Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Daytona 500: Stop Saving & GO! | Mast Cast Ep 4

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Daytona 500: Stop Saving & GO! | Mast Cast Ep 4 · Kenny Wallace Media

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All right, we already had the clash, but now the season has
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really started right. The Daytona 500 happened and we
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here on mass cast. He's former NASCAR driver Rick
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mast. I'm his non driving son Ricky
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are here to talk all about it. So dad this show as if if you've
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been a loyal mass cast watcher and listener for the last three
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weeks and they're going to stick with us.
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You already know that this show is usually coming out around
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Tuesday or Wednesday on Kenny Wallace Media, on YouTube and on
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all of your audio platforms, wherever you get your podcast.
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We're actually recording this one Sunday night right after the
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Daytona 500 just ended. I'm actually leaving in the
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morning to head out of town for a few days for work.
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And we figured let's just go ahead and record it now while
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everything's still fresh. So not sure when this will come
0:47
out, but just for everybody listening, you know, we're
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recording this right after the race ended.
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So there's certainly plenty to talk about.
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I'll queue you up to what what whatever you want to go with it
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first. I will say this, I just want to
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get this out of the way first. Kudos to NASCAR and Fox and
1:02
everybody involved for bumping the start time up a little bit,
1:05
moving the green flag up an hour or whatever they moved it.
1:08
I just saw some videos on social media where it's it's been
1:11
raining in Daytona since the OR not.
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I don't know if it's since the race ended, but after the race
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ended. So I was kind of worried when I
1:18
started. I didn't want to say anything,
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but I started getting worried a few days ago when I was starting
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to see the sunshine and everyday in Daytona except for Sunday
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between 2:00 and 8:00 PM. Possible rain, but for once
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NASCAR 11 against Mother Nature today.
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So thank goodness for that beautiful day.
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The pictures of like the, what is it, the Thunderbirds flying
1:38
over the track before the race with that blue sky and behind
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them was awesome. So got the full race in Mother
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Nature. Didn't have a say in this one.
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That was great. So kudos to them for moving it
1:50
up. But certainly plenty to talk
1:52
about. I got a whole list of different
1:53
things we could talk about, but I'm just curious and this is I
1:56
you and I didn't compare notes or anything beforehand.
1:59
I'm just curious. You just watched the the 2026
2:01
Daytona 500. What is the first thing that
2:04
comes to your mind? Excuse me?
2:07
Yeah, the in a nutshell, we had the the truck race Friday night
2:13
was excellent. The ORP race Saturday was
2:17
excellent. Real exciting siding race,
2:20
siding finishes, either qualifying races into
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qualifying, all that was neat. We can get into a lot of that
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stuff. The race, the 500, the finish
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was cool, right? The finish was exciting.
2:31
This gas mileage thing has got to be looked at.
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There's no two ways about it. We can't have the guys running
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three wide out there at half throttle for, you know, a a good
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portion of the race just doing, I mean, they're doing what they
2:48
got to do. They're doing they, I mean, I,
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I'm not blaming them. That's, that's, that's the way
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it's set up right now. But we have got to address this
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half throttle gas saving mode deal we've gotten into at, at
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Talladega and Daytona right now. It it takes away, there's no
3:03
doubt it takes away from an otherwise otherwise very
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exciting speed week, right? I mean, everything about the
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whole week's been you everything couldn't nothing things couldn't
3:14
have gone any better other than that deal with the gas volage
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thing. And I'm not sure what we do to
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fix it. I don't know if you or that I
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think they have like 18 gallon tanks now.
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Maybe maybe if you go by we used to have 22 gallon if you if you
3:26
increase the fuel tank, but that might not work with this new
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car. I don't know.
3:29
There's other things that could be done.
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The problem they got is you know what they've already learned,
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you can't unlearn, right? So no matter what goes on, you
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know it whatever changes they would have to make to to
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eliminate this, it's got to be studied pretty good because
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these guys, these guys now understand about if you save,
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you know, if you save fuel on the racetrack, then that's less
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time sitting in the pits. That's what it's all about.
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It's not trying to get to a particular spot to somebody
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laps. It's to get to where the way it
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is for somebody last. But you come down pit Rd.
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instead of spending 3.7 seconds, put gas in.
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Now you spending 2.8 seconds, right.
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That sounds like maybe that's a little bit trivia.
4:11
That's not trivia at all. That's a big, big deal.
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So, you know, they've the guy, the, the teams have learned this
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now. So no matter what they do to
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correct this, they've got to keep that in mind that, you
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know, these these pet crew guys and engineers, they'll overcome
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a lot of stuff they'll throw at it.
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But at any rate, you know, I don't know what the answer is,
4:28
but we've got to address this in my opinion.
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Yeah, I, I texted early in the race and our family group text
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named Mastols if, as you might remember, if you've been
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listening to or watching mass cast previously, I texted early
4:43
in the race something to the effect in the family group text
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that we're already talking about fuel saving here on the race.
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We're 30 laps into the race and we're already talking about
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saving fuel. I'm like, man, that's annoying.
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That's annoying. I didn't think too much about it
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after that for a while, though. You know, you had the different
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strategies play out in the first stage.
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Zane Smith wins the first stage. But I will say when they went
5:09
into that three wide, however long, I don't know how many laps
5:12
they ran that way. That was the point of the race.
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Like I mentioned earlier, you know, I'm driving, I'm leaving
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here in the morning, driving to Florida for work.
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And I had to do all my laundry today.
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So when I saw that that's what was happening, I went upstairs
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to where our laundry room is and I turned on, I turned on the TV
5:28
in our bedroom because it's right next to the laundry room.
5:30
So I could kind of keep tabs on what was happening.
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But that's where I was kind of halfway.
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I was doing my laundry because I'm like, well, I can get this
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laundry done and folded and put away, hung up blast load in the
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dryer because I know I'm really not going to miss anything here
5:45
for a little bit. And so that in of itself that's
5:48
that's a problem not but I knew, you know, you knew once the
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finish came around that there will be some excitement around
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the finish. But but yeah, I'm with you.
5:55
That's, that's something that's got to be addressed.
5:56
My wife and I went to one of the Talladega races last year and.
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It's kind of tough when they're riding around 3 wide for lap
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after lap. Well, you know the gas about the
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gas about say what's going on the whole race, you might say.
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But when the three, the three guys got when they got three
6:12
wide and the three guys in each line out in the front, we're
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doing it. And then you had drivers back in
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the pack fussing, right, Like I think his last said one time.
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All right, we we're in a window. Let's go, you know, trying to
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get whoever's leading that group to it's 4 Fords in line in the
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middle, but they had a Toyota right in front and they, they
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couldn't get away, you know, they, they couldn't go anywhere.
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And that added to it. Then they had another two
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conversations, I think with drivers, well, fussing about it
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leaving back there. And the other thing too, I mean,
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it's, it's maybe not to everybody, but to me, it's
6:45
visibly slower. You know, this visibly it's
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slower. I mean, yeah, it goes into the
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old thing where people talk about, well, we run 200 miles an
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hour, take the plates off of them, and as they say, we'll
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slow them down to 190 or 185. You don't know the difference.
6:58
You do. If you look at 200 miles an hour
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and look at 185, you do know the difference, right?
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Talking about that old argument about the plates.
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But, but, but Sunday's deal, when the when the guys got three
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wide and was so long, you know, we're in so many laps like that,
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that's when in my mind it came into play.
7:16
All right, we've got an issue, right?
7:18
We always knew it was there. The guy, as always, playing
7:20
games with with the Fuel strategy.
7:22
We kind of get up, get away with it.
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It was exposed Sunday. We can't get away with this any
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longer like this. Yeah, there's definitely a lot
7:31
of chatter about that on social media, online after the fact.
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And I agree that something needs to be addressed.
7:36
I don't know how you do it. I saw and I don't have it in
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front of me. I did see Danny said something
7:41
about it after the race about I think he said something.
7:45
The effect of that, they've been talking with NASCAR about
7:47
possibly next year, bringing the Clash back to Daytona.
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And as part of that, let, I guess, loosen up the rules or
7:54
something or another where set it up to where you know, there
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won't be, they could set it to where there won't be any fuel
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savings. I don't know it, I feel like
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it's we're kind of if there was a really simple fix, they would
8:05
probably have done it already, is my my guess.
8:07
And I don't think it's a very simple fix just because.
8:10
Oh, it's not. And like I say, I don't know
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what it is, what the fix is, but you know, I really don't care.
8:14
I don't care what the fix is, just fix it, right?
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Just no. It's just no little thing.
8:19
Another one of those things that that has to be addressed, that
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it needs to be addressed. Yeah, period, Period.
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Well, what did you think? Well, what did you think about
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how the whole thing ended? Now, what do you think about the
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ending of the race? Well, it's typical, typical
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Daytona. I mean, you know, you thought
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you didn't know who was going to win it, right?
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And I think for the most part, I think everybody watching would
8:40
have thought in the middle of the 3rd and 4th turn it was
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Chase Elliott's right. But then the the dude pushing
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him back off of him, you know, they lost their momentum.
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And here this other pack came and, you know, Reddick made a
8:52
during move to the bottom to to to win that thing.
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And then I guess it was Hearst got up into well, hers got up
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into whoever it was and they had the big wreck coming across
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start finish line. That really didn't need to
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happen. You know that that that part
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didn't need to happen. But it's coming to the start
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finish line at Daytona and every everything.
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You know, it's really what you do.
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You sit there all day waiting for that last lap finish at
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Daytona because you know it's going to be it's everybody's
9:19
Katie bar the door, right. It's not one for all at all for
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one at that point or it is, I guess, but it's all for one at
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that point. And the tip, just a typical
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Daytona finish, man. You know, that's what we come to
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expect. Not knowing you, you take the
9:33
white flag, you really have no idea who's going to win the
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race. You just don't.
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And even like today, a middle 3 and 4 coming off of four, you
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had no idea who's going to win that race.
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So I'll be it just it just doesn't get any better than that
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for racing. I mean, you can't you can't ask
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for anything any better than that, right?
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It's just that little deal beforehand, you know, with our
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fuel mileage, we got to about got to correct.
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But the the finishes at these Speedway races are just always
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incredible. The drivers, you know, when I
10:02
was there, you know that you didn't like it because as a
10:04
driver, because she's always wrecking to get tore up and
10:06
stuff. Or well, although we didn't have
10:07
a lot of that, but you know, the drivers, they, they don't, they
10:10
don't particularly care for that stuff.
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And I, I don't blame them, but that's what they're getting paid
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to do is try to win that race. And consequently you're going to
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make all kinds of moves and all kinds of stuff's going to
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happen. It's sliding and hitting the
10:20
wall and wrecking and carrying on.
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And, you know, luckily, knock on wood, again, we, we got through
10:26
this whole week of speed weeks unscathed, No injuries from
10:28
anybody. And I'm always thankful when we
10:31
leave, when we leave these places that nobody's in,
10:33
especially Daytona speed weeks, so many opportunities for things
10:36
to go wrong with all the classes, ARCA trucks, you know,
10:40
the Bush Xfinity, RRP series, you know, Cup cars.
10:43
And when you, you, you do all that down there and all those
10:46
laps run and all the racing that went on and all the wrecks and
10:50
you come away with no injuries. I mean, it's, it's a pretty big
10:53
deal. It's a testament really to where
10:55
our sports evolved to with safety these days.
10:58
Because it didn't used to be that way.
11:00
Yeah, right. But But it's a good.
11:03
It's a good thing, though. Yeah, I had that thought the
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other night in the duels when Corey Lajoie got put in the
11:11
water, hit the wall in three and I went turned.
11:13
I said out loud, turned. That's a hard hit.
11:16
Hope he's OK. I had the same reaction tonight.
11:19
Chase looked like he hit pretty hard.
11:21
I mean, how could a bunch of guys hit hard?
11:24
A lot of them, Cletus McFarland, you know, without, with the old,
11:27
without the soft wall and without the head, head, head
11:30
head deals they got now. You know, Cletus, he'd have
11:33
probably been banging around a little bit.
11:35
Lot of Chase would have, you know, Coralie Joy would have.
11:39
Things are different now. They're better.
11:42
Yeah, when when Cletus hit the wall, I said to my wife, I like,
11:45
I just whenever somebody hits hard, it's the the same reaction
11:49
I had when you were racing. You just get the and you just
11:52
kind of at least my reaction was always just waiting to see
11:56
movement or hear hear them talk over the radio or just waiting
12:00
for that first sign of like, all right, they're OK.
12:03
That was that's a good point. Cletus did it.
12:05
Did I ever, did I ever tell you what my deal was, Ricky, when I
12:07
wrecked, after I wrecked? Did you ever hear that story
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when I would wrecked, when I would have these hard,
12:12
horrendous wrecks, crashes, when everything finally stopped and
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I'm sitting there in the seat and I, you know, your head's
12:21
down. You, you raise your head up a
12:22
little bit, you just kind of look around.
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And what I always did, I would look down at my feet and I would
12:28
wiggle my right foot right. Then I would wiggle my left
12:33
foot. I'm like, OK, that's working.
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Then I would, I would look down at my hand.
12:39
I would take my right hand and move it around and wiggle it.
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Then I would look to my left and I'd look at my left hand and I'd
12:45
wiggle that. If all four of those things were
12:47
working right and your head just wasn't absolutely pounding out
12:52
at your eardrums, sometimes it did.
12:55
Then I knew I was pretty good shape That that's, that's kind
12:58
of the deal I ended up going through after all those wrecks.
13:00
You just start, you assess your body, I guess you'd say, and
13:04
sometimes a couple times things didn't work right, but but when
13:07
they did, you do you're pretty good shape.
13:09
But anyhow, I digress. Now, when do you remember first
13:12
doing that? I have no idea.
13:15
OK. I don't know.
13:15
I didn't know if that went all the way back to even like short
13:19
track racing or if that was probably more NASCAR days.
13:21
May have been, I tell you what, it may have been a Bush Grand
13:26
Astral race at Jeffco, Georgia. I forget who was leading Darrell
13:31
Walter was running second. I was running third.
13:33
We go into turn one night time race.
13:36
I go underneath Darrell and we get in the middle of one and two
13:40
and I'm I'm dead beside him who come off too and I'm going to
13:42
pass him for 2nd place. We come off too, and there's
13:45
such a car that spun out facing down the racetrack, but sitting
13:49
dead back in the middle of the racetrack and Darrell and I
13:53
split. I went to the left and he went
13:54
to the right, but both of us hit her.
13:56
It was padding. We so it was we hit that car.
13:59
Good Lord, that was a hard, hard lick.
14:01
But I remember going down the back stretcher or basically kind
14:06
of getting my senses back. I don't remember going down
14:09
through, but I remember getting my senses come back to me and I
14:11
remember doing that right. I remember thinking, man, am I
14:15
all right? I remember moving around and
14:16
feeling things and doing things so that that was probably the
14:19
first time I ever did that. I tell you how hard we hit.
14:21
How about that wreck was her one of her rear springs, her left
14:24
rear spring off her chassis was laying in my floorboard right.
14:28
And anyhow, I come to and everything I'm looking up and I
14:31
look up the race track in there and I see the Rescue Squad, the
14:34
lights flashing and all that and I'm like, they're all up there
14:38
attending to Daryl and I'm down here like, hey guys, you got
14:40
somebody else down here? Finally, finally, finally
14:44
somebody, somebody got to it was a quick story.
14:47
One time Robert Precious tell me the same type of deal.
14:49
He'd wreck somewhere with one of the big name cup stars in the
14:52
wreck happened and he was down there thought he was dead and
14:55
they he was looking and no rescues around him and he
14:58
thought you know what, there's nobody down here looking.
15:00
After me, I guess I maybe I really am dead.
15:03
You know what? I'm gone, right?
15:04
So then you know, that's a whole nother story for for another
15:07
time. I don't mean to laugh, but I'm
15:09
also kind of knowing. I I mean, I know Robert known
15:12
him since I was a kid. So as you're telling that story,
15:15
I'm hearing in my head him telling it in his voice, and
15:19
that just made it that much. That much?
15:21
Funnier to me. Hey dude why?
15:24
Wrecked one time at Rockingham and and my first year was skull
15:28
hit the turn, hit the wall and turn 3 and honestly hit the wall
15:32
the next. Next remembrance or next thing I
15:34
remember was I'm sitting in the car and I'm looking at a wrecker
15:39
and they're lowering me down in the garage area.
15:43
The, the, the, the record, the thing knocked me out.
15:46
The, the, the guys came out, they hooked the record of that
15:48
race car down in the bottom of three and four, drugged me into
15:52
the garage, backed the car in the garage and unhooked it.
15:57
I'm like, man, this is not very cool.
15:59
The very next week David Hoots or maybe that week during the
16:03
week I get a call from David Hoots, right?
16:05
Or, or director at the time, he said Rick, he said did the
16:11
medical people did they not check on you or anything when
16:14
you were in there? I said I don't did or not David.
16:16
I said all I know is when I hit the wall, the next thing I
16:20
remember those was unhooking the car for the record in the garage
16:23
area. Oh, he went off.
16:25
Oh man, he would got mad. You know what I mean?
16:28
A lot of a lot of things got changed right then internally
16:31
with with procedures and medical staff and all that, how that
16:34
happened. But I'm like, well, I guess you
16:37
get knocked out, you know, just keep him in the car.
16:39
It's probably safer for him. I don't know.
16:41
Again, I digress with sad old stories.
16:45
Yeah, Yeah. Well, that one's, that one's not
16:47
as funny. That one's, that one's that
16:49
one's scary. Thank goodness it all turned out
16:51
OK. Well, I would.
16:55
I know people like Rex. You know, some people like it.
17:00
It's so funny. I go.
17:02
I guess it's funny the number of times in my life when when
17:05
somebody's found out that or like knew that my dad was a was
17:09
a race car or a NASCAR driver specifically.
17:12
And they'll just say I like to watch them wreck.
17:15
And I'm like, well, yeah, I get then.
17:16
To be fair, when I was a kid, I mean, I had all those like, you
17:19
know, and they walked away. Those VHS tapes were all just
17:22
racing crashes. I mean, it's just it's what it
17:24
is. It's part of the excitement of
17:25
it for fans. So that's right.
17:27
I could deal with a little less of don't get me wrong, I like
17:32
the coming to the white flag. You don't know who's going to
17:35
win. I like that part of it.
17:36
I could deal with a little less of like knowing that there's
17:41
going to be a wreck and that's going to be part of the equation
17:44
that decides like that's why you don't know who's going to win.
17:48
I I mean, I don't know. There was you have one going in
17:50
turn 1 and then the other one coming across start finish line.
17:52
But at same time, that's, that's part of it.
17:54
I mean, heck, this morning, this morning I turned on that NASCAR
18:00
channel that's on Amazon Prime and I turned it on this morning
18:05
just to see. I actually didn't know.
18:07
I was like, I wonder if they're showing any pre race stuff or
18:10
early morning. So I had no idea.
18:11
I just turned on the channel and they weren't, but they were
18:14
showing the full replay of the 79500, which is we all know is
18:19
one of the most historical races in the sports history.
18:22
And why is it historical? Because it was because of a
18:25
dramatic last lap crash and turn 3.
18:29
So you know, who am I to sit here?
18:31
I I could do with a little less of the recs.
18:33
I don't. Know yeah, it's it's it's it's
18:34
definitely a draw it's a draw for fans I mean, I mean you got
18:37
to face it man I mean it's a dangerous sport there's no doubt
18:40
it's a dangerous sport and we've been very very, very fortunate
18:43
last few years right. And that figures into driving
18:47
styles a lot of things. But the safety we have now, it's
18:50
made it made it much safer, much safer sport than it used to be.
18:54
But the danger's still there. You'll never take all that away.
18:56
But anyhow. Well, and you can't.
18:58
And that's it's, it almost sounds, I don't know if it
19:03
sounds bad to say, but it's just, I'm just speaking the
19:05
truth here. Like if you took all the danger
19:07
away, then honestly, you're taking away part of what makes
19:09
it exciting. There's there's it's a dangerous
19:13
thing to do and you we want to build these guys up as
19:15
superheroes and larger than life.
19:19
And then part of that is because this is a dangerous thing
19:21
they're doing, regardless of how much safer it's gotten.
19:23
And it has. I mean this week, March 2025,
19:26
years since the Lost Dale and the sport has gotten amazingly
19:31
safer in those 25. Years well, I I think with the
19:34
appeal, the appeal to the fans is they they understand that
19:37
there is danger, right? I don't think any fan honestly a
19:41
true fan, I don't think they want to see anybody get hurt,
19:43
but they understand that their chances there to do that
19:46
nothing. That's part of the appeal.
19:48
You know, they they know what could happen, but they don't
19:50
want it to happen right. So, but anyhow, that's one of
19:52
the deals. You know what that's that's the
19:55
same. It's really it's the same as
19:56
watching like the guy that everybody watched here a month
19:59
ago, the the climber. They did the free climb up that
20:02
building live on Netflix and you watch.
20:05
I don't know, you watch somebody do a stunt on a motorcycle,
20:08
Knievel type stunt on a motorcycle, or you watch
20:10
somebody on a tightrope watching walking from one building 1
20:14
skyscraper to another. And it's we all watch it and
20:17
it's you don't want to see anybody die or get hurt, but
20:21
you're watching because it's dangerous and that it it's
20:23
dangerous and something could happen.
20:25
You don't want to see it. But that's part of the allure of
20:27
it. So I get it, I get it.
20:31
So we can work our way backwards a little bit through the week.
20:33
So I thought for the offseason, everything that's happened the
20:39
last year or two, particularly with the lawsuit and everything,
20:43
I thought the the image of Michael Jordan and Jim France in
20:48
Victory Lane at the Daytona 500, both big smiles on their faces,
20:53
handshakes and seemingly both just, I know Michael was happy,
20:56
but honestly, Jim looked pretty happy too.
21:00
I thought that was really, that was a really, really good thing
21:02
for the sport. It was like a we talked about it
21:05
earlier this year on mass cast the image of them on the court
21:10
steps after they'd reached a settlement of them speaking
21:13
together. I thought was was a really good
21:15
step and I was glad they did that.
21:17
And I thought this was a good continuation of that.
21:20
So, and really a number of people, and I apologize, I
21:24
didn't save any of them, but I did see a number of folks on on
21:26
social media say this, that if you look at the three, the three
21:31
big series, not counting ARCA this weekend, the three teams
21:34
that were most heavily involved in that lawsuit front row on the
21:37
truck race Childress, which they of course weren't officially
21:40
part of the lawsuit, but as we know, Richard definitely got
21:43
drug into it and was a big part of it by association.
21:47
Childress won the, I almost called it the Xfinity Series,
21:50
the ORP Series, O'Reilly Series, the Bush Series.
21:53
Austin Hill won that again. And then 2311 won the Cup Series
21:58
race or won the 500. So that was just, it was just
22:00
funny how that stuff works out. It was telling.
22:02
It was telling. Excuse me?
22:04
I don't know, I'm probably misstated this, but I just don't
22:09
remember ever seeing Jim France in Victor Lane celebrating with
22:14
anybody congratulate. So when I saw him standing there
22:17
congratulating Mike and it was it was heartfelt.
22:19
You could tell he was he was truly happy for the dude.
22:22
I'm like, Dang, man, I don't think I've ever seen this
22:25
before, but this is very cool. And I you know what I think?
22:28
I think Mikey, I think her boy Mike had left that racetrack.
22:31
He was nowhere to be seen. You know, when that car won that
22:34
race, they had to, they had they had the the cameras on all the
22:37
pit crew guys and everything that was going on.
22:40
You never saw Michael and TV would have been off TV would
22:43
have been all over Michael when he crossed that checkered.
22:45
But Michael's got he, he's become a NASCAR veteran, right?
22:49
He's going to get out of these race tracks and not get hung up
22:52
in the crowds. So I guarantee you, I don't know
22:55
this, but I guarantee that boys headed to the airport or
22:57
somewhere in transit. They said, hey, Mike, you just
22:59
want to date on the 500 And he had to run and come back because
23:02
the first time we saw an appearance by Mike was a little
23:05
bit later during the Victor Lane ceremony, you know, the infield.
23:09
So I got a night air boy was had slipped out of there.
23:12
Just I, I, I, I, I got to disagree.
23:15
I think here's what I think. Here's what I think.
23:17
It was. And I'm going back to, I think
23:19
this was last year at Daytona, if I remember right, it was last
23:23
year Bubba won one of the dual races, if I remember correctly.
23:27
And I remember seeing a video after the race.
23:29
Michael at Daytona, he's got him like his own hospitality tents
23:33
set up somewhere and him buddy and his back stretch and it's
23:37
like a full tent with the whole deal.
23:39
Yeah, that's for Daytona. That's where he, that's where
23:42
he's kind of set up. And so my theory is that that's
23:45
where he was. Well, the parts.
23:46
One of the parts flying off one of the cars back her head.
23:49
He's got there his boater homes. That's right.
23:51
I mean, yeah, you're probably right.
23:53
I didn't think about that. He's probably.
23:55
So to get from wherever he was set up to get to Victory Lane,
23:58
I'm sure it's for anybody getting from outside the track
24:02
into Victory Lane right after going from outside the end right
24:04
after the Daytona 500 is going to be tough with him.
24:07
Even though I'm sure he's got people escorting him everything,
24:10
it's still it's Michael Jordan. So I'm sure it's like entourage
24:13
of security that has to yeah, I wasn't probably right.
24:16
So probably right. I was wondering that.
24:18
I'm like, I know he's he was here because they interviewed
24:20
him before the race. So that that was kind of my
24:23
guess was that he was somewhere outside in his own deal because
24:27
usually, I mean, to your point, usually if he's at the track,
24:30
he's on a pit box during the race, you see it.
24:32
So that's my, that's my guess. That's.
24:34
Right. And I will tell you some, it's a
24:35
big deal. I think it's a big deal for our
24:37
sport. You, you look back what we went
24:39
through for the last 12 months or proceeding the settlement at
24:43
court, you know, and Michael Jordan's name is out front
24:45
fighting Jim France. I mean, they got this battle
24:47
going on for everybody to witness, right, Every day.
24:51
And then for him to come together on the courthouse
24:53
square and and, and shake hands and say we're going to move
24:56
forward. And then for one of Mike's teams
24:58
to win, right? And Jim France, I put
25:01
congratulating him and it's just a, it's just a good deal.
25:03
I mean, that's what you want to see happen.
25:05
I mean, you know, people talk. I I read a little bit about,
25:08
yeah, it was Jordan. They'll never win another race,
25:10
right? NASCAR never let him.
25:12
That goes back to getting a call from NASCAR and letting you do
25:15
this and cheating that that stuff just doesn't happen.
25:18
It doesn't go on. It's just that's that's a good
25:21
that's conspiracy theory stuff that I can pretty pretty much
25:24
debunk and know for 150 a 100% fact that stuff doesn't go on.
25:28
What happens on the race tracks and what happens right.
25:30
And for him to do that ready to win, beat Michael's car.
25:33
I think it was, it's a big deal for a sport just coming off of
25:37
everything that we just went through, you know, and it just,
25:41
it kind of goes to the point of what what we can do moving
25:43
forward, I think. Yeah, I think so.
25:45
I think it's really good, good for the sport.
25:48
I I was looking on social media after the race before we started
25:51
taping tonight. And you know, you see in that
25:54
imagery, that video, those pictures of of Michael
25:59
circulating in places where NASCAR usually isn't posted
26:02
about, you know, account bigger influential accounts or media,
26:06
you know, media places or basketball related account,
26:09
whatever to sports that places on social media and in the media
26:12
that probably aren't usually talking about NASCAR are talking
26:16
about it. So I thought that was that was
26:18
really good. That's not, I mean the race
26:21
itself and your race car drivers are always the that needs to be
26:24
your number one star and your focus and that needs to be your
26:27
number one marketing push. But for NASCAR to kick off this
26:31
new season with that kind of being the image that that is
26:35
spread out there, that's that's a really, really good thing.
26:37
That's a really good thing. I'll tell you, the thing I liked
26:42
Ricky, was things to talk about here.
26:44
I just, I don't mean to change the subject, but it's been on my
26:47
mind a lot is RCRRCR and Daytona, Austin Hill and and
26:54
Jesse Love the way those cars performed in the ORP series and
26:59
Kyle Busch sitting on the pole in the Cup Series.
27:03
That, that you know, and then just watching the ORP race and
27:06
how dominant that 21 car of Austin Hills was in the two car
27:10
was, was about the same. He just kind of got shuffled
27:12
around a little bit. But man, those cars were
27:14
dominant. And I know Richard, man, he
27:16
loves, he puts a lot of effort into his ORP pro and he puts a
27:20
lot of effort into a stricter place.
27:22
That's just a that's just a known fact with anybody that
27:25
knows anything about RCR, like a lot of pride about Daytona,
27:28
Talladega and for Kyle Busch on the pole.
27:31
And those guys do so good to RPI think they deserve a shout out,
27:35
right? Because they were.
27:35
They were. That was pretty, pretty deep,
27:37
pretty good. Yeah, I'm a buddy of mine, Mike
27:40
Verlander from from Richard Childress Racing.
27:43
I texted him the other day after Kyle won the pole and I told him
27:47
that the Mass family, we play, we, you, me, mom, my sister's,
27:54
my wife, my sister's fiance. Now we all have our little
27:58
NASCAR fantasy league that we play.
27:59
It's in the, in the NASCAR app. This is not an ad by the way.
28:02
This is literally we just do this for fun.
28:05
I texted him the other day, I texted him a screenshot after a
28:08
qualifier. I'm sorry.
28:09
After the duels, after the line UPS have been set, I texted him
28:12
a screenshot of my first 2 picks for my my fantasy lineup this
28:15
week and it was Kyle and and Austin.
28:17
I said all right, this is in the Mass family fantasy league.
28:21
I said I knew these were going to be my first two choices
28:23
because we're at a superspeedway.
28:25
And he basically said, yeah. And you know, that's awesome,
28:28
thanks. And said, man, we got a full
28:29
head of steam this weekend. We just need a little.
28:31
We just need the luck, you know, which is true for anybody.
28:34
I mean, it's that's you just don't know.
28:37
We've been we've been talking, sitting here talking about it,
28:39
you don't know when you take the white flag, who's going to win.
28:41
And I mean, Kyle had a Kyle had a car capable of winning for
28:45
sure. And just caught up in a couple
28:48
of different things there and that's that's the nature of it.
28:51
But I agree with you that was on my list too of the things to
28:55
talk about was it was good to see for the entirety of the week
28:59
to see Childress the team have such a such a good.
29:02
This is it was just talked about on the the fox broadcast today
29:06
and I agree with it. This is a pivotal year for that
29:09
whole organization for a number. It's a pivotal year for the
29:11
team. It's a pivotal year for Kyle
29:13
Busch. This is his contract year with
29:15
them. And so it would be despite, you
29:21
know, Austin got caught up in a wreck early and Kyle getting
29:24
caught up in some wrecks despite all that.
29:26
Hopefully they can kind of take some of that momentum with them.
29:29
And I don't remember if Austin Hill won the the Atlanta race
29:35
right after the Daytona race last year.
29:37
I feel like he did because it's such a similar, you know, it's
29:40
it's kind of super Speedway esque racing now in Atlanta, But
29:45
I don't know, maybe they can take some of that that momentum
29:48
into Atlanta. All right, I'm going to ask you
29:50
this is a tangent for me, but you hear this talked about the
29:54
other sports, stick and ball sports.
29:57
You talk about a team has momentum or something and it's
30:00
palpable and you can feel it and I believe it to be real.
30:02
Is is that is there really such a thing as momentum and NASCAR
30:06
when you're well track to a different track?
30:08
I mean, or is that just the the mindset is just better?
30:12
It's. It's more the mindset and it's
30:14
more the what happens with momentum in, in racing.
30:18
It it, it's more mechanical. In other words, you hit on
30:22
something with your chassis, your engine, your aerodynamic
30:24
combination that works and works really well and you're able to
30:29
apply that week after week. So you, you hit on something and
30:33
you go and your car is fast. You wouldn't race and
30:35
everybody's pumped and high and excited.
30:37
Well, guess what? You're going to go next week and
30:39
you probably going to run good again because whatever it is you
30:42
hit on whatever's going on, you know, to make you fast, it's
30:45
still there. OK.
30:47
And I've I've I've always thought they always talk about
30:50
momentum, but I always felt like the momentum was caused by
30:54
mechanical statuses of the race car, right, More than just being
30:59
on a roll. I mean, you get on a roll with
31:01
good luck, you know, with strategy, things working out in
31:04
your favor, all that stuff comes into play.
31:06
But the actual speed of the race car on the racetrack, I never
31:10
did buy in the fact that had anything good with momentum.
31:12
I think it's just whatever, you know, whatever you've got
31:14
mechanically figured out that race car and makes it run fast
31:17
or slow. So I'm a little bit probably in
31:20
the minority on that. But if you talk to a lot of
31:22
people that involved in sport, they're like, yeah, yeah.
31:25
Momentum, yeah, we, we figured out something with the right
31:27
front shock, right? That works here and works next
31:30
week and it worked the week after.
31:31
So that gave us momentum. Well, you know, if you didn't
31:34
change that shock, your momentum wouldn't be there.
31:36
So it's, it's, it's good to feel good.
31:41
It's good to know you're feeling good, running good and all that.
31:43
But the, the, the, the reasons, 'cause that, right?
31:46
It's, it's, it's, it's, it's just speed of that race car.
31:49
And then having some, you know, fortunate things go your way.
31:52
That's just, that's always been my take.
31:54
Maybe it's a unpopular take, but that's my take.
31:57
Well, that's why I asked because that's that was my gut feeling
31:59
is that's kind of how I felt about it that it's the momentum.
32:03
It's not really truly, we call it momentum, but that's not
32:06
exactly what it actually is. Just you found something
32:08
starting to work. Now you found something starting
32:11
to work. And then maybe you win or you're
32:13
starting to finish better and then everybody's feeling good
32:16
and you're starting to you can feed off that goes good vibes
32:20
with each other and that good positive energy.
32:22
And so I feel like if you want to call that momentum, that's
32:25
cool, That's fine. I don't think that's, I think
32:27
we're missing. I don't think that's the
32:29
technical definition of it. So I, I agree with you is what
32:31
I'm saying. I think it's a little bit of a,
32:35
oh, what's that word misnomer? Maybe I don't know if that's
32:38
right, but but I'm, I'm with you.
32:39
But you know what, it's good to feel good, like you said.
32:42
So I'm with you. I did want to ask you about
32:46
this. I just wanted to ask you to
32:47
compare your day to now, because I honestly don't know.
32:52
I feel like the amount that the manufacturers work to get like
32:57
the, the Fords, sticking with the Fords, Toyotas, Toyotas,
33:02
Chevy, Chevy, on and on and on, right?
33:03
Like, I, I don't know, maybe it just wasn't discussed as much.
33:08
I don't feel like that was as much of a thing in your day.
33:12
Maybe it was and I just didn't know it.
33:14
But what what when you were driving mainly in the 90s, what
33:18
was the level of the manufacturers like meeting with
33:22
you guys or encouraging you guys to to draft together at Daytona
33:26
and Talladega or share information, whatever it is just
33:30
it seems like it is as high now as ever and I get it.
33:34
Zero. OK, that's a question.
33:36
I'll just go. I'll answer your question, man.
33:38
It's zero. There wasn't any there, there,
33:40
there, there were never any directions about helping each
33:43
other on the racetrack. There were never any orders
33:45
given down. You know, it was, you know,
33:49
everybody out for themselves even, you know, because I was
33:52
with all three manufacturers at different times, right?
33:55
And they all treated the same, treated the same way.
33:59
You would get together, you know, and they would design A
34:01
car or a piece or whatever. And maybe they would ask some
34:05
teams to share a little bit or they, they would, I shouldn't
34:08
say that they wouldn't ask him to share that.
34:11
The manufacturers would share with the teams you what they had
34:14
found and, and what they were doing and all that.
34:17
But when it when it came as far when it come to as far as
34:20
working together, not a whole lot of that went on.
34:24
And it certainly didn't go on on the racetrack.
34:26
It wasn't asked. It wasn't even asked to happen
34:29
on the racetrack. The best I ever remember
34:32
manufacturing my day working together was when in 1995 we
34:37
split from 4 to Pontiacs, right? Pontiac came out with a new body
34:41
style that that year, the Grand Prix for 96, they got all the
34:45
Pontiac teams together and, and we were part of it.
34:48
And that was probably the most togetherness or sharing that
34:52
I've ever been involved with as far as being with a manufacturer
34:56
because we had, I'm trying to remember Rick, it was our team,
35:00
it was Felix Sabadas, it was it was a petty organization, the
35:05
30. Pennzoil, car, whoever the
35:07
Bihari or whatever, it depends oil.
35:08
Car Bihari Racing, yeah, I think Bill Davis Racing was Pontiac
35:14
but then. Bill Davis, that's the other
35:15
one. That's right.
35:16
Yeah, there's a few of us, a few of us that.
35:18
Might have been it because there weren't.
35:20
There weren't a ton at that point, so that might have been
35:22
it. Yeah, because we we actually
35:25
shared driving different cars. I remember going to a test, man,
35:29
I think it may have been November, maybe after the
35:31
Atlanta race, getting prepared for next year.
35:34
And I drove, actually drove Bihari's car, the 30 pencil car.
35:37
That was the car they were using and I was the driver they were
35:40
using to help develop the front face and different things we're
35:43
doing on that car. And even getting to Daytona, you
35:47
know, we were sharing and a lot of the teams were sharing stuff
35:51
about my team owner was sharing stuff and get some information.
35:54
And by the time Daytona was over, it was stopped.
35:58
OK. But this this all went on all
36:00
through the winter months with all the team sharing about
36:02
developing this new body style because it was kind of like, you
36:06
know, the the Goliath and the giant, right?
36:09
We were, we weren't, we weren't Goliath.
36:11
We were the small bunch because we were the few little Pontiac
36:15
teams fighting the mega Ford and the mega Chevrolet brands.
36:19
So we knew we didn't have strength in numbers.
36:22
And I think that's probably what fed into those guys working
36:25
together. We did work well together that
36:26
when developing that race car and it ended up being a very
36:28
good race car. But other than that, man, I can
36:32
tell you it just wasn't. And then when Ford come out the
36:34
Taurus, there was there was a collective effort to try to make
36:37
it. The guys work together and I was
36:40
involved with that also, but it wasn't it wasn't as cohesive as
36:45
as it was at you're the Pontiac deal.
36:47
You know, you had the four teams are pretty, you know, pretty
36:51
dominant, strong teams, each one individually, you know, and they
36:54
didn't whatever you find, you don't want to give that up, even
36:56
if it's the other 4. You just didn't do that.
36:58
So this, this the the way they're doing it now is
37:01
completely, completely opposite the way we used to do it, right?
37:04
I, I, I, I, it would be hard for me to imagine those guys going
37:09
up to Earnhardt. So Earnhardt, you got to fall
37:11
back three spots and get in line with the Chevrolet, let these
37:13
forwards go. That wouldn't have worked with
37:15
Dale Earnhardt. It wouldn't work with most of
37:17
all the drivers at that point. You know, you, just you, you did
37:19
it on the racetrack for whatever advantage you had to take or get
37:23
to, to try to be upfront, try to win the race.
37:25
That's what you did. That's you.
37:27
That's all you worried about, Not a manufacturer.
37:29
Yeah, I don't mean for this whole episode to sound like a
37:35
really overall, I think NASCAR should be thrilled with with
37:38
this week at Daytona, how everything went.
37:40
They really should. I mean, I think there was way
37:42
more positives to come out of this week, the negatives in my
37:46
opinion. So I'm I don't mean for
37:49
everything, I'm all my points to be like, well, I could do with
37:51
less of this less than I could do with a little bit less of the
37:54
manufacturer stuff. But it doesn't it doesn't bother
37:57
me as much. The when it bothered me was at
38:01
the Martinsville race year 2 ago when there was pretty much
38:05
blatant collusion to make sure that the, you know, each
38:08
manufacturer was getting their one of their cars, at least one
38:11
of their cars in the final four. Which hopefully going back to
38:14
the Chase format has kind of mitigated a little bit of that,
38:17
that now that was a problem that needed to be dealt with.
38:20
And I know they've been dealing with it.
38:22
Yeah, yeah, but what are you going to do about it?
38:24
There's nothing you can do about it.
38:25
Again, you can't unlearn what we've learned, right?
38:28
And you know that that's I think what it is that's just now
38:31
become a part of racing. So you got to learn to embrace
38:34
it and kind of look at it as as an exciting part of, you know,
38:38
this this manufacturer gets to that one because the
38:41
manufacturers back in those days were were I mean, it was, it was
38:44
ruthless, you know, it was ruthless cut throat, throat from
38:47
one manufacturer to the other trying to outrun them, you know,
38:50
and it's no different today. It's just that the, you know,
38:53
the way you go about, it's a little bit different, right?
38:55
And you see, you see it a little bit more.
38:57
But you know, I, I don't have, I honestly, I don't have a problem
39:00
with that. I don't have any problem with
39:02
these guys doing their things to try to help manufacturers.
39:04
I just don't want to, I don't want to drive or give up, give
39:07
up a chance of doing something good for himself to to, to help
39:11
help help another guy just because he's on that same.
39:14
Yeah. And I don't think any of them do
39:15
it that way. You know, they, they all know
39:17
their strength in numbers, especially Daytona Talladega,
39:20
man, it's strength in numbers. More help you got, the better
39:22
you're going to be. So you go to do that the whole
39:24
race and then at the end it's every man for himself.
39:26
And that's there's nothing at all wrong with that, you know?
39:29
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.
39:31
That's right. I I again, I didn't really
39:33
today. It's just it's just different
39:35
the the deal, you know, the next last race that, that whenever
39:40
that was a year or two ago that that that I didn't like.
39:42
But but I'm with and it's still if there's one principle, it's
39:45
still the same as it was in your day and even before your day.
39:48
It's went on Sunday sell on Monday, right.
39:50
That that's the thing that is that has never changed and
39:53
that's part of it. And there are, I'm probably not
39:55
as manufacturer loyal as a lot of NASCAR fans are, to be quite
40:00
perfectly honest with you. It's not really something I
40:02
think much about at all unless they're talking about in the
40:04
broadcast. All the Fords are working
40:06
together. All the Toyotas are working
40:08
together. But I do fully also appreciate
40:11
that there are people I know, but I've got friends who are
40:14
just, they are pick your manufacturer.
40:16
They are Chevy or nothing. You know, they're Ford or
40:20
nothing. And they were.
40:21
They were raised in that and so then they're passionate about it
40:24
and then I respect that. That's cool.
40:25
I, you know, nothing. No, no problem for me on, on
40:30
that one. Overall, though, I thought the,
40:33
the week I, I want to give, I'm a marketing guy, work in
40:37
marketing, I work in sports marketing.
40:39
So I, I, I want to speak a little bit to this real quick.
40:42
I thought from a marketing perspective, NASCAR killed it
40:46
all week. I mean absolutely killed it.
40:48
The the content they're putting out, the mixture of kind of
40:53
celebrities. You had Marshawn Lynch like
40:55
throwing out beers out of the the cooler and you had, you
41:01
know, Miranda Lambert doing the little the pre race concert.
41:04
And then you had Nate, Nate Borgatzi Borgatzi.
41:07
I'm sorry, I forget how to say his last name, but I know he's a
41:09
big name. I know he's a funny guy.
41:12
You had him there doing as the Grand Marshall and Kurt Russell
41:16
in the pace car or whatever he was doing.
41:18
You got all these different celebs.
41:19
You had the the Thunderbirds doing just that awesome fly over
41:23
before. But more importantly, this is
41:24
what I'm getting out with the the content stuff, just the
41:27
videos and the stuff that they were putting out before.
41:30
And again, that comes back to that.
41:31
The launch of the season campaign they launched last
41:34
week. The hell yeah campaign was so
41:35
well done. And what I've thought was cool
41:38
was that I keep seeing that level creativity coming through
41:41
this week. I saw the video they put out
41:43
with Josavar and Zillage, like the night for the 500 and your
41:49
buddy Dale Jarrett's like a bus starts talking to him.
41:52
Like, I love that. I thought that was great.
41:54
I just the, everything they're doing and I, I care about this
41:58
stuff or I notice it because I work in it.
42:00
I do it. That's literally what I do for a
42:02
living. And so I'm always looking at
42:03
what other teams, not just in my sport, but what other sports are
42:06
doing. And I, I really felt like just a
42:09
huge kudos in NASCAR marketing because they were, they were
42:11
having a big moment this week. I just thought, you know, they,
42:15
they killed it. There's there's one thing when
42:18
you work in sports, sports marketing, you can't control
42:22
what happens on the field in my case or on the track in NASCAR's
42:27
case. Well, you can control everything
42:30
you're doing from marketing perspective and how you're
42:32
reacting to whatever happens on the track or on the field.
42:36
And I just thought they just did an awesome job.
42:39
So I just want to give them a shout out because I, I, and I
42:42
hope I'm sure they'll keep it coming.
42:44
I think the, the reception that they got from the launch of the
42:47
campaign for the season last week, I'm sure that they took
42:51
notice of that and took pride in it.
42:53
They should because it was overwhelmingly positive.
42:56
So I just kudos to them. They, I mean, killed it really,
43:00
really good. I thought the Fox pre race
43:03
today, the everything in the pre race was I thought so well done
43:08
from, you know, you had the Danny interview, which was which
43:12
was really good. And you had, I thought the
43:14
Keselowski interview and seeing a little bit of what he's gone
43:16
through with like coming back from this injury this offseason
43:19
was good. They got an interview with
43:20
Michael Jordan before the race. They they did all the stuff.
43:24
So I just thought there was just a lot, again, I come back to,
43:27
there's some stuff that we talked about that needs to be
43:30
fixed or tinkered with, with the racing itself and other things.
43:34
But overall, I just especially coming off of the how Mother
43:38
Nature screwed them last week or two weeks ago with the Clash and
43:41
how Mother Nature has screwed them in Daytona before.
43:45
I I just thought overall this is a really wonderful start to the
43:49
season for NASCAR. Yeah, it was, it was definitely,
43:51
it was definitely home run. I mean from start to finish, you
43:54
know, other than 40 laps of of gas saving for the whole speed
43:57
week. So man, it was a it really was a
43:59
home run. They those those guys, they're
44:02
really getting after it, man. You know, everything we're all
44:04
hollering about, been talking about and hollering about and
44:06
wanting to see, you know, wanting to see the excited by
44:09
its side of our sport. We want to see our sport
44:11
promoted. We want to see it promoted to a
44:14
level that that that, you know, exceeds what the what what goes
44:18
on on the racetrack and, and and you know, in the years past, it
44:22
was what went on the racetrack is what carried it.
44:24
And now with social media and the way the world is now, man,
44:27
we got to have it though. We got to have the other part
44:29
just as this is exciting, it seems to me like, and I'm
44:32
looking at other sports too. You know, you look at other
44:34
sports and you're like, man, this whole build up was a lot
44:37
better than the game was today, right?
44:39
But you know, and in our sport, you have good games and bad
44:42
games, good game, good races and bad races.
44:45
But you know, there's, like you say, the stuff that you do
44:48
around the sport before it and after it, during, you know, all
44:51
that stuff we, we do control. And you know, they've, they've
44:54
taken a big step forward, man, a big step.
44:57
They really have they've they've done wonderful job and I'm
45:00
looking forward to seeing everything they have in store
45:03
for for the rest of the season. So next week we're coming down
45:08
here in my neck of the woods where I'm living these days,
45:10
Atlanta, which is Echo Park Speedway.
45:12
Now, I've still got I've still got to remember to get that
45:14
right. But the artist formerly known as
45:16
Atlanta Speedway. And as we know the last couple
45:18
years that's been, I would argue the most exciting track on the
45:22
schedule here the last couple years since the reconfiguration.
45:24
I don't know if I don't know how purists feel about it, but I can
45:28
just tell you, look, I, I went to my wife and I went to one of
45:32
the last races or I don't know how close to the last, but it
45:35
would have been one of the last races before the reconfiguration
45:39
at Atlanta, which was, we remember it was coming out of
45:42
COVID because we, we sat in a little, we had our own pod, I
45:46
guess you call it. And that was, I think Larson was
45:50
just running away with it all day.
45:52
And that was a race where Blaney had all worked out.
45:54
Blaney passed him with about 10 to go and won the race.
45:56
But we enjoyed it then we've been back since the
46:00
reconfiguration and it's just, it's wildly entertaining.
46:02
So I'm, I, I like that they've kind of started like got off to
46:07
a good start at Daytona. And then you hopefully you
46:10
parlay that with with, with the good.
46:12
Well, NASCAR as a sport can have good momentum that that can
46:15
exist. An individual race team might
46:18
not have actual momentum, but the sport from a positive
46:21
standpoint can have momentum like meaning everybody comes
46:24
away from Daytona going man, what a finish or can't wait to
46:27
tune in next week, right. Like that's that's a good
46:28
momentum as a sport they can have.
46:30
So carrying what happened to Daytona to Atlanta.
46:33
I think that's I think that's good.
46:35
What do you think about the the the newer style racing at Excuse
46:40
Me at Atlanta? Yeah, I think it's cool.
46:43
You know, I love the old style. I love the new style.
46:46
I mean, you're it's basically mini.
46:47
It's a mini Daytona or mini Talladega, right?
46:49
Everybody's going around there wide open, working there,
46:52
working the draft. So, you know, and it does keep
46:55
everybody packed up. There's no, it's none of that
46:57
stuff was there at times, you know, the, the whole field's
47:00
strung all the way around the racetrack and no racing.
47:02
It's every single frigging lap now, man.
47:05
They're side to side. And that's one of the deals that
47:08
really has worked well for NASCAR in my opinion, making
47:11
that race the way it is. You know, the only thing I
47:14
wonder about last couple races there last few races seems like
47:17
I'm watching Debbie Hamlin run around in the back and I can't
47:20
figure that out why I thought of that.
47:21
But I just remember thinking, come on, dude, we were down
47:24
there watching the race a year or two ago and then he's running
47:26
around the back, not running good.
47:28
And then the next race I watched on TV was doing the same thing.
47:31
So it's going to be interesting to see if he's got that place
47:33
figured out better. What what goes on there.
47:35
The other thing that's going to be interesting to see if RCR,
47:38
you know, keeps their their Domino's going with Austin Hill
47:40
and Jesse Love and the RP series and if Kyle Busch right, has a
47:45
good qualifying lap the way he did.
47:46
If he does, you know, he'll, he'll have a, you have a shot at
47:51
it this week, right? And so a lot of things about
47:54
that track that interests me. Yeah, same here.
47:57
I think the first one of those deals with Denny, I think was
48:00
that race that you, the whole family came down here and stayed
48:04
with us, I believe and we all went to the race and we sat in
48:08
the stands, which I don't. That might have been the first
48:10
time you sat in the stands in 40 years maybe.
48:13
We had a great time, but I remember watching and I kept
48:16
thinking, you know, we're watching this and I had that,
48:18
you know, we I don't know if I think I just had earplugs.
48:20
I don't even think I had the scanner with me that day.
48:22
So I was just watching the race and didn't wouldn't tune into
48:24
radio or anything, but I was watching Danny run around the
48:28
back and I just kind of assumed he was sandbagging her a little
48:30
bit or just sitting back and waiting and never really was.
48:34
I just don't think they just didn't have it figured out.
48:35
So yeah, that'll be that'll be an interesting thing to watch.
48:39
You got there's I this is I don't have a preseason pick or
48:42
favorite or anything. I'm just curious now with the
48:45
new championship format, like who who you got?
48:48
Who do you think? Who comes to mind?
48:50
You don't know, do you? Yeah, I don't either.
48:51
No, people do that. They don't mean anything.
48:54
People make these picks and it's just for clicks.
48:55
I know. No, you do it the last race.
48:58
You do it when they start the when they say gentlemen, start
49:00
your endings, the last race of the season, determine the
49:02
championship. You can't pick it then how in
49:04
the hell are you going to pick it in these in February, right?
49:07
Or is it January? No, it's February.
49:09
That's how you going to do that. It just can't do it.
49:11
It's like the worst bet. I remember.
49:13
My dad says you could never bet on racing, man.
49:15
There's too many, too many obstacles, too many things get
49:17
in the way. Flat tires, wrecks, blow
49:19
motorists, right? You know, just things, things
49:22
that they can change. And, you know, I'm not really
49:25
sure how they even do the betting thing, but it works.
49:28
People making money. And the betting thing, seems
49:30
those guys all seem to be happy, right?
49:32
So I guess it all works somehow, yeah?
49:36
Well, there's, there's, yeah, there's, there's a, there's a
49:40
zillion different ways to bet on stuff and it definitely, it
49:43
increases interest. So actually that's one of the
49:45
things they've talked about with Atlanta or Echo Park Speedway.
49:48
You know, there's, there's if Georgia ever legalizes sports
49:51
betting, then you could see a lot of that land around Echo
49:55
Park Speedway become something like there could be a casino and
49:59
other stuff built there, which would be pretty interesting.
50:01
So well, before we go out, one last question.
50:04
How was your Valentine's Day? What I say, I was reminded about
50:11
Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day, so I had to, I was actually
50:15
mounting some more security cameras and I needed a special
50:18
bracket from Lowe's. So I made-up the excuse to, I
50:21
had to go to Lowe's to get a bracket, one of the essence.
50:25
I came back with some Valentine's gifts.
50:28
You might say, man, I didn't, I didn't know it was Valentine.
50:31
Well, I guess I, no, I shouldn't say that I didn't know it was
50:33
Valentine's. They went great, Ricky, it went
50:35
great. They couldn't been any better,
50:37
been any better. That's, that's what I figured
50:42
little little birdie might have given me a heads up about
50:44
Valentine's Day. I was just curious.
50:47
Well, I, I, my wife is not real big on Valentine's Day.
50:51
So she insisted no gifts. I still got, she still got a
50:55
card for me and from our daughter Stevie.
50:58
And she got actually got one from our cat too.
51:02
And the cat signed it and said that she was sorry that she's
51:05
been taking dumps all over the house.
51:06
So, so we did that and we put a couple couple rib eyes on the
51:10
grill. So that was our Valentine's Day.
51:12
And then we watched and then honestly, we watched the we
51:15
watched. No, we watched the, the, the
51:17
O'Reilly race, I guess as we were eating dinner.
51:19
So that was that was our Valentine's Day.
51:21
It was good. It was good.
51:24
Well, dad, I think we're off to a good start NASCAR season.
51:27
We're off to a good start with mass cast.
51:28
And I'm looking forward to sitting down with you here after
51:32
the race in Atlanta next week and doing it again.
51:35
Sounds great to be Ricky. All right, well, he's Rick.
51:38
I'm Ricky. We'll see you next week on Mass
51:40
CAST.