers.

Now, we've said enough. Well, I was just going to. Well, before we go off. track. Okay. Yep. Our future guest host is a millionaire

or front row is. The Todd father. It's so awesome. That's going to be so great. You're going to have to break the bad news to Connor Zilich, though, that a guy with eight starts is now ahead of him in points. We don't have to tell him.

I think someone should. I think we'll put Todd in your spot, though. You think? I mean, you think he'll be the... You won the All-Star Race a million dollars. He wins in season. Also, does he owe us residual? Like, without the podcast,

and season doesn't start, he doesn't... Good point. The dude doesn't even know if he's getting paid. Correct. Bob Jenkins is. Yeah. But good job, Bob Jenkins, negotiate. Yeah, great job.

Jenkins, Jerry Freeze over there. I mean, who had... there was nobody had that bracket nobody no i saw a tweet that uh todd wins truthfully what nascar should do and and by the way they just need to go go to uh always of london or whatever and get this thing insured they need to offer five million dollars for anyone that gets a perfect bracket you're worn 10 million dollars whatever no one's going to get it no one will get it it's just our sport of all sports is the hardest to predict with all the variables they they You got to get people engaged in the shit.

Like. Yeah. Yeah. Got to offer something big. What'd you make of the wreck, though, that helped him? John Hunter and... Where was he going? I mean, what do you want me to say?

The 12 is clearly trying to just make it into turn three. And I don't know where he was going. I, Blaney, I guess, wanted an explanation. But it's like, I apologize, but what's that do? Not much. Yeah, that was not really sure. There was no angle there. There was, you know, there's just, there's not like all the hole was there and it closed up.

Like, there's just your inner, everyone has to turn left at that point. See, there's, the cars are side. by side, are you going to really think you're going to shoot the middle? That was wild. But anyway, congrats, Toddfather. Ed paid off the Toddfather. Next week's host of actions detrimental. Are you all going to let him quarterback this thing?

Are you all going to, okay? So, Travis, are you even going to put together a note or do you would just come in here and just like fire? Well, I've been John some things down. I'm going to send them a couple. But yeah, I think it's just going to be. Jared's going to Travis is telling him to land the helicopter

outside. I joked and said Connor if you want to take the helicopter you can land it. That's the that's the joke. He goes I don't have when I go. I thought Red Bull might, you know,

give you one. I was just joking. He's going to start running a little better. But yeah, I think we'll just, we got a couple topics and got some questions from fans, but open the mics up and let it go.

Jared will be in the middle, just kind of, you know, controlling it. Are you going to ask, ask Connor what he's doing in 2028? Alex Bowman retiring at the end of 20, 27. Yeah. Farewell to Alex, the hack. I say that in Jess, because I got a lot of respect for Alex.

Alex, I just had one little moment where we were nose-to-nose at Martinsville after a race. I lost my composure a little bit on that one. Is that up here on the wall at all? No. That's a forgotten moment. That's a pretty great moment. We can get rid of this lady that's getting like tackled right here.

It looks like she's being put in a paddy wagon. I'm really not. I think that's what that is. I think it is. I always thought that was representative of Austin ripping his drivers out of fights. that the me and nose to nose with Alex. I mean, that will be, that's, that's an action's detrimental moment. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a tough, tough thing.

I mean, he, you know, let's just kind of, what he said was that, you know, this isn't really all health related. He wants to do other things and whatnot. Yeah, I mean, I guess so. You know, I think if you're winning a bunch of races, you're not retiring at 35 or 33 or whatever he is. But, you know, it just hadn't been right. And it seems like, you know, everyone kind of recovers differently, but, you know, he had that fracture to his back, the same one that I had. and it just never seems like the feel or something is, I just knew for me it took a year.

It truthfully took a year for me to get right. My feeling back to know where the car was at after that injury. It's just because I tell the listeners all the time that how we feel the car is right in our tailbone, in our butt cheeks. And so like, you know, when you break that, it's and it just it changes things nerves change and I don't know you know it just seems too coincidental that like the performance has never been the same sense and do you think and that's just

factual do you think it's even harder in the next gen car than when you had it yeah and that's that's very fair that's a great great point is that these cars are harder on your body and and I think you're heard him say too that, you know, um, he's fighting, his back hurts him. And I get it, man, it's, it ain't no fun. And it's, it's a non-sexy injury because people can look at you and you look totally fine, but you ain't. And, um, you know, he went through some vertigo stuff too, right? Another non-sexy. Right. And you can't, you look normal. Nope. Can't stand up straight. Like, it's just he's had some tough luck in the injury front and I got to believe that it's absolutely hurting performance because you know certainly now Hendricks not having a banner year by any

stretch not yet but they're they're they're the tail on the dog right now you know and it's just an unfortunate thing that I you know I definitely respect that you know, kind of how he's going out because, I mean, what do you do after what do you do after running in a hindric car? That doesn't get better from there. So I think that he's making the right choice for him

and he said he's got some, I don't think he wants to stop driving. You know, you might drive something. Don't know what yet. So we wish him the best and wish he got like eight wins, something like that. Eight career wins. He had one year.

He had three. four really four i was just looking at his career stats here yeah one time 21 time he got the best of me at a green white checker at richmond richmond 2021 four wins wow yeah i mean it's a good season

so we wish him the best uh allies been a you know a great partner for hendrick and him and very supportive and i think hendrick has been very supportive of them and uh We'll see where that lands after he's done. Be curious to see who they fill that seat with. Very curious. Speaking of the 48, Jimmy Johnson's going to run the 48.

I saw that. I saw that. Very cool. I wonder if he's asking. He's like, hey, can you all supply the car too? I was going to say, like, he's going to use the exemption, right? So the car can't make money. If it doesn't get in naturally.

But I think you have to, don't you have to like submit that before? Yeah, but I think if you get in naturally, you get the money. I can't remember if you have to declare though before or not. Either way. I do. NASCAR, they'll help us out. They listen. They're avid listeners.

Well, I'm saying, yeah, well, no, later, but right now we don't know. Yeah, we don't know. Now, you know, Jimmy's final rides come in Daytona 500 next year. sun setting his cup career in the 48. Very fitting. That's the right way. That's the right way. And also while we're on Daytona, the clash will unfold on Daytona's oval?

Is that official? That's what Travis got written down here. That's Jordan Bianchi reporting. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be the Saturday before the Super Bowl? Mm-hmm. I'm down with that, I guess, right?

There won't be snow. There won't be, you won't be, you know, shoveling out the grandstands beforehand. And so then it'll be a week, a week, eight days later, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I mean, it used to be the Saturday before, right? Used to be a week before. I mean, for fan, because we had a full week of stuff like, golly, practice, practice.

practice, fracked, I mean, we had so much freaking practice. Excuse me. That's a hiccup there. Sorry.

Good Lord. You think I had been drinking. Not yet. As soon as the show's over. Yeah, so, so yeah, I'm down with that.

Build up some sort of, you know, height for the 500. I'm down with that. I mean, better being in Florida than, I mean, listen,

I like, going on the gray, it's close to home. I love the short track, all that, but I don't know, man. I definitely was always a fan of the buildup before the 500 and the storylines of, you know, and actually, too, if we can get this Super Speedway package right, then it actually will be a test for the 500. Like, you'll really be able to draw like, oh, this guy is good. Watch out for him on Sunday.

Right now, freaking roll the dice. see if your number lands. So, yeah, you never know, depending on how Daytona goes in a few weeks, there could be some real excitement for the clash next year. Yeah. And, you know, I want to temper people's expectations

on that that, like, you know, it's not going to look way different, okay? Just, this is baby steps. But if the car is drivable, but handling means a little more, you can take the runs, then maybe we can take. take another step before the clash next year.

What's like a fair, like 5% better? Is that fair expectations? Like what's, what should fans like? 20% better. Oh, okay. Yeah. What's going to be the, like, how are we going to be able to gauge that? Your eyes.

If a car can pull out and. Yes. If we're jammed up three by three by three or two by two by two and anybody that pulls out of line is dead, that's not good. so we want it to be where let's just say there's 10 cars in the bottom lane 10 cars in the top lane right now whoever pulls out of line has to have six cars with them you have to have more cars than the line you just pulled out of to to get going the goal i think is like if you can have pull out of line and maybe only need three behind you to

to get going or make that line start moving, then I think that you've got something you can work with. But none of us know, guys. This was a shot in the dark. It's not, listen, it's an educated guess. It's not like a complete, you know, complete guess. The numbers I'm seeing, it's, you know, it's a little bit back towards what we had before,

not all the way there, but it's a step. And it's something that we could do quickly and right away. Let's look at these these points standings real quick. You're up 84 points now, but I think what's really exciting is this battle between fifth and tenth. Let me look. Fifth and 10th, 248 to 27. Yeah. What is that? 29 points between. That's a big difference. That's a big difference. Bell going from 10th to fifth is a huge. difference in his chase for a championship. Yes.

Yep. Going to some tracks, he's been pretty strong at too. Yeah, that's a Wad. Wow. Wow. And for the fans' reminder, fifth place would get 55 points and it drops down by five. 20, 55?

Yeah. That's right. So they'd be 45 behind whoever's. Yeah, so 10th place would start. start with 2030. It's 70 points back. Hmm. Big difference.

Big difference. Yeah, we'll see how that all plays out. Man, I'm trying to figure out can any of these guys outside the cut, the priest, the Jones Kozlowski's make a run in, I think SVG has got to feel pretty good. I still don't think he's out of it. I don't think he's in the clear yet. I don't think he's in the clear either. I don't think he's in the clear either.

And that's, that's, he's had some, you know, like three really good finishes in a row. But man, I've seen him have some 30s too. That kind of is scary. If I'm a driver, I'm telling you, if I'm 57 to the good with four races to go, I'm nervous. because all it takes is one really bad finish, and that number is going to get cut in half. Now, the good news is, what if we say every week, Jones, priests, these guys ain't putting up 40, 50 point days.

So they might 25 point you to death, and you go out and you put it out of a stinker and you get three points, but they're not killing it in the stage point category as of right now. So I guess you feel probably pretty good, but it takes one DNF. It takes one DNF and they're right on your heels going into Daytona where it's, that's, that's nerve-wracking for them. Yeah, I guess that's the, you know, SVG. It's like, yes, FSI he could have a rough day.

But are those guys below the cut line going to maximize their day when he struggles? And what does maximize mean to them? Four stage points on a top 10. you know I mean that's kind of that's that's the good days right now that's not you know that that's what's real

how many points did Brad get today I don't know look at your sheet oh uh Kess last 31 so exactly that's not going to do that's what I'm saying though like priest 33 I mean and those are that's good that's

that's really good days for them it's not great great days like great days for that team they're in the top five but but that's a very good day based off of kind of where they're average and where they're at so if only so they're yeah it's it's not like they're gonna need SVG would need multiple bad races if only pre-s had those cindrific points and we're keep over syndric 38 I mean again don't don't don't finish last that's what would make this whole damn thing interesting is a really bad syndric race. Now it opened, now you're opening all kinds of players into the game.

What else we have? It's pretty much Carson Cople won the O'Reilly race. Yes, he did. Held off a charging just an Allgaier. And it's become very apparent Junior's Motorsports. It's got two. They've got some teams with one way of thinking and other teams with another way.

And I believe in my heart of hearts that the seven team builds downforce into their car and all their other teams trim their cars out because the other car, those cars, all, the seven always qualifies the worst. And they dropped the green flag and he, the guy is carrying more throttle than everybody else is.

So he made a heck of a charge. there at the end of that race and I really thought it was Chastain's race especially when he took control of the race inside that last fuel window but Carson was just better and gosh that's why I love watching O'Reilly's race because especially at

Indy that's like some of their best races because you know whoever's out front is just hanging on and whoever's in second can just get close to them and make that first place cars card drive really bad. So it's kind of, it's just, it's a constant yo-yo.

And so, but Al-Gar came from like three seconds back, charged Delano. And I'm thinking with two laps to go up, Al-Gar is going to win this race. I just, I knew it. I just, but Al-Gar just missed turn two and then had a bad off of turn four, coming to the white, like, just never quite put, like, he needed just two or three. three more solid corners in a row to then get close enough to pack air. But he never got close enough because he, I think he made his move to pack air a little bit too soon.

He wasn't quite close enough. That's what I saw anyway. But I stayed for Junior Marysports. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Holy cow. Dale's got to be freaking loving life right now. Yeah.

Good for them. Should we wrap and let you go on vacation? Well, uh, trick race. truck race at an IRP Oh yeah Lane Riggs Dominated

Absolutely dominated I'll be honest with you My main takeaway from the trucks Is holy crap man The call of trucks are bad When I say bad If there's a run that ever is over 40 laps They all go a lap down

Like every week and you can see they're chasing it with like the standard she comes out all right screw it we'll just wave around hopefully we'll get a short which I respect this you know the swinging of the fence to try to get

back on the lead lap I think it actually worked out for Ryan Newman at no forksboro but I can't believe how slow they are um man

Are they sure they want to do this cup thing? I mean, 25th in trucks, like your best truck, that's just not. I guess you're hoping that Dodge gets better next year. I hear that they're like kind of like chasing, getting parts and stuff and building the trucks. Yeah, I think the engines is part of the, definitely the holdup on the cup program. But it's not just a body on a car and an engine in the car. like there's a lot that goes into what these manufacturers put in into this deal. Man, and if you're calling, it's like you're actually running okay with what you got,

which is really nothing from technical, on the technical side with the Chevy's that they've got. Yeah, it's, I don't know. It's just alarming to me. I thought they would get better as your as you're, they've gotten worse. I am, I feel confident in saying that, that they're, they're worse now than they were two months ago.

And I don't know, like, what's going on? It's, and it's, everyone's got the same engine. So it's like, but you would say, okay, well, it's the bodies. It's not at our, and I, at IRP, it ain't the body. So, and this is a cup team. Like, they're smart people in the building. Spread two thin?

I think. Are they spread too thin? I don't know. I mean, they've certainly have got the funding. It's just, I only bring this up because we haven't, I don't think we've talked about it all year. We haven't talked about Dodge or the collard trucks. It's just because if they weren't painted bright yellow, you would never know they're on the racetrack. The only reason I remember is because the damn logo on the,

TV right above is yellow and I think there's a caution every time I look up I do too they got to move it I do if you're yellow you can't be at the top listen I think we all want another manufacturer in but we don't we don't want them to have a bad experience you know and I can tell you that there ain't much that would tell me that they're not going to just run dead last every week if they came in the cup right now. So I want them to have a good experience. And let's, I think we've got to get that truck thing going because it's, it's not good right now.

It doesn't look good. It's not. You know, I hear Chris Rice on, on serious, you know, I see the clips of it. And he's like, let's not even talk about the trucks. It was bad. We got to fix it. And like, I don't know. that they know what the answer really is.

And so that is not good. Their best driver is 12. What do you mean? Their best driver's 12th in points. Oh my God. There's only like 18, 18 full-time trucks. That's what I'm getting at. Oh.

Like, yeah, I'm not. I'm not saying that's a good thing. No, yeah, I thought you were. No. Yeah, no. I just, I used my brain and my eyeballs, and I see the running and I see the speeds and I see the lifetimes, I'm like, holy moly.

Corey Himeson's 17th. Corey LaJoy is struggling to get inside the top 25. He is clearly not a 25th place truck driver. Like, it's got to be frustrating. Got to be frustrating. But that was my takeaway from the truck race because Lane Riggs just absolutely stompter. Do you think drivers like Lane Riggs may take something away

from Corey Hymum in the way, he went about this cup series opportunity that if you just stomp the competition in a series that you are clearly you know you could clearly move out of but if you just keep winning that you know a good cup opportunity to come around and then you'll just have immediate success or who you yeah if you're with a good team absolutely no i'm i'm wondering i'm asking do you think that other drivers will maybe, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, look at that. They're doing what they should do, right? I mean, I think Lane Riggs has been very impressive from my standpoint. Now, I think his trucks are very good. I think his crew chiefs very good. But he's, he's doing it too, you know. So

Honeycutt, I mean, we know that the 11 truck, I mean, our only comp is Corey Hyman and the 11th. right and he was like freaking I think he won 12 races like it so he's not honeycutts not quite there yet now I don't know is there you know things change in the off season you just don't know I he's got some crew chief but

we don't know we don't know all the little details of what changes in the off season are you as good as you were this year from last year you know we see it in the cup series things change but I think that Riggs has been

the most impressive driver to me all around. And it's showing, I mean, I don't know what their standings are, but it seems like him and Honeycutter are probably pretty close. Honeycutt's just been very solid. Riggs is 100 points. Yeah, and 400 more laps lead. Who's up 100? Riggs.

He's in first. Yeah, that checks out, I guess. It's just their short track program is just far, it seems far better than what tricons is. Trichon looks like, you know, seems like they're really good on the mile and a half, but, I mean, even the road courses, Riggs is, to me, impressive. You know, Honeycutt, you know, he's got a road course win as well this year. So I know we're talking a lot about trucks, but it's just, it's interesting to me.

We don't, we don't give those guys enough love in the truck series or talk about truck series enough in my mind. And I'm about to take a week off. So there's your love. I got a review here from Kentucky Kent. Denny, you always surprised me more and more every week. I thought it was very big of you to go over to Joey. I congratulate him on his win.

That was respect right there. Thanks for putting on a great race. Hopefully that guy doesn't listen to Sunday conversation. How about the timing of that? By the way, folks, we taped this Sunday conversation. When was it? It was like in March or April. Months ago.

Months and months ago. ago. It just so happens. Jenny hates Italians. No, no, no, no. Listen, there was other very funny stuff that did not make it. And if it looks like I was laughing the whole time, it's because I was likely laughing from something

that just got, that never made it onto the actual conversation. So some funny stuff. doubt about it and very awkward as as he always seems to make things. But I, yeah, it was a blast. And yeah, I mean, we just at the time, you know, he asked me, who do you don't like? And I'm like, I don't know. I can't say nobody, right? So let me just rehash some of my old flings. So like, Ligano came to mind and like, you know, Brad, remember back in the day? But, yeah, that's It's been decades ago.

So like, I don't know. Just trying to, trying to have a conversation there. And then obviously it just so happens. It comes out the week after the M.B. and Joey shake hands at, at, at, at, uh, Northworksboro. So just interesting timing.

But yeah, I had a lot of fun doing that. If, uh, where can people check that out? YouTube, YouTube, Twitter. Yeah. That's, that's cool.

Um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm going to go on vacation. You boys hold it down while I'm gone. Take care of Connor and the Todd father. Ask him to buy you something.

Like, say, you got money now, so, like, buy me something. I just want to know if his wife's going to actually watch Action Determinal next Monday night at dinner time. Absolutely. Hopefully they sit down and review it. It'll be fun. They need to watch it on the couch and the YouTube version. I mean, she's going to want to see his face, you know. it's not going to be as good audio only.

I wonder if Big Jim will watch too. You would think Big Jim's going to check his boy out. But yeah, it'll be fun. Let him know, Corey Hyam just passing him points. That might be a tough subject. I know. Gosh. We want these guys to have a good time.

Maybe you can FaceTime and we'll just pick up your audio. I predict better days ahead for him. Well, it can't be worse. I predict better days. All right. Well, you boys, you all have fun. And I'll see you in two weeks. Check out Dirtymo Media on Instagram, Facebook, X, and TikTok.