Latest / Mechonomist Podcast / WTF is up with NASCAR? They just drive around in circles

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WTF is up with NASCAR? They just drive around in circles · Mechonomist Podcast

• 0:00
  welcome to saturday night it's uh the last race of the nascar
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  regular season the
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  coke zero 400 at daytona international speedway which is a
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  legendary nascar
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  speedway and everybody's like they just fucking drive around in
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  circles that ain't
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  real racing and it's like driving around in circles in five
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  o'clock traffic in
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  SPEAKER_01: atlanta at 180 miles an hour
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit more complicated than just driving around in circles.
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  SPEAKER_01: But NASCAR is pretty cool, man.
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  SPEAKER_01: They got all kinds of racetracks.
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  SPEAKER_01: They got
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  intermediate tracks they got short tracks that are like old
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  school like country boy
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  racing banging doors and stuff and then they got super speedway
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  racing which is the
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  most exciting racing on the planet it's always a photo finish
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  and i'm watching it
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  right now they're three wide going 180 miles an hour around the
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  track there's 30
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  laps to go they're starting to get a little wild out there so
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  uh you know my
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: favorite i was all in nascar when i was a kid my
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  SPEAKER_01: favorite racer was Dale Earnhardt.
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  SPEAKER_01: And when he died, man, it was just, it was like the world ended.
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  SPEAKER_01: And,
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  SPEAKER_01: but at the same time,
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  SPEAKER_01: man,
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  SPEAKER_01: the guy was 51 years old and won seven championships,
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  SPEAKER_01: died on the last lap of the most famous race in the sport.
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  And I mean,
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  if you got to go out some way,
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  that's a hell of a way to go out.
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  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's legendary.
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  SPEAKER_01: So NASCAR hadn't been real exciting.
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  SPEAKER_01: It hadn't had a lot of personalities, but it's been exciting this year.
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  This year I've watched it more than I've ever watched it before
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  in the past,
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  SPEAKER_01: and it's been very exciting.
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  SPEAKER_01: And they go into the playoffs next week.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you win, you're automatically in the playoffs.
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  The top 16 drivers get in the playoffs,
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  and if you win,
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  you're automatically in the playoffs.
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  And the guy that's running second right now,
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  if he could win,
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  he would get in the playoffs.
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  SPEAKER_01: If not,
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  then it's going to be the guy with the most points that hadn't
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  won that's going to
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  SPEAKER_01: get in the playoffs.
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  SPEAKER_01: So,
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  SPEAKER_01: yeah,
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  SPEAKER_01: man,
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  they have to sort of – they get all bunched up like that
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  because they can't go fast
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  SPEAKER_01: by themselves because of the aerodynamic slipstream that the cars create,
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  SPEAKER_01: and they get bunched up together,
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  SPEAKER_01: and they go a lot faster.
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  SPEAKER_01: They push each other.
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  SPEAKER_01: And managing those aerodynamics is the skill that NASCAR drivers have.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's managing,
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  SPEAKER_01: you know,
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  how to manage air off of other cars and how to manipulate it
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  and that sort of
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  SPEAKER_01: stuff.
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  SPEAKER_01: And like other races, it's got pit stops.
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  You know,
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  if you've got a pit stop,
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  a half a second on a pit stop is an eternity.
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  SPEAKER_01: And, yeah, it's really cool, man.
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  SPEAKER_01: And this year they've had Aussie driver win four races.
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  SPEAKER_01: all the road track, all the road courses.
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  He came from supercars in Australia and he won all the road
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  course tracks.
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  SPEAKER_01: And then they had a black guy win a race, Bubba Wallace.
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  SPEAKER_01: So it's getting some more diversity in there.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's not just a bunch of good old country boys anymore.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot different than it used to be.
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  It used to be,
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  you know,
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  you could build something in your garage and go race.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's multi-million dollar business now.
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  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's, these, these race teams have a lot of money and a lot
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  SPEAKER_01: a lot of resources to put into these cars.
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  SPEAKER_01: So it's pretty impressive.
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  SPEAKER_01: My favorite driver is Christopher Bell.
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  SPEAKER_01: He drives the number 20 car.
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  SPEAKER_01: He's about 12th right now.
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  SPEAKER_01: And he took two tires on the last pit stop.
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  So if there were to be a caution,
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  he might be able to get away with not having a pit stop.
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  SPEAKER_01: It might zip up to the front.
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  SPEAKER_01: You might have a shot at winning it if there's a caution.
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  Usually there's cautions towards the end of the race because
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  people start getting
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  SPEAKER_01: crazy trying to win.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, man.
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  SPEAKER_01: I love NASCAR, man.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a great southern sport.
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  SPEAKER_01: It was born out of moonshining up in Appalachia.
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  SPEAKER_01: And,
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  SPEAKER_01: uh,
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  they used to run from what they would call the revenuers or the
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  feds who were after
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  SPEAKER_01: them for the taxes that they didn't pay on the shine.
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  And that's where they souped up their car so they could get
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  away from the feds.
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  SPEAKER_01: And that's where NASCAR came from.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a working class sport.
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  SPEAKER_01: And,
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  SPEAKER_01: uh,
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  SPEAKER_01: well,
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  SPEAKER_01: it's not as much a working class sport now as it used to be,
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  SPEAKER_01: but in the past it was big time working class sport.
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  SPEAKER_01: So I would advise everybody to watch the Dale Earnhardt,
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  SPEAKER_01: uh,
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  SPEAKER_01: uh,
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  SPEAKER_01: documentaries,
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  SPEAKER_01: five part documentary on,
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  SPEAKER_01: uh,
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  SPEAKER_01: It's on Amazon Prime.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's really good.
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  SPEAKER_01: And it was bankrolled by his son,
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  SPEAKER_01: Dale Earnhardt Jr.,
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  SPEAKER_01: who's got out of racing because of concussion problems,
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  SPEAKER_01: but he's still a huge force in the sport.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, man.
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  SPEAKER_01: I love NASCAR.
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  SPEAKER_01: It's a fun sport.
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  It's a nice thing to watch on a Saturday night and late August
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  before football season starts.
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  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, we'll see y'all later.
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  SPEAKER_01: Peace, y'all.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, we can keep talking.
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  SPEAKER_00: Y'all got any questions about NASCAR?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: No questions.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll see y'all later.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, y'all.