Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Remembering Kyle Busch, & Rainy Charlotte | The Burnout

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Remembering Kyle Busch, & Rainy Charlotte | The Burnout · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Welcome everyone to the burnout. I am Ryan Larkin With me as
0:03
always is Matt Weaver. Obviously very excited to talk
0:09
about the racing action, but we do have to start off, you know,
0:12
with the the loss of Kyle Busch and kind of the story that
0:16
dominated the weekend. Very emotional weekend for
0:19
everybody in the sport. Obviously, Matt, you are at the
0:25
track talking to everybody and you have a lot of, I'm sure you
0:31
have a lot of subject matter that you can go through.
0:35
I do want you to kind of talk about that a little bit, But I
0:39
wanted to spend more time kind of remembering the positives,
0:42
the, the great moments. Kyle Bush more so than diving
0:45
into more that the sad moments because I think, you know, for
0:48
me, I, I'm, I'm kind of sadded out if, if I'm being honest,
0:53
even once I started getting ready to do the show and writing
0:55
everything down, it just got sad again like it.
0:58
And so a little bit a little bit ready to to think a little bit
1:02
more positively. But please, you know, run us
1:04
through kind of how the weekend went for you, you know, kind of
1:06
from your personal perspective and, and through the cowboy
1:09
stuff and kind of the the reaction from the garage and
1:13
everything. Yeah.
1:14
First and foremost, I'm sharing our show.
1:18
So if I seem distracted, I'm very distracted.
1:20
But I will tell you it's been a very distracting past several
1:24
days and week and certainly a challenge for this industry,
1:30
right. Like it was a very somber race
1:36
weekend. And I think it was made worse by
1:39
the fact that it just rained. And I think once we all got to
1:43
the racetrack on Friday night, once it was time to go Truck
1:48
Series racing, or so we thought, we we would all lock into our
1:54
various roles that we all have at the racetrack, right?
1:58
And then the rain came in. And so all of us were kind of
2:01
just stewing over everything. There's pros and cons to having
2:08
to deal with a tragedy in that way.
2:11
Because I think that it brought the garage closer, at least for
2:17
one weekend, right? I mean, this is a garage where
2:20
everyone's trying to compete in some way.
2:22
The teams are all trying to compete with each other across
2:25
their various divisions. Those of us in the media are
2:28
trying to compete. We're trying to get our stories
2:30
in. And those on the TV side are
2:34
just competing with themselves to create best TV show possible.
2:37
And I really actually sympathize with the TV people because I, I
2:42
know because on Wednesday morning I talked to everyone at
2:48
Prime, the, the executive producer and all the talent and
2:52
I, I wrote a story and they were so excited to talk about the,
2:57
the show they had planned for everyone on Sunday.
2:59
And we never saw that show, never got a chance to see what
3:02
it was and that they had to redo everything.
3:05
And I haven't sat down to watch it yet.
3:06
I I've seen some of the clips, but apparently they just did a
3:10
standout job with what they had to cover on Sunday.
3:13
And I'm actually looking forward to re watching some of that.
3:17
And I don't know I'm, I'm rambling now, right.
3:20
There's, there's a lot of things to get into in terms of about
3:23
Kyle, but I, I will say in, in closing that I was very
3:28
heartened to see how this industry responded to
3:33
everything. I I thought Steve O'Donnell
3:35
starting at the top is as the chief executive met the moment
3:40
in his leadership role both in the the Friday press conference
3:43
and what he did before the race on Sunday.
3:46
I thought that the way that the industry embraced the Bush
3:51
family when they showed up on Sunday.
3:54
I do want to rant about that a little bit.
3:55
Actually. I've seen a lot of commentary
3:58
from people outside of the sport.
3:59
So this is not inside of the sport saying that, you know,
4:02
NASCAR exploited the Bushes for ATV clip and man, those people
4:08
just don't understand what we do.
4:10
If you're not a NASCAR lifer, if you didn't grow up in this sport
4:13
or if you're not a member of this garage, you tend to look at
4:18
what you saw on Sunday through the lens of a stick and ball
4:21
sport with a home team and an away team.
4:24
And you know, NASCAR, it's everyone travels together every
4:29
week. There is no home games and away
4:31
games and it's just a different environment.
4:34
It's a way more communal familial environment and no one
4:39
was exploiting the bushes. I I know that.
4:42
Listen, if you want to come here and spend time with this larger
4:45
family, we would love to have you.
4:47
I'm speaking as a just a member of the industry on the whole,
4:51
right? And I think that when you go
4:54
through a tragedy and something bad happens, you tend to
4:57
gravitate towards your closest friends and family.
5:00
And from that standpoint, where else would Samantha and Braxton
5:04
and Lennox and Kurd and Tom and Gay go but the place that
5:08
they've spent every weekend with their family and friends?
5:11
And so I just thought the industry met the moment in a
5:16
very special way that kind of showed who we are at our core.
5:21
I say we, the royal, we right, We're all part of this.
5:24
Everyone watching this is part of this.
5:25
You and I are part of this. The teams, the people who put on
5:29
the show, the, the, the officials were all part of this
5:32
family. And I just thought that we, we
5:34
all met the moment in the face of a really unfortunate thing.
5:38
And I just, I, I feel so bad for that family.
5:40
It's this sucks. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
5:44
And you know, for me, for my personal perspective, I was a a
5:52
cow Bush hater. Like I was on the I love the
5:56
hate cow Bush type standpoint. And that was the beauty of him
6:03
as a driver as you got to root against someone.
6:06
He's one of the few people that I feel like in this generation
6:08
that you could either love or hate.
6:10
He brought out emotion no matter what and from from just a stand
6:16
back point. I love that.
6:18
I love that he would rub it in your face and he would talk
6:22
trash and the personality. But you know, going back to when
6:25
I worked at General Motorsports, that was our direct rivals, Kyle
6:28
Busch. The reason we weren't winning
6:29
championships was because Kyle Busch won the championship that
6:32
year. It was the mindset within the
6:35
company was that was the bad guy, right?
6:37
That's the guy we have to go beat.
6:39
And so you, you kind of whether you're working for a team that's
6:45
going against them or what you said about it being a community,
6:49
it's like there's a few 1000 people and we're all doing the
6:51
same thing and we all go to the same places together.
6:54
And like Brad flew with him to Dover the previous week and
6:58
they're enemies or, or, you know, whatever.
7:01
And it's just, it's such a unique environment.
7:03
And so everyone's negatively impacted by it.
7:06
You know, it's everyone within the industry that goes to that
7:09
trek every week sees the same people and around the same
7:12
people are part of the same family.
7:14
And so it is super natively felt throughout the entire garage
7:18
because it's not like a team in Boston and team in LA and they
7:22
kind of see each other a couple times a year.
7:23
This is they're, they're all broader family, right?
7:25
So it's, it's such a huge devastating loss, obviously from
7:28
sport, from a fan standpoint, from a entertainment standpoint,
7:32
every, every way you can measure it is horrible.
7:36
And so it, so that part just been been roughing in, you know,
7:39
I got AI, got a 7 and 9 year old kid, right?
7:41
And, and my biggest fear is literally what just happened to,
7:46
to his kids. And you know, I don't really
7:50
want to keep going because I'm, I'll, I'll start crying about
7:51
it. But like, this is like literally
7:53
my biggest fear is, is kind of what happened there.
7:55
So I'm like extra emotional about it.
7:59
You know, when it, when I was growing up as a teenager, one of
8:03
the guys that took me under his wing was Ryan Shea, who worked
8:08
with my dad at BAM Racing and his brother Corey's crew chief
8:12
engineer Motorsports right now. And Ryan died in his mid 30s,
8:18
you know, just out of nowhere. And the sport more than that
8:21
when that happened. And those are the moments that
8:24
kind of stick with me as a person.
8:26
And when I see my kids and all that, it's just it's rough.
8:28
It's just rough. And so I want to move on because
8:32
I don't want to be too Nate. I do want to talk about some of
8:34
the positive things of his career real quick.
8:37
If you're in the chat and you want to mention what your
8:40
favorite part of his career was. Favorite moment race when
8:43
punching Lagana? Whatever it may be that, you
8:46
know, brought you joy, please share it in the comments.
8:49
You know, for me, I think the guitar smash in Nashville is
8:52
literally my favorite part of it.
8:54
It's quintessential smart ass Kyle Busch in his prime.
8:58
I can't believe so many people at the time didn't understand
9:00
what he was doing. You know, my generation, we
9:02
watched rockers, rock stars smash the guitar on stage,
9:05
right? Like that was, that was the
9:07
culture, at least for my generation.
9:10
And I, I thought that was, that's exactly what you would
9:13
expect from Kyle Busch, right? To take that guitar and smash.
9:15
I think that's one of the most iconic Victory Lane moments of,
9:19
you know, the past 20 years. And and then the other side of
9:23
it is just like his excellence when the when the cards were
9:26
right and everything was right, he could be absolutely dominant
9:29
to a degree that no one else of this generation really has ever
9:32
touched. And so from a driving
9:35
perspective, unbelievable. You know, I believe he's the
9:38
only person ever win in all three series on the same
9:40
weekend. He did the triple right at
9:42
Bristol. It's like so many different
9:44
accolades that only he can say he did.
9:46
And at the end of it, the winningest driver of all time,
9:49
and not just in a in a fake way. You know, a a lot of people
9:53
like, well, Richard Petty's 200 run the cups.
9:55
Richard Petty was winning in Trenton, NJ on a Wednesday in
9:58
Ipslit, New York on a Thursday. Like those wins aren't really
10:02
the same either. Kyle went toe to toe with the
10:04
best in every single series, whether it's Ron Hornaday in the
10:07
trucks or, you know, the the best of best with Jeff Gore and
10:10
Jimmy Johnson in the cup. And he beat them all.
10:12
And so he literally was the best driver probably of our
10:17
generation. And that that's it.
10:21
It. It was a pleasure to watch him.
10:22
I guess is where I'm getting to. So I don't know if you had any
10:25
thoughts, any moments of on Kyle that that you that stood out to
10:28
you or or that you remember fondly.
10:30
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot, right?
10:32
I mean, I covered Kyle for 17 years, which actually when I say
10:37
that out loud, it's like, whoa. And it speaks to his longevity
10:42
too, because like, his Cup Series career started when I was
10:45
still in high school. And so by the time I started,
10:48
you know, regularly attending races and and working out of the
10:52
Media Center in 2010. So I guess I'd be 16 years.
10:58
He was already long established and he still had 16 more years
11:02
from there that point too. And so and still so incredibly
11:06
young. But I guess there's two things I
11:09
really want to talk about in terms of Kyle.
11:11
I mean, one, it's it's to me, the the biggest point of regret
11:18
to me and then sadness in this whole thing is that it's ironic
11:22
and really unfortunate that the version of Kyle Busch that was
11:27
the least competitive in terms of the statistics on paper and
11:32
what he was doing in the Cup series and not racing as much in
11:35
trucks or O'Reilly. That version of Kyle Busch was
11:39
like the best version of the human.
11:41
I think that having having Braxton 11 years ago, but now
11:49
him being of an age to where he starts to be really
11:51
impressionable, but but also being a girl dad, I think that,
11:55
you know, the, the Kyle of his late 30s and 40s was the most
12:00
accommodating, giving good-natured version of Kyle
12:06
that I, I had known where I'll be, I'll be totally blunt and
12:11
candid, right? There was a version of Kyle who
12:13
is younger than that, who could be kind of just mean.
12:17
He could blow you off of the best of them.
12:19
And there there wasn't a rhyme or a reason to it just because
12:23
he just wanted to be be rowdy. And I didn't see a lot of that.
12:28
And I don't know if some of that's just the humility that
12:30
comes with where he was on the grid.
12:33
But he started to make amends with a lot of people that he
12:36
didn't always see eye to eye with.
12:37
I mean, Brad told us in the Media Center, Koslowski told us
12:40
in the Media Center on Friday, they rode together to Dover.
12:43
And he's like, if you would have told me that 5-6 years ago, I
12:46
wouldn't have believed you. And you know, Joey Logano had
12:49
some positive moments playing basketball with him at
12:52
Talladega. This version of Kyle was way
12:55
more interested in being a a good role model to Brixton, the
13:00
type of racer that he wanted Brixton to become, but also just
13:04
a a girl dad, right? And so I just I feel so much
13:08
sadness and regret that I don't get to continue this me being
13:12
selfish, right? Like I recognize the hurt for
13:15
Samantha Brixton Lennox and the family is way greater than mine.
13:19
But all I, all I can speak to is my, my feelings, right?
13:22
And I just personally feel a lot of sadness and regret that I
13:26
don't get to continue learning that version of the man because
13:29
I, I had really come to enjoy my experiences with him at the
13:35
Chili Bowl and Snowball Derby away from the NASCAR races where
13:39
it's a little bit more hectic. We go to those short track
13:42
events and dirt track events. You would see a different
13:45
version of Kyle too. And so I just, I hate that we
13:47
don't see that version. We're not going to get to see
13:50
who he would have been become at that level.
13:52
The second thing I wanted to bring out, bring up the thing
13:56
that I really always admired the most about him was in this era
14:02
of NASCAR where you know there's someone else, if you're the
14:07
driver, there's always someone else who's capable of doing the
14:11
the nitty gritty work. Yeah, you're just the driver.
14:14
I remember the first time I really started to realize the
14:17
type of racer the cow Bush was was at Cordial Motor Speedway,
14:23
Watermelon Capital Speedway in Georgia.
14:25
He would run the Speedfest race every January and it's in a
14:29
super late model and I was there in 2012.
14:32
So this is fairly early in my career, but I, I, I started to
14:38
know him a little better and he knew me a little better.
14:41
And I, I went up to Andy G and if you know Andy GGEE, Andy is
14:46
his long time, you know, PR guy and is still working at Spire.
14:49
When KBM was bought out by Spire, I'm like, hey, where's
14:52
Kyle? Love to chat with him.
14:54
This is the Friday before the Saturday race.
14:56
I was like, oh, he's under the car and I see 2 feet sticking
14:59
out and it's like those are driver shoes and it's Kyle Busch
15:02
under his super late model. And I waited a couple minutes
15:06
and Kyle got out and he's like, we need to do this and we need
15:08
to do this. I'm like, this guy is like an
15:09
honest to God racer. And this is me being much
15:11
younger 2012 but but just immediately admiring that this
15:16
guy is not just the driver of his cars.
15:19
Like he he would get under the car and figure it out and I
15:22
would see it in the Truck Series too.
15:23
He knew his trucks inside and out and he was working with the
15:27
likes of Eric Phillips and and Danny Stockman and he was
15:31
willing to jump underneath the car and or the truck and tell
15:34
them what direction they needed to go.
15:36
And I think that his success behind the wheel is, is a
15:42
testament to how curious he was about all things racing.
15:46
And he just had just this deep curiosity to understand
15:50
everything. And we're we're whitewashing a
15:53
little bit some of his blemishes, right?
15:54
He could be a pain in the ass. He could be a jerk.
15:57
He could be standoffish. But one thing that I wrote on
16:01
Saturday, and I'll close here, is that sometimes you had to
16:04
separate Kyle Busch and Rowdy because they bled over into each
16:10
other sometimes. So I'm not saying that Kyle
16:12
Busch wasn't entirely without his blemishes too, but you had
16:15
to separate the two. And I'll leave you with this
16:18
story that he was at a media event with Chase Briscoe couple
16:23
years ago. And then Chase told us this
16:25
story this weekend and he says that he was backstage with Kyle
16:29
and Kyle was being friendly and nice and they're having a good
16:31
time cutting up. And they get on the stage and
16:36
Kyle just starts MF ring him. He he, he is just running him,
16:40
you know, through the laundromat.
16:42
He is just talking so much crap. And they get off the stage and
16:47
Kyle comes back and he's super nice again.
16:49
And Chase is like, whoa, he's like, how do you do that?
16:54
And, and, and Chase said that Kyle turned to him and says, oh,
16:57
that's rowdy. That's my rowdy face.
17:00
And so I think we all had to learn in this industry that
17:03
sometimes you're getting Kyle and sometimes you're getting
17:06
rowdy. And I learned to appreciate both
17:10
Kyle and Rowdy for who they both were.
17:13
Yeah, and I think that, you know, there was an interview
17:17
recently, like after he won in Atlanta when host Far push him
17:21
to the wind, where he named his biggest rivals our most hated
17:25
drivers. And it was host bar who had just
17:26
pushed them to the wind, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
17:29
And at the time you're like, damn, Dude, what what was that?
17:33
But with the context of what we know, he's just doing it for the
17:36
show. He's doing it to to stir stuff
17:39
up. So I I love that story.
17:41
I when I heard that, I was like, oh, it started clicking.
17:44
I was like, yeah, OK, that makes more sense why he would go out
17:46
there and just rag on the guy that he was hugging.
17:49
A Victory Lane type deal. There's no easy transition.
17:52
But we we, we should go ahead and make the move towards the
17:55
Cup race. I'm not a big, I'm not a big
18:00
believer in things happen for a reason or or how things line up.
18:05
But that trophy went back to the old KBM shop.
18:08
It, it's such a weird it, it feels like a weird coincidence.
18:14
Maybe it's not, but the the seven car Daniel Suarez, an
18:17
amazing performance by him to go out there and win that race
18:20
against the fastest cars on the night.
18:22
He he definitely earned that one in every sense of the word.
18:26
So talk about Daniel Suarez winning.
18:28
Talk about, obviously there's so much in a, in a 600 mile race to
18:33
talk about, but I think Daniel Suarez winning off of the
18:36
departure track house with Spire.
18:39
I'm not, I'm not forgetting that Spire just beat 4 JGR cars, you
18:43
know, or 3 1/2 JGR cars to take that win.
18:46
Feels like with the caveat with the caveat.
18:49
There's a lot to discuss within that, that entire victory, so
18:53
just kind of run down the moment for Suarez and then everything
18:56
else surrounding it. A win's a win, so certainly I'm
18:59
not taking anything away from from that seven team.
19:02
And, and, and really the thing that I really appreciated and
19:06
took away from that win is that it was a total team effort to,
19:10
to, to go in and take the fight to JGR and beat them.
19:13
It, it took Ryan Sparks having a, a gut feeling that, hey, we
19:19
think that we're going to catch a break with the weather
19:21
eventually. I trust that the car is good
19:24
enough and that Daniel's good enough.
19:26
So you have credit to him for for doing it.
19:30
I, I jumped on their radio for the end of that race and I, I
19:34
interviewed Frankie Kimmel, their spotter.
19:36
And so go go look at my social media channels if you want to
19:39
see that conversation. But I thought that Frankie
19:42
Kimmel did such a great job when Denny and Christopher went to
19:47
take him three wide in the moments leading up to that.
19:50
And Frankie was just working his ass off saying, you know, go
19:54
low, go low, no, no shade high, shade high.
19:56
And just being able to work both lanes like it was a, a
19:59
superspeedway race to buy enough time for when that, that caution
20:03
came. The they spent most of the race
20:07
a lap down. And you know, they, they had
20:10
some, they had some mechanical stuff.
20:13
They had a loose wheel. And even earlier in the race had
20:16
jumped on the radio when TV had clued us in that they were going
20:20
through, you know, they're going to have to pit early.
20:23
And Daniel came down and. Sparks told Frankie to tell
20:30
Daniel we don't see anything when when they when they pitted
20:33
for that tire. It's like everything looks good.
20:34
I don't think we have an issue. 2 laps later, Sparks comes over
20:39
the radio and says, we replayed the the pit stop and yeah, we
20:43
didn't, we didn't tighten it up all the way.
20:45
Good, good catch, good call. And that's a testament to Daniel
20:49
that he, he knows that car the way it needs to feel.
20:51
That race could have ended for them. 304 hundred laps, 300 laps
20:57
early because he could have crashed the car if he didn't
20:59
feel it. And so I, I think that there
21:00
will be some who have and are going to try to take the win
21:04
away because there is the asterisk.
21:06
But I think that sometimes people find ways to beat you.
21:09
And and the last thing I will say is it's no accident that
21:13
Daniel Suarez in that 17 is 10th place and points.
21:15
That's not a fluke. That's not a one off You won one
21:18
race. They're 10th and points.
21:19
And this is a guy that struggled to break out of the top 30 last
21:23
year with Track House, a team that we thought on paper was in
21:26
a better, better place than Spire.
21:28
So just what a cool story that is for for Danny to be able to
21:32
go someplace and bet on himself and validate because he's talked
21:38
a lot of crap about Track House and to to go back it up with the
21:42
season he's having. It's a cool story.
21:45
Yeah, he is 6 points behind Carson Osvar and we, we praise
21:50
Hostsvar as this, you know, elite up and coming talent,
21:53
right? And he's getting all the love.
21:55
But Suarez is kind of going toe to toe with him within that same
21:57
organization. They got 2 cards inside the top
21:59
ten. That juxtaposed to what we
22:01
thought back in December when this was announced where we're
22:05
like, dude, that's a step back. That's not that's not where you
22:09
need to be going. Is your career over?
22:12
It's kind of where we're kind of leaning we.
22:13
Thought Kyle Busch was going there.
22:15
We thought this was going to be a one year deal and that Daniel
22:18
was going to be the Daniel of the past two years and be 27th
22:21
in points. And they're just playing out the
22:23
string to get Kyle Busch in that car, which we won't know now,
22:27
but Kyle Busch has that long standing relationship with with
22:31
Jeff Dickerson. We all thought that was going to
22:34
be the way it played out. Yeah, we sure did.
22:36
So very impressive when and for me.
22:39
Yeah, yes, it's rain shortened, but we knew about the rain for
22:42
100 laps. We were we we were talking about
22:45
posts and screenshots of the radar, talking about lightning.
22:48
Everything was well known where we were racing to that it could
22:52
end at any moment. So for me, when it's not random
22:54
or like what the O'Reilly race was, which was a whole different
22:58
situation, which we'll get you're.
22:59
So excited to talk about that race, aren't you?
23:02
It wasn't. Yeah, I, I won't, I'll save it.
23:04
But yeah, it for me, Suarez earned it on the track.
23:08
They earned it in the pits. They they did it every way that
23:12
you could possibly execute to win a race.
23:14
And the fact that it was 34 lot short doesn't matter to me
23:17
because every single person in that garage knew the rain was
23:19
coming. It's not a surprise.
23:21
And so I thought that was awesome.
23:23
Like you said, top ten in points.
23:24
Right now, there's a lot of points conversation that I kind
23:26
of I'm itching to get to because I love talking about points.
23:30
But let's talk about SVG, who's kind of in the points
23:35
conversation. That's kind of where I'm going
23:36
with it. But SVG had a phenomenal run and
23:38
that stood out to me as kind of the second biggest storyline of
23:42
of the race was just how strong he was from start to to finish
23:47
on an Oval. We've talked about him finding a
23:49
way into the chase because of his Rd. course success, but he's
23:53
14th in points. He's several points to the good
23:56
now and he's still got a lot of good tracks ahead of them.
23:58
Just you know what? What is your response to the the
24:02
Shane van Gisbergen performance on on Sunday?
24:06
Yeah, it's, it's, it's a bummer that he didn't get the top ten
24:08
out of it because he ran there all day, scored a ton of stage
24:13
points though. So a really good day for them.
24:16
It's not a surprise to me because obviously Ross won this
24:20
race last year on a track house car.
24:22
And so they've got a, a feel for to set up and there's, you know,
24:27
some, some differences in the Chevrolet this year, but they,
24:30
they know what they're doing when it comes to the, the
24:33
Charlotte Motor Speedway set up. But still, I mean, we still
24:37
think that maybe Shane's a year away at most for, you know,
24:41
contending for wins truly on, on ovals of any kind.
24:45
And he damn near nearly won the Coca-Cola 600.
24:49
I mean, we, we, we, I think you and I both have always been
24:53
really bullish on Shane and that we believe that he could hang
24:56
enough on on ovals. And if he gets his share of of
25:00
Rd. course wins, he's going to make the the chase for the
25:03
championship and just have a really, you know, good run, not
25:08
a championship run. But I think what he's starting
25:11
to do right now on ovals is actually starting to buy him a
25:14
little bit more grace on the road.
25:16
Like maybe he doesn't go need to go out there and win San Diego.
25:19
He should. He should be the favorite.
25:21
And. He probably will, but it's no
25:24
longer, you know, putting the pressure on that whole team that
25:27
if we don't execute on a road and St. course, we've given up
25:30
our only chances to to to go out there and score enough points to
25:34
be one of the top 16. I mean, I start to wonder now,
25:37
could this be a top ten team by the end of the regular season
25:42
because he is going to win his handful of rodent streets and if
25:47
he puts another couple of intermediate track races like
25:51
this, I mean, where else we wish Joliet.
25:55
Yeah, I know it's a place he's never seen before, but man, if
25:57
you're, you're good. But Charlotte, I know cookie
26:01
cutters are not really a thing, but.
26:02
The entire wear aspect to Chicago's going to be a big age
26:05
for him as well. Yes, for sure.
26:08
So yeah, I start to put the the ceiling, not the floor, but the
26:12
ceiling on him. Man, this might be a a top ten
26:15
seed for the cup chase and I'll say this too.
26:20
I think that it worked out for everyone that Daniel was
26:25
basically let go because they chose the combination of Shane
26:29
and Connor, and that's working out for that team.
26:32
Even though Track House is not where they want want to be or
26:34
want it to be. That acquisition has worked out
26:38
for them and it's worked out for Daniel to leave Track House.
26:41
And it's rare that there's like this anemonious split where no
26:46
one seems happy with each other and everyone kind of gets their
26:49
way by the end. So that's really cool to see.
26:52
I don't know, you know, I know when, when the race is going on
26:56
and you're interviewing guys, obviously you're not watching
26:59
television. I don't know if you caught
27:01
Ross's comments after he was interviewed after his wreck, but
27:06
they asked them, hey, are you surprised by Shane's performance
27:09
right now? He's like, no, Shane's an
27:11
amazing driver. If we got the equipment where it
27:14
needed to be every week, he'd do this every week.
27:16
And I think 1 within the team, I think everyone's knows what they
27:21
have in terms of a talent. And I think it's true like, hey,
27:24
if they had top 10 speed every week, he would go and run top
27:27
10. But it also felt kind of like
27:29
Ross is like, hey, we're still nowhere near where we need to
27:32
be. It it felt a little out of place
27:36
for a driver to kind of dock the team the way he did.
27:38
It felt very open, which I, I appreciate it, but I, I don't
27:42
know if there's a comment they have on that or, or if you want
27:45
to speak on it, but it just felt kind of out of place to say it,
27:47
but also kind of true. Well, I was there for Ross, but
27:52
I'll tell you I I have no idea what anyone told me outside of
27:57
the Enfield Care Center all day because it's Charlotte Motor.
28:00
It's so loud. Charlotte Motor Speedway's
28:04
Enfield Care Center is right outside of Turn 4 and it's
28:07
outside. And so I played this game with
28:11
Zilich where he, he, he does his media with us, right?
28:16
We can't hear each other. The track is green, loud.
28:20
And I went to go ask him a question.
28:21
We're locking eyes. He knows that I have something
28:23
to ask him. And what I'm trying to ask is,
28:27
is like, man, you're fast, but you've had a lot of bad luck
28:30
this year too. And so your results aren't
28:32
showing the speed you have. I can't articulate a question
28:36
like that when especially the next Gen. which is like extra
28:39
loud, is right on top of you. And so I just go bad luck.
28:44
And he's like, yeah, the answers.
28:47
I've got my microphone, so it picks it up pretty good.
28:50
But what he told me, I don't know.
28:53
What Ross told me outside of Info Care, I don't know.
28:55
And I never got a chance to go back and listen to that because
28:58
I was so focused on the Daniel element and the Kyle Bush
29:02
element. But I have no idea what anyone
29:04
told me outside of Info Care on Sunday.
29:06
Fair enough. All right, so Toyota dominance
29:10
continued, nothing to talk about there.
29:12
They are still the head and head and shoulders best team.
29:15
You know with JGR in 2311 that that's not going to change for
29:18
the foreseeable future. I did want to talk about the bad
29:21
nights back to the points things SVG looking good now.
29:25
I got Rd. courses coming up swore as well.
29:27
Well within the the the chase bubble right now, Ryan Priest,
29:31
Austin Cindrick, Chase Briscoe, Bubba Walls all had bad nights,
29:34
very bad nights and not what they needed.
29:38
So I think that's a big implication for for the
29:41
playoffs. Ryan Priest is now 16th in
29:43
points got Austin Cindrick 17th, Joey Logano 18th.
29:46
There's going to be a pretty mean battle right there for that
29:48
last spot shaping up, and that's kind of why we are projecting
29:51
SVG to make it and Suarez to make it.
29:53
These guys aren't executing, they're not showing enough
29:55
speed, and now we're going to. Priest still has the appeal too,
29:59
don't forget that. OK, when is that?
30:01
This week. I don't know when it is, but
30:03
they they haven't announced it. They haven't told us.
30:05
But. That's still kind of hanging
30:07
over there. What was that 25 points?
30:09
Yeah, it's 25 points I believe so, yeah, yeah, that would be a
30:11
big obviously 60 car owner points may be in, but as the
30:15
driver that that could be a negative thing.
30:17
So yeah. That would move him up to that
30:18
would move him up to 14th and points.
30:21
Yes, right, right, right around, right around Bubba Wallace is
30:25
where he'd be. So and then Bubba is another one
30:28
just continues, and it wasn't his fault the bad luck, but you
30:32
put yourself in certain positions right and and it and
30:34
it kind of snowballs. So anything to talk about there
30:38
with the points are are we ready to roll on to to my O'Reilly
30:42
series rant? Well, you know, again, I mean,
30:46
I'm just, I'm just glancing at the points to figure out what
30:48
the compelling stories are there.
30:49
I'm still just flabbergasted, right, that Joey Logano is an
30:53
18th play. I, I, I've now, I've now
30:57
completely conceded. Joey Logano is not winning this
30:59
championship, which is crazy because with the old format,
31:02
there was always a pathway. I mean, I, I still think that
31:06
Michael McDowell is the one guy here that's capable of making a
31:09
run because you just look at his teammates and he's been fast
31:11
too. A lot of bad luck Brisco.
31:15
I still think Brisco's a top 10 driver team in the system.
31:19
They they just again, bad luck for them too, right?
31:22
I mean, so yeah, I don't I don't know if there's like a buzzy
31:26
story here. But to your point, I was pro
31:30
playoff up until the end that I didn't like the the one race.
31:34
I love the playoff and the intensity that it created.
31:37
But I will tell you, I also appreciate the chase format for
31:41
what it does. And I do like that we're looking
31:44
at the championship standings in a way that I stopped looking at
31:47
for for 11 years, the point standings didn't matter because
31:52
all that matter was playoff points.
31:53
And I think that I kind of just I would post the championship
31:56
standings every year or every week out of just reflex.
32:00
But this is the first year in 11-12 years and I'm actually
32:03
looking at it and going, what does this mean?
32:06
And how does this project for the final ten?
32:08
Because remember, regular season champion as a 25 point advantage
32:13
and then 35 and then 404550. So like we're starting to now
32:18
with 13 races left to go until the Chase, we have a really good
32:22
idea of what the pecking order here is and who the real
32:26
championship contenders are. And it's Reddick, Hamlin,
32:31
Blaney, Gibbs, Elliott, Larson. Those guys need to be in the top
32:36
4, maybe 5. And it's interesting right now
32:40
to be 13 races into the season, right?
32:46
And halfway point. Yeah, yeah.
32:49
We can make a real argument for there's only four people that we
32:54
think have a real realistic shot of winning the championship.
32:57
And that was just not the case the last 12 years.
33:00
Yeah, absolutely. I want to talk about Jesse Love.
33:03
I had this all teed up before everything went down, but rumors
33:08
of Jesse Love may be going Cup racing next year, but not within
33:12
the RCR team. Obviously.
33:16
He was slated to run the third car.
33:17
I think that got cancelled because of the events, not
33:20
necessarily because he's leaving, but it was a little
33:25
weird to me that he was not put in that car and that was
33:27
awesome. No, I don't know if that's just
33:28
the older, more veteran driver kind of just get us through the
33:32
weekend type type decision. But I'm curious if you have any
33:36
information on Jesse Love. What you know what the rumors
33:39
are kind of you know what we're talking about last week where
33:42
there's smoke, there's fire with certain drivers.
33:43
What, what might be on on the brain for Jesse Love?
33:46
Yeah, I, I think the, the passing of Kyle changes the
33:51
calculus a little bit. Last I heard Jesse is not signed
33:57
a deal. I know that he's been shopping.
34:01
And I mean, I, I think we all know the, the rumors that are
34:04
out there, right, that it seems like a almost a fait accompli
34:08
that Riley is going to to legacy, which then opens up 2311
34:13
for Corey. And so then you're looking at
34:15
the 48 and what sort of things you want to do there, Which, by
34:18
the way, Alex and Blake had a terrible, a terrible night.
34:23
And I know those guys love each other like brothers, but God,
34:25
they were fighting like brothers on Sunday.
34:28
But if all that's true, I don't, I don't know.
34:32
I mean, 21 is the hot story, right?
34:34
That I know they've talked to The Wood Brothers.
34:37
I don't know that they've signed anything yet.
34:40
Josh has a, an option year. He, he signed a with what they
34:45
call a 2 + 1 in the industry. He's he's under a 2 + 1.
34:49
So they have the option to retain Josh.
34:53
But I, I do think now that 33 car becoming available changes
34:57
the calculus for for everyone. I mean, a lot of people are
35:01
going to kind of look around now and say this changes the, the
35:06
dynamic a little bit. So specifically as it comes to
35:09
Jesse, I don't know that he signed anything yet.
35:11
And I, I think now there's some different conversations to be
35:15
had. And to your point about Austin,
35:17
I, I just think that with Austin, it's, you know, we're
35:20
sticking the veteran in that car because we just think that's
35:22
the, the safest decision to have made on that weekend.
35:26
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, for me, when, when
35:29
the Jesse love stuff start propping out with, with Wood
35:31
Brothers, I, I instantly thought, OK, 3-4 years in that
35:36
car and then you're taking over the 22.
35:38
That's kind of what instantly popped out.
35:40
I was like, that's a, a top tier young prospect that you can get
35:43
in your organization, start prepping and grooming to be one
35:47
of your next, you know, championship contending drivers.
35:50
And so that connection made a lot of sense for them to go get
35:53
a young prospect again, that 21 seat similar to what they did
35:57
with Ryan Blaney, right, and just kind of work his way
35:59
towards that, that 22 once Logano retires and think he's
36:03
got like a six year contract. So like not not too far down the
36:05
line, but he could be that that next superstar for them.
36:09
And and so it made a lot of sense when when it that that
36:12
started getting trickled out there.
36:14
And so if he does go that way, I think it's great.
36:16
But like you said, this opens up a possibility to stay in house
36:19
now because obviously a lot going on there, but I'm sure no
36:24
one said anything. But do we assume it's just
36:26
Austin Hill for the foreseeable future for the 33 or?
36:31
I haven't heard that. No, I, I, I feel like it's going
36:33
to be a rotation. I mean, keep in mind, too, that
36:36
both Austin and Jesse have races that were purchased for the open
36:41
car. And I don't think they've had
36:44
those conversations yet, right? But I, I, I, I would not be
36:47
surprised to see, you know, both of them being cars.
36:49
I still think that at some point they will have a third car out
36:52
just because those races are bought and paid for.
36:56
And I think maybe some races will go by the wayside.
36:59
They're still the, the business of racing that has to be
37:02
addressed. And by the way, in that entire
37:04
silly season conversation, we didn't even talk about the RFK
37:07
charter, right? And that's still kind of just
37:09
looming over everyone's head situation.
37:12
And there's a possibility they could run that third car open.
37:15
And it's expensive, but buying a charter and leasing a charter is
37:20
expensive too. So there's all of this to say,
37:23
there's a lot of moving parts. And I think that everything
37:26
changed on Thursday in some way. There's a question and I haven't
37:32
really been looking at as much as they got.
37:33
Sorry I've I've been. Well, I saw that there's fuzzy
37:35
balls in there and I, I, I just kind of had to.
37:39
Fuzzy balls. Cut your eye, Matt.
37:42
Fuzzy balls caught me off guard, but I appreciate the fuzzy balls
37:45
are here. I appreciate that we have fuzzy
37:47
balls. Ken Wood Brothers Penske
37:52
actually get Buscher. Like DVC speculated last week,
37:57
Buscher got to be one of the hottest commodities available
38:00
this year. He's such a good driver.
38:03
I mean, I think he's every stop he's ever had done so much
38:08
better than that equipment deserves.
38:10
Apparently the fuzzy balls are tennis balls.
38:12
Which is. I appreciate that.
38:14
Good. Good to hear.
38:15
I appreciate the clarity, but I do think.
38:19
Buscher is a great conversation for silly season because that's
38:23
an elite driver available, right?
38:24
And that that's the type of guy you want to spice up the whole
38:26
silly season. If he moves, then who goes in
38:28
that car, right? Or do they just go down the two
38:30
cars we're talking about maybe needing the charter situation?
38:33
And and while I don't think RFK wants to lose him because he's
38:36
so good, he's such a good asset, it may also make their life 100
38:39
times easier, right? So any any news on that or any
38:43
thoughts on it? Not beyond what I just shared,
38:46
right? I mean, I anything is possible
38:48
and I know that RFK has done a really good job servicing those
38:53
partnerships. And I, I talked to Brad about it
38:55
recently, Texas weekend. And what, what Brad told me and
39:01
all I can go by is what Brad told me is that Brad says that
39:04
we feel really confident that we have a good system in place to
39:09
be able to service all of our partners, service all of our
39:12
current drivers. And we have options on the table
39:16
is what he told me. We have options on the table to
39:18
ensure that our partners and our drivers are taken care of, which
39:22
to me you read between the lines there.
39:24
It's like we'll run, we'll, we'll run that car open if we
39:27
need to and we'll take a short term hit.
39:31
But things could always change, right?
39:32
I mean, someone comes together with the right package of the
39:34
right proposal. Nothing seems realistically
39:39
plausible until it happens. Is Rick, we're still selling the
39:43
second charter to that, that random guy that used to, I think
39:47
he's with legacy. I don't know.
39:48
TJ Pucker, it is actually still tied up in in legal lease.
39:54
I know that there is a initial report of a a settlement there,
39:58
but since then they have continued now to argue that and
40:03
I think I'm waiting for a new filing, but I don't think that's
40:07
been fully resolved legally yet. All right, fair enough, let's
40:12
transition to the O'Reilly Series race before I get too far
40:15
into it. Next week we'll do our Cletus
40:17
giveaway. Cletus McFarland.
40:19
I got 2 hats and T-shirt we'll give away.
40:21
I'll do a Twitter post and you can just retweet the inner type
40:24
deal. But if you're a Cletus fan and
40:26
you want to win some free gear, you know, stick around for next
40:29
week. With that said, in in case you
40:32
didn't know, in case you live on a rock and, and I think most of
40:35
you are all Cletus McFarland fans because he's the greatest
40:37
driver of all time. Cletus is running the O'Reilly
40:40
Series race at Nashville next week for RCR.
40:46
And so I know it's going to get a lot of buzz.
40:47
I think it's actually a really good track.
40:48
I think it's the type of track that a driver like him to show
40:50
up and be respectful at. So looking forward to seeing
40:53
what he does there because he has been such a big part of our
40:56
show. I went and bought some stuff and
40:58
we'll, we'll give it away. So if you're a big Cleese fan,
41:00
stick around for that O'Reilly Series race or I don't know if
41:05
we can call that a race. You know, it was a, a 72 laps
41:10
with about 33 green flag laps. First, let's talk about the
41:16
first elephant in the room. Should that have even taken
41:18
place at that point? There's, there's a lot of things
41:23
to address here, right? Like I, I, I appreciate the
41:26
effort to try because Sunday was just challenging.
41:33
And I know a lot of people are mad about the truck race too.
41:35
So this kind of bleeds into the truck race.
41:38
People don't understand that, you know, we don't have all day
41:41
Sunday to run races because once we got to that 121-O clock
41:47
window, if you're, if you're at the racetrack, you know this to
41:50
be true. The the helicopters are flying
41:53
and they're doing their practice for the pre race show and tons
41:56
of hospitality drivers and executives are zipping all
42:00
across the facility on their golf carts And it's, it's the
42:05
second biggest race of the year, arguably sold out house tons of
42:09
meet and greets and partnerships and the business of racing was
42:13
being conducted on Sunday. And so NASCAR's I don't, I don't
42:17
even want to say they're super reluctant to run a bunch of
42:20
stuff on Sunday. It's just not realistically
42:22
viable. So I say all that to acknowledge
42:26
why and appreciating why they wanted to give the audience and
42:30
the fans something for their for their time on Saturday.
42:35
I think where I I I drew the line in the sand and was like,
42:38
man, this is where I would not have done it, even though I
42:43
understand why is the the I guess it would be the caution
42:48
for was it the 41 that no, who who dropped away?
42:53
They had to drop all the the Kitty one.
42:55
Yeah, Austin Graham. And at that point you've got
43:00
Chris Lambert and Josh Williams spotters tweeting.
43:04
I can't see like I don't, I don't.
43:06
This is this is this is tough and they're on the radio saying
43:10
they can't see. That's where I would have, you
43:12
know, drop the red flag. Let's be super candid.
43:15
They, they kept running laps and they tried to get the race in
43:18
because they're trying to get to the end of the, the second stage
43:21
to make it official. They they pigeonholed that race
43:25
into happening because I just wanted to get it over with and
43:27
I. Which I have a gripe with how
43:29
that unfolded as well. If I can jump in here last, not
43:33
last year, three years ago there was a a race in Chicago and it
43:38
was a deluge and they called that O'Reilly Series race about
43:41
30% into the race. There's now a rule for that, the
43:46
extraordinary clause rule. They made a rule that says hey,
43:50
we'll just end this shit whenever we feel like it if we
43:53
need to. I don't understand why we needed
43:56
to run 16 laps under caution when you have that rule in
43:59
place. It's midnight, no one can see.
44:02
It's now a danger because apparently you didn't see the
44:04
oil in turn one that wrecked half the field.
44:08
So like if we're at that point, it feels like, hey, we got cause
44:12
to go ahead and call this. So my second biggest issue on
44:15
the night was the fact that we just kept running under cost.
44:18
That wasn't necessary. You made the rule to get away
44:21
from this. I felt like we're, hey, there's
44:23
circumstances that are just out of our control to the point
44:25
where we cannot run this. This is how we're getting out of
44:28
it. And if you knew you had to run
44:29
the Truck Series the next morning and you knew you had the
44:31
Cup stuff. And it's like, listen, we can't
44:33
go and sit these guys here for 30 laps till Monday or whatever
44:36
we're doing. And by the way, it rained all
44:38
Monday in North Carolina. So like, if you're going to call
44:41
it a little early, that was the time to do it and said they ran
44:44
it under caution, pretended like they weren't and then called it.
44:48
And it just felt weird. It felt forced.
44:49
It felt unnecessary on top of the fact that I think the
44:52
execution of race control was just poor that night.
44:55
So I, I don't know, I so the Dawson cram thing, you know,
45:00
I've talked to you about this a couple times where I just feel
45:02
like those cars shouldn't be on the track.
45:04
Mike Harmon prepared cars that breakdown every other week.
45:08
And I just don't think you need a guy 3 second off the pace
45:10
dropping oil in turns 1 and two in a major like that.
45:14
It's five, $6 million for these teams to go run every year and
45:17
this guy's thinking up the show wrecked 10 cars because motor
45:20
blue. And it's not their fault the
45:21
motor blue, but it's also like you're impacting the race
45:23
negatively. But then within that, NASCAR
45:26
doesn't see it. Carson Hosfar knew it was
45:27
happening. BC pulled out his phone to
45:29
record the wreck that was coming.
45:30
But NASCAR doesn't see it. Why don't we have corner
45:33
workers? Why didn't we see Cody Ware
45:34
wreck Watkins going? Why don't we see these things?
45:36
Why aren't we doing our job properly?
45:38
And if the answer is it was foggy so we couldn't clean it or
45:41
see it, then that's your fault. Like, you should have called the
45:43
race. And if you don't have corner
45:45
worker, it feels like a continuation of the nonsense
45:48
from from race control and NASCAR, from Watkins Glen, from
45:52
Chicago last year, from 10 years ago.
45:55
It just feels like nothing's changing.
45:57
Yeah. I mean, it's hard because like I
46:01
want, you're right. You're absolutely right.
46:03
And this is an extension of what we were talking about at Watkins
46:06
Glen. But I also want to give them a
46:09
little bit of grace this weekend.
46:10
The weather was putrid. They were trying.
46:13
I mean, this is the thing I tell people all the time.
46:15
I, I, I don't want to tell anyone how to fan.
46:17
And certainly if you feel disappointed and frustrated, you
46:21
are more than right to. I mean, I, I'm a fan at heart.
46:26
I, I want to see racing. And but the one thing I want to
46:30
urge everyone to consider, let's say your name is Jim.
46:35
NASCAR did not go. You know what?
46:37
I really want to piss off Jim That, that that's going to get
46:39
my rocks off. You know, screw Jim, man.
46:42
Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim bought a ticket or Jim's watching on The
46:46
CW. And it's going to really make my
46:49
day if I if I make Jim not want to watch a race again.
46:53
And sometimes you just run up against a series of just
46:56
incredible circumstances. There's a no win scenario.
47:00
They do need to have more corner workers, track workers on the
47:04
road course situation. We don't we don't need to
47:06
relitigate that in the scenario where the the ceiling is getting
47:11
awfully low like it was on Saturday and you can't see in
47:14
the spotters are basically having cows on the roof telling
47:18
you we can't see. You should probably yeah, you
47:24
should probably respond to that. And to your point, we do have
47:27
the extraordinary clutch, what's called the extraordinary claws
47:30
rule. Just just pull the lever on it.
47:32
You're going to piss them off if you just keep running laps under
47:34
coffee you got. Pissed off either way.
47:36
Yeah, so at least don't waste an extra hour of their time pissing
47:40
them off. At least just say, listen, look
47:42
at the forecast. Look at what it's doing now.
47:44
The only thing that's extra frustrating is that they called
47:47
it and then the sky lifted. They probably could have resumed
47:50
racing. And it's just like son of a but.
47:54
But I get back to the hotel room like an hour later in in
47:57
Huntersville, just like a 15 minute drive from Concord and I
48:02
get there within an hour. I stop at Circle K and as soon
48:04
as I get out of the Circle K, the sky opens up And so it
48:07
starts raining again. And so like what, what do you
48:10
want them to do? This sucked.
48:11
All all of this sucked. And like I said on Sunday, they
48:15
needed the race to end at noon because pre race.
48:17
And I think all of it's made worse by the fact that we lost
48:21
Kyle Busch and we just wanted racing.
48:22
We wanted to get back to something that was normal.
48:25
And we just sat around in the rain and just.
48:27
Normal NASCAR. That's a different kind of
48:30
normal. So I just, I give them a lot of
48:33
grace. This sucks.
48:34
And I want them to really go back to the boardroom and go,
48:38
hey, how could we have done this better?
48:39
Acknowledge that it was not the best systems and practices while
48:45
also saying I don't know that there's a better way at the same
48:49
time. Yeah, that that turned 1
48:51
incident. So obviously the Daytona race,
48:55
you know, is the one that stands out in everyone's mind where 30
48:57
cars wadded up because of a rain shower at At Daytona.
49:00
But the one that stuck out in my mind instantly was the New
49:03
Hampshire race because of Kyle Busch's reaction from that.
49:07
But you know, it was 2021, I believe, where JGR was dominant
49:12
in New Hampshire. So they were first, second and
49:13
third and they drive in the turn 1 and lap 3 and it's pouring and
49:17
they wad up the three best cars in the race.
49:19
And Kyle just he's like you dumb, you know, he just, he goes
49:23
off, which he should because they're the that was 2019, maybe
49:28
even it was like 7-8 years ago. And these incidents seem to
49:31
continue. And that's just where my
49:33
frustration realize from someone that sees it 10 Times Now.
49:37
It's like, how are you ever going to fix it?
49:38
And then the other thing that we should have touched on at the
49:40
cup part of this is the lightning holds just go away so.
49:48
Someone asked me. It's like, hey, you know, hey,
49:51
wait. Someone tweeted that.
49:52
You can see the tweet. It's like, hey, since when do we
49:54
start doing that? I'm like, keep up. 3 minutes
49:56
ago, which by the way, hey, I'm cool with that because they
50:04
called the lightning hold and I look up at the grandstands.
50:07
Ain't no one going anywhere. So like, we're not taking this
50:10
thing seriously anyway. I'm not.
50:11
Nobody leaves the stands. Yeah, and I'm not saying that we
50:14
shouldn't have it, but I also think there's a degree of
50:17
intellectual honesty we we all need to have about why we're
50:21
doing it. And the only reason they're
50:23
doing it is they're covering their ass because of what
50:25
happened to Pocono for legal reasons and for insurance
50:29
reasons. So, you know what if if they in
50:32
good faith, with intellectual honesty, also have a
50:35
meteorologist who says, hey man, this is not really an.
50:38
Issue. Who was the meteorologist?
50:40
That's what I want to know. I want to know too, but I don't
50:42
know. Who, who was The Who was the guy
50:45
on the on the hill? Yeah.
50:49
Someone, someone sent me a tweet and they sent me a picture of
50:51
Lug Nut. Lug Nut, the mascot.
50:53
And it's like, there he is, there's, there's the
50:55
meteorologist, it's Lug Nut. Yeah, I, I don't know, it's just
50:59
weird. It it's just another weekend of,
51:01
of weird NASCAR decisions for me.
51:04
There's no there's no action on the track to really talk about
51:06
other than the Cruz and Jones wreck, because it was a bunch of
51:09
you know, we got a little bit into the race red flagged and
51:12
then we got going again. Then we did competition
51:14
cautions. We're doing all these things.
51:15
It felt like we never even got into the race up until, oh, we
51:19
got put down in in half the field, wrecked out.
51:21
Chastain wins it. He would not have won it if they
51:23
went back. Granby's he smashed the wall as
51:26
part of that that that and he maybe could have recovered
51:29
those. Those bodies and everything are
51:31
pretty flexible. But man, he hit the wall a ton
51:33
when he slid through the oil and it just worked out for he's him
51:37
staying on the track and in the rain came right where the fog
51:39
came. So Chastain wins Jones and
51:42
cruise wreck. That's not good for Jones.
51:44
Someone who's trying or not good for Cruise, someone who's trying
51:47
to move through the points and get inside the top five to try
51:49
to make a championship run. Anything to touch on this race
51:52
other than we already talked about?
51:55
There wasn't a lot of racing. I mean, the first thing I did
51:57
once they called it is I had my NASCAR app up and they have the
52:00
bar where it shows green, yellow, green, yellow.
52:04
There was just a ton of yellow. So there was not a lot of
52:06
racing. There's a lot of crashing
52:08
spotters couldn't see and and underfunded car dropped oil all
52:13
all over the racetrack and nobody could see that either.
52:15
So unfortunate. I hate it.
52:17
I hate it for everyone. I think there were 7 green flag
52:21
laps in that final stage. Yeah. 77 to 45.
52:25
The racing was good when they did race.
52:28
Oh good. When they get going, yeah.
52:30
And that's part of it. Like you, you lost one of the
52:32
best races at the best tracks, right?
52:34
Like the O'Reilly series on that track just puts on the show and
52:37
you, you know, we lost it. So that part sucks.
52:39
Truck Series, same thing, a lot of caution laps and then and
52:44
then called early. So we've seen this two or three
52:47
Times Now. I feel like exclusively with the
52:49
Truck Series where they've they've kind of called it early.
52:51
I think Atlanta early this year had had the timer on or maybe it
52:54
was last year where it was like, hey, we're ending this thing 3
52:57
minutes or three laps before it ends or whatever one.
53:01
Do you think that's a Fox decision or do you think it's a
53:04
track? We have things to do, we got to
53:06
get them off the track so we can do our pre race stuff for the
53:08
600. What what went into that
53:10
decision and should we be starting races if that's the way
53:14
we're having to do it? It's all of it.
53:16
I mean, it's the the track stuff is absolutely true.
53:19
Those helicopters are flying in and doing their practice runs
53:22
for sure. Is there an element of we don't
53:25
want captive race fans watching FS1 when we want them watching
53:29
Fox for the Indianapolis 500? Absolutely.
53:32
I don't want to be intellectually dishonest about
53:34
that either. If all that's true, though, and
53:37
you know what these truck races can sometimes be, I just wish
53:40
they would have started the race at 9.
53:43
They're going to do it at 9:00 the day before anyway, so just
53:46
why not just schedule it for Sunday at 9:00?
53:49
They also have to clear the stands because it was a sold out
53:51
Cup race. So you can't have people that
53:53
just bought, and they typically are good about this, that if you
53:56
have someone that bought the Friday or Saturday ticket, then
53:59
you can just stick around on Sunday.
54:01
They try to just do that in the sake of fairness, but you can't
54:04
do that for a sold out Coke 600. They have to clear the
54:07
grandstands. That's another factor.
54:09
So also unfortunate. Those are all factors.
54:14
Should have started the race at 9:00.
54:16
Yep, I, I wanted to ask this, I, I could ask this at any point in
54:22
the, or about the weekend that we've talked about.
54:24
It doesn't. So when I grew up, like my first
54:27
memory in NASCAR when I was five years old was a truck race
54:29
happening at like 2:00 in the morning because they got pushed
54:32
back and I, I fell asleep and woke back up and then they're
54:35
still racing, right Is one of my first race memories.
54:38
And then even throughout the years, we always saw racing at
54:41
1:00 AM or 2:00 AM because of a rain delay, right?
54:43
We've seen Daytona 500's go that long.
54:45
We've seen all this stuff happen.
54:47
But the last few years, it feels like we're very allergic to
54:50
that, like we're not allowed to go past a certain time frame.
54:52
And I know TV is a part of that. Like you want as especially with
54:56
Cup, you want the ratings. But like with the Truck Series
54:59
or the O'Reilly series, I don't understand the rush to like, not
55:02
be on track after midnight. Is there a rule or, or something
55:06
that's affecting that internally or is it just like, hey, we're,
55:09
we're not trying to be at track that late?
55:11
Yeah, it's interesting because I remember the the year that
55:16
Austin Dillon got up in the catch fence at Daytona, that
55:19
was. Very.
55:20
That was like 2. AM Yeah, it was 2:00 AM and I
55:22
know because I got arrested at 4:00 AM for arguing with a track
55:26
worker on the front stretch about me trying to take
55:28
pictures. Damn it, Matt.
55:31
That's a good story. It was a misunderstanding and
55:34
but they took my hard card. I had to go to the office at
55:36
Daytona to explain that I media, I'm trying to take a picture of
55:40
the catch fence and they were like, well, you know, it was a
55:42
long day. Our our security guys were there
55:45
since 9:00 in the morning. The race ended at 2:00 and
55:47
you're there taking pictures at 4:00.
55:49
They were just, they were, they were short tempered.
55:52
I'm like, I get it was fine. But I, I just, I remember how
55:56
late that race was because I got thrown in the back of the car at
56:01
4:00 AM, escorted to the Media Center and then they asked to
56:06
get my stuff and then they escorted me to my car and told
56:08
me to leave the facility. And at that point, now it's 430.
56:12
And so I'm like, oh hell, I'm, I'm awake now.
56:14
So I guess I'll go to the office at like 8:00 in the morning to
56:16
go pick up my hard car. So I just, I remember how late
56:20
that race was. We had a Truck Series race at
56:23
Kentucky one year that ran super late, but we don't tend to do
56:29
that as much anymore. And I don't know why to your, to
56:32
the point of your question, the answers they always give us as
56:35
well. We don't want people leaving
56:37
race tracks at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning anymore.
56:40
And they've just, they've collectively decided for
56:43
whatever reason that's not in everyone's best interest.
56:46
And whether that's fair or not, I don't know.
56:49
But that tends to be where they where they land.
56:53
Fair enough. Well, I did not know you got
56:55
arrested. That's a That's probably a story
56:59
for another day, but that's a. That, that that's the whole
57:01
story. Is that I?
57:01
Was no what? What happened in those two hours
57:03
you had handcuffs on you? Well, as I said, I shouldn't use
57:07
arrested right. They they did not cuff me, but
57:10
they did throw me. They called the police and
57:13
security calls the police and says that I'm being, you know,
57:16
disruptive or whatever, and I'm explaining I'm I'm media and I'm
57:20
doing my job and and I'm I'm not not allowed to be here, and
57:25
that's for even conceited. It's like you were fine, just we
57:29
we should have just all communicated better.
57:31
We were all grumpy because it was 4:00 in the morning and but
57:35
they had to the security had to call the police because that was
57:39
the only way to like in force kicking me out.
57:43
So they put me in the back of the cuff car.
57:45
And it's the only time in my life I've ever been in the back
57:48
of the cuff car. And that's a unique experience
57:51
because, you know, it's got the the cage in front of you and you
57:53
can't open the door. And so it was, it was a it was a
57:57
life experience. And I'm glad to say that I've
57:59
had and it makes for a really good story to share on a
58:02
podcast. But I was escorted and arrested
58:06
at Daytona. And what year did Austin end up
58:09
in the catch fence? Was that 1415?
58:13
15 sounds right. It might have been 14, but yeah,
58:15
it's right around there. It's a long time ago now and I'm
58:18
still here doing this, so I guess cooler heads prevailed.
58:21
If only Jeff Gluck was there to take a picture of you in the cop
58:24
car. Just well, well, so that's the
58:25
thing. So I got to tell you, Jeff and
58:27
Bob went out there first and I'm early, I'm younger in my career,
58:32
like I, I'm only like 4 or five years into doing this.
58:35
And I always like, I'm never like the, the guy that's leading
58:39
the charge. I'm going to go do what I feel
58:41
like I need to do like I would do now.
58:44
And so like I saw Bob and Jeff go do it.
58:46
And so I'm like, OK, I want to, I, I want that content too.
58:50
And I actually went out there with Dustin Long, you know, the
58:53
long time reporter and I love Dustin and I really love Dustin,
58:58
but we were there and and I I didn't get a picture before the
59:04
security guy came down and I'm like, I'm going to get my
59:08
picture. And he said, no, no, you're not.
59:12
I'm like just dude, like Justin, my colleague here already got a
59:15
picture. Let me get mine and I'll go
59:17
right back to the Media Center and we we can all go about our
59:19
merry way. He's like, no, you need to leave
59:21
now. And I'm like, I'm taking my
59:23
picture and he's like, who are you guys?
59:28
My hard car? And he's like, I'm going to have
59:31
to confiscate this. I'm like, you can confiscate
59:32
whatever you want. Yeah, that that sounds like one
59:37
of those moments that everyone has a time or two if you've been
59:40
around NASCAR enough and you're trying to get into a garage and
59:43
you're like, oh, crap, where's my hard?
59:44
You know, it happens. Well, that's cool.
59:47
That's a good story. Glad we could end on that.
59:49
That that that that was me channeling my inner rowdy.
59:54
Yeah. What would Rowdy do?
59:56
Hey, I'm taking this damn picture.
59:59
Pretty good, I think. I don't know you.
1:00:02
You were probably there. I don't know if ASA got the race
1:00:04
in on Thursday. I know they cancelled Saturday.
1:00:07
Thursday. Yes.
1:00:08
Saturday now. OK.
1:00:09
And then car store action this week or is that they got
1:00:12
something lined up here next? No, no.
1:00:14
So I'm I'm doing one of my stupid ass, you know, decisions
1:00:17
that I make. Can I say can I say the a word
1:00:19
on a YouTube live stream? Yes OK Alabama.
1:00:25
So I'm doing cars tour at Langley in Virginia Friday and
1:00:29
Saturday, pre practice and pre race content on Friday.
1:00:33
The cars tour race at Langley's on Saturday.
1:00:36
Dale Junior tweeted a little bit ago that you know, car car
1:00:40
counts are up from last year and tons of locals plus the touring
1:00:44
regulars. Excited for that.
1:00:46
And then as soon as I'm done riding post race on Saturday at
1:00:50
Langley, 10 hour drive to Lebanon, TN.
1:00:53
I'll I'll at least be there for the cup race on Sunday, but a 10
1:00:57
hour drive to go from Langley Air Force Base to Lebanon, TN.
1:01:02
So not looking forward to that. 10 hours.
1:01:04
I say I get out of there at 11. It's 10:00 in the morning.
1:01:10
I'm rolling in there. It's a night race, so I'll stop
1:01:13
somewhere in the middle and sleep for four hours.
1:01:17
Yeah. Rest area, sleep in my car, my
1:01:19
truck. It won't be fun, but I I, I I
1:01:22
love this. I love doing stuff like this.
1:01:25
And it brings me back to my childhood in my early parts of
1:01:28
my career where I was sleeping in my truck all the time and
1:01:31
doing whatever it took to make it.
1:01:33
Yeah, I always, I always squirm a little bit when when you talk
1:01:37
about how you're driving through tonight because so I had an
1:01:41
experience and This is why I'm so cautious about driving at
1:01:44
night. I used to work on with Richard
1:01:49
Boswell and his late model team and one night I was driving his
1:01:53
dad back. It's just me and his dad back
1:01:55
from motor mile. And he kind of nodded off and
1:01:59
damn it, if I didn't nod off too while I'm driving.
1:02:02
I, I woke up really quickly, thankfully, but like I was so
1:02:05
petrified that had fallen asleep just on this three hour drive
1:02:08
back, whatever it was that from that point on, like I do not
1:02:12
push the limits of, of driving at night.
1:02:14
And I know. So you you nearly killed Dickie
1:02:16
Boswell? Maybe.
1:02:20
Maybe. No, no one's, no one's ever
1:02:23
heard that before. Richard didn't know that.
1:02:25
I didn't tell his dad no. I have kept that to myself till
1:02:27
this moment. And yeah, that that was the
1:02:30
moment I learned I'm not playing around with with with driving
1:02:34
when I'm tired. I'm pulling my ass over.
1:02:36
So be careful. We we need to cover and I need
1:02:40
you here for the podcast more than anything.
1:02:41
I don't really care about those stuff.
1:02:42
But but anyways, I appreciate it.
1:02:45
Matt, of course, check out short track scene for all the car
1:02:48
store coverage that he's going to have from Langley
1:02:50
motorsport.com for all the Cup Series stuff.
1:02:52
These guys got a bunch of stuff up from the weekends to go.
1:02:54
Check that out. Appreciate you guys for checking
1:02:56
out the show. We'll be back next week for
1:02:57
Nashville. Cleese McFarland giveaway for
1:03:00
Nashville. We'll have a big celebration of
1:03:01
him coming back to the NASCAR series this.
1:03:03
And I appreciate you guys checking out the show as always
1:03:06
and we'll catch you next time. See you.
1:03:07
Bye.