Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Joey Logano Resurrects Season with N. Wilkesboro Masterclass

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

Joey Logano dominates at North Wilkesboro Speedway to snap his 45-race winless streak, lead a career-high 323 laps, and extend his streak to 15 straight seasons with a NASCAR Cup Series win! Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down Penske’s turnaround, Denny Hamlin’s run to 2nd, JGR’s top-four dominance, and Shane van Gisbergen’s impressive top-5 short-track finish. Plus, Kevin breaks down his own victory in the 27th Annual Idaho 200 at Stateline Speedway, Todd Gilliland’s contract extension at Front Row Motorsports and a full preview of the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. keep doing that just because it aggravates people. And I love to aggravate people.

Yay! I love it. So what grade are we given this then? I love North Wilkesboro burnouts. You know why? Rattles the- Just rattles the freaking glass. I've picked second place like seven times.

You suck at this and you're still in last. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Vinci, Momba Smith. Oh. Oh, you got the... Yeah, yeah. That's cute. Well, you eat the E-1.

It's a little outdated. Yeah. I mean, we have newer ones. Well, I'd have to pay for it right now. If you'd like that. I would love, I will rep the new gear. Yeah. Yeah, he's referencing the cars tour win over the weekend in Idaho, right?

Yeah. I mean, the only reason Kevin won is because Keelan was on the East Coast racing the other. Right. He wasn't even in the ball game last time. They wrecked his ass. I don't advise taking jabs on Kevin Wright to start the show. No, I'm starting right on top. Yeah.

It was a good weekend, though. It was. You got to experience it. I did. It was awesome. It's really, it's amazing to see just the, just the following that that whole part of the country has. And you got to see it, I mean, you hear me talk about it all the time, but to see it firsthand with the Pilgraw Party and the VIP events and just the enthusiasm up there is unmatched right now, really. So really fun to go up there. It was smoky. A lot of fires. It was because the Canada wildfires. Yeah. So every morning you kind of would experience that. But we'll talk about, you know, our weekend in Idaho more. So welcome in, everybody.

We are on episode 38, if you can believe that. Five races to go until the chase. That is hard to believe. You obviously were out at North Wilkesboro. Yeah. Yeah. Not Waldo. Where's Wando?

Where's Mumba? I forgot this week. We got to get them to change it to Mumbo. You're not going to be able to get them to do this. That's way better. We have one more week to make this happen. Way better. Mombo sounds like a disc jockey that like couldn't get out of radio.

I mean, you could fall for disjockey. I mean, like, and now coming to fly from turn two, it's like, let's go to Mumbo. It does actually sound like that. I know, no, but it was really cool. It's fun out there. It reminds me of, so Marcus Smith had a quote in the, in the pre-race video that they ran. He's like, I wanted this place to be a museum of speed. And when you think about it like that, it really is.

Like, you step back into traditional times of NASCAR, the, the, the, one of the coolest things to me is when you pull in and you park, the campground is right there. It's like right on the racer. You are in the midway with your camper. And that's just not something that we have anywhere else. And then obviously there's the Tyson scoreboard and then the Winston Cup logo on the back that they sealed over. So it's going to stay forever. Like all that stuff is super cool and really important.

You were up on the scoreboard. I was working. You were working. It looked kind of tricky. I'm going to tell you what right now. First of all, those people need to get paid and paid way more. So it's the Brooks family. They built that scoreboard.

They've been doing it the whole time for 60 years. So it's Ken, Judy, who just had a birthday. Happy birthday, Miss Judy. And Tracy, their son. They've been doing it there the whole time it's been there. And you got to be like six foot, like three to do it. Which I am not. So I was, it was, it was getting hung up.

You know, those things are OG. So it was cool, though. Did you go with the full button this weekend? Is that even a question? He did. Of course. I saw the button. Yeah.

The chain. Yeah. The chain was, it was looking good. And I would keep doing that just because it aggravates people. And I love to aggravate people. It's absolutely amazing. Because those are going to be the same people if you unbutton your shirt, they tell you to button your shirt. Right.

Yeah. That's kind of a lot. It's fun. Tricks of the trade, according to Kevin Harvick. Yeah. We like to aggravate people. Yeah. We'll probably aggravate somebody by the time the show is done.

We'll see. I'm already aggravated. But speaking to Mamba talking about the nostalgia, obviously, of North Wilkesboro. But, what did you think of the race as a whole? Look, it was an absolutely awesome event and started on Friday with the cars to a race and the crowd that they had for the late model races. And then you roll that right into Saturday with the truck race and just the enthusiasm

that comes from being back at North Wilkesboro is second to none. And I think, you know, when you look at the race itself on Sunday, I mean, Joe Lugano dominated the race. Denny Hamlin had nothing for him. I think Ty Gibbs was really the only car that had anything for Joey Legano, and he had a speeding penalty and went to the back, and that kind of took that over. So the only thing aggravates me a little bit,

talk about aggravating people, it aggravated me a little bit, is the 7 o'clock start I just don't like. I don't like the 7 o'clock start. I think it hurts the racing too when it starts to cool off. And so those mid-afternoon races, especially on a short track like this, I think enhanced the racing. I heard Chase Elliott speaking about that quite a bit saying that he would rather see more Saturday night races,

saying how much he loved, I know. Easy. Yeah. Would you want Saturday night either? Sunday night. I mean, if we're going to go, if we're going to go 7 o'clock starts, I'd rather have Saturday night.

Yeah. But it's just, it's not as, it's not as easy to run a Saturday night race. I mean, it's NASCAR racing. We're, we're Saturday afternoon. You go to church and you go to the race. Sunday afternoon. Yeah. Sunday afternoon.

Yeah. Yeah. I will say that it was scorching hot outside. So that seven o'clock does it, you know, cools off, makes it a little nicer for everybody. But I thought the race was great. I mean, a lot of the fans have been wanting old 90s 2000 racing. And that is exactly what that was to me. Like that's what I remember.

Long run, someone dominating. I mean, Ligano and the 22 group belt to ass all night long. Like you thought that they were going to fall off. And they got the lead, and it just never really happened. I thought that if his teammate Blaney could have got up in the mix, it maybe would have been a little bit different because Ryan came from last after they had to change the steering rack and made his way all the way back through. And then at the end, speeding penalty kind of took all that away.

But he wouldn't count them anyway. Like, anyone needed a caution except definitely. And, you know, look, I love the changes that we made this week to the Super Speedway package. And I love the aggression that NASCAR is taking towards. trying to make that product better. I know we've put some work into the short track program, but it's definitely the next thing on the agenda to make better. Yeah.

I just, you know, I look at the end of that race and you look at everything that was happening just the long green flag runs, and that's going to happen sometimes. It's racing, right? Like some football games are blowout. Some things happen,

but I still feel like we have a lot of room to work on making our short track package better for the cup cars. Yeah, for sure. Still always work to be done. You mentioned obviously Joey Lagano, know the guy who won, a pretty impressive win at that. 323 laps he led on the way to this victory. What kind of statement do you feel like that made?

Well, the first statement it made is we didn't know if they still had that in them as far as the team goes. And when you look at that type of statement, knowing his past history at North Wilkesboro and putting on that type of performance before shows you that the capability is there to be able to get those cars to do what they need to do. I think that, you know, I think they'll be strong at Loudon. I think they'll be strong at Phoenix. I mean, with Blaney won at Phoenix at the beginning of year.

Gateway. So, I mean, there are racetracks, but their deficit at the mile and a half racetracks is just going to be going to be tough to overcome. So, but you never know. Penske has been here before at this point of the season to, to be able to show up magically at the end of the year to be able to put that performance on, but it's still going to be tough to beat those Toyotas. You see Joey win.

We talked to him a couple weeks ago. You could tell he was very puzzled as to why they were so far behind. So this obviously has to be a huge shot in the arm. Yeah. It was, he was frustrated. Obviously, I'm sure he's frustrated, right? But it wasn't that when we were talking to him. It was really like, I'm not sure why we're so far off because I'm sure that they've been

working and trying to do all the things. And the 12 has been fast. So that's really kind of annoying when one of their cars is good and everyone else is just like meter or where they've been, which is really in the trunk but I've said it before on this show and I'll say it again. Brittany Legano said never count out Joe Lugano and these boys let him or letting him into the chase and I'm not saying that he's going to go on a tear and win the championship but when he has something to race for he's a bulldog and like he's going to race for everything he's got so you you have a chance with

the amount. The detriment to them is I think they're going to run better in a chase. Yeah. I think they're going to be better than what they were. But they're already starting. behind way far yeah it so it's it's not like they're getting a reset to be able to say all right we're on we're on even ground here and we can we more even ground to what they're going to be and we can make it up during the the the old playoff system like they did and be set for one track right now they that track is different and it's not a track that they have excelled on in the past from the 22 car standpoint so i think that they're going to be better but with the chase system they're going to be behind. If they make it, I think...

Now, Blaney's a different story. Yeah, he's in a good spot. If the 22 makes it in, I think to have a shot with two races to go, like two or three, he's going to have to win like three races. Yeah. Like, because you could, you should see the point, you saw the point jump just with that win, what it did. Winning matters. It does a lot, but he's going to have to win like three of them and get some help to have a shot. Joey Lagano currently 49 above the line. Denny Hamlin saying his impressive, or he was wildly impressed. is what he called him on Sunday. He did. I know. It was this nice sportsmanship. Yay sports.

Also, Joe Gibbs racing finished two, three, four. So if you were to pick an organization right now to win the championship, is it JGR? Absolutely. I mean, I don't know, based upon everything that's happened this year, I don't know how you could pick anything different. You know, the Hendrick crowd, they didn't show up this weekend and do anything that was dominant. We haven't seen them dominant like we have in the past anywhere. you know we've seen one car here one car there kind of be in the mix in the top five but we haven't seen that domination and we've heard them talk about a lot about the things that they're chasing with the balance of the race car and everything that they're fighting so they those problems are public now and they everybody knows that they're fighting it to try to figure that out and

we're five races from the chase and they really haven't yeah you pick and uh would you say joe gibbs racing as well or you make a vote for 23 11 I mean at the beginning of the year I pick Bell. So that's, you know, we're right in that camp. I don't like waffling on my picks, but I will say with some new information that has come to light as in the last few weeks, the 12 is looking pretty sporty. And if there's someone that was going to crash the party, I think right now it's looking more like Ryan Blaney and the 12 bunch rather than anybody else. They just are executing. He messed up this weekend, but they're executing on a pretty high level. And how about Chase Briscoe, 30th to third? I mean, that's not easy.

to do 45 points he was able to earn an 11 stage points and not by their doing other than they had a bad finish at Atlanta when qualifying got rained out and the metrics set the starting field so it definitely mixed some things up at the beginning of this race that might not have otherwise been that way if we had qualifying right so you know you you look at that and SVG is a great example right like you you have Chase briscoe coming from the back SVG starts towards the front has another stellar day because they qualify good. Yeah. And that's really the key to the 97 car.

And when they can get themselves positioned in the front of the pack for an oval race, they tend to have a good day. And, you know, they had another good day leading laps and had some, a funny moment on the radio after he took the lead.

So that was definitely a fun moment for, for SVG and that team. You mentioned the funny. Yeah, we have the radio. So let's hear what SVG had to say after he took the lead. Half line, officer's door, still there. Still there.

Corner, still there. Clear, clear, clear. Half in line. Half to the top now. So, now. That's pretty funny. Just keep doing what you do on the road for. Manage your stuff, buddy.

No, I think, you know, we were kind of talking about it a little bit before the show started. Like, I think one thing about SVG that we've seen with other drivers that hasn't really happened with SVG is other guys that have come over. Road course guys that have come from the road course. We often say at the beginning, Martinsville, you know, like a Northwarks, but anyway, where there's breaking involved in heavy braking, they've seemed to been better at early. And then it seems to tailor off a little bit and they kind of even out for whatever reason. SVG, it seems like he's locking in to these style racetracks. And I think also a big thing is those guys always seem pressed. Like they always seem like they had something to prove or all the things.

things. And I think Shane is just legitimately enjoying his time in a NASCAR Cup series. And I think that goes a long way. And I think it makes it easier for him to navigate through the tougher days. But he's also just really smart, Kev. Well, he has an extremely high. I've been around Shane a lot. He has an extremely high racing IQ. He has a great ability to look at something and apply it. And he's very much into the data and studying and doing all the things that he needs to do to get better. and Oval Racing is just such a different technique than everything else. And when you hear him talk about the short tracks, it's more similar to the road race technique as far as his feet

and the things that he's trying to do in the race car than it is on a mile and a half. The mile and a half is getting that car right up against the edge and not spinning out and being able to know what you need in your car is a lot different than the feel that you get from those short tracks. And listening to him talk about that and explain that is pretty straight. forward but also pretty interesting to hear how he's adapted to it so he's got the road courses down he's done good on the super speedways he's done good on the short tracks so the

mile and a halfs are really the last thing that that he has on the agenda and he's leading their team yeah like he's the guy yeah at track house he's the lead guy as far as the short tracks and super speedways and road courses and it's pretty wild to think about how quickly he has become track house's lead guy to to push things forward on on all the racetracks and just really interesting with the Ross Chastain piece of it. Connor Zilich is a rookie and, you know, had his struggles with with everything this year as far as the cup car goes. But SVG has it keeps adapting and keeps getting better. And I think the SVG part, sorry, Caitlin, real quick, is when you talk about mile and a halfs,

that also comes into a lot to do with the car as well, like how good the equipment is. And so I think it shows up heavily there. And so as he's learning, the car also needs to be there for him to keep growing in that length and that growth. SVG's progress has been very significant. So he left North Wilkesboro with the top five. What did he have to say after the race? Take a listen. I was struggling like I felt fine, but when I stopped, I went, oh shit, I'm pretty cooked.

But it was fun. Oh, short and sweet quote. Yeah. Just made a few words sometimes. Well, he also ran the truck race too. Yeah. Finish third. You know, you had Chase Elliott run all four races.

Honeycutt ran the truck race in both late model races. So you had a lot of guys that participated, but it was hot. Brother. It was hot. A smoke show hot. Yeah, you were out there in the elements. Yeah, face it yourself. It's tough. My man had to sweat.

I was sweating out at that. You'll have them, those big time auto races. That's right. So there were a couple different significant events that happened in the race. One involving Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick. When Bowman was making an aggressive turn onto Pit Road, this around lap 184, what did you see here from the 48, Kevin? A mistake. Okay.

Yeah. I think that whatever the call was and Alex trying to make it happen, you know, it's just not one of those scenarios that he was clear. And you see him just drive across. I don't know. It's pretty black and white. It's not hard to explain because it's pretty black and white, right? Like it's just, you know, he turned over the nose of the 45 car and wound up in the fence down here and really put his whole team in a bad situation because they'd already pit and put him a. lap or two down and kind of put a huge kink in a lot of people's plans as far as pitting.

So just a mistake on the 48th part. What did you see out of that insight? No, I mean, that was that. And I don't remember if it was Shannon or Danielle that had the report that Blake is Coochie Blake Harris was like, oh, that was my bad. And then Alex is like, no, I thought there was a hole. So there was obviously like some miscommunication, maybe not miscommunication, but maybe he called him in late and Alex was like, okay, I can get there right now.

and it just wasn't there. Yeah. So that mistake happened. Definitely have to look in the mirrors. Look in the mirrors. Yeah. They're pretty good. William Byron, he was the highest Hendrik Motorsports Chevrolet and 12th.

The company just seemed to be struggling a bit at this racetrack. Where do you think Hendrik is at right now as a whole? That's a great question. And I think they're wondering the same thing. I just think that they're just looking for the balance of the race car that they can't consistently find. I feel like they're all all over the place. trying to find that, which is what you do. When you're looking for the

something to make the car go faster, you have to try to swing for the fence and different things that you're putting into your car. But they're definitely don't have the dominant speed that they need at any racetrack yet. So, you know, I think that

William Byron, it was interesting to hear him address his radio issues that they had last week on the radio and kind of saying, you're blowing off steam to sometimes you just, you can't just hold that stuff in. It's better to get it out and blow that steam off and everything was fine. But I don't agree with that because it's just when you get to that point of everything not being fine and you blow up,

it just you can feel the tension. Right. And in the 24 team, you can definitely feel the tension. I think that Allen and Chase, you know, they've done it so long that you, you know, they can deal with it. I don't know that the 24 car has really been through these struggles that they have. I think the 48 is kind of just where it's been for the last couple years with how they're up and down and run and had to deal with the injuries. So just a lot of uncertainty as far as when they're going to be good, when they're not going to be good, which car is going to be good. So it's, you know, they're struggling.

We predicted this could happen with the new body that there would come with some growing pains. Didn't know, don't think anyone predicted to go this long. And that's the thing that's intriguing. It's long. I mean, they're not really, they've gotten incrementally closer, but they're not here and there. But to Kevin's point, it's not weekly and it's not all four cars, right? Like, it's kind of sporadic. And I think if you're an organization that is that buttoned up like Hendrick is, like, that's one of the most frustrating things.

It's like, we have some of the, we think that we have the best people in the sport, in our house, and the best drivers. We can't find it across any four of the cars. Yeah. That's a frustrating thing. Listening to Jeff Andrews and the interview that he did talking about, hey, when we designed this car, it had more downforce less drag, which is what we were shooting for. And then you put it on the racetrack and you get real life results. Ultimately, that tells you there's a problem with your tools. And what you're doing with your tools to apply it in the real world and what's actually happening.

and hearing him talk about we need to go to the wind tunnel and because a lot of that stuff is designed on CFD and then you go to the wind tunnel and it looks good on paper and then you get on the racetrack and the drivers and the teams are like hey we can't get the balance right it's always whatever the characteristics are of the car we can't we can't fix and so in the end it's a design problem ultimately the design of the car doesn't meet real life standards of what they need to make this car go around.

And the rules got changed. And this is the simple diffuser and the low-down force package. And so the tracks that Vegas and some of these places that have the last year's package, they've been better. But when you get into this package and everything that they designed for, the last year's diffuser and everything that went with it from an aerotype situation, now it's different. And everything that they designed that car for was for the last year's diffuser.

that made a bunch more downforce. And now you don't have that and everything that you designed to put in the car to make it have more downforce and obviously it's on the front of the car, obviously, to make it turn better. Overall, downforce, I'm sure as well, just doesn't work with the balance that you need

for the new package. We're talking about the Hendrick Motorsports Stables. So let's go to an incident with Kyle Larson having contact with Connor Zillage on pit lane. If something bad's going to happen, you can be sure poor sweet Connor Zillich is in the middle of this. But yeah, just yet again, maybe some type of a miscommunication there as well.

Yeah. And really this is just, I mean, look, I mean, Connor was almost in his pit stall right there. So he was turning into his pit box when the five was coming out. So if I'm going to lay blame on somebody, you know, it's probably easier to put the blame on the five car than it is the 88 car with that 88 turning into his pit box.

Right. He was committed. I mean, he was already committed to come to his pit box and the five pulled out. So if you're going to force me to lay blame, I'm going to put it on the five. There you go. It was a two-tire stop, you know, short track type pit road. And he was, Larson was further up, quite a bit further up at the time than Zillich. And you pick your pit stalls off of some of that stuff.

But then when you get in the situation, we're like, hey, we're going to do two tires. And the guy's coming from 30th. Mm-hmm. Well, yeah. I mean, there was a stall in between them, but it's still, it's one of those guy in the front puts two tires on, guy in the backs coming in types. All the cars hadn't gone by. And it just becomes tough to navigate.

And sometimes typically you navigate it aggressively, and that one resulted in a wreck. So there's plenty happening. And some other news that came out over the weekend, the NASCAR officials will change the practice format from two groups of 25 minutes each to one 50-minute session involving all cars. This will begin at Loudoun. Yeah. What impact will this have? Hopefully we get more tires too.

We need another set of tires so that the cars stay on the racetrack. And that's what it's going to take to get guys like Connor Zillich and some of these teams more practice time to be able to try some things and not just race tune what you brought to the racetrack. So I'm all for more practice. There you go. I love it. More practice is good. Yep. It's good for everybody.

I think I think I tweeted this out. It's good for the time. drivers. It's good for the teams. It's good for the tracks because the tracks are getting cars on track more times. It's good for the fans that are at the race track because they're seeing more action on track. They actually get to see the cars move. Exactly. It's good for TV because now TV has something more to show longer. Everything, this is good for everybody. Positives all around with that change being made. So we touched on a little bit at the beginning of the show of our weekend in Idaho. So we want to explain a little bit more of what we were doing. What did we do?

We went to a racetrack. Yeah. But it was several days long. Like we went out Wednesday and you just got back yesterday. Well, we went to the Idaho 200 and typically it's a three-day event. So we went Wednesday night, we had a VIP dinner. Thursday night we had a pill draw party with a concert. And, you know, they had pretty much a capacity crowd on Saturday.

A lot of people there. You got to see everything that was happening. That's the pill draw party right there. And this was the VIP. event. Just, you know, one of the big, oh, these are the ride-alongs that Caitlin bobble-headed. She bobble-headed all the way along. I got to do a ride-along with Kevin, which was freaking awesome. But it was a little scary.

I will say that. Why? I mean, Candace, she was like, he's going to scare you, Candice Hornetay. And I didn't do anything that was way out. No. Like it was just driving normal. Hey, who took it better? Who was better in the seat?

Piper or Caitlin? Because I remember you did this with Piper last year. Yeah. Well, Piper's head just wound up down like. this because she couldn't hold her head up with the helmet. But she got a full speed ride to them. And, you know, I think that Caitlin's car that we had in Idaho, it was probably not as nice as the, as the Owasso ride-along cars, but same feeling.

Lots of power. And I think, yeah, that's what I told her. I said, just don't look under the hood. Just get in a seat and ride along. But it's fun. We had a lot of officials and things that had never been able to do that before. And just being able to keep it fun in the. the garage. We want to take it seriously and make sure the cars are fair and all that, but it still

has to be fun. And you still have to, they do a great, they did a great job this weekend of involving the community, which is really what keeps short tracks going. How do we get the local businesses involved? How do we get the, you know, the city council involved? How do we get all those people involved to support the track? And we had a great fireworks show at the end, too, after we won. That one caught me off guard. Kind of scared me when I got out of the car. I wasn't, I didn't know we had fireworks that were just going to blow off as soon as I stepped out of the car. But they did a great job promoting it, involving the community and doing all the things that they did this weekend to keep the town involved. And they do a great job promoting it.

So it was fun. It was really fun. Local short tracks. I enjoyed it. And that part of the country is beautiful. And you can tell they want racing. They do. You know?

I love it. It was special. And it was cool to see Kevin Drive sitting next to him. Like it gives you a whole new perspective as well, I think. Yeah. Like I could never do this. Ever. Better you than me. I'd like to take you for a ride, Mumbo.

Yeah, I bet you would. I bet you would. Unless there's a break on my side, I don't know if I'm going to trust you. What do you mean? I don't know if I'll trust you. You should see the way some of those people get out of those cars. I mean, it is not anything that they would expect. Right.

And people don't have, they have a much better understanding of what's happening after they get out, even though it's, I mean, that one was pretty close to the same speed as the race cars. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I even had a new perspective and I've been covering this a long time. Yeah. Hey. It's always fun to see him try to get back out too. Well, a little little baby deer legs trying to get out. I was shaking at the end. I was like, holy shit, that wasn't. Okay. So that was everyone's weekend in North Wilkesboro and Idaho. Congrats to Kevin on the win. Now we are going to the brickyard.

Why are you looking to me like that? Well, real quick. I just want to get Kevin's thought on this real quick. So I'm going to roll back here. roll the tape back a little bit. Back it up. Yeah. So at the end of the race, Lugano is trying to outrun Denny Hamlin. Riley Herpes happens to find himself in front of the 22 and is all of a sudden driving like his hair is on fire.

Which, you know, Toyota, Toyota, I get it. You know, it's all. But Joey about gave him a couple lumps of coal. He about sent him. And then Riley said, okay, that's enough. And he passed on and went on by. And then a little bit further in front, where there was three more Toyotas,

and then Ryan Blaney. And the 12 somehow has found his way to the front of the lead, to the front side of the leaders. And he does his great move where he kind of like plays possum, gets the Toyotas to kind of line up around the top. And then the minute the 22 gets to the tail end of that group, he moves to the top. And then the 22 just rushes by all of them.

And then the 11 had was, like couldn't catch him anymore. That was a big lead up. Yeah, I just thought it was, I just thought it was very gamesmanship. Gamesmanship. Yeah. And both ends. You know, I think it's, you're going to, a guy that you don't want to win, you're going to make it a lot harder for him to pass than the guy that you want to win.

That's on your team. So. That was fun to watch. Yeah. I think it's, but those are also the things you got to remember as you go down the road. That part. Yeah. So that gamesmanship will also continue as, as you.

you get into those situations later because they will be remembered. Especially if the leader of North Wilkesboro is the 22 car and he's in that situation of one of those other cars. I love it. Yeah. Great for us. I watch it. I was dying laughing.

I'm like, this is great. Yeah. Well, the next opportunity for more gamesmanship is at Indianapolis this weekend. That's where we're headed next. The brickyard. It's a very famous, obviously, highly regarded race track. Yeah, a lot of big races there. Kevin.

A little big races. What are your memories of that place? It was a great place for me. Every year that we went there, we went there intending to have the chance to win and be able to run in the front and, you know, to be able to go to Victory Lane a few times at the brickyard was special for me. I grew up in Bakersfield, California, as you've all heard, Rick Meade. If you weren't part of the Mears gang, you were not liked in the town.

Because Rick Mears, Roger Mears, everybody that, why. IndyCar racing in the Indy 500. So growing up as a kid, that's what you thought you wanted to do. You wanted to be at the Indy 500 to race Indy cars and to be like Rick Mears. And, you know, so going back and being able to experience going to Victory Lane at the Brickyard was about as close as you can get to living out your childhood dream and just always a place that, that, you know, for me was pretty special to go to, let alone win at. So it's a place that I love going to. tough place to navigate because you have to have to have a good car to be able to make passes and restarts are are super important to be able to put yourself in a position to take advantage of

and that's the easiest time to to gain that track position so just a very technical place to to be able to hit your marks and do all the things you need to qualify well in order to have a great chance at winning a race it's a great venue for the drivers for the the fans. What's different about Pit Lane there that presents additional challenges? It's narrow. It is narrow, which is wild because it's so big. You would think that it would be, but it's built for indie cars. It wasn't built for stock cars. So we've seen people get smashed up at the entrance of Pitt Road. We've seen people go down pit road and mess up on the exit. So it's going to be challenging for the teams and the drivers

to navigate that, just making sure that you're executing on Pit Road this week will be huge. And when you walk into that place, it's amazing. It is. It's just like. Breastaking. Yeah, you know you're in something special. You got to take a second. Find the pagoda, find the bricks, and just like take a second when you get, if you are going out there this weekend.

And then obviously you guys know that it's one of my favorite towns to go do. The Wild Beaver and IRP, which is my favorite racetrack, I think, of all time. Yeah, talk about that. For people I may not realize, trucks and Arca will be there. Yeah. I think IRP, I hate that O'Reilly is on the big track. I hate the O'Reilly series on the big track. I just think that IRP is a staple.

And like when you're a young driver coming up, it used to be one of those places that you would probably get one of your first starts because most people come from short track racing. So that was one of the first ones you could do. And the grooves that you could race in and how racy the track was. And just a lot of young drivers had really good runs there. And you always like, we're like, okay, that's one place I need to go. to have a good run to get because you were racing against the cup guys or the higher up guys

and your equipment that you could get then was able to compete I think was the biggest thing on the short track and that's where I'm and it was always the place to be on Thursday Friday Saturday. It's awesome. It was the place to be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night before the brickyard. Okay. So there's plenty of exciting reasons to watch the racing this weekend. Bubba Wallace won the last time we were there. How bad do you think he'd like to make that happen again? and what kind of situation. It's not dire, but. It is.

It is. Okay. I think it is because it's been a year. Well. Yeah. And I think that you look at how many races, Tyler Redick has won. You've seen Bubba be in contention to win a couple races. We saw it at Atlanta, right?

Mistake in contention to win. I know he would have finished second, but, you know, he's put himself down in the points and with things that have happened and mistakes that they've made on the racetrack. And I think their cars are capable of winning. It's just about putting all the pieces together. Not easy to do in cup racing when you're making mistakes and you've got a teammate like Tyler Reddick that's out there running as good as he is and all the other Toyota is running really well. He can win.

It's just a matter of putting the day together to be able to get that car in a victory lane. So I think he's got to win. And I think he's just at that point in his career where he's been around it long enough to where he knows he's capable of winning. He knows his cars are capable of winning. and I think that they need to, they got to get themselves back to Victory Lane to really just kind of, you know, kind of get the pressure off of themselves

as far as everybody talking about it and knowing that so many of the Toyotas are winning races. I'm sure he had this race circled when he looked ahead to his schedule. Oh, I'm sure. Last year, this was a huge win for him because he did it toe to toe with one of the sports best. He had to beat him on multiple restarts. So those mistakes that Kevin was talking about, he didn't have them. It was a really, it was a, uh,

a resume defining type of win because of who you did it against. So for sure. And where you did it at. And where you did it at. And for Shirley circled for him this year. But also it's going to be the same for, even though the team Penske cars have won the last two races. If you think that, if you don't think that they have this one high. For sure.

Would it be an R.P. Rogers place and how much this place means to him. And how close Ryan Blaney has come to winning at the Brickyard multiple years. Like, you know, it means a lot to Austin Cendrick. It means a lot to the whole organization, but it's going to, they're going to be putting their best foot forward, I think, this weekend. And not to be forgotten, the in-season challenge is happening and we'll conclude this weekend. That's right. Todd Gillen in the mix. The Toddfather.

I think it's cool for him. No, it's great. I'm glad that we have an underdog in it. Like, last year's underdog was Ty Dillon, and then it was Ty Dillon and Ty Gives. I think that's really fun. I think it's something good for the middle of the summer of the dog days, summer. I think it needs to be, we have a couple more tweaks, I think, a little bit more money. A little bit more money. More money? For the rest of the field?

No, no, no. I think for the winner and the team. I think one of the issues is I'm not exactly sure how the money gets distributed. Distributed. I am because they're like, what are you going to do with this money? Yeah, and I think it's a little bit in question on where it goes and then that changes how people are going to, you know, strategize for it and all the things. But needless to say, if you win this, it does help your season if you know you're not going to go to the chase. I agree. And I think it's fun to talk about. I don't think anybody, the first two years, this being the second year that we've done it, I don't think anybody would have picked the final hell no. The final two guys. Three out of the four of them, like waney, maybe, but the other guys probably not.

That's what makes it fun. And also not to be forgotten either, Todd Gillen signed a contract extension. Yeah. And look, Todd's done a great job. And I think front row has done a great job through the years. go back to the Michael McDowell days and you look at Todd Gillland and all the different drivers that they've had in that car, those cars that have had success and they do a lot with less. And they've really picked it up over the last month. I mean, they were awful, awful. But, you know, the couple months before that. And all of a sudden, they've got the ship ride in back on track. And you saw Chandler Smith. When the truck race, their trucks with Lane Riggs and Chandler Smith had been on point. Really last several years.

And so it's a good little program. I think Todd and obviously David Gillen, his father, that have a long history there. It's fun to see. Front row has a way of making things work with guys, with certain guys. I don't think it's been great for Noah, but it was great for Michael McDowell. It's been great for Zane. It's been great for Zane Smith. So that culture and environment is it takes the right person.

And really that's true for every team. The culture and environment, some guys fit, some guys don't. how you align the crew chiefs and they've been through different crew chiefs and and just figured out how to make that culture work within their budget and the things that they have. So that's, but that's no different than, then Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing or whoever you want to talk about. Sometimes it just, I mean, look at Joe Legano, did not work at Joe Gibbs Racing for him. Went to Penske and instantly had the success that it takes to go along with that. And so it's just, it's interesting to me how certain companies work for certain guys because I would argue that Michael

McDile if he was still at front row he's going to have been more successful than he's been at Spire Motorsports so it's just interest always interested in to see which guy works in which culture they get poached too you know what I mean like those teams get kind of they see some talent a bigger team see some talent you always want to you always want to go to the bigger team because why would you not right and then it doesn't sometimes it doesn't work it doesn't work out saying was awful at track house yeah was yeah that didn't work situation it's just that's what I mean by the culture and just the you know the who the person is that's going into that culture and how it works as to it whether it works or not real quick uh I've seen

social media a lot of talk about Lane Riggs potentially getting it moving up into the cup series do you think that would be the move I know we talked about like whether the O'Reilly series makes sense and what you learn what do you guys think I'd put him straight in a cup car let him do it like if you think he's Noah I mean we heard Noah have him his comments about looking for a job. I mean, if he's not going to be in that four car, I would 100% put lane rigs in that car. You go?

Kaylee? Yeah. Move them up. Move them up. Yeah. I mean, it's worked for Corey Hyman and what's that other guy's name? What's the other guy? Carson Hosevar?

That's it. Yeah. I couldn't remember his name. Yeah. That's crazy. There you go. Okay. So that is the brickyard and everything we have to look forward to for that.

and now I get to hand the reins over to you. Oh, my goodness. We did actually inquire with the fans when we were in Idaho if, in fact, their favorite segment is the Sips. What they say? They told us no. No. They said we should rename it to Mumbos.

Oh, so it is their favorite part. He said you got to rename it. I just want to let you. The fans at the dinner portion about that. And they loved it. They know it aggravates me, so now they just bring it up. You think that's why? Or do you think they actually like it?

No, they just know it aggravates. I think they actually like it, but the fact that it aggravates you is even twice as sweet. Aggravating. Any many. Anyway. Any many? Yeah. That too.

I'm tired, okay? Yeah. But I'm ready for this part. Mom and Soldier Sips, welcome to your favorite part of the show. Listen, this weekend, Brexton Bush was wheeling, and he was wheeling. So he ran the outlaw in the restricted class. This is in the restricted class, gotten a little tangled. Old Fender Bender Bender, no harm, no foul, puts it on the top, rips the lip, and ends up winning this race.

He also ran the outlaw in Kyle's car and ran really well in the outlaw and his outlaw run too. So this is super cool. Brexton winning over the weekend. Scared me right here. This one scared me. Whoa. That could be big. That's awesome.

Yeah. I'm so happy for Samantha and Brexton and being able to do that. I've been fortunate to be around Brexton a little bit more since, you know, Kyle's passing. And look, he just, he's a racer. And I think this is exactly what his dad would want him to be doing, winning races and being at the track. For sure. It's just a good day when a Bush is in victory lane when we see that. Love to see it.

We're going to stay with the next generation, with the kids. Shout out to my man. I've been watching this kid race a little bit because I've been around the short tracks this summer. Kip Kanan. I know this kid. You know, Chad's son getting it done. He wins his double header. It looks like he was at a track house

Motiplex out there. Clean sweep, it says. Yeah, super cool. I just love seeing we're in that, when that time, you know, where the next group are starting to race a lot. We're getting old and then the new ones are coming in. Do you follow him on social media?

I just did last night. Is it awesome? Pretty cute. Oh, isn't he talking a lot? Isn't he doing voiceover of his days. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hilarious. And listening to him talk because he's just a little boy. Yeah. But he's, he's funny. He's super funny. It looks like a kid model already.

Like, he's got a good look. He's part from Vermont. He must have got that. That makes sense. That makes sense. He must have got that from his mom. He definitely did. She was Miss Vermont. She was. Oh, really? Yeah. No, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We definitely got it from his mom. Sorry, Chad. Listen, listen. Listen, she's holding the flight. You guys think that I'm the coolest person from Vermont. Nah, Brooke canals is a cool.

Okay. From Vermont down. Hey, I learn something every day. There you go. There you go. And then I found this right before the show. There's this cart. There's some carting.

They're racing on dirt, which is not abnormal, but they're running, like, like, shifter carts. Really? Yeah, on dirt and on a road course. And watch this right here. Got a little. Oh, wow. That's not good I'm glad this person was okay

But like the I just never would have thought on dirt Oh you've never seen this No I thought it was amazing Dirt road courses are awesome in go carts That seems badass I don't believe that's in this country Well judging by the commentator I don't think so

Yeah Will might know who this is Yeah British exit Yeah maybe maybe I have a hard time With differentiating The Australia and the New Zealand one Kind of gets me a little bit Okay

Yeah I thought it was really cool So look cool right up right up until it wasn't right up until it wasn't it. Yeah, right until it wasn't. But hey, short and sweet. That's your favorite part of the show. Well, there you have it. His work here is done. I'm glad it's over.

Time now, guys, for the last call. And this is where we get to grade the burnout for Mr. Joey Lugano, who had spent quite a bit of time not being able to do a burnout. I love North Wilkesboro burnouts. You know why? It just rattles the freaking glass in the TV booth. because you're so close at that racetrack. And the last time I heard him do one, it rattled the windows. And always fun to see the kids get put in the right side of the car

and be able to take a lap with dad after winning. And I can tell you that, look, the stress of Joey not winning and running bad, I promise you, is felt at home. I remember how it was when we would go through those streaks of not running well. and look, you've got to have a very understanding, tolerant family at home. But when you do, and Brittany is in his kids, he does a great job with his kids and family of trying to moderate that. But even though as hard as you try, you see the frustration in Dad. So to be able to celebrate that relief together is awesome.

And the kids are, and they're like, Dad, why didn't you win this week? Yeah, they don't know anything. Yeah, they just, especially when they're used to Dad winning all the time. Yeah, no, that's the thing. And then you go through that slump and they want to go and have to. They think it's fun. Yeah. We're celebrating all the time.

We're throwing water and beer in Victory Lane and doing burnouts and riding around the racetrack and going to the media center for press conferences and then it goes away. It's like, what happened all the fun? This isn't as fun. We have no kidding. It's not as fun. You're telling me. You have no idea.

That's right. Exactly. So what grade are we given this then? I'm going to give it a B. Yeah. Okay. It was like, Joey. It was good burnout.

It was good. Solid. Good job, Joey. And good job to you and I, because we picked decent this weekend. No, wait. Hang on. Hang on. Can we just, every time, I've picked second place like seven times. And this is the first time I've been told it was decent. Is that because you picked the same person? No, I've never said that you were bad at this. I think it's fantastic. You suck at this and you're still enlast. Here are the standings. Take a look at where we're at after North Wilkesboro. Kevin is still leading at 107. I'm at 78 to Bomba 68. He picked Christopher Bell and ended up 19th. We chose Denny Hamlin, who was the runner-up.

Okay, so. Good job. Sorry you guys didn't win. Have you picked a winner all year? Honestly, I think originally you were going to pick Denny, but then when we did, you had to divert. No, I was Bell the whole time. You were Bell the whole time. Yeah.

Okay. I just felt like they, with their past success, I felt like they would be better. Yeah. Well, it's all right. You want to go first this time. Well, I finished last. So go ahead. I'm going to take Ty Gibbs.

Oh, that's cool. I like that pick. Okay. I am going to the driver you talked about earlier. Blaney, Penske win at the brickyard. But every time I pick him, something bad happens, I'm a little worried. I was actually about to pick him. Oh.

Now I'm not going to pick him. No, I'm not going to go ahead. Oh, you'll guarantee you're still in last, so feel free. No, yes. See, that's part of the reason why I'm not doing it because now I'm fighting two different things. Do you need an entry list? You know who's in the race? Yeah.

Yeah, I know he's in the race. I was checking. But I had a second guy in mind, and last week he didn't run that well, but I think he'll be just fine this week. Give me C-bell. There you go. We just keep rotating the same people. Well, it's because there's a reason why. Those are the guys that have been showing up.

I want to pick the 24. I want to pick the 5 and the 9. But like, I haven't. What have you done for me lately? There's just no sign that says, hey, they're going to, they could be good this week. Right. And they might be fine. Would you have thought that with Joey?

Here. Here. At North Wilkesboro. I mean, it's a possibility. But as bad as they run, I don't think I didn't have picked him and said, hey, he's going to go out and dominate. Right. Yeah.

Does it surprise me? Mm-mm. Okay. Not at North Wilkesboro. And knowing Joey Legano and those guys and just, they, there's only certain guys that can pick the pieces up and then figure out how to win again. I mean, there's a handful of those guys in the garage. And he's, he's, he's one of those guys.

Okay. Well, we'll have to see how these three choices do, three very different drivers. So it should be interesting. All right, guys. That was a fun one. Once again, that's another episode in the books. Hey, are you guys, are you guys going to be, are you going to be in indie? No. No. Okay. Well, if anyone's out there, wild beaver. What is the wild beaver? It's my favorite bar. They do 25 cent beers out there. I'm going to, I'm going to race again on Wednesday. Are you where? Yeah, Oviso, Michigan. There you have. Or Ovid, Michigan at Owasso Speedway. Yeah. We're going up there. It's called the Masters of the Pros.

That sounds cool. Is that means it's all the old guys? You get a green jacket if you win. Oh, oh. Seriously? Yeah. That's fun. It is fun. I like that. More ride-alongs this week, too. More ride-alongs, yeah. I can attest. They are fun. Come see us Wednesday. Come see him. All right. Closers. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us. Harvick, Happy Pod.

For Kevin, Mama, myself, that does it for us. On this edition, we'll see everybody after the Brickyard.