Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - A Star Born in San Diego? Corey Heim’s Historic Win

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

NASCAR just made history by racing on an active military base for the first time ever, and the inaugural Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado did NOT disappoint! In this episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, Kevin, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down a historic weekend in San Diego. We witness rising star Corey Heim capture his first career Cup Series victory in just his 13th start after an intense late-race battle with his 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick and a hard-charging Bubba Wallace. Plus, we break down one of the weirdest track security breaches in NASCAR history after an individual jumped the fence to have a conversation with Sheldon Creed on-track during a red flag. Finally, the crew looks ahead to Sonoma Raceway for the final road course weekend of the season, answers your fan mail about how drivers build up momentum for passing, and Mamba brings the heat in Social Sips featuring Carson Hocevar and Kay Adams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. I slat up on the couch and I was like, what in the thing just happened? I could never imagine standing on the brakes and letting somebody gather it up when we're four laps from the finish. It's getting hot outside. People are getting heated up. Noah kept repeating himself.

Why'd you wreck me? Yeah. Why'd you wreck me? Great. This car, Kevin. We hope you come back. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's. Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.

I'm Kevin Harvick. Caitlin Vincy and Mama Smith is here. He is here. Congratulations. Congratulations. Yeah, you made it. I was like, what I do this time? Yeah.

Yeah. No, it was, it was, the red eye was aggressive. I bet it was. It was. We got a little delayed too, so I think I left like one o'clock our time. Yeah. And then landed like 6.30, like back here. He said he slept right up until the start of this show, basically.

Pretty much. Really? Yeah. Pretty much. I don't blame you, you know, when you're coming back from the West Coast, this is, that's a long trip. Yeah, but you know. No, Red Bull took care of me this weekend and they sent me back home with some Red Bull, so we had a couple of sips and we're good to go. Thanks for sharing the wealth.

Yeah, well. I brought some over here. Didn't know you need some. Welcome in, guys, to another episode of Happy Hour. We have so much to talk about leaving the inaugural race at San Diego. And, of course, we'll preview the next road course coming up of Sonoma. He's got a whole list of sips today. We're going to be hammered by the time we finished that.

Hammered and giving out kisses. That's right. So, gosh, this is, it's hard to even know where to start when it comes. comes to talking about this weekend. All three of us were on site for the race weekend. What did you think? Just from your overarching view of what this was, what did you feel about San Diego? It was pretty spectacular. I mean, really from the time that I got to the hotel, I stayed on the island. And, you know, I think just seeing race fans, seeing the base, seeing the cars on the racetrack, the aircraft carriers, the planes, the helicopters, the sailors.

But the enthusiasm from everybody that you saw was through the roof. Excited to be there. Excited for the challenge. Excited to see what everything looked like. And that's how it came across. It came across as just an absolutely spectacular event from top to bottom. You know, the base did a great job of hosting everybody. And it was just fun.

Everything about it was fun. And then we wound up having some great races. But I think in a situation like this, it's not about the race. It's about the event. And I know some people are, oh, we're there at a race. Sometimes you're not. Sometimes you're just part of the show. And, you know, the show wound up being the race.

And we had some good races at that. But the event overall was spectacular. To your point, it was a sporting event. But I think it was about our country, obviously, with a 250 anniversary. And I loved meeting all the different people from the Navy. And also, I felt like some news stories were unearthed from people. in the industry that had spent time in the military and in the Navy. You know, we were telling different stories on the broadcast from people like that.

So we've all been a part of a lot of sporting events. I think this one is going to rank exceptionally high for all of us for what that spectacle was. Yeah. We got to go on that boat, by the way, the USS Carl Vinson. How was that? It was really, really neat. And then, you know me. I had to do a bunch of research about the boat.

And I wanted to know different things that happened on it. And the amount of historical events it was a part of for our country, It was very interesting just standing there and being a part of it. Well, hold on. Should we really call that a boat? It's not a boat. It's not a boat. It's a movie of an island.

It's an aircraft carrier. It's an island. There's more people on that ship than there are in the town that I grew up in. I got yelled out for calling somebody's yacht a boat. How's your boat? That's not a boat. That's a yacht. Oh, fair.

Okay. So Kevin's already correcting me. We're off to a great start here on this. Is that a ship? I'm just glad your sunburn's gone. I knew you were going to say something about that. It was a 16-hour day for us. You weren't his sunburn as Ron Horner Day.

He looked like a fully grown ripe tomato. So did I. I was a cherry tomato. He looked like strawberry shortcake. You all were, you had the sunbird cheeks. You had a lot going on down there. It was a lot going on. You had your sunscreen on, right?

No, no, no. I came out of the oven like this, so I'm good. Yeah, I don't have to worry about it. A little more gray in your bill. Well, no, the great is looking good. I actually got a haircut. right there in the midway for free. Yeah, what was that all about?

Yeah, so wall, the, the shaver. They were doing an activation, and if you signed up, they gave money towards the vets and stuff. Oh, that's neat. Sat down, signed up, got a free cut. What did you sign up for? To give some, for them to give money away. Oh, yeah.

And then they got a free cut. Look at it. They got great. I look. Oh, Mama comes back with a new look. Point of the story is San Diego was awesome, right? I mean, what was your interpretation of the whole? It was honestly.

one of the coolest things that I've been a part of or witnessed. The energy was palpable. You could tell there was a lot of excitement from the get. And a lot of times we don't get to, we're not in market that long. Right. And because we're not in market that long anymore, I think we lose a lot of these type of opportunities. Like Red Bull had a party. Brad Perez threw a party.

There was just a bunch of parties, a bunch of things, obviously, on the aircraft carrier. The boat. So I thought it was, yeah, the boat. I thought it was just great and everybody had a great time. The fanfare was amazing. We had so many closers, that's C-L-O-S-E-R-S closers. Good job. That came out.

And a lot of new fans. A lot of new fans. A ton of new fans. I think it was posted. I think Adam Stern posted. You got it there? If you want me to read it. Yeah, go ahead.

40,000 seats were sold out. 67% of the ticket buyers had never attended a NASCAR event. And attendees came from 50 states and 17 countries. That's pretty impressive. They did $40,000 on Sunday. They did $40,000 on Saturday. And I don't remember what the number was on Friday. They didn't open the whole thing on Friday.

But it was awesome. We had a group from New Zealand that came by the RAM display. I mean, it was just, they were so excited. SVG'd out, but they had their American, they had their American hats on. I mean, it was just great, a great time. Very good time. So obviously, conversations already beginning about if we should go back. Do you feel like this should just stand alone on its own as a one-time special

event. 100%. I think we've done this so many times. You make a spectacular first event, and then you try to do it two and three times, and it just becomes, then everybody starts poking holes in it after that. And there were some holes, but nobody's poking holes in it yet. Because it's the first one, you know that things are not going to be 100% on all the things that go with it, but everybody gives you some grace on the first one, right? And I just think that with the size of the island and everything that went with it, I think you could easily have some holes poked in it. If you did it again as just a, as another race,

if you want to do the military base thing, I love that idea. I do too. You can go to, you can take your pick. All over the country. We got a lot. Take your pick. And I think that, you know, if you want to do it again in four or five years,

that would be spectacular too. I know it's a great market and I just, you know, we leaned in so hard to the clash. Year one, it was good. It wasn't great, but it was good. And then as we came back in year two and three, it was not good. And I just don't want to see us get into that situation again because you really feel how special the event is when it's one,

a one-off type situation that is very unique. You get those numbers of people wanting to go to those styles of racetracks. I'm just not sure that it's something that you want to do again at the exact same site, back to back. in years. I'm not saying you couldn't do it in four or five years, but maybe rotate it around to, you know, different bases around the country if you want to do a military appreciation thing, but it makes the most sense this year because of our America's 250th birthday, the Navy's 250th. So there's a lot of things that makes sense, and it was absolutely spectacular. It took a lot of

planning, a lot of time, a lot of effort from everyone's part involved and massively successful event. But I'd just be scared that you take the, water it down. Yeah, water it. down. Yeah, to his point, it took two years in the making, we were told, to make this come together. But I agree with Kevin. I think it's like one of one. And I kept saying that to myself while I was there. I was like, we need to enjoy this because I don't know if this will ever happen again. And I think that that is the right call to move it around and not return next year. Yeah, I mean, I think you can look at, you can point to like the Pocono, we used to go there twice, we used to go to New Hampshire twice. It was like, okay, going twice. And now it's great.

It's almost like a couple of our. normal races are like spectacles now because it's a special thing. And I think that if we kind of take that same approach and maybe just move it around or same with the street course, whether it's on the naval base or in a city, I think that I know logistically it becomes an issue and it's tougher because you have longer contracts to make it all work. But like if we can get away from doing it back to back years, maybe it's one in, one out and then one back in, Anything like that I think will make it better. And just people, it will keep everyone

juvenated up to want to come and see some more stuff. You have to make it a commodity. Yeah. Well, I mean, you go right to the Chicago thing. Like, I would not go back to Chicago either. It's a great market. But why not go somewhere that 100% want you? I mean, it's not like everybody in Chicago doesn't want us.

But it just doesn't feel like that that's an area that, especially right in the city. I think a lot of the surrounding areas love NASCAR racing and I think Chicago land will be super well attended and it always was all the way up until they shut it. So I don't know.

I just, there's so many markets that we're not there going to. You know, and I bring up Seattle and I bring up Colorado and you could just keep making Utah. Like go to some of those places, South Dakota, North, I mean, take your pick.

We made this thing to where we can do anything. Yeah, we made this thing we can do anything. and it's like we're like handcuffing herself almost to just what we know. And it's like, no, no, no. Keep going down the path. I mean, Chicago was spectacular. It was awesome.

I'll give it to you. It was awesome. But I don't understand why we wouldn't just take the same thing and that we could move all around and just take it back to the same spot. And we've got so many markets that are so pro NASCAR that have so many hardcore NASCAR fans that were not even there.

And this track, this track was a way different version of a street course. and I thought it was a way better version. And we don't know what we don't know the first time you go to Chicago, right? They figured it out and made it work. But this course versus the Chicago course, night and day, I feel like from our Yeah. Both events were great.

Yeah. But I just, I want to see us, I want to see those numbers that you talk about with new fans every time that we do it. Yearly. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we can all agree. It was a great event, very special to be a part of it.

And we got some great racing, like Kevin said, and a first time winner in the Cup series. We love coming in here on Monday. to talk about a first time winner in the series. Kevin, you have a keen eye for young talent. When you watched Coreyheim on Sunday, what stood out to you that sets him apart? Well, I think it's the same thing that we've seen over the last couple of years in the truck series.

Like he just doesn't get rattled. You can, when he talks, when he races, he just, he doesn't get rattled. We know that he has a tremendous work effort off the racetrack, work ethic off the racetrack. and how he prepares and studies. And, you know, I think it's, look, we talk about having 100 races for the rookies to come in and before you can expect the success. And we're talking about race 13. But we're also talking about the same guy that has been successful every time he's got in the car for the most part

and been competitive on the cup side. So I think for 2311 in general, I think that, you know, they have somebody who, you know, they have somebody who, is going to be pretty damn good for a long, long time as a part of their stable to build something on. And look at it for them. You know, for 2311.

You know, they don't even have all the sponsors. Hadn't had the sponsorship sold for him this year. Right. But they're like, we're going to keep doing this. And now you look at it, now look what you've got to sell. Now you're looking at the guy that could be the best young prospect to come along.

And now he's won a race before he even gets started. Yeah, so now you can build a real program around him because winning cures all problems and the ultimate sales tool to be able to do that. But he's just got this ability and this knack for grinding away. He doesn't get rattled. He's stern in his approach. We heard that after Honeycutt was complaining after Michigan. And, you know, I think that he was just like, well, he needs to get thicker skin. Yeah.

Yeah, so I think it's a great moment for our sport, and he beat one of the best in Tyler Reddick. It was really neat to see that. And, you know, obviously I covered Coreyheim in the truck series, and every crew chief that would work with him, to your point, talked about his work ethic, his studying, his time away from the racetrack. They also noted he doesn't have a lot of distractions outside the car, which they said for a young driver can be pretty rare.

He just has a tremendous level of focus, I think, on the task at hand. And it's going to be really neat to see what he does when he goes full-time cup racing. Are we looking at a multi-win first year, you think, potentially? You mean, when you say first year, like next year is full-time rookie year, I would say you might as well start looking at it. I mean, I think that Corey, I've said it before on the show ever since last year. He ran Dover in a Legacy Motor Club car and ran top 20. That I felt like that spoke volumes and everything I needed to know.

I found out right then. He's ready for the next step. You just got to put him in the run. equipment to do it. And then he gets in a fourth car that like usually the fourth car is like okay, right? Especially with the old, the old style car. I think it's easier with this car to probably make it a little closer. And they have a great group of mechanics obviously back at the shop that they can put together to then bring an effort like that. So, uh, Koryheim is a freaking dog. And he's, he's a can't miss prospect. And the fact that, um, MJ and Denny like understood that

and locked it up and the fact that some other people had an opportunity while he was kind of waffling in what was going to be, Corey Hyme, but it sounds like Corey had a lot of conviction about wanting to be at 2311. I think he's talked about in some interviews that this is where he wanted to be, so maybe there were conversations, and he was just like, I believe in this place and what it's going to make me be able to become as a race car driver and betting on yourself, and then it's showing up, there's nothing like that. Well, there's a lot to be said about environment, right?

Like we've talked about the chemistry and things that go with this sport and when it feels right. And, you know, I think that it also probably, you know, for them and a lot of the employees show some loyalty, which is you're loyal to a certain point. And, you know, I think that his loyalty has been pretty long-winded in this scenario with not having a full-time anything this year. Yeah. And going out and look what it's turned into, though. I mean, he's got multiple truck wins, got a cup win. He could go win the truck championship if he declared. Like, he could just start with a playoff start by whatever deficit he's behind.

He could do it. He can go win that thing. It's amazing. The phrase already being thrown around of a generational talent to describe Corey Hyne. What did you say? 13 starts? Buckson said this, listen to this though. What do you say?

You got Corey Hym. Yeah. Conner Zillich. Brent Cruz. Yep. And you look at Blaney, Reddick, Carson Hosevar. All these guys are young. Warson's still young.

I mean, you're talking about, you're talking about early 30s. Like some, I mean, Chase Elliott's 30. Chase Bubba. Carson Hosevers in his 20s. Yeah. But my point, his point was, look at what NASCAR has set up for the future. As far as the young guys, but not just, like, they're not just young guys. Like, they're good.

We got a core group of young guys that are studs. See, Bell, Chase Grisco. Did you say it was this 13th start? Yes. The last guy that won in a 13th start Do you remember who that was? It was Jimmy Johnson Yeah

Just saying I'm not saying he's going to be the next goal What took those guys so long? I mean unreal right 13 starts I mean you did it in what like Three? Three yeah I mean

I mean what are we talking about McMurray did it too McMurray did it too I mean what are you talking about What a bunch of hacks out here How about our guy McMurray Oh man just wheeling out there Uncle Jamie Come on man

Can't let Clint be you like that. God, I can't wait to watch him ride that bull. When is that going to happen? When is that happening? I don't know. You think he... That was the bet on the table. There's no way that he... I mean, he's... I don't think he's ready for that. Maybe a sheep. I don't think Jamie was set a bowl. Yeah. I don't think he's ready for that. No.

I've seen... I've seen Cowboys. The best part was Clint's tweet. Did you see that? Yeah. He had Jamie on the bowl. And he said, I guess I set the bar too high. Too high. I guess whatever he said. Yeah. Who Jamie was talking about. Oh, he said I guess the bar wasn't too low.

Clay never sets the bar too high. We're talking, of course, about the Craftsman Truck Series race that Jamie was in. To be determined on when the infamous bull ride will take place. So one of the biggest challengers for Corey Heim was Tyler Reddick. And I know you two may not agree on the final lapse and how things transpired. You felt like it was a classy move by Tyler Reddick, allowing Corey to kind of gather himself. and you, sir, feel differently. Yeah, you want to go.

You know, your name's on the show. Go ahead. No, I want you to go first. You're the one who made the ex post on it that talked about how classy it was. So explain your side first. Okay, fine. I'll explain my side. Sit down.

Let me put the professor in the chair here, okay? Listen, so Tyler had the lead, right, and they were running really hard. Corey's been stalking him for however many labs. Corey passes him clean. This is, okay, so here you go. here's Corey really applying pressure. That jump, by the way, it was crazy that they... Yeah, was.

Nuts. The photos of that were great. So Corey passes him clean. And then Tyler racing hard for the win, obviously, crosses him back over. What kind of cooks it, gets loose in, bumps him up the race track, Corey gets in the fence, and then Tyler lets him gather

and gives him back the spot. I feel like that was a classy move on the standpoint of that's your teammate and you're making sure that the company is still going to win because if he doesn't do that, like, who's to say, Corey's like, all right, now I'm going to give the bumper back to you, and then they both wrecked. And now, luckily Bubba was the next car. So, but now the company might not have won off of something that really didn't need to happen.

And then Tyler gets a flat tire anyway. So I think it was a classy move, and it's not like he gave up. He went back after him. If he didn't get the flat tire, they might have still duked it out. But I just thought it was a really classy move. I don't think you'd see it much if you weren't teammates. and if you didn't have a 10-second lead on the rest of the field. But I thought it was classy.

Sir? Here's my question. Racing for a championship, doing all the things that you're doing. Is that what Denny Hamlin would have done? So, first, it's funny. Denny said it really speaks to Tyler's character as a person for him to do that. I thought, and he applauded it, but we know that the owner is applauding that because the guy that drives the 11 will drive through anybody in the field.

He is not. I honestly hated it. He hated everything about it. I just, you know, I think Tyler was racing hard, got loose, got into his door, that's part of it. He's not going to drive into the wall if he lets off. And if he catches you again, but I just, I could never imagine standing on the brakes and letting somebody gather it up when we're four laps from the finish. I hear you.

I just, I don't get it. I was, I was, I sat up on the couch. I was laying there watching the race and I slat up on the couch and I was like, what in the fuck just happened? Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this.

Have you ever been in a meeting post two teammates wrecking each other for the wind and then neither the company didn't win? Yes, you say you're sorry. I was racing hard. How is that, how are those meetings? Like, what is the owner?

Everybody was still rolling. No, I know, true. But like if they would have wrecked. If you're wrecked, that's a different. That's what I'm saying. That's a different scenario. Now, I think if, I think if the 607 catches me again, I let him go, right?

Like I know I owe him one at that point. But letting out of a freaking throttle and just letting him watch him, I mean, it's not like he, I mean, he all but stopped. I just, I see the nice guy side of it, but I'm a winner. And I know how hard these races are to win. And when I'm racing hard and something's happened, you can go back and watch me get loose and we're going to bang doors. But we're talking five laps to go, four laps.

to go in the race, I don't get it. It doesn't make any sense. I'm not even, I don't even know, I don't even know how to get to the point of saying, oh, slow down. I'm going to let him save it. I think, I think that's the thing for me is like he, Tyler is the vet. And he's racing hard, you're trying to win, doing all the things. But like, he, he overcooked it.

Like, it was his mistake that he did. If, if, if, it puts now Corey in a really bad spot, like, if Corey runs him down, I wouldn't have expected Tyler. I know what Corey would do. I know exactly what Corey is there because he did it to Holsavar. When Holsavar was in the matter, he's going to use the bomb for and ship him. He did it to his teammate last week at Michigan. He's going to ship him.

And because Tyler, I don't think Corey's given him enough time to even let him let him buy. You know what I mean? I think he's going to get there, move him and see him. So I don't know. I think it kept a situation from being worse. And then Tyler got a flat tire anyway. So even if he didn't let him go, I just didn't like anything about it. He said he tried to battle back and he overdone.

did it. I ended up getting beat by their own stuff was Iler Redick's remarks. Look, I like both guys. I think they're both great race car drivers, but I just, it makes me sick to see somebody let off the gas when you're racing for the win. Is that different than being an F1 race? Is that, fair. Is that different than being at a super speedway and instead of taking the run, you stay with your teammate? I don't think so. You think that's the same? I think those are strategize. I mean, I think that's, I think that's, I think that's, I think. think that you're strategically trying to align everything on a super speedway. This one, you're just racing your ass off trying to beat the other guy. Like you're head to head at that point. And when I look at it, I was like, oh, we got loose. Oh, they hit doors. Oh, he's in the marbles.

What? What? What? What? Just happened to make the show of him. I know it. Can someone clip that please for a social later? What? Man, I was, I've just, I don't like it. Differing opinions on that of how. that all transpired at the end. I want to go back to a pivotal moment in the race, which was the fourth caution that came out when Austin Hill misses the corner, takes out favorites for the win with SVG and Connor Zillich involved. This totally changed the whole complexion of the race. I'm sure while you were watching, you're like, well, that didn't see that necessarily happening. So early, these two guys no longer in contention.

Yeah. And you know, you look at SVG, Ty Gibbs, Connor Zillich, Austin Hill was running Good. McDowell was in there. McDowell was in that wreck. And man, it was hard. You know, turn one is, it's super fast. And Austin just overshot the corner a little bit and got into the corner right there, very similar to what we saw, you know, the day before as far as the cars piling in. Sam Mayer got into the inside wall and knocked everybody into the outside wall.

But it looked like Zillich was hurt right here, did it not? Yeah. He just, it's a little gingerly. He said it was a big hit. Yeah. Connor Zillage because this has just been weeks and weeks now of disappointments for him. He did lead the first

cup race for a teenager. He was the first teenager to lead a cup series race, which is kind of neat. That's what they said. I guess Joey Lugano was already 20 when he did that. So, you know, obviously they had speed, just did not get to see that through. The interesting thing was

they weren't, they were not dominant to start this race. Like they were, the 88 was kind of, they'd start fired off and he kind of Offed anchor. Headed to the rear. Headed to the rear. And then the, you know, the 97 was fighting.

It looked like Shane was having to use all his superpowers to keep to run third. To run third. And Blaney, I mean, Blaney and Bubba were on this. They were on the stick this weekend and giving Shane all that he could handle. And, you know, Shane, you could kind of see the bull, the red bull, is kind of starting to use them horns a little bit. Kind of, you know, around the 17 and some of those other guys, which was super entertaining to watch. Yeah. Super entertained, yeah, please.

Super entertained a watch, but a little frustrated, I'm sure, behind the wheel. But, you know, it was certain to look like it was starting to come to them. They had some good strategy I thought it was going to work out in their favor. And then it looked like Austin just kind of got in there. The car porpoised a little bit. It's really bumpy. And you can see it locked, porpoise. It kind of, like, locked up.

And it, like, lifted off the ground. So it wasn't slowing down anymore. And it was off into the fence they went. Yeah. And, you know, turn one is, I mean, that's a pretty high speed corner. But man, that workout on the Exeter Turn 1 got some. got some, that barrier on the exit. It got a workout.

That one in the exit of the last turn, right? Last turn. And that's, you know, when we started truck practice, being in the booth, I'm like, you know, we don't really, we don't really know what the problem corners are going to be. Right. We figured out. 14, 15, 16 were definitely the problem corners.

And 16 was a problem corner because of what you're talking about with the bumps. Oh, it was insane. Yeah, there's a bump right in the middle of the corner. And if you'd get off line, there was a lot of marbles, which in turn one, same thing, right? Like you get those swells of bumps that are going through the corner and then the front end starts to skate. And you see that 33 just slide the back just a little bit. And then you're just in a four-wheel drift with unfortunately Connor Zilich on the outside of you. And then you get up into the dirty stuff and off it goes.

The competitor in you, did you wish you could erase that track? Nope. Nope. Quick response. He was getting the booth. I will say the last corner right underneath the bridge, you could watch the bridge. you could watch the cars, the roofs would dip under the wall like if you were standing there.

And that's where like we saw Uncle Jamie get in trouble and Justin, a lot of those guys got in trouble in the truck race and come out of there and they were in the gas because that's all the speed. There was no more grip. It was so funny when you came off of turn one and you go down and turn two and they'd come up with that jump and it looked like a video game.

It looked like a video game. The fact that we were talking about it like it was a jump because it was a jump at a NASCAR race. in the middle of it. It was insane. Yes, very insane. And we also saw some craziness in the O'Reilly's race. You referenced it. I want to go back and look at some of that. Those incidents as well. You see it here.

I mean, it just speaks to, you know, the difficulty of this place and people trying to figure it out. Yeah, well, this was way into the race. They definitely, you know, they definitely had plenty of laps at that point. But I think that Sam Mayer just misjudged getting into turn one and got that, I mean, he

hit the inside wall hard. A lot. And I know street courses, when you hit those barriers like that, it basically just takes the car and points it left, done it, did it at Chicago. And you see him right here. You just, you know, it's hard to keep track of where you are when you're behind cars, especially when those walls, they're not like normal radius of corners. They're kind of jagged, but they don't always have the same curve to them, you know.

And so sometimes it's just like it and it'll flatten out a little bit. And he just misjudged it. Yeah. It's not like racing at Pensacola for the snowball derby when that wall down in turn one. You can know exactly what it is. He kind of hit it behind the right front tire too. So like also really kind of hit. Oh, he hit it early.

Yeah. He misjudged it bad. He is. That's a lot. And then he hit the wall hard. Real hard. Broke the wall in half. Knock steering column up about a foot.

It looked like Danny. Remember when Danica erected it was a Daytona and the steering low as way? That's what it reminded me of. Yeah, it was big hit. Speaking of misjudging, I want to go to another situation that we saw on the Cup series race. Christopher Bell obviously is still dealing with his injury from Michigan. He didn't really have a set plan going into the weekend because I asked him about this last week, but they ended up having a relief driver fill in for him at the first caution, which was Brent Cruz. So obviously the

team working diligently here to make this change. But then there was an engine issue for Brent. What did you see here from watching the data and information from Brent's car? You know, based upon the in-car camera, You know, I think that obviously Brent got put in a tough situation with something that he doesn't have a lot of experience at. And I think his inexperience of the sequential shifter gotten away in third gear is not at the top of the H pattern. When you see the in-car camera, you see him when he's supposed to be upshifting downshift and then pull it back. You know, so I think he went from what I believe was second. It's a third. Trying to go third.

Yeah, he was trying to go to the third and wound up in first. And then that broke the engine, the transaxil, and everything in between. So, yeah, it looked like he put the car in the wrong gear. Yeah, and I mean, I think social was kind of hammering him a little bit, which I'm like, this happens. Oh, I did. Like, you said you did it. I remember Ryan did it earlier in the year on Pitt Road, and he just kept stalling, and he didn't realize he was in second and not first. It's hard when you come from an H pattern to a sequential where you have to pull the shifter

down every time to upshift and push it up to downshift. The question is, age pattern is there's only two of them up and that's first and third. H pattern is pretty solid. The question is, guys, with C Bell's injury, because I did talk to Christopher too, and he's pretty dejected that he can't race to his full potential right now, do you pull, do you pull this move again in Sonoma? Like, is it going to be the same situation? and do you put Brent Cruz back in?

In my brain, if you think, Denny's already talked about Brent Cruz being the next guy. If you think Brent is the next guy, then get him some experience. More lap. Well, I think he started sixth or seventh, Brent, on one of those restarts and went back to like 28th. Yeah.

So I think you've got to decide if he is. Is he actually ready? Because the road courses are his forte, right? Yep. And supposed to be the thing that he's exceptionally good at. So you got a very short sample size to decide if you're going to take that chance again on the inexperience, because in my opinion, he shifted into the wrong gear,

and could Christopher Bell have just rode around all day and finished that good, right? Yeah. That would be my question. But when I look at the points, it's a big decision because Bell, I mean, you do that again. They lost, well, he didn't lose that much, actually. He only lost 10 points to the cut line. but it's 60 points to being out of the chase. That's not that much.

And I think that, you know, you got to decide it's a tough decision. Real tough decision. Do I think Brent Cruz is going to be competitive down the road in a cup car? Yes. Do I think that, do I think that did it look like he was ready to jump on in and be the cup guy? It didn't look like Corey Hymne, did it? No, but I wouldn't expect it to look like Coyneheim. On a road course?

No, I still wouldn't expect him to look. Like, I think Brent is an exceptional road course racer, but even Connor didn't look like Connor the first time he got in it last year. You know what I mean? Like, it looked better, but it didn't. It wasn't like amazing. So I think those are the things that you've got to decide from the inexperienced side of it because you're going to go through all these things with the shifting and the wrecking

and not knowing how to drive the car. Do you want to do it now? With pressure. The problem is there's pressure now, there wouldn't be later. Do you think it would be more sensible for some other candidates to be in the car instead?

I don't even know who that is though. The guy you would have put in one race. I mean, you got Omarola that has driven to cup cars, but he hasn't driven a cup car in a long time. Been to Sonoma a lot. I mean, I don't know. That's a tough decision to take him out.

Is his wrist feeling better next week? I don't know that answer either. Is a six-week recovery process? Yeah, I think you don't. weeks in. So, you know, and Sonoma is a lot easier. It's a lot less shifting, a lot less bumps. The bumps was the biggest part, I feel like, just trying to catch it. And just, you know, Sonoma just doesn't have that. Like, you're going to hit a couple curbs and, you know, so, but there's a lot less shifting. And I think that's the big issue is just where is he holding

on to the steering wheel with his hurt wrist. Right. I think you leave it up to the driver. Yeah. I think you let him say. But I think if you put Cruz back in and I think you're going to risk the same thing that you had it at San Diego with, you know, those, those high-end mistakes. I also think anyone else you put in is just going to ride around? Like, I don't think they're like, is that what you need? But that's what I'm saying. Like, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, you know, I don't, you, I'd leave it up for the driver. There's going to be a lot less attrition, so you're going to have to go. So, I don't know. We'll have to continue following that story to see what Joe Gibbs Racing decides for the weekend.

All right. Before we get back to it, got to give a shout out to a sponsor of, of this podcast, Shopify, for a second. I have friends and colleagues who run their businesses on Shopify and they all say the same thing. It just makes everything easier. So when they asked me to talk about it, I figured I'd pass it along. That sound, that's Shopify.

It's the platform behind a huge chunk of online stores. Like one out of every 10 things bought online in the US runs through Shopify, from big brands like Allo Yoga, down to the small. small mom and pop shop just getting started. It's simple. You get hundreds of templates to make your store look good, no coding, no headaches. If you're short on time, Shopify's got AI tools that'll help write your product descriptions, your page headlines, even clean up your photos. And everything, your inventory, payments, all your sales numbers, it's all

in one spot. You're not bouncing between five different apps. They've also got marketing tools built in so you can do email and social posts straight from your Shopify to help bring customers back. And if you ever get stuck, there are support teams there 24-7. Easy. If you want to stop losing sales to clunky checkout, go checkout shopify.com slash Kevin. You can try it out for just $1 a month. That's shopify.com slash Kevin.

So it's getting hot outside. People are getting heated up on the race track. I would like to reference the Noah Gregson versus Kevin Magnuson incident that resulted in a confrontation after the race between these two drivers where one just kept repeating the same thing and the other one just started to get really annoyed. What do you guys make of this whole situation and did it warrant the confrontation we saw between the two drivers after the fact? Well, I mean, I've gone back and watched it and I saw, you know, the incident. that I believe started it with Magnuson getting into the back of the four with a you know a late pass and and I don't know that there was enough there I mean he kept running into the back of him after that because of the break checks and the blocking and the swerving and and everything

that happened so ultimately he left him no option whatsoever other than and then you you fight this whole fight if you're Noah Gregson you're fighting this whole fight and then the guy wipes you got to hit the fence and you lose anyway after you've lost 20 seconds to a car that's two seconds faster than you behind you but you know listening to magnuson on the radio he's like i'd have never been in this position i don't really know what to do so anything you guys can do to help me but it is not noa gregson's best look i think he kind of looked look bad in this scenario yeah i love every i think she didn't say suck my balls mate I thought it was funny when Kevin was like, do you speak English?

Just point funny. There it is right here. They're just, it's honestly kind of the same thing over and over again, right? I'm saying he said the same thing. Yeah, no, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I just, I love, I mean, I love watching that. I think it's a high-level entertaining.

And also guys and girls, K-Mag ended up with the fastest lap of the race. Yes. By the end of the race. So, like, he had pain. And he knew he had pace. He just needed to get by Noah. And like, I don't know, Noah's had a tough year, right? Like, his teammates are outrunning him by a pretty good margin.

And it just hasn't seemed to really click with him at front row. And so it's frustrating. And so, you know, he's probably, this is probably a boil over. But I don't think, I don't think it needs to happen. It's not like going to see each other again. No, I don't think, I don't know, they might. Because if I was, I don't know, if I was somebody that had a decent car and needed, like, another, wanted to put another, campaign together. I put KMAG

in it. He did a good job. That's the best I think anyone's outside of SVG. That's the best that I think anyone's done on a one-off for us. And I think that the suck my balls mate was his incident that he had. In F-1. That the F-1 site posted today that I thought was

pretty funny. But my favorite line out of that whole thing was when he said, do you speak English? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Fuck off. I mean Noah kept repeating himself Why'd you wreck me? Yeah

Why'd you wreck me? Right. He's like, what's your fucking problem? And then eventually it was, KMAG was just like, you being in my face is my fucking problem now. Like, that's my issue now. Welcome to NASCAR, Kevin.

We hope you come back. I do hope he comes back. That's not our, that's not our normal situation. We definitely don't want that to set the tone. I want to hit on two more things quickly. Jimmy Johnson was back in a truck race. Jimmy Jam. Yeah, I wanted to mention that to him, but then I didn't.

I wasn't sure if it was the sensitive situation. He loved it. He thought it was great. I thought him to put on a t-shirt. I thought that he had a good showing. I know he didn't have a good finish, but he looked good in practice, qualifying. He led laps. It was good to see him back in the truck.

Yeah, well, the truck race was good. Yeah, I'm talking trucks, yeah. The truck race was really good, led some laps and was very competitive. I would run that last cup race and be done with it. Those cup cars are, it's important. It's impossible to be competitive unless you're doing something every week on the cup side. So I think he's got one more. One more.

Yeah. I hope he just hangs it up after that on the cup side of things and go have some fun in the trucks. It didn't sound like he had much fun. He was aggravated with all the competitors. Get to that in a minute. That's just the way that they race now. That's true. I like watching him do it, though.

It was fun. I just like seeing Jimmy around. I loved it. I also think that having someone like Jimmy or like Kevin. or even when Biff would do it, it gives a bar for the young guys, and they're like, I don't want to look stupid in front of these guys that I respect.

So like it makes, I would think it would make you want to be better. Jimmy obviously didn't think that they wanted to be better. I think it was a more weekly occurrence. I think it would help maturity. Speaking of looking stupid, this was an interesting incident that happened when a fan was able to jump the fence

and have a conversation with Sheldon Creed on track during a red flag, which we have now learned that. individual is facing federal charges. Shocker. But how just this is the funniest thing. I mean, remember when this happened about Kenseth? One of the tracks fan came out on the...

This guy scaled the whole fence, though. Yes. This, listen, there are high-powered rifles in the parking lot when we park. Yeah. And you're going to jump onto the track. Who is this person? There were three machine guns on the tower we were on. I'm saying.

Look at him. I was impressed with his athletic prowess of just being able to scale this very quickly and then the next fence as well. It was fast and he had no fear of doing it. That is impressive. I was surprised that there was nobody around. Right. It took him a while to find out where they were.

Yeah, but I mean... You're on a naval base. You'd think that there would be people. I'm sure people saw it and they were like... I don't know. I'm sure someone said stand down. You know what I mean? Those guys and girls are head on a swivel. I feel like they see everything.

That was a shocker. That was... No, in where you were. I'd say the juice wasn't worth the squeeze for that little moment. Yeah. Sheldon Creed saying he was hammered. It's like playing Grand Theft Auto and you walk onto the, into the military base. It's five stars automatically.

Like, that's exactly what he just did. Yeah. It's insane. What a time. A time was had in San Diego. So we're putting that one in the rear view mirror. And we're moving on to another road course in Sonoma, California, wine country.

Everyone loves to go out there, of course. So, Kevin, last road course race. season. That's hard to believe. I know. It is hard to believe. Will and I were talking on the speed episode. Their season's over at the end of August. Yeah. And you think about we've got nine races left on the cup schedule. Before we even get to.

Yeah, but I mean, until the chase is here. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, I mean, it's getting to be crunch time. And when I look at this big miss from last weekend, SVG, he's now outside of the chase. The big surprise to me and the points is AJ Almendinger. Who is that?

again? Dinger. A.J. Almondinger. Yeah. It shocked me. I haven't been paying attention. He's been there all the season.

He is 21 points off the cut line. And so the reason that I say this is we're going to Sonoma. And I look for A.J. Almondinger and SVG to have big weekends. SVG's got to win. I think to keep him, if he doesn't win this weekend, he's not making the chase. That's my prediction. And I don't think that's too far out on a limb.

The guy that was probably the most disappointing in San Diego was Austin Cendrick, and he is plus eight. So not too far from being on the outside looking in. Priest's always, he just keeps grinding away. They're letting Joey Lugano hang around. Don't let him do that. It happens every year. Don't let him do it. Just let him hang around.

And he was kind of just up there every once in a while this weekend, but wound up gaining 11 points to the cut line. So, you know, McDowell is still floundering down there. 21st, 34 points out. His teammates are 8th and 9th in the points. So definitely some issues with the 71 car compared to his teammates. And Chastain's actually only 40 points out. There's a lot of guys that have a shot at making the 16. But we're going to Sonoma.

Like Chastain has run good there. Almonddinger, McDowell. Zane Smith? Zane Smith? Yeah. He's been pretty solid. You know, he's been pretty solid on the road courses. So I think this thing is wide open.

The bell part is the one I have the question mark about because he was off at Pocono. They got him in the game with the strategy call and obviously had the issues at San Diego. I mean, he's busted up, right? So how far down does he fall, you know, before he can get himself back to a spot to where he's competitive? So, you know, I think he's the question mark that I would, normally I would say that that plus 60 is going to be good to go. But I think he's the question mark. I think William Byron, plus 59 is fine. Eric Jones, I mean, could be a bad weekend for him at Sonoma.

Yeah. So, you know, I think Sonoma is, it's a wild card weekend. A good part of the year. You know, I think there's a couple of these guys that need to capitalize on going to Sonoma, but very different than what we just did. very lower speed, a lot of technical corners that you just need to get the car in the right spot, get the car placed, get the throttle down. And not a lot of places to pass, right? Like you can make a pass going into turn two, but it's kind of a dive bomb. You can do the same into three, but it's kind of a dive bomb. 11, right? You can do the same into four, but, you know,

so 7 and 11 are really your two firm passing spots. But Sonoma's a, it was always one of my favorite racetracks. It's a fun racetrack. A lot of technical rhythm corners that you, you don't do a lot of shifting, honestly, at Sonoma because of all the different low speed types of corners. So it's a fun place. Fun place for the fans to go as well. What are you looking forward to about it? And who are you watching? I love Sonoma County. I love going out there. It's just, oh, no, there's always good energy. The one thing about it, I wish that we went there when the grass was green because it looks a immaculate when the grass is green. I didn't even know.

I didn't even know it got me. It's like a whole different place. You think you're in Europe. I didn't even know it got green until I went with a Ferrari challenge race. I'm like, oh, the grass actually isn't always around here? I had no idea. It's beautiful. But it's going to be fun.

And I think, you know, you talk about AJ Almondinger. I think he's been running all year, somewhere between about 15th and like 20th. And I do like how the chase goes, takes the top 16 because it, you know, it gives you a chance for a guy like that to, to make it into the postseason and try to make some noise. So then also guys right after not too long from now is Atlanta too, so Echo Park. So you don't want to mess up here. You don't want to mess up there. And you don't want to mess up there because when you're not to maximize Sonoma and Echo

Park because the playing field is different than all the other reasons. What about Daytona? Oh my gosh. I forgot about that. Daytona. So you got three out of nine. Yeah? A road course and two super speedways.

You got to when you get to date. Daytona, you got to be in striking distance. That should be your goal. Whoever you are, if you're on the outside looking in, you want to be in striking distance by Daytona. If you're on the inside, you want to be too far away to be caught by Daytona. You've got six other races that you can have a little more control. And one's loud.

One's indie. One's indie. Yeah. So, I mean, it's a tough run to the end of the regular season. It's going to get very. It's a good time of the year. I'm really excited. The way the points are laying out.

And we didn't mention him. But honestly, shout out to 11. Denny. I mean, they gutted. I really thought he was going to run like 25th. Yeah, he's plus eight. And it went from... Or minus eight.

Yeah, the flip. He's only... He was big. Eight points. He's continuing to cut that. That was a huge win. Deficit. The flat tire going down.

He was... I mean, that really changed. That changed the whole complexity. It's getting very interesting as these races continue to click by. Before we get to the Sips, we do have a mailbag question. this week from Joey Dutcher saying my boys, five and six years old, are new NASCAR fans. And through the influence of grandparents, my boys started getting interested around Daytona last year.

I am a big fan myself. Throughout the last year, I've listened to this podcast in order to understand more of the sport. It has been very helpful hearing more about the mechanics of the car, tireware, etc. Kevin, with that said, he says, I do have a question for you guys. How do drivers get good runs? Is that the line you drive, skill, wind draft, missing bumps, all of the above? What say you? It's very simple.

The passes are made off the corner. There you go. Yeah. So I tell Keeling that all the time. We talk about it all the time because he thinks that you can dive, bomb it in the corner. And that's what the run starts off the corner. So you get in the throttle, you got to turn before them and get in the throttle before them. And that's what starts to get you the position on that left of your quarter panel to set up that pass.

There you go. Thank you, Joey, Dutcher, for sending in the question. There's nothing better than when you, know you're better than someone and you get that thing pointed and the gas up and you just kind of ease on up next to them. They're like, well, I'm dead to rights. Like, they don't even give you. They don't even try.

It's great. All right. We appreciate you, Joey, and your sons as well, being fans of the show and fans of the sport. Yep. Just turn it off now, Joey. Turn it off because right now it is mom of social sips. He's taking the reins. What you got?

Ladies and gentlemen, my friends of the North and the 17 other countries that came to right now in San Diego. You got to stop by the RAM display. I really appreciate it. It was cool. There's a lot of closers. Closers. There's a lot of closers out there.

And we had a lot of fun. So let's get into it. Some guy that was having fun to start the weekend, he put it a lot of work in. Gotta give him credit. Carson Holstavar was fast this weekend. He was fast on Twitter too. So Kay Adams was coming out to came out to the race. There had a lot of celebrities out actually.

They did, yeah. And Kay came out. She was very inquisible. all weekend on social and fans were engaging. And she's like, just met Carson. What do I need to know? That's a very wide question. And Carson fired back.

Very nice meeting you. You have to send me that video while you're in the pace car. And I didn't know what that meant. And so Carson rolled up next to her, I guess because she was riding in the pace car. Yeah. And probably fired up and waved or whatever. Right? And a fan got it, which was cool.

And she thought it was wild. she thought it was wild because it was obviously. But the best part, this part, Kevin. Thanks for the kisses. Wonder what that means. That's from Carson to Kay. I'm still trying to figure out who Kay Adams is. She's an NFL broadcast.

Yeah, she's a G. Yeah. We honestly should probably have her on because her perspective from the sport from her first race are probably cool. But yeah, she's a lovely lady, and Carson was just shooting a shot. Thanks for the kisses. Thanks for the kisses. And then I don't know if he actually got kisses or not,

but I feel like we're going to find out. You think she likes his belt buckle? The, no, problem. No, I don't. Do you think he has one of those belt buckles for real? That's on the fire suit? Yeah. He should.

You know, he does, actually. I actually know he does. Yeah, I think Heat Wave sent him one. Okay. Yeah. Oh, Rydent de Dente. It looked like Woody. They're coming out a new toy story movie.

Yeah, I'm excited to be Woody. He should be. He should do a Woody. He should do a Woody. story car. Yeah, he should do that for Halloween this year is Woody. That'd be perfect. Yeah, sheriff. So shoot you shot, kid. I'm here for it. Jimmy Jam. Jimmy Johnson race, we just talked about a little bit ago, race in the truck race, was having fun, I think, driving, not racing the competition. And this is kind of what he had

to say about racing with the new young bucks of the truck field. Maybe the Cup series has changed, but I just, there's so much carnage in, so, so, little respect. I've never experienced anything like that. Racing up front is always a bit more give and take, but trying to come through the field from 10th or 12th wherever we were, I mean, every truck was wasted. And I'm like, okay, I'll just get through these guys. And I just got wasted in the process. So wasted. Truck racing. I mean, look, truck racing has always, always been rough. And I think that the really the whole generation

of racing has like he just, it's just different. Right. Like it's just and I think I'm more tolerant of it because I watch it. I've watched it from the time Keelan started as far as the legend cars and go carts and how rough it is. Like they're just aggressive. And it's just, that's not

how Jimmy and I started. Like it wasn't like that. Like you didn't tear up, you didn't, you didn't intentionally tear up the cars and by running into each other. Now it's, it's rough. I think it should go back to how it used to be. You think? I mean, I don't, you know, there should be some respect paid for sure.

Yeah. We didn't have it in the Sips, but a little side sip. Yeah, a little side sip here is Adam, Adam Andretti and Parker Kliberman going at it too. Parker felt like he was just getting wrecked for a whole lap. And Adam's like, who are you? And Parker's like, I didn't even know your last name was Andretti. That's a disgrace. And it was awesome.

Like that was so great. Very animated exchange. And now we got, so racers are tough in all motorsports, I feel like. I was really excited when I saw this video to show you guys. Okay. So you weren't a racer. I'm tough as Nick. Watch this.

You said tough, tough. Watch this. Oh. Oh, he just gets up like nothing happened. I don't know how old this guy is, but he looked pretty young. He pulled down. Oh, my gosh. Gassed up full into the wall.

So this is like, I think there's that, like that flat bike. racing they haul ass too and it was like the throttle home watch this oh this got back up yeah that's

goodness have you guys ever ran into something like that yes I was one time I was going to the I was going to the rifle range or the gun range downtown and I just

I was riding my bike and I was pedaling my ass off peddled my ass off and my chain came off. You know how it locked up? When you're pedaling hard and it just goes into free will. Oh, yeah.

And that thing, I got the wibble wobbles like this and I hit a light post head on. Oh, geez. Never made it to the gun range. That hurt. Blame the bike. That's awesome. That's the best way to end the zip right there. Thank you guys for joining us.

I love y'all. I'll see you in Sonoma. Let's get it going. Well done. That was good. All right, guys. Time now for our last call here on Happy Hour. And we got to grade the burnout from the first cup win for Mr. Corey Heim, which got.

Hang on real quick. What? Yeah. Imitation is the best form of flattery. And I'm glad that people have taken our burnout segment and brought it to their other weather segments. I didn't even notice, but our friend, Corey LaJory, has a burnout board all of a sudden this year, Corey. It's also called last call. It's also called last call.

So we appreciate y'all You know just remember where it came from That's all That's fine Anyway Go on, Kahn'am So What do you think of Corey Himes's

celebrations And the way he came down With the team And all of that When he wanted It started off It was pretty good I like how

It reminded me of SVGs Burnout a couple years ago When he did the Was it at Chicago? Sonoma Where he did all the high If Sonoma

You're right We did all the high fives Down the wall He got the first one And then the car kind of faded away And they missed the rest one but the miss the rest of the guys

but it was a solid burnout it was not bad not bad kid for your for your first cup series burnout so that was pretty good I don't think it's top three okay but it was good I love that he already has a signature move too he already has his own thing

the Heim time thing that's a little more point so maybe we'll not not top three top five top five yeah you know what's cool about that too I like time I mean it reminds me like Shador Sanders is it like

This is or. Like, he's just fun. Like, he leans into it. He used to do the A-Town Down, because, you know, he's from Marietta. Who? Corey Heim. He used to A-Town-Down-down, like Atlanta. Oh.

Oh, that's out of A-Town-down. I never saw him do that. Yeah, when he first won. When he first won. I like that he switched it to Heim-Time time. Yeah, no. He was fire. It is.

Good job, Corey. I like it. Not so great for the standings sake. Kevin is still leading, by the way, with 77 points, but both him and I picked SVG. so we didn't pick up anything. We were reset. So I'm at 56. You're at 53.

You did, well, no, you didn't get points, but you picked Ty Gibbs, who ended up 15. Yeah, I should get like one point for just not wrecking. Oh, he wrecked. Hang on, hang on, finishing. They didn't. The whole right front splitter, no, my God. Everything was gone. But that was exactly why I didn't pick SVG.

It was because I'm like, I just feel like he's going to get taken out somehow. Now, I didn't think that it was going to be because they weren't fast enough. Yeah. And that's kind of what got him in the situation because they weren't in control. Bummer. So now we have another decision to make on what we think is going to happen in Sonoma. I'm still sticking with SVG because I think he will redeem himself this weekend. I mean, last year he put a waxing.

This was a very easy kind of win for a monster. It wasn't even close. So do we have three votes for SVG or what are you guys thinking? Do we want to win or do we not want to win? Yeah. It's simple. Go ahead. You were already talking.

You're already talking. I don't want to. But it was such an asswoman last year. Like, you know what? Give me Connor Zillich. Oh, wow. Okay. Zillich.

Two first time winners in a row, maybe, in the Cup series. Did Zillich not beat SVG in the O'Reilly car there? Didn't that where he beat him? He did. Yes. They were battling hard together. Or is that where they wrecked? No.

They wrecked at Watkins Glen. That's right. Last corner. And they wrecked also in Chicago. Yeah. Okay. So, Kevin, what are you thinking? You took Zillage?

Yeah. He did. Okay, I'll take SVG. He's asking questions. Like, he wasn't going to do this whole time. Yeah. He does those mind games for a second. It's not even a mind game.

It's like, so next playing with you. Next week, wait, next week are you going to go back to 11? Probably. Probably. Because we're going to Chicago. Can we have the producers? Can we do a run? Can someone tie?

I tally up how many times he's picked the 11 and the 97. It's about four. This season? No, it's more than that for sure. You're like the same sore loser that the rest of these losers are. I can't pick the same. Oh, we got to make new rules now because he's played the system. Blah, blah, blah. He's been watching social media because y'all been getting to him.

Keep firing away. No, they don't get to me. He's getting to them. Does anything? No. Look, I've lived in a 50-50 life forever. 50% love me, 50% hate me. Oh, come on.

The closers love you. Speaking of, we had an email question come through. It says, hi, team, we are in Australia and are big fans of the show. Watch it every week. Mamba always says closers or closures. We aren't sure. Just wondering what they are. Thanks, legends, kind regards, Alicia and Scotty Simpson.

That's fire. Well, what do you say? Well, I mean, by the time I get to the closer part, we've done the sips. So I've, you know, sometimes I'm a little sauced up, you know. Yeah, I got to figure out what this word was. What did what did SVG say after the race? Oh, he said he's filthy. Filthy, filthy.

Yeah, see, they asked how, we can't tell, you don't know if mom is saying closers or closures. So it's closers. It is closers. It is closers. We learned that filthy mint. Mad. Man.

He's filthy mad. Filthy mad. Filthy mad. Which, it was awesome. It's kind of like the C word. They're not supposed to. Don't say the C word here. Yeah.

But you can say melt. Huh? You can say melt, though. Like Will does. You can say melt. Melt. Melt. Melt.

Melt. And that technically means just like, what a mess? Well, yeah, I think he's like melt down. Yeah, melt down. Okay. I like that. We're going to make that a thing. Will's going to keep giving us new words.

I know. We get so educated when Will is in the makeup room. It's true. All right, guys. Yeah, no, in case they didn't know, because they asked what I was saying, the closers, you're a closer. If you watch the show, you're a closer. If you like Kevin, you're an older closer.

If you like Caitlin, you like style and you're a closing. You like being cool. Yeah, but you like me and you're a closer. See, they don't really know how the closers came about. Came about. Oh, you're going to tell them a quick. Why don't you tell us? Tell them how the closers came about.

Because Kevin could close the deal on the racetrack. He would come out of nowhere. It was called the closer. So the closers are just kind of a throwback to my nickname. But you had like, you had like three wins in a season that you led like two laps basically. Which I don't even know how you do that because you got to lead at least three to have three wins. Right. So it happened a lot.

Yeah. A lot. That's the backstory. It's got lucky a lot. Very good. When the light for the brightest and the stage was the biggest, you know who always showed up? Kevin Freaking Harvard. That's right.

True statement. What a statement to end the show on. This has been fun. For Kevin, Mamba, myself. We'll see everybody after Sonoma. Thank you.