Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Kyle Larson Wins Cup Championship, Denny Hamlin Heartbreak, Xfinity & Truck Champions Crowned, and the Future of the Playoff Format

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith recap an unforgettable NASCAR Championship Weekend in Phoenix. They react to Kyle Larson’s thrilling Championship victory, break down the critical caution that changed everything, and discuss the heartbreak for Denny Hamlin, who dominated most of the race yet still came up short of his first Cup title. They analyze how the rest of the Championship 4 — William Byron and Chase Briscoe — performed and explain how tire wear played a major role in shaping the race. The crew also discusses Jesse Love’s Xfinity Series Championship and Corey Heim’s Truck title run, before diving back into the heated debate around NASCAR’s playoff format and what the future should look like. Mamba delivers this week’s top social media moments in Social Sips, and in Last Call, they grade Larson’s burnout and crown Kaitlyn as the official postseason points champion of the show. 0:00 - Intro 2:15 - Championship Weekend Recap 1:00:25 - Mamba’s Social Sips 1:12:23 - Last Call! GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. Terms: draftkings.com/sportsbook. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). Sponsored by DK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm happy for Kyle Larson. He beat the system. I feel absolutely gutted for Denny Hamlin. I'm always so impressed with William Byron. He seemed so mature beyond his years. I don't know why everyone else took two. I said, brother, what? This guy driving this late model claims he was going to get abducted by aliens.

That's the kind of weird shit that happens. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick. She's Caitlin Bensie, and he's still here. Not going anywhere, baby. We're still here. Oh boy. Mamba Smith.

The one and only Mamba Smith. Still here, buddy. Still here. Good for you. You know, we're glad you're here. Good for you. We're glad you're here. I mean, someone has to teach Kevin how to dress and obviously it's wearing off.

Jeez, what a way to come out strong. I don't know. We are more coordinated than the normal. I'm just saying. I'm not at all, I guess. I didn't get the memo. You brought the color to the set. Yes.

The fall vibes. Yeah. Your own style. I try my best. Yeah, we really shouldn't match that much. All right, guys. This is wild. We are done with the NASCAR season.

Crazy. We got three champions. We're going to talk about everything that transpired out in Phoenix. Welcome in to episode 78 of Happy Hour. We got a big sipp list because we're getting drunk this week. We are hammered.

I promise you out when we getting hammered this week. Yeah, you're done working. How is Phoenix for you? No, I'm not done working. Oh, yeah, he has to turn around and fly back to Phoenix. Yeah. For the award show. I'll be at the award show.

Yeah, so by the time this show comes up. What's your job out there? Hosting the Red Carpet with Carla. Oh. Carla Mets. Good for you. Because, you know, again. Lucky you get to work alongside Carla.

I get to work alongside some very beautiful people. Yeah. She's one of those. I was going to ask you what you knew about style because I hadn't seen any of it all year. You know exactly what I saw. You know exactly. Do not start this. I will not get Delana to start going through your closet and showing you what you need

what you don't need again. But yeah, no, everyone knows what the deal is. I'm going to be coming in strong. I got a nice fit. How was Phoenix, though? Phoenix was great. Yeah, it was fun. I mean, it was sold out.

The crowd looked great. Yeah, like, I don't know. It was sold out. Those people love that place. They support it. They support it in the springtime. They support it in the fall time. It was a vibe.

The campground was full. The infield was full. There's a lot of new fans out there. A lot of fans from different states all over the place. There was a lot of cool. closers. They wanted me to tell you guys that their social Sips was the favorite part. And I said, I keep trying to tell them. We have heard this on every episode.

It's weird because they keep telling me that. You know the crazy part about Phoenix is you talk about the camping, you talk about the fan support. It's been that way as long as I can ever remember going there. And I used to go there as a little kid. And, you know, I think when you look at now, I don't think it was as packed last year. I don't. So, they did a really good job this year.

getting the fans there, but I think some of that has to do with it's not there next year. This is true. And I think that any time, no matter what we do, we always seem to go down a path of going once too many times. One too many. And I just, I hope that when people see that we're going to Homestead next year, I hope we're not going to Homestead the year after, I hope we're going somewhere else. And we start to have a rotation of where that championship race ends up.

Because I think that just having that mystique about where it's going to be and that that want to be there. Intrigue, yes. Yeah, the intrigue of where it is and knowing that it might not, it's not going to be there next year and you're getting to see something special. Yep. Brings a little bit of more to the plate than having it at the same place year after year. Yeah, we've seen that, we've seen what it did for Pocono, right?

Pocahono is one. It did, I mean, I hate it for the New England area, the Northeast, but obviously Pocono, New Hampshire, they both back down to one, and those places are, it's a party, it's a party. vibe out there all over again. And I think the fact that I'm from so far east and you're from so far west, that mindset is both very similar. Well, it did the same thing at California Speedway. When they went from two races to one, it was one great event instead of having two mediocre events. And you know, you look at a place even like Kansas. Like Kansas really should be a one race event because of the fact that you have two mediocre crowds. I think it would be a great

one race crowd. Chicago land was the same way. It was a great one race crowd. I think that crowd will be good when we go to Chicago Land because we hadn't been there in a while. And it's kind of like that nostalgic place that has kind of been sitting idle since... Yeah. Five out there. And it's...

I think these cars are going to put on a great race at Chicago Lab because it's rough, it's worn out when we left. Yeah. Not to mention it's been sitting for how many years it's been sitting. Yeah. And so I think that, I mean,

San Diego is going to be... That's going to be cool. It's going to be just... One of a kind. And those one-of-a-kind events are really what the sport needs. but having the championship race at a different venue every year compared to the previous two or three years is the way that they should do it.

I hope that when we go to Homestead, I hope the next year we're going somewhere different. Yeah, I also think that there's an X amount of races. I don't know which ones there are, but there's probably three, four, maybe five racetracks that have two races that need a one race rotation. And then you do one race, and then the next year maybe it goes back to two

and then the next year it's back to one. Some type of balance to get people re-energized about it because they're used to it. And when they know that you only get one chance that year to see it, you will see a spike. And if there's a rotation of that, I think it's good for everybody. Makes it more of a commodity. Yeah, because obviously the tracks need the races there. So it needs to be a rotation of some kind. I love that you guys just previewed tracks when the season ends because we don't get to preview anything today.

Thank you for that. Appreciate that. So we have a lot to talk about leaving Phoenix and three different series to break down their championship races. So I guess we'll start with the Cup series and Kyle Larson winning the championship. This is very interesting the way this whole race unfolded. Would you agree? I would agree. And I think when you look at it and you look at all the tire failures, which I think Goodears will go down that road in a little bit because I think they're still on the right.

right path as to what the industry is asking, what the fans are asking, what everybody is asking for out of the tires. I think that when you look at Kyle Arson winning the championship, he was the only guy to advance on points to the final four. It's his second cup championship, very different than the first cup championship and how that went for him. But this was just one of those races where you just didn't know where it was going to end. I was sitting at home watching it with my family, and they said, well, it's over. I mean, Denny Hamlin kicked their butt all day,

had by far the fastest car, and ultimately, I told him, I said, this race is not over. Somebody is blowing a tire before we get to the end of this race because it's a little shorter run, and everybody is going to put everything right on what they think is the ragged edge of not blowing a tire.

And ultimately, it was William Byron that blew a tire, which same scenario, right? Rudy's just going to put it right on where he thinks the edge is and it was not meant to be for the 24 bunch. But I'm happy for Kyle Larson. He beat the system that is in place and the championship format that is in place and won the championship, just as our other two champions did, I feel absolutely gutted for Denny Hamlin. I think everybody does. I just, you know, I think that with everything that they put together, this year, the dominant car that they had in the final event and so many other events and

knowing the scenario with his dad and everything that is happening for him. Two totally different emotions after the race and talking to people that were there. It was like this side of pit road was super happy and with excitement. This side was somber and just devastated. He seemed totally bewildered. Like, how did that just happen almost in his face? Yeah. Well, it was a, I mean, that's got to be one of the toughest calls that you could possibly ever make as a crew chief. And, you know, you heard him say it after the race. It just doesn't seem like it's meant to be. And if I can't win the championship in this car, then maybe I'm not going to win one. And then you hear, you saw the comments after the race of just him saying, I don't even know if I want to drive a car again.

Now, I will tell you, that's normal. Everyone's done. When you're in this situation and I felt like that in 2020, you know, you go out and win nine races and don't win the championship and what you feel like is the dominant car all year long, except for that one event, you're mad, you're frustrated because all of your, your whole season comes down to this race. And that one circumstance is what cost in that. the championship from a day that he dominated.

Yeah, so hopefully he will continue racing. Maybe this will subside for Denny. I thought this was very interesting, though, because the whole season we've been talking about how it comes down to the one race. But when you look at what the five team did, you know, they didn't lead any laps. He said they had an average car at best.

They didn't get the pole. Blue two tires. They didn't win a stage. They overcame a lot. And I am happy for them. I picked them. I'm happy for any team who can do it because I know what it entails

to put together a whole season and how much hard work it is. But, like, I didn't really feel like this race even backed up the whole story of, like, coming down to a final race. Like, he didn't win the race. It wasn't the best car in the race.

It came down to a call at the very end. Yeah, I mean, that's sports. I am going to smack you. We race, Mama. It's not sports. It is. I'm going to smack you if you just to keep using that word on the show.

But it is. It's motor sports. We are a sport. And this is life. We're motorsports. Right. We're motorsports. We're not sports.

I think they've... I think they fall into the same category. I think they fall into the same category. No. So, this deal, you can do every single thing right. When I was growing up, every racer, my dad, everyone would tell you, sometimes the best car and the best team doesn't win. That happens a lot lately.

That happened a lot. the day. It happens all the time. For a championship? Just win, period. Like, whatever. If a championship or the one race, like, this happens. It sucks that it happened. I feel bad for the whole 11 group. I feel bad for Denny. They did every single thing and checked every single box. They really did, except for a four versus two. But on the other side.

Or no pudding. On the other side, the five, they overcame a lot. They did. Not only all year long, but in this race. The fact that they had all of the adversity throughout the year is why they're able to overcome the adversity in the championship race. Because they had the confidence. They're great at doing that. They had the confidence that they could do it. Yeah.

Showing that time. Showing it. They've done it over and over again. And if you listen to how Cliff talked about it, he said that we never thought we were out of it. And so we can talk about how it sucks and how whatever, whatever. I'm not saying it sucks. I can actually, I mean, I could actually stomach Kyle Larson winning the championship. because he's scored the most points all year.

And, you know, I think when you look at that, I can stomach it. I just, when you look at just a straight up point system, getting to the last race, you'd have had a hell of a points battle. I'm just fed up with the one race thing. If you'd had a hell of a points battle, all the way to the end, and it puts people in the exact same position of having to go out and win. And then you have, you know, so just to go back on all this, really people, this is a tough situation because of the fact that people were tired of the old system because people were

winning by too much. People were, now were tired of the point system because of the fact that it comes down to one race. I truly believe there's a, there's a balance in the middle. And in the end, I mean, Steve O'Donnell all but said the format is changing. He said it. He said it was changing. He said it was changing. He just didn't elaborate on it because he didn't want to take away from the system that the guys are already in. It's super hard to compare the guys. The guy is, that went in this system to Dale Earnhardt because of the fact that you're just racing two different types of systems.

And the old system was built over the season. It was built on consistency. It was built on winning. It was built on mistakes. It was built on lack of DNFs. Because in that type of system, no way Denny Hamlin ever decides to miss Mexico. Well, that, so right?

Like if you have a system where all the races matter, guys aren't just gonna say, well, I might have a baby, I might not have a baby. I'm just going to stay home this week. In my generation, that never happens. And there's a lot to everybody's personal scenarios. We don't know all those scenarios. And there's a lot of things that didn't he having to consider.

But so I'm not saying that he didn't need to stay home. I'm just saying that those thoughts and conversations become a lot different when those weeks are on the line. And you go back and you look at a 2015 season, I thought my 2015 season was better than my 2014 season. team season, ultimately lost a championship to a guy that missed 11 races. That's, that's just, you can't compare what we, what we're doing in this particular format with the way that it is compared to what happened before that.

No, and I don't, I also don't think you can really compare the king to Dale because Richard was racing, they were racing more races at that time. Like, like it's eras and everything, and it changes. Like there's Richard's era, there's Dale. era and then there's Jimmy's era, right? And we're kind of like on the tail end of Jimmy's era because we're about to change over into something different. So I think that's how the evolution of this thing goes, not only here but in other places. And I feel that we're just part of, we're in that evolution. We're about to move into something else and that's okay. New era. Well, here's the one thing that I will say. You know, we're in the, let's try

make it fair for everybody evolution. And I think when you're in the middle of that of what we've done, and Steve O'Donnell alluded to this as well in his comments where he said, you know, I think that we wanted to try to make it so that we had more winners. And in that process, we made less stars because of the fact that less people weren't winning all the time. And you didn't have that dominant star. But we're headed back to that anyway. The next-gen car and all the things that have come with it trying to make it fair for everybody, those days are over. And, you know, you've got the Gibbs versus Hendrick racing for the championship this weekend, just like it pretty much was, you know, in the previous chunk of time before we had next gen, the good teams are

rising back to the top. And you can see it in the stats. And when you look at, we had 14 drivers who won a race, who won races this year. That's the fewest since 2000. And my point there is the good teams are starting to get the good people and the details. And all of a sudden, it's migrating back to how it was anyway. Let the stars be the stars. Let the guys that are going to dominate. Let them dominate. You can't make this so that it's fair for Rick Ware Racing compared to Rick Hendrick.

Right? Like, it's never going to be fair. It's not going to be the same. And the more you try to water that down, I think that's how we got to where we are, trying to make it so that it was more even for everybody. It's never going to be even. The good teams are always going to be the good teams.

Well, I think that's kind of the point, right? The good teams are always going to be the good teams. If you make it a little harder for them, they're still going to be... They'll catch up eventually. They're going to catch up. It's just a matter of time. It's just a matter of time.

So I think where I see that, I'm like, yeah, okay. So when we keep changing it, like when... And this time and this car, you're not working in the areas like we were at the old car. Like, I remember there was a time where, yeah, I remember there was time. Like, the Dodgers, you knew they had big smoke under the hood. Their struggle was getting to get through the corner a lot of times. And like, so I think that with this car, you can't work on a specific corner of the sandbox. You got to have the whole thing.

And so, I don't know, when you change up the rules and you keep them guessing, I think it makes it fun. It's fun to watch. Like when you guys didn't get to practice, you guys had to unload, and then you got it better throughout the race, I thought those were some of the best races that we ever saw. Just because now guys that we think aren't very good, it's not that they aren't very good, it's just their equipment isn't very good.

So, like, I don't know. I think there's a little bit of both. Equipment's the same, though. Not how you put it together, though. Not how you put it. It's all about the people. So it's a team deal. It's about the people that.

Oh, Lord. It's about the people and the simulation in the direction that the driver leads them. Yes. together. You need everybody. This is the biggest, this is the biggest team sport,

I think, in the whole deal. Because everybody, their job, everyone's job is connected to someone else's job. Yeah. Like,

when I was in Teardown, if I didn't tell, if I didn't know what I was looking at, if I didn't tell the engineers, hey, this is going on in this part of the car, like, you might want to look at that.

That might be a failed part later, and we might not win. Yeah, but I can, I'm going to go right back to you. And I'm going to tell you that there are three or four guys that are just better than the rest of them. Oh, yeah.

The drivers. Yeah. And, you know, Denny Hamlin is one of the best that you'll ever seen at guiding his team to getting to where he needs to be with the car, with the commitment, with the time, with the effort. You know, he's just better at that. And, you know, I think that's why the great teams wind up great. You look at Joey Legano, leading Penske and the test sessions and all the things that have happen to get them back on track. It usually comes from Joey Legano. Joe Gibbs Racing wins the most

races. Most of that falls on Denny Hamlin's shoulders in the simulator and the time spin in there and the direction. So, you know, Jeff Gordon, I still believe that one of the biggest things, one of the biggest downfalls of Jimmy Johnson's at the end of Jimmy Johnson's career was the fact that Jeff Gordon wasn't in the building guiding the ship with the cars and the parts and the pieces to keep the engines and the cars and the parts going in the right directions to help make good decisions. So, you know, you look at a, you know, you even look at Larson, right? Like, he doesn't seem like the guy that's going to be the Jeff Gordon type to guide the ship of, you know, are the engines lacking horsepower? Are they lacking torque?

Are they, are the cars not turning here? Was this changed good? he's not going to be that guy. And every organization that is great has that guy. Denny Hamlin is that guy. Joey Lagano is that guy. They got, I mean, the Gibbs cars had him beat on speed for the whole second half of the year, for the most part. It was the opposite at the beginning of the year.

But, you know, there's just a, there's a certain amount of guys that are going to figure out how to do that. And, you know, Denny Hamlin's one of them. Speaking of Denny Hamlin, let's break down his race a little bit more. because as we've talked about, a standout car in terms of speed, did everything they needed to do. It came down to the final pit stop. Your opinion on the decision to take four tires?

Well, it's a, I mean, it's the most difficult call that you can make. As a crew chief, as you get towards the, you know, the end of the race right here, I think that I didn't think there would be as many cars in between them as what wound up in between them. And I think the big difference here that we saw from Friday night with Corey Heim, These cup cars on that flat down on the apron can't do what the trucks do for whatever reason. They don't, you can't go all the way down to that inside wall and make those passes. And, you know, Denny got to a couple instances where he just couldn't clear the car that he was passing

and ultimately didn't make up any track position. When I interviewed Larson, his took off better than he thought it would, had more grip than he thought it actually would. So that's the tough part about these two-tire calls and four-tire. calls. I think that, you know, when you're in that position, they're going to go back and second guess themselves a hundred times, I'm sure, about, but it's easy to do now. It's difficult to do in the moment. Denny Hamlin and his team did everything that they needed to do. They brought the fastest car. They led the most laps. They won, you know, they won a stage and were great on pit road all day. Actually overcame a flat left for your tire. And I actually learned something this week while

while watching that if you're going to use that second jack, you've got to take a pump with the first one in order to be eligible to not get a penalty to use the second jack. So they went in, made the first pump, pulled the second jack out, got that thing up and only lost a handful of spots. Had a great plan in place.

So they checked all the boxes. Denny did all he could do. I just, you know, I don't think it, it just didn't work out at the end of the day for him. And, you know, but they had the dominant car. I would never I would anyone that questions the decision

of Chris Gale on that pit box has no idea what this thing is and how difficult that call is like he gave his guy an advantage and a tire advantage and Denny had the best car just won't enough laps to take advantage of it

he just needed a little bit more and honestly it was this much because if he he caught the 22 he caught Ligano he caught Ligano Ligano and turns one and two in a weird spot. Like, like, he kind of, he rolled Lugano and Lugano wasn't moving yet, and it kind of broke his momentum.

And then when they got off the corner, like, he was in those scenarios, you just, you have to have all those moments go right. Go right, yeah. When you lose that much track position, I think that, you know, green, white checker coming down to that on a, on a mile racetrack. Stuff. That's a, that's a tough one. Yeah.

to overcome as many guys that put on two tires. On the flip side, the five, he was even with the five through one and two. It's just the Cs kind of parted a little bit for Larson on the top, which honestly I thought that he was cooked because I thought he was going to get boxed in on the top because I felt like Denny had more options. Well, here's the thing that, think about this, though. When that shoes happened, leader chose the top.

Teammate on the top. behind the leader and then Larson. So that was a great choose because that lane should fire and should roll better than the bottom lane. And knowing what all these guys know about the cup car, there's really only one lane below the yellow line. In order to go somewhere, it's probably going to be on the top unless you can find an opening through the middle,

which Denny found earlier. It worked out for him. When he got behind, he got through the middle in traffic instead of that last time, he got pinned on the bottom. Unfortunate circumstances for Denny Hamlin. So too for Chase Briscoe, right out of the gate with practice,

eventful for this team. But they overcame a lot. It was very impressive what they were able to overcome. Hard to say what they maybe could have done if they hadn't had, you know, the right rear go down at the end. For the second time.

For the second time. What did you think of their day? It was. It was. And when you look at, practice day, tire problem, and then you hear his crew chief, James Small, talk about them being too aggressive and over the line. It tells you how aggressive that these guys were being. And I think that they probably went there with that. They definitely went there with

that mentality of we're going to be aggressive. And if it doesn't go our way, it doesn't go our way. We don't really know that we feel like we're swinging for the fence here anyway. I think, you know, they were in an aggressive mindset. when they got there. And, you know, on a weekend like this where the tires are on edge. And, you know, from a camber standpoint, they could fix that from practice. I think from an air pressure standpoint, there's a lot of juice there, you know, with getting the back of the car in the racetrack and down with that lower air.

So camber and low air were pretty finicky this weekend. But these guys were definitely being aggressive and just didn't all stay together for them. But they had a great year. And I feel like they have the most potential to grow of any team going forward with everything that they did this year. A very respectable campaign. First year, James Small paired with Chase Briscoe, first time Chase was at Gibbs. I think they have a lot to be proud of on what they did on the year. Oh, my God.

Drew Herring, I saw Drew in the airport this morning and Spotter. And I said, brother, you guys, I think you guys outperformed what everyone's expectation was. He goes, I'm sure, he's like, I bet no one had us in the lead eight. I said, I think almost no one had you in the playoffs just because it was such an unknown. Like, no one coming from SHR and how much of a debacle that was, like I think people didn't know what Chase had in him, but Chase knew what he had in him.

Yeah. And he knew what he was going to. And he believed in the processes that James Small had in that whole group. And they went to work, and it started slow. But then all of a sudden they were from about halfway on. They were lights out and one of the most dangerous race teams at the track every freaking week. It was amazing to watch that right. And I think the biggest thing for a team like this is trying to figure out exactly how to be able to carry that workload.

Yeah. Week after week, year, after year next year. How do you go into the offseason now? And I don't think, well, I just, in general, how do you go into the off season now, whether you're in any position on the race team and come back with that same work ethic and enthusiasm that got you to the point of, you know, in Chase Briscoe's case, making sure that you had a job next year. Yeah. Making sure that you had a sponsor next year. You're making sure that you were supposed to be here because, like you said, the Stuart Hoss cars obviously sucked really bad at the end. And you look at Chase Briscoe and Ryan Priest.

Those guys went and Josh Barry. Those guys all went to places as, yeah, two out of the three, one. But Priest was in the mix. He was capable of winning as well. So those are all new. Nobody knew that that was actually the case until they all went other places. And now, you know, you just got to figure out how to carry that same enthusiasm. And I think even when you look at the 60, right, once they were out of contention, they didn't,

they weren't able to carry that same enthusiasm and competitiveness that they carried while they were still trying to race to get in. And so that's the biggest thing for me is how does the night, can the 19 team carry that same enthusiasm through the winner and the work ethic and everything to start the season? because if they can carry that week after week after week like they did this year. But sometimes it's hard when you come back to have everybody as motivated as they are when you're chasing that carrot and fighting for your job. Yeah, there was, you talk about motivation. There was two drivers that came across the stage this week that weren't in the final four. And they were simultaneously, obviously they didn't hear what each other said.

And they both told me walking across the stage, this suck. as in not being in the final four sucks. And I'm like, it just made me think. I'm like, if you think this sucks, if you were out of it 10 weeks ago, how bad do you think that would suck? And that's kind of what you're talking about with the 60 a little bit. It's like, how are you going to get up every day and every week to still go run for wins? And are you going to bring that same enthusiasm and same grit and fire every week?

And I think for those two guys specifically, I think they're pretty. pretty motivated. They're from two different teams. So I think it'll be interesting. And you talk about the 60. Let's give a shout out to his boss. Brad Kozlowski finished second. Yes. Through the Hell Mary there at the end as well. God. God. He wound up finished him second. So I never saw him all day. No. But he finished second. And I think that tells you how much of a crapshoot it was there at the end, you know, to be able to just kind of throw some strategy at it. And he stayed out. He didn't even have two tires. So that tells you how important the track. position was and just what a deficit

Denny was at pinned back in the middle. Also a shout out to the Penske cars, they did show up. Oh yeah, by the way, Ryan Blaney won the race. Joey Lagano finished like third, I think. So the strategy for the rest of the field to keep them out of Phoenix obviously was a very smart strategy to have

because they brought it even without having a chance of the championship and they were fast. And Ryan was right in the middle. He raced everyone very respectful. But he was right there. But that's my point. That's what I'm talking about.

When you get eliminated from the playoffs, the good teams can still elevate themselves to be competitive for a win, right? And when you look at Joey Lugano, Ryan Blaney, I mean... Even Cendrick, he was up in the top five before that. He qualified good.

Yeah, he qualified good. But, you know, I think for true championship contenders, I think for a guy like Ryan Blaney and Joey Ligano to be, be able to show up at that last race and be competitive. It says a lot about not only them as drivers, but the whole team and being able to prep and prepare and have those things situated for the last race

and be competitive and go out with a win. I think that's a message sender. I think they wanted, I feel like looking at it, I'm like you're trying to send a message. Like, we're still here. Even though we aren't in it, don't worry, we'll be back next year and you guys better try to keep us out like you do. But the script flips.

Yeah, it flips big. time going to Homestead. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It flips big time going to Homestead. And Larson mentioned that today. He's like, look, I suck at Phoenix. And I said, well, you don't suck at Homestead.

Or Tyler Redick. Yeah. Yeah. So when you look at, I mean, that's really the reason that Tyler Redick won those Xfinity championships is because of the fact that it was at Homestead. So, you know, it goes from Penske strength to, you know, open. And there's a couple of guys that stand out. We did, Blaney had a shot to win there.

But you have to throw it to Tyler Reddick and, and Kyle Larson for being able to run the wall like they do. Yeah, I'm looking at Christopher Bell will be good there too. I would look at early, really early betting. Oh, we want to do that already? I don't know, really early, way, way too early. See, Bell, way too early. I haven't even mentioned that I won that deal. Won what deal?

That I picked Larsson. Oh, you did? When did you pick him? We'll talk about it later. All right, let's talk about the final driver in the championship battle, which was William Byron, had a very respectable run, very strong car. He too had a right front go down with three laps to go. Again, hard to say what the story would have been if that hadn't happened for him.

They were very strong. Well, I mean, the story would have been he would have finished fourth and lost the championship to Denny Hamlin. But I think that it falls right into that same category that we were talking about with the 19. You know, Rudy, put it on the edge. Let's see if we can make it. And I think William pushed as hard as he could there at the end of the race, probably harder than he had all day and leaning on the tires more than he had. But ultimately, it wound up with a right front failure. And his day was over. And he was the caution that brought out the chance for his teammate,

yeah. Kyle Larson to win the championship. But those guys did a great job at the end of the of the year, bringing the speed back in the cars, getting themselves looking more like they did at the beginning of the year. And I think that when you talk about those guys that have the work ethic and have the ability to be in the middle of their team from the driver standpoint and that crew chief relationship that is so important to evolve things and keep things on track when you're having trouble, you know, Rudy and William are in that category. And I think they're just going to grow. But, you know, William has such a great work ethic of being able to be involved and his growth as a competitor and a person and dealing with all the championship drama, the format

drama, the media, the time and things that it takes to sacrifice in your life to be able to be competitive are at an all-time high for these drivers and crew chiefs. The time and commitment that it takes to be great and win these races is as high as it's ever been. Yeah, I'm always so impressed with William Byron and just like how he handles so many different situations with such like grace and dexterity. And he seemed like visibly distraught to a bit when he spoke to Denny Hamelin after the race, you know, apologetic. You know, of course, you never want to be the cause of something like that. But he just, he seems so mature beyond his years and especially in these high pressure situations. Yeah, I mean, he comes from a great family.

does. His family is so great. His parents are A-1. And I talked to him right after on pit road. And he obviously, pain dejected. You know what I mean? They brought a grid race car. But again, for whatever reason, they haven't had the best race car. Like, as the race evolves. Yeah. Like, it just, every time he's been to the final race, he's always been right there, like top three, top five. But they never had that dominating speed. There was a moment in the race where it was like, okay, long run speed, 24 might be the best car.

At the very beginning. Yeah, at the very beginning. And the 11 made some really good adjustments or whatever they had planned to kind of flip that. And then they never got back. The 24 never really got back in front of them. And that was really it.

And I think, you know, we saw it on the broadcast, the tire specialist doing the last air adjustments. It was like, this is, like, I need, I need qualifying laps that he, like, and that was it. And I think just pushing, I think he was pushing as hard as he should, which is as hard as he had to try and get back to the 11, get in front of the 11, and just wore that right front tire out. And, you know, it sucks.

And I feel for William because I feel like he feels like he probably cost that for Denny in a way that he really didn't want to or didn't want to go down like that. He would have much rather finish the race. and end up second, Denny Wynn. You know, it's great for Hendrick, but like for him personally, he's like, man, I feel like I took something away. And he didn't, like, that's racist.

I was really surprised that he wasn't a little more aggressive when he had the opportunity to below the 11. Yes. At the end there on the next to last restart. I mean, they banged doors a little bit down the straightaway. But I was a little surprised. And I think if he goes back and looks at it, he probably should have been a little more aggressive

and kind of shoving the 11 up the racetrack a little bit in the corners, not just banging on him down the straightaway. But I was a little surprised he wasn't more aggressive with any when he had the shot because I felt like if he didn't do it right there in those first couple laps, and even when you go back to Martinsville. With Blaney. I was going to say. Blaney.

But he was pretty easy on Blaney before that. He took the opportunity when he had it because he waited too long the first time. And the next time he had it, he realized. that that was his last opportunity. I felt like he should have approached those moments on that restart as his last opportunity because they weren't keeping up with the 11. And I felt like William Byron should have been more aggressive with Denny Hamlin at that point for what they were racing for.

That's the one thing, again, we talked about all season with Denny. He puts people in compromising situations. Yeah. And that is a superpower that he uses. Yeah. And it's a little bit of a, I have to believe, it's a little bit of a head game a little bit. But that wasn't, that's what William probably needed to do to Danny is,

not that it would have rattled him, but just put him in a compromising situation to your point. He should have made sure he got the lead at that point, even if it was rough, right? I mean, it's just, it was too late in the race, could be the last restart. I felt like in that position he should have been a little rougher with the 11 than what he was.

He was very respectful in that situation. He could have been more aggressive for sure. So, guys, this race was punctuated with tire issues, as we have documented, but you were satisfied with what you saw a Goodyear bring, correct? I just, you know, I think after listening to all the guys talk about it after the race and knowing what the industry has been asking, I think that these are, and Denny Hamlin said this, these are team problems, not tire problems. Yeah, let's wish they're the fine tire issue.

And I think when you look at the tire issues, it comes from camber and it comes from air pressure. You know, so, you let too much air out of the tire is going to blow up. Goodyear gives you a chart that tells you at this air pressure, this tire is going to live this many minutes. So, you know, it's pretty well documented as to how that tire is going to live from Good Year's standpoint. And I think, honestly, I think all the competitors like where the tires are going with the falloff and some of it was extreme, some of it wasn't extreme. But I think from an industry standpoint, I think Goodyear has done a really good job of putting tires that are more questionable on the racetrack from a where, and durability standpoint, because that's what the industry has been asking them. I think in these championship race scenarios, there's not another race next week.

There's a lot of guys throwing caution to the wind with air pressure settings and camber. So, you know, I hate that the point system comes down to one race where there's so many tire failures, and it's not multiple races to decide who the champion is. I think we're headed there. Yeah. But I think in this scenario, it sucks because of the fact that. it is just one race, but I think it's also a punctuation, an exclamation point on why the format doesn't need to be this way.

Very true. Because of these tires. Like this tire situation, just push the ball down the road. If it were me, I'd put the, whatever the new point system is, I'd put the release out on Wednesday when the banquet is over. After the banquet. Well, let's let the champ. Let the champs have their moment.

It's not the teams and the drivers and everybody's fault that they're, that they won under this format. Let them have their time. but Wednesday morning, let's just go ahead and put that release out to what the new format is and be done with it because, but the tires to me were the exclamation point on why the system's wrong. It just reinforced why this should not be the format. Yeah, I mean, the teams, the teams that had the most issue other than the 16 and I think the 44 blew in two is the 19 and the 5 and they were going to be aggressive and then the 24 was

going to be aggressive. Well, the 11 had one too. The 11 had one too. Just happened to come under caution. Right. Okay. So all four of the champ competitors had issues. Why?

Because the moment was so big that they had to push it. I would rather, I know this probably sounds weird, but if the tire didn't have... Yeah, but you are weird. I am weird. Yeah. If you're going to be number one, you've got to be odd. So I understand. I'm technically number one.

Well, you're definitely odd. We know that. If you're going to have, if they're going to push it, I don't want them to push it and there be no limits. Like, to your point, I like that where we're at, I hope that next year we keep going down this path. I hope we don't fall behind because it's always evolution as the setups change and then good year has to change something. It's a back and forth.

So I hope we just keep going right down this path. So that was everything that transpired in the Cup series. Congratulations to Kyle Arson and Company. Very deserving champion, world-class driver, very strong team head to toe. So good for them. Let's go to the truck series, Craftsman Truck Series. Corey Heim, who had just an unbelievable year, was able to get the win. And again, it came down to tire strategy when Scott Zipadelli put four tires on and everyone else in the hunt did two.

And everyone's kind of watching like, oh, how is this going to play out? But he made an incredible move charged to the front. Yeah. And when you look at the restart that Corey Heim was able to have seven wide on the bottom. Unreal. And able to make that pass and come back to win the first. championship. And we talked about it last week. We said if Corey Hym or Connor Zillich lost the championship, it was going to be a nuclear meltdown from the fans. And Corey Hime saved them on night one with a

spectacular move, great pick call, fastest truck, whatever best driver, whatever you want to call it. It worked out. And I think that, thank God these guys won the championship. They had just the best year in the history of the truck series. Ever. Record setting in every category. Never a freaking doubt. They are head and shoulders above the field. That combination with Zippy and Corey,

Corey is a complete dog. He's ready for the top level right now. The interview that Zippy had when he's like, I don't know why everyone else took two. I said, brother, what? I said. I was like, oh my God. And Corey proved him.

Zippy had the ultimate confidence that no matter where Corey was going to come out on that racetrack, he was going to go get it done. And he did. And I think that winning when you're supposed to win is some of the most impressive things that you can do. And he did it in a way. I've seen that exact move at Phoenix probably six years ago. And what happened was all eight of those trucks were in the turn one fence. And one was almost flipped over

because one was ours at MDM. We were in the middle of it. And so that move and everyone making it through absolutely elite, elite by job. I'm so glad for him because we were all kind of talking before the race. We all had interviewed Corey multiple times throughout the weekend and he just seemed very tense.

And even people on his team were like, he is feeling the weight of this. Because like you talked about, it's like you've achieved all these things. But he told me straight up, he's like, I'm not going to view this season is a success if I don't get this chance. Yeah, I mean, well, that's, that's one of the biggest flaws of the whole system, right? Like, you can have the greatest year of anybody in the field

and still lose, you know, just off of one moment or one situation or one scenario. And that's the part that sucks when you've kicked their ass all year. And then you, so that's a lot of pressure. And having to deal with that pressure is difficult. And, you know, I think it'll go a long ways for him, you know, having to deal with all that pressure. But there was one guy that didn't feel a lot of pressure. Time and Jeske? No. Tyler Ancrum.

Oh, my. Those interviews that Bob did with all four of those truck series drivers off of our, whatever my quote was off the show last week. It did elicit some funny responses. And Tyler Ancrum's response was classic. It should be, I'd like to see you execute his victory celebration. Listen, I have a performance-based contract. I'm going to Phoenix for a trophy and a trophy.

check. I want to drive the Yola Corvette, grow my hair out, and listen to Heavens on Fire by Kiss. So that's what I'm going for. Everyone else, they can have their opinion. I don't really care. So maybe AI can come up with some sort of video for you in your victory celebration. Good for Corey Heim, though. That guy is an unbelievable talent. I can't wait to see what else he does in his career. Next season for him is going to be really weird. Yeah. It's already really weird. It's it's going to be really weird. And I'm shocked that we're, that he's, with the situation that they're in in the Toyota camp,

that he's kind of in no man's like, I have a hard time understanding. If Denny vacates the 11, they can take the 11 truck driver. I mean, he's the best prospect that they've had in years. Since Bill? Or, yeah. Bell or, I mean, they had Larson at one point, Bell and Byron. But they never really had Byron.

That was kind of like alone. I mean, he was a Toyota driver at KBM, Byron. Yeah, but that was still kind of alone. I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about. He was a Chevrolet guy the entire. The KBM thing was like, that was the best team to go. Like, KBM was like the best team.

So you put him with the best team. But I'm saying he was in their fold and Hendrick very much was like, we're taking him. He was, I think he was taking. Never fine, he's ours. I think he was taken beforehand. Okay, well, whatever. I don't know. Okay, let's transition to the Exponity series

where Jesse Love was able to get his first championship obviously won the race, very solid showing out of the team but Connor Zillich was denied the title and Connor, you know, we've documented on this show what an unbelievable year he had and you could see the disappointment on that young driver's face it was painful for me to see it and their friends like the whole thing... Did you shed a tear?

I did. I did. I literally did. I literally did. I thought you were going to cry again. Is that so much I care? I just, I feel it with them. I'm like, damn it. Yeah. Well, first off, congratulations to RCR and Jesse Love. They won the system that they're in. And, you know, I feel bad for Jesse because of the fact that he's winning the championship

in the scenario that he's winning the championship. And I think it's, I felt bad for him after the race because that's immediately what the questions that they started asking him. It wasn't a celebration. But they did a great job in this particular race of putting themselves in a position to have the best car. You heard Danny Stockman and his crew chief talk about how long they've been working on this particular car. He said they've been working on it for a month and a half trying to get it ready. Same type of pain that I had for Denny Hamlin.

I had times 10 for Connor Zillich. I mean, he had one of the best Xfinity seasons that you could possibly ever have. Overcame an injury? Yeah. Like the things he did was remarkable. Two injuries. It fell out of the car one time. Fowler car broke the collarbone one time.

Broke the bag of one time. Broke the bag of one time. Broke his bag of one time. I'm just saying like, God, he went through it. He did. And what do we talk about? Your win is your waiver? Yep.

And he just kept winning to make himself still have the most points and still be the regular season champ and still get all the way to the championship four race. But yeah, it's, this is a, by far the toughest scenario of the system and the best car from the year. Classic tweet. And we talked about the nuclear meltdown. I couldn't find a nuclear meltdown, so I found a dumpster fire. And I just, I knew that the fans were going to just absolutely go crazy over, over this scenario with Zillich. And I'm with them on this. You know, I think that the, obviously it's, you know, this is, this is one of those examples of,

when you just make the star because he's the guy that wins the most. And in this situation, he did not. I'm curious, because I know you're close with him. Did you speak to him after the race? I have not spoke to. In these scenarios, I never like to speak to anybody on Monday. In Cup Championship guys,

I just know that they're slammed with stuff, and I don't want to be just another, I don't want to be another blue dot of text that they need to check. Thanks, Kevin. I think with Connor, I was, he was pretty devastated after the race. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But that, that emotion and those scenarios and that devastation, those are something that you better get used to. Is that what you would say to him?

Well, I mean, on the cup side, it's going to be, it's going to be in an all-time high from a performance standpoint, from just a, you know, from responsibility and nerves and all those things. and commitment and balance in that circle of life and the money that you're making and all those things that you think are high level of what you've experienced so far, that's the closest that he's been to experiencing the pressure and the emotion that will come with what comes on Sunday

because it'll be times 10 in every category. It is. And some categories times 100 with the amount of pressure that difference from Saturday to Sunday. Your takeaway is from the Xfinity Championship. Connor Zillich, Marty Lindley,

the whole 88 group at JRM, absolutely phenomenal season. They brought it every week. They brought it with different drivers. They did driver switches at Daytona. They crushed this year. But the champion

is Jesse Love, Danny Stockman, and RCR. And I think that they deserve to be celebrated as champions and not questioned about how they did it. They went out and took it. They weren't even the best car when they unloaded. They wanted the best car in qualifying,

and they weren't the best car at the beginning of the race. And not only did they beat the 88, they also beat the 19 who won the owner's championship. And the 88 also didn't beat the 19. The 88, for whatever reason, just wasn't as good this week. This is the first time that they weren't that good. And that sucks. I hate that for them.

But I'm not going to sit here and take that away from what the two did, bringing the best car. And they made the best adjustments. And usually I feel like RCR gets kicked in the pants when it's a tight situation. They've been, whether it's Austin winning, Richmond, whether it's Ty Dillon, you know, being in the in-season challenge and everyone's being like, oh, he doesn't belong that way. Like, they're always getting dogged on. and they went out and took something with grit and performance. Great performance. At this race.

Yeah. I think that that's the epitomea sports. And you could see it on Jesse's face. As much as it was painful for Connor and on Connor's face, you could see the relief on Jesse's face. He said that too. Connor is a world-class race car driver. He was one before he got to NASCAR.

He's only going to be one more as he goes through NASCAR. But now Jesse put himself on the map as a guy. that may be also a rising star, and I think that's something that should be celebrated. Very compelling moment, seeing Jesse celebrating with his dad too, with everything his dad to do. Oh, yeah, you could see the pressure on his dad sitting there. The whole family.

Yeah, everybody was just on pins and needles. Big shout out. Big shout out to Whelan. Because they've been in the sport for so long. They're a big Northeast brand. They've been in the sport so long, supported so many different drivers. They've never really had this type of team before.

and for them to be champions as brand sponsors for all this stuff. And I was super pumped to see the two car back, you know, in Victory Lane. And, you know, I think for me personally seeing, you know, Richard and all that Danny Lawrence and all that group that is there in Victory Lane, you know, obviously I was fortunate to win a championship in that number two A.C. Delco car. And so, you know, I think that it's just when you're at the end of the line, on something like we are with our point system.

And I think that we talked about the tires and we talked about the Connor Zillich and just the way that the Xfinity championship was won. It's just time. It is definitely time. Connor quoted you, by the way. Bright lights. Bright lights, man.

Did you see her... You know what I think is funny about that because it's been quoted a lot? Everyone's like, well, I guess this person didn't show up when the lights were bright. It's not that they didn't show up. It's that somebody showed up more. That's what the point is.

I'm not saying that someone didn't show up. They did. But this person showed up more on the bigger stage. And that happens. Happens all the time. That's life, man. It's racing. That is racing.

That is racing. It's not sports. It's racing. I know I said it's life. But we are a sport. So one other note to address, NASCAR allowing cup drivers to run more in the lower series. They made this announcement, which is exciting.

Cup drivers with three seasons of full-time experience can do 10 races now on Expinity and eight in the truck series. I like this. Well, we're just unwinding all these things to make it fair for everybody again. You don't like this. No, I love this.

Oh, okay, okay. They should have never put a limit on it in the first place because of the fact that it brings sponsors in, it brings fans, and it brings everybody in, and it's just, it's kind of in line

with this whole thing that we're unwinding, right? Like we're unwinding trying to make it, make it fair for everybody. It's not fair for everybody. there are people that are better than others.

You're not going to make every team the same. And in this particular situation, now I agree that they shouldn't be in there while you're racing for a championship. Right. So if we do have a playoff, those guys don't need to be in there. But the fact that we ever took cup drivers

out of the Xfinity series and truck series and only let them run a few races is one of the dumbest ideas that we have ever come up with. I'm ecstatic right now because at the very beginning of the year, We talked about this a lot. I'm like, part of the reason why I think when guys go move up and they're not as good

and then they run out of money because their money is short is because they're not racing against enough competition. They're not prepared. They're not prepared. And also the other thing, when we talk about Star Power, when you're a 15th, 10th to 20th place driver in the Cup Series, even 25th, you can go down one rank, one level. and go compete in win races, right? And you have a fan base. When people see you win, then you're dubbed as winning.

It might not win on Sunday, but it helps your star power. It helps all the things of sponsorship because you're still a winner and you're still winning. It just means that when you go up a level, you need to get better and elevate, but it all matters.

Look, when I was at RCR and we were going through our years where we were struggling, one of the biggest things that I did was go down to the Bush series and race and win. And that's how. you kept yourself relevant.

Exactly. And that shows that your cars aren't where they need to be on Sunday. Because you're beating the same guys. You're beating Mark Martin. You're beating Jeff Burton. You're beating whoever else is in that race. And as a young driver, you have to have something to show where you are, what that measuring stick is.

And if Kyle Larson shows up five times a year and thumps your ass, you're probably not ready. How many of you get some work? Get in the lap. And for example, when you go to an Xfinity race and a cup driver is in it, if there's no cup driver in that race, the line's not moving to where the cup driver thinks it needs to be. So those young guys never explore the outside lane. They never explore the apron. They don't do things to the extreme that the cup experience would bring towards it.

So it's, like I say, we're unwinding so many things right now. Undoing the wrongs. We're undoing so many, so many of the decisions that were made by fan, fan councils and trying to make it fair for everybody. Like, let's just get back to the basics. Yeah. And undoing another piece of that, I'm super happy. Good job. And every truck driver I would talk to, love when Cobbush would come down.

Because it's somebody of a high level that they get to learn from. So they always seem to feel like it was hugely beneficial. But even the trucks, though, right? Like, we've taken the trucks and made him. so slow that a lot of the places that they go, they're just wide open. Just wide open, mine and a half, almost all of them. And, you know, I think that some of that stuff that we've backed out of trying to make it

so that it was right for more people was wrong. And making them fast and hard to drive and having the best competition there with the drivers and having a, you know, a championship that's decided in, you know, a way bigger pile of races than what we have with, with what we have now. All these things were undone for, we're done for the wrong reason,

and I'm so happy that we're starting to undo them one at a time. I can't wait for this one. Yeah. I'm being told to move on, but before we do, I know you want to hit your Grand National. Correct. Well, when I look at, let me see here.

Whose idea was this? That was mine. Oh, is yours? Okay. Yeah. But, you know, I think we had this conversation several years ago about the, about the Cup series. You know, we had the monster energy,

Cup, then we had the Sprint Cup, and we had the Winston Cup. And it's like, all right, who are we? Can we just make this the Bill France Cup so that the trophy doesn't ever change? Those conversations happened a long time ago. And I feel like we're at that point with, what's it called? O'Reilly. The O'Reilly Auto Part Series. I feel like the O'Reilly Auto Part series or the Xfinity series as it is now, it has the, it needs a consistent identity. And I think that calling it the Grand National Series so that everybody knows what the hell it is

instead of just, I mean, it could still have the sponsor name and everything on it. But it needs to be identified as something that is consistent. And I think that the Grand National Series and maybe it's the same R'd Cup that they race for. I don't know. I love that idea. The Grand National Series sounds very prestigious.

Well, that way when you change the sponsor, you don't have to change the series. Keep going back and forth. It stays locked in. N-O-A-PS. Yeah. It's going to take us a minute to get used to that one. Yeah.

I still call it the Bush series on a game. But my point is it would just be the Grand National Series. It used to always be the Bush Grand National Series. The branding that you can do, the lineage that you can tie together, I think that would be ideal for everybody involved. Great marketing. Yes, agreed. Maybe we will keep pushing for that change to happen.

We'll only have one more week to push. And next year we're not talking about any of this controversial crap. Oh, we're not? We're just going to talk about, haven't you had enough controversy this week with just the points championship and everything has happened? We just want to have fun next week. Mamba? We want to have fun. We just have fun next year.

Speaking of having fun. This week's show, we just got all this drama that we got to talk about. It's your turn, sips. Hey. A little sloppy boy. Oh, wait. Got to take a drink. Listen.

It's been a fantastic year. of Mamba social Sips. This guy. The fans, you guys have really shown a lot of love. And I appreciate that. You're what makes this segment so great. That and telling me to tell Kevin and Caitlin that it's your favorite segment every week.

Sound like a politician. You got to know how to speak well. You got to vote. You got to know how to speak well. So, welcome to a championship edition of Mamba's social Sips. There you go. And we should start at the championship race.

So, as you guys know, Sydney Sweeney is in the media a lot. And earlier this year, a young William Byron may or may not have sent a hello comment or DM. We're unsure. But Austin Dillon went and chased down William before he left the driver's meeting so he could have a little hello with Sidney Swine. And his hat is red, but I know my boy. It's not as red as his face. It's not as red as his face. That is fantastic.

And Austin Dillon, you are a homie for that. That is a wingman like none other. Well, we've been championing for our own version of Taylor and Travis. And this could be the answer, right? Could be. Could be. Sidney and William. You know who I met this weekend?

Did you get to meet Sidney? I didn't. I met. And no, no, not boo. Because I met who I was. You guys had to explain. to me who she was. I did have to give him a...

Sophie Cunningham. Oh, yes. That plays for the Indiana fever is the enforcer on that team in the WMBA for Kailen Clark. She is so cool and was so nice and I don't usually fan girl out

but I did have to grab a picture and... Good for you. So hopefully she comes to the indie race next year. So anyway, that's sip number one and I agree. We do need... So let me ask you this.

So if this... What's her name again? Sidney, Sweeney. Sydney Sweeney. Oh, Sydney Sweeney. If she was sitting up there cheering on her man, William Byron every week in the suite or on the pit box, would they show her every week like they do Taylor Swift?

Probably. Well, I think yes. Yes. Yes, they would. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's really the only reason that Piper watches football. I think it's unfortunate because I get tired of seeing Taylor Swift anytime, so I try not to watch, you know.

It's like 10 seconds. No, if they score a lot of touchdowns, it's more than 10 seconds. Like 25 seconds. What's the point, though? But the game's like three hours. Show me the drunk fan that's really happy. All right, all right. Moving along.

This three phases of life. Kevin always talks about you got to have your circle of life. This guy has his circle of life locked in. Okay, this is his game room. This is wild. Look at the, so there's the, I think that's like a drifting type. A drifting type setup. This is a more standard one, more something like I might have.

at my house, so he has two. And I didn't know what this box was. I'm like, this is absolutely no way. He opens this. Kevin, what in the hell? Oh, my gosh. That is awesome, though. I guess that brings locked in to a new level.

It looks fun. Look at all the buttons on that thing. You know what he's not worried about? He's not worried about the electric bill, Tyler. I wonder how much all that's worth. A lot. It's got to be a pretty penny to get that kind of setup. I guess the point of the whole cover is to feel like you're actually inside the car.

Yeah. Okay. In the cockpit. I'm sure it moved. I don't know. It's hard to tell, but I would imagine it probably... Hey, I forgot to tell you guys. So when we went to California last week,

have you been seeing all this comet stuff with the comet that's coming? And so this guy... No, I watch sports. Huh? I watch sports. I don't know about comets. Oh, well, I watched racing. But anyway.

So anyway, this guy was at the racetrack, and his name is Avi Loeb. Okay? Look it up. when you get done. So Avi was at the late model race, the Cars Tour race at Mason Marin. Okay.

And this guy driving this late model claims he was going to get abducted by aliens during the race. So he showed up during this race. I don't know. You'll have to go look it all up when you get done. But yeah, that's the kind of weird shit that happens.

Yeah. You thought your sips were good. So random and strange. So you added it in the sims. So you just, that's a bonus sip. That is the weird. They actually talked about it on Joe Rogan's show this week.

Really? About driving the car and going to go on to the racetrack and everything. This guy genuinely believed he was going to get abducted. You got to look it up. Okay. I think it's a... I think it's... His name is Avilob.

And, but I think the project is the 31 Atlas or I think that's what it is. Okay. Yeah. If I look it up, do I have to wear a tinfoil hat too or no? Just look it up. Okay. Moving along. Thanks, Kevin.

Yeah. Brennan Pool. Really, really, really quick. Brendan Poole got into the money for Alpha Prime. At the last corner, he passed the 11 team. So he got top 20, so they got to pay out, which was really good for them. Really big for Alpha Prime in that group.

So I just want to give a short shout out to them. We are in a mailbag situation, ladies and gentlemen. From Lee McMillian. I think this is a real name. That's a great name. That is a good name. How did you mentally prepare for high-pressure moments, like a championship race or a final restart.

And then there's a second question to this that do you want me to ask you now? Do you want me to ask you after? Let's ask the first one. Okay. So how did you mentally prepare for high pressure moments like a championship? Well, I think that a lot of those moments are just, I think they're kind of trial and air as you screw up along the way and the moments that you live. But I think after you've been through so many of them, and I always tell people that my

cup career started backwards. Yeah. My biggest press conference was my first one. The most pressure that I was ever going to have. And everything else was kind of downhill from all the Earnhardt stuff as you went through that. So you almost become numb to it. You can answer all the questions. You can not get annoyed.

You can schedule all the appearances and do all those things. So when you get into those moments and you're locked in like you are with these guys that are driving the cars currently, you can take a deep breath and put yourself right in the middle of what you want to do. And it just, you just become numb to it all and are able to just, especially in the car, out of the car can be a little bit different depending on the scenarios. But the in the car piece is just second nature. So the follow-up question to that was you've raced through multiple eras of NASCAR. How do you think the sport has evolved for the better? And what do you miss from the old days?

I think, Kailen, I'd like to get your opinion on. From the old days, I would just say, and not say we don't have any, but I miss the really big. personalities, you know, the Dale ernards, the Kevin's, the Tony Stewart's. I don't know, that to me, I feel like we're lacking a bit of that right now. There are some with Star Power who bring a lot to the table. We had a lot more

in the old days to me. Kevin? I think for me the biggest thing that has changed is how much safer the sport is. Yeah, evolve. I've hit the, I've hit the evolution of safety has been something that NASCAR has not stopped on since

Dale died in 2001. whether it's safer barriers, seats, cars. I mean, you can go down the list. And they have done everything that they can possibly do to keep the drivers and the people safe in the sport. The things I miss the most are testing. I love the... I was not expecting he said.

He said that he was going to catch up. I love just the trying to make something better than the guy next to you and that creativity that came with that. We would go to Milwaukee. We would go to VIR. We would go to Kentucky, spend hours and hours and hours and hours, just trying to come up with the next best suspension package, the next best spring.

And so I miss those days of watching Todd Barrier, cut the front clip off at the racetrack, and weld it back on. Because you could make a difference. And I think that one of the other things I miss, I love seeing the flash bulbs coming to the green flag at night. That's cool. There is nothing cooler than the end of a race. I go back and watch the Daytona 500 win that I had.

And just the flashbulbs that are going off or when you're coming to the green at the all-star race at the old Charlotte all-star races, just all the flash bulbs that would go off. I miss one thing that I didn't realize, because people told me when it happened, but I didn't think it was going to matter that much, but when the teams had one brand,

I didn't realize how important that was. Yeah. Like, because I watch racing because I love racing, right? It doesn't know. I just, I'm going to watch it. But when the teams had one sponsor that was on the car most of the time, it was identifiable by fans and casual fans. Yeah. You might not know who Kevin Harvick was, but you knew he drove the good, that's a good vinch guy.

And with all, with the business being in a different place and the way the sponsors come, I miss that. And I also miss the commercials, which I think they kind of go. hand in hand. They do. You know what I mean? And I think that's one place when when people talk about, oh, NASCAR did this or NASCAR did that. A lot of the companies have done this too. And a lot of companies, and I see the, I think it's consumer cellular. Yeah. They do a great job. They do a great job. I love those. They do a great job of activating their brand. And even if you have multiple brands, you sure, it's easier to identify if they only had one. Yep. But I actually had that written down, activation. Activation. And, you know, I actually have a, we did so many commercials back in the day.

I actually have a screen actor guild's cards. Oh, do you really? Oh, yeah. He's got a sag card? You should have one anyway working at Fox. Oh, I know, but I had one before I got here. So it was, but my point is we shot so many commercials, even when we had the associate sponsors used to do all the commercials because they weren't on the car.

Yeah. Good Wrench was the primary on the car. So you had, we owned the grocery store. You had all the activation in the grocery store. You had Hershey on the B-post. they would do commercials every year with whatever brand we had on the car. So that activation from the brands with the commercials and things that go with it, Ross has been in the Bushlight commercial this year.

And that's a big step, not only for the sport, but for his brand. Yes. In general. Because Ross is not as recognizable to people as he should be. And Bush Light has the power to go out and brand something. something like that. And just him popping out of that tent and seeing him without his helmet on. Two seconds.

It's massive for his personal brand, though. Those consumer cellular ads are fun. Oh, they're hilarious. They kind of mimic the old school. Shut up, Chris. Yeah, yeah. They're kind of like the old mobile one commercials, all those silly skits that we used to do in mobile one commercials.

One thing that I do love and that I've always loved that always says the same as our fans are great. And there is this little girl named Heidi that goes to Phoenix every year and makes bracelets. And she made. me a personal one with my name on it, but she did make you guys a couple that have happy hour on it. That's so cool. So I appreciate your girls. Awesome.

Very nice. And that is the championship edition of Momba's social. So she's one of those fans that actually likes you this week. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Honestly, at the racetrack, they all like me. Yeah.

It's just the sleepers. It's the ones that are questionable on. The angry Twitter folk. Online. No one cares about them. All right. Guys, time now for our last call. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-N-Y or text Hope N-Y

467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-7-7-7 or visit CCPG.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort Kansas, 21 plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gambling resources, cdkng.c.c.O. slash audio, NASCAR is not responsible for this promotion and used under license. So Kevin, let's take a look at the best bed of the weekend, courtesy of Draft King's. Well, the best bed of the weekend was Kyle Arsett at plus 3.30. I'd say that that probably wasn't as high as I thought it would be.

I would have thought that he was a little bit more of an underdog than that. Yeah, I mean, we talked about on the show that we all, he was the one that we didn't talk about. Yeah. Well, take the checkered flag with Draft King Sportsbook. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use code Harvick. That's code Harvick for new customers to get $300 in bonus. bets when you bet just five bucks and win your first bet only on draft kings the crown is yours i should be wearing that you should be i don't want to mess your hair up why should you wear it yeah why should you

we'll get to that okay shout out to charlotte fc by the way they are in they have their game three that's good yeah they're trying to move what they plan for i don't care i hope they beat them anyway moving on moving on moving on to grading the burnouts this was a really good one i like this one Yeah, Kyle Larson right here. He's definitely put himself in the mix to have the best burnout of the year as we go into our show next week. Yes. But the thing I love about this is he's burning this thing down. And the next thing you know, he pops out of the window.

He's going to pop out of the window. They're going to hand him the championship flag. He's going to wave it while he's still on the gas with his guys right there. That is awesome. This to me is what we're talking about. This is what we've been looking for to, match that, have a chance to beat that Chase Elliott burnout from Bowman Gray and SVG stuff drifting with high-fiving.

Incorporating the team. We've got a few pretty solid burnouts that are going to go head to head in our vote at the end of the year. So, congrats to getting to Kyle Arson, and he definitely did a good one to end the season. He burned down that good year rubber, for sure. Cup title burnout right there. Very nice. Okay, so point standings, guys.

What a crock of shit I find this fucking hilarious You wound up Because I have been last For months You were last the whole year Not the whole year

Almost a whole year Almost Were you in last? For a little bit You just want to hear of me But look at that But now I end up P1 because I chose Kyle Larson

At the very beginning of the year To win the championship And I was correct So I got 80 points in the end I feel like Connor Zillitz Right now Just feel like I got robbed. No, you're not Conner Zillage because he made it to the finals

and you did not, because your driver did not make it to the final four. You're nothing like that. Kevin's at 61 Mamba 53. 27% of fans did pick Larson, so a lot of people thought that, well, a decent amount thought he could get it done. That's a lot. Yeah, so there you have it. Yeah, and if you went to math.

At a four. Yeah, that's, you know. But I'm not one to brag with us kind of cool. But I actually was like... The best thing is he finished last and I didn't. There you go. See, you still got your wish. You are the loser of the show.

You are so... You're officially the loser. You are so lucky in the last two weeks to not have me pass. You're like, what really got you was Martinsville. The fact that you picked Byron just because that's what saved me.

Hey, you say it all the time. You're just playing the system, bud. No, you say it all the time. You're just playing the system. Those are the rules. You can pick whoever you want. You pick whoever you want. The difference between me.

I out strategized you. Yeah, you did. You know what you did? You pulled a Cliff Daniels on me. That's right. You know what? And I got to own that. I think I pulled the Cliff Daniels on you guys, actually.

If we want to be, we want to get into it. That's a whole other thing. We have our own argument and she's actually the winner sitting over your flight. I'm like, Byron, you're like Danny and she's over here. Like, we won, so I don't care. Okay. So, speaking of Larson, though, you interviewed him and that interview is available now. Yes.

The interview is up. We had our champ. on the air, and congratulations to those guys again. Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson. Crazy year. You know, I guess this is the second year that we've done this show. I had no idea that I was actually going to enjoy it, but it's been a lot of fun.

Being on the other side of the fence here, critiquing everything. We love to critique. There's a lot to change as we go forward. As we go forward to 2026. Don't forget the Daytona 500. It's not that far away. It is Sunday, February 15th, on Fox.

Make sure you visit Daytona International Speedway.com to secure your tickets for the Great American Race. We can't wait. We're in the booth next. There you go. Back to the words.

Back in it. Back to finding the words for Kevin. Oh, yeah. Word of the week. We're still going to do it right. I feel like I'm cooked. You're not cooked. You'll be fine.

Yeah, so don't miss that. Daytona 500. Get your tickets. You don't want to miss it. And we actually aren't done, guys, because we're going to do an award show this year like we did last year.

Nobody told me about this. No, no one told you that we're wearing suits and dresses and gowns. Yeah, I'll bring mine. So we have some very cool categories once again this year. Best Word of the Week, viral moment, burnout, crazy is finished, biggest story of the year, and driver of the year. I'm excited about that last one. I'll be interesting to see.

I wish that we had more superlative awards. Whoa, is that like that? Superlative. That's, I use that right, right? Yeah. Yeah. I wish we had more of those at the awards, like best crew chief, best...

Like the real awards you're saying? Yeah, like, yeah, I wish that was something that we did in the sport because I think it's important. I suggested feud of the year to Tyler, our producer. I said Carson Hosevar versus the field. Yeah, he would have just won. Seemed, he would win. But you guys, the fans can get in on this.

The voting opens tomorrow. Of course, Wednesday on the NASCAR and Fox YouTube channel and on social media, all our platforms, Instagram, X, Facebook, everywhere. where you can start voting and cast your vote alongside us. So it'll be cool. Yep.

All right. That does it for the regular season. I mean, well, the whole season. Just the awards now. Just the awards left to go. I'll be drinking some bush lattes. There you go. I like that.

You'll have some champagne for the awards show. Pinky up. All right, guys. It's been fun. We'll see you next week.