The Dale Jr. Download - Carson Hocevar Needs to Hear This

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Our rotation of incredible guest hosts for the Dale Jr. Download continues as Jamie McMurray joins co-host TJ Majors for a new edition of Dirty Air. After NASCAR’s takeover of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there was much to discuss this week: Indy is Indy Corey Heim executed when it mattered most Carson Hocevar can’t have the entire field mad at him How could Denny Hamlin have retained the lead on the final restart? The 60 team’s big pit strategy gamble Why the Brickyard 400 is a crown jewel Solutions for the lack of passing at Indy Carson Kvapil’s big win During the Ask Jr. segment of the episode, listeners sent in questions regarding: Changing the qualifying metric Jamie’s recent short track TV exposure Jamie’s hair secrets Sterling Marlin prank stories Jamie’s alter ego on vacation Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. This is the most fun I've had in this chair in the last hour and a half. I don't know if we've ever argued. Did I piss you off over the weekend? I'm still sour. Did I want the best man at your wedding? Who was your best man, Dale? T.J.

You don't need a cool best for that race? What are you thinking? Get them, T.J. Hellway is starting a show. All right then. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Dale Jr. Download the Brickyard Edition. And I've been looking forward to this episode because, man, someone's not here.

And it's been kind of nice. But we've got a great replacement. Jamie McMurray, thank you for coming in. Yeah. Are you excited that Dale's not here? Are you excited that I am here? Both. Yeah, we just wanted a Brickyard champion to come on to host this race.

And Dale couldn't fulfill those obligations. That's actually a good point. Yeah. It's great call. Yeah, we just kept blowing tires and we had a shot at it. I remember that year. Yeah, it was a challenging year there. But this episode is presented by Arby's.

Don't forget about Arby's new meat in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats. So what did you think about the brickyard? I mean, what's your overall race take? 40,000 feet. Yeah, so I think you have to, well, first off, I think great racing is typically a lot of passing.

and we didn't have any passing at Indy. However, the one thing that we talked about in our pre-race show is that part of what makes Indy special and so hard to win is that everything has to go your way. And you look at Corey Heim, the cautions fell right, they had the right pitch strategy. He did a great job as a driver. He was able to get the restart he needed at the right.

time. So it played out exactly, I think, how we thought. No one went into indie thinking that it was going to be this, you know, the leaders of sitting duck. You're going to get passed. Yeah, I feel like going to indie, we always kind of feel like that. You know what I mean? Even 10 years ago, I think when you went to indie, you knew it was going to be hard to pass and you knew you needed a track position at the right time. And if you had it, you had a really good shot at winning the race. I think it's always, it's definitely more of a. It's magnified now. It's definitely magnified now. But, I mean, I don't ever remember going to Indy and being like, man, we're just going to draft up there and pass the guy. It's never going to happen.

And honestly, it doesn't happen. I feel like people will praise the Saturday races. But I think about Raja staying out on 25 or 30 lap tires and won the stage. I know. Now, he wasn't going to hold it off, you know, for multiple laps, but but he did for two. Justin, I mean, he Justin played really nice with him. Yeah. But, yeah, I mean, you're right, though, with Indy, though.

That makes it, it's everything's times 10 there. and you've got to have the great restarts. You got to qualifying. You've got to get cautions at the right time. Everything has to go your way, and everybody has to execute perfectly to win that race. And everything went, you know, Corey's way, and he executed in qualifying race trim.

You know, the guys made the right call in the box and got the caution at the right time and was able to be up there. And we all know Corey's super talented and going to be, he can get it done when he's out front. He proved that. I mean, he had, you know, he held off the best of the best and won the race. So it almost reminds you somewhat of a, of a speedway race because it, you know, if you go back to the restart, ultimately the restart cost Coreyheim the lead when Joey tried to make it

three wide. And fortunately for Corey, we got to restart three or four laps later. And then, you know, he wasn't in the preferred position, but, but the Gibbs cars couldn't get connected and lined up. And so he got the lead because of a restart. But you can't take anything away from what Corey did throughout the whole weekend. I heard Bell after the race say how mentally tough that Corey Heim was to put it all together for the last 30 laps. And, you know, as I was watching the race, you know, preparing for the post-race show, the car was on edge.

Like he was on edge. You could see him get loose. And the one thing we've learned with, you know, the cup car right now is that there's no dry, it yawed out, right? Like once you get y'alled out, you spin out. So he did an awesome job being able to manipulate the error. And honestly, once he got to the lead, I didn't think there was any chance that Bell would ever pass him,

mainly because if you go back to earlier in the race, when Hymn was blocking Hosevar, I mean, he was on 35-lap older tires. And even though Hosefar was, I mean, he might have been three-quarters of a second faster. He couldn't pass him. And he's super aggressive, too, with his moves. Right. Did you see, I thought I saw Corey get into one a few times, and I swear I could see the back skating on the entry. I saw it off turn two a couple of times where he would get to the throttle and you're, and you, it just was like on the edge. And honestly, I was thinking, I don't know why you're driving so close to the edge when all you got, when you're just going to airblock him when you get to the corner.

Yeah. Do you, I mean, I think sometimes maybe some of the balance shift in the car, though, like you're really good. in traffic, but if you get out front, you know, the more area, like, yeah, I mean, I don't know, I don't know exactly the, the situation that, that he was in, that, you know, the one thing about Indy is that you can be in traffic a lot, but for the most part, that race just spreads out. It does. You know, and you have, it gets a little, a little farther apart, yeah, so, but you, I mean, you also just have to think of, I'm telling you, the, the pressure of those restarts, and, and he made me laugh because he came on the Rick Corey Hime came on the radio with I don't know I think it was

23 laps to go and he's like how many to go and I feel like he was hoping they were going to say 10 yeah 23 and he was just like shrugged like oh even even Saturday when Carson passed um uh uh Ross for the lead I looked at the amount of laughs and I was like oh that's a lot of laughs it's a minute per lap for the most part if it's 20 laughs you're like 20 more minutes so this is over yeah and I'm up there like man we just got to lead oh there's 20 something like Like, oh, God, that's a long time. I thought about Phoenix when he got to the lead. Because I remember what other race did Carson get to the lead?

Well, Vegas, maybe. We were leading, definitely leading Phoenix. I mean, we were leading Atlanta two weeks ago, but. Oh, you're right. Atlanta also, yeah. And so a couple of those races. Dover a couple years ago. Yeah.

Like his second race ever he was leading. I remember that. It's, I just, you just never know in those. It also seems like cautions will fall with the green, white checkered in those events. But, yeah, I mean, those are long laps at Indy. If it's 20 minutes as a driver, does it feel like it's 40 minutes? Does it feel longer? Well, I don't know exactly how to answer that.

I would say that from in the car, the other thing that makes Indy so much harder is there's twice as many corners. Like when you think about, you know, 20 laps, I'm trying to think Michigan is another one that has a 40-second lap time. you're really only running two corners. You have two entries, two exits. But when you get to Indy, I mean, turns one and turn three are incredibly difficult entries. And then the exit of two and four to make sure you get your lap time. So it's almost magnified. I think Indy would be the hardest track for those laps.

It is. And the two most important corners than Indy are two and four. And Carson was really strong in two. So I was watching, when he'd go out of my view, I would watch it on the computer and just kind of see where Justin was back. where he could catch him and things like that and where we'd have if you did get there where we'd have to defend the most and and but the the o'rally car is unique though because if a guy gets close enough to you it takes the back out of the track a little bit and you can manipulate some error like that but yeah the o'rilly race though of course i'm in the booth calling it and i always

and we've been so lucky for the last two years of cw having these races that it just seems like the fastest car is always in like third or fifth at the end of the race and so you're i'm watching i'm like and i'm trying to do the math of my head i'm like well there's 10 laps left he's three tenths a lap quicker he's going to get there like i you know you're trying to do that and and that that that makes it so much fun to watch those when it's a faster guy is running them down i'm i was watching the times and literally i mean Carson was really good in the corners but just the draft man in those cars like just pulls you up and like it's a good package for o're i like it's a good package for o're at that track.

Yeah, and they're on edge too. Like, I mean, they're not, they're, Carson said, you know, if you miss turn two by a foot,

you were going to plow and have to lift on the exit. Yeah. Which is what it should be. That's what it should be. It should be pressure like that. What do you think, Travis, about Corey's,

uh, on the radio. What do you mean on the radio? Well, him, uh, you're talking about his post race interview? Yeah.

I, listen, I want this rivalry to continue with him and host of R. I do too. What do you mean post race on the radio? So I think when he said radio, I think he meant just post race. Yeah, post race after the race, talk media. They kept asking him about Hosevar.

In the media center. Yeah. And he asked what place did he finish? And they said 9th and he was like, you ask a lot about a driver. And I get it. You just won and you're probably annoyed. But like when you have a rather like this, you're going to get asked about it. And I'm here for it that they're kind of embracing it, though.

Well, to me, what's going to make this special is that I think they're both really talented. And for the next, let's just say 10 years, maybe 15 years, this will continue. I don't sense this getting any better. Carson is low-hanging fruit on, he says a lot of things to fuel this. And the fact that, you know, Corey is running as well as he is, I mean, listen, if Carson flips Corey off for 25th place, who cares? Like nobody's paying any attention. We probably even see it. You don't. But the fact that the leader was, was essentially blocking Carson from advancing his position. And then they pit, I mean, like, it just, you couldn't.

It's perfect. Yeah, it's exactly what you want. But I think you said it on the broadcast when they went to you guys at the desk. A couple weeks ago on the pre-race set, Hosefars said, if you want a war, bring it. Well, you just, which you asked drivers to bring it. And guess what? Your enemy was in front of you, and he did what you asked.

Yeah. And so, Carson Hosepha thing is it's a challenge from my perspective of being on TV. And I have tried really hard to explain my position on this. And it has not come across correctly because I read the comments on social media. And I'm like, well, that's not what I meant to say. Because the reality is I like Carson. I think he is exactly what NASCAR, the sport.

Like you want someone who's willing to say just the random stuff he says. Different. Yeah, it's totally different. And he's fast, which helps. My take on Carson is that I have as an analyst, you know, I'm there to analyze what a driver thinks. And so I'm putting myself in the position of the other 30 guys that he's racing against every week. And I can't help but think he just, I'm like, just put the shovel down. stop fueling the fire because you can, and Denny said this, I believe, you can make one guy mad.

Like if you want to make Coreyheim mad, that's fine. But you can't make everyone mad or, or to me, what we saw happen on Sunday where, where Carson's just trying to get his lap back from the leader, you can't have everybody against you. But what I have learned is that I should just embrace what he's doing and, and, and yeah, just go with the floor. on it. It is unique. I mean, we haven't really had somebody come along in quite a while that just, there's been, listen, he's, he's, he's one of one. He is, yeah. Like, there is no one else. And I feel like he has bonded with Cletus McFarland. And it's almost like he's taking his success and speed and ability with a good team now and has brought in,

a little bit of Cletus to the equation. I heard Carson say on Sunday during an interview, the last words out of his mouth were like, well, hopefully we can sell more T-shirts. And I'm like, well, that's, he's a promoter, you know, and like, I don't know that maybe he believes everything he says. And I don't, it doesn't matter to me now if he does or not, because it gets good clips and we all laugh about it. And we talk every week in the TV world, his name comes up because it is a talking point.

So he's doing probably exactly what he wants to do. Yeah, I mean, I guess there's no, what's the saying? There's no bad coverage or, you know, in the news. Any PR is good PR. Yeah, any PR is good PR. So he is doing that every week. But he's back. The biggest part to me is he's still backing it up on the track.

Because if he doesn't have speed on the track and is competitive at times, you have to be relevant. You have to be relevant. Totally. If you start to not be relevant, you, that fades away and it doesn't become. a talking point anymore. Someone else is going to be in there. So it's important that he needs to be fast still.

And he's doing a great job at that. I mean, he'll get down a heck of a lot for qualifying. So, yeah, it's fun to talk about and fun to see. It's not fun to race against at times as a competitor. No, and I, so, and that's what, I think that's what I tried to get across and everyone was taking it that I didn't like him. It's, it has nothing to do with whether I liked him or disliked him.

It's that I was trying to put myself in the position. if I were Carson's coach. Like, what do we have to do to go win a championship? I would say, don't do what you're doing right now. You're making too many people mad. If you make everyone mad, it's going to be, you're,

there's no, whoever wins the championship this year, someone's going to cut them a break. A couple of people are going to cut them a break because maybe in the past, you cut them a break, right? That's just how, whether fans want to believe that or not, being a good guy goes a long ways

in a lot of these scenarios. And so as I watch everything he's doing, I'm like, you're never going to get cut a break. The guy's always going to stop shortness pit stall to block you in just a one race. One race is all it takes, too. It's all it takes. Yeah. And so my perspective on that was always trying to be, and I think I used it like, because I have a kid that races. And so I used it as like, well, this is what I would tell my son, Carter.

Like this, I wouldn't do that and here's why. And every time I would say that on TV, people would be like the hatred for Carson host for our continues. And I'm like, I have nothing to do with that. Yeah, you're like, it's taking away from the show. Yeah. Yeah, and then listen, fans, and this is a, and I agree with them. And I sat next to Jimmy Johnson for the last five weeks. The greatest guy to ever sit in a car.

And Jimmy's only fault is that we never got to see the real Jimmy. Like, if any. I know. And Dale kind of brought up the Jimmy Jam thing. Oh, yeah. And like what Jimmy was like away from the racetrack. If somehow we could have tied in. Oh, my God.

was away from the racetrack to what he could do on the track. He would have been, without a doubt, the all-time favorite. I'm not sure. I don't know how you could be it. Or he might not have had a job, actually. Yeah, he might not. He might not have, yeah. Jimmy was a lot of fun.

He's a lot of fun, but Jimmy would, drew a line between those two. And I think that's a fair argument that fans make that, you know, drivers were very corporate for so long and that they, you know, just wouldn't show exactly who they were. But times are a little bit. different now. And because of social media and the fact that the best social media content is just real. Just be who you are. And if you're a little goofy or if you're not, you know,

just crisp and corporate, it's okay. And to me, that's opened up what we see from guys on Saturdays or Sundays. They can be a little bit more of who they are and it's acceptable. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. I always go back. Danny always brings up it's about deposits and withdrawals. Yeah. And right now, I don't know how much deposit. He has to the news. And, and, but the one thing that I am really jealous of with Carson Hosevar is that he has fun when he races. He does have a lot of fun.

His radio is like, I know. Like I, I could never, I could never, like, when I got in a car, I just was like, I just, I wanted to win and I wanted to do everything perfect and right. And I never really relaxed and just enjoyed the moment. And I mean, it's. he seems to really enjoy everything he's doing. He does, yeah. Even honestly, and sometimes in his not so great days, too,

he's still, I mean, he's doing a good job of that. Travis, you want to talk about your favorite part of the show? Hey, this is Dellenhart Jr. And for all the latest Dale Jr. download gear, including the Imo drink some beer t-shirt we've been talking about here around the office, head over to shop.dirtymomedia.com for all the latest merch. Jenny Hamlin has a lot. gets control of the race

honestly when Denny got control of the race I was like man it's gonna be tough to get back around Denny here I need some content real quick because I listen to obviously Denny's podcast and I listen to this weekly every week I don't really know what the Denny Bros is

what is that well you're sitting in the seat of the guy that created that say well actually he came up with the term but he came up because of like you and But who are these people? Well, it's like, Who are the bros?

So because I do his podcast and root for him and friends with him, you know, Dale, and I always tweet about him during the races. So then Dale then started calling me to Denny Bros. Well, then it's, then it grew to the other friends of Denny's that go to the races and hang out. And so, I mean, we have a chat of. You have a text chain? Is that what you have going on?

There's about seven people in it. And Denny's actually the one that renamed the group chat to Denny Bros. Oh, he's definitely went with it. He'll read the text post race and kind of figures out like what moment you're referring to. On the flight home, he'll read through it. And it's like this past weekend

was lively. There's sometimes where it's not as crazy. But it's, uh, it's entertaining. The Denny Brots are actually uh, we're going to Richmond and we're at the, they gave us three campsites and so we're actually going to go up and tailgate. How many people are there?

Uh, I think seven of us are going. Okay. You have three campsites for seven people? We need some space to party. This literally reminds me of us like maybe 15 years ago. Like we all traveled as a little group. Yeah. Almost everywhere.

I mean, I mean, you were at a lot of events, did a lot of things that we did too. So, I mean. That's fun. Yeah. They have a good time. So they have a little pro. Yeah, they have a little pro man. He is, Travis is, are you the ringleader of this group?

Oh, 100%. I knew it. But it's funny, though. people on Twitter like, oh, you're obsessed with Danny. I'm like, sorry that I root for the guy that I produce his show and as a friend. Like, would you like me to root for Ross Chess Day? Yeah, and you're, yeah, you are a little biased. That's okay.

You're invested as well, right? The internet hammers him. Yeah, I can only imagine. Oh, they get so upset. It's pretty funny. Yeah. But yeah, I don't, that restart, I honestly think he would have been better off, not telling Lambert to go talk to the 20.

Just focus on your start because I think then the 20, Spiter goes and talks to the 19. Well, everyone's listening these days. So we can't relay messages on restart stuff. Going back to Atlanta, the O'Reilly race, Carson's leading the race. We have the 39 pushing us.

I was working with Fidoa, but I told Carson I would tell him what we're basically going to do right when we're getting to the zone because if you say it a lot before, everyone's building a game plan. Can you pull the restart up? Here's what, and Dale and I talked about this on the flight home. The one thing that

I noticed that Denny didn't do on the restart that you see most people do when you're on the inside is put your hand out the window when you're going to accelerate. Yeah, you're calling to you. And just so that you understand if you're listening to this, if you're in the outside lane and you put your hand out the window and you wave, the inside lane knows. So it doesn't really do any good if you're on the outside. But if you're on the inside, they can't see. Yes.

And I didn't see Denny's hand out the window. And I just feel like that would almost have been better communication than the verbal over the radio. If you're on the inside lane, yes, you can definitely do that a lot easier. Like Atlanta, we were outside lane, so we had to do what we could protect it. But yeah, you're right.

You can, a lot of these inside lane resorts, the guy, the driver normally just calls them up to, you know, hand out the window, go. Yeah. When you get, I'm going to go when you get to my bumper. Travis, I feel like that probably should have been in the Denny Bros. text of like, hey, Denny, why didn't you put your hand on the window?

So we did, I did ask him out in the show yesterday. You did. I forget what he said, though. I'm mad at myself now for his reasoning. And then Jared asked, do you think you should have been better off? He asked to, or no,

we asked him about, he talked to Bell. He didn't talk to Briscoe, but Bell said that Briscoe was pushing him early, and then Bell's trying to lay off, but he can't, you can only break so much. Denny said they started pushing him,

like way before the zone. And so then he's like, I can't go, and he's fearful of Nashville now with a restart. And so he said he's like kind of on the break a little bit. And so it sounds, like they just went early. But I think to your point, though,

all you have to do is just tell the 20, like, hey, please don't get out of line. And I think we knew. We probably felt good that Bell was going to stay. He's not going to do what Legano did to time. Oh, that's, yeah, you can't do that in the cup of course. You're not going to win, right? Like, you're just screwing your your teammate then. You're screwing your whole

inside lane. Yeah. We all know that now. Going in turn one or a mile and a half, if the guy dies to the apron, the outside lane's rolling. Yeah, totally. It's almost not even an advantage anymore to do that move. Yeah. And so I think if they just would have done the hand. But like this is kind of their MO lately. I mean, think about Charlotte.

They messed up the restart. Him and Bell. What happened to Charlotte. Oh, yeah. I can't remember. Yeah, I mean, and I would say like, but Indy, like if you're way back in line, it's hard to see the restart zone.

But if you're in the front two or three rows, you would know exactly where that is. Yeah, they got marks on the walls and fences. So it was heartbreaking for Denny though and I would say that from my take because I've been friends with Denny for a long time and I think he's just one of the greatest to ever do this. I want to see him complete that like all of the crown jewels. You know, this and the championship are the, you know, the races that that he still has on his list and he's been so close so many times. And I'm with you once he got the lead. Well, for years, the caution doesn't come out there. not going to pass him back. He's going to... No, they're not passing him. Right. No, I agree. But unfortunately, the question did come out. And then, and then to just pour salt on the wound, Denny lost his momentum when Heim blocked him between

one and two. And for the next mile and a half, cars just went by. Oh, I know. He ended up in fifth or sixth in front of breath. And I was like, okay, well, maybe, maybe Denny's going to open the doors. And he almost got the 19 a couple times, but he didn't even get around him. So, or did he get around him at the end, Travis? No. Yeah, so he had a couple of runs. He was faster than him, but he just... Oh, nobody passed.

Yeah. I mean, that's a fact. Like, once you got single file, yeah. There was no passing. And that was, I mean, Denny was quite a bit faster than a 19 right there too, and he couldn't do anything with him.

But yeah, I was, uh, I was actually surprised. But another thing, too, is, man, the kid in the 67's super aggressive, too. So, even if they go into one, he's going to be all over Denny's door. Like, it's going to be a tough restarted indie because you don't really, you don't really have time to really

I don't know everything like that's a weird environment too for Cory Hime to be in where Denny's your owner like you know what I mean like it's such a yeah I don't think Corey sees that though I don't either and I like that yeah I do too but in all honesty I don't think Redick or Bubba view it that way either I like when you watch Denny's made it clear they race they race hard

they could have made any more clear than Kansas yeah yeah Denny's made clear Sunday he is not your owner yeah no and I and I mean for me I can't help but be like, it's your owner and that's my car. But they, there doesn't matter. Those guys do a really good job of just making that another car on the track. And I'm with you. Corey Himes very aggressive, but he also seems very calculated.

Like he reminds me a little bit of Denny where when you ask him a question, when they ask those questions in post race and Denny does this a lot, he thinks for just a second before he answers. Yeah, you can tell. He's like, it's not just first thing that comes to as. mind. It's a little bit of, it's a well thought out answer and, and the, the blocking between, he knew he didn't have a good turn, turn one. And then he moved down to block. And I don't think he did anything wrong in that moment. I don't either. But yeah, the aggression level is high.

Oh, I mean, it's high. The aggression level now from where it was like 15 years ago was ridiculous. Like that is, that is evolution. Because without it out 15 years ago, I remember the guys, that had been around were like, why is everyone so aggressive? And it didn't seem aggressive. You're like, well, this is just what we do. Three wanted restart was like, oh, that guy's crazy. Yeah, we have 500 miles. Yeah, why are you doing that?

It's lap one. And now it's like, now you're four wide and it's expected. Yeah. So how do you think time will do next year where like this, this one he had like three weeks to repair and booty set after San Diego, he's had three weeks of prepare for San Diego where he's going to have to go week and week out and he's not going to have. It gets harder without a doubt when you have to do it every single weekend. I just think naturally that gets more difficult.

But what Coreyheim, like his timing of all of this is perfect. The fact that he ended up at 2311 when Toyota's, I mean, they just win every weekend. If you're in a Toyota. How many years are he in the trucks? I mean, he ran trucks for three, four years, something like that? Yeah, I don't. He was in trucks for longer than I thought he ever should have been. But it's paying off now.

Yeah. Because like you know how it is. Timing is everything. You got to get in the right cars. You got to get in the right equipment. It's everything. And he's done that. His timing's just been perfect for all of that.

But I also, I don't think that's just by chance. I mean, I heard the rumors that he had an opportunity to go to some other teams quicker and waited for this opportunity to come along. So I think he's done a, he's done an awesome job of putting himself in the right position. And you have to just assume. at this point in the year that Toyota's still going to be really good next year. It might be the playing field might level out a little bit, but they're still super fast. And that's, you know how it is. Fast cars.

Yeah. I mean, I mean, what's impressive to me about Corey as well is the tracks he won at. Like he won San Diego. And it wasn't just, it wasn't because pitch strategy put him out in front and there was a wreck. Like he passed Tyler Reddick who, you could argue. He was as good at road racing as anyone. I remember looking back at that race because he kind of faded early. And this is my favorite part about his San Diego win is he made the first run.

We started like 20th or something like that. We actually ran Corey down and passed him before that first yellow. Brad? Yeah. On a road course? Yeah. And Corey was fading. But for Corey, this is the impressive part to me is Corey just didn't panic, let everything kind of come to him.

And didn't throw his race away. and still at the end of the race, there he is. And that's how you have to keep your head in the game the entire race. And I feel like he is really good at doing that. Like, okay, you might be a 14th place car right now, but you get the right, you know, you get the right caution. Right pit stop, right, everything, yeah. Bam, here's your chance.

And he knows how to connect the pieces. He can do that in the beginning. And when his time shot comes at the end, you can make it happen. Yeah. No, he does. He does everything right. He did, yeah. Yeah.

That's the most impressive part is like a lot of guys, you know, when they, when you're fading in the beginning, I was just not my day. I'm just going to run 75, 80%, you know, not rack and stuff. But Corey knows how to, he just knows how to connect the dots. You know who didn't connect the dots? The 60 team. I'm still trying to connect the dots. Well, the 60 team, you know, Ryan Priest didn't have a great qualifying effort. Wasn't really was kind of off strategy all day, but they were off strategy.

to put themselves in a position to make to get the caution if it fell right and man did it fall right for him and he jumped from high 20s low 30s to the top five and what a what a break so ran up there ran top 10 i think for a while but he was in a really good position at the end to i think he was the best on fuel out of all the cars and they decided to go the four tires instead of you know two and T.J's just lost a little track position. I mean, I was surprised, but. I don't want to be critical of anyone,

but there's just seems, unless there was an issue, like he thought he had flat spot a tire or wasn't going to make it to the end, without a doubt, they'll look back on Monday and know that two tires would have been the right call.

And I also would say, going back to Indy being hard to pass at, two tires has one that. race more than four like it just it just whoever spends the least amount of time on pit road is who wins that race every time track positions every time and they were gonna come out at worst third but probably first like he needed less fuel than uh hym did i'm i mean if you put i i i they haven't so i don't i don't have enough information to to be critical or to to really discuss this did they have an issue like on the

right sides that made them then say let's just go ahead and do four No, I don't think so. Yeah, that stinks. Yeah. Yeah, I do think if Priest gets control of that race, he's going to be hard. Anybody gets control that race. Like, I mean, especially, you know, priest is no slouch in the seat. And you put him up front, he's going to be really hard to get around.

So that's where I wish, you know, if depending on where you finish, you might be part of a media scrum, but you may not get talked to. Like, that's where I wish there was a way to ask them. Like, why? Like, because we're not going to find out. And by the time we see them again, no one's talking about the race then. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be a hard. Oof.

That's a long plane ride home. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, we're asking Danny about it. And he goes, I don't know. He goes, why do you take four tires in Phoenix? That's true. That's good point.

Sometimes you make a call and like. Yeah, I mean, and that's every week, man. I mean, but they, you got to give them credit for the call they made to get the even being in that position, though. But this one seems a little. I think the, like, the one thing that's really hard for us. to evaluate is the why. Like you'd have to go back and listen to everything else that led up to that.

Because there could have been something where he's like, I think I have a flat. Like I don't know those answers. So if he's like, listen, I think the left rear is going down. Yeah. Well, then it makes a lot more sense. I mean, they did have a tire issue, I think, in practice, right? Yeah.

So, I mean, maybe there was a, maybe they didn't trust something with it. Maybe something fell off. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. or who knows. I'm going to defend them because I think it's so hard

to Monday morning quarterback but without a doubt they're going to write in their notes for the next 40 years, two times. Yes. I do think you got to give them credit for

not having track position early and doing things to give themselves to shot because it's hard to do that too. I mean those guys kept sacrificing their track position to take more fuel to be in a spot to do that.

What's hard for me is I'm watching that race on Sunday is it seemed like Ford and Toyota were like we're going to run as long as we can for the most most of those teams all ran as long as they could and Chevy all all split it up yeah but and it it looks really good temporarily

but man if you can see an hour down the road definitely running as long as you could was was the better play maybe and maybe that's because of the caution with Larson maybe that could have changed a lot of that for those teams but boy it just we were basing ours a lot off of when we thought the guys right else would pit and if we could pit where would we cycle

would we cycle to clean air or would we cycle into traffic and if you could cycle to clean air is worth a lot huh? It was worth a lot and if the guy in front of you was going to short pit and you got half a trader in front of him okay go ahead I'm going to run long like so you really you were basing a lot of it off the lap time you could run

yeah you know so but that's part of indie to me though that's what makes it indie is you're and that's like like when you asked me to start the show was it a good race it depends on how you want to rule what a good race is but indie is and it's always been about strategy crack position least amount of time on pit road like so it was just a typical indie race and you had to be perfect to win i don't i don't really need to go to indian have you're never going to well i don't need to go to any and have these big slingshot passes every

straight away, like defending these huge runs. I don't need to go to Indy and and have that for it to be a good race for me. I know going to Indy, like you said, you have to execute everything perfectly. You have to get a little lucky at two in there to pull it off, but you have to execute everything, man. And it's not, it's not, I don't mind that. I don't mind everything happened to be, the pick crew having to be perfect. The strategy happened to be perfect. You know, the driver happened to be accurate every single lap to hold his position. Like I don't. I don't. I don't. mind a winner coming from, you know, that happening to him and doing that. Like, I don't, I don't need these slingshot and these big runs and stuff. Would I like to see more passing? Yeah, faster cars you get to people. We want to see more passing. Yeah. Definitely want that. You want the, more. I just want the second place car. If he's faster than the first place car to have at least chance to get by him. We definitely want to see that. I would like to see just not be stuck. If you get to a guy, have a little bit of, have some tools in the toolbox to be able to get around him. and the drivers are very limited

to what they have to do that right now. But Indy, to me, and this has been a big topic as well, is it a Crown Joel still? And to me, it is still a Crown Joel. When you go to Indy and you look at that place and it's the brickyard, man. You don't drive up on, you know,

when you drive up on the racetrack still, you're always like, man, there's a racetrack. It's always that, man, that's pretty cool. No matter what track you drive up to, but you get to the brickyard. We watch all the rate, we watch the Indy 500 in May, and we kind of get pumped up.

for that and then we get to get our chance to go there and have a race and that place is prestigious man like you go there and and it's still when i look at the schedule i still notice where india is and i still notice um you know you watch the victory lane celebration on the front stretch and and you see these things and it's still it's really really special to win there still so what to me what makes india crown jewel and it would make any race a crown jewel is that it's one of the few races that teams have always tried to bring their best car to. It's also one of the four events that if you, and I don't want to take fans out of this, but ultimately what makes it so special is that everyone that has a hard card in the garage,

if you took a poll of the four races you want to win this year or one of the races you want to win in your career, it'll be Daytona, it's the Coke 600, it's the Southern 500, and it's Indy. And as long as the garage area feels that way, it's going to be a crown jewel, because they put so much emphasis in wanting to win that event. I don't think there's any argument that that track is about the Indy 500. but for as long as I can remember, every driver, team owner, crew chief, crew member has wanted to win at Indy. And that's not the same,

and not to take away from any of these other tracks, but like, nobody lines up at the beginning of the year and it's like, I really want to win Pocono this year. Nobody says that. Like, it's a great race and it is still a win. It's still awesome to win, but it is not indie. And Indy is in the same category

as those other tracks that we mentioned. And listen, I have had the opportunity, of being able to win the Daytona 500 and the July or the summer race at Daytona. They're not even close. Like it's no, no one, no one even talks about, do you remember when you won the Daytona July race? No, no one talks about that.

Everyone talks about the Daytona 500. I also have won the Charlotte fall race twice, but I've not won the Coke 600. People don't talk about, you're not going to forget the first one. Yeah, well, that's fair. But I'm just saying like, the other thing to me that makes indie unique,

is that we have only ever raced there once a year. So there's significantly less winners ever at that racetrack, and that's the way it's always going to be. And it's not just because it's indie, it's because it's indie on the Oval. Because winning on the road course was no, it was just another race. It was, it wasn't.

It was nowhere near the same. And I really appreciated Michael McDowell pointing that out this weekend. He's like, listen, it's just not the same thing. So there's no doubt, I think, in the majority of fans' minds and I think 100% of the garage area that that is a crown jewel race. Yeah, I agree. And you've got to be on that front stretch after the race with the bricks after a win. It's just different.

I mean, you looked on them long straightaways. There's so many grand sands. And you think of the history of the place, the pagoda sand right there, the victory lane. the ride up to victory lane where it's at up there on the on the on the stage and man it's just it's just different man it's indie like it's and it's never going to change you know i think this is my 21st year going there and it's still the same every time you drive you drive through that tonne you're like man this place is pretty cool like yeah and i know the racing's not the greatest but i know going to that race too that it's going to be a battle it's going to be everything has to be

perfect and i'm okay with that yeah so what what do you think uh so I reached out to some people on both the IndyCar side and NASCAR side yesterday because I knew we were going to talk about the race and whether it was a good race or it wasn't. And one of the questions I asked was, you know, in my mind, when I watched the Indy 500, I'm like, man, it's always a great race, right? Like they're always lined up and snaking down the straightaways. So, you know, I asked that question. I'm like, well, why is it on this big flat track that IndyCar puts on such a good race?

and before I could end this sentence, someone's like, well, it's a fuel mileage race. They're like, you know, they qualify at 235 miles an hour, and then they race at 217. And the difference being in IndyCar, they can adjust their fuel on the wheel, right? You can change the fuel map and just, and it doesn't make as much power.

You're still essentially running wide open, but it allows those drivers to get to the number that they need to be. And I'm like, I hadn't thought about it. It's essentially kind of what we've seen at Daytona and Talladega. It is, yeah. for the last three or four years. So I also ask, like, well, what do we need to do to make the racing better at Indy? Like, how do we create passing?

And something that stuck out to me this weekend that you don't see on TV. But as I watched lap times is the O'Reilly cars were going to say put on a better race, I think for sure. They were five or six seconds a lap slower than the cup cars. but you don't see that on TV. You can't notice it. You can't notice it. So, you know, I asked the question. I'm like, well, why don't we take our Atlanta package and run it at Indy?

Like, why don't, you know, why don't we do, like, because to me, you're going to have to slow the cars down enough that you can, I don't know that you have to run wide open. I think that would be key to be able to run the whole try. I don't, I don't know if you can slow them down enough. But the one thing that the cup car does have is this massive tire on it that, that'll, allows you to have a lot more mechanical grip. Oh my gosh. The tire is huge. Yeah. So and and and what I'm encouraged by throughout the sport is that we're going to go to Daytona in a few weeks with something we don't even know what it's going to do, but they're trying. They're like we have nothing to lose. I appreciate that for sure. And I think at indie I think we have nothing to lose.

I think you go and you you you try something and if no one can pass to the lead, you, you've just, you've made a lateral move. You haven't lost anything. Yeah. I, I am. definitely like the steps they're taking and we've talked about it i mean denny has said a couple years ago denny said to take the spoilers off the cars or something similar to that and to make it where you know the the cars are a handful because like back you used to see cars back into the like get in there too hot and wreck like now there's there's there's none of that and there's definitely no when you catch a car any way you don't have any tools to maneuver anything around and make it hard on him The only thing he's got to do is looking in, look in his mirror, which now is even easier with the TV, the screens they got in there.

They can really see a bigger picture rather than maybe like when you used to look out of the mirror. When you're running, you could, what, see the roofs kind of move a little bit, right? You couldn't see, didn't have these TVs like they have now. Yeah, I don't, I'm not a fan of those. I don't, I don't either because it makes it really easy for the- I think it puts that spotter's job in Jeopardy, TJ, and I don't think we need to do that. I think we need to take the TV. I know, now I like them.

I think we need to take those out of there and just use a mirror. I do too. I'm with you on that. I know the drivers like it. I think there's maybe somewhat of a safety aspect to it, but it could also be argued that they're more aggressive because of what all they can see. Oh, they're 100% more. Look at the blocks into one. Right.

You know what I mean? And, you know, when you're going down in 77 here, you don't trust that camera when you're changing lanes. You know, you're still like, yeah, I think it gives the drivers an extra level of comfort. for anytime the drivers are more comfortable they're going to it makes it i don't want to say it makes the racing worse but when the drivers have their hands full and the cars are hard to drive we see some of the best racing i think i'm going to argue with you i think we have to be very careful and and the drive like denny was going to freak out on me when i say all this i think we have to be very careful at listening i think it has to be 50-50 driver and and and and and

NASCAR driver and engineer driven on how you get to the rules because at the higher speed tracks it seems like I know all the drivers are going to say I want less down force like I want less down force to make better racing but I'm going to go back to the old Atlanta when we didn't have any down force and the track was slick and we fell off four seconds it was hard to pass like it was a it was a parade around there and it seems to me that in the last four years when they created the next gen car we had really good short track racing and great road racing but we had horrible mile and a half they were just I was like they might go off the schedule they weren't very good yeah there wasn't short martinsville was bad even prior to the next gen uh no no I'm

saying is like when they developed the next gen car the the road races prior to that were we're that's why we added seven of them to the schedules because they were getting good yeah and And the short tracks were pretty much, right? Well, that and Chase was winning all of them. Well, that helps. But my point is when they went to the next-gen car, the mile and a half's got really good. And the drivers were still complained a little bit about, you know, being needing clean air. But man, you think, like Charlotte is a really good example.

That race was horrible. And then the next gen came out and all of a sudden it turned into one of the best tracks that we have, like the racing that you see there. Yeah. And I would say Kansas or. Chicago, Vegas, most of those mile and a

a halfs now, I think put, you can't ask for more. No, I do think the mile and a half are, it's really good. However,

the short tracks are not good. They're not good. The road races, they're not good unless you're SDG. So to me, when we talk about

making things better at Indy, I don't think it's about taking down force off. I, to me, it's about making it to where the,

maybe you slow the pace down and the drafts more important. It's more of a drafting-style race. I think that would help. I do think, though, at Martinsville, anything one mile and under taking it away, not allowing shifting, figuring out how to not have shifting. Shifting.

Yeah, having, having, you know, a lot of lap time fall off. Like, because at Martinsville, you're defenseless. When you lose drive, you get past. Like, you just can't. Oh, yeah. You can't get out of the way. So I think there's a, and they're doing this more and more now. the fact that we can have a different set of rules for each track or for each type of track,

to me, is what's going to ultimately make it the best. Yeah, I think the amount of half package is great. I do. I think the mile and a half, it's a lot of momentum and a lot of raw speed, but I like what I think is a good compliment to some of this is the fall off too. I like tires to be hurt in the beginning if you drive too hard and pay for it 25 laps in. You know what I mean? I like their, I like the mile and a half, but I like.

like tracks that you can hurt the tires and it puts the driver more into play. I do think I don't know what the answer is at Indy, but no one does either. And so I think you have to just try something. We don't go there enough to. Yeah. We don't have a lot of experience. It is very unique, right? It's just massive flat.

Long tradeaways, really, really short corner. Yeah. My favorite part of mile and a half races right now, and I would say the 20 car, Bell, Adam Stevens do the best job of this is if the stage or if the end of the race is 80 laps long there are some guys that pit halfway and then they'll run this long

and it looks like it's not going to work and then in the closing five laps of the race or Denny is another one that will do it I think that's so much fun to watch I love the fact that you don't really know who's going to win until it's over I do yeah these races are still they're still tough to win I mean they're super hard to

So what do you think about cautions, Travis? You got a lot of complaints there? If we have a caution like five or ten laps before the end of the stage, just call the stage there. Let's get the pinning going. Let's restart. Then it makes it more interesting because now crew chiefs are having to change up their game plan because now the strategy changes on them. We went the Kyle Larson caution to come back green for one lap and then go yellow again. You want to make fans fall asleep?

there you go. Yeah, it gets tough. I do think there was some opportunities at some points here to have some quick yellows, you know, when you had back-to-back cautions like that. But sometimes they fall at the wrong times, and it definitely makes, depending on the severity of the incident too, makes it hard on race control to get back cleaned up in time. I thought they did a good job of getting back one lap there, but you're for a lap, though.

You know what I mean? They have to fix this. This is a, it's a problem. This is a no-brainer. They have to fix this. As I'm reading what you wrote here. So Larson crashed at 258, it says. Yep.

We had a 14-minute cleanup, is that right? And then we ran one lap green. Yeah. Then we didn't go back to green in stage 2 until 326. So 28 minutes from Larson's crash to a one lap restart. That's a long time. That's a long time. That's a really long time.

They have to address this. And to me, they're going to have to sit down with the teams because you still have to make it fair to the teams because there's a lot of effort put into strategy. But if the teams know going into it that it could change, this has to be just for the better of the fan watching. Because I lose interest in 28 minutes of walking around. you think what do you think the answer could be though you know like if you get a caution within 10 of the end of the stage that's it we're going to we're going to call track like at indy 10 lapses a long time i mean at martinville 10 lapses i think you you could i i don't i think you have to come to a common ground with the teams and nascar and i some of this will get blamed on tv i don't i don't

so arka does this you know that right i don't they have a halfway break and in their meetings they say hey if the hunter lap race they're going to say there's a going to be a caution. If there's a caution on or around lap 50, that's going to be it. But if there's no caution, they'll throw the caution at lap 50. But if they get a caution at 44, they might say, hey, guys, this is the halfway break here. That makes sense. I just think we have to find a common ground between TV network, NASCAR, and the teams of what's fair and what's best for the product on on TV. No one wants,

no one wants 28 minutes of, of, of what's happening here. Because you just lose interest on what you're watching. One lap, one lap for, and then 28 minutes. Well, here's the other problem. Ratio's not good. And one lap shootouts sometimes are expensive. They are very serious.

And I can't imagine the teams. That's what I was worried about. When you get one lap shootouts, you get guys that are going to be even more aggressive Well, and sometimes, and not necessarily in the Cup series, but for sure, in trucks and O'Reilly, you get guys that should not be up front. Like they stay out, right? And then you get, then you do get a wreck or a stack up. And I just don't, I don't think that's better.

I think we could, I think there's a better process of how to do these breaks that we could eliminate some time. And I don't have the answer. I don't think it's a TV thing, though, because TV can't be happy with 28 minutes of nothing, because they're worried about a fan might flip over to another sporting event and not come back. I guess what I mean by that, Travis, is there's no doubt that TV is going to have an allotment of time built in for a commercial break at that stage break. And I don't, I know that I do TV. I don't know all the details of exactly how that works. So don't, don't assume that I'm not telling you something or that I know because I'm not 100% sure.

But they definitely have a time built in for that. but they still have to do that if we go back green for one lap they're still going to have to work that in so I think that's what I mean by like you said TJ at Indy if the caution comes out with four laps to go and we know that at best case scenario we're only getting a one-lap shootout that but but I think what's really important is that we know that rule going in not not yeah hey plan for it's pretty close I don't know maybe we this week we should try it I don't think that's the process I think the process is we set a standard of you know

at this track. If it comes out within four to go, then we're going to... Yeah, four to goes... But if it comes out with five, we're not changing the rules because we, you know, then we might have a long caution.

I just think we set a standard or what it needs to be. To me, it needs to go back further because at four to go, five to go or four to go, you're probably not going back green most of the time. Yeah, you're right. I guess so let's say it different then.

At Indy, if it comes out, if we say seven to go, and it comes out with eight, then we can't change the rules for that. I mean, I would just make it 10. It's an even number. where hey if the caution comes out we're going to lap 60 if it comes out on lat 50 or after that's end of the stage we're going to run our cycle and we're going back green and then it just your

strategy as you want that's the best part is now these crew chiefs are having to change a strategy and things are going to get interracing because now you might have a car that's up front well they messed up the number and they're a lap short on fuel or whatever and so like yeah it adds to the intrigue as a fan i would be fine with that i think it would be fine i mean it's going to be a little bit of a challenge for some because it's going to change some fuel numbers and things. But like most time the second stage is already shorter. Well yeah, because you run

four or five laps under caution. Yeah. So if the cacha comes out at especially on Saturdays. That second stage gets really short. Truck race is like a truck race of Pocono is like 10 laps. No. Yeah, I hate it. But just pay the points and keep racing. I'm fine. Like if you're fast, you're winning. They're really

short. All right. It's time for the Lionel Ultimate Racing Collector. this month's selection of our Ultimate Racing Collector presented by Lionel Racing, the official diecast of NASCAR. Lionel Racing is your go-to source for all of your racing diecast needs. Check out the latest pre-orders at LionelRacing.com. And this month's winner is Blake. He sent us an awesome video here.

A lot of die-cass. That's a lot of die-cast. My lord. I think I see one of mine. I know. I made me feel good. Wow. Those are all signed.

Look at that. He's trying to get those signed. Davy Allison, a Larson Sprint car in there. DC Solar. That's vintage. There it is. Always got a helmet.

Look at this case. Oh, dude, look at all the Texco-Havlin stuff. I had a bunch of that when I was a kid, Davey Allison, Texco Havlin. Some of them are probably definitely yours. Probably some of them, yeah.

I feel like he's collecting more of the brand. Oh, there are mine now. Oh, wow, there's a bunch of mine. Yeah, that's, yeah. Oh, I'd tell you what that this guy is. Is this a family member? This is actually my basement. Yeah.

Oh my God. Look at all of those. Some of Juan's cars there, right? Yeah. And I admit, I didn't know. I didn't pick this because I didn't know your car or anything, so I didn't pick this because of. Well, that's great. Holy cow.

Oh, my God. He likes Larson, too. He's got even more. Oh, look at all these cars. Holy. I mean. I wonder how many are actually in this room. 200?

easily he's not done oh he's got indy car hats down there is he talking like i can't hear i don't know i don't have to usually they don't talk good for him that's awesome man what a collection i wish i was that passionate about something i mean that's dedicated

it is i mean he went from the early days a lot of texco stuff there yeah from the early days all the way to the wand stuff the cot car i saw a cot car yeah that's cool yeah it was pretty neat yeah that's uh what a question it was because I it's like it's changed right like it looks like it ended at Larson like we're gonna post this respond we want to know who your favorite is yeah you know what was I honestly think he's obviously a Larson fan seems like more recently because I saw a sprint

car indie car yeah but leading into that it looks like he was a good assy fan that's what I thought because I saw 42 I saw my car I was I mean if you have from D.C. solar to Texco Avalent to the big red Yeah, the gum car. I feel like you're a Ganesi fan. That's a cool collection. That is. Yeah.

It's awesome. It's awesome. Yeah. Thanks for the video. Big win for Carson on Saturday. I was very lucky and fortunate to be a part of it. And, you know, go through all the Victory Lane stuff. It's very special.

But Carson's been so close, so many times. I mean, two weeks ago at Atlanta, he has the car, the push behind him, runs out of fuel. Phoenix earlier this year. He doesn't cut the dog leg enough and they get inside and he kind of gets used up and was going to probably win that race. Carson's been in position to win

this first Atlanta race. Corey Day gets inside of him and gets into him and takes from the lead. I feel like Carson's been so close so many times. It was really great to see him finally break through and get the win.

What do you think? I think what makes this so special is that I'm going to go all the way back to, I believe it was a second start at Dover. He comes on the scene after winning all these cars tour races, comes on the scene. Looks like he's going to win in a second start. And I'll never forget Regan Smith going and interviewing Travis

in the middle of turns one and two. And I grew up with Travis, like in late models. Back in Wisconsin, we race together. And then we kind of moved through all the series together. And I was like, I had a moment this guy's getting ready to have with this kid, going to win a, you know, Xfinity race at the time at Dover.

And the, the rest, I don't remember exactly, the restart didn't work out. He ends up. Yeah, just didn't drive. I think he chose the inside.

No, we chose the outside and. Were you spotting for him? I was, yeah. Did you make that lane selection? No, we were in the right lane.

We just didn't drive into one hard enough. Yeah, I'm kidding. Yeah. You know what it is Dover. No, I know. I'm not.

I'm just kidding. But to me, I go, I go all the way back to that and how close he came. And then all of last year, I feel, like Connor Zillich just overshadowed. I agree. And I have somewhat of the inside, right? Because I know all these guys. And I also know what it's like to be in that position. And for Connor,

it could not go wrong last year. Like even when things went wrong, they still won. It just, in everything that he was doing. He's paying for it this year. He is. Oh, the Lala averages will catch up with all of you. But I just think about how hard last year was for Carson to watch his teammate have all that success and whether he would admit it to us or not there had to be some jealousy and bitterness of like why is it why is it keep going his way so that's what makes to me this so special is to watch the struggles you mentioned all the stuff even just this year but also knowing and and i think dale's emotion when they interviewed him he was having and at first i'm he had his glasses on and i'm like what is he choking like what's happened right and then when he took his glasses off

and you're like, oh, he can't get it together. And we all, man, when you start crying, the more you try to get it together, the worse it is. Yeah. But then when he just talked about, you know, he wants it so bad because he wants to see people, drivers that put the effort in, be successful. And he's watched Carson throughout his career

put all this effort in, and he wants to see, wants to see him be successful. And to finally get there and knowing that you have to win in order to continue on in this, I mean, and it couldn't have happened at a better stage. Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah. And then the moment that we all saw kind of happened live through social media with Travis's dad being, I think they were at Langley. They were Langley.

They were Langley. With Caden. Yeah. And get watching on his iPhone. I mean, like, and then the fact that Caden won that night. Yeah. What a great night. What a great day for them. Yeah. Super cool, super cool moment. It was really fun to to cover live. watching it on the CW with those guys and just, you know, when someone wins a race like that and you see the burnout and you're watching the team, you feel obligated to talk and be, and try to explain what they're thinking. But the reality is they just want you to not talk. And like, like just because everyone watching at home already knows the vibe and the emotions

that are going on. And it's really fun to get to watch that and be a part of it. It was a win that I felt like the racing world wanted to happen. Like he was the driver. So it was like it wasn't just junior motor sports fans. And it was everybody was like, let him get this win. He deserves this. Yeah.

I mean, he was in the champ four last year. Like people forget that like he didn't win, but like consistency. And he's second in points this year. Like he's just steady Eddie out there. He just had to be able to get that win. And what I hope for Carson. And again, like we, I talked about with Zillich kind of overshadowing him last year.

Like Justin's doing that kind of this year, right? Like within this group and he's winning all these races. And that's hard to come back to the shop and they unload the trucks and you come in for the debrief. And you're like, yeah, Justin won again, right? But I hope that him being able to win gives him the confidence in that team. He's calling away at it. Totally. It's not, this wasn't a freak thing that happened.

No. He's been so close so many times. And working with Carson every week, I mean, there's, I've been there for, basically every start he's made and to see him and you never know how young drivers are are they going to be lazy not wanting to put the work in during the week are they going to want to put the work in and every week you know we set a really good standard in the beginning and you know sometimes you let him go like I'm hey I'm not going to text him on Monday I'm going to see what he does this week see if he wants to work on stuff Carson I mean it's not Monday evening

Monday Tuesday and then usually we have a little pre-race deal for ourselves on the night before we go to the track just uh i put everything i have on a hard drive for them so we can watch on the airplane again and we like nights or weekends where you have a practice the night before and then you race the next day makes it so much we can go back and look at the data and stuff and go over lines and what people are doing and then uh i feel like we're really ready for saturday but carson he can't get enough of that like he can't like it was i got back from the truck race on Friday and we're getting ready to look over a film at 1130 at night like and then he had a meeting the next morning and he got out of that meeting and at nine o'clock we're sitting there watching it again

so it's fun to see a guy like carsing come from where he did not know a thing about o'reilly racing to just be thrown into there and have to learn it to see him grow and and and uh adapt and learn and race with these guys and you know i've seen it from the very beginning and and he does get overshadowed a lot but he puts a lot of work into this and everything that will pay off it's gonna it's gonna and i tell him you know i try as i've been doing this long time so you try to guide him too like hey you know this is what you know this is how it should be you just try to you try to keep him you try to guide him a little bit as well but he is going he's going to be a sunday guy at some point and i think he did get overshadowed a lot and I think you're getting ready to see a lot more of Carson. I love hearing that

about him because I just have zero tolerance for laziness. I spent my whole career. I'd come home on Sunday and pout and I would wake up at 4.30 or 5 in the morning. My wife would be like, where are you going? I'm like, I don't know, but I'm going to get up and try to figure this out. You know, because I just I wanted to be more successful than I was in racing, but it was never from a lack of effort. And so when I see kids that put effort in like that, I'm just naturally a fan. Yeah, Carson, he puts in more effort than probably any young driver that I've worked with. It's awesome. He's, you know, he's, he definitely, uh, there's no slack in that department with him.

And you can see it paying off. Yeah. All right. It is time for Ask Junior, but not really. Ask Junior. Ask Jamie. Ask Jamie. Yeah.

Uh, this segment of Asked Jamie is going to be brought to you by Xfinity. Xfinity is waving the red flag on internet price hikes. and raising the green flag for savings. Now you get the speed and reliable Wi-Fi you need, locked in at one price for five years. No surprises, no late yellows, just a straight shot to Victory Lane. And just like that, folks, we've got a winner.

Xfinity, imagine that. So first question, people want to know, it's been a topic brought up lately. What does this takes on qualifying in the metric and do we need to make a change to it? I vote for a change. I vote for it. All right.

We'll start next week. I want it. You can do it next week. I wanted to go to the ping pong draw. I'm fine with that. Me too. I'm 100% fine way. I'm telling you when you used to go over it like it was it was fun.

It was. You go over there and you're like, you can send a truck driver. You can send somebody else like Sue's going to be lucky this week. I don't think the metrics. I think the metric is fair if it rains. I think that's completely fair that it doesn't have to just be based on owner points the way it was. I think that's fine. but I would like to see a shakeup in the qualifying.

I just... I don't like the metric of it rains because... What do you want it to be set on if it rains? So if you go to Watkins Glen, you get crashed out in turn one, SVG wins the race, you go to next week and, you know, say you're 10th in points.

I think it should be more points-based. That should be a heavier factor in there. It is already, though, right? I don't... I think the points are a bigger factor than... I think. think it should be a much bigger fatter. I don't think it's enough factor to me. I shouldn't have said that because I don't. We did rain out somewhere. Remember it was, was it

after the Glenn? That it rained out? SvG started. Yes. Like, was it Charlotte? Something like that. Might have been. I don't remember. I don't, I don't remember either, but I think you're right. It's so hard to come back from that. And like, if you're 70% is off of last race. Oh, 70% off. So I think that's too much. So let me back up. I, I'm fine with the people. ping pong draw, but I'm also fine with reversing practice order. Like I, I don't, you know what I mean? Like whatever, I think that then people, well, like if you're fastest in practice, you go last, like in the in the 20 minute or whatever they're given, given each weekend, because that's going to change soon. Yeah, I mean, I like, you're still going to have a lot of the same guys, same group.

Like to me, to me, the random. Yeah, but if, if, who can we use? Who's a good one? If, if, if, William Byron crashes out this week. I don't think it's, I mean, I don't think it's fair that he gets hosed the following week in qualifying. That's what I'm saying. Like, I don't think you're finished this week should matter that heavily on your qualifying draw for next week. If it rained, like something like that. Like, I don't, to me, it should be the other way around. It should be, you know, 70 or 80% points and then you're finished last week.

Because you've got to the points this year. We have butchered this because I didn't know the rules. Well, how have you got to, if you're fifth or sixth in the point, anywhere in the points, how have you got there this year? Consistency. Yeah. You know, and you shouldn't be penalized. Wonder how they ended up on 70% from last week's finish. Try hard, man. You want to get everything you can do to finish, winning you're in. I guess. The one thing that I...

Why'd you roll your eyes at the ping pong draw? Because that was before he was born, so he doesn't understand it. No, no, no. Because are, is this a professional thing? Or is this fifth grade basketball? You're talking about fair? Yeah. Like, that's where you guys are losing. in me is like, you know what I was told as a kid, life's not fair. Life is not fair. So go out there and perform.

And if you're like, I'm okay if you want to change the metric. I'm okay if you just go off the standings. That's the order. But like, the only reason I, so part of the reason I like the ping pong draw is because I think it will shake things up. And I think it will. And so I'm viewing this more from an entertainment perspective than I am a competitor's. And so I would like to see a good car start midpack or towards the rear because they got a bad draw.

Because to me, that provides entertainment of watching them work their way to the front versus if they are consistently the fastest car and they get the best draw. And then they start on the front row. I'm like, well, I'm passing. I don't know. Like I just, so I see your point. I don't, I don't. And I think that's fair if we're being fair. Yeah.

But I think from an entertainment perspective, it could be better. I just think with the random, there's nobody to blame. There's no, if you get the good draw that week, you get the good draw. And, man, it's how it was. I mean, you knew, like, sometimes a good car had to go early and it's like, oh, man, he's going to be, he had to go down and lay down and try to lay down a lap. And you had cars that weren't as strong, have good draws. And then they started better.

And it made their weekend. They had a little bit better pit stall. Like, this, it just makes it where you, like right now, once you get, buried and have two bad weeks in a row. It is ridiculously hard to come back from it. A lot of it's because of qualifying. Because you don't, the two groups, you get to go and you're not in the good fast group. Your track's going to change.

It is fascinating to me. And I don't, I'm assuming it was always this way and we did not know. It's fascinating to me that once the rubber gets picked up. How much? It is unbelievable the different. You can take an average car and qualify well or a great car and strong. and struggle if you're in the rubber. Like, I love watching the, the, the, the screen show the before and after and how much rubber

gets picked up. And the difference in the last time. Dude, it's the shades. It's come. And I just wonder, like, I feel like forever we thought it was because it cooled down. And I don't know if it was that as much as it was just the rubber getting picked up on the track. Yeah, the guys that go out early pick it up and speed it up. Like, but it'd be nice to be like, hey, man, we got that late draw this week.

We're going to. Yeah. And then you, like I said, everything kind of, you get a better pick stall. pick for pits. You get, everything just goes easier at that point. I see your point, but I'd like to see it.

I think you could, I think it should be changed. Yeah, if you're fast, you're still like, the fast cars are still going to qualify. Decent. Decent.

So, but it just makes everything, it just takes everything from being. Here's the other thing. I don't think that it should be a talking point every weekend. And right now it is. I don't think we should be worried about

talking about the metric every single weekend. When they interview someone in qualifying, if they go out early, they're like, well, trouble because of the metric. I don't think that should be a talking point every single weekend. I think it should be, oh, we got that good draw this week. We're going to go out early and try to lay down a lap and see where we end up. And, you know, I just, I honestly feel like it would create more

storylines for better. It definitely would. For the better, you know, I think it would. What do you think? I think if you want to slightly tweak the metric, but I don't want to go to a pill, a ping pong ball, whatever you want to call. Like, I just, I want performance to dictate. like this is professional sports we're not like we're gonna give ribbons out for everybody and like orange slices and caprice suns afterwards and sure we can go to random draws it's a whole new event like it's the playing fields

Travis opinions are like everybody has one like I don't know I just we didn't have a problem with it for however many years well I'm trying to figure out why they even changed it that's like me too that's what like because there's a reason that we changed it

people didn't like it but I don't I don't it was COVID wasn't it was it was it was because we didn't qualify we showed up right that's exactly it was yeah yeah well hell if it had to do with COVID traffic it's over we're not using it anymore yeah we need to go back to where it was and then pre-covid let's go back to how it was and prove me it's broke at that point because it was not broke before that no one bitched about it before we didn't really like if you had a bad draw is bad draw you went out and ran your race right yeah we didn't during COVID didn't they do the ping pong draw Oh, they did it like on a video or you had to watch it. Yeah.

Yeah. Like it wasn't broke before, so why can't we just go back to it? Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Speaking of asses, this was a big question. How embarrassing was it when they showed your ass on TV? I've told the story a couple of times, but you guys wouldn't have heard it. Are you serious?

I didn't know. You really don't know. No, I don't know. So I ran a modified. You really don't know. no. No. I ran a modified race with Carter. I do know that at Franklin County. Yeah, I saw. And I was involved in an accident on lap 14. So I was out. The car was damaged. And the trailer that we were pitted out of, it was probably 50 foot long. Okay. And my gear bag was over the tires of the trailer.

So kind of towards the middle to the back. And I've never worn underwear under my fireproof underwear because I think that doesn't make sense like why would you wear underwear under underwear yeah so you know like in the cup world I have a change in my motorhome or you had the lounge yeah the lounge you go change a lounge give me a second right yeah well you know it's short track there's just you just you just go change you miss so like I I knew I was done so I got my clothes out I walked to the very front of the trailer I faced the front of the trailer and And I did it as fast as I could.

Like I kind of looked around. No one was there. And I ripped them off. And I, what I didn't know. The doors are glass in the back. No, no,

the doors, it was wide open in the back. I don't really care about that. I mean, I'm running the track. No one's really paying attention. But there was a drone that was shooting my car in the pits.

And it was shooting right up in the trailer. And so I changed my clothes. And when I got like literally, I changed my clothes. I got back to my bag because I went to put my gear in it. and my phone's like, and my voice is going on. Well, my wife was the first text message,

and she says, my mom just text me. She says she thinks she just saw your naked bottom on TV. And I was like, oh my God, I'm like, well, there's no way. Like, how could they possibly? And then Elliot Sather text me. He's like, man, I saw your naked ass on TV just now, like laughing. So, yeah.

And then fortunately Turner started our first pre-referral. race show at Sonoma with that that footage. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I think I'm going to wear my underwear next time. I'm racing again next week. I'm not going to lie, if you get a text from Elliot, they're like that. You've got to be a little nervous. It's so funny. Yeah, he made me laugh. He made me laugh. That's hilarious.

Yeah. I miss his humor. Elliot's so funny. Dude, I miss his humor. Hermie has a modified team that Luke Baldwin drives for. And that's I ran a couple of races for them. And it's the same team as what Carter's with. The cars are owned by some by some different people.

But Elliot and Hermier at the race, and I'm telling you, it's just like it was 20 years ago. Oh, I bet it's a lot of fun. It is so much fun to get to be around those guys laughing. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good group. Next question. Somebody wants to know, your hair is amazing. Do you use gel or hairspray to keep it that perfect?

I use, it's called a Veda Control Paste. If you're a paste. Yeah, paste. Not a gel. It's a paste. And I should get Elijah here to come home with me one day and just do a little. social content of the like four seconds that I spend fixing my hair in the day. That's more than four seconds.

No, it's not. No, that's the funny thing is that people think that they spend so much time and it literally takes three seconds. I just put no effort. You're just good at it now, though. I don't know. Listen, this is what I was blessed with. It's not bad.

It is what it is. It could be worse. Racing and hair. Yeah, that's what I have. Next question here is, uh, they want to know, do you have any good Sterling Marlin prank stories? Oh my God. Appropriate for this show.

There's not much. much Sterling. The only, so I will tell a quick one. I tell this one a lot. So my rookie year, Casey Mears, my teammate, and I looked up to Sterling. I can remember, obviously I had filled in for him those seven races in 2002. But I kind of, I mean, I really looked up to him. I'd seen him on TV all those years.

And great dude. And you know what it's like when you, people don't look the same in person as they do on TV. And so like when I got to be around him and, And I don't think Starstruck is the right word, but I was, I was a fan. And so it was kind of cool to get to be around him. And we used to go, every team would go to Talladega in like December and do those just horrific three-day speedway test where you just run two laps at a time, come in, get in another car. They were terrible. But we went down there as a team and Ganassi had expanded to three cars this year.

And so it was Sterling, Casey Mears, and I. And at the end of the first day, you know, we get done at 5 o'clock and it's getting dark at Talladega, you know, in December at 5 o'clock, the sun's going down. It's starting to get dark. And Andy Graves was a team manager at the time. And he came in the garage and he's like, hey, Chip would like, and I didn't know Chip very well either. None of us did, right? Because Chip was somewhat new to NASCAR at the time. And I had not been around him except for like the signing of my contract. He's like, hey, Chip would like to get everybody on the phone and just talk about the day. what we're going to do is we're all going to go get in the pit crew van and those big 15 passenger

vans get in the van and we'll just put it on speakerphone and everybody can talk okay so the crew chiefs the drivers the engineers we all kind of cram into this this 15 passenger van and i did notice that sterling wasn't in the van and so um anyway they act like they're calling chip and they put it on speakerphone and what had happened was sterling had put one of those little quarter sticks of dynamite underneath the van that we were in and i'm going to say some of And when it went off, I knew it was a prank, but I also saw fire shoot up the sides of the van, and the van kind of rocked.

And I was like, what if this goes wrong? And the van blows up. And so then there's Sterling, laughing. So it's pretty funny. Another one real quick, you can use whatever you want here. But we also used to go to Kentucky and test a lot. A lot, man. Yeah, natural and Kentucky.

Engine test, do a lot of engine tests, just durability tests. And we were there in December, January. It had been snowing, like the track. There was snow like on the infield, but the track was dry. And it was so cold. You would come in the garage and they would shut the garage door behind you. Yeah, it had all those space heaters on, right? And so we were doing an engine test.

And I think they had changed engines. And Sterling was driving the car. And the engine guy had primed the pump. you know, you take the dry-something belt pump off. They would prime it, and then you put it back on. Put it back on, yeah. Well, Sterling grabbed an extra belt and threw it under the car. And so they shut the door.

And when he got in, he started, he's revving it up. And he went to back out, and the engine guy looked down and saw the belt and was like running. And they're like trying to shut the door. And he hit his head on the door trying to get out. And the guy's just melting down because he thinks the belts off. Yeah. And of course, the belt was on. Yeah.

Sterling was funny, dude. Dude, I got to work with him. He was the first full-time job that I had his last couple years there. And man, what a... I've actually asked him... And that dynamite, you were talking about... We're not talking like...

It wasn't a firecracker. No, we're not talking firecrackers. I asked him like, hey, I asked him one time. I'm like, Sterling, can I get some dynamite? We want to blow some stuff up on the land. Hold on. Takes his flip phone out. He calls this guy.

Hey, he goes, Johnny Fire. Firecracker. That's what he said. Hey, I need some firecrackers. All right. And it was like a week later. I got a brown bag. He said, keep in the fridge. So me and we, me and Tofer and Dell Jr. We spent we blew so much it up. So fun. Sterling, he was just one of a kind. He was. He was an awesome guy. He was a really fun teammate to have. Yeah. And he had plenty of stories. He, yes, like, I really enjoyed. I got to work when I first started racing. My first year was doing pit practice stuff at MB2 motorsports and I got to be around Kenny Schrader, which was, I went from Schrader to, had a little bit with Boris said. I got to work with some really good guys, like, personalities. Like, and Sterling was, I mean, just a fun dude to be around, like really good guy. And, yeah, I really enjoyed my years with him. He was like we were talking earlier in the show about how aggressive it is now.

I remember Sterling being one of the guys being like, what's the hurry? We got 500 miles to get there. Yeah. Like at the start of the race. Yeah. In practice, I'd tell him, you know, guys, this is when you and Del Jr. would get up and run the fence at places. And I'd be like, I'd be like, hey, they're running the top, find him to speed. I'm looking at, you know, stop timing stuff.

And I'm like, they're getting faster and faster up there. And he'd go up there and try it. He'd be like a lane and a half off the wall. And he'd be like, oh, can't run off air is too loose. And I'm like, you up. You have an eight feet to go. More than that. Yeah.

But yeah, he wasn't running that fence. But no, he was a lot of fun to work with. So you mentioned Jimmy Jam and now Johnny Firecracker sounds like a good alter ego. Do you have an alter ego when you've celebrated any of your wins or have had a good time? Yeah, I was curious because, I mean, I think you'd be disappointed. I don't know, man. I mean, I've been on some trips with you and I've, you've ran hard. I had my moments

I definitely had my moments in like 2002, 3, 4 but like most of us define a moment yeah like what's one of that moments what flashes into your head I know what you're thinking

I don't I know I know what you're thinking it's a Cabo trip oh yeah I might have unleashed some clothing on a balcony and twirled it above my head to Piti Pablo

to who the Pidi Pablo song that's why you were you know the spit You know the helicopter song, right? You were up there. I got a picture of it somewhere. I'd say a good story.

I'd say a good story. Dale will be involved in this. So it'll be fitting in, I don't remember what you was, 2003, 4. I didn't know Dale at all. And we were parked next to each other in points. And I was driving Finch's bush car around the part of time.

And Finch told me, he's like, hey, you know, if you and any of those boys want to come down, I have a condo in Panama City. And I'm like, okay. So, so I went over to Dale like the next week. And I had never talked to him. And I'm like, hey, I said, you know, Finch has a condo down in Panama City, said like maybe for spring break if we want to go down there. Like I think Elliot and I are going to go if you want to go. And he kind of looked at him and he's like, all right. And so I'm like, okay, so we're going to go. So I think Elliot had a plane. It might have been Dale's plane.

I don't remember who's, but we decided we were going to leave from Bristol. and fly down to Panama City. And we get on the airplane and we're all kind of talking and this leads up to what you're talking about. I remember I told them, I was like, man, I don't stay up real late. I'm like, I'll go pretty hard until about 10.30

and then I'm done. And I don't remember, I think it was Dale. He's like, have you ever had Red Bull and vodka? And I'm like, I have not. And he goes, you're going to be just fine. And so we got to, you know, our trip and I got introduced to, to, yeah, Red Bull and Vothka.

And by God, I made it until about 6 a.m. I believe that next morning. I'm sure he did as well. That was also the tabloid trip. National Enquirer. National Enquirer. Yeah, that's where you guys ended up in the... It's the foam pit.

Yeah, we're not talking about all that. We had... Wait, you said foam pit in Panama City? Yeah. Was that Spinnikers? Could be. Or Levella. There's no way I'd remember that.

I don't... Honestly, I don't remember. Like, I remember, this is what I remember about that trip. I remember the National Enquirer being there. And Elliot had M&Ms as a sponsor. I had Texco Havlin and Dale had Budweiser. Two of the three sponsors were not very excited about what might come out on National Enquirer. And it wasn't Budweiser.

No. Yeah. So, but I don't remember. I don't even remember what came out of that. Like, we didn't be in like nothing. We didn't even, I mean, we didn't anything wrong. We were just having fun. You know, we were all just, we're just hanging out.

Like, it was just, we're just partying. It was, it was a good time, though. Most of the trips we went on, when we would go check into the resort or wherever we were saying, the room was stocked with Bud Light and Budweiser. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I don't remember. We never did anything. No, we were, yeah, our trips were always. It was just fun.

We talked a couple weeks ago about the Cabo trip and some of the fun that we, that we got to have on there and and uh i mean it's just i look back at it now and there's a lot of good memories that i have and some fun times so oh yeah really i mean i'm just glad i got all that out of the way yeah well pre like smartphones too there was no fun well we had next telphones yeah but not like iphones there was no there was it took such a grainy photo you couldn't have distinguished i don't we must someone must have a digital camera i have a i somewhere i have a i think it's on a computer that i don't even know how to turn on anymore. There's a pitch. I have a pitch of you on that stage. Jamie's going to burn that computer. I do on the balcony. We should leave it on that

computer. I mean, I mean, we could probably pair it up with your, if you're changing it, the short track and see. I had the top off and one and the bottom off and the other. That'd be, that'd be great. You left, you, I don't know, remember, did you leave before the bar fight that night or after, or dirty? Well, I can tell you that I'm 150 pounds, 5'8. I wasn't near any fight. I know that for sure. That was, that was one of Dale's friends. It was Adam. You remember Adam? Martin Martin's buddy. Oh, Adam.

Well, Casey started it. Shocker. Casey started it because he was talking. Casey would get pretty tough when he'd drink. Well, he told this guy. He was talking to this girl and his guy liked her. And Casey looked at him and he said, look, if you're going to hit me, hit me. And that dude just pushed him in the face.

I was standing right there. And then Adam, Martin's buddy, he hits that guy. And then the next thing I saw is a chair. hit at him and knock him down. I'm like, oh my God, we're all going to jail. I was definitely not there for that. Yeah, we, I thought we were all going to jail. Yeah.

J.R. Rhodes, I do remember buying the, the, I think I still have it. Those hats with the horns. Yeah. Viking hats. Do you remember those? Yeah, I do remember those. I remember they were like steel hats with horns. Yeah, I do remember them, actually.

We walked around for days with those on our heads. Thought you were the coolest thing ever. Yeah, I don't. Yeah. Thoughts a cute word there. Hey, we were cool to ourselves. It's all. It was fun.

We had a good time. I will say phone parties, I think are overrated. Oh, I wasn't into that. I was way, I wanted to get above it and just look at everyone else and join it. I went to one at Spinnickers and Panel of City and people touching each other. I'm like, I'm not into this at all. Jamie Jam didn't like that. Jamie Jam was not coming out there, no.

Well, I think that might be a good spot to wrap up this segment before we tell too many more stories. Yeah, that's probably a good idea for I lose my job. Xfinity is waving the red flag on internet price hikes and raising the green flag for savings. Now you get the speed and reliable Wi-Fi you need locked in at one price for five years. No surprises, no late yellows. Just a straight shot to Victory Lane. And just like

that, folks, we've got a winner. Xfinity. Imagine that. Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. Place your bets. All right, it's time for the Dirtymoe Dough segment. And this Dirty Moe Doe segment is brought to you by Fandul. No rust today.

Yeah, no rust. Kind of nice. No Russ, no Dell Jr. It's actually been kind of fun. Enjoying this because Russ. Russ rags you a lot too. I don't know. Yeah, Russ is hard. I miss.

I do actually slightly miss. Russell does this show every week. He comes on for the Doe second. Well, he goes on a lot of vacations too. He doesn't go on. He's lazy. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I am pro.

I'm not going to. I'm kidding. I love Russell. I'm not going to stand here for this Russ bashing. I love Russell. I say that just as a joke. My predictor is very good at predicting Russ. Well, let me tell you is going to be fast week.

Larson Bell. I mean, Danny's going to be fast. I mean, really, you're going on a limb here, Russ. I can talk because he's not here.

Don't hate the model. Oh, the predictor. The predictor is like, that's easy. Like, I want to know like the inside stuff. Like,

come on, Russ. I can look at a screen and tell you that they're going to be fast. So no race this week to prepare for. So I figure we can just talk about the standings and who we think is. Yeah. I'll take those four names you just said as being good this week. Yeah. Your predictor?

Is that your predictor? That's my predictor. What do you make of the bubble there at the bottom? I mean, I think it's worth mentioning what consistency does right here in this Ligano. He was below the bubble below it. Two weeks ago. Two weeks, two good runs. He was 20th two weeks ago.

Yeah. 20th. And he's 13th. 13th and he's feeling comfortable too. Like it's not like it's... I can assure you that no... is comfortable from, I'd say even Lugano. One bad race, man.

Well, you have Daytona, and that can just, that can just be a deal breaker for all these guys. The one thing, though, I think that Lugano has to feel comfortable in is most of the guys below him aren't going to go get a 50-point day. Like, they might. That's fair. But they're not consistently going to get a big day. And he has momentum. Hold on here, because we all would have said to say.

Are you a Ligano fan? No, I'm just saying, like, we go in, no, I'm saying we go in, you wouldn't have said this about Joey like going into Wilkesboro, you wouldn't have had Joey saying he could have that day. No, but the reason I feel better about Joey, and you're right, I would have never have said that, but the fact that he won Wilkesboro and then he came back and he ran third at Indy, they have momentum, right? And so that's going to go away. Yes. And now we're going to Iowa, which I think is going to be a good track for him as well. And he doesn't need a 50 point day now. No. He just needs no disasters. He can't. No thing is though, like, and he's, Joey said this, and I think this is really

important. He didn't really care about making the chase. He wants to win a championship. Like so for him making it, I mean, he obviously wants to make it, but like just because he makes it, they want to get rolling and get to where they can go try to compete for a title. And I mean, like we've said before on here, the champion is going to come out of what, the top six probably? Maybe. That's what they say.

Yeah. Listen, stop, though, for a second. Because that's what everybody has said up to this point. But Reddick has proved that if things don't go well, it can fall apart really quick. They can. Or if they go well, like Christopher Bell's in 10th. Yeah. You tell me Bell can't string together.

I would still have him as a guy competing for the championship. As I was watching the end of the race on Sunday, I'm sitting going, all right, Denny's not going to win. Please not Bell. Please not Bell. Because you think Denny can keep his momentum up throughout the rest of the year? Because here's why I ask. It's been going on for like two years now. He's been on this role.

Do you think it continues? yeah I mean well hey you're part of the dinnigros but here's the thing though is zero dns that's the I mean that's the big thing for him he's get some wins but just get a fifth

get a sixth like just don't get a 20th but it's racing though and sometimes man like you said the average is out you can't but well you blow a left your tire like some things are out of your control but do you think though that maybe he's changed just our like Larson is still I feel like racing old like I think Kyle's having to drive beyond I do I think Kyle's have he's trying to make up for he's just hustling yeah like they're it's and

it's I don't understand how they're behind like I thought when they got this new nose I'm like there's no way they're not just going to dominate this year I thought they would be it just hasn't happened but do you think that's hurting him instead of like with the new format you don't need to be hustling just go get yourself at a 10th place but he's He doesn't know that. I don't think he knows. Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

I think this format hurts him where like a Chase Elliott is better off. It does. But Kyle's also the guy that can win two or three in a row. Correct. You know, like he's got the ability to do that. He's a guy that can have a 75 point day. Yeah. Yeah.

Two weeks in a row. Yeah. And not be surprised at all. No, if you told me right now that Kyle Larson won two out of the next three races. Yeah. Okay. I'm not. I'm not walking away like, whoa.

Didn't see that coming. Yeah. That's right. Like he has that ability. And that's big, man. Like that's that's tough. And I look at guys like, man, Chase Elliott could sometimes he comes out of nowhere. There was a while that we talked about all in the news was him and Alan.

How long? And like, then he wins a couple races or whatever. And I mean, to answer your question about Denny, the one thing, though, is like, can he continue it? Yes, but like he has a nice lead. But once the playoffs starts, that league gets shrunk. Yeah, I mean, when it gets down to 25 points, I think that's a lot if everybody's consistent. Yeah. But one bad race.

Yeah. You just get that. You can get it wiped out immediately. Because those guys you're racing, they're not all going to have bad races. Mental, like, mental-wise, the guy is the one that I think he should be worried about that can put together races, Ryan Blaney. Because I think Ryan's a really smart race car driver. But what do you think about Penske and Ford on the tracks and the chase, though? I don't think we know.

I mean, Blaney, when you say the chase, you're talking Phoenix. I'm talking to 10 races. I'm just saying it gets better for Blaney. as it goes. But does it not play towards Denny's hand and Toyota? I mean, it's always playing towards their hand, but you so have to execute.

I would say, I mean, I ask that rhetorically. I think there's no doubt that Denny continues the success he's having. The thing about Denny that is so impressive, and I think a lot of it comes with his age and how hard he works is that there's just not a lot of mistakes that are made.

No, that's what he does. He just doesn't make any mistakes. He knows when they take his fifth place finish. He knows when to do all them things and he just doesn't push it beyond his means. He doesn't he doesn't overstep. If he's going to run seventh today, he's going to run seventh. And he has just incredibly fast cars right now. That's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, those fast cars, a bad day for Denny should be about a seventh. Yep. Who do you know? And who do you think does anybody from below the bubble make it in? Or do we have our 16 drivers? I mean, I think 14th to, I don't no man it's it's tough because

Bubba's gonna make it in I think Bubba's in the only one is does SVG crash at Dayton like But he did he does pretty well at those tracks But I feel like he could wreck out though yeah I mean he's pretty impressive You can't I'm telling you like that guy

And I I feel like we have to grade him A little bit on a curve Because track house isn't where they need to be Not at all Shane's doing great He's doing really well He's overperform and he's probably the best interview on TV ever.

The fact that he can get away with saying yeah, I don't know what it is. He works it in and you're like he just said that. I don't even know if he goes. He's had a lot of quotes this year. I got the lead what I do now. Yeah, or I'm leaking out of both ends. That was last year maybe. He's funny. Yeah, I like him. But what I like about Shane is he's checking boxes off of different. He's getting

better. He's getting better. He's progressing. Like his he's still getting, he's still learning it and getting better. And it's showing. And you can see it. Like, I don't think he had the greatest race at Indy, but he had a smart, where did he end up? 16th, something like that? Mm-mm. I think he was like 27th, actually. Well, he was running around 16th.

Yeah, something happened at the end though. He did? He finished 16th? Yeah. Oh, he did. I mean, that's... Where did he start? 25th.

Okay. Like, that's, to me, that's what I want to see. Yeah. Totally. I mean, that's, people aren't going to notice that, but that's a solid day for... Well, start below. Priest, you think he makes it, can you get in or not? He's going to stop taking tires.

Can Priests outrun Cendrick and SVG? Priest is the only one that I think can do it. I think priests, the tracks coming up, we should be very, priest should be very strong at Iowa and Richmond. The Eric Jones one's interesting, because there are some weeks you're like, they're pretty fast, right?

And then there's some weeks that it's a disaster. But there's not a lot of consistency. The ones where I notice him being fast are usually a mile and a half. Yeah, they're bigger tracks. And we're not, we're getting ready to go to Iowa. Richmond Loudon Those are going to be

Not that there'll be a struggle But there's not an edge I think that's where legacy They're starting to get better But there's some areas where they're They definitely are better at the faster checks It seems like they've They've found that

I mean But if we think priests can Then I think you have at least have to think That Brad's got a shot I mean honestly we were supposed What's Brad's weakness right now His potter Yeah probably

Well not me wrecking him Most of the time Yeah Reck avoidance Um I don't know. I just feel like we just been in,

we just been getting caught up. We get caught up in things. We kind of shoot ourselves in the foot. But here, I mean, we've got, what, we finished,

seventh and six the last two weeks. I feel like they're quiet. Like I, yeah, Brad's not on TV, getting talked about a lot. And last year we were the dominant car at Iowa. We just had so many cautions

that the 24 made it on fuel because of all the cautions. So you have to feel really good then going there. Yeah, I feel really good about going to Iowa and Richmond. And if we can make up you know if we go to how many points think we need to make up on syndric to have a shot in next two weeks i mean if we make up 10 a week does that put you in the ballpark or 15 30 no yeah because that puts you

you're within striking is at that point easily right you are i hate points that's all we look at now talk about it's so boring you're 40 points back yeah yeah i mean and you got three races left and you got it and you're literally racing The thing is, though, I was going to say, like, if you can have a mega day, you make up a lot of ground. Like, if you go, if we go to Iowa and have a Joey day, I mean, you could. You've got to score at least 10 points better the next four race, each race. And hope that, that's if they don't have any bad, if they, if they have a bad race, that's, you know, which. Yeah, I love that we're discussing points and you do.

It can happen. Because last year, we weren't talking about, we're talking about who could win to get the final spot. the win in your end thing either. And then you're also like, if you look, fifth through tenth is a dog fight too. Yeah, it's got different areas that are having.

It's going to be so interesting and fun. Yeah, we just seem to go. I think if we have a couple solid single digit finishes, we'll be in the hunt. Like Carson Hosevar's in fifth. And Bell and 10th is only

29 points back. I mean, all them guys, they can't afford to have bad days. Yeah, I mean, if any of them guys have bad days, they're dropping in the point. Larson dropped two points, two spots.

That's crazy, man. Look at Chase dropped one. Hosevar dropped two or plus two, I'm sorry. Who's the sleeper in that group to you? In which group? The top, you know, eight or so. Hosevar would be the one I'm worried about. Because I feel like he's incredibly fast, and if he can piece it all together,

and he's fast at random tracks. Like you wouldn't say, like you said with Eric Jones, mile and a half's but I don't know howsofar I feel like just can be fast at a lot of different places yeah I think it gets harder the next couple I think he's a he's great at short tracks and he's got natural speed there but I don't think the cars are quite as good there as they are mile and a halfs um to me the sleeper I still think Ryan Blaney sitting right there the fact that Ryan Blaney's third right now yeah I'm sorry I thought we were talking fifth down I see yeah just in top six yeah I just like I don't No, and I think sleeper, I think, like, shouldn't be, like, in my mind, I didn't have them being there at the beginning of the year.

Mine's bell. What'd you say? Mine's a bell. Sleeper? If he could, if he could move up a couple more spots. I think he's still legit contender for the championship. Yeah, he's not a sleeper to me. He's supposed to be in that top four.

Because he's, like, you said this, there's only 30 points from 10th to fifth. That could flip-flop for sure before the chase starts. And if, if, I think everybody's put sixth place on the, that's kind of the break. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's definitely some guys that stand out to me that, that, you know, Hosevar, Suarez, having great ears. Busher's just a quiet, solid. He's always kind of hangs in that area, it seems like. Yeah, he's a little silent assassin. He is. He just never hear of him. And then you look up and there he is.

Yeah, he hasn't had one race where you're like... Do you guys think he and priests are that funny? I don't, I don't mean, like, I don't think they're funny. I just mean, like, I didn't know that. like they play these pranks on each other. Yeah, they have this little thing going. Is that their social media team that's coming up with that? Or is that?

I mean, I think it's a little bit of both. I think they're kind of into it a little bit too, kind of having fun with it. Well, I think what's funny is neither of them I think of as funny people.

Oh, yeah. Especially Busher. Like, Bush has never even smile. You know what I mean? Like he, yeah, they play it well off each other. I think you're starting to see that more

with drivers and their like characters through social media. So like we pre-taped a show for next week because Denny's off. And we had Todd Gillen and Connor Zillich filling in. And like I didn't realize how much Todd talks and like just hearing about the different things. And like I think you're starting to see what these drivers have and they're, you know, showing a little more themselves. The look on Prese's face when he was doing that signing and Chris pulls up in that truck.

Like that, that still image. Have you seen it? Well, and I didn't. I watched that. But I wasn't. I didn't realize it was his truck. Oh yeah. Yeah, he didn't realize it either, but the look on his face when he saw it. Okay. It's like, it's funny to see their personality. It's good to see their personality. It is. I like it. It is good. And yeah, it's funny. All right. So that's this week's dirty mode do segment. And it's been brought to you by Fandul, the premier gaming destination in the United States. All right. Well, thanks for joining us, Jamie. It was a pleasure having you on. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Travis enjoyed it as well, I'm sure. Yeah, come back anytime.

All right. We'd like to thank you guys for joining us in the Arby's studio. Don't forget about Arby's new meat in three box. Get more meal for your money at Arby's. We have the meats.