Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Chase Briscoe holds on to win at Darlington and clinch playoff berth, Championship predictions, and more!

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

In Episode 53 of "Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour," join Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith as they dive into the latest NASCAR headlines. This episode kicks off with an in-depth analysis of Chase Briscoe’s victory at Darlington, where he secured his spot in the playoffs. Get ready as the team previews the upcoming Playoffs with expert analysis and insider predictions. And don’t miss Mamba’s “Social Sips,” where he uncovers the latest NASCAR headlines you might have missed. Tune in for an episode packed with the latest NASCAR news and expert analysis! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever been that sick in the car just out of curiosity? I've never pooped repeat on myself. That's what you're asking. You've never done the Denny Hamlin pee your pants in the car just because... No, but I have been pretty sick. Really? Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour. Presented by NASCAR and Fox.

I'm Kevin Harvich. I'm Kevin Barnsie. And he's our ever-enthusiastic Mama Smith. The old hype officer. Old cheap hype. Look at that gold jacket he is wearing today. I just, I love the old school type jacket. I do too.

And it's, it actually says chief hype officer on it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to my boy Ben. Genius jacket. Genius jacket. Genius jacket.

Is this like a collaborative design effort? Or are you asking for things and he's? I, yeah. I gave him like a couple of things that I want in it and then I let him be creative. Like the trophy is on the back and you guys can't see. Yeah. It's pretty cool. The trophy's on the back and then...

The cup one. Yeah. And then all the primary partners over here on the shoulder. So I can wear it, you know, doing work. Yeah. You know what I mean? This is a Charlotte guy? You get a lot of use out of the jean jacket.

You like the jean. The jean vest is fire. That one, the black one is sick. Is he the... Will you sweat while you're sitting here today? I mean, I don't know. I'm pretty cool. I'm feeling pretty cool.

I feel pretty cool. Okay. He's also got Tom Brady. Oh, yeah. So you want to explain why? So this is when Tom, one after the Buccaneers Super Bowl. Yeah.

And he had a really good time and get carried off the boat. Carried off the boat. He helped. He didn't get carried. He's assisted. Yeah. Yeah, assisted. And Tom. For good reason. Yeah, he's our partner at Fox. He's going to go.

Hopefully. He's got the Cowboys and the Cleveland, Cleveland Browns game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that he had this little bid for the Raiders. Yeah. A little bit. His information cut down a little bit. Yeah, he's going to get that all sorted.

You know, but he's Tom Brady, so he's just going to do great things. He's going to figure it out. Tom Brady, yeah. You don't need to ask questions. It's going to be cool to watch him in the booth for sure. And I also want to note Kevin's shoe choice today for the show. Why don't you explain what you got on there and why? Well, these have been sitting in the closet for a while, and I figured today was a good day since M.J.

was at the race. Yeah. I figured I'd wear the Jordans today since Tyler Reddick won the championship and support. Yeah, regular season honors. So I figured I'd put in my half a penny's worth. Hey, listen, I mean, the blue on blue, on the gene, it's all working. Then the belt is like gray. Yeah.

And it goes with a gray sweat. Like, you got, you really. You did good today. Delana was be proud. I had to ask a couple times. Oh, okay. Okay. I put it all on myself.

And then I'm like, are you sure this is okay? Because I feel like the Easter bunny. You mean the pastels? Yeah. It looks good. You look sharp. Everybody looks good today because we're geared up. You got the snake skin.

I got the snake skin, yeah. Postseason. It is officially here. It's one of the most exciting times of the year. So we encourage all the closers to keep subscribing on YouTube, wherever you get your podcast, also rate the show five stars, and leave us a review.

Yeah. Oh, and holler at us on YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, leave a comment. You know, your boy will be engaging. I'll be there to RET. Kevin will be there too. Don't ask him too much.

I'm going to check up on you. I've seen some of your ex post every once in a while, and it seems pretty, it's definitely very engaging. people like to engage and you know they want a platform and sometimes I'll give them one and then then you have to set them straight and you got to let them know and you know we do it on Instagram and X and now we're on YouTube so come check us out there you go go hang out with these two guys in the comments okay so we have plenty to talk about today after Darlington the regular

season finale we of course will preview the playoffs the first round is right around the corner Mamba has some good social tips on tap as well but honestly guys I thought this was one of the most exciting final stages we've seen all year. We got exactly what we wanted, guys who were in must-win situations up there, vine for the victory, and it was Chase Briscoe. We went through the first two stages. I was like, my goodness, I'm going to be able to stay awake. And then the third stage happened. And that's just, I think that is a lot of, you know, I think that is the right strategy at Darlington. Get yourself to the dark. Get yourself to the third stage and you're going to have a chance because it's always going to get wild when that last caution comes out in that in that third

stage because that's going to lead to another caution and you just never know how many times that's going to lead to more cautions and chaos but we saw the chaos yes we did you know I think when when you look at just chase briscoe in general the I mean you could tell that he was just the fire was lit it was they came to play they came and he was not messing around on the restarts that last restart, where he took, not the last restart, but when he took the lead to take those guys three wide, he was not giving the lead back. And I was a little surprised, honestly, at the very end, that Kyle Busch didn't get closer to him with the new tires. I think that was just the difference in where Kyle's car performance was to him once they got three or four laps on the tires.

Those tires start to equalize a little bit, but the arrow and that grip level starts to go down every lap that you run. But Chase did an amazing job. Their car was fast from the beginning. Our cars were fast there last year. We lost that race there last year at Stuart Haas leading. And the caution came out two feet from the from the pit road speed line. But really, Ryan Priest ran decent. Josh Barry ran good, tore up his car and didn't get to finish that off. No one was around there too. He got that right there. But Chase Briscoe ran in the front all night. He just finally got control at the end. What were you thinking in the last closing stage there?

I was starting to come out of my seat. Yes, so was I. I stood up. It was exciting. I was just like, this is everything you want. And like you can't get this without this system. And like, and I love this system for this. It's not manufactured.

This is real. And it, it just the fire and the drama and all of it was great. Frisco was like, he was there all day. That was a thing. He was there all day, just taking his time, wasn't pressing Kyle too much. And I wonder if he knew, I'd like to talk to him when I see him next and be like, how good did you know your car was? And were you kind of trying to low Kyle in and not pushing too hard?

Because if he knew his car was a little better than maybe, he's just like riding, because that part of the race doesn't matter. You're just trying to keep track position. I think his strong point were the restarts. I think his strong points were the fact that he could run that different line, the lower apron line into one. I think that's why he fell off a little bit on the long run because it's harder on that right rear tire

as you run deep into those runs. And he was able to do things on the restart that he couldn't do 20 laps into the run when everything moved up to the fence. And then it was just, you know, he didn't have the advantage that he had at the beginning. But when he got track position, I don't know if you guys notice this,

but at the end of the race, when they took the checkered flag, you couldn't see anybody else behind them. They were gone. We got to have checked out. We got to get flowers to cowboys. because Kyle Busch is still, he's still that dude. Like, the mood, the him to come for, I think it was like ninth or whatever,

to even get to the, close to the bumper of the 14 was insane. And I was like torn because on one side I want, Stuart Haas have a car in the playoffs, the team shutting down, and Brisco's moving on and all that stuff. On the other hand, Kyle Busch, like, if he gets in the playoffs, like, as well as they're running right now. He's making noise. He's making some noise.

and like if he just gets on a roll and he could see it in his interview after he was like he's like there's a little smile even though there was a little smile to him so he's got a smile when you look at Kyle Bush kudos to RCR for what they've done

since the Olympic break yes right those those cars were not very good you know for the most part the first 26 weeks or first 20 whatever weeks yeah but since that Olympic break whatever they have done

since that break both of those cars of Austin Dillon and Kyle Bush have been capable of running up front and leading laps. And, you know, I think it's unfortunate that we don't get to see Kyle kind of make his way through the playoffs because I really do feel like he could make some noise. And I feel like there's a couple guys that aren't going to make much noise and get eliminated. But that's part of it. But I was surprised that he didn't get to him because of the tires. I was surprised that Bubba Wallace didn't pit the first time when they had three or four laps on

their tires there. I think that was a mistake. I think that kind of started the spiral of not having a chance there at the end because he was eighth at that particular time and then wound up two cars in front of all the guys that had new tires on. And then it put him back in the firestorm. And then they pitted. And I just, I think they misstepped right there, not putting tires on to give themselves a chance. They needed that run to be like three laps. Yeah. And then allow them in the pit because those guys probably would have pit with them because they just saw how much, You know what I mean? But by the time the caution came out, he was like 12.

Yeah. He was just right in the hornet's nest. I want to talk about 2311 a little bit later. But I want to go back to Chase Briscoe for a moment. And some of the things his crew chief, Richard Boswell, said, winning that race and doing it for all the people at Stuart House racing. Because we've talked all season long. What a hard year it's been for all those people.

This is huge for that team to be able to get them into the playoffs and just rewarding for those guys who've been through a lot this season. I listened to an interview with Greg Zipede. And I think you have to give a lot of credit to him. You know, I think he's been through a ton of really awkward, hard, difficult moments with not only the team, but Tony Stewart through the years. And those guys always find a way to battle and put themselves in position. I mean, I was a part of it for a number of years. And it was always, it was never, you know, this is the end.

It's like, well, we got to keep going. We got to figure it out. And those guys are fighting to the very end of a company. Yeah. Even though the Haas factory team is going to have one cup car and a couple of Xfinity cars, it's not the same company. It's not, Tony Stewart is not there. I talked to Tony for an hour this week or last week.

And just, you know, he's in a great spot as a person. And, you know, I think that when you just, when you look at everything that that company has accomplished. And the reason I bring Tony up is because that was really what took Haas to the next. level and got them winning races. But Greg was there, you know, from the beginning to help that transformation and everything that went with that company. Now he's going to be there until the very last day. And they've figured out how to put a car in the playoffs. And I don't think anybody expected any of those cars to be anywhere near the playoffs. And I'm like, you guys, I was sitting there

last night. I'm thinking to myself, my God, you know, this place is going to get a car into the playoffs. And when you listen to Greg talk and he talks about how many people have left, it was Matt Weaver's interview in Victory Lane. It was how many people have left the company and how hard that has been just to put cars on a racetrack. And their engineers showing up to the racetrack and their computer's not working because Ford has cut them off. That's what I mean. This is an impressive feat for them, what they've been through. And, you know, I think it ultimately, if they don't get it figured out, which it seems like they can always get it figured out, it's going hinder them in the playoffs and and and ultimately ford doesn't want them to win uh anymore i don't think i don't

think that they want them to beat their cars that are going to be there next year i think they want their cars that are going to be there next year to to beat that steward hoss car but that's not going to hinder the enthusiasm that comes from the employees and the people in those cars because they've showed it all year i mean we've seen josh barry in the mix last week we saw um you know briscoe in the mix this week and win the race so noah made a lot of noise through throughout the year so just a lot of grit and determination from a lot of great racers. Yeah, you know what they probably have done now?

It's kind of like the Stuart House of Old because when they came in, they were the underdogs and they were doubted and they won, I think, a bunch of races with Tony in that first year and he led them into the playoffs and then they didn't win the championship and then later on they did win. They kind of backed in the corner.

They got literally nothing to lose. Like, you might as well, like, you push the envelope, push it all the way. Honestly, push the sand out of the sandbox. Because you got nothing to lose. If you win one race and then you advance and then you advance. If they go to Phoenix, he's, Chase has won at Phoenix. Yeah.

If they get to Phoenix, they could really mess this whole thing up. And he's a good road racer. Yeah. You know, he can go to the Roval and go to Atlanta. I mean, anything can happen. Yeah. So big moment, of course, for Stuart Haas Racing. So two for 2311, who got the regular season honors there with Tyler Redick.

We got to give him flowers too because the poor man apparently was shitting his pants and throwing up. And throwing up the seat. Like, I feel for his interior mechanic and whoever else has to deal with that. But man, he had some cahones on him to fight through that. It was, it was, when they first started talking about his stomach being upset, it was a, there was a long ways to go in that race. Yeah, it was like stage one. Like two.

Yeah. It was at the very beginning. Yeah. And I listened to his press conference and he talks about the bump off a turn two. Up to his stomach. And I was like, oh, no. There is nothing worse than sitting. that car with a stomach egg.

And it was having the belts just against you. And it was as hot as it's been all year. And that race is just difficult in general because of where you are and how much work and effort you have to put into that racetrack with every lap being different and the grind and just the mental concentration that comes with that. To be able to not think about his stomach and whether he was going to throw up or crap his pants, either way, you know, he kept battling through it. And wound up winning the regular season championship by one freaking points.

I love that. And I think that just says, I think that says a lot about the determination of a lot of these guys that sit in those cars. Have you ever been that sick in the car just out of curiosity? I've never pooped repeat on myself. That's what you're asking. You've never done the Denny Hamlin pee your pants in the car just because. No, but I have, I mean, I have been pretty sick getting in the car. Oh, God.

How do you guys? do that. I don't even understand. It's just this, it's just this weird feeling of when you're that sick and, and you get in the car of being determined just to prove everybody wrong. But all of a sudden, you just wind up in this zone of, I'm just going to do this today. And I'm going to do whatever I have to do. And you just, you wind up engulfed in, in all the things around you that are happening and able to just block it out. The worst thing it happens is the caution comes out. That's, and you start thinking about it again? Am I going to make it? with MJ in attendance having his own flu game,

Tyler Redick gotten that thing out. It was crazy. He came across the stage. And like the guy, like, they come across, they all come across, like, suited and booted, like everything. He come across and his fire suit was down around his waist. So, like, it's kind of a rule. Like, you never walk outside of your trailer with your fire suit.

It's either all the way off, like you either in street clothes or it's up. And his was down around his waist. Now look at him, I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, oh, now, feeling too well. So he was feeling bad even before he got into the car. Like, he was cooked. But I texted Kim Coon because she

interviewed him after the race. I said, I said, Kim, did he smell funny? And she laughed and she said, no, he's okay. I'm like, I don't know how. Like, I don't know how. Shout out to Tyler Redick. Way to do it, kid. Trooper. 2311 as a whole. I mean, that's impressive too for them because they haven't been around that long

to already check this box. Yeah. And I think it's also going to make for a, well, let me start here. 2311, 2311 has done a great job. I think when you look at the resources financially that Michael has given, he has given and Denny to be able to go in there and help manage the whole situation. It's built to succeed and it's not, it's not had anything. It doesn't sound like it's had anything held back financially

from being able to go out and get the right people and all the resources and things that they have with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. So, you know, congratulations to them. You know, I think it's a heck of a feat to win the regular season championship. It's also going to create a lot of confusion. You know why? Why was that? Why does that have?

Because the 5 car actually won the owner's championship. Yeah, here we go. That is confusing for people. It is, it is confusing. So, you know, Kyle Larson missed the Coke 600. His car did not miss the Coke 600. So his car got points. but he did not get points.

So he wound up losing by one point missing a race, but his car wound up winning the regular season championship because it did not miss the race. It was in the race with Justin Allgaier driving the car. So I know NASCAR doesn't like to talk about all that, but it's, I've been in these scenarios before where in the Xfinity series where the driver wins, but the car doesn't. Yeah.

And it's, it definitely takes something away because they have to split the presentation. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I'm glad you brought. that up because back in the day it was like that pretty frequently in the Xfinity series and it kind of like I remember watching I was always excited about that because

someone else had something else to rate like they would bring in some random not a random driver but another driver that wasn't because the car was like Gibbs did all the time they had like eight different drivers and like Matt de Benedetto would run to and like Brad Coleman would run to and they all got to

share in a championship which I think is cool because those guys guys, for the most part, never got a full-time ride. Yeah. But you're still a champion. You were a part of something great. Yeah. And I think that the interesting part of it is it's not a large amount of points,

but it's enough to where, you know, there could be Kyle Arson out of the chase or out of the championship. But the five car in. Yeah, that's when it gets really interesting. And it would be really confusing. We were like that with Bubba a couple years ago. Bubba was out. the 45 was in because Kurt had won before he got hurt.

Right. And then Ty Gibbs was filling in. They actually swapped his number. They swapped the 23 team became the 45 car number and vice versa because that number had to say in. Well, either way, you know, I think Tyler Reddick's going to make some noise. Oh, yeah. You know, I think with this first round of playoffs, are you ready to go there yet? Not yet, but we'll go there in a bit.

But I want to go here. She's the boss. I want to go here. Those are some of the positive stories now for the not so much. Chris Busher missed, of course, advancing to the postseason. And Kevin was like, well, maybe he should have. What do you think about all that? Yeah, well, I think when you look back at six points, you know, you could start figuring out a lot of spots.

But the thing that intrigues me about RFK is there was a point at the beginning of the year. It was like, man, are these guys ever going to show up? Well, all of a sudden there was three or four weeks. they were back and now they're now they're hit or miss and not consistently fast and they haven't been consistently fast and when I look at this race at Darlington yesterday I think to myself I'm like man Brad Kozlowski's going to be good Chris Busher's going to be good because of just the grind and the long runs and that was never the case and so I don't know why they're so so hit and miss this year it's not not hard to do with this car it's very easy to do

but I don't know where the speed came from, you know, a few weeks. And, you know, they were able to, Brad was able to get to Victory Lane. And you think back to the first Darlington and that little scuffle between Reddick and Busher. And you think back to that one particular day when Chris talked about getting to Victory Lane that day and having that wind taken away from him and that moment that they had. And how mad he was, well, he definitely knew. Yeah. Yeah. That particular day, how important that moment was to get to Victory Lane.

Because with this system, you get these winners that come into the end of play late in the season when everybody starts throwing Hell Mary's and really putting a lot of extra effort into the details that go into their car. And you have the Chase Briscoe and the Harrison Burton's win races. Well, then if you haven't won and you wind up with two points position, I mean, think about it. Ross Chastain was 70-some points up and he missed it by 33 points. It's pretty unbelievable. Martin Truex all but missed it with his moment that he had yesterday. Yeah, I mean, you look at it too. Like, we could have had about 17 winners pretty easily.

Oh, yeah. Right? I mean, so let's look at the, if you don't take Darlington one, take Kansas. And, you know, we got Kyle Arson and Busher banging doors to the finish line and close to finish ever or whatever it was. So he'd be, you know, take that the other way, he'd be in. The Atlanta one, already one for one, because the 99. made it instead of the eight, right? So that's, but you could have added a couple very easily in other race tracks.

So, man, I'm telling you, this, this play, there's nothing like this playoff system in this format. And I know that as a competitor, it's frustrating. And, you know, like you have someone like Bubba who ran fast enough and he's been quick enough to be there. And probably by that measuring stick deserves to be in, but you got to win. And everyone else had, and some guys did, some guys did. Kyle Bush has been the best car lately. Not the best car. He's been one of the best cars since the Olympic break, and he's not in.

So one driver you referenced that almost didn't make it in, who went into the weekend with a 58-point advantage above the line was Martin Trex Jr. Made a big mistake on lap three. What did you think when you saw this? Well, I went through this my last year. There's just a lot to manage that you typically wouldn't manage because it's your last year with people showing up and things happening. I'm not saying that we just don't see Martin Truex make these types of mistakes very often.

But with this car, the way that he hit those front wheels, we saw it with Corey LaJoy at Michigan. We've seen it with a bunch of guys. And people are like, oh, I don't know. I don't know what happened. But when you hit that right front tire, like he hits it, it just makes the car go sideways. And in those moments, it's hard to just spin the car out because you don't really, it all happens so quick. and then when you correct it and those wheels are to the right,

it makes it go back up the racetrack. And Blaney was in the wrong spot. But man, we just, we don't see many mistakes for Truex, but that all but cost him a playoff bid right there. That would have been a miserable way to. Could you imagine? If he doesn't make the playout,

I'm glad he did just for the same point of. If this is the way that you end it, like the next 10 race. The crew like punched the car. Did you see that one? Oh, no. Yeah. Like, just the frustration, right?

Because it's like, And they were fast. Like he qualified. Yeah, they had a good car. He took all ownership for it, of course, seemed very apologetic. And that's just a, you know, that's just a product of Darlington. You know, daytime trying to get too much. He knew how fast his car was, trying to get too much right there.

So easy for the front tires to take off up the hill right there when you go into turn one. With these next-gen cars, when you go into turn one, you turn in. And a lot of times that thing will just start the front end. It'll start flat sliding right there. And sometimes it's hard to stop, as I'm sure that's what happened right there. It's a two-lane racetrack, but it kind of races like a one-line, like you just run out of real estate where you want to be. So everywhere on the racetrack, like, once you're like, oh, I got good position, then the next part of the corner, you're in terrible position and getting loose. So that was the beginning of the race.

That incident happened. Then it was kind of quiet for a while. And then chaos starts to erupt in the final stage. Seventh caution with 24 to go. We saw this with Josh Barry trying to make something happen. Another driver who was in a must-win situation, but it resulted in a pretty big pile up to say the least. We see it here.

Yeah, they went into the corner three-wide to start with right there, and Denny kind of wiggled, and it looked like Josh went up the racetrack and then just kind of ran the 40 or the 54... 54. Into the wall. You see him right there. You know, got tight going in the corner,

and Josh went up the racetrack and got into the side of the 54, and they all wrecked. But that incident really started off a turn four when they were too wide and they got checked up right there. And Josh kind of stuffed it in the middle, three wide, and they went three wide into the corner. So they had a good car probably just if he goes back and look at that, he'd probably wish that he would have just waited at a minute. Because the way that all that shook out, you would have had a chance with as fast as their car was. Yeah, that was a turning point for, it was definitely a turning point for Bob. But, like, he, he wasn't, they're in a tight spot anyway because they're so far back.

Wait a second. Time out. That was not the turn. No, no. It was a problem. Yeah. That was a problem. That was a problem of not pitting.

Right. Yeah. You know, the previous caution. They were running eighth. Mm-hmm. Didn't pit with three laps on their tires. They had one car, two cars behind them as a buffer. And then you just get swallowed up by, by new tires.

And I just, I don't understand why that they weren't on offense right there. You got to know that you're on that pivotal. pivotal point that all those guys behind you are going to pit. Nobody's going to stay out. Yeah, I mean, I feel like maybe, like in that situation, if you're thinking about staying out, you can at least kind of ease down there a little bit

because you can see them, if everyone starts peeling off, they were committed early. Yeah, but it's darling to. Three laps. You got a pit. Get them. You got a pit right there. I mean, you put yourself on defense when you're in an offensive position.

You need to be on the offense. And he gave Chris Bush, a chance to be, when the next caution came out, they were bumper to bumper. Right. Because you were really racing the 17 and you knew he was coming down. You knew he was coming. Someone, you know what was crazy? Someone who was not afraid to go on defense and it still was offense

was Ross Chastain. When they stayed out and they made it through turns one and two. I'm like, how long is he going to be to do this? Oh, he got a great restart. Yeah. He got a great restart. I really thought they were going to swallow him up when they went to take off. He got a great re-sped it up. Got a great restart. Put himself in position

to go into turn one correctly. eventually got swallowed up into turn three with all the new tires. But they needed something lucky to happen. I just don't feel like the 23 was in a lucky position. Not at that point. They didn't need luck at that particular point. They were still in a position to have a top five finish. And I think it's just one fumble on a missed pit call right there.

Put them in the Hornets nest. The 20 was the first one on that restart you were talking about to get to, I think the 20 got to third. So Bell got to third and he was like the second car behind Bubba. So let's say Bubba pitted and they come out in the same spot about. He's probably sitting about third because his car is really fast. Yeah, I think if Bubba turns down pit road, you might see him all come down pit road. Yeah. Which is best case scenario because, I mean, if the other guys stay out.

If the other guys stay out, I mean, you're going to swallow them up anyway because at that point there were eight or nine cars that were, you know, really good. the rest of them were mediocre cars that had just salvage in a day. But, yeah, I just, I don't like where they were on the racetrack right there and not pinning. So that is how Darlington went down. The regular season is officially behind us. The playoffs are about to start. So I want to talk a little bit about the teams who made it. Do we feel the right teams made the cut?

Because I personally feel Bubba Wallace should be there. It's unfortunate kind of how you guys just explained. I think when you look at the, you know, look at all this with the emphasis that is put on winning, I mean, these guys all went out to win. And when you look at Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex, who had the most points, I mean, they put together the best 26 races from a point standpoint. And I think, you know, looking at the cars that are running good right now, you know, that are better than some of those cars that made it, they didn't win. Right. And as much as we talk about points, and today we're just going to talk about the system.

And if you don't win, you put yourself in a vulnerable position to not make the playoffs. I've been on both sides of that. And that's what, you know, Chris Busher, he knew it at the first Darlington. He knew how important winning that race was in Darlington that day. And he knew leaving there that he was missing an opportunity. You go back and you look at Kyle Bush, started at the Daytona 500, had an opportunity in position to win, gets taken out. We go to Vegas, pit crew just fumbles all over the place three times and he's out. And, you know, there's, we could go and name four or five other guys that

probably were in position to do that. You look at Martin Truex. You know, he hung on by the, by the skin of his teeth. But think about how many races he was in contention to win. Ty Gibbs, same thing. But instead, you know, now you're, now you're in the position that you're in, almost missing. So we're seeing the points now, obviously the reset. And the biggest thing that catches my eye is how tight it already is. I mean, it is exciting because that's what we want to see, right? Yeah, I mean, that's what we want to.

I mean, and so let's look at this, right? Larson's 35 up and then was Redick. Redick's 23 up. And he won the regular season points. Right. That's why when I said what I said on the show, I think last week about the system. We got 15 points for that. Right, he got 15.

12. And I said on the show, last week, I wouldn't mind if that, if you got by rounds because everyone was like, well, a lot of people on social are like, well, 15 points that's so much. Does that look like so much to you on that? We got Atlanta round one. Like, that can be gone in an instant. So you're not promised the next round just because you win that.

And this just shows how close these guys are and how great the race. And when you look at those points and you look at Kyle Arson's total, he missed a whole race. Right. Right. But it also shows how fast. and dominant, they've been in a lot of places this year throughout the 26 races throughout the regular season. So those 35 points are sure he got, you know, he got the 12 points for, you know,

the regular season championship payout, you know, for points. But think about how many stages he won, how many laps he led, how many races he won. That also has that body of work in these point standings that reflect not only your regular their season standings, but how your car has been in all these stages and the points that you've accumulated throughout the year. So it's a very interesting system. But I think when you look at the points and how tight they are, this is a different, this is a different start to the playoff. It's never been like this. The points have been like this. They have never gone to Atlanta at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It's going to be 80 degrees. And you're going to be super speedway racing

knowing that you've got to hold that thing down as much of that pedal down is. much as you can to go fast. And, you know, I think we're going to see a wildcard race like we hadn't seen before. And this is not your Talladega or Daytona that we're going to. It's different. You got to have maneuverability. Let's talk about the complexion of this round a minute because you just referenced it. Atlanta is first.

Then we go to Watkins Glen, then Bristol three. Very different race tracks. So what do you think we're going to see just from this first crop race? My approach has always been this. Let's go to the first one and see how we are. Okay. See where when you go out of the, when you get done with the first race and, And, you know, I think going to Atlanta, I think you have to be aggressive.

You've got to put yourself in a position to where you have track position, race at the front of the pack if you have that opportunity. If your car is crap and it's not handling good or you have something wrong, then you've got to go into a little bit of defense mode and be smart about who you're around, what you're doing. Okay, we're slow. So let's concentrate on handling. Let's concentrate on whatever we need to be from a track position standpoint.

If our car is too slow and we've got too much downforce in the car, because that's really the trick at Atlanta. And I don't think you want to get too far ahead of yourself, you know, from having an ultimatum plan because I think it changes. I think you have to be able to adapt to what happens one week and go to the next week to know how you need to race. You know, we heard Busher talk about, well, you got to know, we don't care about anything but winning.

Well, that's fine. But there are multiple ways to survive these first round, you know, of playoffs. And I think the second round and the third round are a little bit different from what you need to do. But this first round, you can survive off of just being smart. I have a couple questions I want to pose to you guys now that we're at the start of the playoffs. First one being, who do you believe will be the teams that are eliminated first? I saved it on my phone. Oh, okay.

Yeah, okay. Yeah, you ready? Kevin can go for. Kevin is coming. Yeah, you ready? Yeah, go ahead. Do you need to look at the points? No, I went away.

I went away. Do you know? Yeah, go ahead. Well, I think Harrison Burton's out. Yeah. I think that, you know, they did a fabulous job of getting themselves in position. But you still have this Atlanta factor that goes with this, right? We saw a three-wide finish with Kyle Bush was in that finish, right?

That changed Daniel Suarez's season. So I think that it's... Swares out. Harrison Burton's out. I think you're going to have a surprise. I think Alex Bowman is out. And who else? I'm going to Austin Cendrick, Burton, Briscoe, as much as I want Briscoe to continue the momentum.

And he may well do that, but those are probably mine. I think, yeah, I think I got HB unless he wins at Atlanta. which Ford's have been so fast at Atlanta. They almost have sat on the pole every time we go there with this configuration. I think Daniel Swoy's, the 99 just hasn't really had the speed, but maybe since they're the only car in, they'll get some help. That's true. And he's good on a road course.

You know, looking at it, I think Cindrick, they make a lot of mistakes. The two does. Like, take away the speed part, the execution of not getting penalties. At last Daytona. Yeah, they just end up. having a lot of mistakes. I think that might bite them. And MTJ, man, like...

No, you're not going to do it. He's either him or tie. Yeah. You think it's going to be him or tie. Yeah, because, like, they have a struggle with finishing the races where they're running, it seems like. He's pretty good at some of these tracks. Yeah, he's good at him.

Like, I wouldn't put it past them to win one, but, like, if I'm just looking at from what the year has been, they're in position, in position, something happens to the end. Backing your way into the playoffs, that's not great. Ty did a great job all day, but he got in a wreck too. Like, those things happen to them a lot.

You can't do it. I want Martin to advance. I know. And I think that a lot of this is going to come down to what happens at Atlanta. Okay. For those two guys, I think a lot of this, for Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex, a lot of this is going to come down to whether they finish Atlanta or not. Okay, so big premium on the Atlanta race is what I'm hearing.

Martin's going to have to be aggressive in Atlanta. Yeah. And not make a lot of them. mistake on lap three. Looking at this real quick, too, sorry, KV. It's okay. Other than outside of like Hamlin, and then I'd

put the 14 in this too, because the 14 has nothing to lose, so I feel like they're just going to throw everything at it. But those other guys have been fast enough to win week in and week out. So they can race a little bit differently. Okay. So that's the negative side. Now, who is our

early championship pick? I'm sticking to my guns, Danny Hamlin. That's right. We already knew yours. He called it. and where are we at that you said that? I just, I don't know. Driver 11. I'm driver 11.

I'm driver 5. I feel like they have. We're going back to back championships, baby. We ain't seen this. Okay. So we have three different picks. All right. So you're going 11.

I'm going Kyle Larson and you're going the 12. Okay. There you have it. That's, you want to, you guys want to elaborate it all in your picks or that's enough? I just think that there's, you know,

I think when, when Denny looks at the way that they've run this year, the way that they ran at Phoenix, he's got to know that he's running out of shots. And I think when he sees that regular season trophies sitting in the shop at 2311, I just got to believe that there's some sort of motivation there. And I think when he and Gabe Hart look at all the things that they have accomplished and been together and can do, I just, I think that that experience of being able to

have been there before, I just think that eventually it's got to have to have. happen. I would say for Kyle Larson and company, they're ones that have been there before and have been able to get it done. They're leading in a bunch of categories right now. Lots of momentum going into the postseason. It's just hard to count out Kyle Larson. You know, he's going to do whatever it takes along with his crew chief. The pit crew was on fire yesterday, I might add. So I don't know. Tell us. Tell us. Tell us why the 12 is going to win. I'm super excited to hear you. You have a lot of good reasoning, both of you as to why. I mean, His is kind of like, well, he just has to win because he has to win

because he's been there or whatever. Yours makes sense because, I mean, Larson has won a championship already, at least. But listen, what have you done for me lately? And lately the 12 has been there and he did it. He won the championship the last time. When they went to Phoenix the last two years in the championship round, he finished second and both times.

Right? It's, look, man. He's got to. You just said it. You just said it. What has he done for me lately? One of you a championship? Yeah, but what has he done for you lately? That's over.

That's old news. It's old news. Well, that's how we got to this point. We're getting started. We're getting started by wrecking our live five. Well, no. True expect of life five. We just have to be there.

It's all about the old Moe at this point. If I'm got to have the- They've been fast. They've been really fast. I'm worried about anyone. I am worried about Kyle Larson and the Five. Yeah. The Five has been dominant.

Oh, you're not worried. No, I am worried. If I'm the, that's who I think you're racing against. I see, I see. Like, I think the 12 is going to win, but that's who I feel like that. You know, and the other thing is I thought at moments outside of this, this whole conversation, at moments, that 24 car. I know. Moments.

Yeah. He had moments where he had the speed. Yeah. But I'm telling you, if somebody like that, like, you know, that hasn't had that momentum like William Byron has had going into the playoffs, somebody who hasn't had it, has a bad run. in Atlanta, it'll be lights out. I can't wait for it. It'll be lights out for somebody like that. It's going to be very exciting.

This is the best time of the year, as we say. The playoffs are here. We're all just guessing. All just guessing. And now it is the best time of the show, according to Mamba, because it is social sips time. Oh, well, the fact that you said it, it must be, Kail. You always say it every week.

My coffee's still hot. Probably not. My water, solid. The last show, guys, we've got to actually put alcohol in those cups, just saying. I mean, I would have done it all year. I didn't know we had to wait. I thought you were drunk every show. Anyway, America, welcome to your favorite part.

Mamba social sips. And off the top, real quick, there's been a lot of great fans that are at Darlington. Somebody watches this show. His name is Nathan. Watch this show every week. Appreciate you. He had an autographed hat by somebody in this studio. Oh, really?

And someone tried to buy it for $500. They said, he said, no, you can't buy this hat for me. And the autograph was not Kevin Harvick. It was Mama Smith's autograph. $500. I didn't get rid of that thing. Oh, wow. I was not expecting that.

Me neither. But I was told him, like, he's stupid. He should have took two. He should have taken to $500. I said, what, five bucks? That thing's not doing anything going down. Yeah. And then the other real quick, I lost this necklace.

I lost the necklace eight years ago in Lake Norman. And my mom had some. one, his name's Philip. He went and dove and found it in an hour. Eight years ago. Really? And it's back in right where it needs to be back at home. How cool is that? That's awesome. That's crazy. Great. So now it's going to go somewhere. How do you dive to the bottom of Lake Norman? Well, no, no, it was in a cove. Like it was in a, not like in the mirror. It was like in a cove. Like he found it. So I know, we're off basis. So anyway, sorry, sorry to our producers. But here we go. Let's start. 2311, Curtis Polk. He had a sign on his back. And Bob, look at

Bob's picture. I can't get enough of that. Bob looks like Tyler felt. Might be some poop in his pants. It's great. So on the back, it's really small if you can't see it. It says, please don't ask me about my charter. I don't want to, what was that word, Caitlin? Disparage. Disparage. Disbarge? Disbarge? Disparage. Disparage. Thank you for saying it. Sparge. NASCAR and lose it with the

emoji of the smiley face, zipped mouth. So, Kevin. We had... See from his reaction. And he said that he doesn't like doing negotiations through the media. This seems like very media-driven. What say you?

I don't like it. You know, I just... I think it's... I don't know all the details of everything that's going on, but I've never felt like antagonizing is a good negotiating tactic. Well, poking the bear.

Yeah. Don't poke the bear. I don't like it. What if it just had a sign that said, don't ask about the charters? Or you could just... Say nothing. I'm just not.

No comment. We're just not in a position to talk about. A sign on your belly. There's no comment. Yeah. But gangster for him. That's what he wants to do. They got attention.

I would like walking around with an 8 by 10 piece of binder paper on your back. So I wouldn't do it. Kevin's not impressed. Not impressed. Unck isn't impressed with everything all the time. I'm honest with you. He's honest with it. Speaking of honesty,

um, Bubba was honest about getting his butt-whoop by Kailen Harvick at Florence over the weekend in the media center, but there's some awesome soundbite of Keelan interviewing Bubba. What do you think? Right now at the moment? Sure. I'm wondering why you're interviewing me. I had nobody else to interview.

Okay. What do you want to talk about? Whatever you want to talk about. How was your race? It was eventful. I was late to the grid, joined on at the back of the pack, off a turn two, and finished second. So that's my best finish of the shootout.

I'm just trying to be like you. Every race, every lap, trying to be like Keel. Arvick. All righty. Thank you. He's like, he's like, I don't know how to get out of it. So that race that Bubba was talking about, so he ran the whole summer shootout with the kids and was absolutely, these kids absolutely love Bubba because he is up in their grill if they do something wrong. He's taking their grief and they had the best time with Bubba around. He came and raced at Florence this weekend, too. but that was actually at the summer shoot. And that particular day, Bubba missed the start of the race. They were on the racetrack when he realized that his class was on the racetrack.

And he has a YouTube video that's pretty entertaining to watch of the whole sequence of everything that happened. So if you haven't watched it, go to his YouTube page and watch it. But he comes racing out of the pits and they're coming to the green flag. He comes off a turn two, joins the back of the pack. And he goes on that day to finish second. right there. So if you've never been to the summer shootout, like it's the,

it's the quarter mile in the middle of Charlotte Motor Speedway. And the way that you enter the racetrack is off of turn. We were in the Arca Garage. Yeah, and he's in the archer's drive all the way through the pits. Which is in turn four, folks, turn four.

So like, he drove all the way through the pits. And because the green flag, because you enter the track after the start finish line, you can kind of blend in and it'd be just fine. And he wasn't a lap down yet. That's right. Keelan, though, already stepping in

shoes for journalism there. I don't know. That wasn't very good. Have you seen your first one? It was funny. It was cute. He does good at stuff like that. And I think when you have somebody like Bubba,

I think Bubba stumped him a little bit there with. He's just like, I don't know what do you want? Yeah, what do you want? Yeah, what do you want? I didn't know what to ask him. Well, I'm going to ask you guys a couple questions over the season. All right. First question.

Wait a second. I thought this was like your, I thought you were telling us stuff. Now we're getting questions. moment because I don't, dominant. You don't, okay. Go ahead. I want to know what was the most dominant performance that you saw this year. I was like, trying to remember that. Oh, gosh, I can't remember what I did yesterday.

You say you can't pick one? Do you have one? You have one? I honestly, I didn't see that earlier. So I was like, oh, shit. Yeah. Listen, it's my Sips. It's my answer.

Okay, you go. Christian Echis leading every lap of a truck race. Oh, I love that. I think it was at Nashville. He dominated. We haven't seen that. And I don't know. It doesn't happen very often.

So for him to do that, I got to give him some flowers. And he's moving on to the Xenity series. That's good one. I love that. He was one of those guys before some of these other guys at Carreyson and Todd got there. You're telling me that you picked a truck race? Yep. Hey.

We love the truck race. I love the truck race too. Yeah. Okay. I don't know. That's. Okay. Funniest moment.

I have this one ready. Okay. Funniest moment throughout the season. Go ahead, KV. For me, it's still the Kyle Busch. Ricky Stenhouse fight. Wait, which part of it? When Ricky was on the ground with his

belly hanging out. And the shorts, the shorts that Kevin absolutely could not get over. That was the funniest moment to me. I think he did. I think Bob told him that he should. I mean, I've seen him wearing them after the race. They've kind of...

And Bob Pockerous was part of that moment. Also one of the funniest part of the... That's where the picture came from. I don't know. The Bush or Reddick thing was pretty entertaining. It was. Why do you think that one was something?

Just because he went up there and he kind of wanted to fight and then he didn't want to fight and it's like, you took that win for me? You know how important that one? It's like yeah. Yeah.

That one, mine is... It's like he caught himself halfway or whip his ass and then it was like, I can't whip your ass. Because it's like it's Tyler and he's like, and Chris isn't like really like that. Mine is SVG running. I think it was the first,

might have been the 500 when he was like, I don't know. No, no, no, not the middle. Oh, yeah. He's like, to the spotter, he's like, all right, he's about three feet, three feet off you. Mate, I don't know what three feet is. What does that mean? What does that mean? Like, in the middle turn two. Like, I thought that was the best sound bite of the year for sure for me.

Okay. There's some moments. Love those. You think we've had some moments. You just wait. Oh, yeah. There's post-season moments. Those are fun and lightful.

And then there's post-season moments. and those are not the same. So, but we do need to grade. I'm excited for a grade on this. The last, the last burnout of the regular season. And I got to tell you, this might be a top one. All year. This was a good one.

And he had no remorse for the engine, which it always makes a good burnout. And I think, you know, it's, it's, this was donuts. This was smoke. This was, had, everything that you need for a good burnout you had your crew there

people standing crowd cheering right here where he parks on the finish line and just doesn't let it move yeah the smoke is just out of control I loved it like I was a little worried about it at the beginning because he was just doing the Polish victory lap

and I'm like okay are we going to get anything out of this well I think the reason that he had to take an extra long few victory laps just he was pretty emotional about everything you can see the pressure and the emotion that comes with that. And Chase is, you know, he's really had to go through that pretty much his whole career. So, but from the burnout standpoint, we got smoke coming out all four tires, but still P2.

When he gets up there and pounds his chest? I think it's still the second best one. Wait. Okay. Is Joey's P1, right? No. No, no, no. I think SVG is.

SVG. Wait, you're telling me, you're telling me an Xfinity, Xfinity guy is the best. Get out of here. Get out of here. Well, we know we're going to see some awesome burnouts in the postseason, that's for sure. So we'll see if he still can claim the top spot. Time now, guys, for our last call and who we think can get it done out in Atlanta, first race of the postseason. What say you?

I have no idea. I'll be honest with you. You go back and you look at the first race, and this is going to be a pretty unique situation with the day race. The race starts at three in the afternoon. And I just, I know people will be like, well, What difference does that make? Well, I can tell you when we started in the day last time, it was obviously way cooler. Not way cooler, but it was cooler.

Okay. And it went into the night. So I'm going to take a Ford. Okay. Who? I don't know. I have Joey Lagano. Joey Lagano.

Because I just think some of the reasons we talked about before about our picks for the championship. Like, that's a team I could see come out of the gate swinging. It's like, been through this. And I think you have a very good point there because they need to come out of the gate swinging at a racetrack they know they can win at. Exactly. And I think you're, you're probably on to something there. But, um, I think it, it needs to go right for William Byron. I'm going to go with him two weeks in a row. And, and they ran well there before. But they're, they're like, I think it's either going to go super good or it's going to go super bad for him. And it's going to be right here. Did you just say you were going

with a Ford and then you pick William Byron? Yeah, I do, dope her into it. Dooped her into it. I think you're Don't know. I was like, wait, what are they doing? I didn't know he was running a Ford now this week. All right, William Byron. I'm going with the Ford of William Byron. I just think that those cars, those, the Chevroletes, they handle. Yeah.

They handle good. And I think that the handling is going to be of essence. The Ford's are going to be the fastest. Yeah, they will be the fastest. But it's that balance of downforce versus speed. And I just think that the, The Chevrolet seems to have a, you know, a better handling versus speed scenario. But that's a good pick with Lugano.

I am going to go with Chase Elliott. Oh, I don't think you've picked him all year. I haven't. They've been solid. Obviously, he was up there on the points for the regular season in the mix to win it at the end of the regular season championship. And I think they need it. They need to start well. Like there are some cars that need to start well.

Hometown guy. Hometown guy. An honorable mention because he's been so close so many times, Corey freaking Lejoy. If he's going to win a race before this thing is over and the end of spire and how that all deal is changing for him, it's going to be right here. Your guy and my guy are in the same boat. 100%.

It's either going to be the make or break week. You got to get it started because they've got to get it started. Walkins Glen is not far away. That one is a little bit tough. And Chase Elliott was absolutely horrendous. at Darlington. He was the last car on the lead lap all day. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll have to see who can rise to the occasion and deliver this weekend. Also, you got a big conversation coming up on the podcast this week that I'm very much looking forward to. We do. We have Ben Kennedy on this week

from NASCAR. And I think it'll be, I just, you know, I think after you release the schedule and you talk about the Mexico City race and Bowman Gray and so many things that Darlington being back in the playoffs and the way that the playoff races are structured and Richmond going away. I've got a lot of questions. A lot of questions. One thing about Mexico real quick, we had four fans that told me in Darlington they flew all the way from Mexico City

just to go watch that race, to watch the movies. They're excited. The Mexico fans are stoked for us to be coming back. I was like, you came here? We'll love you for it. Thank you all.

Well, we look forward to that conversation. So for Kevin, Mama, myself, that does it for us on this edition of Happy Hour. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast, leave some comments, because these guys will be in the comments and we will see you after this weekend.