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William Byron Wins Martinsville: Race Recap & Phoenix Championship Prediction | Kenny Wallace Show · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
All right, Kenny Wallace, I'm Charlie Marlowe.
0:02
We are live. What a wild finish at
0:05
Martinsville Herm. William Byron dominated this
0:11
race. And then Ryan Blaney takes the
0:14
lead for a while. Then about 44 laps to go,
0:17
William Byron moves him and Byron is your winner.
0:20
He's moving on to the championship for it'll be JGR 2
0:24
cars versus 2 Hendrick cars, no Penske cars.
0:27
Herm at Phoenix, how you doing buddy?
0:31
Man, I'm doing good, Charlie. And you know, as the shirt says,
0:35
respond right here everybody, we're going to get into the race
0:40
quickly. But listen, it was a good
0:43
looking vibe. Was it standing room only?
0:46
No, it wasn't standing room only, but the crowd looked good.
0:50
And I said on social media, I said not sure what NASCAR did to
0:55
this rules package, but that was old school NASCAR at
0:59
Martinsville. They were passing left and
1:00
right. There were times that I went
1:03
there, they were three wide. It was really wild, but a good
1:07
looking vibe. NASCAR needed this.
1:10
They needed this. This wasn't a home run.
1:13
This was a Grand Slam Charlie. And here's why.
1:17
It was what we call on. It was live free, free TVNBC.
1:22
If you don't get this channel, that means you don't got ATV and
1:26
it was a whale of a race. OK, so we'll kind of we'll kind
1:29
of work backwards here. Just give us your thoughts.
1:33
I believe it was 44 laps to go and William Byron moves.
1:39
Ryan Blaney. We know Martinsville is
1:41
physical. I I thought this was, as they
1:44
say, just short track racing. I I don't think it was anything
1:48
egregious. They're they're racing for the
1:50
championship for he didn't wreck them.
1:52
Give us your take on that move. So that is like Rd. racing, you
1:57
go down that front straight away or back straight away.
2:00
And what was key was William Byron was on Blaney's butt.
2:08
You know 2 laps before William Byron is not that close and
2:14
can't make that move but but Willie B was right on Ryan
2:18
Blaney's butt and it's a road course move.
2:21
You pull out, you out brake and you know, you you saw Blaney try
2:25
to squeeze him down. But I really feel like right
2:28
then it's now or never. And here's what was great about
2:31
that move. I got to win this race.
2:35
It's not like you got to finish. That's what helped make Willie
2:39
B's move in his mind. He's like, I got to win the
2:42
race. I can't just pass him.
2:45
I got to win it because it it it was that time that was the move
2:49
of the race and he was quicker than him.
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So to me, that's what it was all about.
2:53
It was I got to make this pass to win it.
2:55
He was close enough to him. It was a road course movie out
2:58
broken, but yet they banged no right front flat and that's what
3:02
you got to look for. So I I believe that's what was
3:06
in his mind. But Charlie, let me just say
3:08
this too. How about those restarts?
3:12
The guy on the outside several times was the one that took the
3:15
lead. And and the reason of this is
3:18
the guy on the outside is able to pinch the guy on the inside
3:22
down and not let me let him get that exit speed.
3:26
So, yeah, I agree what all the callers are saying that 24 look
3:30
good. And he he definitely made Jeff
3:33
Gordon proud. The 24 of Jeff Gordon won a lot
3:37
of races. And oh, Willie B man, Charlie,
3:40
did you did you see Willie? Willie B's a focus great in car
3:43
camera, never looking in the mirror, not running scared.
3:47
Just that's why we say like sports therapy, these guys,
3:52
whatever advantage you can get from a professional, focus on
3:56
what's ahead. Let the spotter talk to you.
4:00
You know, none of this, none of this because you can look up,
4:03
miss your corner. I was really impressed by that.
4:06
Yeah, I like that at the end too.
4:07
You can tell in the broadcast they they talked about the fact
4:11
that on NBC, this isn't little Willy B anymore.
4:15
This isn't young Willy B, however many starts.
4:18
I think it was 275, whatever it is, this is now a, a veteran
4:22
racer. And I also think, look, just me
4:25
personally, I kind of always root for chaos and and
4:28
storylines. But I have to say this, there's
4:31
this whole debate going on, as we all know, about what's the
4:34
best way to crown a champion 36 races, whatever it is, and the
4:38
fact that Willie B was the regular season champ.
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And remember, he won that not even in the final race.
4:44
He he won the regular season championship the race before.
4:48
And then the fact that he was by far the dominant car in this
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race. I think he led something,
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whatever it was, 300 laps in the end, it it seemed like Willie B
4:57
deserved to win this race and he did.
4:59
And I and I'm good with it. And again, if he would have
5:02
wrecked Ryan Blaney, I might have looked at it differently.
5:05
But what else do you want? This is racing and it it's for
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the championship four. And somebody asked the question,
5:10
Kenny, would you have done the same move that that Byron did in
5:15
that spot? It was.
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It was for not the win, it was to go to the championship.
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I mean in your in your complete athletic career, that's the move
5:27
you got to make. That is the moment that that is
5:29
the Michael Jordan one second to go shoot it.
5:33
That was his chance. I want I want to say this, Mark
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Martin is coming right here to my house.
5:42
He's going to sit on my couch Wednesday morning, November 5th
5:47
and we're going to have a good time.
5:48
It's going to be coffee with Kenny.
5:50
Mark Martin is coming here and I'm going to say, Mark, we all
5:54
argued all year long and it ends up being a nothing burger.
5:59
The four cars that are going to Phoenix for the championship are
6:04
the cars that won all the races this year.
6:08
You can say, OK, Chase Briscoe was a surprise, but he won three
6:12
races. You know, I mean, you got the
6:16
winningest driver this year. You got Denny Hamlin with six
6:21
wins, Charlie, you got the stats in front of me.
6:25
Willie BI mean they they all are deserving.
6:28
So all that complaining, all that complaining about what Joey
6:34
Logano did a year or two ago, all for nothing here.
6:38
We're we're, we're going to Phoenix with the deserving cars
6:41
and there's not even a question. Yeah, in terms of wins we got,
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like you said, Chase Briscoe won three races.
6:50
So Siebelt doesn't get in. He won four.
6:53
But Kyle Larson, he gets the the final spot, didn't win a race in
6:57
the in the the last three races, but he gets in on points.
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Kyle Larson won three races, Denny Hamlin won six.
7:04
Will he be now? I think this is actually not
7:07
updated yet. It has.
7:08
It has two wins for Willie B, but laps LED, he had 974 laps
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LED entering today where he then LED whatever it was 300.
7:18
And again, he's your regular season champ.
7:20
And I just think this is so interesting because going into
7:24
this week, the talk was rightfully so.
7:27
Could JGR get get 3 cars in? Could could Siebel get in
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alongside Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and and maybe Larson
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gets in? So, so that's obviously not the
7:39
case. Now it's it's straight up Joe
7:40
Gibbs Racing versus Hendrick. But then the other wild card is
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Kenny. You know this, the Penske cars
7:46
have won every single championship at Phoenix in the
7:50
Next Gen. era. And if Blaney would have won,
7:52
he'd have been the favorite. And now I think it's more
7:54
exciting because it's a total wild card.
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He's not in it. Logano's not in it.
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And and another take, I'm just going to add on to this.
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Let's remember a couple of years ago, second or third place car
8:05
won the championship. So we all want the man that wins
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the race at Phoenix to be the champion.
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But it it happened once, you know, so and, and and look at
8:19
pit stops, you know, every team had an opportunity here at
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Martinsville. I mean, my heart was pounding,
8:26
Charlie. I I felt myself getting hot
8:29
because it's like, Oh my God. I mean, all eyes are on these
8:33
pit crew. Yeah.
8:35
Thank you. Bill Smith.
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Yeah. Oh, Willie B LED a 305 laps
8:39
today. But listen up, everybody.
8:43
Every team come down pit Rd. equal and nobody messed up that
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my friend is championship stuff. Those are athletes, those are
8:52
retired or those are guys that broke a knee out whether they
8:57
were hockey players, football players.
8:59
When you look at those athletes that change those tires.
9:02
We went green with 11 to go and there there was not a storyline
9:07
of oh, oh, Joe Smith on Willie BS car messed up.
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Nobody messed up. It was clean and green and and I
9:16
will say this, I was a little surprised that Willie B shot out
9:23
like a rocket. I thought that Ryan Blaney was
9:26
going to be able to, you know, pitch down on him and hold him
9:28
down. They were going to wiggle and
9:29
bang up off the corner. But man, it was like whoa.
9:33
And I just think that with the sun going down, you know, it's
9:37
almost night time. It's six O 4 Martinsville right
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now and it's pretty much night time.
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They're going to be loading up in the night.
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The sun goes down. It's cool the rubber was laid
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down and Willie BS car really liked that because it fired fast
9:52
and it and it kept about that. You know, I think at one point
9:56
it was right at one second lead, but anywhere from 1/2 a second
10:00
to a second lead. Charlie.
10:02
But the reason I bring up the pit stops and I'm going to say
10:06
one last thing until you take it over.
10:09
People ask me all the time, Herman, who's going to win the
10:12
championship at Phoenix? And I say it can come down to a
10:16
pit stop and all four of these cars, Charlie, there will not be
10:23
a quote, UN quote mistake champion this year out of these
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four cars, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Willie B and Denny
10:32
Hamlin, Whoever wins Phoenix this year, whoever wins the
10:36
championship, that is your champion.
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That is your champion. And there's it's moot.
10:42
And one of the callers said, Logano's out and Chase Elliot's
10:48
out. And I feel sorry for their fans,
10:52
but I got to be honest with you. I, I like it better that way.
10:56
I, I like it that Logano's out. I like it that, that, you know,
11:02
chase Elliot's out. And let me tell you why I like
11:05
them. I like them.
11:08
But now that keeps all that silly, silly chatter out, you
11:13
know? You know, Chase Elliott is our
11:15
most popular driver. Logano don't need to be in there
11:18
because of, you know, getting in there.
11:20
What's this guy saying here, Charlie?
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That's a long one. So Racer Guy 6979 says everyone
11:27
hates that last race because it can create an undeserving champ
11:31
but don't like to admit the playoffs.
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Could be the same reason Denny hasn't won 1 yet.
11:36
Now obviously Denny Hamlin has a chance to win his first
11:38
championship coming up here at Phoenix.
11:40
Speaking of Denny though, and then here, here's where the
11:43
whole, you know, quirky, the luck factor.
11:47
Look at JGR, they win the first two races, Denny wins, Chase
11:52
Briscoe wins. What happens today to both their
11:55
cars? They both blow engines, which
11:58
which could happen next week at Phoenix, but maybe they got
12:02
their bad luck out of the way and wasn't it C Bell was it a
12:05
couple years ago? Remember C Bell had terrible had
12:07
a terrible issue at Phoenix and never had a chance.
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So it it's also sometimes it comes down to luck her and you
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know that there you go. Bell did not blow up.
12:16
Yep. Did you notice that Bell did not
12:18
blow up? Here's my opinion, everybody.
12:20
Here's my opinion. I think that they might have
12:24
gave Danny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe a little something
12:28
different. I you know, my thought is that
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Joe Gibbs Racing gave Danny Hamlin and Chase Brisco a little
12:39
something different because they were locked in.
12:42
I think with Christopher Bell, they're like, we can't mess with
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that. So I hear you, Paxton.
12:47
Do Toyota's need to figure out? I just don't look for I think it
12:51
was a Martinsville deal. I you know, I think it was, you
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know, RPM high RPMSI just don't think Toyota's going to have
12:59
problems next week. If I you know, I'm just thinking
13:03
that they took a chance and gave those two something a little
13:05
different, you know, because they're locked in almost as if
13:08
it's a test. You know, that's just my
13:11
opinion. You don't give up any race.
13:13
You want to win them all. But I saw Denny Hamlin kind of
13:19
grabbing one of the crew members like the motormen after the
13:23
race. If you saw it, NBC was really
13:26
focusing in on Denny Hamlin in the garage area blown up and
13:30
Denny's kind of, you know, how do I just think they, they did a
13:35
little test in there that that's my opinion.
13:38
And you said this earlier, this was Brian.
13:41
This was good short track racing, a lot of passing.
13:45
And that's been another complaint from fans on the short
13:47
tracks, whatever they did. And do you think was it?
13:50
Was it the tire wear was just perfect today, maybe too
13:54
perfect. I mean, you saw at some point
13:56
there were big chunks of tires flying off those cars, Kenny.
14:00
But you know, listen, I know y'all gave me grief in the past,
14:04
in my day. I mean, Martinsville was good
14:07
for me. I got 2 grandfather clocks,
14:10
Granite Xfinity Series. But Martinsville was my jam in
14:14
in in Xfinity and Cup. And the reason I give you that
14:17
disclaimer is this in my day we had that type of tire wear.
14:22
There were marbles in my day. If you got out of the groove, it
14:27
meant you were in the marbles. We had tire Ware galore in my
14:31
day and and I think that was key.
14:35
The the more marbles, the more tire Ware that comes off, you
14:39
know, you wear the tires out and the rubber goes flying up in the
14:43
outer groove. So that was that was key today.
14:47
And listen, this is going to be when Jeff Gluck comes out with
14:55
this. Did you like this race?
14:57
First of all, I look for 2 million views tomorrow.
15:03
You know, last week we got 2 point what we get 2.5 and
15:10
Formula One was 1.5. You know, last week was the big
15:14
week. We're just going to see how good
15:16
NASCAR is. Well, NASCAR showed up last
15:20
week, 2.5 million views and Formula One on ESPN got 1.5
15:26
million views. So I'm listening to myself,
15:28
Charlie. I think NASCAR comes out on
15:31
Tuesday or Wednesday and said they got 3 million views.
15:34
Charlie, Can it, can it be any better?
15:36
Prime time on Free TV? What a race.
15:40
Yeah, I know. I thought, I thought this was
15:42
was fantastic and storylines galore.
15:45
And even though there wasn't that last lap wreck, whatever it
15:49
was, we didn't have a hail melon like 3 or 4 years ago, but you
15:53
didn't need it also because the drama was all throughout the
15:56
race. There was drama from basically
15:59
lap one to lap 500. It it started with Byron, but
16:03
then Logano's on them. I mean, there, there is a a time
16:05
period there were Logano's in second.
16:07
You're wondering, can Logano pull this off and everybody's
16:10
going to be pissed. And then Byron continues to
16:12
dominate. And then all of a sudden there's
16:14
the other car in Ryan Blaney. And when Ryan Blaney took the
16:17
lead, I mean, it's, it's, it's hard to pass Ryan Blaney.
16:21
And it seemed like he had a really good long run car.
16:24
So, so give it up for William Byron to to make that move.
16:27
It was the right move. It was the aggressive move to
16:30
me. It wasn't dirty.
16:30
It was short track racing and he got the job done.
16:33
Hey, another thing sometimes we like to promote our own cause on
16:38
Kenny conversation. We just had Ryan priest a month
16:41
ago. How about that run by Ryan
16:43
Priest today. You know, a true short track
16:47
racer that is just taken and I'm not and it's not his fault.
16:51
Ryan Priest, it is taking him too long.
16:53
His win is coming. I believe of Roush.
16:56
I I think he's almost like a booster.
16:58
I I think a Ryan priest is almost like a booster.
17:01
You don't see you don't see the Roush Fenway cars winning a lot
17:05
of races, but man, Priest shows up and he's over there on Kenny
17:09
conversation. Go check Ryan Priest up, but
17:13
really happy to see him up in there.
17:14
And yeah, I agree with you, Charlie, going back to what
17:17
you're talking about, you know, I think the Logano thing over
17:26
the last year or two, I think that was what how do they say
17:29
that word anomaly? Anomaly, yeah.
17:32
It was a freak. It was a freak deal, and
17:34
everybody was afraid it could happen again.
17:38
You see what I'm saying? And yeah, I see old King
17:40
Solomon. Well, I mean, hey, listen, hold
17:43
on here. Let me look at something.
17:44
I I got a piece of trash here that I'm going to see here.
17:49
Here it is. OK.
17:52
So dirty MO. Dirty MO.
17:56
Dirty MO wanted me to pick my champions out.
18:01
And. And Schrader said I'm not doing
18:03
it. I said I'll do it.
18:06
Look what I had picked like a month or two ago.
18:09
I had Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron and I I
18:13
don't know why it was just scribble.
18:16
I got Denny Hamlin right. I got Willie B right.
18:21
I didn't get but I mean my point is this char the right cars are
18:28
there. Absolutely, yeah.
18:32
And I just think I think it's so interesting that the the Penske
18:37
deal, it was a storyline all throughout the playoffs.
18:40
And look, if, if Logano would have got in you all, you also I,
18:45
I get it, but you also have to give the guy and Paul Wolf
18:49
credit because I mean, they show up when it matters.
18:52
And and there are times that Joey Logano doesn't have the
18:55
best car, but they have the right strategy.
18:58
And, and Ryan Blaney to me is as deserving, maybe not this year
19:03
as William Byron, but anytime Ryan Blaney would make the
19:06
championship for I, I don't think people look at that in the
19:09
in the same way they look at Logano just the last couple
19:12
years, because Logano last year specifically was just whatever
19:15
he was in 16th or in average running order.
19:18
He he really caught fire in the playoffs.
19:20
But that's also sports. Kenny, we've talked about this a
19:23
million times. There's a million examples in
19:25
every sport of a team that dominated the regular season or
19:29
whatever it was. The Patriots go 16 and O and
19:32
they don't win the Super Bowl or they don't win the World Series.
19:35
That's every single sport. Now.
19:36
I do think you want to make it so that that can't happen all
19:40
the time. Like you do want to give the
19:42
regular season champs more, more of a of a benefit.
19:47
But also that's that's the play offs.
19:48
That's why people tune into the play offs, because it matters
19:51
and crazy things like that can happen.
19:53
OK, Charlie, I agree with you. I'm going to go ahead and work
19:56
almost 20 minutes into it. I'm going to make my shot.
20:00
All right. OK, we have 4 cars left and I
20:06
think it's going to be Denny Hamlin with six wins and he's
20:10
going to go against Willie B, who's got three wins.
20:14
But in my mind, in my mind, Willie BS got six wins too,
20:18
because Willie B ran way better than three or four wins,
20:22
whatever it is he ended up with. OK, he's been wrecked.
20:26
He's, you know, Ross Chastain makes that, you know, slide move
20:31
for the Coke 600 at Charlotte that night race on the Oval.
20:35
To me, it's going to be Denny Hamlin versus William Byron,
20:41
everybody. And, and because I feel bad for
20:47
Denny Hamlin just because I want him to win and he's getting old.
20:53
I want Denny Hamlin to win it all.
20:56
Now, Briscoe could be a Cinderella story.
21:04
Kyle Larson would not be a surprise, but we got 4.
21:09
I'm going to say those two at the end.
21:12
That's going to be it. It's going to be Danny Hamlin
21:16
versus William Byron for the win.
21:19
It could come. It could come down to a pit stop
21:22
and I'll and I'm going with Danny Hamlin for the win.
21:24
But right there, he's going to have to go up against Willie B.
21:27
What do you got, Charlie? Well, I.
21:29
Definitely want, I definitely want Denny Hamlin to win.
21:33
And I've said that ever since we we started this, this show.
21:36
I'm a Denny Hamlin fan. I think he's, he's the best for
21:40
business with his podcast. He keeps NASCAR interesting.
21:43
I'm not just talking about the lawsuit, just on a daily basis
21:47
playing the villain, saying interesting things.
21:50
I just, I just, again, I want Denny to win.
21:53
I just wonder if this is Willie B's year though, because William
21:56
Byron, regular season champ, best best car at Martinsville.
22:01
I I also wonder what? So what do you think just the
22:04
team aspect of this? So could you see now Penske is
22:08
we would think is still dominant at Phoenix.
22:11
I mean, could we see a Blaney, let's say, win Phoenix And then
22:15
this is what happened when Blaney won the championship.
22:17
Remember, Ross Chastain won that race.
22:20
How do you think the team play plays into this with two JGR
22:24
cars and with two Hendrick cars? Yeah, good point.
22:28
You must. You got a great memory.
22:30
It was Ross Chastain, that one. How many was that two years ago?
22:34
It was the Blaney year. Yep, two years.
22:35
Ago Ross Chastain 2 years ago wins Phoenix and Blaney runs
22:39
second or third and wins at all. I can see Blaney winning again.
22:44
I mean, no doubt. You know, I mean, it can easily
22:47
happen because, you know, they are fast there.
22:51
Yeah. And, and, and, hey, good time
22:53
you said. At least then he has a
22:54
personality. The rest of them don't.
22:56
It's so true. It's so true.
22:58
They are like a fly on a wall. NASCAR needs to give Denny
23:06
Hamlin a trophy. He says things that are
23:11
controversial. Then he goes out and he's so
23:14
mentally strong. He wins 6 races.
23:17
They're suing NASCAR. I just watched a video of two
23:21
days ago where Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin are walking out
23:25
of the. Court.
23:27
And Hamlin just got done winning, winning at, at Kansas.
23:31
I mean, it's, it's phenomenal what Michael Jordan, how he's
23:38
rubbed off on Denny Hamlin. I mean, just think about that.
23:41
Look, we're suing NASCAR and I went, I, I win the last race.
23:46
What's this guy got to say here? What's Matthew got to say?
23:48
So this is a super thanks. So thank you.
23:51
Matthew Brown gave us 5 bucks by the way.
23:53
I just wish, I just wish they would stop calling the format
23:56
the playoffs. It's becoming annoying hearing
23:58
stick and ball terms to describe racing.
24:00
So he's on that Mark Martin theory with that.
24:03
He doesn't like the terminology. OK, we got Mark Martin coming
24:08
right to my house, going to drive his motorhome up up the
24:11
house here. Mark Martin and Matt Martin
24:14
going to be on my couch. I told everybody said I told the
24:17
cleaning lady. I said make sure you come the
24:19
day before. I don't want no dog smell.
24:22
I want my house perfect because Mark's a clean guy, you know?
24:26
So we going to be ready and Mark's going to, we're going to.
24:29
We're going to have a good time. But yeah, I mean, playoffs, it's
24:34
catching everything, but we ain't playing.
24:38
Quote of the year. Quote of the year by Mark.
24:41
Mark, we ain't playing. I love it.
24:45
So, so, oh, by the way, let's just talk about this real quick
24:49
because we were on the topic of Hamlin and he did his media deal
24:53
yesterday. And I, I, I was hoping this
24:57
whole lawsuit deal which was hanging over the whole season.
24:59
But then you know, this Kenny, whatever it was 3-4 weeks ago,
25:03
it seemed like for about a week there, it seemed like they might
25:08
be moving towards a settlement. And that does now not seem like
25:12
it's the case. And if you listen to Denny
25:14
Hamlin and we put the clip out there, he basically said the
25:18
first day of mediation went well, the second day didn't.
25:22
And then the famous quote from Denny yesterday, he said that
25:27
one of one of these sides in his, in his mind is on a suicide
25:30
mission and he obviously was meeting NASCAR.
25:33
And, and, and he's saying exactly what that judge said six
25:36
months ago. Suicide mission means NASCAR is
25:42
willing to burn their house down.
25:45
And so is 2311. But what's 2311 got to lose?
25:51
You know, fifty, $100 million. I mean, I mean, I'm reading that
25:57
Michael Jordan's making what, 350, four, 100 million per year
26:01
off tennis shoes. I mean, you know what, NASCAR,
26:07
they they don't want to go to this to go to court because then
26:09
they got to open the books up and say this is what we're
26:12
making. I mean, Goodyear might have to
26:14
open up the books and say this is what we're making off tires.
26:18
Yeah. I mean, so it it.
26:21
But the reason they're all on a suicide mission is because it's
26:24
competition. Jim France, who owns NASCAR, he
26:27
wants to be right and he wants to teach him a lesson.
26:30
And Michael Jordan, he's the guy that makes the last second shot
26:33
to win the championship. So, and like I say, and I mean
26:39
this with love, I'll everybody knows how much I love NASCAR.
26:43
They got way more to lose. They just need to sell this son
26:45
of a bitch and be done with it. I mean, give them something.
26:49
I mean, I listen. NASCAR should have never started
26:55
the charter. They should have kept it a
26:57
dictatorship. NASCAR should have kept it a
27:01
dictatorship and by giving them this charter, now the teams rule
27:06
the sport. And boy, you can't.
27:09
That's why all the other sports have got unions.
27:12
It's a it's a sad thing to say. It's a sad thing to say, and I
27:16
don't like what I'm saying. But once NASCAR opened that door
27:20
up, I can see what happens. Now all the teams come.
27:23
All it took is one person, Michael Jordan.
27:26
So yeah. Yeah, I also think, no, I agree
27:29
with you, but I think the other part of it and we, we read this
27:33
in those messages between Steve O'Donnell and Ben Kennedy.
27:38
So whenever that was about, was it 3-4 years ago, the whole live
27:41
golf thing? I do think the live golf versus
27:45
PGA kind of opened up Pandora's box when it came to NASCAR just
27:51
because we've seen that in racing.
27:52
You know, this with the whole split of IndyCar, whenever that
27:55
was 20 years ago. I I think in those messages you
27:59
could see Steve O'Donnell saying that we're potentially
28:02
vulnerable here with what you said.
28:03
Because nobody, her, nobody would have ever thought if you'd
28:06
have told me 10 years ago, five years ago, that golfers would
28:11
split off from the PGA Tour, nobody would ever have believed
28:15
you. In the same way that if I told
28:17
you that somebody was going to split off from NASCAR, nobody
28:20
would ever believe you. But now you have to believe in
28:22
those scenarios because of what happened with live golf.
28:26
And, and, and here's what I say about that.
28:29
It's almost like this NASCAR deal.
28:32
What do they both have in common?
28:35
Where else you going to go? Golf.
28:37
It's the PGA and that's you know it, that's it that, you know,
28:41
there might be some of the trinket series out there to keep
28:44
it from being a monopoly, but it's the PGA and then it's the
28:48
PGA and then there's it's the PGA with NASCAR, It's NASCAR and
28:53
then there's NASCAR and then that's all there is, is NASCAR,
28:57
you know, So that's why the other sports like NFL and NHL,
29:03
they got the unions, they make everybody happy.
29:06
It's like the mafia. You put enough, you put enough
29:08
money in everybody's pocket and they shut the up.
29:12
And so, you know, those players in the PGA, they're like, we're
29:17
the show, we deserve more money. And then PJ said, look, we get
29:21
you got all this. And they said, OK, and here
29:23
comes Liv and you know, Phil, Phil Mickelson is laughing all
29:29
the way to the bank and and they'll they eventually forget
29:33
about it all, you know? And they did.
29:36
Yeah, that's what's interesting too about the the golf thing is
29:39
that still nobody cares. Let's be honest.
29:43
Nobody cares if you win a live golf event.
29:46
I couldn't tell you who wins any live golf events.
29:49
I don't even know what they are, but those those golfers are
29:52
still able to come back and play in the events that matter, which
29:56
are the majors. But they're making so much crazy
30:00
money playing live. They don't even care.
30:02
They're they're fine with with with just playing the four
30:04
majors with the PGA and then doing whatever the hell with
30:07
live because the money is just just nuts.
30:10
Yeah, you know it it it comes down to that old thing.
30:16
Would you rather win 1 championship or 100 NASCAR
30:23
races? Would you rather be OK?
30:28
Would you rather be Mark Martin or here?
30:32
Would you rather be Dale Junior? Dale Junior's never won a
30:34
championship, you know. You know how people go.
30:37
Hey Junior, you've won 28 Cup races.
30:42
Would you give them all up to be the champion?
30:44
I mean, man, I don't know about all that, you know what I mean?
30:47
Championships are meant to be. And So what I'm saying is like
30:52
the PGA, you go over to, you go over there to Abu Dhabi, they
30:57
give you more money than you can count and you're set for the
31:01
rest of your life. And you're not just your kids,
31:04
but your kids. Kids are set for the rest of
31:07
their life. I mean, you can take care of two
31:11
generations of family members. You know the people are going to
31:18
say what they're going to say anyway.
31:20
I think I'd take care of my family.
31:22
You. Know.
31:22
Yeah. And it's not just sports.
31:24
You saw what happened a couple weeks ago.
31:26
They had a big Comedy Festival. You saw that, right?
31:30
And they paid just ridiculous amounts of money for all these
31:33
big comedians, Dave Chappelle and Bill Burr.
31:35
And some comics were pissed and others weren't, but a lot of
31:38
them took the money. A lot of them took the money.
31:41
Hey, that old Rock'n'roll thing. I'm a lot older than you,
31:45
Charlie. I'm 62 in Rock'n'roll.
31:47
The guy go over here and make a commercial for $10 million and
31:52
the guy over here has got one hit song living on, you know,
31:55
Baloney and Cheese. The guy that's the Rock and
31:59
roller that's living on Baloney Cheese tells the guy that just
32:02
did a $10 million commercial. You're a sell out.
32:06
I went, yeah, I am here. Here's some dog food.
32:10
I mean, sometimes you got to do what's best for you, not what's
32:14
what other people think you're supposed to do.
32:16
So I don't think we've got off course here.
32:19
We're just let's let's reel it back in right here.
32:22
For sure. All all's we're saying is Denny
32:24
Hamlin is the show this year. He's got actions detrimental.
32:31
He talks the talk, he wins the races and he's suing NASCAR.
32:37
I mean, it's unbelievable. What's this guy got to say here,
32:40
Charlie? Luapnosia says.
32:43
I don't know why the teams let themselves get so beat down and
32:46
not the sport is nothing. The sport is nothing without
32:49
their stars. NASCAR needs to know that and
32:52
should. Have so here's my response.
32:57
Don't don't open the door. NASCAR realizes they made a
33:02
mistake. They opened the door.
33:05
Open the door means this. They gave them charters.
33:11
When they gave them charters that opened the door.
33:15
Hello, Eddie. I understand.
33:19
And the one before that said Denny Hamlin is not a likable
33:22
person. I'm in the entertainment
33:24
business besides being a competitor.
33:27
And Denny Hamlin is in the entertainment business and he's
33:31
a competitor. We both share something in
33:33
common. Kevin Harvick, he's a in the
33:36
entertainment business and he's a competitor.
33:39
When you find somebody, if all the fans love you, that means
33:44
you've done something wrong. So Denny Hamlin has already told
33:49
you all you don't care if you like him or not.
33:54
Michael Jordan, he don't care if you winners don't care if you
33:58
like them or not, and they love it when you hate them.
34:02
So that's all I can tell you. We need the fans to hate with,
34:10
you know, don't mother people and you want their house to burn
34:14
down. Don't talk like that.
34:16
You can hate them for fun, but you can't hate them for real.
34:20
It got a little, it's all real, but you got to have a little WWE
34:24
in your heart. You got to have a little World
34:26
Wrestling Federation in your heart.
34:28
It's OK to not like Denny, but my God, don't hate him.
34:32
It's a sport. He's married, got kids, He's a
34:34
winner. Yeah.
34:36
I mean, it'll come on, man. It it's like saying I don't like
34:40
Tom Brady because he he wins with two complete different
34:45
organizations. I mean, he just showed him he
34:47
won with two complete different organizations.
34:49
So, I mean, I, I think that ended all that about Tom Brady
34:53
in the low air in the football simmer to him.
34:56
Yeah, Josh Black says. Love him or hate him, Denny
34:59
Hamlin makes people pay attention to the sport.
35:01
Lance says we need characters. Paxton's just peachy, says we
35:06
need personalities. I agree with all those guys.
35:09
And think about this. You talk about love him or hate
35:12
him. So folks, I guess hate Denny.
35:15
I don't know. I think Denny's hilarious.
35:17
I think he's I think he's great for the sport.
35:19
Then look at the driver. Everybody loves, everybody loves
35:22
Chase Elliott. Herm, he doesn't say anything.
35:25
Chase Elliott, love him. And hey, he's a class act.
35:27
I'm not. I'm not trying to disrespect
35:29
him, but he doesn't say anything.
35:30
Denny Hamlin is driving eyeballs.
35:34
He's driving people to click on articles and click on YouTube
35:37
videos. I, you know, you know, Kevin
35:40
Harvick had me on national TV, FS1, and we both agreed 100%.
35:46
I said here's, I said back in my day, you had Kevin Harvick,
35:52
Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Senior.
35:55
They were wrestling on the top of their cars, wrestling,
36:00
throwing water bottles at each other.
36:02
And I love Chase, sell it. He's unbelievable, but he don't
36:07
say nothing. If he had a mouth full of poop,
36:10
he go, you know, Chase and he's like, you know, and somebody
36:15
said, well, Kenny, not everybody's got to be like you.
36:17
Not everybody's got to run your mouth.
36:18
I'm like, but he don't say anything.
36:21
So isn't it unbelievable that one driver could just like say
36:26
nothing? I mean, even Mark Martin talked.
36:29
Mark Martin talked when he raced, You know, he drove like a
36:33
gentleman, but he talked. I mean, Chase, don't say
36:35
nothing. And it just goes to show you
36:38
that you need, you need Denny Hamlin.
36:42
OK, let's do it this way. Could you imagine if every
36:44
driver was like Chase Elliott? It'd be like this.
36:49
It'd be called the Grunters. It'd be like you got to have
36:59
Denny Hamlin run that mouth. I just beat your favorite
37:03
driver. You got to have Denny Hamlin
37:05
because you got Chase Elliot, who won't say anything.
37:11
Yeah. And and that's why, that's why
37:13
we miss. By the way, I'll put Scott up
37:14
here. He has a question.
37:15
I like what Gareth just said from from Italy.
37:19
Yeah, it. Go ahead, Charlie.
37:21
Say what Gareth says. Ireland.
37:23
Ireland. Yeah, it will be a big loss when
37:25
Denny retires. That's Gareth from Ireland.
37:28
We had another super thanks here.
37:30
We had a question from Scott V says, hey Kenny, you ever race
37:33
in Ohio anymore? Love you.
37:36
I don't travel anymore just because I'm wore down.
37:42
I'm still racing good. I'm still competing against all
37:45
the big boys when they come to my town, you know, Got lots of
37:49
different tracks around here. But Ohio's been good to me.
37:54
You know? I've won Eldora, I won Atomic,
38:00
you know, I love Ohio. That's, you know, we just got
38:03
hey, any conversation we just got done with Devin Moran, your
38:07
2025 Lucas Oil dirt late model champion.
38:11
Big shout out to Ohio, but I don't see myself coming to Ohio,
38:15
you know, right now. And I love Ohio come.
38:18
See me? Born and raised Toledo, baby No.
38:22
I was going to say that's why, that's why it stinks that the
38:25
last four or five years that Kyle Busch hasn't been winning
38:29
because we missed that as well, because he he talks a big game
38:32
like Denny. And that's why, again, I'm not
38:34
saying I'm not trying to disparage some of the Hendrick
38:38
drivers and even look at Chase Briscoe.
38:40
Chase Briscoe is just a hell of a nice guy.
38:43
He's just a, a good old boy from Indiana, just real nice and
38:47
respectful. And William Byron doesn't say
38:50
much. Now.
38:51
Kyle Larson. I, I, I know the Hendrick
38:53
drivers as a whole don't talk a lot, but I feel like Kyle
38:57
Larson's got a bit of a personality.
38:58
We, we see that, we see him on the radio, we hear him on the
39:01
radio like he'll, he'll, he'll throw out some comments here or
39:04
there. Kyle Larson.
39:08
Yeah, well, I mean he, but he's underneath the Hendrick man.
39:12
Yeah, and, and, and Jeff Gordon, you know, I got stories about
39:18
Jeff. I love him.
39:19
He's my brother. But I mean, it's like, hey,
39:22
Jeff, you want this free boat? Do you want this free $50,000
39:26
boat? Hey, Jeff Gordon, do you want
39:29
this free $50,000 boat? All you got to do is an
39:31
autograph section. No, I'd rather just pay for it
39:35
because I don't want to have to do all that.
39:38
That's Jeff. You see what I'm saying?
39:41
Jeff has got that Formula One mentality, you know, guys don't
39:45
say nothing, just win. But it ain't helping the sport,
39:49
you know? And NASCAR needs a show.
39:51
I mean, if you, if you think about it, Charlie, I don't, I
39:56
don't want to hog everything here.
39:58
And I'm just going to, I'm just going to set you up.
40:02
NASCAR just spent a lot of money on how to turn this sport
40:05
around. And they come out with two
40:09
words. Hell yeah.
40:13
So. NASCAR's announced they're going
40:15
back to Earnhardt's My man, he's dating.
40:19
Hell, yeah. I mean, just take it, Charlie.
40:22
Is that the right thing to do? A. 100% somebody.
40:25
Somebody just said too, they need to see Noah Gregson running
40:29
up front. He's another guy with a
40:30
personality that if he was winning races, if he was running
40:34
up front, he'd be good for the sport.
40:35
Somebody here says, Lance says think about Kale Yarborough on
40:40
social media, that Herm, you know this.
40:42
That's why people fell in love with 60s, seventies, 80s,
40:47
nineties, your era. Whether it was tough talk,
40:51
rattle his cage, a fight here or there.
40:54
That's why people were loving Ross Chastain 3-4 years ago.
40:57
And we're all pissed that he kind of got neutered 'cause he
41:00
was wrecking Rick Hendrick's cars too much.
41:03
And they had that whole, they had that whole affiliate deal
41:06
with with Hendrick. Ross Chastain was great for the
41:09
sport for a while. Now he's calmed down.
41:11
Look at Carson Hosovar. Carson Hosovar was kind of the
41:14
talk of NASCAR this year. He didn't win one race all
41:17
season. What what did he run somewhere
41:18
in the 20th, the 20s? But Carson Hosovar is good for
41:22
business. Sometimes I struggle with why
41:27
Formula One is good because last week, Max Verstappen, wonderful
41:33
guy, he won by two miles. Do you see where I'm going with
41:38
this? I love Formula One.
41:42
It's about the car, it's about the wealthy people, it's about
41:48
the beautiful people, the beautiful people.
41:52
So Formula One's over here, it's about wealth and beautiful and
41:58
Red Bull and the car. The race starts, Everybody just
42:01
goes and party. I love Formula One over here in
42:05
NASCAR. If we don't act like a bunch of
42:08
rednecks and you charge me $10 more than something, I hate you
42:13
cheeseburgers too much. We are polar opposites, polar
42:19
opposites. And Charlie, it is people.
42:22
You sometimes you, you, you can't win for losing.
42:26
NASCAR fans are like, man, you charge me $8 for a cheeseburger,
42:30
you go to Formula One race and they're like, hey, the
42:33
cheeseburger was only $20 and they gave me some like it was
42:37
smelled beautiful. So NASCAR just finally realized
42:42
when they came out with the hell yeah that they got a dumb our
42:46
sport down. It's sad to say.
42:49
It's not sad, but we are a redneck sport.
42:52
And that's why Saturday Night Live made that skit 20 years
42:55
ago. They made fun of us and Jeff
42:58
Gordon was on the skit, you know, Earnhardt and all that.
43:01
And, and, and, and it's like, are they making fun of us?
43:06
I believe they are. So it's just the way it is,
43:11
Charlie. We're a redneck.
43:12
NASCAR's redneck. NASCAR has finally have to admit
43:15
it. NASCAR made a mistake trying to
43:18
make us beautiful. We're not beautiful.
43:22
We're not beautiful. We're redneck.
43:25
And, and, and if, if you don't think we're redneck, the fans
43:29
will not show up. They want a free hat.
43:33
They want hot dogs. Martinsville.
43:35
Look, we got great hot dogs. It's like they are the shittiest
43:38
hot dogs in the world. And they try to.
43:42
It's like wrestling. It's like fake.
43:43
It's like, eat this good hot dog.
43:45
It's the worst hot dog you've ever ate in your life.
43:47
But we're going to act. You know, I'm bringing this up.
43:50
I'm not trying to go off another tangent, but just because you
43:52
brought up Formula One, I find this very interesting because
43:55
you, you started this live stream by it by wondering what
43:59
will the TV numbers look like? Will it be whatever it is for
44:02
NASCAR 'cause it was on big, big NBC?
44:05
Will it be 3,000,000 viewers? Well, look, Formula One just
44:09
kind of did with their TV deal what NASCAR did.
44:12
They took the, the most money possible by going where to Apple
44:16
TV that's harder to find. Will that stunt their growth?
44:20
And I think I, I bring this up because NASCAR is trying to get
44:24
back in the good graces of the fans.
44:27
And so here's the question. Is it always smart to just take
44:31
the most money possible? Or sometimes if you're thinking
44:35
long term, I, I, I know it's sacrilege.
44:38
It's sacrilege to say take less money, but if you don't, because
44:41
we see all the comments from the fans, they don't want to have
44:45
eight different streaming services and 52 different
44:47
channels. So maybe you take a little less
44:49
money in the TV deal, but you're on big Free TV more.
44:54
And all of a sudden those, those million numbers, those million
44:57
and a half numbers that people have been complaining about on
44:59
USA or whatever, then it's back to 2 1/2 and 3,000,000.
45:02
If more of these races are on Fox and big NBC and maybe that's
45:05
better for the sport long term. I I don't know if that's the
45:09
right answer, but it's certainly the right debate to have.
45:13
OK, let me take a let me take a chance at this.
45:16
I love this subject. Let's pretend.
45:19
Let's pretend right now. OK, We're in.
45:22
We're in ATV meeting. You and I and everybody watch
45:25
it. Tony.
45:26
NASCAR and Formula One both kick ass.
45:28
Tony. Tony Pizarro, you know, Charlie
45:32
and myself. Let's pretend.
45:33
We're in. ATV meeting.
45:35
Hi, Fox TV. Hi, NBC, how much will you give
45:40
us NASCAR? How much will you give us?
45:44
If we're just on FOX and NBC, we'll give you, we'll give you 4
45:48
billion for seven years. However, we'll give you 3 more
45:54
billion dollars if you let us put you over here on FS1.
46:00
And then NBC says you, we put you over here on TNN.
46:08
Come on. Because that's what we're
46:09
talking about. We're talking about billions,
46:14
not millions. We're talking billions.
46:17
I mean, if I was OK, Brian Korchik, he said I ate my tune
46:21
and still those hot dogs. I agree.
46:24
So Brian, if I said to you, I'll give you $20,000 or a free hot
46:32
dog, what are you going to do? And that's kind of what goes on
46:35
in those TV meetings. The TV meetings are like this.
46:40
Hi, we're Fox. We'll give you billions of
46:43
dollars, but we're not going to put everything on Free TV
46:45
because we need to put, we need to promote FS1.
46:49
See, NASCAR, don't come out and tell you everything.
46:52
But like Mike Ellen said, Herman, just come to me and ask
46:56
me and I'll tell you. So there's an old saying, let
47:01
them talk. But you and I are in the social
47:04
media business. We don't let them talk.
47:06
We we promote. We promote controversy because
47:10
we like controversy, because we make money off controversy.
47:14
NASCAR is a real business. Real business like SMI and ISC
47:20
there, you know, people own stock.
47:23
So NASCAR just let you all think what they think.
47:26
But I can promise you that's what those TV executives tell
47:30
them. You want, you want 7 million,
47:33
you want 7 billion. But some of the races have got
47:36
to be on over here. What are they?
47:38
What NASCAR going to do? Yeah.
47:40
What are they going to do? Well, I, I just the reason I
47:43
think it's interesting and I, I would probably take the money
47:46
too, don't get me wrong. But we could also 10 years from
47:50
now, we could be talking about both Formula One and NASCAR and
47:54
we could say, you know what, maybe it wasn't the best thing
47:57
to take the biggest amount of money in terms of growing the
48:00
sport, especially for Formula One, which is really just
48:04
growing United States the last five years or so.
48:06
And, and I say that because, look, NASCAR has come out the
48:09
last two 3-4 years and they have straight up apologized to the
48:14
old school fans. They've said it, they've been on
48:16
every show. They've, they've, they've just
48:18
flat out admitted it. Look, we probably, we probably
48:22
chase the buck. We chase different markets, we
48:24
chase the big cities, whatever it was.
48:26
We've kind of forgot about the South this and that.
48:29
People can talk about the woke stuff and all that, but NASCAR
48:33
has flat out apologized for mistakes they made, whatever
48:36
that was 1520 years ago. So I'm not saying that's going
48:39
to happen again, but it could 1520 years from now, we could be
48:43
talking about Formula One, saying, look, Formula One was on
48:46
this trajectory in the United States and then all of a sudden
48:49
they took this big TV deal, it was harder for people to watch
48:52
it, and it just started to plateau.
48:54
That could happen is all I'm saying.
48:56
Yeah, no doubt. And and I know this is going to
49:00
be a bummer when I my response, Kenny Schrader said something to
49:04
me that I never forget. I said, how many, how many year
49:08
contract did you sign? Schrader Herman One year at a
49:13
time, buddy. All I can worry about is next
49:16
year, if they want to get rid of me, they'll get rid of me.
49:19
You know, I just, I just know that things are a lot harder
49:24
than they think. But Steve O'Donnell and myself
49:27
have talked and he's come right out in public.
49:30
By the way, we're going to, I told you, we're going to have
49:32
Steve O'Donnell, president of NASCAR before the Daytona 500.
49:36
They're 'cause they're, I, I think maybe Wednesday or
49:39
Thursday this week. So today's Sunday, I think they
49:42
have their State of the Union address.
49:45
Yeah. Do you know when that's going to
49:47
be? I think it's going to be, could
49:49
be Saturday in the, you know, at Phoenix.
49:52
I feel like typically if I remember the the week correctly,
49:55
I feel like they do the media day Thursday with the drivers.
49:59
I think State of the Union is State of the Sport.
50:01
I think that's usually Friday I believe.
50:04
OK. I want Gregory Bradley.
50:06
I really like what you said and it's sad to say Amazon money
50:11
take it. Old school fans dying fast.
50:13
Hell, I'm 58. He's right.
50:16
Let let let me let me dumb this down.
50:19
Our, our core fans right now are 6570 years old.
50:23
Hell, I'm the young 1C and I'm 62.
50:26
Trader and Rusty are 69 and 70. They're dead in 10 years.
50:31
So I think NASCAR's trying to balance this.
50:36
I think they're trying to make the old 70 year old fans a
50:39
little happy. But that's why you see them out
50:41
there at here. They Steve O'Donnell did say
50:45
this. The reason we can go to Cordell
50:49
or whatever it's called. What do they call that?
50:50
The Air Force Base out there or the.
50:53
In San Diego, it's called Coronado.
50:55
OK, Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR president, said.
50:59
We can go out to the West Coast and do something weird because
51:03
now we've proven to everybody we're back at Bowman Gray and
51:07
we're back at Wilkesboro. So 2 rights make one wrong.
51:12
Yeah. So I mean, they're trying to
51:14
feed the South. They're trying to make the
51:16
redneck people happy. Look, we're going back to
51:19
Wilkesboro. It's a points race.
51:21
Look, we're going back to Bowman Gray.
51:23
Look, on Easter weekend, we're going to Rockingham.
51:26
Some of the NASCAR drivers will be there.
51:28
Now we going to go out and run San Diego and put on a show, you
51:32
know, at an Air Force Base. They're going to run on an Air
51:36
Force Base. I don't care if it's a Navy.
51:38
There's planes landing there. Everybody, I people straighten
51:41
me out, Herman, it's the Navy or whatever the hell is.
51:45
I'm like, they land airplanes there.
51:47
And I, I don't, yeah, I don't mind that, by the way.
51:51
I think, I think NASCAR with the schedule, I, I think they've
51:54
done a really good job. I, I again, I mean, if you're a
51:57
fan and, and I read all the comments, if you're a fan and
52:00
you're still bitching, like fans are still bitching about the
52:03
Confederate flag, fans are still bitching about Bubba Wallace.
52:07
And, and I get it. But like, if you're still
52:09
bitching about stuff from 5-10 years ago, like NASCAR, to me,
52:14
any mistakes they've made, they're, they're trying to make
52:17
him right. Like you have to give him credit
52:19
for that. Now, if you want to say they
52:20
should have done it sooner, whatever it is, OK.
52:22
But I mean, like, they're, they're clearly trying to right
52:25
these wrongs And, and I really think they're, they're doing
52:29
whatever they can. And I know, look, they're going
52:30
to try to fix the car in, in the offseason and that's been the
52:34
thing I've talked about. But it's like with the schedule,
52:36
what else do you want them to do?
52:38
They're they're telling you straight up, we're trying to
52:40
come back to your tracks. We're trying to make it more
52:42
grassroots. I, I don't know what people like
52:45
doing the Chicago street race. I thought that was cool.
52:47
I think this San Diego course is going to be cool.
52:50
I don't think you need to do five of them a year, but I think
52:52
they're doing cool stuff. You know, it's like when Mark
52:56
Martin comes here, it's going to be our biggest thing of the
52:58
year, right? What, what am I going to say to
53:01
Mark now? Because Mark won in every way.
53:05
They're changing the points. They're going back old school in
53:09
every way. I mean, you know, did you notice
53:13
over the last three weeks, there's been crickets on social
53:18
media? Nobody is bitching.
53:22
Once the NASCAR, once Steve O'Donnell went on dirty MO with
53:26
Dale Junior and he and he said everything that you've been
53:29
saying, it's been silent radio. The fans aren't complaining
53:34
about anything anymore because Steve O'Donnell, the president,
53:37
NASCAR said we're going to change the points.
53:39
Everybody let us get through Phoenix, you know, I mean, so
53:47
yeah. I mean, what am I going to ask
53:50
Mark Martin? I think what I'm going to ask.
53:51
I got the notes right here. Let's see what I'm going to ask
53:55
Mark. I think I already sent you the
54:00
notes. I think I said them in the mark,
54:03
too. Well, I'll.
54:06
Just say this real quick. So Mark Martin, Mark Martin was
54:10
obviously the face, the poster child for getting back, for
54:14
getting back to the 36 race points championship.
54:17
And it might not happen that way.
54:19
But I think, I'm not saying it's all because of Mark, but I think
54:22
he's the voice of the fans. Kenny, don't you think it might
54:25
not happen next year? We might see NASCAR going back
54:29
to a 36 race points championship.
54:31
Maybe it's three years from now, whatever.
54:33
Maybe it's five years from now. But I think, I think Mark
54:35
speaking out it, if it happens four years from now, I think
54:39
Mark speaking out this year specifically will be a big
54:42
reason why it does eventually shift that way.
54:45
If it does, and I don't even want it to, I like the playoffs.
54:49
But if it goes back to 36, I think Mark deserves a lot of the
54:52
credit, even if it doesn't happen next year.
54:54
And it goes back to Joey Logano. I still think what happened to
54:57
Joey Logano was an anomaly. It was a freak deal.
54:59
So here's my notes that I've sent you already.
55:02
When Mark comes and sits on the couch.
55:04
Steve O'Donnell, Press president of NASCAR, says they aired and
55:09
gave up the core fans for new fans.
55:11
They're going to change the hell yeah.
55:14
And then I'm going to ask Mark. So next year, the points are
55:16
changing and it's on the schedule that we are finishing
55:20
the year at Miami. Different track.
55:22
What other changes does NASCAR need to make?
55:25
So I'm. I'm just saying, Mark, they,
55:27
they, they, they give you everything you want now.
55:30
So now what, what if we get to the, I mean, now it becomes what
55:34
if, what if we get to next year and everybody goes, well, we
55:38
really messed this up, you know? So, I mean, I'm just interested.
55:42
OK, here we are. And I'm really looking forward
55:46
to that press conference this weekend by Steve O'Donnell.
55:50
I hear you. I hear you.
55:52
Well, we're close to an hour, Herm.
55:53
You want to wrap things up here? I think.
55:55
I think this has been good. We got 204 people watching.
55:58
We got a new member here, Frank Ferrari.
56:00
Thank you, Sir. We do have a a members program
56:03
here. Breaking news.
56:05
Go ahead and read it. Go ahead and read it, Charlie.
56:07
From Taylor Kitchen on X, Jeff Gordon shared a text message he
56:10
got from Joe Gibbs Racing president Dave Alpern.
56:14
The text shared that they're honored to be competing against
56:16
Hendrick Motorsports for the title at Phoenix.
56:19
Gordon shared the same sentiment.
56:22
Wow, that's that's pretty big. I mean, how can you?
56:26
It's a 5050 deal. Each of them got AI mean is my
56:30
math right? I'm not as good as Schrader.
56:33
So if I'm Rick Kendrick, do I got a 50% chance to win the
56:35
championship? Yes, Sir, you do.
56:38
And so does Mr. Gibbs. Let me ask you this.
56:42
I I got AI. I'm just curious and I know it
56:45
doesn't really go down like this because you have to have the
56:47
faster car. But like, let's say for example,
56:50
Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, let's say their cars are just
56:56
just the same speed at Phoenix. Is there a psychology that comes
57:01
into play where where JGR as a whole is kind of like we, we got
57:05
to win this thing for Denny, right?
57:07
Denny's been racing for 20 years.
57:10
I I I would find it very hard to believe that the fans I've been
57:18
taught a little bit about psychology.
57:19
They say use we will not if when Denny Hamlin wins the
57:24
championship, I can promise you it at Joe Gibbs Racing this
57:27
whole week, they're all going to be saying when we win the
57:30
championship, when we win the championship, we will.
57:34
It won't be if none of that Joe Gibbs is one of the best
57:39
teachers there is are but the quarterback, the running back,
57:45
the defense, offense, they still control it all.
57:48
Coach Joe Gibbs can only do what he can do.
57:52
I promise you, every fan in the world right down here, somewhere
57:58
there, even though they say they hate Denny Hamlin, they going to
58:03
they going to cheer if Denny Hamlin wins that championship
58:06
because because here's the thing with Denny Hamlin, sixty wins
58:11
and no championship. Well, they can taunt him all
58:14
they want, but guess who else has won a lot of races and no
58:17
championships? Dale Junior, Mark Martin, Hell,
58:22
brother Rusty barely got one, squeaked one out.
58:26
Had to lose the lug nuts at Atlanta.
58:28
I thought we was going to lose it.
58:30
And just like Frank Cook says, Chase Briscoe could jump up in
58:34
there. Hey, it's anybody's game, guys.
58:38
It's anybody's game. It's anybody's game.
58:42
And. And well, that's that's what I
58:45
find fascinating about two versus 2.
58:48
So Frank Cook says I don't think Chase Briscoe would go for that.
58:51
That's not what I'm saying. If Chase Briscoe has a car
58:54
that's just straight up faster than Denny, he's just going to
58:57
blow by him. I think the team.
58:59
Play. Right.
59:00
He has to same with if if Byron's faster than Larson or
59:04
vice versa. But you also know this Kenny,
59:06
when it gets to Phoenix, the other cars that are not in the
59:10
championship, they, they race those cars differently.
59:14
And so to me, it comes down more to look, a JGR car is probably
59:19
not going to wreck a JGR car to win a a Hendrick car is probably
59:23
not going to wreck a Hendrick car to win.
59:25
Now they'll race each other hard, but it's just, it's, it's
59:28
different when it's your teammate and it's just two
59:30
teammates. That's why even though I'm, I'm
59:33
kind of glad Penske's not in there just because everybody
59:36
would say Penske's the favorite. But when you added another team
59:39
in there, it does kind of make it more interesting.
59:42
Now it's just two verse 2, but there's a lot more strategy now
59:45
because it's not just two verse 2.
59:47
You still got Alex Bowman out there and you still have Chase
59:50
Elliot out there. You still have Ty Gibbs out
59:52
there. You still have C belt and and
59:53
and they can do some subtle blocking for their teammates.
1:00:00
I'm nervous right now. I, I swear to God, when you were
1:00:03
talking, I heard everything you said.
1:00:04
I for some reason, I felt myself at Phoenix.
1:00:09
I would, I felt myself on pit Rd. and turns 1 and 2 and I'm,
1:00:12
I, I, I see the gaggle of fans, I see the championship stage set
1:00:17
up and who's it going to be? You know, it's going to, you
1:00:22
know it, it's going to be sad next week.
1:00:25
I'm predicting it right now. It's going to be very sad
1:00:28
because everybody that has done all this complaining, they're
1:00:32
all going to realize that it comes to it comes to a
1:00:35
screeching halt on Sunday night next week.
1:00:37
So for all the moaning, all the groaning, I hate Denny Hamlin,
1:00:44
it all comes to an end Sunday night next week and you all are
1:00:48
going to have to deal with 10° weather and snow and you're
1:00:53
going to be begging for Daytona and Charlie I I think I do.
1:00:57
We'll just leave it at that, buddy.
1:00:59
We giving this a solid hour and I think like old Larry Mack
1:01:03
said, we beat this like a a dead horse.
1:01:08
It's just going to be exciting. The stage is set, everybody
1:01:12
enjoy. All right, thanks everybody for
1:01:15
watching. Thank you, Herm.
1:01:16
I'm Charlie Marlowe. We'll end the stream.
1:01:18
Appreciate it, guys. See you later.