Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - Why Connor Zilisch is the Sugar Daddy for the Loser’s Dinner

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

With no race this weekend and Denny Hamlin on vacation, Todd Gilliland and Connor Zilisch step in to keep the show going. Todd just won the in-season tournament, and apparently everyone already has their hand out. Spoiler: he doesn't keep all of it. Off the track, Todd is an avid fisherman who would rather not actually touch the fish, and he wastes no time calling out Denny on both his fishing skills and his takes on the tournament. Connor opens up about the challenges of his rookie Cup Series season, breaking down the biggest adjustments going from O'Reilly to Cup and why the added practice NASCAR is rolling out can't come soon enough. The guys also debate whether NASCAR should rethink how qualifying order is decided. From there, Connor shares what it's actually like spending time with SVG, Todd gives a behind-the-scenes look at life at Frat (Front Row Motorsports), and the guys weigh in on whether Carson Hocevar should expect any grace from the field going forward. Other topics include: who would win in a boxing match between Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, what an SVG vs. Austin Hill fight would look like, whether it's better to call or text a driver after wrecking them, who's in the dog pound, who's headed to the loser's dinner, which driver might be into conspiracies, and which one won't stop talking after a few drinks. Oh, and Connor thinks Todd might be going through a midlife crisis. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Honestly, I don't owe Denny anything because I watch his podcast every single week, and he didn't pick me one time to go through. And then he texted me after Wilkesboro and was like, you got this. I'm like, no, dude, don't start now. 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 than Rick and drink to 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. Welcome, everybody, to an off-week version of actions detrimental. No Denny Hamlin this week. We've got new gillionaire in the room, the Todd father. Absolutely. It worked out. I'm glad I could bring a trophy and a check, something to at least bring to the table. This would have sucked.

It would have looked so random. But luckily, Travis could see the future. He saw the script. So he got us on here a couple weeks early. He knew we were going to win this. And Conor's Illich. Yes, Connor's here as well. I feel like I'm barging in on Todd's show this week.

This is actually just Jared's show that we're both here for. I'm happy to be here as support cast. right on what do you guys want to talk about we don't really have much plans Todd winning a million dollars well so this episode this is going to air next week Travis yeah all right so this is we're talking in the future here how did you spend a million dollars man I don't know everyone's been asking me that and like I didn't want to think about it whatsoever okay first off let's clear this up I'm definitely not getting a million dollars that the team got a million dollars I don't even know still how much I'm going to get of it but yeah small cut of it so you should have waited to sign your

contract. Right. I know. It's been a good, good couple weeks for the Gillland camp. So, yeah, I don't know. We're going on vacation here. I guess, yeah, when this is out there already, we'll be back. But yeah, excited for the off week. And, yeah, hopefully we'll be buying a lot of drinks on vacation here shortly. Where'd you go? We're going to the Bahamas. So Nassau, we're going with Harrison Burton, Krishnakis, a couple friends. So, yeah, it should be a lot of fun. Connor, what did you do for the off week? I went to Panama City Beach. Florida. It was great. Went fishing and yeah, sat by the beach. It was awesome.

Did you catch anything? Yeah, you should see. Did you pay for everything? Because Echus said he's not paying for anything. Dude, Echis is already the cheapest, dude. He is so cheap. So I don't know, dude. Now I know how people are like when they win the lottery and people come out of everywhere. Dude, I had truck drivers leaving the racetrack. They're like, hey man, you mind if I'll borrow a few bucks. I'm like, bro, what? I don't know. Like, this crazy. It's good stuff. How much were you paying attention, though, to where Blaney was at? Yeah, I mean, throughout the whole race, I mean,

obviously he was way ahead of me, the whole race. So, yeah, I could see him way up there. And then, you know, we just kind of got my car a little bit better where we were, you know, aggressive unrestarts all that stuff. Dude, I was like noose-a-tail with like five cars. It seemed like into turn three. And we kind of jammed up. I just saw like a little, you know, I guess bright yellow out of right side of my eye and I was like man you hate to cheer against someone but when I saw him spin out I was like we could we could take that and then I was like man how much damage does he have because we're still not very good so he could still get a little bit of damage and still made he passed me and he was definitely still faster than me so yeah luckily it was tough to pass and yeah I could see him

right in my mirror those last kind of 25 laps or so it felt good to you know actually have some laps that mattered and I had to definitely hit my marks keep the the 16 in between us I thought that was a is saying like if the 12 got right to my bumper it was um it was going to be tough but yeah luckily uh luckily he had just enough damage to keep back there did your team tell you like hey bud you're sitting in the million dollar seat right now i could see it i could tell for sure it um yeah my horse pounded in those last few laps just i was super tight just um but yeah obviously at indy you just got to hit the bottom and um yeah it would be tough to get past you and this is like a serious trophy like this is probably a top five yeah dude i got to

I got a ring, a check, trophy, hats everywhere. Dude, it was, it was great. They give more for that than the regular season championship. It's not even a thing anymore I heard, dude. Yeah, it's not. It's crazy. It's just the one seat now. Yeah.

How'd this work out? Dude, did Denny actually gain some points? Yeah. 84. Wow. That's a full race. Dude, I had no idea what was even going on in these races, man. I got to go back and watch the highlights just to see what's going on at the front most

these weeks. Yeah, that's the toughest part of about, doing these shows right after the race is that, well, Denny has no idea what happened. Yeah. Right? Because he's in it. And then Travis is really the only one watching on TV. Yeah, I'm just posted up at home.

Dude, I love after the race, I go on Twitter and I just see some random Travis tweets of like 11 radio. What was that? Super tight. Stuck back here. Do you guys have Travis in your life? I do not have a Travis. I do not have a Travis. Do you want a trap?

My dad, maybe. Your dad is definitely your Travis. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't have a, I don't have a non-family Travis, though. Jim? I don't know if I want one. I don't know.

You do, though, because someone's got to be in the streets picking your fights for you, you know, fighting your fights. That's true. Yeah. Dude, Jim's got your back through everything, man. He'll put out some crazy pictures on Twitter. I know. That's tough.

He's a dark. That's the one thing that Travis doesn't do. He doesn't, he doesn't ever embarrass Denny on Twitter. Yeah, because he loves him so much. Yeah. Yeah, you know. I could never do that to you, Danny. Denny's like your god.

That's not true at all. That is true. No, it's not true. Aside from Ohio State. I was going to say my gods are scarlet and gray. I back him, but I also call him out. I hold him accountable on this show. Maybe Ohio State is up there with Denny.

Ohio State's by far more than Denny. But yeah, I'm not going to, like, Connor's dad clowns him, but Conner still lives with his dad. I don't like, I'm just hoping. That is true. Like, what's the plan here, Connor? I don't know, man. I feel like I've got a great place to live. It's free.

I have home-cooked meals when I come home. I mean, why would I move out? I don't know. Dude, stack some paper. Stack the net another 10 years. And then you get a place like you just buy this one.

Yeah, I don't know if I can buy something like this quite yet. Yeah, we were talking last night. We should have helicoptered in, man. Yeah, once you buy that helicopter. Yeah, Travis asks the two broke his guys on the grid,

the helicopter in. I thought you had that Red Bull money. Come on, man. One day. What is it like, though, when, like, because you live at home, but you have, like, a legitimate, like, career. It's not like you go to college and have, like, you're just trying to make things meet. Like, you're a professional, but you still live at home because, I mean, you're just turned 20. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely odd at times. Like, whenever I tell people I live at home, I definitely get laughed at. They're like, man, you're racing the Cup series and you still live with your parents? Like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well, I mean, I'm not too ashamed. of it. Yeah, it's just going to make the house I buy one day much nicer. So, hey, I can, I can live with it for a few years. Look at him being smart as a 20 year old. That's just financially responsible. For now. We'll see. When did you move out?

I actually moved out when I was 18. So I don't know. Moved out or could out? He couldn't wait to get out. I just moved out. Yeah, I, um, yeah, I just moved probably like 20 minutes away. But, I was just ready to get out. Spread my wings a little bit, you know. Who spends more time in your dad's pond, Denny or you? Oh, definitely, Denny. I'm not that big of a fisherman. You should see Todd fishing. We went fishing outside the track at Indy.

And he catches a fish and he slaps the thing onto the grass. And then he's like, I got to put my gloves on. Wait, guys, I got to put my gloves on. And he literally puts his rubber gloves on to take the hook out of this thing and to hold it. And I'm like, Todd, you're like, you're a man. Like, be a man. Bro, at least I was catching fish, man. I barely.

You've barely caught any. That pond, like you literally throw a worm in and it's like it isn't even fishing. It's literally just catching. To be fair, though, I am self-sufficient once I go fishing. I got my gloves. It doesn't. Is it a clown? It doesn't.

Is it fishing? Is it fishing? It does it catch the fish if you needed like help to bring it all the way in? I don't need help though. That's what I'm saying. Dude, I put the gloves on. I'm digging in there. I don't really like touching the fish when it moves though.

Like I got to like pin it against the ground and then just like dig in there. get the hook out and then toss it back in. You're so scared, man. It's tough. But yes, back to my dad's pond. I only go fishing at, like, racetracks or, like, if my dad begs me for, like, a month straight. And then I'm like, okay, I definitely should go. But, yeah, we've had some good tournaments with Zane Smith, his dad, me, my dad, and then Denny and Charlie.

Yeah. Yeah, I was there once. Your dad and I floated around on one of his kayaks like three hours. Did he catch anything? Dude, at my dad's pond, it's like he can catch. It's only like him that can catch fish. I go with him. I'm throwing it right in the exact same spot.

It's like house rules. He lays them. Yeah. Yeah. He's got some big ones in there, supposedly. Yeah, that's cool. It was cool trip. Who's the best fisher?

Out of the, all the drivers. Because I feel like it's growing. I feel like, I don't know, Zanes. Zane's probably the most into it. Yeah, Zane's really into fish. I don't know how good briscoe is. Actually, Denny's probably the most into it, but not the best fisherman. That's for sure.

Wait, how many you guys are like fishing on the weekends? I don't know. It's like a common thing. There was like three of us that went out there, but I wouldn't. I mean, there's no, there's no tracks like Indy where there's a pond that's stocked outside the track. So, yeah, when we go to Iowa, we can't throw a reel into the corn and expect to catch a fish. But there's those people that live.

right outside the track have ponds and they are stoked when you guys go over there. Really? Yeah. Well, maybe we'll have to hand them up. Maybe we need to start a fishing tournament between the drivers. I think so. Saturday night. I like it. I should do that.

Also, speaking of the end-season tournament, I feel like Todd, you owe Jared and I and Danny like a percentage of what you got. Man, you are going to be in negatives after you pay out everybody who asks you. Well, so think about it though. Where did this idea come from? Was it your guy's idea? It was a show. Honestly, I don't owe any anything because I watch his podcast every single week

and he didn't pick me one time to go through. And then he texted me after Wilkesboro and was like, you got this. I'm like, no, dude, don't start now. You haven't chosen me at all through all these weeks. But yeah, I mean, I probably wouldn't have chose myself either, to be honest, 25 seed. Dude, the seeds don't matter. No, it doesn't.

No, it's just a fake number. I mean, yeah, it's... I mean, kind of. The good guys are still up there. It still is a Cinderella story. Oh, 100%. What was Ty Dillon last year? 30.

Last one. He was dead last. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because he beat Denny's the one right away. Yeah, ask how my in season tournament went. How yeah, how'd you're in season tournament go? How's your season going? All right.

Yeah, Connor, let's get there. We were talking about it last night. All right. So we're tied for the most DNFs ever in a season? Yeah, yeah, we are. Do we not talk about this? We can. I mean, it's common knowledge at this point.

Like, it's been, I don't know. I barely even touched Ross this past weekend at Indy and tore the right front off of it. And the car didn't even have any other damage. It's just how it's been, man. I mean, if it can go wrong, it's going to go wrong. Absolutely. Legitimately, like, how much more difficult is it than Xfinity racing? Yeah, I mean, it's the thing that people don't realize in Xfinity racing is if you're with Gibbs

J.R.M. Hoss. Like, if you're with those three teams, you're going to run top 12. And if you don't, then you're not going to make it very long. But, you know, you don't see guys like Danny run outside the top 12 or Reddick or people who have been really good this year. You know, those guys are always inside the top 10 running well. But, you know, when you go from fifth on back,

I mean, it's just anybody can run well on any given week. and they don't that's not a thing on on sundays so um yeah i mean it's it's very difficult i will say the drivers are all very good everybody fights for every spot whether it's for the lead or for 25th every lap and um also the cars are just way different and and it's very difficult no matter what series to overcome a a car that struggles but um you know especially when the drivers are so good it really makes it hard to so um yeah we've struggled a little bit this year with with you know as a team but um yeah i mean we're making progress and and we're better than we did better than when we started the year so yeah hopefully we can continue to get better and

figure this thing out are you excited for this new change to the practice schedule like i feel like that helps you guys more than anyone else in the field yeah i definitely think it's helpful for us i mean getting to make changes in practice and and get two sets of tires and be able to run more laps and have more time on track is certainly helpful for me. I'm sure the guys who, you know, the Denny's are like, well, I don't really need it anyway. All it's going to do is, you know, I don't know, maybe they can learn some things, but it's definitely going to help the other teams more than it will, the big three. So, yeah, I'm excited for it.

I think it's going to be really helpful for us to be able to show up and try things and be able to get back to where we need to if need be. But, yeah, we'll see what happens as the year goes. I think another topic with how people are performing is qualifying and the metric. What are your guys' takes on what it should be? Should it be just the current metric? Should it be practice speed, you know, random draw? What do you guys think?

Man, I don't know. I think the metric deal is, I mean, it's a tough situation because, I mean, someone's going to have to go out first. And it definitely sucks to go out first. But at the same time, like even we saw this weekend, right, Corey Heim, like, I think he's the biggest example to me. Like when he comes in races, even at like Kansas is places that, you know, the track gets way better as it goes. He can still overcome that.

So I don't know. In my mind, and like if you're a midpack guy or back of the pack, it definitely hurts you. I still feel like if your car and driver good enough, like you can definitely overcome it. But yeah, it definitely can get you in a rut. Like people talk about momentum. But yeah, momentum is definitely a real thing when it comes to the metric and all this stuff that kind of snowballs, I think. Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's definitely makes it, it's, I don't know, it's very difficult to overcome the metric.

And especially when you get back in points and even when you finish well, you're still qualifying relatively early. It can be difficult. But, you know, I don't think if you asked me last year, I would say, no, don't do pill draw because, you know, that would have killed me last year or at least hurt me. But, you know, if you asked me today, I'd say, yeah, pill draw, that'd be awesome. So, yeah, I mean, it's just situational. you're never going to get the whole Cup Series garage to agree on one answer. But that's just how it is. Is it tough to break out of that?

Like Denny says, you know, he obviously. Easy for him to say, huh? Right. But is it tough to get out of it? And do you feel like you get stuck in, you know, four-week stretch where you're just like at the beginning of this thing? I definitely think it's an overused excuse. I think it's, you know,

at the end of the day, if you go out and execute and finish 20th, you know, you're going to go out in a decent spot the next week. And then, you know, you can continue that. But at some point, it is hard when, you know, for me, I'm 34th in points. If I finish 25th, I'm still going to be one of the first seven or eight cars to go out. And, you know, at that point, you're not going to qualify great. So it's difficult. You know, I've only been in group two, technically one.

this year and even I forget where we were the week after Sonoma but it was a one single group practice anyway so I don't even get to get the fruits of my labor but it is very difficult to break out of the cycle but you know you see guys do it so it's hard for me to make an excuse for it dude on a lighter note how about SVG taking his wheel off and going through the the grass was it under caution at least yeah it was under caution that was He just took it right off. I think he just expected it to go straight. Yeah.

Like a road course car? Yeah. He took it off once, put it back on. I don't think he liked it. And then took it off again. Yeah, that was impressive. How funny is that guy? Just like the way he talks.

Oh, he is one of the funniest. I mean, you wouldn't expect it out of him. I guess people are starting to see it now with like the stuff he says on his radio and stuff. But, you know, if you met him for the first time, you wouldn't expect anything. But he has got the funniest sense of humor ever. whether it's the reels he sends me on Instagram or you know yeah it's he's great he's great or you know whatever it is he's just he's a very funny guy and and he's always just happy and even when he's not happy he doesn't say anything and um I respect him for that because it's hard to it's hard to

keep that positive mindset even when things are not going too great but yeah he's a good dude he's a really good dude have you gone over to his property and done a bunch of races over there because doesn't he have like a old track or something yeah I went over there a couple months ago when he had the cars, like the $500 beater cars that he was racing around his backyard and he created a track. And then he now he's got the RC car track and he just races RC cars around his backyard. He made a little oval track and does that now. So I haven't been over there for that.

He's been begging me to buy an RC car, but I need to finish a little better to be able to afford it. How much does an RC car cost? I don't know, like probably 300 bucks. That's like you don't pay rent. Dude, can you just text Zane? Doesn't he have RC cars? Yeah, that's true.

He has a big RC car guy now. Yeah. Maybe Zane can hook me up. Who's the most entertaining guy at Frat Row Motorsports? Frat Row. Dude, that's the best name. Like, I love it when people walk into our shop and they're like, well, where's the gift shop?

And we're like, oh, it's this room right here. And then there's like one window out to the shop. and they're like literally two feet from like where my car is getting set up and they're like damn I guess this is it um but man the funniest I don't know man definitely not me but I would say Zane is like the most underrated funny guy too is so sneaky funny like he just has such a good sense of humor and then obviously Noah is super funny but his personality is much more out there so um dude even like our marketing people like everybody social media like we're all just so young that it's just a lot of And so, yeah, sometimes it can beat you down running, you know, not how we want to.

But, yeah, I think we have a lot of fun off the race truck. If Zane had to box Hosebar, who would win? Dude, oh, man, I don't even know if I should say this. And box, like not fight, you know, just like straight up box. Yeah. Probably not Zane. Actually, I don't know. I don't actually know.

Both of them would be. He's got the reach. Bro, that would actually be a funny fight. That would be hilarious. What about SBG? Austin Hill. Dude, that would be more aggressive, man. I think there would be some landed punches.

I would pay $1,000 if you told me we could go watch that right after this. I bet Zane and Hosevar would just be like gummy arms, like just missing. Dude, SVG and Austin Hill would be haymakers. That would be like UFC. Absolutely. We should do it. SVG told me he's never fought, though. We'll do two classes.

We'll do lightweight. There's no way. There's no way he's never fought before. I mean, that's what he told me, but. There's no way. I just feel like that's what they do. He's a lover. He's a lover, not a fighter.

Wait, you just assume people from New Zealand fight, Jared? I don't know. He just feels like, I don't know him at all, but he feels like he could get into a scuffle. I think he could, but. I feel like I'd want him on my side. Maybe because he's so big,

a lot of people just don't pick a fight with him. Maybe. I wouldn't pick a fight with him. So who do you guys think would win? Let's hear something. I think, I think, Josevar in his reach. Really?

He's not going to like hearing that. Man. How about Josevar and Corey? I think Zane would win. I think Zane would win. I kind of like this Hosevar and Haim rivalry. Yeah? It's kind of fun.

What do you like? I like Times comments yesterday. Me too, dude. I like that everyone seems like they're getting united, you know, against Hosevar. Like, it's kind of crazy. But we'll see. That's Connor's guy. Do you think it's a legit rivalry from, like, I feel like Carson does a lot of stuff for the, for the clicks.

And I think that's. smart. Oh, yeah. As a social media guy, I think that's smart. But, like, I don't know. Is it legit? Is it a real rivalry? I think it's pretty real, man.

I don't think I like some of it. Yeah, I don't think Hosevar would beeline the pit road wall and flip them off at Indy if he didn't actually dislike. If he didn't, if it was just, I don't know. I think it could be a little bit of a show. I definitely think Hosevar does a good job of being on social media and saying the things to get people to laugh but I think at the end of the day I think those two do not like each other without a doubt I don't think many people like racing hosovar on the track but I would say

that's probably one of the people hosovar doesn't like racing like I'm here for I mean hosovar said on the t-and-tis set a couple weeks ago like if you want a war bring it well hym then gets in front of them and crazy which is wild to tell the gas car drivers like bring it like you don't you want you want more friends out there than anything It's crazy to then, like, flip him off when he's bringing it. It's exactly what you asked for, right? I mean, we'll see. It's going to keep coming, I bet.

Do you need friends on the track, though? I don't think you need friends, but you can't have enemies. It's a good way of putting it. I like that, especially at a place like Indy. Like, you can make others life just really, really hard. So, I think we do that anyway, but, like, you can make it, like, to another level. I was about that has anyone run into you guys this weekend? Last weekend?

I think you saw mine on Twitter. I still don't. I don't know, man. I don't know what I did that. I don't know what I did to upset the four car. But yeah, that little prick in the 88, something about him. Have you reached out to him? No.

Do you care as a driver when something happens to like reach out or have the driver reach out to you? If I wreck somebody, I will call the guy. But in that situation, I don't feel like I, I mean, if I don't feel like I did anything, I'm not going to go text the guy and say, hey, man, what was that for? Todd, do you know what happened? No, I didn't even see it until I got back to my phone and I was like, huh, I missed something. I mean, it's just frustrating in general, racing at indie because, like, you can be stuck behind a guy for legitimately like 45 laps. Yeah, like, there's just nothing you can do.

So I don't know. I think we all get a little frustrated, but that's racing. Way to give him the benefit of that, man. Yeah, always. How do you actually go about it when you wreck someone? When I wreck someone? I'm a caller. I think calling gets the message across a little better.

You text her? I want to text a lot, but then I'm like, man, sometimes this deserves a phone call, you know? Yeah. I think the text doesn't come across as well. I think I learned my lesson because when I first got into this stuff, I think I wrecked a few guys. I wrecked Corey Heim and O'Reilly race once, and I didn't get a response. And I was like, man, maybe I should have just called him. And then, you know, I had something happened a few weeks ago.

and I texted somebody. I didn't get a response. I was like, okay. From now on, I'm going to call. There you go. Yeah, who's the last person that you had to text or call for an on-track altercation? Man, I don't know. Austin Hill, I was waiting for a text or a call from him after San Diego, but I never got that.

Did you expect? SVG took care of that for you. Yeah, that's what I told Austin that. I said, hey, man, I'm just glad I didn't have to do it. I don't think he liked that. but I'm crazy. Yeah, I don't remember the last. I mean, I texted Ricky after yesterday,

but I wasn't really apologizing. It was more so a laugh. What'd you do to him? I threw a mean block into one, like a mean block all the way down to the white line. And he, that's what, did you see him in Chase Wreck? That's why he had like a horrible run off of one. Because I just, yeah, I blocked him really hard.

And then he got, he got chucked up off one. That's when Chase went to his inside and two and they wrecked. So, yeah, I texted him. I said, hey, man, I hate to be that guy. But, yeah, apologies. And he said he was waiting for his point by. Because did you see Marco Andretti's tweet the other day?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he said, we don't even race. We don't even race the first third of the race. They just point each other by. Three wide lap one every single week. Yeah. This is crazy. I don't think you can point anyone by at Indy.

No, no. You can point him to the right. You can say, hey man, if you want to pass me, go out there. Connor only race is the first third of our races. Someone told me yesterday. I shouldn't be laughing about this, but this was funny. One of the spotters on the spotter stand was up there for qualifying. And I went out to make my qualifying run.

And this is after I wrecked in the stage one, like three weeks in a row. And I roll out to make my one lap for qualifying. And the spotter goes, man, Connor's making a long run today. I was like Todd one's last time you had to apologize Okay dude so with the Bubba thing at Sonoma I actually like after I watched it And just saw it wasn't on purpose that he hit me that hard

I was like damn dude I totally overreacted pushing him off the track So then I felt bad so I called him to apologize And he apologized and I was like oh damn All right well we're good And then I don't know probably probably Lugano I actually went to talk to him in person I, yeah.

What'd you do to Lugano? Just racing hard. Racing hard. Yeah. So living and learning, you know. Did you call John Hunter and thank him? Yeah. How much of your cut are you given to John Hunter?

See, dude, I'm telling you I owe stuff to everybody, man. It's not good. Dude, John Hunter was texting me last night, just laughing about it. But yeah, oh, he wasn't laughing about it. Kind of in a bad spot, but. You're going to get him in trouble. I know, no, no. Not what he's not what was my cut for that man.

Yeah, but yeah, I don't know. After that wreck, I literally came out, 12's in the wall and I was like, I had Zane in from me, Noah behind me, I'm like, damn, safe, safe place right now. Yeah. Who was your guy's favorite drivers growing up? You can't say your dad. Yeah. I feel like Kyle Bush and Jimmy Johnson.

So my dad was sponsored by the M&M's car or sponsored by M&Ms. and then they went and sponsored Kyle Bush. So I kind of kept cheering for the candy company as a kid. And then at the same time, Jimmy Johnson was just winning everything. So hard not to cheer for him. Was your house stocked with candy? Dude, we legit had like a room.

Dude, we had the best house on Halloween because, dude, we were giving out full-sized candy bars of everything. So it was like snickers, Twicks, like all the stuff that Mars makes. So that was awesome. Great, great time to be a kid.

You didn't even have to leave the house on Halloween. True. We have the best on, dude. Just go in the guest room, get what you want? Connor, what about you? I was a big Jimmy guy. You guys are picking the guys who win every race. I know.

I mean, that's why people like... Why do people like us? Don't wait. Why do they not like us? Why, yeah, why do people like us? I don't know. So I guess you were winning. You guys are entertaining.

Do you think there's going to be a kid in one day in like 20 years and they're going to be like, who was your favorite driver in 2026? Todd Gilleland. Todd Gillilland and Connor's Litch. Like, why? Like, I love pickles. I wrote it for time. That's true.

Dude, the pickles actually help me out a lot. Dude, they do so much cool merch and people love the pickles. They're good pickles, I will say. And kind of you got Red Bull.

And so it's like, that's one way that fans might. Yeah. Yeah, I have a cool sponsor. I don't, you know, it's not Eminem's.

You know, it's maybe not what the kids like, but I think the Red Bull definitely attracts. I mean, Red Bull is just such a cool company that, you know, it's, yeah,

people definitely attract to, to the energy drink sponsors. and Red Bull specifically because how much cool stuff they do. You're going to hook us up with the Red Bull cooler? I don't know. Would Denny want a fridge in here? Oh, yeah, I'll take a fridge in here. I'm sure I can make that happen. The question is, Todd, what size shoes you wear?

Because when Redick won the bracket, he asked for a pair of Js, and if you're the right size, you might be able to... Dude, to be honest, okay, this is a whole story. I actually really am confused about what size shoe I am right now because I got up to, like, a 13, and now I feel like my feet are shrinking. So then I got 11.5 for those in-season tournament shoes and they were a little too small. So I think I'm a 12. Come on, man.

Is this like a midlife crisis thing? No, dude, I think I'm starting to get shorter and my feet are shrinking. You have to call your wife to find out. My feet are shrinking. It's not good. Well, I mean, I wouldn't mind being a little shorter, but. Why, you don't like being tall? Well, in the real life, I'm not that tall.

But like in racing, I would like to be able. In real life. Yeah. No, dude, in the car, man. I wish I'll stretch my legs a little bit, man. It's like sitting on an airplane for four hours. I'm ready to just move my legs, man. How tall are you?

What's Wikipedia say? I'm 6-3, but let's see what Wikipedia says. I don't even think they bought it. They don't. I used to be 6-3. Is that because you looked? Did you know already? Well, I have looked it up once,

but there's another Connor Zillich who's a hockey player. And it always gives a... It says I'm 6-1, probably. Or like something like that. Because the other Conor Zillich has his height because he was a hockey player. Conor Zillich hockey plays for the Fox City Ice Dogs. The Fox City Ice Dogs. Oh, that's some DAP stuff right there.

Oh, you should. The Fox City Ice Dogs match. Here's a fun game. I just searched Todd Gill and Networth. What do you think it says? Oh, boy. 200,000. Actually, a million dollars now.

Todd Gillen has an estimated net worth of roughly $5 million to $6.5 million and bolstered by his professional NASCAR salary sponsorships and a $1 million win. Bro, I wish. Dude, that would be sick. Damn, I'm getting like minimum wage out here. Wait,

y'all are getting paid to do this? It's crazy. Oh, I was just glad that the lawsuit, FRIM got the end season tournament victory. Did you know ahead of time that you're going to get this in the settlement? Yeah, I think I heard about this at the Christmas party,

right after they settled it, they said like that was all weird. going to get on the cup side was this in-season challenge. But luckily, we got the truck wins built into the lawsuit. I wish we got the cup wins like 2311, dude. They got it made. Yeah, they've got it made. But they're on Easy Street.

They didn't take the lumps of Macass. They've got all the wins this year. Dang, I had on my... You got no comment, dude? I just had on my question sheet here. Can you guys come up with some, you know, random thing like Noah and Riley do every time they going on a podcast? Noah and Chase.

Yeah, there it is. Yeah, there it is. Dude, that's not made up, man. What do you think Connor's net worth is? Ooh, I don't know. This could be high or low because he's young. I'm going to guess five. Two to three.

Two to three. Broke boy. I am a broke boy. Todd's got double the net worth of me, man. How much is rent? Rent's free. My dad keeps joking that he's going to start making me pay rent. I would if he Googled your network.

If he Googled your network. This is a nice place, too, man. Man, rent could be high at the Zillard Household. Do you have chores? Yeah, I mean, I help around the house, man. I do my job. I do my own laundry. I put some dishes away every now and then probably once or twice a year,

but, you know, I do it when I need to. I think I see your dad pretty often on Brawley School. Yeah, you probably do. Yeah. My parents have always commented whatever car he's driving. He's, I mean, he's probably driving his Rivian. He's got a Rivian. No, no.

It's an old, it's in the 60s or 70s. Oh, he's. got a Camaro. Yeah, he's got an old Camaro. Yeah, but he's always wearing the same hat, and that's the giveaway. Windows down, hat on. I was like, I think that's Connor's dad. What a guy. What a guy. Jared, what are you doing in the off week? This? No, I'm going back home to New Jersey.

My dad and I, so my entire family lives in New Jersey. I'm the only one who lives here. But my dad and I are going to a Rush concert. Oh, Rush will be cool. What's Rush? Come on, man. Come on, man. Two thirds of Rush anyway. Let's look it up. Todd, you got to put the fries in the bag, man. Are you being serious?

He doesn't know what Rush is. Rush? Concert? Yeah, you can do that? Oh, my gosh. Oh, dude. Whoa. That guy's got crazy hair.

Which one? Long hair? This guy. Yeah. How do you, Todd? Let's go. I'm 26. And how do you not know Rush?

Do you know, you have Spotify or Apple Music? Go to either one of them. Apple music. All right. Go to either. one of them and look up rush how many songs do you know more of like a pit bull guy I'm more of a pit bull guy kid cuddie we went to a kid cuddy concert that was yeah we did that was fun rush artist all right tom sawyer is this a good song don't play it we have to pull it out we don't have

rights I still don't know man you're kidding it's okay I'll do some more research later but yeah that's what that's what I'm doing for tomorrow if Like any other year, I'd probably go try to live out of my backpack somewhere. Denny always makes fun of me. He thinks I'm granola. Are you really going to feel like that's pretty cool? Where would you go? Where would you go?

Probably, well, in the country, Utah, out west. You are granola. But like, what is granola? I don't know anybody who goes to Utah with the backpack. Have you been to Utah? I mean, yeah, I've been to Utah. It's amazing, right? It is amazing.

Dude, there's some sick golf courses in Utah. Crazy views. Yeah, I feel like any place that's red has sick golf courses. Yeah. Are you, Jared, are you really going to be camping at Richmond in a tent? Yeah. Why?

As long as it's not raining. I'm going to preface it by saying that. As long as it's not raining. Or are you doing this out of? No. So, Trave, do you want to tell them or? So one of Denny's childhood friends, I think friend number one, Ronnie still lives up in Chesterfield.

And so he was like, you need to come up to Richmond for the race. And then in the bros chat, they were like, the bros. That's what it's called the Denny Bros. They were like, we should just get a couple of campsites and camp out for the Richmond race. So we got three campsites and a bunch of us are going up there. And Jared said he's going to camp. Let's go.

Yeah. So there's a, there's a Denny Brose group text. I mean, this whole thing started from, he's in it. The whole thing started through Dale Jr. And Travis's fandom for Denny. Does Dale make fun of you too? Yeah, I mean, he coined the term Denny Brose. Okay.

But anyway, everyone in it is pretty unhinged in their own way. I think that's a nice way of put in it, Travis. That's accurate. So, yeah, at Richmond, Denny got three campsites out in front of the track. So all these friends are going to go up camp at the track. There's a couple RVs come in. It'll be a time. Are you going to be in the deal a lot?

No, no. No, no. It's going to be in the fan zone. Yeah, this is out in gin pop. It would be awesome if you brought a tent into the DOL lot. Dude, I'm getting closer. I'm getting closer to sell in the motorhome and just tend you. You were supposed to at Talladega.

Do you remember? I do remember. Yeah. What was that? Whoever finished worst of the Daytona 500 is supposed to tent camp at Tadalega. Has to tent camp in the D.O lot at Talladega. I think we should all do that somewhere. Like all of us.

Why don't we do that like Sonoma or no one brings the motorhomes out there? Just air mattress in a tent. Traffic sucks. We'd be way ahead. Yeah. I'm so down Austin Cindricks got the best Yeah, that's sick

Yeah And Blaney's crew chief Is he always in the deal lot? Yeah, he's got that van like camper He doesn't strike me as like Grinola guy but the van does so Have you talked to him? I haven't he'd go backpacking with you

Yeah, I would love that Do you have a friend to go with when you go Or do you solo camp? No, no, I got a couple friends ago I don't think, I don't know I've never gone solo. know if I would. It's way more when you're like around with your friends, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Connor, do you have a an RV yet? Are you still hotel in it? Yeah, I bought an RV this year with my two million dollar net worth. First big purchase probably, right? Yeah, it was my first big purchase. Yeah, I thought it would be nice to have. And it has been nice to have. I think the motorhome life is a great life. Especially like rain delays and stuff. Yeah, it's great to have a place to go. And also like thing with nascar races is whenever you bring people to the track there's nowhere to go like

there's no nowhere for friends and family to go so at least it gives them a place to hang out we had a fan they wanted to know todd what was it like growing up growing up around frm and now driving for him yeah i think um from the from my side of it growing up like it's cool to see how far front row has come i think obviously we still have a long ways to like where we want to go um but man when you know we're I was watching my dad race for front row. They weren't buying all the tires. They were, you know, practicing on old tires from, you know, other people's 10 lap runs, stuff like that.

So I think still just to, you know, see how much effort, you know, how much more engineering, just how many more staff people that they have. Yeah, another funny story. After the season when my dad was racing, they would like lay off everybody, like throughout the winter. And then they'd open back up January 1st and expect to like make gains, right? And go to the racetrack. Daytona 500 is like a month away.

So, yeah, we've come a long way, but, yeah, it was fun. Obviously, like, you know, Bob Jenkins, Jerry Freeze, like, they've, you know, owned it and been the GM literally since my dad was there. So, yeah, knowing those guys has helped a lot. And, yeah, it's, you know, certainly like family over there. Who would win in an arm wrestling contest? You or Noah. Me or Noah? Yep.

Oh, I got them covered for sure. That comes from a fan. I like it. Dude, I know. I can't believe we didn't get that many, like, fan votes. Oh, there are. Let me log on to Denny's Twitter. I think that's my newest thing.

It's just liking everyone's tweets and stuff. You are a big liker on Twitter. You're going to get yourself in trouble in day. Always online, man. Dude, all the memes. You're on just as much as I am and I'm not racing. I feel like you somehow are tweeting during the race too. All the memes that NASCAR posted yesterday are crazy.

Those are funny. The big leagues call it. It's a crazy first post on NASCAR social channel, dude. Literally. Peak off season. ranch or blue cheese with wings ranch not even dude we're eating wings last night with some ranch yeah where did you where'd you go to celebrate um so we actually had like side's oh my not saiads dude not not to satees but it's just not

not that kind of place dude um everyone just came over to my house um my whole team um yeah most celebrated 24th place finish in my life um but yeah it was it was cool it was perfect timing with uh you know the off week and and all that so everyone and let loose a little bit. Man, some of these questions are mean, Travis. Yeah, some of them are. Oh, no. Just hit us with the deep cutting questions.

You want the deep cut? Is it, is it, let me see. I'm sure I know who it is. Everyone knows who it is. Now that I look at it, I don't even really want to give this satisfaction. Is it the guy Denny had beef with? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when I read the question, I did not, I was not looking at who sent it first.

I like the Denny Delivers guy on Twitter. Yeah. He's always in my mentions and stuff. Do you ever have the urge to just turn right? It's the urge to just turn right? Yeah, man, every race. Man, the next corner's got to be right. I've been going left for so long.

It's like a... It's actually a specialty. It's turning right. I know. I know. And left. I feel like I've been turning right a lot lately on the ovals, though. Turned right when Noah hit you.

I did have to turn right a lot when, Noah hit me. If NASCAR ever went back to the tandem package like Daga, who would your tandem partner be? Dude, I would actually love that. That might be an unpopular opinion, unpopular opinion, but I think the tandem racing would be sick to bring back. I mean, it can't be any harder to pass them what we got.

I feel like me and Shane would be some good tandem partners. Dude, also we need to bring back the radio with a big dial of like everyone's car numbers. Just tune in. Oh, yeah. Oh, Connor, you want to work with me? No, man, already got Shane. That would be cool. If we could do that at practice for the 500.

With the choose cone now, too, that would work perfect. Well, also think about yes a couple weeks ago with Hose of Arnheim. Forget the middle finger. You could just dial up and. Yeah, it's true. Oh, yeah. We don't need Hosefar to have that, dude. He'd be rage baiting everyone.

He would be rage baiting everyone. What do you think about the new package for Daytona coming up? Do you think it's going to make a difference? We're told to temper our expectations. That's what Denny says? Dude, Denny's on the board of the thing. He said it'll be, what do you say, Travis? I said, what should fans expect?

And he said 20% better is of fair expectations for fans. You know what? Small gains. You're such a positive guy. What do you think the solution is? I have no idea, dude. That is way above my pay grade. That is.

What do you think? That must be a lot then. I mean, if you ask any of the drivers, I think there's a common answer. What is that? Less drag? Just, well, I think a different car, but I don't think that's possible right now. So, yeah, I mean, I think obviously the biggest thing is drag, and they're taking a lot of drag out. But, you know, I think that will help.

I mean, the thing is with the Xfinity cars, like you can't run 40% throttle in 25th when the leaders are wide open. Whereas in a cup car, you can. So I think the hole that the cars are punching is too big. Dude, another thing, this short track package, all these guys at the front are saying their cars drive too good. We need less grip, more horsepower. And then I'm back there in the back.

Who is asking for this? I'm struggling with what we had before. Now I have less grip, already have them down on grip and more horsepower, dude. I'm like... It is blue collar. Do you know what we call the battle

from like 25th to 32nd? No. It's the dog pound. The dog pound? Because we're all these dogs back there, dude. We had a class photo last week because now they put us by where we line up, where we qualify. It's just the back row of the drive. Who's in the dog?

Who's in the dog pound? The common suspects? Yeah. Yeah. Who has a residence card? Ricky's probably like the front of it. Ten year. You know, he's been there for a while.

All the frat row guys. Zanes, Loki, been finding his way out every now and then. But Zane's in there. Noah, Todd, me. Austin Hill Austin Hill Austin Hill Austin Dylan

Yeah Ty Dylan Austin Dylan sometimes SVG is like an honorable member Because sometimes he'll You know He'll run it randomly Dominate but I think he's left that though

Yeah that's actually fair I guess that was more like First year Yeah He graduated but This sounds like a tight group though Like why do you guys have beef with each other We don't have beef man

We're all just trying to get to the end of the race Just business back there We're just racing hard man So well then why Why is Austin Hill you know crashing you guys at at san diego like that's i know we finally made it out of the dog time look at us guys we're here that's true i know man why are we being stupid i don't know i don't know i wish i had an answer for you but yeah man the dog pound is alive and well these days how do you mentally like

stay up and like it's a long season and it's not going well how do you just like try to not just be down every week and stay focused go ahead todd Man, I don't know. I think, yeah, in my fifth year in cup, I think you just kind of learned to take the super small wins, right? I think even when Ricky stopped in here, he was like, you show up to the racetrack every week, you know, expecting to win. You prepare like you're going to be battling for the win.

And then when you run load and you're 35th in practice, you're like, all right, need to change our goals here. We'd go out to qualify. If we qualify 25th, that would be progress. And then in the race, just chip away at it. So, you know, I think for me, it's a lot about, yeah, just changing goals, having small wins. I think that's one thing like my team and I have been good at this year is just taking what we can get and maximizing that at the very end of the race. So, yeah, it's, it's tough to do sometimes because, you know, all of us have won, you know, a lot of races coming up through every single rank.

So we obviously all want to go out and win. But, yeah, at some point, you just got to, you know, kind of change your expectations and make the most of each day. What is a, what is a win? on the average, on the average weekend. Yeah, I mean, I feel like for us, top tens are, are solid, you know, and then anywhere in the top five would be, would be great.

So I think a weekend like North Wilkesboro that we had, you know, obviously a lot of guys got kind of caught out by that caution, but, you know, I thought we raced, you know, within the top 10 most of the second half of the race. And I thought for us, like, that was a really strong day. So, you know, on and off pit road,

you know, sometimes our pit crew, like just for everyone, right? Just a really solid day for us. So, yeah, I think top 10 days for us are good. What do you guys do during the week? Like when you're not, or I guess this question is like, just what does your day-to-day life look like throughout the week? Yeah, Mondays, I would say for me, Mondays and Wednesdays are very competition related for me.

Obviously, Mondays, you're doing all the meetings before races. And then I do all my Wednesday sim and then my pre-race meetings are on Wednesday. So those days are pretty busy with that stuff. And then, you know, obviously I'm in the gym Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. And then, you know, I end up doing a lot of media stuff Tuesday and Thursday, depending on what we have that week. So yeah, it stays pretty busy. And you kind of just get into a routine. Like, you know, we race every weekend.

And it's a lot, no doubt. But it just honestly, it flies by. Like you get into the routine. You know what you're doing each day. and the weeks get repetitive. But I enjoy it. It keeps me busy. It keeps me out of trouble.

And, you know, it's good for something. I was going to say, I feel like the routine part of it is, like, super important. Like also, you just kind of get, you're kind of forced into it because we do it every single week, like you said. But, yeah, Connor gave you the professional answer. We, we could do our losers dinner like Tuesday nights. Yeah, we do have a loser's dinner. Do you know what that is? No.

Yeah. Yeah. So me, you. Zane, Riley, Noah are all in a group chat. And whoever finishes last in that group has to buy dinner for everybody that week and their wives. And I don't have a girlfriend. So I'm getting the short end of the stick on that because I'm having to buy for all these. Connors has been our sugar daddy this year.

He's going to take us to all these dinners. You should be able to get an extra meal to go then. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Right. Like I should be able to reap some benefit of not having a plus one with me. Or at least it has to be a wife. It can't be a girlfriend because that girl could be gone in a couple months and you're buying her dinner. Like at least Todd is bringing a wife to the table.

Like if it's Noah, who knows who he's still spending the money one way or another. At least you know she's not going anywhere. I hope not. Where are you guys going? Like what's the what's the bill look like? The budget? Well, it depends on the week. You know, sometimes I've had to stack dinners a few times.

I think just once this year I've had to stack dinners and do something nice one week instead of two like we get a duck worse. Yeah. Yeah, we'll go pretty middle of the road. You guys go to Chili's? Absolutely. No, no, man. We drive right past it. Who picks the restaurant?

It's kind of a group decision. Yeah, it's a group effort. It's a group effort. We change it every week. We move around. Okay, so losers dinner on Tuesdays. It depends. Yeah, usually.

Maybe drinks Wednesday night. Zane's boat. He's got a boat deal, so that's better than having your own boat. Actually, I think he would win in a boxing match with. Zane's definitely beating Hosevar in a boxing match. Yeah. Now that I don't know that Zane has a boat, I'm going to... Wait, what does a boat have to do with it?

What? Because boats are cool. I don't have that many friends with boats. But how's it? I like this guy now. It's crazy. You're like a girl, dude. What?

UVs a 10 tomorrow. His jokes just got way better. Man, this guy's cool. He's funny. What kind of boat is it? It might even be even better. It's a pontoon boat, but it's like, it's a sick pontoon. Oh, there you go.

Jared's going to be in love with them. Why? It's a pontoon boat? It's a nice pontoon boat. Jared takes what he can get. Yeah. It is fun, though. So we get drinks Wednesday night,

then we're just back to work. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I'm not old enough yet. I haven't been on his pontoon. One more year? One more year. I know. I got 360 days, I think, something like that.

Oh, how was I heard, well, not heard. I just turned, whatever age, 32, 31. But Denny was saying how going to Hooters was the thing you had to do for your birthday. And then when you just turned 20. What day was that? Wednesday? Last. Oh, the 15?

July 15? No, the 22nd. Oh, the 22nd. Okay. Anyway, your dad posted a photo of you at Hooters. Yeah, that was my first birthday. Yeah, my dad took me to Hooters for dinner on my first birthday. Because why not?

Why not? They got great check. Me and all my brothers did that on our first birthday. Really? Yeah. Family tradition. And I'm going to do it with my kids one day. If Hooters still around.

Still around. Yeah. I might have to drive a while, but... You could find, like, a Twin Peaks or something else. Yeah, but it ain't the same, man. I know. There's just something about Hooters. There's a question here.

Have you watched Days of Thunder? Which I think is a silly question, because, like, of course you had, but Todd doesn't know who rushed us. No, but apparently, was it Christopher Bell? Yeah, Christopher Bell hasn't seen it. That's disappointing. That is disappointing. Like, my wife hates to watch Days of Thunder with me, because I could say every single word.

Yeah. Have you watched it? I've watched it. I need to rewatch it now with the, with the second one. coming on the way. Nice. But yeah, I've watched it. I'm not, I'm not C-Bell.

What's something that people don't know about you, Connor? I think people forget, I mean, this is kind of a silly. I mean, I should probably find something more creative than this, but I think people forget. My first oval race was in 2022. Dude, you want to know a crazy story? I went to Connor's first late model test. Yeah.

Todd was at my very first. It was in 2020. He drove one of my dad's late models. Yep. Ace Speedway. Yeah, Todd was in my very first. He was fast right away. Crazy.

Yeah. I blew his boots off. Your first oval race was 2022. So you and SVG got a lot in common. Yeah, we are. In that kind of. I mean, we're a little different in the age range, but yeah. I mean, I haven't been doing this for that long.

People don't give me enough slack. Dude, can you imagine? How old is Denny? 43? No. How old is 44? Are you going to do this for another 23 years? When did Denny start cup racing?

How old was he? He's 45. Bro, Denny was winning cup races before you were born. Denny, yeah, Denny won cup races in 2006. His first cup win was like right around the time I was born. I think it was 2006. 2006, yeah, I was born in 2006, July. Yeah, Denny's been doing this for a long time.

That's crazy. Man, if I was, if, I mean, I hope I can do it for that long. First of all, I mean, it's easy to say I want to, but I need to be able to to run well enough to keep this job for long enough, which I know I will. But yeah, man, I think, I think, you know, Bowman retiring at whatever, 33, 34, 35, that's early. I think I would want to go to at least close to 40. I don't think I'll get to 45. 45 is a lot. And dude, that's a big house, man. Man, I don't understand how, for me, like, I talked to Denny about it a couple weeks ago. I was like, I don't know how you can retire when you're still the guy to beat every single week.

Like, I feel like that'd be so much fun. And I had that last year and there's no way I, like, if I was, if I had what I had last year for the rest of my life, I could do it until I was 80. There's something cool, though, too, about like going out on top. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, you don't want to, you don't want to fall off. It's true. Yeah, but is JGR suddenly going to just like lose speed? Like, I don't think.

But also another year and a half is so far away. Like what position are you in come this time next year, you know? You never know, man. That's life. Right. Right. It's crazy. Do you just like lose it?

We're just on a floating rock, man. I think when. We are just on a floating rock. It's crazy. I think when Denny wins a championship, when, if he wins a championship, it's going to be like, it's going to be like Dealer and Hart win in the 500. Facts. Everyone's going to be pumped.

Yeah. Are you flat earther? No. Do you think I was? Well, I just thought maybe a granola and like it just popped in my head. stupidest. Dude, one time Michael McDowell, we were flying back from the rate. Is anyone on the grid of Flat Earther?

Dude, okay. We're flying and Michael press the call of 10 of button and ask the pilot if it looked flat around up there because we were like coming back from Vegas or something so we thought we were super high up. Uh-huh. He said it looked pretty round. Dude, if you want to hear some crazy conspiracies, that's who you need. Michael McDowell.

Really? I would never guess Michael McDowell to be the conspiracy guy. Do you believe in the government, like everything they tell you? What do you think this UFO stuff is distracting us from? No way. Oh my God. I don't know, dude. Man, we missed it.

McDowell was a guest on this show. He should have got a good. He was the first ever guest, I think. Crazy stuff. Well, there's your next guest. It's life. Michael McDow. What's your favorite moment from?

This one right here, without a doubt. I was already looking at him. Danica. You're my friend. He's been in some. He hasn't really had a little. like a big fight in a long time. I think we're due.

Yeah, we are due. We are due. We were just, we were talking about last night. We don't have the one up here where he went nose to nose with Alex Bowman on the front stretch at Martinsville. It's actually a cool picture. Yeah. Like, you guys trying to do a burnout. He's just.

Or a double bird through the windshield. That is aura. What are you going to do? The show did get him fined $50,000. This show? Yeah. How? When he commented about Ross Chastain.

Like 10 episodes into the start of the show. Action is detrimental, dude. Yeah. Is that why it got named action? No, that was before because he's obviously had many of those. Barson named it, actually. Dude, I forgot about, like, Ross is just tame now. He's just not a big trouble guy anymore.

I know. He stepped out of that life. I want him back in it. Yeah. Ross, I enjoyed watching Ross in that era. Same. But it's hard to, it's hard to be that guy when you're, you know. He's right in front.

to me for 23rd man yeah it's tough it's like me and noah man it's like trash versus garbage racing each other for 30 third garbage that's so bad dude Todd what are there uh things do we not know about random drivers on the grid like you got me you gave you gave McDowell one let me just go through a list of guys Austin Cindrick loves anime do I think Cindrick has low-key one of the best personalities he's so underrated like He has two completely separate sides, man. Like, he's just been, he's grown up the Penske way, like literally with his dad working there for so long. Like, dude, he can turn it on and like shirts tucked in, belt, black pants, white shirt.

You're like, what happened? And then do it away from the racetrack. He's literally one of the funniest people and unhinged people that I've ever met. So, oh, who else? How many group texts do you have? Oh, man. Like active ones? Yeah, with drivers.

I really don't talk to that many other drivers except like closer friends. But I don't know. It was nice yesterday or like after the driver's meeting before the in season challenge. I feel like a lot of guys are cheering for me. Well, you were, unless you were a Penske supporter or Blaney fan, I don't think anybody was written for him. Yeah. So that's the most I've talked to a lot of other drivers.

Who do you think texts in the driver chat the most? Man. Probably Bubba. I sent my first text in there, dude. I was nervous. Broke the ice. You just hope that like someone, is it just like a I message chat?

It's a WhatsApp. Can you react to messages in there? Yeah, yeah. You just hope that like someone's going to laugh at my joke. It was about the wall at San Diego and I got like four thumbs up right away. And I was like, yes, dude,

I didn't with the first text. Let's go. I wanted a text yesterday. Where are you going to text? Be like, man, that was a fun race. What about Priests and Busher?

They seem like two guys that could. Yeah, I like their prank war. Me too. I think, yeah, I've never really talked to Busher that much, but Priest is actually super funny too. Yeah. And it's cool to see, like, I feel like priest is bringing Busher out of his shell. And like, I saw him wearing like a bucket hat deal yesterday. Like a lot, I think a lot of stuff is just through RFK. But it's cool to see, cool to see guys coming out of their shell a little bit. I feel like that's kind of the whole whole grid right now is doing a better job. Yeah. As I go through this, I'm trying to like pick a guy who we don't know much about. But I feel like everyone has their own little. quirks and personalities in the wrong way. Who would you want to see host of a podcast?

Like if two drivers... Oh, well, Noah. Noah. I think Noah's electric. But that's the easy answer. Do Dale's show? Maybe Cole Custer? Do we know anything about Cole's a crazy guy? I don't know.

Dude, I went to Key Largo with Cole once, and he's a great dude. Give him a couple beers. He'll... You don't hear from him much. Two beers in? You hear a lot from him. Maybe I'm saying too much, you know. I'm saying too much about everybody.

These guys are going to text you, man. Why'd you say that about me? No, I think my pick is Cindric, honestly. Yeah. I think my pick is Cendric. Yeah, that'd be good. That'd be entertaining. This is the only podcast I actually watch.

I actually watch on YouTube. You and your wife watch it, right? Dinner time. Todd loves YouTube. Like, he's like that kid that has to have the iPad propped up in front of his plate when he's eating dinner. I agree. Literally. I agree.

I can't eat something without watching YouTube. I don't even have normal TV. I have my mom's subscription on like a couple TVs and then I just watch YouTube all the time. He always text or ask as he's like, did you watch Cletus's video? And I was like, when did it come out? He's like, this morning. I was like, bro, I got so starstruck when I saw Cletus at Talladega. Squirrel McNutt walked right past me and I was like, oh my God.

I wanted to say, dude, I almost did. by next time I will. What's your, what's your top five subscriptions on YouTube? Like if you had to pick, you can only subscribe to five channels. What are they? Dude,

I, I watched so much YouTube golf. So big Grant Horvat guy. Um, Bryson DeShambo. I'm, I'm getting into more like the Cletus stuff. Like cheap card challenge.

Like, dude, it's so funny. I can't believe you guys don't watch this stuff. I watch, I watch, I watch 50% of Cletus's videos. All right.

That's probably a good amount of dosage. Yeah. I mean, well, when he did the month of freedom or whatever, and it was a video every day, I mean, I didn't keep up with that. That's a grind. That is a grind. But I don't know. What do you watch on YouTube?

Hiking videos? How to pack a backpack. Best hikes in Utah. ASMR. I've got zippers. Let's see. Subscriptions here. Dirty Moe, obviously.

NASCAR. I'm a big fan of Magic. gathering. I got a lot of Magic the Gathering podcast on here that I subscribe to. Some Barstool stuff. You guys probably never heard of that, right? You didn't even react. What, Magic the Gathering? No, what is that? Some magic tricks? No, it's a, it's a very nerdy card game. Wait, that's kind of like Yu-Gio. Are those the cards that you brought to the Post Malone concert? Yeah, yeah. That's how I bonded with Post Malone. That's like one of the coolest things that I were done. Did you meet Post-E? Yeah. So we were the first time

we went to a Post-Malone show. I don't know. It was like in middle of country somewhere. Anyway, we're there. Ricky was there and we're in post Malone's like green room wherever. Everyone's playing beer pong. I know that he is low key, this like huge nerd. So everyone's like playing beer pong wherever. I walked up to him.

I was like, hey man, like ask him a question about this game that we play. And he was like super engaged. And we talked about it for 10 minutes. And afterwards, Denny, everyone's asking like, hey, what were you talking about post-blon? corner for 10 minutes. I was like, oh, we were just bonding over nerdy, nerdy card games. And so Jared brought some with him just in case. Yeah, because he said, he's like, dude, if you ever, if you ever come back and you're

ever around me again, bring your cards so we can play. And unfortunately, it hasn't happened. But, dude, you didn't meet up with him when we're at in show? No, no, I was prepared, though. I was prepared. He brought his cards. I like it, dude. I've been having some bad brain rot on YouTube.

I've been watching gambling videos, like this dude gambling. Like I feel like that's bad That's degenerate That's tough What does your wife think of Acton detrimental Since you guys watched together Um

So I put it in like one and a half time speed And just grinding away Dude doing the dishes Cooking dinner Yeah you guys talk slow I always have to I put it in like 1.7 I do 1.3

Yeah Who's the best You know who's the best in In you know Sped Up speed Dale Jr. Yeah you can put them in two That's called normal speaking to everybody.

It's the best. Yeah, man, I mean, like, I got... How was he as a boss, dude? Dale's awesome. I feel he's like getting more and more engaged, like, every single year. Yeah, the fact he cried after Carson, I think that shows a lot about him. How much it means to him. Did he cry after you won?

Dude, he don't really like you. I'm not his son. Like, I'm not his son like that. I haven't been with him for that long. He probably cried when Connor lost Phoenix. I cried. I don't know if he did, but I did. Was he ever active on year? radio. Yeah, yeah. I mean, even this year. Like, he'll come on my radio and chat me up. Hey, man, just keep

your head in it. How about your friendship with Jesse Love? We almost went an entire show. Are you jealous? Are you jealous? It's just crazy, dude. Like, you're not ever going to have a girlfriend because you have Connor by your side. Jesse by my side. Oh, yeah, Jesse. Yeah, I mean, I, I, I feel like it's just a friendship, man. You don't want to be friends with me? I do. Maybe not to that extent, dude. Are they, like, super tight? Bro.

Yes, like oddly. Close. Come on, man. You're making it sound weird. It's not that weird. I think Todd's a little jealous. Yeah, I think he's just jealous. He doesn't have a best friend.

Yeah. It's crazy. His best friend is his wife, which I get. But Todd is so weird, though, because we will, like, we'll all, me, Riley, like, we'll all text in the group chat and be like, hey, you know, come over, hang out in the motorhome. So we'll all be, like, hanging out in the motorhome watching an Xfinity race or whatever. and and it will be 10 minutes in and Todd will Todd Todd puts palm in face and goes oh man I think I've overstayed my welcome and he just leaves after 10 minutes don't you guys ever get that weird feeling in your stomach you're

like all right dime the head out and it's just there's nothing stopping me do I'm head now yeah he leaves no I think that's a superpower dude I know there's sometimes it's tough to leave dude he does not care he'll literally be in our in one of our motorhomes for five minutes and like, all right, man, I got to go. I've overstayed my welcome. And he leaves. I think that's one of like the more annoying things, though, is when someone does overstay their welcome, you know?

Yeah. So you're not, you're just not going to ever be. I've just not risking it, right-handed. I'm not getting close to that long. You're not going to be that guy. I think, dude, it actually drives Riley. Herb's crazy that I do that, but. It does.

You're so freaking weird, dude. Come on. Literally. Dude, that's another guy. I would, I would, I think him, and Noah are my two and Austin and Austin

are my three are my three podcast guys yeah Riley's the best Riley's good dude he's so funny he is funny

he is funny he catches a lot of a lot of crap but yeah he takes it oh and climbing that's another that's another big

subscription thing on my YouTube called that one climbing channels where's the best climbing place around here Orsville around here oh yeah right

by like the business park right yeah yeah what's that place called Cliffhangers, yeah. He said cliffhangers like he wasn't sure. You can go. I think Ricky still has his membership that he hasn't used in three and a half years.

You just go there and tell him you're Ricky Stenhouse. That was my phone. Okay. I'm getting a call too at the same time. That's random. Mine's a spam risk. Who's your from? Josh Jones.

Vangers. That's Todd's that's a signal. Todd texts. I'm like, hey, call me. I'm sick of this thing. I need to get out and I can't leave this. Like I can't my friend's house. I think I've overstayed my welcome.

Maybe he's calling to let me know how much, how much my smell. cut of this i'm i'm gonna actually get but so before we sign off did denny want us or did you guys want us this isn't even denny's podcast anymore we did up travis were we only no drivers that were not gone on monday denny threw your guys his names out okay i'll take that day let's go let's scroll back i'll read the exact admittedly connor you weren't our uh first pick ricky was busy so then we went to you todd was already locked in okay i did vote for you that made zing he did say Connor would be good. Todd did.

And so did Denny. Okay. Well, thanks, Danny. I appreciate it. I can't believe so many people are calling me the Todd father. Like,

so apparently Adam Alexander said it on the broadcast. The Toddfather is a gilly, gilly won a millie. Gilly millie. What was your nickname growing up? Like, what is the most common nickname?

Odd Todd. Odd Todd. That adds up. That adds up. That checks out. Conno, do you like when people call you? Zilli? I don't mind it. Yeah. I think Zilli's a good nickname. Yeah. Do you like being called

the Denny Bros? He loves it. He loves it. He doesn't bother. He got stickers over there. So what was the bet? A couple weeks ago. You're going to put that in your car? So I said if Denny won three in a row, I would put the decal on my car. But then we, I'm going to pay it off. But after seeing how the 45 has performed since they had the decal on that car, we've elected to push back the pay off to win to our choosing because there's bad juju with the decal on a car because reddick hasn't made a point up on denny since that wreck yeah that's crazy but yeah i don't have a problem with the denny bros uh i know some other drivers have given other names i i don't want to know i'm not going to say the names you can go ahead and

figure it out yourself lovely so well thanks guys yeah thanks for coming thanks denny for having us thank you guys for being here thanks for letting us in your house while you're not here. It feels a little interesting. We're going to go bowling now. Let's do it.