Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Joey Logano Wins 2nd Cup Race of Season at Richmond & Zilisch Signs With Hendrick Motorsports For 2028

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Logano’s second Cup win of the season at Richmond, how he’s becoming a championship contender after the win, Chase Briscoe’s impressive race, react to the news of Connor Zilisch signing with Hendrick Motorsports starting in 2028. Plus, Kevin gives advice to drivers as the crew previews the upcoming race weekend at Loudon and they react to Mamba’s Social Sips, which features how Kyle Larson was able to make it to and win the 65th Knoxville Nationals. 0:00 - Intro 4:16 - Richmond Weekend Recap 25:16 - Connor Zilisch Signs With Hendrick Motorsports For 2028 32:26 - New Hampshire Preview 36:26 - Mamba’s Social Sips 43:40 - Last Call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're getting dirty this week. We're just going to get dirty with it this week. Money shifting happens in the simulator a lot. Pop, ba, bam, bam. Bang it down gear like they're playing a video game. Who is really feeling it at this point? I don't know that anybody can be more confident than me. If you're going to talk, stand there and talk, I die.

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR and Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick. She's Caitlin Vincy and that guy. Hey, Mumbo. Hey, go right. I mean, I love the fans called. some fans say tell Mumbo that his segment is not my favorite.

I just don't believe it. And I don't know if it was them calling you Mumbo that I like more or if it was them saying they didn't like your segment. They didn't say they didn't like it. They just said that it wasn't their favorite. Right. I think if we were both standing there, I don't think either one of those things would happen.

You don't think they want to say that to your face. Okay. Yeah. I think I think... Which I feel the same way about him because I don't think anybody even ever says that it's their favorite segment. He claims it every weekend. There's people saying this. The NASCAR Sunday squad, they do love the segments.

How was that? Because you weren't at the track this weekend, right? Or were you? No, no, no. You were busy with NASCAR Sundays. So did you have NASCAR Saturday? We did. NASCAR Sunday on Saturday.

It was at 11 Lakes brewing up in Cordelia. So it was our first, like, Lake Norman one? Great, great show out. So you had some VIPs out there with you. Oh, Michael Walter was out there. came down, Wendy Venturini. So did you serve Michael Waltrip beer? We did.

Yeah, and they had a discount too. Yeah. That's good. Yeah, he's a partner. Okay. Kevin was racing this weekend, so he was busy. Was he? I was.

How was that? It was okay. Yeah. Big pause there. I mean, I had fun. That's good. You know, it was 70 degrees in Monroe, Washington. So that was nice.

That is nice. That was nice compared to what we have here. Yeah, so we had a good event. and ultimately wound up finishing second. Yeah, but to be determined could be a first, right? Well, we don't know. Yeah. Who knows?

Are you to the point now where like you're mad about second place again? No, I don't think it's, I don't think that I don't really get frustrated about that anymore. I think for me with Keelan crashed in his car and all the work that the team had to do to take my car and transfer it over to his car. car is, you know, it was just a lot of work for everybody to be able to do that in like 14 hours. Yeah. Yeah. So it just wound up, it just wound up overall becoming a lot. Becoming a long weekend.

Yeah, it became a long weekend. And we were there a day too long. You know, we had to practice started on Thursday, which I don't know the practice should ever start on Thursday for those types of events because it just, it drags everything out too far. And then we flew home yesterday. So it was just, it was long week. Kevin's a little tired. I'm a little tired today.

Yeah, I was in Richmond a day extra as well because I was there for the Crossman Truck Series race, which we had a weird situation happen with a fire in the TV compound. So if people were wondering, like, if we were making this up, we were not, there was an actual situation that had to be handled, which was the first problem. Then a big storm came in. So that was why we were delayed to Saturday.

So it wasn't just because of rain. It was because of the TV compound situation. Well, there were multiple delays, yeah. So like once they got the, TV compound situation under control, then a huge storm came in. So I thought NASCAR made the right call of moving it to the next day because it just didn't. So what caught on fire? It was like a breakers or something like that.

So it was the actual production trailer? It was the main mothership trailer that this happened in. It kind of controls everything. So it wasn't just us. Like radio had problems. So it was very strange. I've never seen anything like that happened. Then someone climbed into the to the flag stage.

Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. The fan did. So remember when the clam. fan climbed up on top of the catchments while we were racing. Yeah, just hanging out. Something about Richmond just makes people go crazy.

Y'all got a little bit of night racing. They have all day to drink. I'm from Virginia, but I don't claim that strange behavior. I mean, you're either with it or you're not. You got to claim it all. Claim it all. Speaking of claim it at all, welcome into another episode of Happy Hour. Great to have you guys with us for episode 41.

Short track race under the lights out at Richmond. It was a great event. And Joey Lugano ended up victorious, third win for him at Richmond. And to me, Kevin, the thing that is most notable about this performance is he has gone from 20th to ninth in the standings in six races. And that isn't a hard feat to achieve. Well, I think that the other thing is, you know, he's won a couple races in that stretch.

And when it matters with this point system when you're looking to make up points and getting stage points and getting in the top five. And that's how you're going to make up points. So he's done a great job. And, you know, it's like we've been talking the last few weeks. They just let him hang around. And he's hung around. And now he's winning races and running in the top five.

And saw his crew chief the other day. And he's smiling again. And I'm like, uh-oh. Watch out. Things are looking up for the 22 team at the right time. He said it himself, don't let the boys get hot. That was the quote from Joey after the race. And he said on the radio, too, like, we are on it now.

And we've been saying it for several weeks. This is a dangerous team to have around at this point in the season when they're firing on all cylinders. Listen, people want to give Penske and Joy Lugano and even playing the whole group, a lot of hell for the championships over the past few years and how they got to run. And just when it was, you know, right when they need it, well, they got on the run at the same time of the season this year as they have every other year. So they have something figured out. And obviously, it works on both ends. It doesn't matter what the system is.

if you start winning races, if you win, you know, two races and six races or whatever, it's going to work out pretty well for you. The telltale sign is going to be the mile and a half. Yeah. They've always been good. They've still been good on the short tracks and those types of race tracks this year. You know, we went to Indy and they were good. So to me, that's a positive sign for the Ford's in general.

Yeah. Because I don't think it's a Penske problem. I think it's a Ford problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, obviously Penske hasn't been maximizing what they should have been maximizing. what they should have been maximizing on the cars because obviously something has changed as we've gone over the last month and a half

with everything that they've got going on. So Blaney on the pole this week. And Barry up there too. Yeah, we'll talk about Austin. Everybody has gotten better. So it's, that makes it fun, right? Like we're going to go into the last 10 weeks of the chase and, you know, with the Toyota's thinking that,

you know, they were going to be the dominant cars. and all the sudden, here wiggles in the 12 and the 22. If the 22 starts running while, you already got the 12 up there, so if the 22 can, is what they're doing, the 2 and the 22 and 21

are making the 12 better too, now you got someone who's actually close to you already up there as well. And that's a whole different dynamic. And I think, I think you should have just let us sleep. When you had the chance

to stomp them out, you should have stomped down Joe Ligano. And when you look at Joy Ligano being ninth, you look at the bottom, you've got SVG down there in the bottom, and you've got Austin Cendrick and 15th. And, you know, I think those guys are pretty much out of it. But Bubba Wallace is down there in 14th.

I mean, his season has totally unraveled with with everything that they've had happening and go on. So he's pretty much out of it. You look at William Byron. I think he's 13th. He's down there in the points. So he's pretty much out of it. So the higher Lugano climbs up the ladder right here as we go through these last couple weeks and knocking those guys, some of those guys a little further down.

I think it's, I think a little bit of that is unexpected. But if he can get up, I mean, he can get, I think he can get to seventh personally. Yeah. You know, if he has, if he runs like we expect him to run another short track next week. And then he sucks it loud. And then you got to go to a super speedway. So it's, it's right in their wheelhouse to be able to make up those points. So if he can somehow squeak into six or seventh and, and put himself, then he's really in,

I mean, he's really in the conversation now and ninth on the, on the fringes of being too far back. But, I mean, he's realistically back in it. He's close enough to where they got a fire. They are fired up and they know they're close enough. And because all year, we all in the media, everyone has been like, you got to be seventh or, you know, six, seventh in there to contend. They already have a chip onto their shoulders. So now they're going to be, okay, we're ninth.

Okay, watch us go win this thing from ninth when you guys said we couldn't do it at all. So they're doing something right now. Definitely got a swagger to him. He's got a swagger back. What a difference from when we talked to him a couple weeks ago, just pure puzzlement that he had compared to now. And like obviously we're talking about Team Penske. They've gone through this. They've won championships.

They know how to do it. They know how to rise to the occasion under the pressure as well. So Chase Briscoe was second. He has had five top six performances in a row. Do you see championship potential out of that team right now? I think any of those teams that are consistent, right? Like that's what you want to see. I mean, even like you look at the.

the 11 car, right? Qualified terrible at Iowa, mediocre at Richmond. You know, there's just a, there's, when you're firing on all eight cylinders at this point of the season, you're qualifying good, you're practicing good, you're racing good, you're overcoming things. And so it's just really interesting to watch the momentum swings as they come and go, right? Like it's been pretty quiet on the 11 front over the last couple weeks as far as where they're at and the things that are happening over, really over last little bit. Because, you know, it's just sometimes things just don't work out your way. And, you know, you look at the 54 speeding this weekend, but the 19 has been pretty

consistent, right? So that, to me, is what I'm looking for at this point is who has the most consistency to run in the top five, win some races, and be right there. To me, that's how you're going to win the chase. That's how you're going to win 10 weeks is being able to put yourself. self-imposition on all types of racetracks overcome situations. And, you know, the 22 is one of those teams. The 11 is one of those teams.

It appears that the 19 has overcome. They couldn't do any of that at the beginning of the year. It was like fast crash, fast mistake, fast crash, fast mistake. It was like a, that's kind of a song. It is kind of a song. That's the graph he's saying there of up and down. Cars for kids song or whatever. Cars for kids.

That's cute. But he's right. At the beginning of the year, it was a lot of up and downs. Now it seems like they've got things in a very level position. I mean, I've seen a handful of fans, like, adamantly talking about Chase Brisco. And I haven't really, I mean, we've seen him be there, but I hadn't really thought that it was like, like, he was a serious, serious championship contender. Like, I thought he was going to be in the mix, but I didn't really peep that until recently. And I'm like, okay, no, like, he's, he's there.

What have you done for me? Right. And they got the momentum right now. Excuse me. I'm going to tell you what. Smoking over there on NASCAR Saturday? This is NASCAR Sunday. It's going to be hard. Reminded me to the airplane. It had a lady throw up all the way out there.

I'm going to tell you what, though. Somebody else, another group that's got a kind of a little light shed on and was Hendrick. I mean, they had all four cars. So, I mean, you can get, the momentum is a real thing. It is that. So we were talking about Chase Briscoe, quietly handling business. So too did Austin Cendrick yesterday.

He scored points in both stages. He had a good solid day. He's now moved up in the standings. Just one position to 15th. But how did you see him manage his race? Because we'll also take a look at the Suarez incident on pit lane. He didn't let that derail his efforts. Yeah.

Well, I was really more interested in what pin he selected this week. That's true. Did anybody? How do we need to follow up on that? Do we know what pins? I don't know what Penn is. I'm just watching for his cadence and listening to her because I think it's so funny. I don't, the pen itself,

I don't pay as much a time. He's also growing his hair out. Did you notice that? He looked totally different. He didn't wear a hat this weekend. Yeah, he didn't wear a hat. I was like, who the hell is that? Oh, it's Austin. Anyways, how did you see a manager's Well, I think when you look at, he's another one of the, this is another one of those teams

that has been super inconsistent. Don't talk about them a lot. And then all of a sudden they show up and running the top five and do the things that they did this weekend. So you have the pit road troubles and and you heard austin talk about this when we interviewed him a couple weeks ago just learning how to deal with things and handle things and rebound from things and do the things that it takes to not have a meltdown to not lose your confidence and all those things that go go with situations like what we saw on pit road when you're having a good day and then you know you

have something derail it it's like okay you got to reset you know even if we're not going to win we've got to get the most out of the day. And I think that, that to me is, is one place that the two car has done a really good job just from the driver's standpoint for sure of being able to achieve those types of things on days when stuff's happened because it's going to happen. Right. Stuff is going to happen and you're going to have to, you know, mentally reset from that. And I think he's doing a good job at that. Speaking of stuff happening on that pit stop there, good heads up by the pit crew of Austin Cendrick lifting that hose up. What did you see there from the pit lane perspective? We could probably get that again, but that moment, I mean, that changed two teams' races.

Yeah. Because that would have ruined, probably the cord would have got tangled up and coiled up in the seven car probably would have ruined their day. And sort of pick that up, have the presence of mind to pick that up. Because that probably was somebody, not only the tire changer, but probably on the other side of the wall too, because I don't know if he would have been able to get that thing slung all the way up above the car. So that was just a really big moment.

I thought it was important to kind of note that because that was a situation. awareness is what that is. Those are the things. Yeah. Those are the things that change. How do I adapt? How do I take a problem and not make it detrimental? Yeah. Right? Like how do I minimize the

mistake to not have it be detrimental to our day? And how many times have we seen that? We recently were a guy's coming out of it. They just crash. And they just run into each other. Yeah. Because the two boxes aren't like kind of working together either. So, goodos to them. Kudos to them. Ended up having a decent

day there for Austin Cendrick. And I want to go back to the point Mamba just made about Hendrick Motorsports, all four cars finishing in the top 10. And guys, this stat is pretty wild. That has not happened since April of 2025. We're not talking 2026. April of 2025 was the last time all four teams were in the top 10. They have to be encouraged after Saturday. Well, at least. I mean, yeah, at least you've ended that stat, right? Like that's the expectations that they have. Not only us, that's their expectation is to have all four cars in the top 10 and probably one, two, three, four. That's, that's really what they think that they're capable of.

And that has not been the case this year on any given weekend. And obviously not since last year. So it's been a long time since we've seen those cars have a consistent day. And that just to me tells you the widespread struggles that they've had and getting the balance right with with all of these cars because their cars are all over the place as far as the way that they performed. So to be able to have all four cars in the top 10, now, let's, I'm not, I don't want to be, I don't want to be the bare bad news, but this is a very unique, that's what he's here to do. This is a very unique race track with the, the setups and the way that, that things go at

Richmond. It's a, it's a very unique place because of the tire wear and everything that, that comes with the fall off at this racetrack. So, um, great start. And now you just, you want to see that continue, right? Like as a team, you hope that that's the thing that kicks the wall down to get the momentum back on your side to be able to have the performance and breaks and things that you need to be able to put yourself in a position to do it again. Yeah. But you know, too, in racing, sometimes you just need one positive thing to happen for things to move in the right direction. I talked to Chad Canals. I talked to Jeff Andrews over the weekend. This isn't from lack of trying, lack of effort. They're doing everything they can. It just obviously hasn't gone the way they're

working harder. Probably working harder. Probably working harder, exactly. And I think about two, Chase Elliott, and he was one of the ones we saw with a pit road incident as well. What did you see from the nine group? It was an 11.8 second stop at that point in time. Yeah, I think overall for their group,

there was a good weekend. You even heard it in Chase's interview after he was optimistic about how it went, which coming from Chase means things are pretty good. You know, because he's pretty honest and pretty hard on himself and on their group. like he expects them to be at a certain standard. And he feels like they met that at least this weekend.

And I think it's important. Here's that pit stop that KV was just talking about, kind of get hung up here. Yeah, just slow on the left, on the left rear. And when those things happen, you know, we talk about here a lot. You got to minimize the damage. And as a driver, you got to lock back in and just go to work and get yourself, do yourself back out.

But I think the important thing for the Hendrick group is they typically run good at Richmond. and when you run well at places that you typically run well, that helps the direction, right? We've seen them at other places where we expect them to run good all year, basically, and they just haven't really shown up. So for them to show up and finally, like,

feel like they've hit on something, that something at the shop works at the racetrack, this might be one of the, what, three times a time. That's a win. That's a win right there. I want to talk about Kyle Larson for a moment, and Mamba is going to go into deeper detail of his full scope of his Saturday,

as Saturday Adventist. Saturday Adventures. But that team, speaking of head down and getting to work, at the beginning of the race, Kyle Larson was very vocal, like, I can't get this car

to do anything. Cliff Daniels and the group worked on it, worked on it, worked on it, and ended up having a solid finish out of the day. And I think that those are the championship efforts that you're looking for out of really all the Hendrick cars. Everybody. But especially out of the five car with Cliff

and Kyle Arson to be able to turn a day around. And that's not easy to do to be able to turn. turn your day around to take it from mediocre car to competitive top five car to to get the results that you want. So, but those are the days that you have to have if you're going to win a championship. And I heard Kyle talk about, you know, he didn't feel like that they needed the fastest car to win the championship. He felt like that, you know, with the experience of their team and the things that they could do, they could, they had, they had the possibility of figuring it

out. You know, I don't necessarily know that that's, those are the right things to say. Right. But I don't necessarily know that you're going to beat outright speed unless you have it, right? Like, and that's, that's what you're waiting on from the five car. You're waiting on it to turn around like the 22 car. I feel like that could happen. I don't know. I feel like it could happen. Oh, I mean, it can definitely happen. Yeah. Like, it definitely could happen. Like, you're waiting, you're waiting on the moment, right? You're waiting on the moment, right? You're waiting on five to have that breakout moment to say, oh yeah, yeah, that happened. And you, you, you know, it could, but you just, we've been waiting. It's almost, it's August. It's August. It's 17th.

And, uh, we're headed to September for the, for the chase. So, like a race where they lead 200 laps. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, point out about the 22, something like that. Well, and I talk to some of the crew guys on the five this weekend, too, the thing they kept going back to was we have speed. There's just been a lot of things that have gone wrong or Kyle Rex or something, you know, but they have speed. They feel like week to week. You're raising your eyebrows. They have top six, seven speed, top five speed. They seem to have more speed than any of the other four. Dominant speed. Kevin is not convinced. I'm not agreeing. Not agree. He is not in agreement. I think, I think that they had, they had good speed this

weekend, but like we, having speed and having race winning. Race winning speed. We only call it dominant. Race winning speed are two different things. Like, you can have speed run 10th, right? And that's what I feel like they've had. Yeah, that's fair. I don't feel like they have,

I don't feel like they've had race winning speed anywhere. You need to be like, you need to be like fourth, like fourth place speed, but like fourth closing, not like fourth getting left. You know what I mean? Fourth getting left. So those were some of the positives from the weekend. Now I want to go to the other side of the spectrum. And we are going to start with Carson,

Josevar because for two weeks in a row, it has not been ideal for this team. They've obviously slipped some in the standings. If you recall at Iowa, they had the engine woes. And now this weekend, a double down shift for Carson Hosevar here. What have you seen from this team as of late? Are you surprised to see these things happening? Or is this just part for the course? I don't, I mean, I don't think it's part for the course.

I think that, you know, when you look at this type of situation, that's just driver error. Right? Like there's, I mean, there's no other way. to explain it. That's how he would explain it to you as well. And, um, like that's, um, I don't know that. I mean, I've shifted into the wrong gear thinking it was the H pattern, but I don't know that I've ever accidentally

doubled downshifted. Yeah, he called, um, he said money shifted. Yeah. And then he said sorry. And you know, look, money shifting. Money shifting to me, like I watch a lot of, a lot of the young kids in the simulator and, and some of the things they do. Money shifting happens in the simulator a lot. Can you explain what that is? Yeah, I was just I was going to say that. Money shifting is just, like, they'll, like, they'll do something wrong and they'll just bang, bam, bam, bang it down gear like they're playing a video game. And, you know, they'll do things that they don't typically do in the race car. And that's one thing I always tell

the kids. I'm like, you got to treat this simulator exactly like you want your race car to feel because these are the habits and the muscle memory that you're going to create. And, you know, getting in there and jacking around and doing the things that, that you're going to feel. And, you know, you do, that they do sometimes will create situations like this. So double downshifting isn't just something that you just accidentally do. It's something that you've done. A learned habit. Yeah. And, you know, it's not, I shouldn't say it's an accident. Right. Look, I'm not saying that it's not an accident on his part. I'm saying it's a, it's a situation that shouldn't happen. Yeah. It's not something that you just barely touch it in the thing.

pops into the next gear. I love what Kevin says, I tell the kids. Tell them kids. You get in there and jack around, you get results that are jacked up. Yes, sir. Yeah, he's down to 11th right now,

three down in the standings for Carson. And let's, let's, let's surprise me. That was your initial question. Correct. Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. Let's be honest about the, about the Spire situation. They, for as far as how we have viewed them,

they were over, they have overachieved this year. They, so like, and none of these things happened to them up until really the last few weeks. Eventually, these things happened to everybody. And so now they just have come back down to earth a little bit, but they still bring fast cars to the racetrack.

If you look at the totality of the year, on average, you're bringing fast cars and at least two of them, if not three, are in the top, you know, 15. So, like, they're doing a good job. It's like, eventually you're going to have some runs like this. So, I mean, yeah.

But, like, yeah, probably should try to keep from money shift and that. The old money shift. And I think that really the, I mean, they've qualified well, which I think a lot of that is, you know, they've qualified well. Yeah. Got some polls and done some things well on that side of things. But really the only places that we've seen them be able to be in contention to win races is Talladega and Daytona.

Is that fair? We've seen them lead some laughs. But usually after a couple pit stops, You mean at the end of the race? In the second half of the race, I can't think of a race right offhand aside from a Super Speedway where they've been like in the mix. Yeah, maybe Michigan with the 77. It's not very consistent.

It's not consistent is a fair way to say it. I'm sure there has been one or two. But to my point is it's not consistently been in the front. They've been very consistent. They consistently find a way into the top 10. Yeah. To the point when we're talking about Lars and, earlier, there's a difference between finding your way to the top 10 and being on the top

echelon and having a shot at the win. On a regular basis. Well, that was Richmond. It was exciting. But before we move on to Loudoun, there is some big news that came down the line in the NASCAR community. And that is involving Hendrick Motorsports once again. They've announced that Connor Zillich will be taking over the 48 in 2028.

This is not a big surprise. We've been talking about this for some time. I think Connor Zillich will fit in great at that organization. honestly. Yeah. I mean, we will definitely find out if it was overhyped or hyped enough, right? Now's the time. I mean, you know, we, we, we, we spoke to Alex Bowman about the 48 and, and you know, now there's just, there's no way out, right? Like, there's a way out right now for, for Connor with the trackhouse situation and the way that the cars run, you know, with, with the results on, on the racetrack. Those,

those excuses don't live at Hendrick. But I believe everybody believes that Connor Zillich, has the ability to win races and be a champion at some point. But, you know, as Alex Bowman found out, there's the reality of what it is, right? Like getting into the 48 and getting into the Hendrick system and the pressure that comes with that. So this is the situation that you want with all the pressure and all the resources that you need. And now it's time to find out. I would.

At the best of the best here. Yeah. I would say that we should look at this situation similar to a William Byron. When William got into the Cup series, he had basically, I mean, he should have won the truck championship, does win the O'Reilly's championship, and then moves up. And it just seemed like it was a struggle for a little while, like finding the right combination. For driver and crew chief. And then they found it. And William Byron is now a perennial, like, you know, you expect him to have a shot of the championship every year.

So although he's going to need to step up because you're driving at the mothership. That's right. I would also say people should probably temper their expectations just slightly. I don't think so. I, that expectation period is over. You're going to have two years at Trackhouse. And when you get into the 48, the expectation is going to be win. That's fair.

That's fair. I mean, William went straight. Because he's going to have two years under his belt. Yeah, he's going to have two years under his belt. I do also think that it'll, this, this situation is going to help Trackhouse. because I don't think that Hendrick is going to just let Connor. If you know he's coming, you're not just going to let, if they're struggling, you're not just going to let him struggle.

I don't think it might be wrong, but I would think that they would want to see him do well. So when he does come to the 48, it's like, see, we picked the right guy. So you have a year, so you might as well start working with him beforehand. It's in Chevy, so it's not like a different manufacturer. Yeah, but I don't know that that happens currently. Yeah, I don't know. You know, they run ECR engines.

Yeah. on their own island at trackhouse and had the whole Ross situation, you know, a couple years ago. All, like it's not... Yeah, it's just not... It's not seamless.

Yeah, it's not seamless. There's a couple things in there. Yeah, a couple things. And you just stole their driver. Huh? And you stole their driver. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's that piece of it.

It's stealing of the driver. I always... I mean, silly season is always really fun. It's always really silly. It gets a little... crazy. I mean, this is this the second time? I mean, the last time we had something like this was Reddick. Yeah, yeah. But that

one was even, that was a little more aggracious. That one was all shady. That was like, that one was messy. I think if Tyler had that one to do over again, he'd probably handle that one a little different. Secret meetings and stuff. Yeah. This one was probably NASCAR's worst kept secret. I mean, we've been hearing it for some time

that Connor would go over there. It would be good driver line up and he'll have good drivers to learn from as well. Can I ask you guys something real quick? How do you, how, if you are Corey Day, how do you look at the situation and your trajectory now? because the guy in the 9, 24, and 5, they're not moving. I would assume he'll go to Sire. Let me ask you this.

I found this interesting when we talked to Bowman. So his plan was always to quit at 35 is what he says. I mean, and I think we all say we're going to retire earlier. I think his situation is a little bit different and sticking to his number because of his injuries and the things that he's had to deal with. So he's going to be 35 when he's done next year. Is that the new norm? I don't think so. No? No. With how young, and the only reason I ask is like I look at, I look at, like you look at the nine and you look at his situation and just talk about, you know, how long. How long he's been doing it? I mean, and I'm just,

throwing that out there as to what the age is. Because are you saying they start younger? Yeah, they start younger. What's going to be? The tap out. Yeah, the tap out. Like, you look at Lugano, like, he's going to be. He's 37.

He's 36. And he's been going at it since he was 18. Is it hard with, though, if say you're a Denny Hamlin and you're super competitive still, do you want to go out on top or do you want to wait a little longer? That's the difference. I mean, I always voted for out on top, right? That's what you did. I wanted to be competitive up until my last race.

And otherwise, you just, well, you do exactly what Jimmy Johnson did, right? You go to IndyCar, you run around in the back, and then he come back, and the fans are kind of like, eh. Right? Like, because you went to IndyCar, and then you come back and you hadn't, didn't run good the last three years of your Cup career. I mean, that guy should have went off as a, as a Richard Petty. Yeah. Yeah. I was talking about this with Michael Walter this weekend.

about DW. Because I don't remember Darrell being the badass that I saw in the Earnhard Dock. And that's exactly what happened with Jimmy Johnson. Right. And so they don't get to go out

to the next generation of fans the right way. So I think it's interesting. I don't think that that's going to be the new norm, but I do think that how well your success and where you're at in that.

So you're telling me Joey Lugano is going to drive another 10 to 12 years. I think he probably gets a 43 could be wrong, but I think he would get to 43. Why don't you ask him today? You're interviewing. You're like, Kevin wants to know when are you retiring. What are you done to this stuff, guys?

It's just, it's super intriguing that Bowman's going to quit it, and he's going to be 35 when he's done. Yeah. You know, and it's just... How old was Casey Kane? That was a different situation, I remember, because he went to Levine and that didn't go well. He also had some injuries, too, that I think was part of the equation.

The injury part matters for sure. Yeah. Oh, for sure. I mean, does the car change that, right? the wrecks are not as fun as they used to be. And I mean, Kyle Larson's been kind of vocal that, like, his, after his next one, it sort of seemed like that would be the final contract, which I think he'll be mid-30s at that point when that would.

Depending on how long, how long those contracts are because they never tell us. It's like eight years. They never tell us how many years it is. There's always a multi-year. And I'm like, is that two or is that five? Like, I don't know. That'll be interesting. It is interesting.

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Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. And we think Loudon will be interesting as well. That is where we are headed next up to Mamba as part of the country in New England. Mamba. I love Loudon. I love the vibe up there. The fan base.

This has always been one of my favorite tracks to go to as a media professional. And Kevin, I want to read some of his stats for the group. 39 starts, four wins, nearly 60% top tens, and an elite 12.1 average finish. There you go, sir. Did you study those yourself? You're on the wrong page, sir. Oh, okay. Flip over your page, grandpa.

I'm a little behind in the show. I was instructed to get to this part of the show. So anyways, how about that? That's got to make you feel good, right? It was a pretty good place for us. There was a long period of time where we went to Richmond on the O'Reilly side that if we didn't win and we were mad. New Hampshire or Richmond? Either.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Richmond for sure. Yeah. But, you know, it was Chuck's O'Reilly Cup, like any of it. Like when you went to New Hampshire, you just, you expected to be in. in contention to win the race and whatever race you were entered in.

So, um, look at all the fans waving to you. Yeah. I will say too, like at SHR, there was a lot of New England people that worked at SHR. And when we went to New Hampshire, it meant a lot to a lot

of people in there to go off and win at New Hampshire. And I think we did, Tony won there a bunch. Kevin won there. I think we won there with Newman or at least Newman had run there. We always, ran good at the SHR. Coal won there in the truck, but I mean, it was a big deal.

Did Amarola not win there in the 10? No. No. No. He was close, though. Yeah. Yeah. And then there was a couple. There was like one year where we ran out of gas. I remember coming like to the last, I mean, we just were always good. Oh, that was in that die tight car. That was in die tight car. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of good memories from the group here going up to Loudon.

Who is really feeling at this point, you would say? I mean, I feel pretty good about kicking your guys's ass and the point standings, but I don't know that anybody can be more confident than me. Yeah. Okay. Are you talking about drivers? Yeah. Not the standings yet for our picks.

I just mean like the teams. I didn't say anything about the points. I just said I felt really good about winning this championship. Who's right on the show? He's just like going off the rails. Who's right on the cusp though that is maybe still hopeful that something could work out for them? Or is it pretty much kind of what it's going to be?

I mean, I still don't know that Lugano is like, hey, we're going to be the guy to beat. I think they're right on the cusp of it when they're. when they show us that they can race on a mile and a half racetrack. Yeah. That's that they can be, they can win a race on a mile and a half racetrack. Do you think Darlington, because that's a whole different beast.

Like I don't even think that one, that one count. So we won't know. But if they run good at Darlington, it'll help. It's definitely going to be better than how they ran at Darlington the first time. Oh, I mean,

it was like 35th, 36. Yeah. If they can, yeah. Yeah. So, you know,

I think that they're on the, they're right there on it. And to me, that's the team that's right there on the cusp. of winning a being being in the conversation of winning the championship right now we're just talking about two short tracks but when you talk about Bristol Martinsville Phoenix in the in the in the chase you've you've got you've got to you've got Talladega I mean we can get to half the races where you can say they're going to run pretty good that yeah we're starting to look at that when you put it

when you paint the picture like that because that's right well almost done with short tracks like kind but not really not really and and if you if you're telling me that i i think in my brain that we're going to win four or five of those races whether i put you in the points like if you can hang around and those other ones i don't think they're going to win four or five of those races but like in their minds they think that they will i think they have but they they are going to have an opportunity to win at four or five of those races before you even get into the mile and a halfs in darlington right so i mean you have to start they're right there on the on the cusp of being in that conversation to win.

Got to keep an eye on all the things out and loud in this weekend. We look forward to it. It is time now for the social sips for me to relegate my position and let this man take over. My stuff together. Should we call him a man because he acts like a child? I'm not sure. He's a man child. Man child.

Listen, here's our manchild. You can call me whatever you want. Just don't call me late for dinner. You know what I'm saying? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. Especially my friends on the West Coast to your favorite part of the show Mamba's social steps.

We're getting dirty this week. We're just going to get dirty with it this week. All right. Knoxville Nationals was going on massive event. Early race in the week. Super tight finish. Check out this finish in this reaction.

I think he's got on the bottom. Oh, he's taking it out. Oh, man, it's coming down. One more corner. rolling in a turn number three McBadden Can he take the die? Hold on, he's going to slide it down He's coming down

Oh my god He got He got it Oh shit Hide the shield from nowhere And like I love that so much Just like I'm like Oh this is gonna be a good finish

Between these two guys And then where's the third car come from I didn't even know you could Make up that much time A lot of their races kind of unfold like that I feel like it's just great racing outside of things. It's interesting

because it must be like how the camera shot is because like that car was nowhere in any shot. Who are the three doing the reactions? I have no idea

but they were hilarious. They were pretty funny. They want to do that for some of ours. Yeah, get them in a booth. Feel free. There wasn't any less drama earlier in the week with Larson

for the front road challenge. Him and another driver were getting after it here at the end. Larson throws a slider and clips him with the tank. Clips this a little bit. And then afterwards, there was some words exchanged. Someone called someone a POS.

Someone said, well, I'd be mad too. Here's the thing. This is the thing. I asked Kyle. I said, I didn't think that that was that bad of a slider. But I'm an asphalt guy. Like, I don't really. And I asked him, and he's like, I would have been mad about that slider too.

It wasn't really, it wasn't as, I should have been, it was too close. And so, I don't know, what's your, what was your take when you watched it? My take is, like, you can't talk shit while you're walking by. Like, if you're going to talk shit, stand there and talk shit, I'd die, right? It's just like a side mumble. Yeah, don't, don't mumble walking through Victory Lane. Like, if you're going to, like, stand there and yell right at him or something. Like, you can't just, you can't just say it walking by and in the, like, oh, I got to go.

That's what it looked like to me. I don't know. Also, if you're a team owner, do not insult someone's ethnicity. That is absolutely ridiculous that that happened as well. Very classless move. The way Kyle bounced back on it, I thought was funny. He's like, at least get it right. Like, I'm Japanese, not Chinese.

I was like, I mean, good-us to him, because some people would not have handled that as graciously as he did. He takes a lot of heat over there with all that stuff. And I feel it. It happens the exact same way on the cars tour stuff. It's like, oh, you're doing this for you and you're doing that. look he doesn't have to be there he's doing it because he loves the race

and he's enjoying himself and he's trying to make it better for high limits he's trying to make it he I mean there's no I mean they could absolutely crush world of outlaws right now if they wanted to and that is purely a choice

if they if they wanted to they could absolutely end world of outlaws in my opinion so and if I'm a fan I enjoy seeing the Larson's the Harviks in these events. There are not as many people are going to show up. You are not going to race for as much money. You are not going to have everything that you have.

All this stuff. Unless Kyle Arson is there racing. It elevates the series. 100%. But some people would rather race against 10 cars and bitch about it than they would for people who want to try to make it right. And if you want to try to make it something that it never was. Right.

Don't complain. If you complain, these guys just don't show up and they'll start. Eventually you'll just get tired of here and not show up. Yeah, for sure. Kyle getting to the track was probably, from Richmond to Knoxville was probably one of the most epic things. The camera shot of the car driving down.

But we have this clip of Cliff talking to him, so we're going to run this. I thought this was great. Yeah. Knoxville is, but they're way behind just so, you know. So that whole, you know, the fact that this is what I thought was really interesting and talent.

the fact that Hendrick Motorsports understands how important it is. What it means to him, yeah. For him to go do that and for them to give him the opportunity. To coordinate and give him the opportunity. While he was, I mean, they had a plan, but he had pretty much said that he had like given up on being able to make it. He didn't even know if he was going to get to watch. Right.

He was hoping to watch it. So for Cliff, Jeff Andrews, the whole, Jeff Gordon, the whole group. Shows you how bought into they are to Kyle Larson's situation. And being in tune with. what moves the needle for him and what pushes the buttons and knowing the significance of trying to go do that is something pretty special from a team standpoint to as a driver I would feel like they're bought into it being right for me and not a distraction to what I'm doing in my cup car

can also make him stay around in the cup car longer when you're when you're allowing him to do it for sure he didn't how much you think he's spent jet fuel this over the past couple weeks I don't know I'll tell you this. You better want it pretty bad because you are burning some cash, Jack. Good thing he won. Good thing he did what he did. He didn't lose a sprint car race in Iowa this past week. It's pretty awesome.

He didn't lose a single one. That's, I mean, it's just, but look at this. Look at all the money you got. So it's $13,000 for the first one, 21, $12, $2,000, and then the big one, which everyone wants. So shout out to that whole group and the whole 57 group. You know, that's a... We're going to bank half of that, went to jet fuel. Probably.

A very cool accomplishment. I hope he's loving it. The double that nobody expected. Yeah, the double nobody expected. That's a great feat. Yeah, it really is. He was laughing because, you know, they were following his car as it got there.

And he's like, that's something that happens like Taylor Swift and Donald Trump. They got the camera on it. He landed and they got the flow camera was right there at the airport. I was like, this is awesome. It is.

Good for Kyle Larson. Cool. Very cool. Appreciate it. Welcome to your favorite segment. That's all we got. This average. All right.

Let's, uh, time now for last call, you guys. And the first thing, order of business is to go ahead and grade that burnout for Mr. Joey Lagano. We know he is no stranger to doing burnouts. What did we think of the one who did at Richmond? I think this one was pretty good. And this is probably not the best part of it.

This is just the burnout on the front straight away. Yeah, I kept going, right? The fact of the matter is Joseph. Joseph carried the burnout all the way to Victory Lane. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And might have blown out a few ear drums, but he did a burnout all the way down the aisle to Victory Lane. And then he did one all the way onto what are rubber mats in Victory Lane. And it was great when they started to take the, they tried to take the plastic floor off the tires that was stuck to the tires in Victory Lane.

So he took it, he took it to another level. Those were, those were good burnouts, but the extra effort of doing the burnouts into Victory Lane. and in there. I think we're going to put that in the elite category. Top three. Joey Lagano understood the assignment. I don't remember who else is in the top three.

I'm going to tell you what. The burnout end of Victory Lane. Bristol is where a lot of people do it, a lot of Bristol. I enjoy it, but with these cars, oh my God. It's loud. It is so loud.

It is. It is. It feels like it could instantly shadow your job. Oh, my God. No kidding. Well, good for Joy. You could sense the elation on the victory for sure.

So it's time now to take a look at our point standings. And as a refresher, we'll go through who picked whom. And I picked Denny Hamlin, so I picked up six points. I'm at 90. I'm trying to get to Kevin. It's not going to happen. He picked Christopher Bell, so he got three points. Austin Dillon's selection for Mamba is a zero.

Yeah, good job. I was really going for the three-peat. I was going for the storyline. The reality of the situation just showed up. Yeah, once practice happened. I'm like, ah, that team is not looking good. You told him it was a good pick last week. I thought he would be competitive, but never found that.

They never, yeah. And honestly, after Iowa, they were quick. So, I mean, technically, I'm officially the regular season champ. Yeah, sure. You're about to be. Yeah. No, I mean, it's over. Yeah.

We still have to make one more choice. Yeah, but you can only win 20 points. Yeah, no. And I'm 26 ahead. You're picking this for bragging rights of having another win. Yeah. I mean, technically second is still up for grabs. but it's not.

Yeah. I mean, if you could put some picks together and actually win a race, it'd be great. Oh, no. Listen, we reset the points, you know, when the chase starts. We're not reset. Yes, we, no, yes we are. We're doing, no, no.

This is not Winston Cup style points. We were resetting, brother. You got to go for 10 straight. You got to beat me for 10 straight. Well, we still need to make a choice for Loudon, regardless. So, who would like to start? I mean, you finish last, so go ahead. Okay, okay.

It's, it's time. And he wins here way too much. C-Bell, Christopher Bell, it is time. Let's go, Big Dog. Time to hold up the lobster. That's who I had, too. I just want to see him cross that threshold and get a win. That's a good pick.

That means you're going to guarantee yourself second place. Yeah. If you just pick the same person that he does. Is that how you're picking? Yes, that's right. She's not going to change. You're last. Are you picking Cibow?

No, she did. So you're, you're going to finish last. I got to change. If you're picking Cibelt, it's kind of like, it's kind of like going, what's the game show where you play your bets on the item? Oh, I don't know. What's the, what's the case?

Price is right. Oh, okay. Yeah, so like you want to end the guy is up by a dollar or down by a dollar just to make sure that there's no in between. So you're changing now. That's not allowed. Oh, no, that's not allowed. I'm doing it.

I'm doing it. Give me, uh, give me, uh, give me, uh, briscoe. Oh. Okay. I think I need to stay in that same round. So you changed your bet because she picked Bell. me. Well, yeah, because, well, I picked Bell and then she picked Bell. I had already written it down on my desk.

It was strategy. I didn't just. I know. That's why I'm changing the strategy. Okay. Well, I'm going to take Hamlin. Okay. There you go. Everyone's picking gifts. So Ford's going to win then. Yep. We got three votes of confidence for Joe Gibbs racing out there in Loud New Hampshire. So we'll have to see how it goes. It'll be good. It's going to be good. All right, guys. Thanks to what's wrong? Oh, I just wanted to say real quick, if you're at New Hampshire Road to Speedway, Saturday night, we got a little show out in the

fan zone. I'll be out there. What kind of show? We're interviewing like Dick Bergerin. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, the Penske guys are coming out. It's going to be really fun. I'm excited to be back home. See all the folks. Excellent. Oh, I do it drive or introductions this week too. You are. Really? Yeah. Rock on. You should be doing them. All right,

very good. That does it for this episode. A Happy Hour. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcast. For Kevin, Mom and myself, that does it for us. We'll see you after Loudon.