Door Bumper Clear - 364 - Darlington with Tony Hirschman: Larson's Not So Grrreat Day

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

This week on DBC, Freddie Kraft, Tommy Baldwin, and Karsyn Elledge are joined by veteran NASCAR Cup Series spotter Tony Hirschman. Martinsville might have been two weeks ago, but Hirschman is still fired up over the Xfinity Series race, and he's got good reason to be heated since he was the spotter that night for Taylor Gray. He also reveals his unusual path to spotting, which saw him starting with IndyCars. Later in Spot On Spot Off, the DBC crew discusses Kyle Larson’s late race spin off the bumper of Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski’s wheel nut coming off during a pit cycle, and Chase Elliott’s comments on whether throwback weekend should continue.Timestamps:27:57 - Kyle Larson Crashes 43:23 - Throwback Weekend48:44 - RWR/Legacy Lawsuit1:01:19 - Reaction Theatre Want more DBC? Check out and subscribe to the new DBC YouTube channel! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirty Mode Media. Should we just go back to being assholes? Yeah, that's what we are, right? Let's continue being an asshole. I am probably closer to Tommy than anybody else in this sport. What the fuck are you talking about? I think the two of you definitely have being assholes covered. Who can really be a bitch when they want to be a bitch?

That was the first person to come to mind. I try to stay calm. Here's what pisses me off about that. What is that supposed to be? Exactly what I said. Who are you? Who are you? Well, fuck it.

I guess we'll just go back to being ourselves. Yeah, we'll buckle up because you might get your feelings. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Door Bumper Clear. Freddie Crafts, spotter for Bubba Wallace, Dean Thompson this week. Hi, Tom. How are you doing that? That's all you spotted for?

Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Not Bubba. Did you mention Bubba? Yeah, I do him every week, just in case you were wondering. Tommy Baldwin, competition director, Rick Ware Racing, modified car owner. crew chief.

I wouldn't even claim that thing after the fucking run you had the other night in the model fight. He's pretty bad. It was good until it wasn't. As long as you weren't fighting this week, I think it's okay.

Well, it's more entertaining when he fights. True, true. It's worth it more. Carson Ellage, marketing and partnerships for the Cars Tour, had a quiet weekend. I was just a supportive

older sister this weekend for Wyatt. Another win. Another win. Yep. L. Dub said, now we can maybe go late model racing. We're done screwing around with limited, he says.

So time to go late model stock racing. But our guest today, Tony Hirschman, I can't believe you want to come sit on here with Tom and Freddie. Hi, Hirsch. How are you today? Hey, guys. How's it going? Make sure you get close to the mic. The mics are, you got to basically put it in your mouth.

Yeah. I'm a Hirschman, so I'm soft-spoken, so I guess I've got to move in closer. You're actually the loudest one of the three. I'm the only one to talk. I'm going to say. I'm going to say it's a low bar. The loudest is, yes, it's a very low bar because the only time I've ever, like, listen, Big Tony, the Pope, will talk a lot.

Just let him, like, probably after Saturday night last week was probably a, I can't, that I would take us through that phone call from your dad after the race is over. Because I've been on the, I've been in the car a couple times when, when some shit shows go down and big Tony will call in because if you don't know the background, the Hirschman family, legendary modified drivers, Tony's dad, Tony is a five-time tour champion. Matt Hirschman is probably, I mean, probably the best. driver of this generation modified drivers. I rank them top five of all time.

Yeah. And they're probably the cleanest race car drivers you've ever seen. So anytime some shit goes down like last week, big Tony gets pretty fired up. Oh, yeah, for sure. Now, this is from the Xfinity race. Yeah. Yeah, so I spot for Taylor Gray on the Xfinity side. Unfortunately, we were on the receiving end. And he, yeah, I got the phone call.

And I'm like, oh, this is going to be really, really good. But honestly, my mom was the one that was the most fired up because she was like short texting me. she's like, that's terrible than the next text. That's not racing. And she just kept firing. I'm like, wow, that's awesome, mom. I appreciate it.

Mom's fired up. She was fired up. But they were all in the garage working on Matt stuff and watching the race. And obviously, it was disappointing because, you know, Taylor was, he was trying, that was been his first Xfinity win. He kind of got robbed out of a truck win last year. So that's two Martinsville races in a row where you're leading at the end and kind of get the broom and you don't get what you deserve.

But dad was not impressed with that driving. style at the end of the race. And like he said, just when you run the short track stuff, like if I, if I pulled a move like that at Mahoning Valley when I run my two or three four-slander races a year, like, it's not three days later where they decide like, that's not going to cut. It's like three seconds later, you're to the back. So that's kind of, you know, what his mentality is, just the driving he was not impressed

with, but, you know, that it wasn't handled right there in the moment. And the bar is set. Like, it's just not acceptable. And so obviously, you know, penalties come out later in the week. But, yeah, we had a good conversation on what do you do? Like, how do you protect against it? And like he said, you're the leader. It's Martinsville.

You can only drive in so many car links deeper. Yeah, you want to get away from the guy, but you can't just hold it to the mat. You can't wall ride like Ross did. So there's really no protecting against it. You're putting your faith and your trust. Hey, I did what I had to do. And I earned this position at the end of the race to go for the win. And so you're putting your faith in the other guys to treat you with respect and race you with respect.

And unfortunately, that was not the case. So obviously it turned into a mess that night, that week. I know, penalties coming out. But at the end of the day, the hard part is, hey, we're all there to win, for sure, 100%. But you run 249 and three-quarter laps. Everybody earned a position that they're in. Our car was clean. you know, Sammy's car was pretty clean, Justin's car was pretty clean.

Everybody, you run the race out, you went through the cycles, you got, you earned where you were going to finish. And if it just runs through three and four, everybody would have got what they deserved as far as finish. And instead, you know, we went from first to wherever we finished 29th. That's a big hit. You know, you stole somebody's first win away. That's a big hit.

And ultimately, none of the guys earned or got what they earned all race long. So I know it's easier said than done and how to police it. And I know there's a lot of differing opinions on that. But in my eyes, and my dad said the same thing, it had just been nice. If everybody finished the race, got what they earned, what they deserved, everybody had clean cars. And, you know, you go to the next week. And, you know, obviously, you know my family. You want to win every week.

You don't always win every week. But you got to go. And then when you do get beat, you go shake the guy's hand. Like, hey, you had us this week. I mean, you know, you beat Matt, a bunch of things. of times, you know, you come over and congratulate him when he wins. That's, that's, that's, that's the racing game. That's how we grew up. That's how we were raised to do it. And, you know, unfortunately, sometimes or more times than not these days, it's not the way it goes.

Let me ask you both of you something, because we're, we're having a lot of trouble with this, right? From your point of view, what could you guys do differently when you're getting ready to see that problem? Now, now, is it like, is it should be now more on your guy's responsibility, go, okay, hey, quickly, right? Quickly. Hey, he got you clean. Let's settle in. Let's finish second. Let's have a good day of this. I mean, is this thought process? Are you guys talking about this up top on how you can handle these situations differently? I think that we were, I know Tony was, because we've talked about this. I was, we were pretty disappointed in how that spotter handled that situation. Just the radio communication, because he, yes, it's our job to when something goes wrong. If so, you know, you got to get you. Like Taylor moved him, I mean, moved him as nice as you could probably move somebody at Martinsville,

as clean as he could do, get back after Sammy had already moved Taylor for the league. Yeah, rough for on the restart and had been trying for a couple restarts previous to that. Three times, not one time. It was three to zero at that point when we ease them back up. But, like, you know, you hear the radio communication and the spotter's telling him, go get them, drive in there and hit, you know, whatever it was. And it's like, that is, I feel like unacceptable for me. I mean, we saw a spotter get suspended last year for that, you know, for, you know,

whatever he said to Austin's guy at Richmond. But yes, it's on us to, and I say this about it. There's a handful of guys up there that kind of like, you know, egg the situation on or poor kind of fuel on the fire where, you know, we were at wherever was Homestead where the 48 passes and we, you know, we kind of put us in an awkward arrow spot. We got tight and hit the fence and Bubba like chase them down. And I'm like, all right, just don't, no reason to freak out here. If worst case scenario, we're going to finish second or third, like just, you know, in the years, past we might have made a different mistake there but yes it's definitely i think and you'll probably

agree i think it's on us to you know do things the right way even if you like if we're if i'm bubba in that if i'm talking to bubba in that position where sammy is like just be smart if i'm going out of backchurch i'd be like i you know maybe do what you got to do here but don't you know that was you know if you're three four car legs back i'm not even thinking that that's going to happen with bub and i don't think it would but i mean the first thing should be hey settle in let's finish this off but do you guys i mean do you think you guys should all, after this learning experience, right, it's happened twice and less than a year now.

I'm going to say less than a year. Do you guys all get together and say, hey, man, you know, what can we do differently to save this from happening, save all the hard work from the teams? Because you're the only voice that's in their head at the time, right? You're the only got, the spotter's job is, you're a psychologist as well, right?

He's got a degree in that, by the way. It's scary. Yeah. I mean, you guys really, are the voice of reasoning when things are getting ready to go. You guys are the first ones to see a problem before even probably the driver. Yeah. Right.

So when does it come to a point of, say, you guys got to take on more responsibility of the group? Because all you guys talk, right? You guys are pretty much 90% of you guys up there are really tight-knit group, right? So when do you guys get together and say, hey, man, we got to get ourselves out of situation a little bit better. You go into it more, but I know, I mean, you got you and Eddie to Hunt, who's another, he's kind of the older statesman up there. He's one of the ones that people kind of look to for, you know, just, you know, whatever.

But he, like, I know you and Eddie both text with Frankie that spots for the eight last week and, you know, made it pretty clear that that's pretty unacceptable. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I went over after the race. Obviously, I was hot in a moment. And the response that I got was not what I was looking for. Like, I would, if it was like, man, he just messed. up. And, you know, his response was that we, we, he gave it to us once. We gave it to him twice or

something like that. Or we, we deserved it. We had it coming. I'm like, probably not the right response in the moment. So obviously, I was, I was really upset about that. But I agree with you like that. And when I do, I know people are listening. I know everything that we say is recorded. I know people are listening live in the moment. And, you know, I know people listen, upcoming spotters. And I had one of them text me during the week when he heard the audio and he's like, wow, he's like, that's not what I expected.

I said, do not be that guy. I said, that's not what we're up there to do. That's not how we're there to encourage. And obviously, you know, me working with a lot of the younger kids, you know, I have Ty on the, on the cup side. And I've been working with him since the, in the Xfinity side and a couple of arc of races. I got Taylor Gray.

Obviously, you know, working at KBM for all those years, I was really blessed having, the guys that I worked with on the truck side are, you know, it was phenomenal. You know, I had Eric Jones, Christopher Bell, and Noah Greggson, you know, I had Echis, I had, you know, just champions. Basically, Hirschman never lost the races.

How many wins do you have total in the all three years? Hey, there's no way he does. Yes, he does. I was kidding. Yeah, there's a, I don't want to come up. Just say it. I'm successful by association from, you know, growing up, you know, with my dad. What's the fucking number, stupid?

162. Fuck off. What are you guys? I'm over 100 short track wins. I definitely don't have enough 100 national wins. But like I said, I'm just successful by association, everybody that I've been blessed on the professional side to work with, you know, guys like Kyle Bush. You work with Kyle Busch enough years. You're going to get some wins in all three series.

But then working with the younger guys and obviously, you know, learning, shame on me. I was born into the sport and got to go watch my dad race and he's one of the greatest of all time. So if you don't watch and pay attention and pick stuff up like that on how to race and the way to go about business and the way to handle your weekends, then shame on us. And that's why my brother's as good as what he is, you know, a huge part of the reason. We both grew up watching one of the, a legend and one of the best of all time to do it. So we were really fortunate on that.

But like I said, it's shame on us if we don't go out and be successful in what we try to do then when you have that bar, the bar set that high and that role model to look at and watch and learn from. To that point, so the listeners, to the listeners, there is a new group of spotters now, right, a younger, and there's also a younger group of race car drivers, right? Who is the guy, you mentioned Eddie, you mentioned Tony, but who is the guy that can take control of this situation on the top of the spotter stand? And who's the guy that, of the race car drivers now, who needs to be taken control? there always was a Mark Martin, right? And there always was a Jeff Burton.

There always was somebody that you could go to or get that person to these drivers to be able to talk some sense into him. I don't know if we have that anymore. I feel like the last guy was Harvick as far as like the cup side of things a couple years ago because he was kind of, he was one of them guys that like you could see a change in him,

especially like after Keelan was born. You know, he went from kind of the hothead guy and then he was like the most respected guy I know Bubba went to him for some advice at times, you know, and I felt like he was the guy, and to your point now, there isn't really a guy that I can think of all the top of my head. But, you know, the thing is a lot of times, the thing that always drives me crazy is a lot of these, and you said new spotters, younger group, they're more concerned with being buddies with the driver. Or, you know, they're not going to tell them that they did wrong.

And that's the worst possible thing that can happen because, you know, I was fortunate enough to work with, Derek Krauss for a long time. And I mean, I still do. He wants me to go spot next week. There's not for a month. It's not happening. But he wants me to. But like he was one where I was,

I was fortunate enough like his family did not mind the fact that I was screaming at him on the radio about all the dumb shit he was doing. But a lot of times, you know, we see guys get fired because they would just tell the drive. You know, you just fucked up. Like you, that was really dumb. Next week, they got a new spotter because the parents didn't like to hear that they're, you know, the spotter telling their drive their kid that he's did something

stupid. And no, that's not. not the way this is supposed to go. And I think that was a part of last week, too. That's definitely not, that's not the Hirschman mentality growing up. And I always said, you know, when Matt first started racing, he makes mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. All the guys, you know, the best mistakes. Yeah. I mean, like Kyle Larson, one of the best race car drivers in all world. And he made a mistake at the beginning of the race yesterday and got damage. But there, for sure, is too much back padding. And, you know, I said when Matt first started racing,

when he messed up, he didn't need the competitor to come up and tell him, like, hey, well, Like, my dad would have a hold of them first, and then I would have a hold of them second. So there was no backpading. And even to this day, like, the phone calls that we have with my dad, it's not backpadding all the time. It's like, well, why didn't you do this? Or, you know, well, you need to do a better job and keeping them under control when this happens. Well, every time you talk to your dad, it's never sunny out. Yeah.

I mean, it's always cloudy, right, with a chance of rain. But that's how he, that's his mentality. That's how he got through, that's how he's won all these races because he's never thinking about the sun. He's thinking about how to get through the bad weather, right? And he's thinking about all the situations in front of them. So your family is a unique family. It's you guys never have to say much to get your point across, right? You know, and to make you, you can, I can look at your dad, and I know what he's getting ready to say.

You know what I'm saying? It's a, like you said, your dad's a legend. Your brother's going to be a legend when he retires. You know, they're both, I consider both of Matt and your dad when it's over to be in the top 10 of greatest modified drivers of all time, hands down. Backtracking just every time we go somewhere to do shows or whatever. But the first question is, like, how did you get into spotting? You have maybe one of the most unique paths to spot. Obviously, you grew up your dad, but I mean, I know you went to college for what?

Psychology. Yeah, see? Penn State Psychology, but you're still working all these years after. Yeah. And then from there you went IndyCar racing first, right? Yeah. Obviously, I learned, I started a spotter for my dad in 94, and it was 98 when the IRL was with us at New Hampshire. And what I tell a lot of the new spotters coming in, like back in the day, I wanted to do everything I could possibly do to work on my craft. I wanted to do an SK, you know, an SK, I wanted to do a late mile. I wanted to do a Bush North race. So, you know, IndyCar was at New Hampshire, and I didn't really think that that would be an option.

And there was a couple teams were looking, and they come over and talk to our NASCAR officials. And they luckily, you know, they kind of recommended me and said, you know, a young kid does a good job. So I did the IndyCar race, the IRL race at New Hampshire that weekend. And, you know, did a good enough job where they asked me to go to the next one. So I think the next one was like at Charlotte. And that was the first time I was ever on an airplane. So I'm like flying from Allentown to Charlotte. Like, man, I've made it.

Look at me. I'm on an airplane. And, but that weekend, the New Hampshire weekend, Matt actually spotted for Tony Stewart, for whatever reason. So Matt wanted to, he didn't. He was like 1 and 0 in IndyCar race, so he spotted with aotonium one. But yeah, I did IndyCar stuff from 98 and then worked with, you know, a few guys and worked with Sarah Fisher at the end of her career.

And in the meantime, same thing, doing all the races I could. And I do, you know, the Bush race at Nazareth when we were there, the Bush race at Loud and we were there just picking up something. I worked with Phoenix racing like Jeff Purvis and then when Dale Shaw run the car. So just doing whatever I could. and then Jeff Dickerson he was my teammate there

in IndyCar side there at Dreyer Reinbold and then he kind of moved over and started doing more NASCAR stuff and he kind of brought me in and did a few more non-companion races I worked with Martin at Chance too there with Bono and that gang

that was really cool to work that Modify gang but started doing the NASCAR stuff full-time and I think 0405 and then 06 was my first full-time NASCAR season and just kind of they haven't

Got rid of me yet. And somehow you have transitioned that into being my babysitter on the road. I appreciate that. Yeah. Well, again, a psychology works on and off the race. All right, we'll get into some interesting road stories as we go. But where did we go race this week? Darlington, that was fun.

How was your race, Tom? It wasn't bad. Ended up 27th on the lead lap. He fought all day. He did a really good job. It seemed like once the 24 got within 10 car lengths of, of them of getting ready to lap and 24 was out of tires. And we were much better on a long run than we were on a short run.

So, yeah, good team made some good adjustments at the end. Pick crew wasn't bad. Overall, solid day. No complaints. Hirsch, first top 10 since what, like 1995 for you guys? Yeah, it feels like last summer. Yeah, it's been a struggle to start a year for sure. So, you know, we've had speed at times.

Like, you know, Daytona 500, for example, took the white flag and it was William Byron in front of us and Reddick was behind us and they finished one too and we were in between them so uh should have stayed there yeah I would trust me I wish that was the plan that was uh what was recommended but uh I think when when Riley got turned he kind of you know just moved up to try to yeah to try to get away from him and then they filled the middle on him and we were hung up top which we knew that was a that was a losing proposition it has been every plate race the last last couple and we've been in that spot a couple times so but yeah it was good martinsville we had some speed got turned around and fought and

and clawed back and got a top 15, which, yeah, you always want more, but a top 15 was a good way to get the ball rolling in the right direction anyhow. And then yesterday said we, you know, qualified okay and had had decent speed at times. We had one run where we kind of got off and hurt the tires and we ended up getting lap, but then we had to yellow before the end of the segment. So we just waved around and got back. But yeah, you know, top 10, you take that. It's like it's, it's, you don't just swing for the fences. And it's like, oh, the next week you go from running in the teens. They're like, oh, we're going to win a race now.

So you get to look at the big picture and just start, you know, climbing the ladder and climbing the wrong by wrong by wrong. You guys, a big hire for the 54 team this week, Cheddar, Smith, that has been the car chief of Rodney Children's forever, it feels like now. Was on the 7, came over to you guys. I mean, that's got to be a big boost for your team, just having that, you know, leadership in the shop now. Yeah, for sure.

It's, you know, the 54 team. It's a young team from kind of top to the bottom, you know, from driver, obviously, is young. You know, we have Tyler Allen, who's phenomenal and obviously he did a great job on the Xfinity side. So he's our crew chief. He's a younger guy or engineers are younger guys. So, yeah, to bring somebody in like Cheddar with his experience and being around for as long as he had, and we were talking last week, I didn't really realize it until you sit down and look at it. I was about the oldest guy on the race team.

I'm like, oh, man, that's not comforting for me. I've got a couple comments on my gray hairs this week. I was going to say the gray hair. Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I got to have to do something about that, because I got about three comments this week. You got to use the same stuff your dad does. Yeah.

He's always, he says it's never great. Yeah. Yeah, he did. I hope to age as good as he does. I think it's from the soot from the wood stove that he used. I heard that story last night. Yeah, he took the coal stove out and then that, but now it got cool again, so now he had to get wood.

Now he's trying to scratch some wood up. They don't have heat. No, yeah. You don't. I've never been there, thank God. Yeah, Mom is not invited me yet. When you said Mom gets excited, I knew that. I knew that story already was coming.

I've seen that before at a couple turkey derbies. But yeah, for us, we had a, I don't know, it's just a bad race yesterday for us. And we'll get into it more with just that one caution, just kind of flip the script for everybody. And it was just guys that were no good became good. And guys that were good became no good just with track position. But yeah, I don't know. It was an interesting race. Shout out to Danny.

The guy's great. Oh, gee. Here we go. What do you mean? There you go. I mean, just what did he had to do all day long? I must have got paid today. I think I did what's the day state.

But, yeah, no, I mean, he finds himself in the right spot at the end there. And that's why you do. Like, we talk about this all the time. Like, if you put yourself in position, sometimes wins just happen to find you. Interesting in Xfinity race, Brandon Jones, outruns. You know, you look at the line up there and you're like Ross, Christopher Bell's in the race, you know, Chase Elliott. And you're like, one of these guys is probably going to dominate.

And Brandon Jones was really good all weekend. and gets a job done. Yeah, no, it was really good for Brandon, for JGR. And that's, Brandon's team is, was my team last year there when I had Sheldon Creed and spotted for him. And honestly, Darlington last year,

so they got rid of the USR winning races. It's a pretty good, it's a common denominator, if you haven't seen the way my year's gone. But, yeah, no, it was good for that, that gang. And honestly, with Sheldon last year, we had a really good car. We were leading at the end of the race, too.

We had past Bell, run Bell down, past him, was kind of driving away. We had that late yellow, like, in late pit stop. there with and then a green white checker and we just uh you know just i think we restarted third and just couldn't get by the front row there so obviously they the car was really good and um it was good for those guys you know sam mccccali i think that was his first exfinity win as a crew chief so that's that's good after somebody near messes last year that

we had with sheldon which was a plenty uh it was good for them to close the deal and i like sam a lot sam's a good dude it's good to see him get his first one uh you see this note about blaney at the bottom of this page you're like i can't read i know you don't your glasses with you. We're on the first page, by the way. Yeah, I knew you were going to ask. Blaney has lost 19 spots. Blaney lost 19 spots on Pitt Road yesterday. He ranks fourth on the driver metrics, and the team is 24th. I mean, that's, you're not going to win races. I mean, you see it yesterday first, you know, first and foremost, but that, that, that can't happen, you know.

We've got to call our buddy Ryan and see what the hell he's got going on over there. Maybe too busy building is modified. We've got to check on him. Ryan. Flores. He's a changer on Yeah, but I didn't see where, I didn't notice where his pit stall was. So the last, I just saw a video that's actually on the way in today or before I left the house. And the last stop, I think it was the last stop, I should say, looked to me like the Jackman might have missed the post on the left side. Because I saw him go in, he went to pump, adjusted, went back in and pumped again. So it looked to me like that was, and that's a killer. You know, that's like we talk about, I mean, you talk about 10th of the second is five spots.

You know, so they had one stop where they were out. They grew in the top five and they came out behind us. We were 15th. So they just had a tough day yesterday and that's part of it. We talk about us all the time, you know, win and loses the team. And if everything's not firing on all cylinders, it's really, really hard to win these races. I was surprised that the 24 car didn't come out P1 after that pit stop for where they, you know, for their stall.

Because Darlington is one of the most pit stall sensitive racetracks that we go to to gain position. It's all about launch and it's all about the curve. And, you know, two, three years ago, some of the strength was in the back, pitting in the back, to get around that curve a little bit better, cleaner, right? That seems to go on away a little bit. But, you know, Denny was,

Denny did a really good job getting in and out of the box on that pit stop. I mean, they didn't have a, they had a faster stop than most, but they didn't crank out an eight-second stop, right? It was still a mid-nine, I think. think Denny did an unbelievable job getting in and out of that pit stall. That's what won the race. You know why?

Because he's really good, right? He's great. He's great. He's so great. I know you've said it before, but like Blaney, he didn't win the race yesterday, but just watching him, his maneuverability, they have tons and tons and tons of speed right now. It's a shame that they don't have the wins that they, you know, probably, again, like we

talked about deserved, they deserved a few wins, but the speed they have, and yesterday it was impressive to watch him. his maneuverability could run top, could, you know, rip the wall, could run the bottom. It just, it was pretty impressive. Yeah, I mean, he's done that all year, right? And we talked last night, you know the 22 and the two. You know their setups. You know the floors.

You know, they're underneath of the cars. They're all very similar. They're not really going to drive any different, right? I mean, the way he goes about it, and you guys see it more than most from up top watching, how he sets himself up to pass is way different than most. And he puts himself in that position to pass the correct way, to get them at the right spots to the track, to do the things. Because some guys get to somebody,

and they'll lose a quarter second, three-tenths of a second, for ten laps. Next thing you know, you're a half a straightaway back, and you still haven't passed the guy, right? Right. So he does a really good job. And obviously, he was the best car at the end. He, you know, the caution doesn't go. Freddie doesn't run into the five car.

I didn't hit anybody. I don't know. I'm spinning a five car out, you know, 12 wins. But, yeah, I mean, he's just, he's good, man. Yeah. He was like the only one I felt like that could overcome the deficit of being in traffic. You know, like everybody else, you know, we'll get into it. But, yeah, Carson, take us to smile.

You want to get into it? All right. Hey, it's Dale Jr. and for the latest DBC gear, we need you to go to shop.dirtymomedia.com. We've got plenty of options, and we're adding new stuff all the time. Shop.orghummedia.com.

Spot on. Spot on. Did you want to go first on this one? I think he's a whiny bit. That's what I think. Send it. Why me? All right.

Kyle Larson wrecked off the bumper of Bubba Wallace with four laps to go, just as Ryan Blaney passed Tyler Reddick for the lead, Larson was 160 laps down at this point in the race. Spot on, spot off. Tommy. I don't know, man, Fred. I mean, you'll me tell you what happens.

I can tell you. Tell the truth. Do we have a video? We're allowed to show it. We're not allowed to show it. But I can tell you what I can honestly tell you what happened. So I watched this hole kind of playing out in front of us. The 12 ran the 45 down.

He was going by him. And we went to turn one. I was like, how can I get Danny the win in this fucking race? Yeah, yeah. You know, I was like, I was like, Bubba's best friends leading. Our teammates running second. How am I going to be able to get my boy, Danny, a win here? And I was like, oh, shit.

You told Kyle. I said, Bubba, just let Kyle go and then hit him as hard as you can. Yeah, I see that. And see if we can spin them out. And that's, I mean, that's my side of it anyway. And it worked out. I'm sure Danny's going to send me a bonus check for this. But weren't we just talking about you guys not telling them to do dumb shit?

Wow. Well, like this. You're speaking out of those sides of your mouth now. It's a win. You know, this is race. I had, we had to do that. Absolutely had to do it. Did what you had to do.

And to Larson's defense, after he came back out on the track, he was so conscious of not getting in everybody's way. And I think that's doing such a good job. You know, like, he was like, I don't even know why I'm out here. And I don't even know why he was out there. I don't even know why. I can't even. I don't even know. this DVP on all the things that they fixed if it was all the legal stuff.

I don't, like, he came back to. He put the front clip on it. And it's like, what, they, I don't know if those parts were allowed in our DVP. I'm going to, I'm, I guess we got some more questions. The, the, to your point, though, like, I think that's why this wreck happened was because he was being so conscious of everything else. Because you can see from his onboard, you know, he's not close to the 45 when he hits the wall. You know, he just caught up.

Oh, it was after you hit him. He got closer. But, you know, it was, you know, I think he just, like, overly slowed down to stay, make sure. Because, I mean, why was he even passing, Bubba? I mean, at the end of the race, he was doing, I mean, I know he just pitted, right? He just come out of the tires, right? He's probably running half throttle even, you know, at that. But, look, man, it's just, I don't know, if I'm the crew chief, I'm 160 laps down and I cannot pass another car for a point.

Why, why even be out there? Yeah, you know what? I mean, maybe, maybe they want, they didn't want a deal. DNF, maybe so they can show them their stats, no DNF, maybe, but. I mean, I'll give him credit because they did, they gained one spot, but that was a hundred laps ago. Yeah, you know what I mean? But that was great.

Once you get that spot, it was 75 laps to the next guy, and it was like 20 to go. Yeah. It's like, again, he was doing all the right things up until then, staying out of everybody's way, pulling off. A couple of times he just went down on pit road for no reason at all just to get out of everybody's way. He was doing it the right way, but right then, I mean, it's just, I mean, Freddy, you nailed them. It was a team villain move if I've ever seen him. I just told you what happened. You did all that on purpose? Yeah, fuck. I had to get, I was like, that was the only way Denny was going to

have a shot if I figured out to get a caution right there. And, and that was it, but I, you know, you nailed it. Yeah, we got it. Hersway, I mean, well, my, my question on that is, you have the DVP question. My question is like, I don't know what you're talking about. This is, we talked about this last. You're wrong. I'm sorry. So earlier in the race, Riley was supposed to be the Lucky Dog, and when him in the 77 got hooked and kind of got together, so they did not give him the Lucky Dog because they said that he was involved in the wreck. So I got to know for down the road future reference,

like what is the definition of being involved in a wreck? Why did Riley not get the Lucky Dog at that instance? And that looked pretty involved to me from what I saw. Never touched him. Oh, you got the Lucky Dog. And he ended up with the Lucky Dog on that. Oh, my God. Yeah.

I just leaned back and gave him the look. It could not look any worse than what happened here. And then the damn lucky dog on top of it. And then how many positions you gave? None. We didn't get any spots. Unfortunately, not one. We were, we kind of like were, like the last corner, we were like going to do the old

slide job in the three to clear SVG and Bubba pulled it off. We got to the top. We're clear. And then the three guys in front of us all wrecked and stopped. And SVG went back by it. So that was the, if we would have just hooked the bottom there, we would have gained about five. I don't think with their tires on it, I don't think there was no bottom because you couldn't pit because you got the...

No, we pit. We had the lucky dogs. We were able to pit. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We didn't have the wave around. But, yeah, I, listen, I was not like, when the yellow come out, I'm like, well, that was why we were actually... Everybody said, why were you racing? I'm like, we're racing because we're the lucky dog.

And somebody, I think it was like the 43 maybe was in front of them backing up hard at that point. There's a spot's a spot, you know, whatever it is. There's one to go, Freddie. No, there was two to go, or three to go at that point. But we were, I mean, we were a half a second fastened, and we were catching them pretty quick. And, but, yeah, so the yellow comes out. And I'm like, well, I guess we're not going to be the dog

because we just caused the wreck, basically. 23's free pass. I was like, okay. And I think even Charles might have been, like, he's like, I guess we'll just take the wave here if we can, you know, whatever. And then I was like, I was like, we're the lucky dog. Come on. Just go around.

So I don't, I'm glad they did it. But, yeah, for sure, we probably. Did they throw the caution for the 45 hitting the wall instead of you guys? Maybe. I mean, that's possible. If that was the case, I don't think they threw it for the price. I'm pretty sure it was that heavy contact on the inside walls

what brought to yellow out. I'm going to tee you up again because there was plenty of questionable cautions in this race. Or just at least two. Such as Brad Keselowski's Willnut comes off in the middle of a green flag pit cycle inciting a debris caution enforcing many drivers who had already pitted to take the wave around and lose all track position. Spot on, spot off. Which I said Tommy last time, but he went ahead and went to you.

You want to take it away, Tom? I don't know where that lug nut ended. So I don't know if you saw anything different. The way the piece of debris I saw them pick up was on the cookout sign against the inside wall on the restart zone against the inside wall. Nobody's run the fucking inside wall at Darlington. And when was that place built? That many years. So it was nobody was ever going to get to it.

It could have left it there all day long if they wanted to. but I just don't, again, we, I think when it first happened, though, they, to NASCAR's defense, they waited a long time, they waited for everybody to pit on this one certain time. They tried, but they never, like, so that was, you know. There was another instance that they did not cause, throw the caution, and, and they waited. I think when to sit, one to six, so he had his issue there and he half spun on the bottom. Yeah. And I thought that was going to be yellow, but they left it go.

And I think they were trying to get through the pit cycle. But, okay. Why didn't they? Because they threw the yellow for that wheel nut that was nowhere near the racing surface. Like you let the guy miss my point of we don't know what's a caution anymore. We don't because I had just told Bubba, I thought for sure the yellow was coming out. You know, he, I guess the wheel was falling off or whatever. It's flat.

You know, he spins out. We just miss them. I was like, the yellow is still green. Stay green. They watch the six. And he like almost overcorrected. into us. But so we're now, I'm like, and we're just keep digging because the green's still out. And I'm like, the yellow's definitely going to come out. This guy's limping around the bottom of the

racetrack with a right, right, right flat. And no yellow. I'm like, all right, I guess he's going to make it back. He gets on pit road. I'm like, okay, I guess we're not going yellow. And then like two laps later, the yellow comes out for nothing, literally nothing. Like, and they, I don't, especially with this car and the way this package is, that changed the entire race for no fucking reason whatsoever. They tried a couple times. They come over to radio. house turn one and two oh yeah how's the backstretch house three and four yeah you know that like it's just like you like you it's you cannot overcome you saw it you saw it firsthand guys that were not good became good you know you guys were getting lapped at the end of the second stair

first stage and then now you're a top five car a top 10 car you know the the 20 was another one 20 was battling to stay on the lead lap you give him track position in the top five he runs top five the rest of the race you know we were a top five top five top six car, we get back in the 20s, we never get out of the 20s. Priest's another one, you know, he had to try to try to get track position back. Didn't work for him. Like, guys that were really good became really bad, and guys that were really bad became really good. So who was good and who was bad at the end of the day?

The only guy that was, yeah, the only guy that was the best was the 12. But the problem is, all 30 cars are good or bad. It depends on, you know, 35 cars, 36 cars are good or bad. It just depends on the situation. We talk about it here, you know, one spot makes a big difference. If you get one guy in front of you, you look at the damn 24. As soon as you got the 60 car, he started, he had a little more trouble. Yeah.

As soon as someone else got him, he fell back to fourth, got himself in another bad position. The next thing he know, he was struggling. Yeah, you look, the 24 was obviously the dominant car, best car in a race track all day long. You put him third or fourth on that restart, never saw him again. And obviously we knew what Rudy, his plan was, right? he was going to try and do what Kyle, I mean, the 11 car, and the 5 car did at Miami, right? He was going to, it was calculated. But I don't, if he kept dominating the race, put himself in position to dominate the race,

he would have won, right? I mean, if he, if he pitted one lap or two laps after the second place guy did, he would have still had the lead, right? Yeah. He was far enough away, right? and he would have had two laps better on its tires, right? To drive away. And he still would have drove away.

Darlington, I think, is a different animal than Miami, right? Because it's not a multi-multi-group. It's a multi-group track, but it's so much more dirty air. I don't know if it's just where the walls are, the width of the track. You know, the way everything's set up, it's just the air just stays there more than a place like Miami. And it was hard yesterday. man to pass. Yeah.

I mean, like, so your race, our races were exact opposite. Like, I felt like we were racing each other for a little while. Then I looked up, you're getting laughed. I was like, holy shit. And then, but then you get, you stayed out for that cost and you'd get the benefit of it. Now we basically flip-flop spots. You know, you went from, you went from the back to the front, and I went from the front to the back.

Like, how was, how much does that affect your car? Just even balance-wise with, like, Tye's comments. Oh, for sure. I mean, that was, that was definitely a difference maker on staying out and running along there, you know, at that one point, I think we just hurt the tires and corded the tires, and we started backing up. We got lapped. But at that point, you know, Bell was the next car in front of us.

He was about even with us. Danny was only a couple of spots in front of that. The 19 was behind us. So we were all kind of mired there. And, you know, our play was to run long on that stretch. And, you know, we caught a caution and put us all in the top 10. And like I said, it's completely different car. You look at lap times.

You look at your maneuverability. You look at performance. And obviously, you're, you know, you're adjusting on it because you know you need help. but I don't think you can make enough adjustments to go and be that good. It's definitely track position related and relative, and that's, it says a lot for just how you play the races out. Like you were talking about,

like Rudy, with the 24 there, you science it out as much as you can, but really it only takes like one guy that blends off a pit road. It could be 20 laps down to you and he comes off a pit road with fresh tires and he catches you at the wrong spot where you get to bleed, you know, three-tenths, four-tance or something like that. And that makes the difference on whether you come out in front of a guy or behind a guy.

So it's, I appreciate the science that goes into it. And there's a lot, a lot, a lot that goes into it. But, you know, it only takes one little hiccup. And that throws your science off and it puts you in a different position where you thought you should come back out at. And that makes all the difference in the world in your strategy. I thought it was funny yesterday. I saw a tweet this morning from Gluck. That was we were talking about before.

Like Gluck tweeted, I think at the time, Danny might have been the best. GGR car. He's around like 17th and the rest of them were like mid-20s and he's like, obviously JGR, you know, they just kind of missed it today. You're having a bad day and then you fast forward to you know, flip the script with this caution and you know, Danny, I think they were all going to run top 10 before that late caution. Obviously Danny wins their race.

Bell, I'm sure it was top five or I don't know where Bell was. You're top 10. So I mean, it's just insane how much track position matters and then that's what this caution did. You know, in a moment, you know, all right, I guess we'll just throw the yellow here, I guess, but you just changed the entire race because of a fucking wheel nut

that's laying on the infield, basically. It's just, I just don't understand it. I don't know if you ever will. We're never going to. I mean, we're never going to. Is that aggravate you? Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. I mean, and it didn't, I mean,

his face is getting rid. It's turning really good. That's just normal. But, you know, and we were not going to be, we were not going to be a top five car yesterday. I think we were even fading before that. But still, like, if we were to stay top ten, we would have probably ran top 10.

It's just once you get back in the 20s, it's hard to dig your way out of there. Yeah, I felt I watched Bubba trying to win that stage, and then you guys all stayed out there. I think Bubba really hurt. He definitely. He said it. He said it as soon as the, he said,

he said, well, I abused him there, but, you know, he's like, I felt like I had to to, you know, get the recent priest. You know, they both did. But he said, that was the first thing he said, he said, well, he said, we'll see how this goes. But I definitely, I definitely. I definitely used them there.

That's what set the tone the rest of the race, I think. Because I was like, I was like, who he's going to pay the price for that. Yeah, he said it immediately. All right. When asked about throwback weekend, Chase Elliott said, I feel like it got old four to five years ago. I think we've rode the horse to death. I'm going to just go ahead and say I think he's spot on. Spot on?

Spot on. I do. I think, I mean, I don't think that they should do away with it. I just think that there should be maybe, I don't know if it's every couple years, every five years. Like, I do agree with him on the fact that you're eventually going to be running out of, running out of stuff to do. I mean, there's the only, the reason I, first of all, I'm spot off just because it's not for Chase. It's for the people sitting in the grandstands. True.

I don't think he just, he didn't like his design. I mean, he also. He had my right to be mad. It was the worst one. And also, these comments also happened to come from the guy with the worst throwback of the weekend. But, yeah, listen, it's, it's definitely, you see, I think it was, what was it, Alex? 19 cars didn't run throwbacks this week.

And listen, for me, part of it is the damn number placement because some of them look good, but they look stupid like the Cindrick car, the throwback to Dale's 1979 car, like, that was well done, but it looks kind of ridiculous with the numbers slid all the way forward. Like maybe for this week, maybe we can just let them have the number placement back for whatever they want to do, the Xfinity guys.

And listen, a lot of this, I'm sure people understand this, but a lot of this is sponsor-related. Some sponsors don't want to change their colors. some sponsors don't want to, you know, they want their branding on there. They don't want some random ass paint scheme that ran in 1975 on there, you know, with there. And so, you know, but I think that there's a place for it, you know, and maybe you need to put these guys in a box, but I think they used to. That's what I was going to ask.

Are there, like, parameter? Like, can you throw back? Like, if you wanted to throw it back to, like, a sprint car design way back in it, can you do that? Yeah, that's what it has a belted. Yeah. Some of the teams didn't go by what was said what to do. Do they give them errors ever? They're supposed to be an era.

Yeah. And a lot of the teams didn't do that. So, I mean, I don't know if there was enough content to match the team's purpose in order to do that, right? So they had to do different things. Like the Wood Brothers did a totally different thing, right? Yeah, Indy cars. Right? So I don't know.

I mean, I'm kind of stuck in the middle of this, to be honest with you. This should be maybe every five years of doing it. That's kind of where... Just because we're running out of things to do, right? So, yeah, let's make a big splash, but let's do it every five years. So, you know, there's some more designs that come up. There's some more stories to be told. There are more things to do.

I think we're probably getting a little too redundant here, you know? And maybe doing it more far apart like that would provide more opportunity to really, like, hone in on what it's all going to look like as a whole, from the merchandise to what the car looks like, like give you more time to really, really do it right. There's just, for me, I mean, if it's not done right, it looks bad, you know, and for me, it's got to be the same number. You know what I mean?

That's why some of the Xfinity designs were amazing. Amazing. But, like, you know, like, I know that Noah was a throwback to Dale's late model. Did it look anything like Dale's late model? I don't even know what it was. You know, like, it's number four. You know, it's just like some of them,

like I thought the five looked good. We're looking at some of these. The 42, the Coors Light car was banging. That was good. But, you know, the petty cars always looked good. 51 was incredible. 51, I'm sure you liked that one. That must be cool for you.

But, yeah, and a lot of times you see that, I think the Ex-Findy guys looked better because they don't have the huge corporate sponsors. So a lot of the ones like the four, I thought the four was the best one of the weekend. That should have won. You know, that looked amazing. But I couldn't even tell you what the sponsor was, unfortunately. So that's the problem.

with, you know, you see that car and just automatically think Kodak instead of visual pack, you know what I mean? So that's probably part of it. But for me, if you're going to do it, you got to go all out. It's got to be the right number, a number to match yours. The colors have to be the same for me. I know the 42 was, you know, it was the same scheme. And the five cup cars were probably the best because the design kind of moved the number,

didn't move the number, but it blended in a little bit better for it to look old-school. My favorite one of the day was probably the 38 just because of the old school, like Long John Silver guy. I have a question, though. Who the fuck is still eating Long John Silvers? Like, who keeps that in business? Seriously? I just saw that clip during the week, and I sent that to a few people and got a pretty good

response to that. Yeah, that's me. Just single-handedly keeping Long John Silverers in business? I'm a sentimental guy and, like, growing up on Friday night. We were always like a fish family would eat on Friday night. So I just remember as a kid, a real little kid, like we go to the mall, eat at Long John Silver's, and there was a pet store

right next to Long John Silver. So we'd eat our fish and hush puppies, and we'd go and look at puppies in the window. And like, that was my Friday night. So, wait a minute, hold on. You ate hush puppies while you looked at puppies. That seems awkward.

I thought he was going to say, we ate the fish and then went looked at fish. It could be even worse. Yeah. God almighty. So it's Tony. If you do the throwback, do it right. Don't just half that.

Like even, like, what was, I know Bell was a... But if you have to keep it specific to the number and you do it every single year, you're going to run out of shit. The thing for me is, Like, even if you, maybe not so much to have to stick to the number, but like the 70. Like, it's got to be for me, like, you got to look at that car and go, I know what that.

That's Jeff Green's Nesquit car back in the day. You know what I mean? Like a lot of these, you look at them and go, what, what is that? You know, like the four or, you know, some of these, like, just like Bell. I don't know who I was a throwback to somebody that helped him get going. That was one of his original car owners. I've never seen those cars before my life. So it's, you know, so you want to be sentimental about it sometimes, too.

But at the same time, it's just not a recognizable scheme for our hardcore family. base. That 99 looked really good. Yeah. But the 51, the Harry Gansky. All the Xfinity cars looked really. Like I thought it was funny that Chase was one to kind of call it out. And again, knowing my history there, he runs the same number that his dad did. His dad is a legend.

So he runs the same number that his dad did. You would think, like, for him, it would be the easiest. I'm like, oh, I'm going to run my dad's, you know, one of my dad's scheme and kind of, you know, pay tribute to him. So I think it's, I love it. me personally. I like it because I like the throw throwback to that. I love it too, but I think let's extend it a little bit more to create some more.

Just make it mandatory. Make it mandatory. Figure it out. Figure it out. Get some good shit. That was a good looking car too. The 28. That was a good one. Legacy Motor Club is suing Rick Ware Racing, claiming Rick Ware Racing is trying to back out of a signed agreement to sell one of its charters.

Oh man, this is a tough one. Obviously, for like, let's set up, you can't get into a lot of details about it. Well, you can't because of the legalities of it, but it hurts. You know, again, this goes back to my, just the way I feel our sports should be runoff as integrity, you know? And the thing that hurts is they have come out and they've said a lot of bad things about Rick Ware. And I'm here to tell you, you can say all you want about what goes on at the track. and, you know, on the track of the things we're trying to do.

But I'm here to tell you Rick Ware is not any one of those things as a person, as an individual, as a father, as a family member, as what they're making him out to be. And it's heartbreaking to have to see him go through all this. Look, you know, I was sick, you know, I was hurting, right, with cancer and I was out for six, eight months. That man took care of me, right? That man paid me. That man checked on me.

That's Rick Ware, right? That's the guy he is. And he has worked his ass off to be in this position, to be able to sell a charter and live the rest of his life the way his family needs to live. He deserves that. Shame on me for not having the balls as he did, as much as he has, not waiting to sell mine. Right? I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I couldn't deal with the political mess.

I couldn't deal with the people. I couldn't deal with people screw me all the time. I just couldn't deal with it. This guy has survived all that. I mean, I don't even know how he's done it. And to live out his dream and now to have his son drive in the car, yeah, it's your job, Tommy, to help Cody become a better race car driver. And that's what we're trying to do.

And in the meantime, he's in the back doing his business, what he needs to be doing to set himself up in his family, to live the rest of their lives comfortably. And that's his prerogative, right? That's, that's, he deserves that. He put himself in that position. I will fight for Rick Ware as much as I'll fight for anybody right now because that is not Rick Ware.

I think that, I mean, and listen, if you listen to this show long enough, you know we've been very critical of Rick Ware Racing in the past. And for, I mean, Hershey, you've lived it with me. Like, for the longest time, those would be the first two cars you'd come to on the racetrack, and we were always going, why the hell are they even out here? and to your point, you know, he, to Rick's credit and his character, one of the, I think he's doing something very difficult this year for the public to understand, perceptually, like, you know, he made moves last year. He made moves a couple years ago. He hired Robbie Benton. He hired your old ass to come over there and get really good people in there to start turning that deal around. Got, you know, the alliance with RFK hired Justin Haley last year to show like, all right, this is what we're capable of. Now, you know, and Justin ran, I felt like top 15, you know, top 20, almost every week. And let me tell you something. Rick Ware was spending millions of his own money for Justin Haley.

They didn't have enough money to sponsor the full year. Nobody has. It's gotten to the point that Rick was like, look, if I'm going to spend my own money, I'm going to spend it on my son. I'm not going to spend it anymore on anybody else's career. And that was a major decision that he made and he got Robbie and I together and go, this is my decision. And you guys are going to make it work. Yeah. Because this is what I want.

All right. That's what we're going to do. We've got to make it work. People from the outside can look at it, to your point, and they go, now you're taking a big step back, which Cody? Nobody's going to ever say that Cody is more talented or as talented maybe as Justin Haley, but this is what he wants to do. And he's getting, you know, and Cody's not awful by no means.

I mean, we give Cody shit on here at times, but it was a lot of times it was because of a position he was put in by his team, you know, a lot of times. He's just out there trying to learn and sometimes they would leave him out of a pit cycle or whatever and put a midpack when he didn't belong there and shit would happen. but I've spoke to Cody numerous times in the garage and he's just like you said, he just wants to get better and he's getting better. You know, as we go this year, he's getting better.

You can see it. You know, so I think it says a lot to Rick's character, Tony, of, you know, I'm willing to, I don't give a fuck what it looks like to anybody else. I'm going to go racing with my kid and make this work. And obviously, you know, you're seeing a little bit of the benefits of it. Yeah, for sure. They've definitely come leaps and bounds

from where they were at a few years ago. So that's the name of the game. You get good people in place. And like I said, we have a really good race team. I mean, you, you plugged the right amount of funding in there and you, we build another, you know, we can run in the top 15. I mean, again, you guys were running 25th to 28th. One track position change your top five. I mean, that's how quick it can change, right?

I mean, it's just, Cody's not ready for that yet, right? We're not ready to really put him in that position. We got him in that position yesterday. And unfortunately, we made a wrong adjustment on the car. but we were supposed to be there. We were on the lead lap still. You guys pitied. My crew chief made a good decision to stay out,

and we got a caution, right? We were on the lead lap. It didn't work out the way we wanted to, but we ended up 27th on the lead lap. I mean, it's... I don't know what to tell you. People, the funny thing is, people are going to listen to this and go,

well, yeah, you ended up 27th. You don't have any idea how hard it is to run 27th. No, no. I mean, it sounds weird to say that, but when you're running back to me, We were running 20th for the end of the race last year, and you look around and you're just, you're surrounded by top teams. Yeah, I mean, you're not seeing Cody cause any problems during the race.

He pulls, we're very sensitive to everybody's situation because of Cody's experience, right? He's never really had a chance to drive really good race cars until the past couple years, right? This is the first time he's gotten into really good equipment. So we don't cause any problems. When we get in that, we pull over, we let everybody go, we choose the right line. You guys communicate good with Brent. line you want. I hear it. You know, hey, this is what he wants. He does exactly, there's no problems. We stay out everybody's way. He's not in any, but any trouble. Not like you from

yesterday, causing a caution. I told you. I got to get Danny in there somewhere. Yeah. All right. Ross Chastain fences Christopher Bell with 23 laps to go, battling for second in the Xfinity race on Saturday. Go to Hirsch first. Spot on, spot off. You guys, how you guys see which one do you guys team me up on all the time. Let's talk about Martin'sville again. No, it's spot off on that, I would say. We talked about it before. I think Ross is a, he's a phenomenal race car driver, a ton of talent, ton of speed. It's funny, like, last week, Lugano called him out at Martinsville, you know, on the cup race about, you know, what happened. And then, you know, Ross just how he races on a weekly basis or on a regular

basis anyhow. And Ross, like, I, you know, I just don't appreciate that. I don't think it's, I don't think it's warranted. And then the very next week, you go out and you do that next thing. You know, we kind of stuff bail and run them out of room. He would have done the same thing to Chase. Chase just, Chase just rolled out of it and gave him that, whatever, the half of car length that he needed or something like that. So, you know, the aggression, I get it.

There's a difference on being an aggressive race car driver and not jeopardizing others. Like there's sometimes, make a move or not make a move. I'm going to try to make the move. but you also, again, got to respect the other guys that you're ultimately in control. And that's one thing. You know, my dad always said growing up, you can do whatever you want, but you're in control of your race car. It's not the other guy's jobs to take care of you all the time and cut you that two feet.

You're in charge when you run guys out of space or you're running the back of them or, you know, you're tearing their door numbers off through the corner and then they get free and they get into it. It's like, that's your fault. It's not their fault that you put them in bad spots. repeatedly. So again, I think a lot of Ross, but that aggression and so I would go spot off on that because again, he put

a couple guys in really bad spots. He cost Bell a better finish. And I know the 17 wasn't happy with him either. So sometimes you get a... It's funny that, you know, last week the discussion was we need more cup drivers in these Xfinity races to, you know, get the level of respect up and they won't race like that. There's more cup guys. Then we go to the next race and it's the cup guy. That seems to be the problem.

listen, it's just, I mean, we, maybe it's Darlington because that was the, that was the crux stuff at the last time, right? When he, like when Richard finally, I mean, not Richard, Rick Hendrick finally said something about it. You know, when he, I think he stuffed, was it Elliott or Byron in the wall and the one there when he was running the UPS scheme. Maybe, maybe it's just a Darlington thing for him. But for sure, listen, we said on here a couple weeks ago, I forget what track it was, maybe Homestead, Ross is just, he is probably, I think I saw a stat this week from racing analytics there that, you know, he is the hardest got to pass. And it's because he puts you in those situations where you either lift or we're going to crash. And most of the guys are just smart enough to like, well, I guess I'm going to lift here because it's lap 50 of whatever run this is and we don't need to be done with it. But it's, you know, it's just not sustainable for me.

You know what I mean? I mean, it's just you're going to end up on the wrong side of more times than not, I feel like. And it's just I know you're going to go old man on the lawn yelling everybody. But, you know, just do you have to race this hard all the time? No. No, you don't. And it's just, you know what, turns one and two at Darlington. When you get up the hill there, that's where in the pinch starts, right?

There's just that one little spot that track gets so narrow. There's really only room for, what, one and a half car is because the grip level on the lower side is gone, right? It's never been there, really. And it's always been, that's where you do your pass, and that's where you get that guy to stop. He has to stop. If he's not going to stop, you're going to get run into or you're going to push off a four, Off it used to be four. You guys weren't even born yet.

Hirsch probably spotted it. Yeah. But, you know, you're going to push off a two and hit the wall. So when you get them in that position, you've got a lift, right? And I think Ross and all the drivers, I'm not just saying Ross, when you get themselves in that position, you're going to go, you're going and you're like, oh, come on left, please. Yeah, yeah. You know what I think, I'm starting to think it might be, I'm wearing the old filcation t-shirt today. Maybe it's Phil Smalley because he helps manage Ross.

He helps manage Josevar. Do you think maybe he's the one telling these guys, like you've got to be super aggressive and run everybody in the fence? Let's just blame Phil. That's the easiest thing to do. Hashtag blame Phil. Is he going on vacation? No, he's just, this is just Philcation.

It's always Phil Casey. Always. He texts me this weekend asking if he could sign Wyatt's, maybe I should say no. No. Yeah, don't let him do it. He's going to, why it's going to turn into a really aggressive driver if you let him go over there. God, he already is. We don't need more of that.

What any, Carson, anything this week? Honestly? Are you fired up that I didn't call you last night to go to the ball? Actually, yeah. I wasn't fired up until I sat down at this table and found out that you all hung out without me. Apologies. I wasn't invited either.

Tommy calls. He goes on the way home. He goes, are you going to stop anywhere? I said, me and Hirsch are going to stop at Big Al's on the way home. I really didn't invite anybody else. I honestly am flattered, though, because you said that you didn't want it to get as out of hand as last Sunday, which means I'm fun. Well, yeah, you are definitely fun. I'll take it.

Sunday, last Sunday, definitely got away from us a little bit. And then last night ended up getting away from us a little bit anyway. Strickler and Austin showed up with Austin's dad. Shout out to Austin's dad for coming out. When I see Strickler walking to a bar, I'm like, oh, fuck. Here we go. They text me. I was literally, I'm like, I text Meg because I was on the way home and they text

and they're like, hey, Big Al's. And I was like, son of a bitch. I was like, yep, right now 9 o'clock ETA or whatever. Then I text Meg, I'm like, Strickler and Austin are coming. She's like, what does that mean? I'm like, what do you think? It means I'll be home at two. That's exactly what I mean.

John showed up and Phil was there, Phil and Brim. But yeah, it's just, it was not as, not as wild as last week. I needed a, no, I needed a break from last week because it was, last week was a shit show. That was a shit show. When the strip club was on the table, I was like, this ain't good. This ain't good. So there's nothing that's got you fired up. No, I mean, really, I had a-

Nothing during the week. I had a chill weekend. It's Monday. Nothing's pissed me off yet. Last week, we had all week last week. Oh, last week? No, I had a pretty chill, pretty chill week. Good weekend.

We're going to have to figure some stuff. Nothing. I'm going to start fucking with Carson during the week just to piss her off, I guess. I mean, that's nothing new. Yeah, that's true. Nothing new. All right, so let's get into some reaction theater where fans can call in and vote. Maybe I'll get fired up from reaction theater.

I'm sure. Any resumes? I'm sure. Guys, any resumes? No resumes? No resumes. Probably a lot of Blaney's and toasters and bathtubs. I'll say.

We'll see. Let's get into it. Are you fucking kidding me, Larson? It's last three. You're all the plane you're in. Killing all your toasters. I'm going to go into a hot tub and fucking lie myself on fire. It's last three.

You're the greatest driver in the fucking world. You're in the Tony the Tiger car. And you wrecked on lap three. Oh, so that was the early. He was mad about the beginning. Kyle Larson, you son of him. The Denny Haldon and the Joe gives racing Toyota? When you crash the car, I'm gone.

I freaking love you, Larson, but God damn it, man. You can't tell him on a silver fucking platter. I think he's crying. How could you? I can't tell if that person's like 13, a boy, a girl. Or just, it sounded me like he was 60 and upset. Okay. That was actually Tommy.

That called him. I am not 60. It's on the way. You're not 60 yet? Not yet. That'd be, what, 59? Let me get. Coming.

Okay, so apparently Ryan Blaine is just too fucking polite to say what needs to be said on television. So I'm just going to go ahead and say it for him. Is it that fucking hard to put a jack under a goddamn car? I'm begging you, Tommy Baldwin. I need your help. I need somebody to go into the competition meeting with me and flip some fucking tables. Tommy would be a good one Tommy would

Tommy's probably flip the table or two over in his day Yeah that was unfortunate Hey I wish we could like pick Take five fans Right Add to the grandstands with a car Give him the equipment Just go

Okay you're gonna change You're gonna carry you're gonna jack Go ahead How long do you think it would take them Minutes Probably probably Yeah At first they would pick up the gun

And we go, holy shit. None of them would probably get the car off the ground. No. No. I mean, I think that should be done. And we should video to understand, right? To make everyone understand how hard it is. How hard it is just to get the car off the ground.

Yeah. I don't think you could take anybody out of grandstands that could, I mean, I'm sure there's some big guys out there. Yeah. I mean, let's, we can pick, let's, you know, hey, he looks like a jack man. Hey, he looks like a tire. You know, I think we could do a nice draft out of the grandstands and grab them and say, all right. You do it. And step back and let him.

what do we do? Go do it. That should be a part of the pit self challenge of all stars. The thing that I took away from looking at that video is I think Flores is on the front. And like when the Jackman's having issue, the tire changer is just sitting there. You know, he's just sitting there waiting. You know, Ryan's like, get this fucking thing off the ground. It's like, pull this tire off.

It seems like, you know, like, so it must be just the most disheartening feeling. Like you're leading their race. Here comes the money stop and you're just sitting there waiting. Like, you know now your race is over basically. Yeah. It's a shame. I mean, obviously, he had the best car. He should have won until you ran into the five.

I didn't touch anybody. Talk to bubble about it. God damn, young money strikes again. Not once, but twice. If it was raining pussy, he'd get hit with a dick. Jesus. Likes. That's hung money, I think, when that was last year.

Oh, God. Poor Larson. Oh, my fucking God, that race. The ending of that race is worse than if I took a cheesie-e-eat-old. grader to my fucking ball. Of course, fucking Danny has to just get gifted a win. I fucking hate this shit.

Oh, my God. I'm a little blackout drunk. Oh, my God. There's probably some people that would enjoy that. I would imagine in this crazy-ass world. I'd listen to that. I'm not to each other. I'm never. Hershey do much cheese-grating on your balls?

Nah, I'm trying to stay away from that. My schedule's too busy during the week. Whatever fucking golden horse shoe, that's some bitch Denny Hamlough has shoved up his fucking arsehole. what the fuck man I'm course Freddy's like he's the greatest he's the greatest he's the greatest

man get the fuck out as much as I love Freddy get the fuck out of here I say that a lot too why two weeks in a row and I'm fucking talking about anyway the booge boys and bristle next week back doors coming in hot

what do you say back doors coming in hot that sounds that sounds maybe that doesn't be careful with that um yeah guess my That's right. Speaking of back doors.

Oh my gosh. All right. Well, to leave an audio message 24-7, you can call our number 704-802-9-572, and we'll play the best ones each week on the show and just try not to hurt Freddy's feelings. Yeah, I have one feeling, and if you heard it, I got upset.

Hirsch knows that, right? Hirsch, I mean, Hirsch hurt my feelings one time. What's the, I guess, trophy club is probably the best story of you screwing me over. so we're in Texas and I'm staying in the town trophy club and me and Hirsch go out

and I might have been a little intoxicated so Hirsch decides it's time for us to leave and being a psychologist he is yeah yeah babysitter at this point Once he fell asleep at the bar they made his sleep so hers had a checklist of like everything he had to do for me

as the year went on to make sure I didn't I made it to the racetrack the next day usually but so we get an Uber and Hirsch, I guess you got out first, right? Or maybe you just sent me on my own Uber. I don't remember. He said, where are you staying? I said, Trophy Club. The town.

Didn't say, like, I'm at the Fairfield in the Trophy Club like a dumbass. So, Hurst just looks up, oh, Trophy Club has a like country club. There's a country club and trophy club. Must be staying there. Sure enough, somehow I end up at this fucking country club. It's freezing cold. It's like 30 degrees. I have

T-shirt, shorts. Hersch is gone. Tommy, I was not even coherent. I get out. I'm like, where the fuck am I now? Now I'm in a gated community, so the next Uber can't even come to get me. Hirsch is, I'm like, Hersch, what the fuck? He's like, I don't know.

You told me to go to a trophy club. So, yeah, he has to send me his itiner every week, so I have his actual hotel address. Jesus. Credit cards, phone charger. I think, I don't remember, honestly, if I had to be honest. The Uber somehow got in there to get me out and I went home. But, yeah, that was a long weekend. I think that was the year.

Was it the year? We're in Texas for like a month. That was at five. Yeah. When we had that mist, that was around. It never rained, but we didn't race for four days. Just like a heavy mist forever. All right.

It's time for AskDBC. You can send in your questions on X each week using hashtag AskDBC. And why would you do this to me? You know I can't read either of these names that are on this paper. Come on. Aaron from VA. Aaron from VA. I met him last week, actually, at Martinsville.

I just want to hear you try to say. This is going to be the highlight of my show. Alex, dude, I can't. Come on. Come on. Oh, Vech. What? I can't do this.

These aren't even that bad. That was pretty close. You're almost set it. I mean, if you don't know the second one, we're not even going to be able to talk to you anymore. Wayne Greske. Okay. Do you know hockey? Clearly, she's a huge fan.

I have been to two in H.L. games in my life. And I really was. Recently, right? Yeah, I went to my first Keynes game when we were in Wake last week, and then I went to a Tampa Bay game with the Brants a couple years ago. It was fun. I just don't really have a lot of time to sit down and watch on the shit.

Hersch had a hell of a night. Raleigh in Raleigh. Hockey games are fun. I go there to get drunk and watch them fight. So anyways, with those two, with Alex breaking Wayne's NHL goal records. Can you say it so the guy can get some credit where it deserves? With Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal record, is there a record

and NASCAR that you guys think will never be broken? Okay, I almost had it. You did almost had it. I told you. Nobody's ever going to win 200 races. Exactly. Just because the competition's too tough.

And I think this is probably, I don't know what I call it a hot take because I hate when people say it's a hot take. But I think that Kyle's 200, whatever he's at now, National Series wins is more impressive than Richard's 200 cup wins just for the sheer competition factor.

And I know you spot. it for 150 of them probably so i mean talk about you know just talk about that like that run with kyle it had to be i mean you were winning you seem like two races every weekend yeah it's what my teamies are doing now and i'm the only one it's not able to pull it off i mean stevie's done it a few times lambert did it uh this week and so so congrats to those guys but yeah no again like i said earlier you're working with kyle bush so is one of the all-time talents so it's always for what we do it doesn't matter if people ask me all the time man i had you work with him and I had to be tough work with him. I'm like, no, not at all. We didn't really have

any crosswords. Again, that works with my dad. So, you know, the expectation to just high. So you go into every race and you know you have the possibility to win that one. So if you do your job, and, you know, as a spotter, as a crew chief, as you pick crew guys, if you do your job, you know, the driver behind the wheel is going to be up front. So that was a great run. I love working with Kyle. You know, obviously later on, what's the kids started coming into the, you know, the truck side and I started working with them full time, even when Kyle, when they started limiting him running his limited amount of cup races and exfinding races, I loved working with the younger

guys and going head to head with Kyle. As much as I like working with him, I know we would get under his skin because we'd beat him a few times. But to me, that's, you know, that was a badge of honor to take, you know, a younger guy and try to help him along and teach them things that I know, like, like I learned by watching Kyle for all those races. So to go head to head with them and be able to beat him is definitely a great accomplishment.

Like I said, I know it got under his skin, which made me smile even a little bit more. But that's part of it. You just, again, successful by association and be able to work with Kyle and do that and win 20, 30 races a year between all three series is

pretty impressive. I saw a stat last week, and I can't pull it up right now, but like the winning seasons is a record that may may fall. I've seen like I think Danny and Kyle were maybe three years behind Richard. Like I think Richard had maybe 23 winning seasons and now I think Danny's maybe at 19 or 20 and Kyle's at 20 or 19 or 20.

That's a record that may fall. You know, I think that you know, I think Danny could probably win for another three or four years. You know, he's got a shot at least winning one race every year for the next four years. So that one, that one, they might be able to eclipse Richard there, which would be very impressive, but I think just the sheer competition factor nobody's ever going to win

as many races as Richard did. And again, back then they ran three, four times, five times a week. And Inman was probably cheating his ass off. Oh, yeah. He still's cheating. He walks with a little bit of limp in the garage. Lead's still coming out of his pants,

still to this day. I obviously spent a couple years over there, and it was really fun just to be in the lounge. Sunday morning, Richard and Dale would be in there. and like no Richard walks on water in the Cup series garage right

I mean that guy comes anywhere you just see him and you're like oh my God that's the king that's the end but nobody would fuck with him more than Dale Inman and I forget

you know Richard happens going to an appearance and he's like I gotta go around the front now you know whatever and Dale just sat back and he said you know I'm sorry I made you so famous

yeah yep for sure you guys got any shit shows this week man not really The Xfinity race won last weekend. I mean, it was the only thing nominated. No kidding.

It was the only thing nominated. Was it like option A or B or C? Yeah, I did. I think we put three different options on there, but regardless. I think option A won. Everybody just clicked on it immediately. Do we have some late additions here? We have any short track?

I couldn't find any right now, but. Yeah, there wasn't. A lot of rainouts this week. It rained out for you like. Thompson rained out again, Tom, just in case you're wondering. I don't know. I mean, that was good and bad for me. I wasn't going.

And if they did race, it would have changed my schedule drastically for the rest of the year. So now you're back on the original schedule? Yeah, back on the original schedule, I guess. So it rained out last week. So we're sitting in the suite talking about if he's going to go this week or not during Luke's race in the truck race. And he's like, it actually helps me out a little bit because I was going to go to this one. And then we were probably going to get caught up, maybe chasing some points and have to add some races to the schedule. So now this is kind of relieving me that I don't have to do that.

he's back to happen to do that again. We'll figure it out. They'll have some fun. I mean, shit, I'm going racing with the kids, right? Yeah. And Smart Race was a really good race this Saturday, this past Saturday, United Orange County. Luke ended up fifth, extended his points a little bit,

struggled a little bit in the first part of the run, had a right-retire, get a little big on him. He was probably running 65 laps in qualifying trim, so to speak, and he had to drive back to fifth, and the car was good. We struggled a little bit with Jack. I think we had a little bit. post past two weeks of crash issues still going on our car. We found a couple things yesterday, so I think we're going to be good for this

upcoming week at Hickory. But I do want to make a point that the last couple of weeks we've had a lot of issues, right? And there was some really good side-by-side racing at that race this past weekend, from front to back. I mean, everybody respected each other. I mean, they battled hard for the lead. Even Ryan Newman said, man, it was some clean, hard,

fought racing and you know kudos that Ryan Newman winning the race I know you it's hard man yeah oh it's hard and uh

the the best part of the the weekend was his daughter I don't know if you guys his daughter is racing the crate mod oh really? Yeah and she uh she did a really good job

she ended up fourth and she ran she ran well I mean she she at the end of the race she was running as quick as the leaders were but she's it was fun watching something like that grow right what happened

It's a McMurray's kid. I don't know how he ended up. I looked up and he was in the wall. I was in a little bit of panic because I, obviously Jamie was here last week a couple weeks ago. And I turned it on. I was like, oh, shit, they're racing. I got to turn it on.

I turned on. He's in the fence. And the ticker had not updated yet, you know, because he, and right behind him, I think, was Luke. I was like, oh, no. No. No. Jamie, Jamie's had expensive last couple weeks.

So before we get to Alex's late additions to the shit show, I did want to also mention the Arco West Race. Yeah, that was a good race. That was really good. Shout out to Tanner Rife won, Eric Johnson Jr. And I think it's Jake Bowman that was driving McAnally's car, showed you how to do it. That was how you do it.

Three wide. Nobody touched anybody. It looked like Tanner had some more tire left than anybody at the end. But that's the way you do it. If you go on the Arkhamenards, Twitter, Facebook, pay, whatever it is, and find that video. But that's the way to do it. It was on flow. We could have pulled that up for it.

Oh, yeah, maybe. All right, Alex, who's the late additions to the shit show? Well, there's one. The Dodgers player, Kike Hernandez, had a very funny hat. And when they wanted to post him on their social media, they had to Photoshop it. I don't know if Dalton has the photo up. I feel it.

Oh, my God. He wore that hat? Nobody can see it, so you better tell the listeners what it says. The guy has a hat on. We can see that. No, they can't. Like, people that are listening can't. It says butthole whispers.

and there's a skull between some butt cheeks. And where do you even buy a hat like that? Do you think? I don't come across those in the stores that I shop at. Your Twitter replies are about to be full of links to buy those hats. Careful what you are for. Megan, if I buy another hat, Megan's going to, I have a hat problem. And it's, I wear the same one every day.

I blame Instagram because I get nothing but like new era and just. ads and I just bought a Rangers hat the other day Jack does the same thing he's got 47 hats laying around the house with all these different sayings that I don't even know what they mean

Probably a good thing Yeah you probably don't want to ask about that Shit Show I don't know I guess you put us and Larson on there I think that's probably going to win Because I don't really remember You can put Ross on there For running

Belling defense I don't I think Kyle is I mean again it wasn't done intentionally he didn't do, I mean, I just ended up, ended up turning the race into a shit show for some. Yeah, for sure. Shit, put the fucking debris caution on there. Okay.

You're not happy about that, aren't you? I'm not happy at all. What is it, what are you, a caution should be a caution? A caution's a caution. Whenever, I mean, from lap one to lap. Yeah, but that's not a caution. There's nothing wrong. What's the, where's the harm in that thing laying against the inside wall?

Has any, when was the last time you saw anybody down there that wasn't crashed? Would you ever realize where that thing, ended up if it got hit. How was it going to get hit? I don't know. How? Maybe. How was it ever going to get hit down there?

I don't know, but could have. No, it could not have. He's just mad. No shit. Hirsch definitely thought it was, Hershey thought it was a serious bit of caution. He was probably down there, Talent Socko.

Did you see that thing way down there? Yeah, he was the one that was yelling. Yeah. He called it in. He called it. Fifty-four says there's debris on the cookout sign on the bottom of the fucking front straightaway that we'll never ever see if you don't go pick it up.

Safety first, Freddie. Yeah. That's right. Oh, let's get to... Oh, Tommy's ready for the next segment. He knows what page we're on now. All of a sudden, he's back in the game. DBC picks.

Hell yeah. Tommy finally won one this year. My man, Ross. Ross came through for Tommy. That's perfect. Where are we going next? Bristol. All right.

Be like Precic, three top tens in a row here for me. Just wearing them out. Good points day. That's crazy. Oh, Carson goes first. Do I? Shit, I'm not ready. Yeah, you do go first.

All right, while I look, you explain. Harsh, you got a pick. Yeah, I already got my guy. Oh, you got, you got. Bristol, Bristol. I don't know. Okay, we'll just sit here. Wait for you.

I'm going to... No rush. Don't take your time. I'm going to, you know what? I'm going to just put some good juju on Ryan Blaney. Let's hope that maybe something good will happen to him. Your guy finished 28th, and you think you're putting good juju on somebody this week? Yeah.

I mean, I've won more than you have this year, fucker. She's leading. She is leading. You actually do have two wins, too. Three. I'm saying, I'm saying, but first place. First place. Yeah.

In the race. Tommy won with a seventh. Congratulations, Tom. Way to go. I bet it in the rest of you guys. All right, Hirsch, who you got? I'm going to go with Ty Gibbs. I knew you were going to do that.

Yeah, we were really good at Bristol last year. JGR as a whole was really good at Bristol. So we got the ball rolling. So let's keep it rolling. It's my turn I don't know who I want to take here That's okay I guess we'll just sit here We'll just sit here and wait for me now

I'll take Buescher Did I pick Buster yet? Doesn't appear so Nope I'll take Buster Thomas I am going to go with Joey Lugano Joey Lugano You know somebody I don't know that he's getting

finishes that are great but somebody that I think a lot that caught a lot of heat and the beginning of the year when his deal was announced, but I think he's running much better than really anybody would have expected his tie dealing. Like I feel like I look up and like I said, he's not running top five. He's not like, you know, blow the speed. But I think if you would have polled everybody, they probably would have told you he would have run 25th or 30th every week. And you look up and he's, I mean, he probably should have won Phoenix. Like if he doesn't speed on pit road, he's in position to win that race.

and then, you know, yesterday I noticed he caught that caution at the right time and then you just cycle that track position and then he kind of maintained it. I don't know where he finished. I'm sure it was 15th-ish probably. We have it in here. Oh, do we have the, I forget.

We always, that looks just a good job. I forget about it. But 16th. Yeah, so I mean, that's really, really good. You know what I mean? And there was another place last week, I think, he was running really well. You know, so it's just a shout out to him

because I know that, and I worked with him last year in a truck series and just a good guy. I mean, he's just always been, you know, he catches a lot of heat for maybe not having the success. People hope, but, you know, he's just a good dude, and he's proving people wrong about, you know, that car, I feel like, is running better than it did last year, you know, and that's a credit to him. Yep, and the 47 team is another team at the end. They are pulling a rabbit out of their ass because they, I look up at the end. I said, how the hell did he finish 20th? How did he finish 24th?

because he was running 34th to 36th all day, right? And they kept working on. They never gave up. They never gave up. Got the caution, put himself in good position. That he are. Another good, decent finish. Yeah.

And, I mean, you know, that's a one-car team. It's hard, man. It's hard. Those guys are big podcast fans, by the way. Mike Kelly and the boys over there, a bunch of my buddies. They get to enjoy the podcast. So shout out to Mike Kelly for pulling another rabbit out of his job. Good work, Kelly.

Yeah. The magician. That's what his nickname is. The magnificent Mike Kelly. The magician, Mike Kelly. Where are we at this week? We're going to Bristol. Hirsch.

Do you even go home? I mean, I guess you're going to fly home today. Then you're coming right back. Yeah, we're going to go home today. We've got lacrosse practice tonight. Lacrosse game on Wednesday for the little one. No racing for them, huh? No.

No, not yet. He's smart. Yeah. They tried with Mia when she was the first granddaughter that come along. and they had her in every pedal car race. She's a two-time North-South shootout pedal car or race winner. That thing was cheated up. Yeah, I mean, with Matt and my dad, I mean, Matt had her out in the driveway with a lot of practice.

He asked her testing. He had a lot of testing. Yeah, but now, no racing for them. You know, my nephew, buddy, right now. Not yet, not yet. Nope, he's into basketball. He's into football. He's into falling down a lot.

He is accident prone. So maybe he's keeping him away from a race car is probably the best thing. Well, he's always running around at the track. I stop and play ball with him every time I get, because he's always got something in his hand, so I always stop play with him, but it's... Yeah, you know how it is. It's just hard, you know, as busy as they are at the race shop there

with what Matt's got going on and with the business now to find time to go with but even if it was a quarter midget or something like that, to have somebody go with them. They're gone a lot with Matt's racing. So it's just, it's hard. It's hard to pull it off. There's only so many hours in the day and so many days in the week. and, you know, it's hard to, you know, when everybody's, you know, obviously Matt's been pretty

successful. So when everybody's gunning for you, it's like you got to keep working harder and harder and harder and harder to try to stay where you're at and keep getting the wins that you are. So, you know, it's not, sometimes it looks easy for people. And, you know, the same like with Kyle Bush, I'd be like, well, it's just so easy for him. It's not easy to, it's not easy to run good anywhere in any series. It's not easy. There's nothing easy about winning a race at any level. I enjoy beating. your brother more than anybody because I know how hard and how good he is. So there's nothing more satisfying than running with him and beating them. And I hate running second to him. Hate it.

You just got to wreck them like we do at the derby and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. I think me and Hers, did you win this year? I don't remember what happened this year. No. No, we got turned around on the last lap, remember. Yeah, I think you turned around. Probably.

It wasn't a bit of us. Yes, good point. Yeah. Upon further review. It was us? I don't think it was us, was it? We were underneath, up off of four, we were underneath Andy Jay. Oh, yeah, it wasn't.

And then Jimmy misjudged. I think he nicked him in the back and turned a studio. Allegedly, allegedly. So who ended up winning? Not Andy. Who won that race? Timmy. Timmy, yeah.

How did we forget that? Yeah, Timmy running forth. Andy Jay. Now you're going to bury the poor guy. Damn, Andy J. Son of a bitch. Now you're now mad again. But you caused it.

Andy J. cost it. Like, he was in the way. He just, we were all getting wrecked because of him, I felt like. Who else was, somebody else was in that mix, too, that stayed up there. Ah, whatever, it doesn't matter. Get out of the way. You can't keep talking about modified. Good news.

We were not going to be able to fight this year. I'm sorry. My guy's not going to run. Never say never. No, you'll come up with another deal and we'll still be. Yeah, Jimmy put somebody good in his car. We'll put James in there to wipe out of Luke. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Anyway, what do you got going on this week, Thomas? Modified racing, Hickory racing. This week, Hickory. And Luke Test is going to test tomorrow in a Thorisport Ford F-1 50 at Charlotte. Yep. Getting ready for Kansas.

And we got Hickory on Saturday. And I'll be at Bristol on Sunday. Both Corey Lujoy is running the 01 for us and Cody, obviously. And then next week we have, what, next week's week off, but we race Thompson on Wednesday. So we got a pretty busy, pretty busy next seven, eight days, ten. Carson, going racing? I myself am actually going racing on Wednesday. You're driving?

Millbridge. Yep. You're driving? Yeah. What? You got a motor for that thing? I mean, last year we had problems. Actually, we did switch to a 450 this year instead of a 500.

And we went testing, my sister blew up a 500 twice, and I didn't blow up once. So I'm going to keep the fourth stroke, I think. It's a cart, right? Yeah, it's outlaw cart. And then car store, we go to Cordell this week, or Cordial, excuse me. Cordial for the first time. excited. I've never been there before. Boss man running?

Yes. Has he announced that yet? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited though. It should be should be cool. It looks like a really nice facility. So it is. I've been there a few times with the super. It's a really cool place. Didn't you end up in the watermelon patch? Was it Kyle that ended up driving out like the backstretch? Yeah. I was not along. No, I was not along on that trip. Thank goodness. Kyle. So there's no wall on the backstretch, right? If you ever seen this place and there's like a watermelon. field behind it and Kyle ended up

somebody sent him over the backstretch wall he ended up driving out through the field down like a dirt road down the street down the street back and back in the front gate yeah we also have some very exciting cars for news coming out on Friday so keep your eyes peeled actually really good I mean the other news we can talk about is

there going to be FS1 when is that North Wilkesboro we moved from Wednesday to Thursday Friday so we'll practice qualify both divisions and race the pros on Thursday, and that'll be on flow racing like normal. And then on Friday at the conclusion of all the cup stuff, we're going to roll eight model stocks out there and race on FS1.

That's a big deal for a lot of, there's a big deal for a lot of, obviously all the names in the cars through it, for sure, just to get the cars to in front of people, all these guys, young guys on track, really good opportunity for Eric Brennan, Blake McAnnellas, who do an unbelievable job in the cars sewer booth to get their names out there a little bit more. Eric, obviously did the Archer race and did a great job earlier this year, but now Blake to join him on TV is going to be big for them too. So just a lot of really good stories that come out of that.

And obviously, you got more to come. But yeah, that'll be a fun weekend. The Modified, I think we raised on Sunday. You guys are on Sunday. I got a camper there this year. I'm going to be there from Thursday to Sunday. I'm staying. Post it up. Where's it at?

I'm not telling you. I'll bring it back. Only if you're delivering beer, I'll let you know where it's at, but not for any other reason. You're going to be busy Thursday, Friday, and then I'm celebrating. Are you spot? Who's? Are you spot? I think so.

Because normally you put your dates and this is what I'm doing. I think so. I think we discussed this on St. Paddy's Day over green beer. But yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm spotting. What else was there this week? I saw Landon Huffman want to race finally, first time in 20 years probably. So congrats to him. He was very happy to hear Mark Martin say his name last week, I think.

So it was very exciting for him. That gave him the extra push he needed on Saturday. Sad news in the racing world. though we did lose, I mean, really a legend of the garage for me. Shiggy Atori, unfortunately, passed away in a motor vehicle accident over the weekend. I just, we saw it last night at the bar, and I couldn't believe it. You know, it's just a guy that's always been around. You know, Bubba ran a couple races over there.

I think in his Xfinity car, his truck, I can't remember what it was. And, like, Austin Hill, I spotted a couple of K&N races maybe for them over there. But just sad news, and we're thinking about his family. Thoughts and prayers go out to them. Absolutely. Hersch, thank you for coming. It's about time we figured this out. Anything else you want to talk about?

Do we forgot? I don't know. Now you hit all my sore spots for the last couple weeks. I really wish. Unfortunately, Tony lives in Pennsylvania. You can tell he's mad, look at him. Yeah, really. You know, Tony lives in Pennsylvania,

so we kind of have to schedule this around when he's here. And so it takes a little, you know, a couple weeks of notice or whatever. But last week would have been the week to have you because the text messages I got from, Tony Saturday night was language I've never heard Tony used before, I don't think, or any Hirschman for that matter.

It was, he was a little upset. He had every right to be at that point. But man, we appreciate you dropping by. We're probably going to have to go to lunch and maybe kill some time before your flight here. But thanks for listening. We will see. Good to see everybody in Darlington this week. I saw a bunch of fans again.

A lot of people there this week. But we will be back next week. So thanks for tuning in. We're out. Peace out. See you. Check out Dirtymo Media. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.