Latest / Throttle to the Floor Podcast / Ep. 52 - Team Penske Sweep at Phoenix + NHRA's 75th Anniversary Kicks Off with the Gatornationals

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Ep. 52 - Team Penske Sweep at Phoenix + NHRA's 75th Anniversary Kicks Off with the Gatornationals · Throttle to the Floor Podcast

• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all, welcome to today's episode of the Faro Floor Podcast.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Will Ernest, here today with my co-host, Evan Satan.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, y'all.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, got some uh big action from both Phoenix and from uh uh Gainesville, Florida to get to, but first a couple other things.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm gonna start with some uh F1 drama, their season opening race in Australia.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I noticed the big thing to me, anyways, a lot of the fans were saying that the new 2026 F1 car was trying to race like uh like the COT in NASCAR or like the 550 horsepower package, so yeah, the racing was not great from what I saw online.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, F1 wants to boast there was a bunch of overtakes, a bunch of passing, but it's not great racing, all all things considered.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's negating other storylines like Oscar Piastri crashing, um, like on the warm-up or like before the warm-up or whatever, like ugly not not great.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um also IndyCar, they released their layout for the uh the uh planned street race in Washington DC on August 23rd.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Still planned.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it's actually going to happen.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: We might end up uh in war in August, for all we know, um with with the Ron, but that's a different problem.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, they released the layout seven turns, 1.7 miles, goes it it technically stays off of Capitol Grounds, so they don't need congressional support to change the ban on advertising because there's no advertising on Capitol Grounds, but since it's just off of it, we can still have all the advertising we want.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but Indy Card would be happy about that one.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um Trump is too because he was not getting no congressional support um for that.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's got negative congressional support right now.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, getting into uh the action here, we're gonna start with uh NHRA in Gainesville, their 75th anniversary season that got underway this past weekend at uh Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida with the 57th annual Amali Motor Orial NHRA Gator Nationals.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: The big news from qualifying two-time defending funny car world champion Austin Proc.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: He failed to qualify for Gainesville, they were last on the qualifying sheet, and we talked last Friday about both sides of the deal with uh Proc going to Tasca Racing and Ford, and then the new pieces at John Force Racing and uh uh JFR clearly has a early edge in that department as you'll hear about in a few minutes as we get into elimination Sunday.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to get into that first and also about Maddie Gordon.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maddie Gordon qualified 15th in top field on the top field ladder, and yet despite that, she took out Sean Langdon, who was runner-up last year in points, Tony Schumacher, who's the winningest top field driver in history, and she made it all the way to the semifinals where she lost against Doug Coletta, who's the defending rouse here.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give her some props.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: She did really well.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: I must say, yeah, watching her interview, you can tell I'm mostly loving it.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna mention that, yeah, the interview.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: She's she's made quite the rounds on social media with her uh electric personality.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't know if she needs those monsters.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh it was reported that uh Monster had signed a deal with her um to be an associate sponsor on her Carlisle Tools Topfield Dragster.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if she needs that monster.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: She's just got the personality itself.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you say Carson Hosevard and Nascar?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think he even needs the monster sponsorship?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, we'll see if he closes that deal.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, Maddie Gordon closed the deal at least to get to the semifinals.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh great top field debut for her.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, team owner Ron Caps, despite qualifying number one in funny car, got bounced in round one by number 16 qualifier John Smith.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So uh pretty bittersweet start to the year for Ron Caps Motorsports.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's like on one hand, you got Maddie Gordon going all the way to the semis from 15th, and then team owner Ron Caps qualified number one and just did not show up.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the Gaines, you know, Gainesville being in Florida, it was it was a hot track, you know, for Florida standards, but it was it was tough to even make a legitimate pass down there, even in the last couple of qualifying sessions.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And in the case of Austin Proc, uh he had that difficulty all weekend, even in the night qualifying sessions, and that's why he didn't qualify.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but back to Proc's former team, John Force Racing, uh Jordan Vandegriff, who replaced Proc in his Cornwall Quality Tools funny car, he also went all the way to the semifinals in his funny car debut, um, including beating teammate Jack Beckman in round one.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh teammate Alex Tazoria, who is also new this year at John Force Racing, although she was announced for another funny car, and that was likely like in the works, like in the past offseason before uh Proc decided to leave John Force Racing.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: But she also advanced to the final round in her funny car.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Chad Green beat her as Chad Green, he went uh 395.9 at 329.91 miles an hour to beat Georgia in the funny car final.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Jordan, she smoked the tires only like 300 feet down track.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it's Chad Green's second straight win at the Gator Nationals, only his third career victory.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then in about 45 seconds, you're about to hear that same statement a second time.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, Josh Hart, who also is new to John Force Racing, who uh took over Britney Force's top field dragster.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he sold his own top field team um that he had owned for years before that, but he beat defending champ Doug Coletta for his third career win and second at Gainesville Raceway and the Gate Internationals.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's Hart's first win since Charlotte in 2021, which uh if you do the math there, that's his other win that doesn't come at Gainesville.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, Gainesville Raceway is home track, he's from Florida.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so great win for him.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Doug Coletta had missed firing cylinders uh late down the track in the loss.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then in pro stock, shifting gears, uh, which is a big thing in pro stock.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Matt Hartford took down Greg Anderson in the final round for his first win since Reading in 2023 for his ninth career win.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Greg Anderson had an interesting weekend.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um he it only he wasn't until like his fourth and final qualifying pass that he even got into the field, qualified 13th, he won his first round matchup and uh faced off and beat his own son, who uh red lighted, but uh Corey Anderson was his debut pro stock race, so um yeah, but he's got a lot to learn from his dad, um the sixth-time pro stock world champion.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, and then in pro stock motorcycle, uh Richard Gadson, who's the defending champion, he wins on his 40th birthday, so happy belated birthday to Richard Gatson.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um won in the final round over John Hall.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Richard Gatson almost threw his birthday present away.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: As in the semifinal matchup, he it looked like um initially he knocked over the uh the the last block after his opponent um red lighted.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but as we found out in the replay, it was just knocked over by the wind off his motorcycle.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So going too fast.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, but back to John Hall.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: He averaged a 003 reaction time um during eliminations, which is just blazing fast, and yet he only put up a 0.047 reaction time in gas and just ate that with a 0.0.18018 reaction time, excuse me.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he took advantage for the win there, so um great weekend of action um at the Gator Nationals NHRA.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: They return in two weeks, uh, March 20th to the 22nd for the Arizona Nationals, just outside of Phoenix.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But for NASCAR and Indicar, they just got done racing at Phoenix uh this past weekend.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about it.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll start with O'Reillys.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You had Taylor Gray who won the poll, he took the lead early, and then Jesse Love took control for much of this race.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: We wondered last Friday if Love could back up his championship win from last November for a while.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: It very damn well looked like he was going to.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Sammy Smith passed Love late in uh stage one.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: He won the stage before Love took back control, won stage two, led into stage three until Carson Quappel, it looked like Quappel with that great battle with Love, uh, you know, once he took the lead, it looked like Quappel was gonna get his first career win.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just like Sheldon Creed a few weeks ago at Atlanta, and then it looks like Creed was gonna get another win too, and it's like, okay, uh, you know, is Creed in a better position, um, being that, you know, after his win at Atlanta, he finally got that monkey off his back.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: The answer to that question, yes, partially, because although he was definitely in a much calmer situation, being that he had already gotten his first win, he didn't win at Phoenix.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but after a couple big wrecks, uh the man the man of the race, Justin Algayer, came from sixth to first on the last restart, um, and started 17th overall in the race.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And yet Algar uh came up and passed Jesse Love and uh held him off to pick up his first win of the year, his third career win at Phoenix, his 29th O'Reilly series victory.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: After again, he started all the way back in 17th, which at Phoenix, flat, one mile track, very hard to pass.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um even on the restarts when you go six, seven wide across the dob leg, and no matter what, it's it's hard to gain track position after the restarts.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, even with you know, NASCAR being able to go all the way down on the apron, whereas any car uh does not.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: But um Algar he broke a tie with Bork Martin and Kyle Bush for the most consecutive seasons with at least one O'Reilly series victory with 10.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So uh great streak there.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It just shows Algar the veteran was just able to lean on his experience after starting 17th.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just work on the car all race and look where he got you.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but um our standings, Bernardo's lead has tightened up, only leads uh Stacy by 12, me by 15, and then uh's 86 back, Evans 90 back, and Haley's 105 back.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So y'all got some work to do.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for sure.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: But hey, it's not as bad as me in the truck series.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is uh rough.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're we're all just suffering in the truck series.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for sure.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: But they don't race until uh Darlington in a couple weeks, so we don't gotta worry about that.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: I picked Jesse Love.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: What could have been?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what could have been?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um the and that's the that's the that's only the first time you're gonna hear what could have been um on this episode.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're about to hear it again uh shortly, but uh Jesse Love finished second, led 114 laps.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was the most laps led.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: He had the expanded fastest lap.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Evan, he picked Sam Mayer, came home in fifth.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: All things considered, I'll take it as a win.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: He had he had a good car.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, especially early in the race, as you can tell when he passed Love in the first stage, and then won the stage, so saving some points there, so I'll take it.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: But overall, not a bad weekend.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take a top five.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: All things considered.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh Haley picked Brandon Jones, somehow finished 16th despite getting caught up in that late rack, and before that, he was running the top ten.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Haley's O'Reilly series luck is terrible.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not as bad as my truck series luck, but still terrible.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess you could say the same thing about her indie car luck, but we'll get to that too.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just just willpower in general.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um Stacy picked uh Justin Olgar, who of course won the race, only led 11 laps.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is this is uh only the first time that you're gonna hear Stacy beating out dominant Meade for the win.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you'll hear it again pretty soon.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Bernardo picked Sheldon Creed, finished fourth.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like for about five seconds, Sheldon Creed was gonna win again.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but not quite.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: But he did have the lead after pit stops, and that's about it.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: But still solid fourth place finish.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Haas Factory team, fourth and fifth.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like something, I don't know if it's Haas Factory teams team switching back to Chevrolets or something, but something about them is just they've just they've been rejuvenated this year.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I will say, I don't know.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: I like you say, I don't know if it's just because they switched from Chevy to or four to Chevy, like they were back in the olden days, but I don't know.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Them Chevy guys got some nice equipment, I must say.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, something like that.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Noah picked Corey Day, who finished ninth, which uh I'm checking my notes here.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't remember if Corey Day actually destroyed race cars this week.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think he actually raced pretty cleanly if I remember.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I really hope he does that in Las Vegas uh next week because I picked him for Las Vegas.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, we'll get more picks on that will come in Friday's preview episode.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: But um switching gears now, getting to IndyCar, Dave Malucas, man, second start with Team Penske, won the poll, led the first like 70-some laps, uh, eventually came home to finish third.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, but on the other side, um Malucas, the man you uh replaced at Penske, of course, Will Power, um, started dead last after wrecking and qualifying, but yet by some miracle, or at least it seemed, he was battling for the win until Kyle Kirkwood got into him and cut his tire, which ended that.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it just It stings if for Haley since you picked Will Power, obviously.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean he had a good car.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: It just he just had a star at the back and he worked.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: He had a good car, just bad luck.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: I remember me me and Noah, we we re-watched his wreck from qualifying.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: The car just got out from under him and down in turn one and he just backed into the wall.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, it was the first time any car had raced at Phoenix since 2018, so.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of some slack.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, there's plenty.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Ow.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: That was me hitting the table, y'all.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: My bad.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: You might want to back up a little bit so you don't hit the fucking table.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, anyways, uh, there's plenty of passing uh at uh Phoenix with IndyCar with 565 on track passes, which is a record for IndyCar um at Phoenix.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, um combination of tire strategy and maneuvering and traffic uh late in this race.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Handed the win to Joseph Newgarden after only leading eight laps past Kyle Kirk with late for the win, um, including the final seven laps that he led for the win is his second win in Phoenix after 2018, which was the last time that IndyCar raced at Phoenix and it's his 33rd career win.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what's funny is uh getting into our picks, I picked Joseph Newgarden.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's funny, all three races, main races this weekend with NASCAR, O'Reilly's, and IndyCar, all three of them had winners that only led like a few laps handful of laps.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and of those results, I finished first in IndyCar and second in the other two.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um So you had a pretty good weekend, I must say.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, I will I will say that.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm two for two to start IndyCar for the year.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um we don't talk about Arlington next week.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean we will, but mostly on the preview episode on Friday.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so I picked Newgarden, he won the race, only led eight laps, doesn't matter.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: Newgarden won.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um Evan, you picked Alexander Rossi, who finished in sixth.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie, I did not watch the race.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: I did not watch the race, but I'll take a sixth place finish.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, uh you're just over working at McDonald's working eight to fours back to back, so you're just stuck with that.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I actually it was eight to six to be precise.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Putting the fries in the bag over there.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was putting I actually was making the burgers for the fries in the bag.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, anyways, uh we know Haley picked Will Powers, still finished 16th with 10 laps led, got the fastest lap, so hey, there's there's an extra consolation prize.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, despite Will Powers really, really, really bad luck.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and just poor adjustments to Andretti after leaving Penske after 16 years of being there.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um Stacy picked Scott Dixon, finished in 7th, just a just a quiet day.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's about the only bright spot for Chip Canassi.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Alex Pillow got wrecked after like 20 laps in this race.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh finished, I believe, 24th, I think.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um not great for Pillow.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: You better hope that Pillow doesn't wreck again.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm praying the good juju on him.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and Noah picked Louis Foster.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: He stole your pick from St.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Pete, and it did not work.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: He finished 23rd in DM.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: You could have him.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: I lead Indy Hardpoints still by 35 over Bernardo, 56 over Stacy, 70 over you.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, 91 over Haley, and 99 over Noah.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, y'all still have work to do.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, don't don't get too cocky now.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I know.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's early in the season.
• 18:07
  unknown: I know.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Look what happened last year.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's like how it's early in the truck season.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like happened what happened last year.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Who won the championship?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, like our points gap was like less than like 30 points for like three months.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't me choking, it was just us battling for three months.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm talking about I'm talking about like after the first few weeks, I had a pretty sizable gap between first place after the first four weeks of last year.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So all I'm gonna say is don't call me the comeback kid for no reason.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whatever.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, I guess.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, getting into cup now.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Penske, very interesting.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just, I mean, for them, it was a good weekend.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: But in the cup race, it was very interesting.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess on that note, I'll just start with Joey Logano.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: What are you doing?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Joey Logano, you might want to get your CDL, brother.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: With all that, with that big shell pens oil Mustang that he's hauling around there.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, he he took out Chastain, who ended up taking out Cindric.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm surprised that they're not taking Cindric back to R D after like uh peeling his car open with a can opener.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was surprised too, honestly.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the last time I remember seeing that was Priest at Talladega with Larson and that big like T-bone wreck, if you remember.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And they took both of them back to RD, and that was like what, 23?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 23.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: 23.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm surprised they didn't do it same for Cindric, but um, yeah, and then uh Logano ended up getting wrecked himself.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So uh jokes on him.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um Toyota's man.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: They just they they had runs and then they just fell off.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: They had the short run speed, but not the long run speed.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, except for Bell.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: He had Bell's the exception.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Bell Bell was the exception.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um also shout out Ty Gibbs.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Ty Gibbs, I was very impressed with him this weekend.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: I must say.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: As much as I'm a Ty Gibbs hater, I was impressed.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Ty Gibbs, for about three seconds, looked like he was gonna win this race.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh Blaney was able to eventually get by him.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: But and I also want to mention Blaney really quick before we touch on him later for obviously winning the race.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Two loose wheels.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Two and yet he still comes all the way back um to win this race.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just insane.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um SVG had two spins in this race and still finished 11th.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I will say SVG's starting to flip figure it out.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: SVG is figuring it out, which is scary.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: There I I don't think there's really any more is SVG still learning on the Oval.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, well, he is still learning on the Ovals, but you know, it's no more will SVG figure out the Ovals, it's when will he truly run up front and be competitive and add an oval?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: If he wins his first Oval race, watch out.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Phoenix and Bristol were the two tracks that they kind of pointed towards as we need to improve, and he finished 11th despite spinning twice.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So very impressed uh with SVG.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, um Chase Briscoe.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go fishing! Yeah, um let's go fishing into a wall.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: If we just had to rate Briscoe off of his start to the 2026 season, uh I feel bad for him wrecking three times, blew a tire while running like third or fourth, um, finishing dead last and thirty seventh.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I feel bad for Haley for picking Briscoe, but at the same time, if we just had to rate this twenty twenty six start to the year, uh and not counting last year's great year for Briscoe, um, he's a disappointment to the nineteen car.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um some it's not all.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: fault though I'm like yeah it it really it really is not on a serious note it's not his fault uh yeah Bristol's just doing the best he can he's just getting really sh in really shitty situations I mean yeah but he's in a bad hole in the chase yeah I know hey it's only the first couple weeks so we'll be I think I think we'll figure it out.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think yeah I think we'll be fine.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah just um all the tires what what was going on there with all them time Goodyear do you Okay I will say I'm glad Goodyear made of tire that falls off but I don't want people crashing all the time either and spinning out because of those on tire and now it's not as bad as the 2023 Spring Bristol race.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: 24 or 24 my bad my fault as a Hamlin fan you should know that I know I'm wearing the Diddy Hamlin shirt right now.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: But still I mean that race was horrible I mean it was cool the Diddy Hamlin fan to see who actually wins which was kind of nice to have an actual tire fall off race here's the thing here's the thing it was cool there was tire fall off it was not cool that all them blue was in 40 laps yeah that was I was a little obsessive or excessive yes yeah there's the word there's the word I had a brain fart right there yeah 12 cautions which ties a track record with fall 2014 and spring 2020 we don't talk about spring 2020 um yeah there's a lot of a lot of cautions at Phoenix and it's like cool you have tire fall off not cool that they all blew yeah um but technically a lot of those flat tires were under an existing caution for Gregson and as we found out it wasn't even a tire it was a brake rotor so we bring the boom yeah um yeah getting back to Ryan Blaney um circling back around to him two loose wheels can't emphasize that enough two loose wheels and yet he comes back to win and his first win of the year his second at Phoenix actually second in a row because he won in November if you think about it the last time uh prior to this weekend the last time that somebody other than Tyler Reddick won a points paying NASCAR cup race was Ryan Blaney at Phoenix in November in November um that is all we're gonna talk about last November um at Phoenix um yeah flashbacks flashbacks okay yeah second win in a row at Phoenix uh after the championship race last November's 18th career victory I saw somebody mention he's trying to put a Hall of Fame resume together with 18 wins a championship and a Coke 623 uh a little early yeah I wouldn't say yeah but he's getting up there he's in his prime um for sure but a little early yeah um we'll we'll see but before we get to picks and updated standings first I want to say a shout out to Anthony Alfredo in the 48 car uh it was looking like just another pedestrian day um and then he was running in the top ten late until Logano um hooked chast and he got caught up in that big mess but I want to bring up Alex Bowman um he was out this weekend with Vertigo from the sickness at Coda which is why Alfredo uh replaced him in the 48 and I mean they say that concussions and prior wrecks were not a factor but I just cannot stop thinking that they played at least a little bit I mean just a little bit think of Dale Jr.'s career exactly that's that's what I was gonna mention but Bowman's taking lots of nasty wrecks in in the past fears 2022 fall Texas concussion missed five races 2023 sprint car crash uh about an hour and a half from our studio here down at 34 Raceway in West Burlington Iowa um yeah but broke his back in that sprint car crash missed three races and then last year the cup race at Michigan nasty head on hit and I mean while he didn't miss any races or break anything or get a concussion he said that it was the hardest hit of his career even harder than the other two that I just mentioned but Bowman in the last three and a half years he's missed eight races due to injury and yet only won one race in that same time frame in Hendrick equipment and that was the Chicago street race in 2024 and he should not have won that race should not have won that race he should not have won that race um but even if we discount that one race win despite eight missed races due to injury in three and a half years um in Hendrick equipment that's top tier equipment he should win more yeah that's not even that's not an equipment issue.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean yes he's missed races but it's still not it's inexcusable to me that's true it's not it's not an equipment issue it's it's just a him issue.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean yes the injuries don't help the injuries don't help but look at Chase Elliott he came back from a broken leg in that snowboarding crash in 2023 and he missed a bunch of races at the start of the year because of that and he also missed a later race from different incident yeah the Coke 600 um he missed Gateway the following week but you know he was able to win at Texas the following year in 24 and then last year he won Atlanta and Kansas plus the clash.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Elliot's been able to bounce back and even starting off this year he's still fourth in points I mean Phoenix was not that great and Las Vegas isn't a great statistical track for him either but he's still fourth in points it's just Elliot has been able to fire off you know and recover um from his broken leg injury from a few years ago he's been able to recover and compete and compete for a championship or at least be you know good.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Bowman has not so you know the injuries don't help for Bowman but like it's just no and I mean this this could be the end.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean yeah vertical Bowman the showman versus Rowdy Bush yeah I mean maybe it is true that the vertigo wasn't caused by his wrecks and he's just like actually sick but I mean we'll we'll have a better picture.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean if he misses Las Vegas then we're we're in trouble.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's medical medically retiring like I was told you earlier I think it was either today or yesterday I was telling you that there's some uh rumors going going around this is not confirmed by any reliable source but from what I've been seeing and hearing is it is possible he will be out for at least a month two months with Vertigo and if that's the case I think he's in medical retire after this year.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think so yeah I mean you think of like Casey Kane yeah um he retired it was like right before the Southern 500 in twenty eighteen and that was due to heat exhaustion so um I don't know but I mean yeah this could end up ending his time at Hendrick or even just in his career I mean and it does not help that he's in a contract year at Hendrick Motorsports which is almost like Dale Jr because when twenty sixteen happened you know his contract was up at the end of 17.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: But just I don't know it's and it's ironic because Bowman was the one who replaced Dale Jr at Hendrick um at the time in the 88 car and of course now Bowman's on the 48 but just yeah but still wishing wishing the best for sure for Alex Bowman hopefully he can get back in the car and at least have a chance to you know fight for his seat and yeah for sure but I don't know it's not looking not looking good at all um but yeah back to cup uh picks and uh standings will start with our picks uh if you remember earlier in the episode I mentioned how uh I had the Dominicar and ended up finishing second to Stacy well here we go Stacy picked Blaney who only led 20 laps and won the race despite me picking Bell who finished second and led a hundred and seventy six which was the most laps led of the 300 and yeah 312.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um for a second I almost thought there was more because of overtime but somehow those 12 cautions did not lead to overtime I'm surprised um yeah so just you know I finished I won the race with new garnered any car and I finished second with Love and Bell in O'Reilly's and so good weekend for me um trucks I need some work trucks of the year you need some help we all need some help in the truck series is not great stay Stacy has run away with it yeah uh Evan you picked Hamlin who uh I'm just now realizing also finished fifth just like Mayer in the O'Reilly's race so lots of similarities we've had lots of similarity um weekends yeah but yeah Hamlin in fifth I mean he led some laps early and then second and towards the end of the second stage got passed by Bell.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean all in all Hamlin had a good weekend I mean it's back to the normal tracks for Hamlin so this will be the telltale sign of how the season's gonna be good point Hamlin at Las Vegas he won last fall so we'll we'll see I just I don't know I mean Hamlin hasn't fired off bad but obviously he's been overshadowed you know being co in 2311 and 231 with Redick and Reddick he had a okay car he ran like fifth to twelfth all day finished eighth but no no four peat no four peat for Michael Jordan no four peat for Reddick um so Jimmy Johnson in 2007 before I was alive was the last time we saw anybody win four NASCAR cup races in a row just in any part of the year let alone the first four two races of the year so um but still Reddick winning the first three races of the year back to back to back he already broke that history mark so he'll be remembered for that for sure um Haley picked Briscoe as we mentioned uh earlier just tough he was he was running up there um and then just blew the tire went bye bye yeah he was he brisco was the first casualty in all those uh tire issues it's just he took the worst of it pretty much because you had all those other flat tires but that was under the Gregson caution so like they were they were alright and then um Blaney had tire issues but those were loose wheels and both of those he just uh so happened to be able to fix them um instead of you know the uh alternate option called it falling off the car under green flag conditions which would have ended his race put him two laps down and uh just like Chastain last week at Coda would have suspended a couple of his crew members and if he did that Bell probably would have won this race or get uh honestly probably Gibbs would have won this race to be completely yeah well I don't know Gibbs kind of fell off on that last year never know only hypotheticals um yeah Bernardo picked uh Byron who was also one of those cars that had a flat tire um under that Gregson caution so uh don't bring it back not again my fault Hamlin fan with PTSD over here um Byron's in the wall okay and then uh Noah with uh Chase Elliott finished 23rd not great for Chase Elliott and as I mentioned earlier um Las Vegas not great yeah these West Coast tracks are not been great for him yeah just I mean he had the championship win in Phoenix in 2020 and that's about it yeah um but yeah so Friday we'll preview Cup and O'Reilly's action from Las Vegas and IndyCars debut race on the temporary uh street course in Arlington Texas around Jerry's world in the Texas Rangers stadium which sure to be crazy I mean it's it's Jerry World I mean come on now um but yeah that's all we got for uh today's episode of the Thrall of Horror Podcast make sure you tune in and listen and download on Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube check out the chill photography and throttle for podcast uh Instagrams and TikToks and thank you to Evan for uh showing up and sharing his uh Hamlin PTSD experience um yeah um but that's all we got for uh today's episode of Thorfort Podcast and we'll see y'all on Friday.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good night y'all can't be able to get a little bit