Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - This One Meant More

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Denny Hamlin is back after his 60th career Cup Series victory for another episode of Actions Detrimental. He’s joined by co-host Jared Allen and producer Travis Rockhold to break down the events from his milestone win in Las Vegas.  Denny opens up about why he was unsure of himself going into the race,  his emotions after winning, and his appreciation for the fans. Plus, what advantage does he gain by locking himself into the Champ 4. Not only do they discuss what got the No. 11 team locked into the Champ 4, they also talk about what might keep other Playoff drivers out of it.From Ryan Blaney’s early exit after a left-front tire failure sent him into the wall to William Byron's late-race collision with Ty Dillon and his near miss with Ty Gibbs, Denny covers it all — from the drama and the strategy to what’s next heading into Phoenix.Real fans wear Dirty Mo. Hit the link and join the crew.👇https://shop.dirtymomedia.com/For more Actions Detrimental content: https://www.youtube.com/@ActionsDetrimentalFanDuel Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank goodness my shield was down. Like, y'all didn't see the heavy stuff. The heavy stuff came down far before I raised that shield. I was a wreck. The entire last lap and then cool-down lap was just, I was a mess. And so when I finally pulled myself together is when I raised my shield. So, yeah, it's just, I don't know, sometimes it just, it hits you. The following is a production of Dirtymoe 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. The spoils of victory for Jared Allen. He's got better luck than Rick and Drake to win. I know, you do.

Two trophies missing from your collection, a championship and the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is when I say for sure. Yeah. And I've already said it. Hey guys, welcome to Actions Detrimental Coast Las Vegas. The first race of the round of eight. We'll come home with a dub.

We don't have the trophy. That's going to be a logistics nightmare. I'm okay with that. Yeah. We are, uh, how late are we? 10 hours? Late? No.

No. I mean, we would have taken a time. 10 a.m. So like eight hours maybe? Yeah. I think that's okay for this. I just got home. Just literally got home. So yeah, we decided to stay in Vegas.

Nice dub for the 11 team. Win 60 for me. What a weekend? I got to think that it might have been the best 48 hours I've had in quite some time. Really? Not ever, ever. Yeah.

You can't include like, you know, children being born. Career things. Yeah, yeah. All career things. I just, I, 48 hours was just the best. And the reason it was the best was that we got the poll on Saturday. Well, hold on. Let me go back.

Best 72 hours? Yeah. You know where I'm going with this. Yeah. I just, if you. saw my Instagram story. I mean, I was literally a bill dance out there catching all these fish. Don't shake your head.

Don't you do it. I don't want to rain on your parade here. But you guys were fishing in like a fish tank or something. It was like those African safaris were like the elephants right there for you to shoot and the lines right there. Like I'm sure someone was just putting fish on the line, letting you reel it in. It was. Celine Dion's own stock pond.

It was. her house is right overlooking it. It was a decent-sized pond. It wasn't like, I don't know, it was probably a couple-acre pond, but it had a lot of fish in it. And they were hungry. I mean, but it wasn't like totally easy.

No, no. I mean, Charlie went blank for the first hour. He didn't catch anything. Yeah. And I was catching fish left and right. and, you know, I had a little hiccup at the very beginning. The first fish snapped the rod tip when I pulled them out.

And then, this is going to make me sound so dumb. I was trying to get the fish over there to show them how big this fish was. This is a big fish. You just snap the rod tip. And I grabbed the scale, and I hook it on his lip.

If you've ever seen a fish scale, it hooks right on his lip and you kind of just hold it to handle and it's got a scale it shows it to you well i'm like man we're i'm on the clock here this this fish has been out of the water for a minute i'm like i just i need to i need to get him back in his environment let him breathe here for a minute the thing gave one good shake and he left with my scale in his mouth i know how are you you holding onto the scale i was but it just I'm telling you he he gave it one good shake and I just I lost the fish and that the fish still has that scale hook to his mouth and this thing is like red and he was jumping for

the next couple hours like out of the water you could I could see him like he's in distress I we should have tried to re-catch him but I don't know that he was going to bite I think they say like once you catch a fish you won't re-bite you know for like 48 hours or something like that or 24 hours. But man, I hate to weigh that fish down, but he's got my scale in his mouth. That arguably, I think, was the biggest fish, and I don't even, I didn't even get a picture of that one. Jared did.

Yeah, there's a video of it. Every fish picture, I think the fish was closer to the lens than the last one. No, no, I did not play photo tricks. I did. I mean, there was one that was a video where you. drive up in the car like there's no that one that was big that would in my opinion that was the biggest one that was bigger than the first one yeah well so that was fun so i i caught anywhere between nine and ten bass it i don't know we did lose count um charlie got hot late it was it was quite

fun because they just were active and and i i told riley i i went out to his place and i was like you know, I've been training for this moment. For six months, I have failed at, you know, catching fish at the rate that I expect to. And it's challenged me to really get better in my fishing game. But I go now to a place that actually has fish and they can't escape in a 50, you know, 550 miles of shoreline like they do at Lake Norman. And like, oh, man, I was, I'm telling me, I was Bill Danes out there. If there's a fish in a bucket, Danny's going to catch it. Yeah.

So that was a good Friday. Saturday, get the poll. Sunday, we get the win. It just was a fantastic weekend in all aspects. But you told Marty Snyder that on Saturday you didn't think you're going to win, but you're on the poll. I didn't, I don't know that I said I didn't think I'd win. I didn't like our chances. It wasn't like Kansas.

where like I know exactly what I have to have out of my car. I know the feel I need and I'll know whether we even have it in practice or not is irrelevant. I know we can get there on Sunday. And Vegas is just one of those tracks where I think it's my one week big racetrack. Like all the two miles stuff feel really. really, really good about all the mile and a half. Good, I got a great feel for them. I know what I needed every track.

Vegas was just, it's just kind of one where I just don't feel great at that track. And I think a lot of it is, you know, the bumps in one and two force you to have to do things with your setup that you don't have to do on other mile and a halfs because it is bumpy and you can't run your car, you know, quite as low to the ground. So there's some compromises to be had there.

And, yeah, I just, the last 10 laps I found out what that winning formula was and now when I go back hopefully that means that I'm going to be searching for whatever that was how do you just miraculously find it in the final 10

laps were you like getting hotter throughout the day or are you just like a switch flipped than there it was I I know this sounds really

elementary but I push the gas down harder that can't be listen we got the car better we got the car better the first stage we were not not very good I was hanging on and

you know we got a good stage finish because we got a good restart at the end of the first stage and then we just kept working on it and you know that's what you know really like about Chris Gales he just he's not afraid

to like put wrenches in the car if he's got to Like, you know, if the pit stop time suffers by half a second or a second, he doesn't care. He wants to give me what I need out of the car. And so we made it better and better as the day went on. And, you know, what I was telling you is true that I did just put, I pushed it harder at the end of the race. You know, I ran a few corners. And it was interesting when I watched it back.

and when I try to do my media and stuff after the race, I didn't really have an explanation of, you know, what happened? What'd you do? You know, because I didn't. You said it happened so quickly. It happened quickly. And I just,

I needed to process it because I didn't think. I just was like, I'm going here. I'm going there. I didn't psychoanalyze really anything, any of the corners. went as hard as I possibly could. And, you know, it was just a chess game out there.

You're always trying to just guess where's the car in front of you going to go. And you're trying to guess right. And when you guess right, like I did when I was catching Larson and Briscoe, it makes, you know, when you have a car as fast as mine was, it makes it look like you're running nitro speed. It looked like you had a star in Mario car. It was, I couldn't believe it. I mean, especially versus large. The corner speed that I had versus Larson was a big, big difference.

And so, you know, I think Kyle mentioned it in his interview afterwards that, like, yeah, I ran the top with about five to go because I thought I was far enough ahead of him entering turn three that, you know, he might get down there, but like, I'm going to clear him on the exit. And I just made up so much time running the bottom. that I was able to get beside them, you know, going to turn one, driving hard, clear them. And at that point, as I'm clearing Larson and kind of blowing the corner, I still gained on chase. Like I could see that like, man, I'm just way faster than he is.

And so I think it was a half a lap later that went around him. So you weren't worried at all because I feel like you made a first attempt at passing Kyle. A couple of them. And he shut you off. And watching the race, I thought, man, these guys are. going to go back and forth to each other trying to pass each other for a second. They're just going to let Brisco get out far enough that he's going to win this on two tires. Yeah, I was surprised, truthfully, that Larson couldn't challenge Briscoe more.

But again, you're talking to a guy that, you know, had that Mario Kart super speed at the end. So, you know, he's pushing it all he can. You know, he's clearly faster than Briscoe, but Briscoe was able to, maneuver and, like, you know, arrow block just enough to kind of keep them at bay. And then I come into the pitcher, so Kyle then has to alter into more of a defensive line instead of an offensive line, you know, and I'm certain if I wasn't there, Kyle would have gotten, I think he would have gotten around him because he wouldn't, Kyle would have then just been on straight offense.

And that is, countering whatever line Briscoe entered the corner, he moved all around. Well, he couldn't do that when I was catching him. and then he's like, well, I don't want to lose second, you know, and so he's having to just be a little bit more defensive instead of offensive. So it was a fun chess match. I'll be honest with you. And even with 10 laps to go, I think it was probably fifth or something like that. Like I had a good restart right away, but then I lost a position or two.

And then there was a – I thought the defining moment. was when I shot the middle of Bowman and Reddick and was able to clear Reddick just enough to where when I actually got, I shot the middle of him, got beside the 48, cleared the 45, and then when we come off the corner, since I'm clear of the 45, now I got him pushing me down the straightaway past the 48. So it worked out really quickly. That one corner where I got two cars, that was, I thought that was,

the moment. Early on in that restart, every time you made a move and LaTardine said it, you made a move and it just seemed like boomer or someone was there, was there any moment where you're like, damn it, like I needed to get a couple

spots early and, or are you just not even thinking? What was your thought process there when you're trying to make moves and a couple weren't working? Well, we're always out there trying to get the cleanest air possible, but when you're in fifth or sixth,

there really aren't any clean lanes. Like it's usually got, Cars staggered because everyone's just trying to get out of the wake. And so that's why I think the key moment was for me when I shot the middle is that there was nobody in that middle lane really kind of at the time. And so it just was a guess right situation. I'm telling you, it was fun, really the whole race, the top four or five, other than in stage three when we had that green flag stop,

it did get strung out a little bit. But, I mean, we were all just kind of in a bunch at the end of these stages. And it was fun because there was a lot of cards that was very equal, and everyone's out there just trying to predict. And guys out front are trying to play defense, and no one's getting away. So it's a fun race. Did you think that that race was winnable with 15 to go? Mm-mm.

Well, that's not true. When I got clear of that wreck and went from starting ninth, the wreck happened. Now I'm sixth on the outside, and now I'm behind a four-tire car. I thought the key moment was Brad. There's a lot of key moments. Brad was on two. I didn't want to start in the same lane as him because I thought that, you know, I was going to have to go three wide on him to get around him. That likely breaks my momentum.

I'm likely to get freight trained one way or another. When he chose the lane he chose, it now put me sixth on the outside. I'm behind Larson. He's behind two tires. I got Brad on the inside of Larson with two tires, and it's like, okay, now me and him are going to be the only guys on offense here.

Like, we should be rolling. And I was really surprised that Larson didn't get a better restart. We took off there. I gave him a push. I was pretty close I really wasn't on his bumper much he actually was off the 22 way more than I thought

both lead at both first and second I feel like had a gap yeah and at that point I was able to get to the outside of them now I didn't end up gaining any positions from that but it just that allowed me to kind of feel my car out and some clean air

and realized that this thing had superpowers back to Jared's question though about did you think you could win? The restart before that was with 24 to go, and you're watching the laps countdown on yellow. We ran forever under yellow. And it's not like for no reason.

The track was a mess, but usually if it gets down at the end of the race and the track is that destroyed with all the debris, and it had so much debris all over it. Yeah, running 12, 15 laps or something on the caution, it's just, that's way too much. Just red flagged thing. Especially when you had, like, for the fans, once we go back green, you have this different strategy, right?

Of two tires and four tires. And the more laps you run down under caution, lessens the excitement that maybe we were going to see from that tire differential. Yeah, it gives a lifeline to the two tire guys, for sure. You're keeping your spot and laps are clicking off. But it's, yeah, it was, it just seemed like. too long of a caution. I mean, we were going to be not racing no matter what because it was going to take a certain amount of time to clean it up.

But, yeah, certainly would have liked a scene of red there. It made me panic a little bit that, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm hoping to just get back at the top five. You had a couple moments on the radio where I thought you were unusually animated, and that was one of them. You doubted yourself as a driver. Yeah, it just, because I, At that track, I feel like my lap time variation is high.

Like whatever the optimum lap that my car is capable of running, I can hit it like one out of every four laps, maybe three laps. And the other two are a tenth or two off of what it should be. And that's just my inconsistencies of driving at that track. So was the car great all day? and you just weren't driving it to its fullest capabilities? No. No, it got better with adjustments.

Okay. And then I think the track came to us. And then, yeah, certainly at the end, I thought when it went full shade, like in one and two, all that, the track came to us. Okay. Yeah, because you, you know, watching the race, it felt like you were a fifth to sixth place car all day

until the last 15 laps. Yep. But 60 wins. you've reached your goal reached the goal now what 70 no

can win the championship that's the goal that's the next one yeah yeah I hope so we're gonna have a great shot at it you know it's things are hard to predict

it's one race just when do the cautions fall when does you know what about all the other stuff but I'm looking forward to it I you know is I feel like you know I definitely can get better at Phoenix I'm certainly going to spend the time to try to work on getting better there

you know I've got some extra time now to work on it I haven't had that ever yeah I don't know if it's ever been no since I've been around you I feel like you're walking yourself into Phoenix after Martinville. Yeah.

Either on points or you won that Phoenix race a handful years ago. How much time can you, like, what is, I mean, obviously, not probably sure because you haven't done it, but like, how much time do you think you can get that the other drivers can't? I really think that it is probably an extra week. It's not too as advertised. Like, no one's running the SIM and working on their Talladega setups right now. No, I think that everyone in the top eight is working on Phoenix this week.

Because there's just, you know, Taldaiga is you're running the same setup you ran for the last three years at that racetrack. From a driver, it's all circumstantial. It's not like you're learning different lines and stuff. So I think this week people were probably working on Phoenix, all cars. And so the advantage then goes to Martinsville week, where that time I stay on Phoenix. And then the field goes to Martinsville and works on that. Well, the last five of the nine championship races, the champion has been the driver who won the first race of the round fate.

So clearly there's something to that because that's noteworthy, right? It's noteworthy. I think it's noteworthy. It's not something that is just, oh, well, that's just, it's not nothing. It's not nothing. you know more than is this is it Penske responsible for most of those you know what I mean you know did so but I think it's you getting some sim time but it's gale so it's like this cumulative effect that the 11 team can gain you can gain a little bit he can do a little

so it's then it comes together and could potentially be you know a perfect race maybe I can tell you I couldn't do any sim today Speaking of Sim, how much time did you do for Phoenix? Hmm? Or not for Vegas. They were talking about how much Sim you did last week. I mean, I didn't think it was that much more than normal. But we certainly went later.

You know, usually Mondays, I'm kind of just, you know, doing some stuff. But yeah, I found myself on Monday after the race. last week at the race shop at 7.30 at night, just running. And I don't know, I just, time gets away from you when you're working. And so I just was kind of locked in and gave the team a direction. You know, my primary job during the week is lean on my experience at the racetracks, looking for that feel, that magic feel that has worked in the past. and at Vegas, I mean, that's a lot of the reason I think I was there until 7.30 on Monday

was that I was just scratching my head. And Chris Gavehart was kind of sitting in the room watching the session going on. And I'm just getting frustrated because I'm like, man, even in the Sim, I just, I could not. I wasn't consistent. I just couldn't. Everything was just on such a razor's edge. edge. And, um, and, uh, so then it's, you know, so then there's some reflection going on because now I'm starting to doubt like, am I sending the team the right down the right path

or not? Now, the good news is because of, you know, our great performance at the end of the race and the car as good as it was, I now know what I need to feel in my car and when I go and prepare for Las Vegas the next time around, I'm going to, and I go into the sim. And I go into the I'm going to search for that feel. I'm going to drive it the same way, and I'm going to search for that feel. And so Vegas is just a track where, you know, I've been a solid third to fifth place guy for the last few years,

like speed-wise, but nowhere near the speed of like the five or others have had. And yeah, so I'm kind of doubting that. we run long and then I'm I just kind of have a come to Jesus with myself and say all right for better for worse team this is what I this is what I believe I need here's the path I want you to go down go to work and they they hit it do you ever leave the sim feeling inconsistent but then like when you get to the track you just miraculously find it sometimes sometimes sometimes it, the simulator cannot replicate, you know, the feel, right? You don't have the G forces,

you can't feel all the bumps. Like, it's, it is very different. Um, but I have, you know, just run so many laps now that I, I know what the offset is between the two. Um, and so, uh, it's just a useful tool for me. Uh, but I also think that, you know, my experience, really, really, really helps just simply because I feel confident at most tracks knowing the path that I need to send the team down. So you've been in this Phoenix race,

this championship race a handful of times in the next gen area, yeah. You have. Never. Yeah, Chase Elliott, you're the Chase won. That was Gen 6. So never in the next generation. Nope.

Okay, well then I guess I got a different question because I was going to ask, what are you going to look for in the sim? that's going to get you to a place of comfort going into Phoenix. How are you going to know that you have that? Yeah, so that's, it's a good question because I feel as though Phoenix is my Vegas for short tracks. Well, that's not a good sign if we're listening to this, right, as fans.

I hear you. I've run well, I mean, I'm one corner. I'm leading down the backstretch on the white flag lap this spring. Right, right, right. But it, you know, I haven't had a dominant performance since 2019 at that track. I've had dominant performances there, but it's been the old configuration or the old car. Never with this car at this track. I feel like I'm a fringe guy.

I am that third to sixth place. And, you know, I've clearly got teammates that know how to go fast there. And so I'll be certainly leaning on that. But this gives me more time to really dig into what I'm missing at that racetrack. Because I'm certain that most of it is me. because, you know, I'm not as confident in telling the team what to do, you know, what direction to head down. Am I too tight or am I too loose?

Like, you know, sometimes when you're neutral, there's one path or the other that could make a little bit more speed, and sometimes you just kind of never know what that is. I got some work to do. I'm not going to do it today. I'm not going to do it tomorrow either. But I'm going to start soon. I want to backtrack. I'm sorry, listeners.

I feel like we're ping ponging all over the place, but that's fine. Before the race, Gluck said after the driver's meeting, you went back to your bus that you needed to check something. If you can share what it was, what did you? I can't. Okay. I mean, it's, I don't think it's anything that is super secret of it.

It's things that probably most drivers all look at. But it was, it's just something that I, you know, I have a mental checklist in my head that before I leave the bus, I make sure I go down the list of, here's what I think is important at this racetrack. Let me double check those important things to make sure I'm prepared for. for them. Um, and during the driver's meeting, I just was like, okay, you know, thinking about my checklist and I'm like, you know what? I didn't go over that. I need to recheck that. And so I'm, I'm, I'm then in a frantic, hurry out, let's get this meeting over with. Like, I got to get out of

here. And so I get out of the seat. I go to Tyler. I'm like, I got to go back to the bus. Like, right now, like how much time we got. And I had about 10 minutes to go over some stuff. And I felt very confident when I left the air that I had the answers that I needed. And some of it played a factor in those last few lives. I'm fascinated by that because I don't feel like that's happened recently. I'm around you 99% of race weekends. And not once do I recall you leaving a driver's being to go back to the motor.

home before the drive. No, I never have. But I just knew that like my anxiety level would be really, really high if I was on pit road and got in that car and I was like, didn't have the answer. And I was just going to have to wing it. Like I, that would, that would send me into a panic. My mind would be crazy the whole race. Like praying that that situation doesn't come up.

That way, you know, I wasn't prepared for that moment. But because you did went back, you were prepared for whatever. That moment wasn't in the closing last. Yes. And that led to 60. It could have. It very well could have. You know?

Yeah, it's small details in this thing. It really is. It's just the cars are all so close and the drivers drive very similar nowadays. It's hard, hard to get an advantage. Briscoe commented that there's a few drivers. if any, that work, he's seen that work harder, especially at your age, they're still doing this craft at the highest level. Do you think that is a little bit of evidence to that? Like that little detail that you had to go back and check on?

I think I'm just psycho in that kind of way. You know, I don't ever, I don't expect everyone to have, you know, the drive or, you know, you know, the want as bad as I do. I can't imagine someone being more competitive than me that's on that race track. I'm sure everyone's very competitive. But you know that I'm competitive in everything I do, like to the fullest. And when it comes to my career, it's, you know, I'm even more psycho than I am on with other things. So it's different.

I know I'm a little different in that kind of way, but I also feel very fulfilled when I have, you know, when it happens, right? Because I'm like, I know that my work paid off. Like I have proof of it. I have a trophy that is going to always remind me that it pays off. Was there a moment in winning 60 and everything that went on, post-race, maybe like an emotional moment or something that you weren't expecting to hit you or maybe like a revelation or something.

Like, I don't know, watching the celebrations I thought it was cool that every former crew chief that you had worked with, like had a moment with you to come up and shared something that we had the track. Yeah, and I owe so much to those crew chiefs. I mean, you know, all of them played a vital role. And if they weren't in Victory Lane because they weren't there in person, I, got a text from them you know and it was like you know I'm so grateful for each one of them's um character and ability to challenge me to to get better and they all made me every single one of them

made me better in in a certain different type of way and so I grew uh with my relationship with all of them um so uh it certainly teaches you a lot of things and I mean, we, we said before this year started, right? There's so many unknowns. We're going to the Bowman Gray with no sponsor on the car for most of the season. If, you know, got nothing. I got a new crew chief that, you know, I know nothing about that, you know, they're like, here's your guy.

And I'm like, okay, well, how'd that, what happened? You know, how'd this happen? We got no sponsor. And it's like, oh my gosh. you know what is this year going to be like and i still felt like um you know bohm and gray was a great i think that was key for us this year is starting off being good being fast like we never struggled this year right it just it started fast right from the get-go and and i um i made you know Gail very, I try to empower him as just as much as I possibly could, affirm him as much as I could

that he's the leader. I'll do whatever you tell me. Regardless of your resume versus mine, you know what's best. That you're in that position for a reason. I learned when I was out of the race car in 2013 with a broken back, the team knows way more than the driver that's sitting in that driver's seat trust them and and i just kind of hand over the keys to whoever my leader is and i've got a new leader here and i've got to i've got to do the same thing and and give him the keys and he uh he's taken them and certainly uh put his touches on this race team and we're you know we've had more success than i thought we were going to have truthfully yeah it's miraculous that you know i feel like there's practice days where

or even like pre-qualifying where you just don't feel like you're the best. I asked you after practice on so are you good? I used that word good because you said if you're good then you know you're great and you were like we got some work to do. Yeah. We weren't

we were two to three tenths off that's conservatively after 20 to 25 laps on tires. I mean I was a straightaway ahead of the 20 when we started practice, he passed me, put a straight

away on me. This is in 25, 30 laps. Pass me, put a straight away on it. Briscoe passed me. Gibbs passed me. I was in the way. I mean, I came in for an adjustment mid-practice, and I never, you know, once I go out, I'm going out, and I'm going to go ahead and get the long run, but I just

was, just hated it and came in and got an adjustment. Yeah, I wasn't that confident. Yeah, I just was like, yeah, we got some short run speed, but this thing goes away really, really quickly. And it's just, I, my confidence doesn't waver.

It's like I just don't, how we are in practice just does not even matter anymore. And that's an awesome feeling to have. Because you're confident in your team and fixing whatever it is. They're going to fix it. Yep, I'm going to tell them. what I need, and they're just, they're going to fix it. And I have no doubts. Now that you've had 24 hours, what's 60 mean to you?

Huh. I mean, I just never thought, like, when on NASCAR's post, social posts, and it was like, win one, and then the ticker went until it was like win 27. Like the 2016 Daytona 500 was win 27. How have we won so many races in the last nine years? Like, that's a lot. We're now at 60. In 2016, Daytona 500 was win 27.

I mean, we've gotten hot lately. And it's just, they rack up quickly. It's crazy because as a driver, and we expect to win so much that I feel like, gosh, if we go four or five weeks without winning, it feels like a freaking eternity. But it's hard to win. And, you know, if you can average three and a half, four wins a year, they just tally up really, really quickly.

And for me personally, what does it mean? It's like I still feel like when I look at the names on the list that I'm now a part of for the top 10, I feel like my name does stick out as not one of the greats of the sport. I see the names. I'm like, oh, these are the legends of the sport. These are the people that grew the sport.

We're just the best of the best. And then, you know, lots of them are guys that I race against in my era. And so I knew how good they were. It's just very gratifying that I was able to still race at a high level this long into my career. Like year 20 is just as strong as year one or year five, you know, when you're kind of at your peak.

So that's what's gratifying is that just the how long we've been able to be successful at it. And, you know, I say all the time, like the light switch is going to go off eventually. Like we just never know when it's your last one. And maybe this is the last one. just never know. But man, I don't feel it. After that last 10 laps, my confidence is really, really high

that it ain't going away anytime soon. You're usually very stoic. You don't show too much emotion, but it got to you when you won. What was that? It's just been such a buildup, I think, around the number. It was, you know,

obviously, you know, some home stuff going on and really happy that my dad is able to see 60, you know, because him and my mom just had so much sacrifice that they endured to keep me going, you know, to keep their son's dreams alive. Like they just were so selfless. and you could argue reckless and keeping this thing alive but it's just working and getting a trophy

like that's what makes you really proud is that you know that this all paid off it all paid off in the end did it make it any sweeter that it felt as if the fans also appreciated it? yes you went from being the most booed driver and driver intros yesterday to the most celebrated at the end when you were driving your car through that you know up to victory lane right there's fans on both sides of the barrier just felt like a yeah a big moment that they all appreciated

i mean i truthfully was really surprised not to hear booze from the crowd after the race like usually I it's just a given I'm going to get you know usually the fans in general after the race you're going to get even if they're not fans of you people always just get cheers because it's the end and you know it's the winner um but all of my post race interviews when I get out of the car at the start finish line it is you know it's 50 50 you know I think um I just I'm sure there were some booze, but I didn't hear them. I just didn't hear them at all. I thought it was all really positive, and it truthfully was before I said anything. So I don't think I influenced it in that kind of way. So yeah, it makes me very humbled and very appreciative of the fans to do that,

because it certainly meant a lot for me personally. That was a big accomplishment. for myself, a life accomplishment, a life goal in this sport in my profession. And for them to kind of give me that moment, I really appreciate that. I think that's more of a testament to NASCAR fans. Like, a football team, if your team loses, you're not going to applaud the other team because they had a great performance or achievement. NASCAR fans saw 60 wins what it means. And so they kind of, you know what, let me drop my hatred or dislike further you for a moment here and appreciate the magnitude of what you achieved. Yeah, but also, you know, the fans in the stands don't get to see what was on the broadcast, you know, you tearing up in your car on that cool down lap.

Like people watching on TV, they're all privy to that. But the fans and the stands don't see that. So it just, I don't know. Yeah. You know, they don't know how you're feeling in the moment until you get out of it. Right. I felt like they had already felt good about it. Yeah, I mean, I went back and watched and like, thank goodness my shield was down.

like y'all didn't see the heavy stuff the heavy stuff came down far before i raised that shield um i was i was a wreck that the the entire last lap and then cool down lap was just i was a mess and and so i when i finally pulled myself together is when i raised my shield so um yeah it's just uh I don't know, sometimes it just, it hits you. What was that conversation like when you talk to your dad? Yeah, I mean, he's just so proud of me. I mean, I don't know what to say. I don't want to come off super soft in this.

That's not me. But it's great because, you know, he always, you know, sends me messages and stuff after the race. and, you know, we have, sometimes we have phone calls that, you know, talk about it, and he's always got questions, but either way, it's like, he's always like, you're the best, you're the best. He's, he's my number one hype man when it comes to confidence. And so, yeah, he just always says how proud he is. And certainly, I'm so happy that he was able to see all those wins. What did your mom say when you got home here?

today. She's just super excited. Really, really excited. I came home. The kids had some confetti poppers ready to go and my mom was videotaping it and whatnot. So she just came, give me a big hug. You know, just that's kind of what my mom does. Two other moments, I guess we can, we can move to in this race, Travis, like sort of the first one. Blaney has a tire failure. Goes into the wall, DNF at Las Vegas in this first round. Yeah. It's, it's, It's so deflating, I'm sure, for him because, like, those are the things as a driver. You just, you don't control that. That's not Ryan Blaney's fault.

And I'm not saying it's a person's fault. I just, man, as a driver, you so wish you could be the one to dictate your outcome. And I just feel for him that, you know, he's thinking, you know, I don't know how. how good Ryan was going to be. I don't think he was going to be super strong. Based off of what I saw on Saturday, I didn't see anything on Sunday that told me he was, but you never know.

But it ain't last place. Right. You know what I mean? And so what is he minus 31? I mean, he just finishes somewhere around the top 10, and he's five out. you know something like that like it's just it's crushing

and you know yes they're now going to a track where we're typically your two bottom guys Legano and Blaney score the most stage points of pretty much anyone I think maybe Austin Cindricks usually in that conversation as well for most stage points

on road course or on on super speedways but you know I don't think this is still must win I say that all the time I believe you on this one Not yet. Not yet. I don't think 24 and 31 with two races to go, especially one being a super three way.

The guys that are above the cut could easily wreck. No question. Same thing. Yeah. So I don't think this thing's over. I think Byron minus 15, Elliott 23, Lagano 24, Blaney. Does the top,

that top four right now ain't set. I don't know who's going where, but that top four, four is not set. There's someone moving in that group. Where do you, where would you want to leave Talladega going to Martinsville and feel like, okay, I don't like, I'm comfortable, I don't have to just swing for the fence.

Me or someone else. If you were- Name the driver. Let's just start with Blaney. He's last. Where do you think he would like to be a realistic, like, outside of win, obviously? 15. Where would he be comfortable going into Martin'sville?

Yeah. Um, zero. I think he, I think he feels good enough on his Martinsville history that he can out point or outrun anyone at Martin's. Okay, but give another number and there's going to have to be a minus in front of it. What about Lugano? Oh, that he feels like I'm going to go there and get that. Yeah. Minus 10, 15.

I think, you know, he's good enough to win both stages when, you know, and finish top two if he doesn't win the race. like Ligano or I mean sorry Blaney is you know arguably the strongest of the entire top eight at Martin'sville just over the last few years Ligano I'm not sure I'm just not even sure with this team they you know

they made something happen again you know they got to finish better than certainly they were running but just not the speed It's just head scratching. They got a few races where their lights out quick. They were pretty good at Gateway. They were pretty, you know, they were very good at Loudoun. And then they just have stinkers where they're like the 15th to 20th place car.

I don't know. I don't get it. But they got a lot of heart and they got a lot of fight in them. And you're just not going to shake them. So they're going to be able to capitalize when others make mistakes. Speaking of not controlling your fate, William Byron. Wow. Wow.

What's our feeling? I mean, I know what I saw as a driver, but do you all think this is on, this is a communication problem? Do you think that it was a, William wasn't paying attention problem? Do you think it was a Ty Dillon was not where he was supposed to be a problem?

I think it's, 50-50, like Ty maybe should have done some things, but also, correct me if I'm wrong, like the driver, you should be looking at what's ahead. Like, I'm a new fan, so like, I don't want to put it all on Ty. So can you, can you change your lane? I think Ty was not in the, I'm pitting lane. from what I saw yes you want to stay on the banking

as long as you can come into Pit Road but he's up he is up higher and so what that does unfortunately for like William Byron so you don't know that William Byron's looking at the left side door

even if Ty Dillon waved him off I have no idea whether he did or didn't I don't think he did from anything I've seen like you're not he might not be looking right at your back bumper or side of your car at that moment but you usually can tell cars that are slowing down because they're they're really really low on the line and tie you know was just running as he was breaking he was getting higher on the racetrack and as a driver you usually are going the other way when you start to break you're actually you're usually trying to get lower.

A lot of it because you know, especially if you have cars within shouting distance, my spotter always tells me, wave blank off, he's five back. I, even if I make sure if he doesn't see my hand, he sees it through the line, my actions. And that is,

I'm really, really low because I don't want to get wiped out. I sacrifice a little bit of pit entry speed to make sure I don't get wiped out. That makes any sense. And Ty, I don't think, was running well enough to really be caring about maximizing his entry speed and running halfway up the racetrack.

He'd seem like he was ready to have his day over with. I'm not saying he didn't seem like he had a good day, but I just thought he was a little too high. You know, that's what I'm not. thought he certainly could have done better. And then on the roof, there's got to be some communication up there. Well, hold on here. I just texted you guys a link to a tweet that was put out an hour ago of SVGs in-car camera.

And him and Michael McDow almost having the exact same incident. I almost did with the 20. So how is that any different than what happened? Well, here's how it's a little different. The spotters, like, say me and Chris Rebell or me and someone else that I'm racing, they don't want to tell you, hey, we're pitting. Because then there's like, oh, well, I'm going to chase you down. I'm going to pit with you.

We're all trying to fake each other out when we're coming to pit road. We're trying to surprise the people we're racing around. I think if Ty knew he was going to be pitting, then he needed his spotter needed to be looking around and saying, okay who's around us all right I need to walk over the you know give the 24 the hand over here saying hey we're about to pit

should have given you know and maybe he did again I am speculating because I don't know but I don't think that that happens if obviously that gets communicated to William that the tennis pitting and the 24 team I think thought that the pitting was kind of done yeah because he went late in his cycle

so that I think that caught him on it was kind of a perfect storm of a lot of things. It's a great storm. He's okay. I can say it. He's minus 15. Yeah. It's not about that. I don't think you're winning though without that caution. It's not good. Oh, oh yeah.

No, I'm not. That's what I'm saying. There was a perfect storm for the 11th team. How nervous were you with that wreck with 24 to go? Very. I was behind Ty. and I give him a push and I had no intentions of like going three wide or anything like that

but he did so this happens this is the same thing that has happened on a lot of these restarts where you see cars all shooting for the same middle gap and then they hit each other they bounce off and it causes a wreck

everyone's just trying to get all they can on these restarts and you're positioning like if you find a hole that you can fit in or maybe it's not even a hole but you think you can wedge it in there and create a hole it's uh it's it's what happened um

tie went up I think there was a gap there I kind of need to see it again but I felt like I saw multiple cars all shooting for the same middle and they hit each other and, of course, they all wrecked. Yeah, he got squirley, and at one point looked like he was going to turn left,

and then he went right. This was the 54, I think, was trying to get around the 6th, because he knew he's on two tires, and he's like, oh, if I go middle here, I dispose of the 6, and now he's in a really good position if the crash doesn't happen. And then simultaneously, the 20 is coming down trying to hit that, same middle gap and it's just declined and it's just I don't know that it's really anyone's fault it's just cars collide and you know I think that they were trying to hit a gap that just

wasn't quite big enough that's what I see but I can tell you one thing it worked out well for me because I'm at I see two four six you were 10th to start that two four six two four six eight. I'm ninth. On the inside, yep. And there's three cars that are about to go by-bye. And when the caution falls, I'm now sixth.

That puts me in a great spot on the outside behind Larson on fresh tires. Old tires on the bottom. And you all saw what happened at the end. Anything else you want to add, touch on from this race? I mean, not really. I think it's going to be a compelling few weeks.

It's going to be fun tweaks for you. To see how it all plays out. Yep, yeah. I'll be watching as a race fan inside that race car. I'll be rubbernecking every caution, kind of seeing where everyone's at, checking the lives, you know, points update since we're not allowed to get told, apparently,

allegedly. I don't know if that's true or not. So, yeah, I don't know. don't know this is a man just just a such a great week weekend now my monday today has not been great because i haven't slept i can't believe it and uh i had phomo and i uh yeah needed lots and lots of water too old for that i can tell you but we we turn back the clock you uh well we'll try Charlie asked you last night when we got back to the hotel first, like, what kind of, what kind of night do you want to have? And you said, somewhere in the middle. That's right.

Of that, of the two options. He says, well, you do nothing or you do like a club or you do like a lounge. And I'm like, oh, like something in the middle. Hit me with something in the middle. And then let's just see how it goes. Well, we rolled into the club about 12 o'clock at night. And we didn't leave until lights turned on. Any buffalo stampede? No buffalo, right? Well, there was a buffalo. They didn't run.

No. This machine sucked. Even when I made it to the bonus round, it would pay me like half of what my actual bet was. It's like, yeah, you hit the bonus round. Sweet. Like, you should win at least back your money that you spent on the roll. It was such a sham. well those weren't the buffalo at you got to run the buffalo resorts world they feed them different

yeah yeah yeah they feed them the grass fed that those buffaloes were better and and this was only one single machine there weren't multiple linked together and i don't know if that if that's how it works that like on a progressive are all the the money that goes in one does it just go in a pot of all four of those machines like are all four of those machines feeding into one progressive and that any one of the machines can hit it. AP wasn't there to prime him also. I was declarates out of my mouth. Let me tell you.

Let me tell you. I ran out of time right before practice. I'm going, I'm in there and I'm playing slots and I'm playing this other, I don't, freaking dragon link. I can't believe I'm playing slots. I'm getting so old. This is ridiculous. So I'm in there and I get, you know, I see that the jackpot is 2.2 million or something like

the progressive jackpot is and I'm like oh that's I mean slots is easy it just pays you money whenever you put it you know put money in it just shells out a new car and I spent a significant amount of money in there and I got nothing essentially in return and I'm sitting there and my buddy's right beside me um and he's he's there just for the weekend and hang out and I'm like play this game i i'm sure it's going to hit as soon as i get off the machine it's going to hit bam he he put in 25 bucks and hit for 10 000 well i primed it for him i ped it yeah and then how about this the second night uh when i did play the buffalo i had a guy sitting beside me he he looked like a regular. He was just watching me, just feed this thing. And when I got up, he says, are you done?

I said, I'm done. I said, you want to come over here, don't? And he's like, I just want to make sure you're done. I says, sir, it's ready for you. And I'm sure he hit. I'm sure because I spent way too much money in that thing to not get anything in return. That thing is just you know that meme of that guy that's chipping away looking for the diamonds and then he turns around and it's

right there. That's what I feel like every pull of the freaking machine. That's the point. I know. I'm one chip away from busting out the coins. That's what they want you to think every time. It's a sham. I did good in the table games but I stunk

it up, lost it all in the slots. So you owe the, I feel like you owe the casinos there a little bit of money. I did. I'm still well up in the casinos itself, but not, not this trip. Well, I can't believe we got through this podcast. I'm surprised. I'm ready to go to bed. Can I go to bed now?

Also, thank you. Next two Sundays, no tweeting. Oh, you're not. Yeah, you've got the NASCAR races off. Kick the feet up. You're not going to tweet at all? There's no need. We're on to Phoenix, Jared.

What about Martin's Hill? You still want to win that race? I want to win, but... That's going to suck for us. We're not going to be able to go back and see all of his crazy tweets. I can text you guys. Will you be in Phoenix?

We'll see. I want to be. Yeah. I'm working on getting... Now, this is the best part about it. Now, I can work on all the logistics. I've already got the one house for... So, you know, the group of us.

But then now I'm going to get a secondary house or I think you've got to have, you know, one family house and then one friend's house. You know, bring the cameras out so if, not if, when we win. What's that? Hey, over here. If you're going to talk on the mic. Taylor's in here. She just came in. We should do gel blasters again.

Yeah, we tried to wrap this thing up minutes ago. I'm so tired. Taylor, I'm going to go to bed now. I got Dubai chocolate for you. Okay, thank you. Okay, see in a minute. All right, on to Tal'Daga. I'm going to physically be there this weekend.

Menly, Phoenix. I'm going to do the best I can, but I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on it. It's going to be fun, though, because I can race free, right? Like, not worried about wrecking. or you just kind of do whatever you want. Let's go get 61. Right?

It's another chance to win. Excited for it. Let's see it. I got a couple weeks. Let's go to work. Let's get this championship trap. Jared. Ready?

Ready? All right. We'll see y'all next week.