Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin - You Can't Disrespect Them On and Off the Track

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

Atlanta delivered another thrilling finish, but is there still room for improvement? Denny Hamlin is back for another episode of Actions Detrimental, breaking down the biggest takeaways from Atlanta and sharing his perspective on the moments everyone is talking about. Denny and Jared Allen discuss Ryan Blaney's impressive day, why Ford continues to shine on superspeedway-style tracks, what was missing from the No. 11 car, and why Denny thinks it's time for Goodyear to make some changes to the tire before NASCAR returns to Atlanta. The conversation also dives into the biggest storylines coming out of the race, including Bubba Wallace's penalty, the controversy surrounding Carson Hocevar, NASCAR's out-of-bounds calls, and Christopher Bell's In-Season Challenge win. Plus, Denny shares his perspective on several moments that had fans talking long after the checkered flag. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't have to have a lot of friends, but you definitely can't have a lot of enemies. And I just, I think about the greats of our sport. All the great, there's never been a great of our sport that has not been respected by his peers. 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 the spoils a victory for Jared Allen he's got better luck the brick and drink don't win I know you do two trophies missing from your collection 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 hey guys welcome to actions detrimental after Atlanta race 20-ish 20-ish of the regular season man what a late night sorry we're coming to you all late when is it when is it right now Travis 10.30 p.m.

Okay coming to you late night on Monday night why didn't we just move the race up TV window but I, you know, TV window for what? Lord of the Rings. That's what was on before. Not like another game.

Lord of the fucking rings. Whoa, whoa, it's a good movie. I tell you what, um, fans love to at you a lot. And I, I think they'll have your back on this one. Like, yeah. What are we doing? Yeah. Well, it's just, I think that there's a couple reasons that the race is like a 7 p.m. start.

Obviously, the biggest one is temperature. It's really hot. It was hot there at the racetrack. When the sun was out, it was scorcher out there. It was pretty warm. I think there is some validity to why not just give yourself an extra window? Because truthfully, that rain that we got, that was the first rain all day. I mean, real rain.

Yeah. Yeah, that was maybe a sprinkle here and there, but not much of anything. So, yeah, we had our first rain. And typically, you know, you're going to get the afternoon thunderstorms in the afternoon. So it just kind of went against the odds there. And being at the racetrack for those two days, I mean, it rained everywhere around us, but on us. So the track was actually, and NASCAR, was pretty fortunate to get in all the races and they did when they did. But certainly it's not ideal to, you know, to have a delay.

at all when you have a 7 p.m. start. That's not ideal. So, I mean, maybe you give yourself a couple hours of a buffer there. I mean, I think a 5 p.m. start still, hey, it's Sunday night. I mean, it is a school night for crying that loud, even though school's not in session. But it's a work night, right? I think what also would have stunk, though, is that if you started it at 6 and you got to the end of stage 2 and then it rained, like you would have felt cheated out of those final that second half of the race.

Because we would have seen what had happened in stage one. You'd be like, man, I want more of this. And the rain comes. And then NASCAR would have pulled the plug on it. And then we'd be here today being like, man, I wish we would have gotten stage three. Maybe not at the expense of 3 a.m., but yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's a balancing act of whether it's worth it or not. But we got it in.

We got it in the full distance. And Ryan Blaney was your dominant winner. One point away from perfection. Yep. Cody Ware got him. And I looked, Cody Ware's time of, like a 29-90. Like, that's pretty fast. When did he get that?

I don't know. It's probably, yeah, I mean, he was back from the pack. Probably got a big run-up, but, I mean, who cares? He had the fast slap. So, yeah, the 12-car, obviously, you know, was trimmed out a little bit as well as all the other Penskeek cars, that's why they qualified up front. It's a simple math equation. And when it comes down to, you can pretty much tell the mindset of the teams during qualifying.

And typically the further up front that you qualify, the more trimmed out your car is. And then the further back you are, the more downforce typically you put in it. Except for the front row guys, I don't know what they had going on, Their cars were way off. They were slow qualifying and way off the pace during the race. So I'm really not sure there. But so I think that the race, and let's just kind of play the what-ifs. I think the race played out really well for Ryan Blaney with that rain delay and the start time.

Now, I do think that had this race been run during the day, they probably would would have built something a little bit different, although they still dominated stage one, but I can tell you that the two and the 22 in the pack were very pedestrian when they got put back there. And that was even after the track cooled off. The 12 actually needed to do some strategy things throughout the race to get his track position back

because it ain't like he blew through the field once he lost his track position. He was stuck right around where I was in 10, 12th in that range. And then caution comes out. They just keep putting fuel in it. Pinsky is, you know, definitely the team that always hedges toward towards screw the tires, just give me track position.

That is their go-to play whenever they need it. Is that they just are willing to not take tires when everyone else does. Now, for the field, I'm wondering why we change tires at all. the tire at that racetrack is so hard. It does not wear out at all. When I say at all, I am confident, I am confident you could run an entire race on a set of tires. I don't know that it would be a huge detriment in speed

to run the entire set of tire race on a set of tires. It's just that tire was built for the old New Atlanta that was like, black pavement tons of grip if you remember we were blowing out tires that's back when the next gin first started guys were on the you know stops way too hard and blue tires so they built and they said okay well we'll stop that we'll just put you on a really hard tire and this tire is really hard and has you know very little grip until it gets some heat in it and whatnot and on a warm racetrack it is sketchy to say the least.

So could we revamp that tire more than likely? Just simply because if you like what you saw at the end of the race, in order to get that without it being either nighttime or cold, you need to add grip back in the tire. It's time. This track is aged enough to where they need to put some grip back in it. If you want to see the tight style pack racing that we've, that the fans come to love at the end of this.

But what if you were also entertained by that first stage? Well, if that's the case, then I think you kind of maybe leave things as is, although a softer tire would tend to wear out more and then cause the same sort of effect, probably. I think a tire with more grip probably allows the pack to stay tight on a restart for a longer period of time because it seemed like we could do it at the beginning of the race for like five laps and then it would string and by the end of the race if you look kind of the dispersion of speed between cars the first let's just say the first stage was like this the second stage

was like this and the third stage was like this those on they're not watching visually I just closed my fingers from about five inches to one inch so I think um I think it just is time for a tire revamp at that place. Otherwise, you're going to lose the super speedway aspect of it in due time. What is due time? Well, the track ages. So every time we go there, it loses a little bit of grip. And so right now, what you're seeing is it is highly, in order to get,

super speedway type of racing it either has to be one or two things. Really, really cold outside or it has to be nighttime. Any of the other variables? Because you're saying in stage one, we didn't see that.

We didn't see the super speedway type of racing. Right, but I thought it was good racing. Yeah, I like that. So don't just not. Don't let me sway. I just think with the fans, you know, it's getting a 90 on the good race pole.

because of the end. It has, they're not, they're not grading on the curve of, well, what was the beginning? I think if the race, entire race plays out like the beginning,

you're, you're looking at a 70% pole, maybe? I don't, I don't know. But that's the type of racing. I wish we had there is more, you know,

conventional, obviously, where set up really does matter. You know, how you build your car really does matter. At the end, it's all just, okay,

let's, let's work the draft and not get crashed. if possible. So it's, yeah, I think that, again, Goodyear's done an amazing job. It's just, I think it's a little, it's time here at this track to address it.

I mean, I'm just impressed that we got to this point. Remember a handful of years ago when we were talking about the Atlanta reconfiguration, it was like, oh, I don't know if this is a good idea. And this is some of the best, if not the best racing on the, on the calendar. Yeah, and you're, because it's just, it's got an element. it's like old super speedway racing if you listen to this podcast before you've heard me say it

it this is super speedway racing from the 2000s-ish so it's just because there's space between the cars and it's really what we are aspiring the other tracks to be and you know possibly there'll be some rule changes coming in the future in the very near future that will address taldaiga Daytona the fuel saving you know we're still going to have fuel saving but like can we recreate an Atlanta type of look of racing at those tracks back to where what it used to be. So I feel like every Super Speedway race, whether it's these Atlanta ones or Daytona or something, the forwards are always the best, right? They're always trimmed out. Why, like why, why couldn't you just take a little downforce out of your Toyota's yesterday and maybe up a little speed?

I mean, you maybe could. Is it that simple? Somewhat, somewhat, but yeah, I don't know. I think that it's a balance. If you look at who of the guys that qualified up front really, really raced well, it really was the 12. You know, once the Penske guys got shuffled, that was it. The five, maybe. But every time I was around him, it looked like he was out of control, you know,

even though it may it look like he was in control, it just, I could tell, like, he was really fighting that car a lot of the day. And so I just think that do you chase that one and say, oh, we got to do that. I don't know. That's fair. I'm saying the Ford's all ran really well,

but really I'm just the 12. The 12 ran really well. Yeah, the 12. The 12 was just head and shoulders. And I think that Blaney does the best job of driving a truck. of driving a trimmed out car over anyone else. That just is my observation. Hi y'all, this Jerome and Tiff Davis.

Our new weekly podcast is out now on Dirty Mo Rodeo's YouTube channel and podcast platforms. With new episodes every Thursday, leave us a comment and a review and come see what this cowboy life is all about. Hope y'all come and check us out. Until next time, adios. Your car seemed like it was top 10? we were hanging around 10th all day like that just was kind of where I was I had flashes where then oh I get in the top three you know I had I had balance issues I had handling issues

um this is a you know I told the team this is a bit of an old setup that was kind of really built around what you know what Atlanta had become like three or four years ago and it's just time for refresh I've asked I've asked Chris Gale to start over and give me something different next time. How does that happen? You've raced there so much. JGR has all, you know, the tools. You also have 2311. Like, how do you guys go there with a car that you now say needs a refresh? Well, because we look at the competition of the guys that are in the relatively the same cars and they're much more competitive. And what looks to me is, well, that's, they clearly can make that work. So I need to,

self-reflect and say, well, I can't seem to make what I've got work. So just maybe give me something more similar to them and then it's up to me at that point to then make it work. So you do not have the same thing or you didn't have the same thing that the 2311 cars had. And that's because you don't necessarily know what they have or you just can't, that doesn't fit your brand? No, I just think that this is something we've been working on on the 11. team for many years and kind of fine-tuning this baseline. And I'm asking for, eh, let's make something else. I know we've tried to mix in, change some of the ingredients, but like, let's get a whole new batch of something. Yeah, because your team, 2311, clearly

had what was needed to win this race. They were, arguably the two best Toyotas. Yeah, they definitely were. The 20, I would throw the 20 in there as well. He seemed pretty strong. But yeah, it seems like each Atlanta race, the 23 and the 45 stand out as the Toyotas that are the strongest in the pack. So yeah, there's certainly something to be learned there. We had a unique situation in this race that you get this rain delay and then you can come back to the bus.

And you get to review all of the drama that went on during stage one, this stuff with William Byron and his crew chief. Every driver, I assume, got to watch the pre-race Carson Hosevar interview. I don't know. What is that like just as a competitor, you know, get to come back and you get to put eyes on a race that you're involved in? You know, you have to go back with a different perspective. It definitely, I'd say at any other racetrack, I wouldn't like it because I think. think it's you know I don't want the competition being able to have a good reset but it

attracted like this for me it's like yeah this is a good reset I'm at the time I'm I'm not struggling but like I'm chipping away you know started 28th okay and now we're 18th now we're 12th now we're 7th like we're chipping away at the night but that was a good reset to kind of see guys that were in the very similar trim levels as what we were, how much throttle they could carry. And that told me, okay, well, if they can carry that much throttle, then their cars, I know how much I can keep because hold because I had some moments where it was like, okay, I can't hold it anymore. That's a balance issue. So it helped me identify that I need to work on balance. And so that was a good reset.

So is a good metaphor or, you know, that you're taking a test and then halfway through the test, the professor says, okay, you get to take 30 minutes to go look at your textbook and you'll come back and answer the rest of the questions. Is that like kind of what that's like? Yeah, only it's a little bit less predictable. Like in a test like you're talking about, you kind of know the questions that are going to be, you know, what are you going to get quizzed on? where in a race, there's so many variables. I don't know how the end of the race is going to play out. So it's a little bit different in that instance,

but it's very similar in that, yeah, you can go back and look at your notes. At the end of stage two here, Bubba Wallace was mad at Ty Gibbs for just the on track incident. Bubba comes down, maybe late. Ty maybe doesn't check up since Bubba through the infield. What's your perspective on that? I mean, my perspective is. is both guys should look at it from the other's perspective. That is where I'm at with it.

Because I was a little upset with a 45 as well. It just seems like some of the blocks and stuff, it leaves you no choice. That yes, you might be clear, but you're leaving me no choice when I say me, the competition no choice but to, yeah, I'm clear, and you're going to have to check, you're going to have to hit the brakes to keep from wrecking me

because I'm going to be mad if you wreck me. You know what I mean? So you're not leaving your guy, you're not leaving people any choice in that instance. So I've always thought that generally speaking, when it comes to blocking, if you, a block is fine, it can be as late as it needs to be.

As long as you're clear, you can make the block as late as you want to make it. as long as it doesn't require the person that's coming with the run to check up. So as long as you can get in line and that person can just keep their momentum going, and yep, I'm going to pull in front of you and you're going to bump me forward. That is a good, no-issue block for me. I think the blocks that are really, really tough is the ones where they're coming at 10 miles an hour faster. and yes, you're clear to pull up because you're clear.

You're sure you're clear. But it doesn't mean you have to take that because now you've, remember the Brad Kesoski many years ago? I'm done lifting. This is a Daytona or something. People, he says, people were clear, but they're requiring me to stop and now put myself in danger because I don't, I'm trying not to hit you.

And I think that's too much to ask. And I agree with that. I definitely think if you make a block that is forcing others to check up hard, you have to be okay with the consequence that that person's not going to lift enough to save you. And I think this was one of those situations where it was, it was a tough ask to ask the 54 to check up that much. but there was just so big of a speed variant but i understand why the 23 did it because you know the you know he doesn't want to lose that one spot you know i guess they're coming to the end of the stage but it's like man i don't know that's that's it's really putting your competition

in a really tough spot where you're saying yep i need you to look out for me here and lift and i don't think i just don't think that's a reasonable ask um of anyone. You're asking a favor that the other driver may not want to grant. Or be able to. Or be able to. And that, because I don't know what's behind, I have no idea what's behind Ty.

But if Ty does get on the binders there, he now has put himself in danger to help you. And I don't think anyone is signing up for that. Continuing with Bubba here, he was penalized at the end of this race for crossing the double. yellow line and quote unquote improving his position, would you make of this penalty? How much of first of all, were you aware after the race? Like, when did you know what was going on? When I looked at the scoring pylon that only went to 12 and then on the golf cart ride back,

my number was on the pylon and it wasn't before. Oh, the 23 was a race from that pilot? I didn't notice that. They've removed it from the pylon. I did not know. That's how I know. So do you turn into... You knew that... Because you see the move out of your windshield? No, because he should have been 13th, and now he's 12th. No, but he didn't... That's what I didn't understand.

You didn't know how... I didn't see the move. No, I didn't see it. So at what point, do you at all, do you turn into owner, Denny Hamlin, or are you kind of hands off before you give your opinion on? Well, what I want and what happened were two different things. No, but I'm saying, like, are you, do you get involved with, the post-race stuff.

No, no, no, no. No, that's on Dave Rogers. Okay, that's always I've wanted. Yep, yep. Head of competition for us, he's, uh, and I think I saw him walking into the haulers. Yeah, he,

he's the one that puts up the fight him and the crew chief. Okay, I was just wondering. Now you can. Yeah. Proceed with your thoughts. Um, I, I mean, when I watched it, I was thinking that that's definitely going to be a penalty because,

um, I, I just, I've been penalized for it before. So I kind of, I know and understand the rule. that is it's not necessarily it's not that you gain a position you can't get yourself into position to gain a position does that make any sense improve is not gain a spot like it makes sense but people i think took it as if you don't it's not literal yeah it's not literal in the sense of advance your position it's making a move to advance there there's a word in there that is very very specific on the result doesn't matter. It's the intention.

And so, for instance, here's why that rule is implemented. So let's just say at the end of the race, it play out somewhat similar. If I knew that, as long as I don't actually pass them, but this move below the line allows me to get beside them, that changes things, right? You have to pretend that there's a wall there. That yellow line, that is a wall, essentially, that is not concrete. You just can't, that is the inbounds out of bounds.

In the minute you step your foot out of bounds, it doesn't matter whether you gained an advantage or not. That's what they call. So, yeah, while the finishing position did not show that he advanced, like if you look in the middle of three and four Bubba was the furthest car forward at one point so he technically did gain he gained the lead

at some point of the move and that you know that that sucks because he lost a lot he was should have finished in the top three at least with the speed and everything they came from the back again from the Ty Gibbs thing they were fast man

and they were and Listen, they were aggressive. I saw them. I thought I saw them put the 12 in the wall a couple times with some blocks and whatnot. But they battled back and shoot. I mean, they certainly finish at least 20 points worse than what they should have. I mean, we can Monday morning quarterback this move to death, but was that the right move, just not the best execution?

Like if you're running third, they're behind. In order to win. In order to win. Yeah, in order to win, which he's trying to do, yeah, he's trying to do that. It's just, it's the track, like at Talladega, he's got plenty of room to do that, the width of the track. But just at Atlanta, there's just not a ton of room. And then the, you know, as he's making that move, like if you look, the 77 makes a little bit of a, like a stutter step type of like, let me show you, I'm going to block low, even though the 77 left. room. It's just with the momentum and the speed that the 23 was coming around, it would have been

hard for him to control his car within the limits, you know, because of how quick he turned left there. So it was, it was the only percentage shot he had of winning is to get three wide and hopefully you get a push. And it just, I mean, he just barely crossed over there. So is that a, like, is that a forgivable mistake? or is it more like, not the best judgment, not the best judgment call. Probably should have just went home

with your third or fourth place finish. No, I think you got it. Man, going for a win. I think you got to just, I think you'd go for it. But, I mean, I need to remind you that we inside the car,

or at least I can't see the lines. When I'm going on the backstretch of Atlanta, the difference between the apron and the actual racetrack there's not much difference in banking. So looking at a straight line is like looking at a landing strip for an airplane. When you're sitting, like you see that it's just dead flat and you don't see where the other stuff is. Like the commitment box, we talked about it during the O'Reilly's race.

Well, yeah, it's really easy to run over that thing because everything is just so flat and it's hard for us to see. it's no different when I can tell you that when Bob is in his in car and he's he's probably made it up in his mind I'm going three wide somewhere wherever the biggest hole is that's where I'm going when you turn down there that's the first moment you see the line he he's not able to see that line when he's behind the 77 and 12 yeah so you don't know where you're at on the track till you get there so it's almost too little too late yeah so it's like it really isn't invisible wall to you to you drive it is it is a it is a wall that's how they rule it yeah but you a wall that you can't really visibly see or really judge for i guess it's it's tough there there's other tracks where it's a little bit easier but it's very tough there also coming to the the checker flag here in that three wide carson hosbar in the middle didn't receive any help is that because no chevy support or no carson hosbar support um i'm not really sure Sure. Not really sure on that. I think it's probably a combination of both, really, but, I mean, as a competitor, I mean, I just, I agree a lot with what, how, like, Burton and Jamie kind of broke it down, is that you don't race the fans. You race your competitors, and there's more of them than there are you.

And the competitors definitely play a big role in how you finish on a week-to-week basis. And so I certainly think that, you know, while it may sound good at an interview when you come down to the end of the race, those words sometimes can hurt your finishing position. I was going to say, you can't tell the drivers if you want a war, bring it, and then expect them to help you out on the racetrack. And then also, I don't know if Bell was thinking this, but pushing Blaney is the better decision for him in the standings versus pushing Hosevar too. When you look at where Bell sits. Yeah.

Yeah. At the time, I think that Bell, Bell's always going to make whatever decision thinks it's going to give him the best finishing position. I don't know that I would find it really, really hard to do to where split second off a turn four where you have a choice. to me, and I think maybe some drivers can do this,

but like I'm just figuring out which car has the momentum that is going to allow me to get by whoever he's racing. But I also, I mean, there are drivers, and there was drivers in our meeting today that says no matter what, they will not push Carson Hothbar to a victory. Absolutely not. They'll push anyone else.

So, I mean, that, you know, when you, when you say those things, you just, it's, it certainly, it's, what were you saying? We can't, you can't disrespect them on and off the track. You know, that's what Dale, that's what Jeff Burton was saying so well, was that, yeah, Dale Earnhardt, first of all, was winning a lot of races. But he would at least come to you with some, man, I'm sorry about that. know, he made you believe that you guys were friends and he'd help you get over it. You know what I mean? And then, you know, and if you look at kind of, look at the, I look at the Kinseth and Lugano thing. And Lugano had a great interview this past week where he talked about, you know,

what would you do different? He's like, man, just how I would have handled it, you know, off the racetrack. And I believe that a thousand percent that had he. he just went to Kenseth and said, hey man, here's my side. This is, this is why I did that. But instead, he had the attitude of, oh, well, and Kenseth said, okay, okay then. And he ended his championship hope. So it's, um, this sport is, it's just one of those things where, um, you don't have to have a lot of friends, but you definitely can't have a lot of enemies.

And I just, I think about the greats of our sport, all the great, there's never been a great of our sport that has not been respected by his peers. There's never been. And I think that, you know,

I think that that is a, that is a certainly, a category that is lacking and, you know, what's good for clicks is not always what's good for competition. And, you know, there will be a time when that eventually starts to get realized. Back to Ryan Blaney here. His win now puts him only 65 points back of you, 41 back of Redick. He is very much in this regular season championship conversation now. No doubt. Yeah, especially with the the racetracks that are coming up, 100%.

I think the short tracks, if anything, that's, I think the short tracks is Blainey Strong suit over, other than speedways, over everything else. So, and that's the bulk of what we have left here. Yeah, North Wilkesboro next weekend, it starts, it starts there. I don't know, were you looking at this?

Is that the points in front of you there? Yeah. Would anything stand out to you around the cut line? SVG, got 30. Two points Sunday. That's what stands on me. He had a great day. He had a great day.

I mean, he was, me and him were around each other quite a bit. We were kind of all hanging around that eight to 12th most of the day. And SVG held a steady wheel. He didn't make any late blocks that put himself in a bad situation. I thought he just really did a great job of, you know, getting the best day possible. He didn't lose any points on Tuesday? No, definitely didn't. Definitely didn't.

And you guys probably saw the clip from the media center where I said I was confused on it. And it still is confusing to me. But if you didn't, what I said was that where the confusion came from me is that if NASCAR deemed it as an accident, well, then why did you, why do you feel the necessity to pull them aside and tell them to stop it? you can't stop accidents. Now, if it was intentional, then sitting them down and saying stop it, makes sense. So it just, it didn't make sense to me. But can you in your head know that was intentional, but like I can't prove it enough to hand out a points penalty?

Like, is there a difference there? Like, I think we might all know. Jared, the commentators proved it. they're like hey look at here look at look at how far he drives into the corner when there's a car right in front of him versus how he drove it in the corner

every other lap okay then why is there like then why is there no why is there no penalty I just didn't I don't think they wanted to get in I don't think they wanted they don't want to get involved they don't want to give out

penalties okay they didn't want to get I don't I just think they didn't want to give one out on this one do they give one out on the next one I don't know I mean I don't know Do you think drivers are confused on what the line is? Well, I think the message this gives to the drivers is that you can pretty much do anything you want as long as you don't admit it.

They're going to deem that they don't have enough evidence. Yeah, you just don't say you hit the guy on purpose, but you can say you don't like him, call Magoon and whatever else in the media, but just don't say you hit him on purpose. Yeah. That's a good place to be. Okay. All right. Um, end season challenge. We're out.

We're out. I called it. I called it. Um, I don't know. Bell was strong, man. I tried. Had an opportunity kind of late in the race where it was like we were near each other. But he was always, he was just a little better than I was all day.

So he deserves it. I think that's one thing you really notice here. I mean, you notice it at all tracks, but you really noticed it here last night is like which cars were just better than another. Which cars just had a little more speed than the next guy. Yeah. Or the drivers made the speed, right?

Sure, sure. I think that that's... Can't see that on TV as easily. Yeah, it was evident to me that, like, I needed... I was going to need the 20 to get shuffled at the end of the race. I was going to need to be in the right line. And I just didn't have enough maneuverability in my car. I just didn't...

I didn't have, you know, if he thought he had a third to fourth place car, you know, I thought I had an eighth place car. So I just didn't, I was going to need to have good fortune. And, you know, the race kind of played out to where the best car is really kind of finished up front. So nothing, it was pretty chalky type of finish. All right, well, let's talk about who we got left here in this in-season challenge. We're down to four.

We're heading to North Wilkesboro. We've got Christopher. How do we do on the predictions? Fellas, this is the whole reason we did this. All right, well, you had Chase versus Chase. Who did you pick there? Do you remember? You didn't write it down on your sheet. I said Chase Elliott.

Okay, you were right. You had you versus Bell. You said Bell. You said you had to pick yourself, but you basically said it picking Bell. Okay, so you were right. Thanks, Travis. We had Bowman and Gilland. Who did you pick there?

probably boheman okay you were wrong okay um and then lastly byron and blaney uh blaney obviously yep so you got three or four right all right you missed on i missed on you missed on boman gilland all right well let's help the people win the next round who do we got okay you got bell versus blaney blaney this is a this should be the championship this should be the you know what you know what i'm saying like this is the this would be an awesome final. At that track, gosh, it's going to be close. I'm going to go

Bell and Blaney at Northworksboro. Oh, give me Bell. Bell. Give me Bell. Okay, on the other side, Chase Elliott versus the 25-seed Todd Gilland. Give me Chase Elliott, please, thank you.

Sorry, Todd. Sorry, Todd. Sorry. Get those dishes finished. Actually, it's late at night, so maybe he's catching us before bed. Speaking of North Wilkesboro, is this our time to give a PSA out to anybody that's going to be in the infield? Yes. Thank you, Travis.

Those who have hot passes, garage passes, whatever it is, I don't think we actually have garages there. if you want if you want to see all the glitz and the glamour before the race and happen to check things out on the grid just know that when that green flag drops you are land locked into that race track until this race is over so that is your forewarning that there is no tunnel at this racetrack or bridge or bridges or garages or anything like that so hunker down and they don't sell beer too right and then and we're in it's no tunnel at this racetrack or bridge or bridge or bridges or garages or anything like that so hunker down and we're in in for 450 laps at this mother. At 7 p.m. Oh, are you serious? It's past my bedtime, folks. Oh, that is a long freaking race, man. Should I just go ahead

and schedule to tape next Monday night? Yes. Next week, guys, you're going to get our podcast Monday night. You're not getting in the afternoon because I ain't waking up that early. Not after a late night like that. Nope. and PSA to all the drivers that if you crash out

yeah you might want to wait till the end to crash and your bus isn't there you gotta go hang on the hauler god that's brutal you know what I'm willing to be like a squirrel and risk dying crossing that track under caution or you could see the security guy chasing after me

you can't go I'm going and I just climb the fence Yeah, but you know what? I think it's fully fenced in. You know what I mean? Like there's no, you can't hop over the wall. Well, you can be like the guy from San Diego.

Then you got a fence. The guy from San Diego, you got to go all the way over. Put some flip and flops on. No temporary bridge is crazy. I mean, I don't even know if that's feasible, but it feels crazy. Oh, it's got to be feasible. Got to be. To hear 2026.

I know. All right. What else? Do we do some off-track stuff? Well, how about the O'Reilly's race? That was good. Justin Al-Geyer? I think the fans were so disappointed

because if you looked, we were with just a few laps to go. And if you looked at the top 10, it was like three career wins in the entire top 10. And we got Justin Al-Gar. And then we ended up getting a Justin win in the end. but I thought he just did a great job and his crew chief did a great job

building a car that was more drivable than others and I saw this with the JGR cars I mentioned it on the broadcast that like those guys couldn't be remotely within two car lengths of anyone and they were just out of freaking control so and I think that it seems like

the junior motor sports cars all had a different approach to how they built their cars because some were up front, some qualified in the back. And, like, clearly there's disparity of speed there, but the best combination came from just now, Guy, and his camp. So that was a fun race. I thought they were going to, Junior Race was going to throw that race away. They're great at working together with 100 laps to go, but two laps to go.

And it was funny because Dale Jr. was on their radios the entire night, just pleading with these guys to work together. because he's been through it many times. But, you know, it's cool to see that, you know, how close the field is in the O'Reilly series at this racetrack. It was so, it was dominated by RCR for so long in Austin Hill. And now that, you know, they seem to have slowed their cars down a little bit with some handling, it's made it a lot more compelling race to watch because it seems like

it's very, very hard for anyone to hold the lead. Do you know how many points Justin's in first by? Like 300 probably? 240. Oh, you and Reddick did points? Algar locked up their championship, right? Regular season? I don't think they want to say that because they're like,

it really could trigger some fans. See, we don't told you. Yeah. Though you and Reddick clinched your guys a spot in the chase. Awesome. We had some racing, not in the cup series. but in the carding series. What about trucks at Lime Rock Park?

The only thing I kind of took away from it was when the Honeycutt and Geo got into each other. It didn't look intentional. It looked like he got ran off the racetrack sort of by Geo. And then when he came back on, he's like, well, I'm not getting run off the track and checking up for you in this corner. So I don't know if they're mad at each other or not. Toyota teammates, they just don't work well together. old Toyota teammates.

But great win by Grant. That racetrack appears to be pretty entertaining. It's a road course, but if you look at it on a map, it looks ovalish. But Parker Cligerman, great job by him.

I think he finished fourth. Good finish. I don't really have any other takeaways from the truck series, truthfully. How about y'all? Same. Yeah, all good.

Okay, now Travis, now you can bring up here. On to the karting series at the hoop group GP. Listen, I'm, I channeled my intercourse and Hosevar. This was about content. This is not about results. The funny part is that people are, people are, yeah, I can vouch for Denny. He took the lead with like halfway through lap one and then somehow, gave it up with two to go.

I mean, come on. Let's be, let's be honest. I mean, Brent's better than you, it sounds like. Brent had a wild idea that, like, let's bet $1,000 and we'll take, which the fairest way to do it truthfully is you take the carts off, you know, you get on opposite sides of the track, you run your laps, you switch carts, run your laps, you average the time. Because then now the cart's not a variable. Yeah.

Um, and these guys think that they think they're going to beat me. Like they, they really believe from the finish of that race, I'm like, oh yeah, we're better. I will empty my bank account and bet it on you if they, like,

if they want to, but I mean, if I was just trying to make good content. Yeah. I wanted to keep, I asked Jared, I said, Jared,

what do you want me do? You want me, like, wax these guys or you want me, you want me keep it close. What did you say? Keep it close. And so,

In my defense, well, not in my defense, in my, I don't know what I'm looking for, you know, what is real is that, yes, I was letting Brent by. He was close to me. All right, I got a few laps to go. No problem. I'll let him by. And then here comes Alex. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not trying to let two people buy. And then Brent sort of misses the corner, lets Alex go by. And now for the last lap and a half, I'm pushing Brent to like, go. I got to. I got to. I got to. I got. to go. I got like no time left. So it just I f***ed around and found out. But what's what's hilarious, Travis, is that there's comments not saying, oh, this is a professional race car driver. Of course, he let so-and-so win. It's, well, Alex, how about you race Daniel on an oval next time? You know, it's like they think he's so bad at road courses that he even loses go-car races. I was just glad you gave Alex a trophy that he can't break. Oh, he can break it. It wasn't just a rubber.

He's talking about the tire. No, he's going to take my national guitar. That's what I wagered. You got to be a man in your word. You've got to pay your bets. You really wagered that. Jared, I mean, the upside is I was going to get his car. I mean, it was funny.

They're basically the same value. Does he get the stand? I don't know. know. I don't know. So, like, the fantasy land they lives then, he's actually like, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to go to boat yard. I'm going to play the guitar and you're going to sing

and we're going to have something. I'm like, Alex, what are you talking about? I'm not going to sing, dude. Like, no. He's like, he got all these grand plans for this guitar. It was funny. It would have been great to take his car, though. I would have wrapped that thing in something so obnoxious.

or spray painted it or something. But I guess we'll never know. I've got to run it back. You've got it on the sheet here, Travis. I did meet my Texas Roadhouse NASCAR officially yesterday. Yeah. So what is this about you in Texas Roadhouse? So I saw that you had a birthday or something there?

Did I miss your birthday? Did I miss your birthday? No, my birthday is actually tomorrow. I met work last week, and my coworker shows me this video. And it's the people at Texas Roadhouse saying, and happy birthday, and they have Jared on like a saddle. Giddy up, buddy. I know it's not Jared's birthday.

I'm like, what is going on? It was somebody that knew Jared, a fan. And so he went to the roadhouse staff and told them that was his birthday, even though it was it. Yeah, because I was wondering, the footage came from the booth that was beside them. And I'm like, why were these people videotaping? And how did you get that video? Unless they knew you and then said to me. Yeah.

Yeah. I didn't know anyone saw it. Because I was like, in the moment, I'm like, oh, this is going to be. over Twitter. Damn it. It's like, I'll just be a good sport. I'll play along.

It is funny. I'll do it for a bit. But then the night goes on. It doesn't end up on social. I don't know. What did those people want with that video? And the next morning, I'm standing in the deal a lot.

And Dale Jr. comes out of you. Hey, man. Heard was your birthday at Texas Roadhouse last night. I said, oh, it was apparently, yes. Yes.

Yes. And said, oh, NASCAR, NASCAR officials, Saul you told them it was your birthday. But Texas Roadhouse. It doesn't have to be your birthday. Those guys will hand out birthdays for anybody. First thing they said when they came to the table, anyone's birthday night?

I haven't had one all day. Wow, they just can't wait to do the celebration. Yeah, they just want to put you on a cell. Yeah, we should go for your birthday. Yeah, we should go for your actual birthday. Sounds good. I used to love going to Hooters for my birthday. What's that celebration like?

It's pretty good. That's pretty good. All right. All right. We got a review here for. from Clint Sappenfield on YouTube. I'm not a Denny Bro, but I do enjoy your podcast, especially since you're running up front

and hearing you talk about it week after week. I hope you don't retire. You're going to be disappointed there, Clint. Sorry about that. Appreciate the review. Let's see. Speaking of Denny Bros. T-shirts are coming out and blessing people.

Well, I saw them at the track. Yep, I got a box of them in my back seat. They're at the track already, Traff. Love it. I was really disappointed by the Dennybro's. bro's chat post race like i had a very meh race and that was a less than math they were also it was two a m oh that's right that's right that's not out how about austin though that uh that uh the text the internal optimist here comes penny i and he he always thinks like yeah green white

checker we're 10th we're great we're gonna win this midnight grab your popcorn boys d h about to put on a clinic got a feeling I thought that was to the upcoming races. No, he's talking about the end of the race. He's talking about... We're going back green. You're about to figure it all out. God, that guy.

He's an optimist. I mean, who's a more... Who's more optimistic? Greg Freneli about life in general? Or Austin Payton about my on-track results? Maybe. Who's got the rosy-colored glasses more? Stuff call.

I want Greg's glasses. on. I want to wear his glasses. I don't. Austin's or his got too many smudges on it. It's hilarious. Looked like Ron's camera. Yeah, I think we need to make this our wrap. Yeah. We're going to see y'all next week.