Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Ryan Blaney After Dark

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney’s 2nd Cup Series win of the season on a rainy night at... Atlanta, Carson Hocevar’s impressive night as he finished 3rd, the feuds brewing in the Cup Series, William Byron’s heated exchange with his crew chief Rudy Fugle, and more. Plus, the crew answer mailbag questions, preview the upcoming race weekend at North Wilkesboro and they react to the latest batch of Mamba’s Social Sips. CHAPTERS 0:00 - Intro 1:38 - Atlanta Weekend Recap 36:14 - North Wilkesboro Preview 40:04 - Mailbag Questions 47:03 - Mamba’s Social Sips 52:55 - Last Call Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Hulu original series Furious is coming to Disney Plus, starring Emmy Rossum. Furious follows FBI agent Alice Black on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur. Don't miss the three-episode premiere of the Hulu original series Furious on July 27th, only on Hulu on Disney Plus. just said he wrecked his own cars to win races before. He won't wreck the kid because he said, I don't want to pay for that.
Starting point is 00:00:36 I knocked him out of the way too. Yeah, but he didn't wreck him. Not yet. Not yet. Do I need a demo, real? No, you don't. He need you to have a crash dummy helmet, maybe. That's not nice.
Starting point is 00:00:55 Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Vinci, and Sleepy Mumbo. Sleepy Mumbo. Fresh off of his arrival from Atlanta. Right? Yeah, fresh. Brightly this morning. Bright Adam Bushydale.
Starting point is 00:01:09 That's you. I was really surprised when our group tech started firing up and you responded at 8 a.m. I was like, wow. I know. I thought he's either on the way to the airport or I don't know what. I had landed at 8 and I was in the taxi to my house. Taxi. He's got a taxi service.
Starting point is 00:01:26 No, no, no. You walk out the door and there's taxis there. Oh, okay. So you're not an Uber guy. You just jump in a taxi. No, because honestly, from Charlotte Airport to my house. my house, it's cheaper to do the taxi than the Uber.
Starting point is 00:01:38 Yeah, on average. Would it take you longer to drive home or than it would have to drive for the airport and fly? Would it take me... Oh, because you would have been home at 6. If I would have just left? 30. It would have been pretty close. Honestly? Yeah. Well, hang on. It would have been
Starting point is 00:01:54 pretty close. I got to the air... I got to my hotel at like 2. Yeah. And so we're like, you know, three hours. Yeah, it took me longer to go back to the hotel. You would have been home two and a house. I slept for an hour. So I took a nap. Wow.
Starting point is 00:02:07 Yeah. Well, it was a late one. NASCAR after dark. That's what we are calling this. There's plenty to talk about. But here you see it. There was a big over three hour rain delay that took place out at Atlanta. Only got to partially through stage two before this storm rolled in.
Starting point is 00:02:25 So we have a lot to talk about leaving Atlanta Motor Speedway. We're, of course, going to preview North Wilkesboro coming up next. And Mamba Social Sips is so strong that everyone's going to be hammered by the end of it. Yeah. I don't even know if our guy could make it through a segment that that's yeah, that is that long. I don't know. We're going to find out. This is the longest sip section in history. Sleepy, sleepy mumbo might struggle. I'm proud to find out, boy. But guys, this was a very intriguing race, I thought. There was a lot of storylines throughout the entire course of the race. We kind of said it last week that we felt like this was going to be a very entertaining event.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Did you get what you wanted to see from Atlanta? Well, my guy that I picked one. Oh, of course. We got to start with that. That really makes me happy. So if you want to know who's going to win the race, just ask me. But, you know, it's, it, Ryan Blaney, they showed up. And I think that the Ford's have been strong here the last several years. And this time they showed up and, and we're strong again. You know, mostly, mostly Blaney.
Starting point is 00:03:23 He started in the front, stayed in the front, managed the race really well and was able to put himself in a position right here to have a car behind him to help push him to the start finish line. and win the race. So, and ultimately, Carson Hosebar doesn't have any friends. And there was not a soul pushing him across the start, finish. It was so evident as to who was going to push who, and they were not going to push him. Yeah, that is true. And so Ryan Blaney, obviously victorious. Career win number 19, 750 wins for Ford, by the way.
Starting point is 00:03:58 We've been talking on the show about some of the struggles for Team Penske, And this is obviously a huge moment for Ryan Blaine. He's been good, decent, but just not maybe how we've seen him in the past. Well, I mean, he's chomped into the points lead here for the regular season points. So YRB is, he's just a dog. I mean, we've known that for a long time. He's a champion, obviously. I think if you ask certain people that he's the best driver in the field right now,
Starting point is 00:04:25 or at least, you know, tip for tat for whoever you think is up top. the way that they commanded the race, that car was on aggressive fire. His strategy was aggressive. Oh man. It had a lot. The way he drove it too,
Starting point is 00:04:39 it was kind of like Dale Jr. from back of the day at Daytona and Talladegh, just like Pied Piper in the field and staying up front, slice and then when he came back, when he had to go back after the second stage, he was still able to make his way through methodically. It reminded me, Kevin,
Starting point is 00:04:55 a little bit of like a Daytona race from like the 90s with the way they got strung out. out and Saturday was like that too. And we didn't think that it was going to be like that. But at the end of that thing, I was sitting with Marty Smith and Jamie Mack and Jeff Burton. And I said, look, you're going to see this. Whoever's going to win this won't be from the front row because no one's pushing the 77. And so, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:16 And he had damage even here. Oh, well, yeah, him and Bubba. And he was radioing to the team. He had a bad vibration and was still able to drive well the car was. Kev, is that a late block? Is that a racing deal? what you're you know what yeah well i mean i think at this point of the season knowing everything that's happening i think bubba's doing everything that he can do to to try to keep the lead and and you know
Starting point is 00:05:41 in the end he shoved blaney in the fence and and as easy as the noses are to lose on these cars i think right there you know the nose kind of taken off and the front and back bumper touching and it just shoved blaney up in the fence but luckily for for right it didn't do any more damage than than what you thought. It actually doesn't even look like they touched right there. It's just when you shove that air up in front of those cars at Atlanta, you're so on the edge of shoving the nose at any given time that those cars will,
Starting point is 00:06:08 I think it just took off right there and Blaney got in the fence. But I don't think that that's anything on Bubba. I think he's doing everything he can do to try to keep the track position to win the race. And blocking's part of the game. And, you know, as you saw earlier in the race, when Bubba blocked and Ty was going quite a bit faster, than he was. It turned Bubba around. So that is just a chance that you take when you block and 23 got away with that one and didn't get away with the one earlier in the race. But it's definitely
Starting point is 00:06:38 part of the game at Atlanta as much as anywhere because you have all these runs that are coming and going. And, you know, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. Bubba Wallace was Mamba's pick. And he obviously was penalized for attempting to advance his position by going below the yellow line. Do you feel like this is obviously fair? Any room for interpretation on what was decided? Is this the same rule that we've had at all the Super Speedways forever?
Starting point is 00:07:06 That if you go below the yellow line and then you advance your position after that point, like I understand what Bubba is saying when he's talking about I didn't advance my position and I think you're below the line right there. That's a pretty simple call.
Starting point is 00:07:22 We can make that call. I picked both. I picked probably to win. That's one of my boys, obviously. Like, I want that not to be the call. But I, for my whole life, I feel like that's been the same thing. And I'm like, I hate it. But it is what it is. And he went below the line
Starting point is 00:07:38 and came back up beside the cars on the front row. So he advanced his position. And so it's a really simple call. Yeah. You can see the tire marks. Like, he really yanked the wheel down to get below Carson. Don't think you needed to, though. But yeah. I think him a whole lane down. Yeah. And Carson was like,
Starting point is 00:07:54 you are way out there. So I'm not going to. What are you going? He's going. He kind of left him out there because he didn't even try to block really. Yeah. But just sucks. So Ryan Blaney said one of the reasons that he was able to win was giving credit to Christopher Bell.
Starting point is 00:08:06 Shout out to him. And I want to say for him, he has had three consecutive performances in the top five. Reminder he's still obviously racing with an injury. And when I spoke to Christopher, I think he just wanted to get through the road courses. And he felt like with these other tracks, it wouldn't be quite as much of an uphill battle. But he is still trying to not be denied his points. he's currently ninth plus 113 to the cut line.
Starting point is 00:08:27 What are you seeing from Bell? Well, they've done a good job in minimizing the damage with the injury. And as you look at the points, and he's sitting ninth. So still a possibility probably to get to seventh if he has some good runs here at the end of the last races of the regular season. But look, Bell has the speed. They have the speed that they need to compete. And I think that you've got Daytona and Talladega, no road courses the rest of the year. So, you know, they did great.
Starting point is 00:09:00 He usually does great at Atlanta and put himself in position to have a chance to win again at Atlanta. And I think as you start to get these races that are in their wheelhouse, I think when you look at Loudon and, you know, some of the places that they have to go, I still think that he wins before they get to the playoffs. I think that they're just, they finally kind of hit their stride. I believe they had a ton of bad luck. They made a ton of mistakes. And then you add the injury on top of that to go with that and still sit in ninth and a point. So I think he wins before the playoffs or before the chase starts. And I think that they contend throughout the last 10 weeks of the season just because they have raw speed.
Starting point is 00:09:45 Yeah. You agree? Yeah. I think they, yeah. I think they circle New Hampshire Motor Speedway for sure. He's been the guy to beat there over the last, what, like three years, four years. And then that race, last night, it was like a carbon copy of the spring race. Like, if you looked at who was in the front, it was the 12, the 20, 23, 77.
Starting point is 00:10:05 And it was like, again, it was the 12, the same guys. And I'm like, this is impressive. It makes me think that everyone's starting to get a handle on what they're really good at and where they're really good. And you can start, like, as analysts, you can start, be like, no, like, they're going to be good here because they've been good. here. Now it's not so much of a kind of a random shot in the dark. Like everyone's starting to figure out the car, the tire, their setups, what they need. Everyone's got better.
Starting point is 00:10:29 The Toyotas are pretty adamant, too. They are set up to race, not qualify, because I know. Definitely that. I'm saying that to you. So next up was Carson Hosevar, who ended up third on the day, even though he was able to battle back through the field from a flat tire going down in stage one. But I want to talk about some of the things surrounding Carson outside of just the race finish.
Starting point is 00:10:49 This week. Yeah. Yes. So they had their meeting, obviously, with NASCAR. With SVG. This is an interesting situation. No, that was. Zane Smith. Zane, just pretty adamantly saying, I don't like him as a human, where Carson seems
Starting point is 00:11:05 to not even know why this is happening, right? That he didn't realize there was a feud brewing between the two of them. And you can't really cite many examples on track between them where you can with SVG and Austin Hill. So what do you think about this whole exchange and the differing opinions on the, Is it a feud? Can we call it that? Because one person doesn't seem to know it is.
Starting point is 00:11:25 No, he doesn't. What do you think? It has to be a feud. I mean, we saw Zane Smith drive through him last week and wreck himself that he wanted to wreck him so bad. So look, there's nothing new with Carson, right? Like he's made a lot of people mad. Apparently everybody because nobody that was around him at the end of that race even wanted
Starting point is 00:11:46 to get in the same line that he was in to push him across and start finish line to win. But he owns it. Right. Like he's fast. He owns it. And he's just, he's living and dying on the sword. Right. And, and I think that eventually it's just going to keep going to the point where he either wins a bunch of races or he has to, he has to say, well, I'm going to have to do something different because everybody around here doesn't want me to do anything. And it costs him a chance at winning this race this weekend because nobody would, nobody would help him. But as that list gets bigger, he doesn't seem to mind, which is great for all of us. I love watching it. I love watching the confrontations.
Starting point is 00:12:29 I love watching the chatter. But I like the way he drives, too. But you're going to piss a lot of people off with the moves and things that you're making. But when you have the speed like he does to back it up and you own it, it's not like he's making up some BS that makes you think that, oh, I'm a nice guy or, oh, I didn't do this. or I feel sorry for him. He's just right to it, honest. And I'd rather have it that way than some BS to go along with trying to justify it.
Starting point is 00:12:57 Let's hear the driver reaction and what they had to say concerning the situation. A good thing that fans, you know, are passionate about the deal. Yeah, I don't see any of it. You know, if they're insulting anything other than just anything on a racetrack, yeah, I don't obviously condone that.
Starting point is 00:13:14 You know, we all look and sound and are different. You know, every, I mean, every, you know, I look goofy. So, yeah, that's not cool. But I don't know. I mean, I mean, if people are going to be sensitive, I just, you know, just tell them to comment on my stuff, I want to see it. And I think it's funny. So, you know, I surely get it and I love it. I think it's good. I think that's what drives sports is passion and clashing. It's good. Okay. So what do you think hearing his reaction? He's very unbothered. Just doesn't seem to be faced by, I would assume he wants the respect of the other competitors. But he doesn't have a lot of friends. He doesn't have a lot of friends.
Starting point is 00:13:49 friends. Here's the thing. It's costing me to win. This is the thing. You can be like that and it's fun. It's fun for us to watch. It's fun for us to engage with. It's fun for the fans.
Starting point is 00:14:02 Like, his sponsors love it. But at some point, you're running for a championship and you can't necessarily be like that. We had Joy Lugano in this chair the other week talking about what cost them a champion. And it was running, handling a situation with another driver poorly, felt like he cost himself. And being a four-time champion is a lot different than being a three-time champion. And Carson Holspar, being a multi-time winner, is a lot different than being a one-time winner. Now, I think Carson will find ways to win. They're just going to be harder because even if it's not a super speedway, your competitors can cut you breaks or not.
Starting point is 00:14:45 Right? They can help you or not. If they're having a bad day and you're having a good one, and all of a sudden now this guy's in your way. Oops. Your fender got locked off. Oh, my dad, by the day, was it going bad anyway? This, ooh, I'm in the fence.
Starting point is 00:14:57 Like, ah, like, so you got to, you got to really think about it, but he seems to not care. I think it's an interesting dichotomy at what point does the caring start because the chase is right around the corner. And, you know, you guys are trying to do something this company's never done before. So, but again, it's fun to watch. I have enjoyed watching. I enjoy all the commentary, but he doesn't seem to care, and he called the guys out on pre-race this week. He said, if anyone wants to throw down, I'm here for it. And then Corey Hime responded to that on Twitter and said, crying emojis and just wrote Sun.
Starting point is 00:15:34 And I'm like, all right, bro, like, here we go. So I think this could rear its head. I don't really envision him as being like a really good fighter either. You just better pick, though. No. The right guy. The right guy is going to knock your teeth out. If the right guy, if you get into the right guy on the right day, like a Ricky Stenthouse.
Starting point is 00:15:52 Oh, boy. Yeah, we know he likes to. Daniel Suarez. Daniel Swares. Michael. Luckily, you don't have Michael McDowell. Well, luckily Michael McDowell and Daniel on your team right now. But that's right now.
Starting point is 00:16:04 Yeah. Yeah. So this feud is interesting to see how this will play out. So, too, is the SVG, Austin Hill. And like I said, they obviously had to meet with NASCAR. It's like the light weights and the heavy weights. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:16:16 It is a bit that way. Interesting dynamic. So it seems like SVG kind of just wants this to be done. But he was saying that they have a history of not racing well against each other. So this one's easier to kind of pinpoint the incidents that have occurred between the two. But he has points to protect. And so I think he's thinking in his mind, right? Like I don't want this to come in between my chase hopes.
Starting point is 00:16:38 He needs to diffuse it. And he needs every point that he can get for the next six weeks. because he's right on the edge of being on the outside looking in and 15th. So he's got, he's plus 31. So we're going to a lot of places that are not road courses. And Shane has done a good job at a lot of ovals, but it's the weeks that don't go good. That's the problem, right?
Starting point is 00:17:03 Like he winds up having the good weeks on ovals, and then they wind up laying an egg at places and wind up with a 25th to 30th place. finish and that's what he can't have right now. And the last thing that Shane needs is Austin Hill out there who could give two shits less about anything that's happening on the racetrack on the cup side right now because he's not racing for a championship. He's there making labs learning and just winging it. And that's that's the danger when you're racing for something and the other guy is not. And you know, I think for both of these guys having a conversation with your team
Starting point is 00:17:42 owners, drivers, and the NASCAR brass up in the trailer. I don't feel like this has been as common over the last several years. Once's the last time you've seen it happen. But now we have these great rivalries and these guys are going at it verbally and on the racetrack. And that's what makes NASCAR racing great. But at some point it's a detriment. Like you have to put, you have to squash it and you have to diffuse it and you have to be able to move forward. So we'll see if the politics of being able to do that or being played well in either of these battles to be able to diffuse it or move on because you have one side that's kind of like, ah, screw it, let's do it.
Starting point is 00:18:25 You know, the host of our approach. And I would assume Austin Hill is probably the same way, just a little quieter. Yeah. But I think that either way, for Shane, it's worst case scenario because the other guy has nothing to lose. Right. So we've been talking about SVG. Let's hear what he had to say over the weekend about this topic. What was your big takeaway from the meeting?
Starting point is 00:18:46 Austin had to make a smirk. How about you? I mean, was it just kind of slap on the wrist and you're going with it? No. I guess it was a serious talk. I don't know how much I meant to talk about it, but I'm still, you know, I've been here long enough to know how it works, I guess, but also still learning as well.
Starting point is 00:19:03 That's my first time in the hauler. One person seemed more wrong. remorseful and eager to move on than the other. Yeah, it's hard. I don't know how much to say, but yeah. Like I'm happy, but obviously I got the most to lose and he doesn't. So SVG, obviously the one more remorseful because I think maybe Bob Packers asked who was the one with more remorse and it was him.
Starting point is 00:19:29 Yeah, this is, it's, look, man, it's just fun. Like, this is really, really fun to watch and witness. And, but to Kevin's point, I hope that. guys behind the wheel know when to do this and when not to do this. They don't. And I don't quite know if these guys specifically know exactly when. And then on the whole far side, it's, you know, percolating with the whole field. So like that's a whole other thing.
Starting point is 00:19:56 Yeah, it's not just one on one. But everyone is just waiting for their pound of flesh. You know what I mean? So you got to pick your moments because everyone has stuff on the line. And, you know, we've seen rivalies like Kevin hated guys for forever. And every time they were next to each other, you'd think they were going to wreck each other. They didn't. They just race each other really, really hard.
Starting point is 00:20:14 And that's my point of how to manage it, right? Like you can't wreck somebody every time you're around them. Right. Like at some point you have to, you have to be able to race around that guy. And, you know, when the moment's right, then you fire it back up. But at some point, you have to defuse it and you have to wait for the right moment. You have to play the politics in the trailer right. And you have to say the right things to the NASCAR folks.
Starting point is 00:20:37 And you have to say the right thing to your. competitor and then you know if you need to then you just flare it back up but you got to know how to diffuse it at the right time. Corey Heim waited four years to bring it back up Corey Heard waited four years to get back for a championship and I
Starting point is 00:20:53 don't think his get back is done yet because a championship over a win is like that's a lot you know what he's racing full time and cup I don't know I'd take a cup win over a truck championship well that's easy
Starting point is 00:21:08 I don't know if I would. Well, Coreyheim now has both. Yeah. I don't know if I would do that. I would. I love being a champion. I love that. Kevin, speaking of diffusing, one team that we heard pretty spicy on the radio, who we typically do not, was the 24, William Byron and Rudy Fugel, exchanging some heated comments about the car.
Starting point is 00:21:26 And it honestly didn't really sound like either one of them. But do you think this is just a byproduct of this point in the year where they're at, haven't won, tensions flaring? I'm worried. Okay. because this is not normal Rudy Fugel and William Byron on the radio. And I would assume that we might have some milk and cookies conversations coming at Hendrick Motorsports because that is you can tell they're out of character. And when you're not running good and things are not going good and the communication
Starting point is 00:21:55 is not good and drivers complaining and crew chief snapping, that's when things are not right in the shop at the hauler on the racetrack. And I think it's been, it's been a frustrating year. And William Byron's all the way back to 12th in the points. And honestly, that's about, that's better than I thought it would be based upon their year and the way that they've been so up and down. I can only think of one or two weeks that it's been like, oh, 24 is running good this week. It's kind of recently, too.
Starting point is 00:22:27 And I think that that frustration is setting in. And I think that William is being vocal. And when it gets to that point of vocal on the radio, you can fix that a couple times because William Byron's just not, I mean, he's not like that on the radio. Rudy's not like that back. Yeah. And I think that it definitely shows signs of problems. Yeah, I've listened to those guys for a lot of years when they're in trucks and now Cup.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Like he said, very uncharacteristic behavior. But time is ticking. There's only six races now remaining until the chase begins. So it could just be coming to a head. Well, the 24 group is a really tight-knit group. They're a band of brothers. they are connected. And you're talking about a group that wins like four to six races.
Starting point is 00:23:11 They're connected while they were winning. This is the first. Losing breaks people down. They haven't had, they haven't had the adversity like this since before Rudy took over the helm, right? This is the first time with this group. So I think it's a new uncharted territory. And they expect to be running for a championship.
Starting point is 00:23:29 And they probably know the way that they are right now, they are not going to be anywhere in the conversation come Miami. So the pressure's on to get these cars faster and to get William what he needs and Williams needs to focus on what he needs to focus on. But pressure for everybody. Yeah. Well, we're going to test. It's testing their character. And when you see, that's why I'm saying, you're starting to see it break down when you hear that that communication.
Starting point is 00:23:53 And you either rapidly fix it and you get everybody's attention. And likely that's what the Hendrick group will do. I would imagine so. But look, you got you got the pressure driving for Hendrick Motorsports. you got the pressure of being a winner in the past. You got the pressure of driving the 24 car. You got the pressure of knowing that you're soon to be out of the championship hunt because you're too far behind and your performance is not good enough.
Starting point is 00:24:19 So you're going to make the chase, but you're not really a contender. And I think the – I mean, think about that. That's a lot of pressure on these guys that they're not used to dealing with. And usually you have the performance to fall back on. So, oh, well, we can put it together. Our cars are running pretty good. And they haven't consistently had that this year, and they can't figure it out. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:40 They're going to have to, I mean, whether I, if you go in like that, I mean, obviously we heard about the models and, like, it's really hard to win a championship outside of, like, seventh, right? You don't have to win a bunch of races in 10, right? You have to do something spectacular, which is something they haven't done all year. You're going to have to do, right. You're going to have to pull a Tony Stewart out of the hat. And only Tony Stewart has been able to do that. And they, like, no one else has been able to do what he did to, what he did to,
Starting point is 00:25:03 win that championship. So it's tough. While we're in the Hendrick Motorsports stable, let's talk about Kyle Larson for a minute. Still on a 42 race winless streak involved in two different incidents, slides through the infield grass while running eighth and then wasn't clear, has contact with Denny Hamlin.
Starting point is 00:25:19 What do you think is the missing piece for this team right now? Well, it's really confusing because if I look at the points and I would tell you that, I mean, Kyle Arson is sixth. And would any of you believe that he scored the most stage points? No. That's why they're six.
Starting point is 00:25:34 Yeah. Must be why they're there. He scored 169. The next guy is Ryan Blaney at 157. So as much as we want to talk about Kyle Larson being off, which he's off, he hasn't been to Victory Lane in 30-some races. I think that, you know, this accident right here is just a checkup, not of his doing. But the other accident where he just kind of cleared himself and wrecked himself,
Starting point is 00:25:59 we've seen that a few times over the last little bit. And that's the part that concerns me is when you just have those lapses and concentration and just make a bad move. Because you don't have the moments where you're able to just go out and win a couple more races to make up for the mistakes that you had made. And so I don't know. I think that Kyle Arson's still great. I think that Cliff Daniels is still great. I think Hendrick Motorsports is still great. But they've been off a little bit this year compared to the bar that we've set for them.
Starting point is 00:26:32 And, you know, when you're talking about a year's worth of losses for Larson not being to Victory Lane, I don't think, I mean, does that surprise me? Yes. Is what I'd say, oh, it's career ending? No. And because it happens, I mean, it's happened to myself. It's happened to Darrylton. I mean, it's just part of what you go through in NASCAR racing. And I, and I, the only part that worries me about Larson is just those random, weird kind of mistakes that shouldn't happen at this point. point with where he's at. So I don't know whether to take that the mistake this weekend with the block as, hey, he's desperate trying to make a move or a lapse in concentration and made a mistake. Yeah. So, you know, that's that's the confusing part because you look at the stats and they're not that bad and scoring the most stage points. But it's the goose egg in the wind column that is, that is the part that's hard to believe. Yeah, because we expect Kyle Larson to be back to his
Starting point is 00:27:30 winning ways. But prior to this, he had four straight finishes in the top five, but this obviously is not the outcome they would have hoped for in Atlanta. No, of course not, but I don't know, man. Like, Kevin was just talking about the points where he's at. Like, they've made the most stage points. Like, it's, it's not that they're not there. They're just not dominating. And we're just, they set the bar for themselves because they were so, they've been so good for so long. And so when you do that and then you come under the bar, because it's not only, the five team it's the 24 team it's the nine team it's 48th the whole the whole company has just not been there um but they're still running well they're just not dominating so when you talk
Starting point is 00:28:10 about championship aspirations it's like where does that leave you it's kind of it honestly it's more intriguing going as a chase gets closer because you would say the same thing about ryan blaney and the 12th team you wouldn't say that they've been dominated this was a dominating performance but they've been right there in the top three in points almost all year. You know what I mean? So it's like, who really has an upper hand? And like we were just at a drafting track. So you kind of throw the Toyota's into a different jumble.
Starting point is 00:28:41 Is it Tyler Reddick? Is it Denny Hamlin? Or is it somebody? I don't know. It's kind of, it's interesting. We're not going back to that track. Yeah, we're not going back there. So they like, like, what does that mean?
Starting point is 00:28:50 So it means kind of like nothing. You know what I mean? It means everybody else only has one chance in the last 10 races. And that's Talladega. But it's only for a win. Right. It's not for the championship. And I think that the upper hand has to be in the Toyota camp with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe because of all the racetracks that are left.
Starting point is 00:29:12 Nine of the ten are in their wheelhouse. Haven't seen them close the gap enough on the other ones, but they keep hanging around. And if you let people hang around that you should smash out early? I mean, we'll find out early as we get into the, As we get into the chase, you'll see if anybody had anything left in the tank. And if you go to Darlington, if Darlington's tough, like if you can set your, you can have a massive setback at Darlington, that's 10 races digging out of holes. Yeah. You're going to go to Darlington with Denny Hamlin having, having the, you know, one of the best years of his career.
Starting point is 00:29:47 You're going to go to Darlington, if not his best track, one of. You got to fight it. You got to fight him off. Get luck. I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be a challenge right from the get-go to not lose ground. Yeah. No shortage of storylines in the Cup series, but so too in the other series as well. The Craftsman Truck Series were at Lime Rock Park for the second time in the series history.
Starting point is 00:30:07 Grant Enfinger, who has had a season full of up and downs, finally ended at winless streak, was able to capitalize with the win. Do you like seeing the trucks at Lime Rock? Look, I think the trucks should be on more short tracks. And look, I'd love to see them in the season at Kern. I mean, Trucks, Kern Raceway was the origination of the truck series. That's where we had the truck series. I love seeing them on a standalone weekend like this at Lime Rock.
Starting point is 00:30:32 I want to see them at these places that we don't go to because we need to go to Daytona. We need to go to some of these places with the rest of the series. But I want to see them in other places because we have so many fans. We talk about it on here all the time that live in these little pockets of the country that want NASCAR in a truck series. Look at all the people. It was a great crowd. The crowd was awesome. They have the they have these markets.
Starting point is 00:30:57 It's all around the country that we could take the truck series and put on great shows. Well, that can have great crowds and people to attend the races. But I love when they go do this. We had a great finish here at the end with Grant Infinger, winning the race and Landon Lewis chasing him to the finish line. And didn't wreck him, could have ran through him, didn't do it. He's been extremely impressive. He's done a good job. But I think that we had our top two guys into points run into each other.
Starting point is 00:31:27 We keep talking about these rivalries in other series, and then, you know, Caden Honeycutt just smashes his teammate. I wonder how that's going to go over because he just absolutely dumped Gio-Rogero. Yeah. So, Caden Honeycutt, not making many friends either on the racetrack. But between O'Reilly and the trucks, I mean, we had six red flags. I don't know how many. It was just the weekend of carnage for O'Reilly and tracks. Carnage and delays, for sure.
Starting point is 00:31:57 Lime Rock was neat, though. Obviously, I was there for the ARCA and truck series. The community really rallies around NASCAR being there. The track facility itself is why you laughing? Mike Joy on pit road. Mike Joy was there. He loves him some Lime Rock. Racing up in that part of the country.
Starting point is 00:32:16 They do have a lot of passionate fans there. And it's cool because they don't sit in seats. They're just sitting on the hillside. There are no seats, right? Yeah. Yeah. So it has a totally different kind of vibe to it. But the place is,
Starting point is 00:32:27 done a really nice job. Yeah. Yeah. I okay. I got text. I got a lot of texts all weekend long from my boy Josh Sims. I didn't need to let my folks at Lime Rock know. I was not there. I know about that. I was not in Lime Rock this weekend. So if you said hi to me, that was Josh.
Starting point is 00:32:47 I don't like that this is happening. So fans, make sure you know who you're talking to. We have Josh Sims and we have Momba Smith. We're both too good looking, too good looking. No, here's the problem. What you guys should do is separate your look, because that means you guys are just copying each other. Well, we do, though. He has a hat on.
Starting point is 00:33:05 A bunch of dorks. I wear my button to the top. I got, you know. Yeah, look for the dork. If you know, we want to know the difference between Jostens and Mama, look for the dork with his button all the way button up and his chains on. Yeah. If you don't see a chain, it's not Mumbo. That's all.
Starting point is 00:33:20 That is 1,000 percent. But no, I'm glad we go to Lime Rock, but I think we've talked about it here. Can you guys imagine, like, a five. During the summer, five weeks, we take the truck series out on the Pacific Northwest. We take them to the New England area. You find a region. You take them there. They're there for four or five weeks straight.
Starting point is 00:33:38 We used to. Right. Let's do that. And then incorporate the local racing, whether it's the Cars Tour West or whatever is the modified tour, whatever it is in that region. And just combine that. And then it elevates the truck series. It gives those regions some big national NASCAR stuff.
Starting point is 00:33:55 And they'll pack it out. They'll pack it out. And maybe we'll see some truck guys run down with the local guys. And some local guys get some looksboro this weekend. I mean, you got truck guys and cup guys all over the cars tour field. We need it. We need it. And that's what makes it.
Starting point is 00:34:08 That's what brings the fans to recognize. But we used to go to Flemington, New Jersey. We used to go to Louisville, Kentucky, Evergreen, Washington, Portland, Oregon. I mean, we would go all over the place. Tucson, Arizona. Yeah. And the place would be packed. And it just, you know, it really energizes the.
Starting point is 00:34:26 local racing market to get some recognition for the race tracks. But, you know, now it's just, it's hard because of the TV contracts and the money that comes with these races that the tracks just want to keep having races. But I really feel like you could take the trucks and, and go do some of that at other places and put more people in the grandstands than a lot of places that we go on Friday after. They only have 23 race. Is it 23? 22, 22, 23. So like if you add a couple more, right, I understand it's a money. It's about money, right this is a money thing let's as a industry the person needs to go up right as an industry let's get together and kind of and work on this collectively to fix it because there is a lot of meat
Starting point is 00:35:04 being left on the bone and other regions that we don't yeah just totally ignoring regions speaking of that you're headed to idaho this week as well so are you i am too we're excited for this i've never been there and and he's spoken very highly of this racetrack and everything that has to offer that'll be cool it is it's a it's a great part of the country probably won't be as cool as it was the last time we're out there. But we're going back for the Idaho 200 for the Cars Tour, Northwest Pro Late Model race this weekend. Keelan's racing in North Wilkesboro
Starting point is 00:35:30 and a pro late model with the cup. So we're going to be split up this weekend. I won the road to the 200, so I might as well go back. So you don't have, you don't have to worry about getting your butt wool by the No, because it's, it's, well, I killed him there last time. So don't, don't kid yourself. Okay, okay. You know, you know.
Starting point is 00:35:46 But, you know, it's fun to go to these different parts of the country to be able to see their big events, right? The Idaho 200 is that area's big event in Idaho, and Montana 200 was last week, and we'll go to the Summer Showdown in Washington, which is probably their biggest event. So it's fun to see these big events for the first time. But great, I mean, we got to Jackson Hole, Wyoming a couple weeks ago,
Starting point is 00:36:11 and high was 48 degrees. That is unbelievable. I don't think that's for me. No, it's for you because the next day it was 70. Oh, okay. That's a little more tolerable. It's better than 98 and 98. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:36:25 My people are tropical people. We kind of like that. Tropical folks. Tropical people. Well, we look forward to seeing what Idaho has to offer. We also look forward to North Wilkesboro, which is next on the schedule. Haven't had a points paying race at that racetrack since 1996. So how do you think that is going to play a factor to change things?
Starting point is 00:36:45 We're going to find out what kind of racetrack North Wilkesboro is. And I believe it's going to be way better than what we've seen at the all. All-Star race. When you put all the cars on the racetrack and not just 20 of them, it's going to be very, very different with the strategy, all the cars on the racetrack in the middle of the summer. It's going to be, I think it's going to be a great race. And I think you're going to see the cars move around the racetrack. And you're going to have to get rough.
Starting point is 00:37:11 When you start lapping cars and all the traffic and things that are going to come with it, it's not short runs. You're going to have, you know, the strategy and things that come with, a real race. And that's what we're going to see for the first time at North Wilkes World is a real race. That's exciting for the fans and for us. I mean,
Starting point is 00:37:28 Jeff Gordon won the last points pain race there. If you, if your race car isn't handling well, like you're going to, it's going to be a long day. Long day. It's going to be like miserable, like Martinsville miserable because the,
Starting point is 00:37:41 well, yeah, that, but just like the fast guys are going to be on top of you so, so quickly that you won't be able to adjust your car at all to work on it get it fast, right? And then, you know, like Kevin said, with all the, all the cars on track, it's going to be, it's going to be, it's going to be a lot of shit in and getting, too, because this, listen, there's people that are really upset with each other. Yeah. There was like some real,
Starting point is 00:38:04 like, so I got to interview, uh, C Bell, uh, Christopher Bell, like, pre-race. And I asked him about retaliation how he thought about it. He's like, you know, I think, you know, you got to pick your spots. It's needed. It should be self-policing. And he's like, I got some guys on my list. Well, this is, I was like, I didn't ask. I just wanted to wait and see if I could figure out who was. Rewind. Go back and watch some races. This is, I mean, this is going to be a track where if you
Starting point is 00:38:31 if you're having a bad day, this is a good place to get some, get some payback. So who do you think will be the guys? Who are the ones that are going to tame this new challenge? I can't tell you that. He's going to. We always do this every week in this segment. Don't leave me hanging. He's going to pick the 11.
Starting point is 00:38:48 I don't know. You don't have to give a pick. Like, what teams do you think are going to rise to the occasion? Yeah, well, that kind of thing. Look, I'm going to look at this point sheet. I'm going to tell you who needs to rise to the occasion. Okay, well, let's go that right back.
Starting point is 00:38:58 And that's Ross Chastain, Brad Kozlowski, Ryan Priest, Joey Lagano, Eric Jones, and Shane Van Gisberger. Those are all the guys, in my opinion, that are still in the championship possibility to make the chase. And I think that Eric Jones, they're super hit or miss, right? He's consistent and kind of carries the car some week. to get a better finish out of it than it probably ran. And some weeks the car just hauls ass.
Starting point is 00:39:24 Yeah. So you don't really know what's going to show up with that bunch on the 43. SVG, same type of deal. You know, he finishes 6th at Atlanta. We've seen him at Charlotte run really well. But for him, it's all going to come down to qualify him. You got to qualify good. If SVG can qualify good, he can race in the front.
Starting point is 00:39:42 But if he qualifies in the trunk, he's going to race in the trunk. So they got to qualify good. Austin Cendrick, I still think he's, He's right on the cusp of, he's actually one more that's right on the cusp of being in the question of whether he makes it or not. So can the Ford show up? Blaney's going to show up. Can Joe Lugano and Austin Cindrick and the other fords of Ryan Priest and Brad Cazlowski show up? How much shifting is going on at this one, Kevin?
Starting point is 00:40:10 I don't think any. None? I don't think so. Okay. And not this, it gets super slow. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I think it's, it'll be interesting. And I think that the whole chase bubble is super interesting.
Starting point is 00:40:23 Okay, it's go time for these teams. Like we said, six to go in the regular season before the chase begins. Time now to take a look at our mailbag and the questions that were submitted from you, the fans, starting with one from Alex Donovan. This is a great fan. He messages frequently about the show. If you could bring back one track that's not currently on the Cup schedule, which track would you bring back and which would you take out in its place.
Starting point is 00:40:44 Kevin, you can go first? I mean, I can just bring anywhere back. That's what it sounds like. This is a nice hypothetical situation for you. Okay. Well, I'm going to bring back California Speedway. Yeah. It's old assholes.
Starting point is 00:40:56 Bring it back. So we don't keep having these debates about being in California. It's just there. And I think that that that racetrack had just got to the point where it was so racy, had one race a year, had great crowds, and then poof. Gone. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:41:13 What would I replace? Yeah. Who'd you take out? I mean, you don't need it because, I mean, Well, lucky, because there's some place we go to twice. That's where I'd start. I'd start with the list of racetracks that we go to twice. I think Kansas would be the first one that I would put on that list because of the fact that the crowds are both mediocre.
Starting point is 00:41:32 It's never like slammed like it used to be, and I think one race would be slammed. Yeah. And the timing when we go there is a lot of times right in the football season with the cheese being so good. Like it all honestly collapses a lot. That's the easy part. to just sit here and say that's what I would do. There's so many other political dynamics with everything. There's a casino sitting on the back stretch of that one.
Starting point is 00:41:55 I mean, there's just, there's so many other things that happen within the, the politics of all this as to why we raise places and why we don't and why we race it some twice when we doesn't really look like we should. And that's one of them. A lot of layers to the system. I might get some pushback for this, but I wrote down Rhode America.
Starting point is 00:42:12 I like that part of the country. Great fans. It would get a, you know, a stronger Midwest footprint. I know there's been some criticism with the long caution periods on the long circuit, but I still always felt like that to me was a great racetrack and a good part of the country to go to. What did you pull out? Like you said, one of the ones we're going to twice, you know, because we've documented on this show that if you have one event,
Starting point is 00:42:33 it makes it a commodity and you usually have a better result as we've seen. You say the cautions are too long? I'm saying like the, I was talking to Bob about the long caution, period. I went this week. I think I made dinner. I went back into the pantry and got a bunch of stuff and sat down and started eating and took my plate and put it back in the sink. And I still don't think the race had started. But you know what I'm saying? They've been criticized for that. I thought. Why does it take so long? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I think it's a couple of different reasons. Yeah. Like in between stages, I was like, yeah. What is happening?
Starting point is 00:43:15 Yeah, I don't know why. It does feel like when I was watching Lifetime, I'm like, it feels like. We're taking for it. But maybe it's, I don't know. I actually don't have an answer for that. I have no clue. I do. Make it faster.
Starting point is 00:43:27 Well, no, that's the solution. I don't think that, I don't know how well we would be at a race. I don't know how many passing zones this place would really have. But Laguna Seika, I feel like through the court, that over the hill, through the court's crew would be just cool. It would just be so sick. but I don't know about like actual like how good the race would be there. We'll have more passing zones than Lime Rock. Yeah, probably more than the Chicago Street course.
Starting point is 00:43:54 Almost impossible. Yeah. Yeah, I would, I would like. I mean, I've been to Laguna Seca. I think you could obviously pass into one. And then you got that straight away off of three into four and five. I mean, there's a couple. There's probably three or four.
Starting point is 00:44:07 And then the last corner. Okay, so let's go there. And it's in a really kick ass. It's just a kick ass. Everyone else goes there. Let's just try it one. We might be too loud to go there. The neighbors would be pets.
Starting point is 00:44:18 Are they uppity? Yeah. Kevin's people. Northern California. Northern Cali. All right. Thanks, Alex Donovan for the question. Next one we got is from Chris in Oklahoma City.
Starting point is 00:44:29 While watching the Chicago land race, I had began to think about how weird it is that Denny Hamlin could own a team and race for another. I was wondering your thoughts because he gets all the information from both teams and knows Reddick strategy while racing him for the championship. So how does this dynamic work, Kevin? He did it all the time. That's why I'm asking him. How's it work?
Starting point is 00:44:49 It's good business. And I think it's also hard. That's a huge commitment from Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan to be able to put that car on the racetrack. And let's not forget that Denny Hamlin does a really good job at his full-time job with what he's doing and puts in more effort, probably if not more, just as much as anybody else on the circuit as far as time and work ethic. And then he goes over and does that for his side gig to be able to put those cars on the racetrack. But the one thing I can tell you, and for me, unless there was a problem at the racetrack with those vehicles, once I got there and I was putting the fire suit on, like, I didn't really care about you. Unless there was something that was going to be detrimental to the race team or they were off and right field. I was doing my own thing.
Starting point is 00:45:41 I've wrecked my own cars to win races before. Well, that's because, well, see, you know, I just want to point something out to everybody. Kevin just said he wrecked his own cars to win races before. He did. But I can guarantee you that was coming out of delay in his pocket because he won't wreck the kid because he said, I don't want to pay for that. I knocked him out of the way too. Yeah, but he didn't wreck him.
Starting point is 00:46:02 You didn't wreck him. Not yet. Not yet. That one you're going to have to pay for it. It's different. No, but I think you ran, when you won one of the Bush Series, Riley Series Championships, you ran both like the 21 car
Starting point is 00:46:15 and the 33. So he ran for both KHA. 2006. Yeah, KHA and RCR. And like, you know, like, what do you do? Listen, if Denny Hamlin did not drive for Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting point is 00:46:30 and cut the deal that he cut with Joe Gibbs racing, 2311 would be legacy. Yeah. There you go. Because he has the relationships that can make both sides work. I had the relationship at RCR that I could make KHA and RCR naturally. Even if they didn't want to work together, they were going to work together.
Starting point is 00:46:51 Because I knew all the information and everything that went with it. But if Denny Hamlin didn't drive at Joe Gibbs Racing, 2311 would not be what it is. Right. And it's mutually beneficial for both parties. Sure seems to be. And, you know, it's beneficial from information. It's beneficial financially. It's just...
Starting point is 00:47:12 We'll see if it's beneficial in the chase because these guys are starting to get a little testy. Yeah. Well, Alex and Chris, thanks for the questions. We appreciate the mailbag submissions. And now I am winded, so it's your turn to take over on the show. It's Mamba Social Sips.
Starting point is 00:47:27 Look at that. It's Sleepy Mumbo. Sleepy Mumbo. That's a new name. But I'm awake for this one. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your favorite part of the show Mamba social sips.
Starting point is 00:47:42 And I'll be honest with you, I am so thrilled to say that the fans every week that I've been out of the racetrack, which has been a lot this year, have just pulled up and like told me so much how much you guys love the show, especially this part. I get tired of hearing that. Now they just tell me that to aggravate. Well, you know? They are fans of the show, which is great. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:48:01 Yeah. They're fans of this part of the show. Yeah, but I don't want them to like your segment. That's okay. They don't like it. They love it. And that's okay. So let's get it going.
Starting point is 00:48:10 So last week we had an irascer come on, and he was singing, courtesy of red, white, and blue, right? Toby Keith. Well, he has a message for Kevin because he came to NASCAR Sundays. Yo, NASCAR Sundays, Mamba, thanks for shouting me out on Kevin Harvitz. Happy hour. Had to check it out. Yes, Kevin Harvick is still a thing.
Starting point is 00:48:34 NASCAR Sundays. Come check it out. Come check it out. There you go. Why? Why not? I did. I did.
Starting point is 00:48:41 I had my own NASCAR Sunday. Where's your NASCAR Sunday? Mine was on the lake in my boat. Yeah, he said he spent some time in the water. Well, we want you to come up. Let me tell you something. Let's talk about this. Okay.
Starting point is 00:48:53 Since this 7 o'clock start went to 2.30 in the morning, I had, I slept in too late, I went to the grocery store, I got my boat uncovered, I got my boat out. I ate dinner and told everybody goodbye. and then the race started. Yeah, full day before it even began. Yeah. Why do we start at seven?
Starting point is 00:49:14 This man, you're the top dog. You're asking me, I'm a low man totem pole. I'm just happy to be here. You need to start asking questions. I'm just happy to be here. I prefer 1.8, 1 p.m. Yeah, I think most people agree. One p.m.
Starting point is 00:49:28 Most people agree. Something that cool that we did this weekend. I found some fans when I was doing my interviews inside the racetrack. Big time, Kyle Bush, fans of Dalton here. He's probably one of the biggest Cowbush friends that might be out there ever. And him and a group of guys got tattoos altogether. They had eight tattoos every.
Starting point is 00:49:51 Look at the group of guys. Oh, look at you in the middle. Yeah, no, I'm just happy. I don't even know where they got there. I have no idea where this picture came from, to be honest. I don't know who got it. But it was a good time. Let's at Nashville, right?
Starting point is 00:50:02 Huh? Where is it? This is this weekend. Oh, I thought that, I thought you were asking where it was. I guess it was this is this weekend. Get your glasses fixed. That's cool, though. I like that point when you interviewed them on air, let them share their Kyle Busch stories.
Starting point is 00:50:14 Yeah, I just noticed that a lot of fans are like missing kind of, I don't know if we're not doing it the same as we were before, but maybe like the lap aid and stuff. So I was like, we need to make sure that we remember Kyle and we're not just moving on too quickly. So I want to make sure we did that. And then Carson Holsavar. Yeah. What a strategy. I love this. I love this.
Starting point is 00:50:37 I've seen it like with other like sports. He, he said he was giving away free t-shirts to the first 77 people that bring a different active driver's t-shirt to trade for any one of his. Started at noon at the March trailer and he, in fact, did so. That is awesome. How many...
Starting point is 00:50:53 That's a W that resulted in an M. Yeah. Yes. Who do you think... Do you think that he got the most Zane shirts or which other competitor did it? I love Zane and this is no disrespect, but I don't think there's enough anyone who has a...
Starting point is 00:51:07 Zane Smith shirt, they're not trading it in for a Carson also wore one. Like I don't think And I don't think that guy just did. No, it wasn't a Zane shirt, was it? Yeah, it was. Was it actually? Yeah. I'm saying I wonder who's he got the most of of other people or if it was just a big mixed bag. Somebody said that they were going to buy
Starting point is 00:51:23 a, they'd buy a Zane Smith shirt just to go over and trade it. I'm sure. Zane got a lot of booze. I felt for him a little bit there on the I mean, it was good for both guys. I'm sure they sold some Zane Smith shirts. I'm sure. Yeah. To go buy a Carson Hose
Starting point is 00:51:37 our shirt. Yeah. But ultimately these are the things that pisses the whole field off that you're going to have to live with when you need a push. No push for you. No, no push for you. When you know someone's bad and you need someone to let you go. It is maybe not so much. I love it. No, I'm here for it.
Starting point is 00:51:54 It's really smart. Really smart. I wish other guys would do stuff like that. I started doing this media thing not that long ago, but I forgot that I actually started earlier than I remember. So 29, 2019, I think, 2018, 2018, was Speed 51.
Starting point is 00:52:12 I interviewed a one, Brent Cruz at Millbridge. And he looks exactly the same. For the most. I mean, he's obviously, he's gotten taller, growing up a little bit, but someone
Starting point is 00:52:26 sent this to me and I was dying laughing. That is great. That's at Millbridge. The man of many words. Yeah, he was, yeah, he was a few words in that one. He was all business. He just turns around and gets ready to get in the car. You're going to put that on your demo reel? That probably.
Starting point is 00:52:41 Yeah. I mean, you have a demo reel? Well, Kevin, can you explain to him that some of us have to like, you know?
Starting point is 00:52:49 He knows. I don't think he does. I have a demo reel. Do I need a demo reel? No, you don't. We need you to have a crash dummy helmet, maybe.
Starting point is 00:52:59 That was not nice. That was not nice. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, that was the Sips. All right. All right. Y'all closers.
Starting point is 00:53:07 Keep pulling up and keep sending me stuff because I like it when you guys engaged. I'm going to finish. All right. Time now for last call. And this is where we grade the burnout over the weekend. And it did belong, of course, to Mr. Ryan Blaney. So there was a time when he wouldn't do the burnouts.
Starting point is 00:53:21 I'm glad that that has shifted. He has definitely progressed. Turn into your dad and now he does it. What do we say? Doing burnouts. And I think when you have a big gap in not winning and you're not consistently doing it, you're just like, hey, I might need to celebrate this one. I might get another one of these this year.
Starting point is 00:53:36 Cool paint scheme, by the way. Yeah. It was very cool. The body armor paint scheme this week was very colorful, to say the least. But it was fast, too. And I appreciated that because I could keep track of him the whole time. The whole time. When he was in the field, I could keep track of him no matter where he was.
Starting point is 00:53:53 But average burnout. There's an average burnout. Yeah, he locked. It was well executed. Yeah, it was a tight doughnuts. And kind of little S and, you know. I don't know why. It just seemed like a classy burnout to me.
Starting point is 00:54:04 Well, that's because it's who's doing it. Like, you know what I mean? Wyatt Earp's doing great burnouts. So what is the grade? The guy that has the big mustache. Isn't that him? Yep. From what?
Starting point is 00:54:16 It's a TV show. Yeah. Yeah. Is it from 1970 or what? They brought it up on the air last night. Yeah. Tombstone. Tombstone.
Starting point is 00:54:24 That's it. Yeah. That's a movie. Yeah. Tombstone. It's a classic Western. Yeah. Anyone was wondering.
Starting point is 00:54:29 All right. I'd cut it off, though. No, hell no. That's all the magic. All the magic's in there. Anyway, what's the great? I think it's I give him a C plus.
Starting point is 00:54:42 Really? Oh, boo. Okay. What did you give him? Better than that? Maybe like a B minus. Speaking of C pluses. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:54:49 C plus sounds better than B minus. Yeah, I mean, it's not. I'm a B minus. He's a C plus and you're an A plus when it comes to. Wait. That's why I told you to hurry up
Starting point is 00:54:58 because I wanted to talk about whipping your ass. I wanted to talk about how many weeks have I picked the one. winner in a row. We do. John Hayes, our producer, you need to get a tally to us on how many times he has picked the winner because it's got to be, it's got to be seven or eight. I just don't. I mean, if you're listening
Starting point is 00:55:14 to this show, you should be listening to this show if you're interested in, listen, it might be seven or eight. No, but yeah, it's fair. It is. I'm a race, I mean, I've got almost, and you, I took a week off. And I'm still beating you by 45. Let's take a look at the standings so that we can paint
Starting point is 00:55:33 this full picture. Can you also get us the time, how many times he's picked the same person? Because that does matter. Yeah, but I know when to pivot. I will give him that. I know when to pivot. Kevin is a... I mean, I picked Jace Briscoe and Ryan Blaney the last two weeks.
Starting point is 00:55:48 I mean, you nailed it. This whole thing is rigged. But no, hang on, hang on real quick. I just want to point out that he might have seven wins or eight wins. I have five second places. No, you don't. Yes, I do. Bubba finished 29th.
Starting point is 00:56:02 He crossed the line second. That matter. I picked the actual second place Fisher, which is Christopher Bell. So that puts me at 72 to Mamba 62. I'm going to pick this week's winner too. Kevin at 107. I'm probably picking the same one.
Starting point is 00:56:13 You're picking it, to be honest, this week. Wow. Okay. So who wants to go first on the selection for the week? You're the last place. So you get to go first. Take your pick. Please pick anyone.
Starting point is 00:56:26 Man. You know why I don't want to pick this guy? Because I know he's going to pick. Okay, watch this, fam. If he picks the same person I'm picking, I'm going to change. because I can't make up points if I pick the same person. So I'm going with Denny Hamlin. So if you guys pick the same one, I'm going to change.
Starting point is 00:56:41 Where at? Where are we going? North Looksville. I got you. You're picking Denny Hamlin too? That's what I got written right there just to prove that I had already done it ahead of time. Okay. Well, I'm picking Christopher Bell.
Starting point is 00:56:51 Okay. He's going to get his first win this weekend. I almost picked him. That was the other guy in my mind. Yeah. Okay. So you're a little slow, a little behind. No, I'm not.
Starting point is 00:56:59 No, because if we pick the same, I'm fine. I'm not picking the same as him. Well, the good news is you're going to still be in last next week. So I love that. Yeah, that's okay. As long as you protect second, that's all that matters to me. I want you to be last. I was just told that a cup win is better than a championship.
Starting point is 00:57:16 So give me another win. Okay. That's what you just said. A cup wins better than a truck championship. I want to win. So does Kevin. So, all right. I've been winning.
Starting point is 00:57:27 Yeah, we know. We'll have to see how all of these picks fare out in North Wilkesboro this weekend. It's been fun, guys. Yeah, good vibes here today. I mean, everyone's having a great time. It's better when you're half asleep. It's better when we got Mumbo with us. All right.
Starting point is 00:57:42 Sleepy Mumbo. We got another seven o'clock start this week or night race this weekend. That's right. The late times just keep on coming. Yeah. I'm going to have someone drive you home. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 00:57:53 Well, this has been good, guys. For Kevin, Mamba and myself, that does it for us on this edition of Happy Hour. We'll see everybody after North Wilkesboro.

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