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Mark Martin Brought Back The Chase | Mark Martin Archive #2 · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello everybody. It's episode 2 of the Mark
0:02
Martin Archive Podcast. I'm Charlie Marlow.
0:05
There's Mark Martin. There is Matt Martin.
0:07
How you guys doing today fellas? Doing good Sir, How you doing?
0:12
Fantastic. All right, very well, Mark.
0:14
First of all, tell us, tell people about your travel
0:17
schedule. I think people know you're out
0:19
in California, but then what? You fly to Charlotte for the
0:22
announcement Monday and here you are, right back in Cali again.
0:27
Yeah, I, I told a friend of mine this morning that it took three
0:32
days to do a 2 1/2 hour press announcement, but I'm glad I
0:37
went. I'm, I was honored to be invited
0:41
and, and was very pleased with the with the announcement and,
0:46
and the outcome, the decision that NASCAR made.
0:49
And so people know, I think this show usually is going to be very
0:54
much based on stories yourself and Matt telling old stories.
0:58
But for this episode, because we we know you were Mr. full season
1:02
points. You're obviously there for the
1:04
announcement. We're going to focus a ton on
1:07
what's going on with NASCAR. I think most people know it's
1:10
going to be a 10 race Chase. So, Mark, first of all, just
1:14
just tell us about the announcement, how it came
1:17
together with you being there and what your experience was
1:20
like. Well, first of all, I don't have
1:23
to tell anyone that's watching the show because they're all
1:26
fans of of mine. So they know that I took the,
1:30
the stance of the fans. What I believed, you know, was
1:35
the majority of the fans. And because that aligned with
1:39
how I felt, you know, I decided to be their voice.
1:45
And oddly enough, Tim Clark from NASCAR invited me to be on this
1:50
committee that, you know, was going to discuss format for the
1:55
points situation. So obviously I, I, I got on it.
2:01
And first of all, I'd like to explain to everyone that, you
2:04
know, Mike's I, I have a little bit of trouble sleeping.
2:08
The least little thing, and I can't tell you how many nights
2:12
that I lost sleep over over this and Matt, you know, and I
2:19
discussed an awful lot before the 1st committee meeting and we
2:25
were, I was prepared and. Yeah, I helped him prepare
2:28
notes. Yeah, he.
2:31
Was the most prepared. I mean, yeah.
2:34
And, and then, you know, I let I, I had, you know, obviously
2:39
Matt set in and could hear the video.
2:42
I didn't, I wasn't able to go. So it's like a Zoom video.
2:45
So I wasn't able to go to Daytona.
2:47
And so Matt could hear, you know, what was said.
2:51
And I was ready to rock. And so they opened it up, said
2:56
this is what we're doing. Does anybody want to say
2:59
anything? And I said me.
3:01
So I was the first one to speak and I was absolutely brutal,
3:08
vicious, like, you know, I mean, just terrible.
3:13
And don't call it, you know, stop calling it playoffs.
3:16
Ain't nobody playing out there. I mean, the whole thing, it was,
3:19
it was brutal. And after I finished, you could
3:23
hear a pin drop. Nobody wanted to say anything.
3:28
Nobody was going to get in the 36 race.
3:31
Nobody on that committee was prepared to join in that.
3:37
And then, well, I won't go into this because it gets personal if
3:43
I if I say, but there was someone that that came on and
3:46
said, well, you know, I respect Mark Martin so much and on and
3:51
on and on. But you know, we see all this
3:55
viewership spike. We have to have eliminations and
3:58
we have to have a play, you know, and we have.
4:00
And when it was all said and done, the best that was offered
4:05
up by anyone was a three race, you know, in the same format,
4:12
but instead of one race to decide to champion 3.
4:16
And after the meeting was over, I was furious and I couldn't
4:21
sleep for the longest time. I was so mad that I was also a
4:26
little bit embarrassed because like, I felt like that everybody
4:30
in that room said, what in the hell is wrong with Mark?
4:33
Mark, you know? And so that's why I kind of felt
4:37
embarrassed. Like, you know, here I had all
4:41
this respect for this guy and he's a loon, you know?
4:44
But there was no one that was was willing to get in that camp.
4:49
And so I was mad about it. I had a conversation with Jeff
4:55
Gluck and you know why? I had done the poll on Twitter
5:02
and I had 20,000 people, you know, respond to it.
5:06
It was a 8020 issue. If you combine full season
5:10
points and, and, and 10, you know, 10 race chase.
5:16
It was 80% of the fans. And they said, oh, they're just
5:19
old people because they follow you.
5:21
And that's bull. That was bull.
5:23
So Jeff Gluck did the same poll, exact same poll, and got 30,000
5:30
and got damn near exactly the same sentiment.
5:34
The numbers were the same and I challenged NASCAR, put a poll
5:38
out. I knew they wouldn't because
5:41
they didn't want the answer. Because nobody in the industry
5:44
wanted anything less than a playoff system.
5:49
Honestly, I'm telling you like it is now, many only wanted that
5:56
because they thought that's what TV wanted.
5:59
And it seemed kind of obvious that that is correct.
6:03
But after that meeting, the TV partners that were involved in
6:10
it said we're fine with anything.
6:12
They didn't want to be the the ones that that made the call.
6:16
So anyway, long, long time after that we had the second meeting
6:22
and I came with double barrels again wide open, hard as I could
6:26
go with the full season points. By that time, Jeff Gluck saw the
6:32
light. He said, man, it's it's a it's a
6:35
it's a drastically different than the pole that was taking
6:39
right after the playoffs were announced.
6:42
Everybody there was a majority of pro playoffs when they
6:45
announced it. I wasn't against it either.
6:47
It hadn't shown its flaws yet until we put it into effect over
6:54
the years. And then flaws started to show.
6:57
So after the second meeting at the very end, one person with
7:03
NASCAR said, well, you know, we we're it anything outside of
7:09
playoff is not probably anything that we can consider.
7:15
And so I was like, well, why are we having these meetings?
7:18
I've wasted my time. I've, you know, put myself out
7:22
there on a limb and you know what, what are we having this,
7:28
You know, and so I was pissed and and mad and, and then months
7:35
and months and months later, they had the third meeting and
7:39
the third meeting. I couldn't be in, but I could
7:41
listen to and I sent word through Jeff Gluck that I had
7:45
two things to say. I'm still, you know, all in for
7:48
36 races, but I would support 10 race, but nothing less.
7:57
I could not get behind anything less than 10 race thing because
8:01
I knew we weren't going to get 36.
8:03
I knew it, and so did most everyone else.
8:07
So that's why they were afraid to get on that camp, because
8:11
they knew they couldn't get it and make them look bad because
8:14
they're going against what they believe that television really
8:17
wanted. And so, you know, this is a long
8:21
explanation, but that's kind of where it came.
8:25
So after that third meeting, I knew that we would never even
8:29
get 10. You know, I felt like we would
8:31
never get 10 races. And so when I got the call from
8:35
Tim Clark saying that they've made the decision and that this
8:39
is what it was going to be, I was thrilled because that's for
8:43
for all the people that are in the 36 race full season points
8:47
thing. This is the best you were going
8:50
to get and it's incredible that we got there.
8:55
But I was told by, you know, at the NASCAR R&D center and by
9:00
many inside the NASCAR community that my push had actually got so
9:08
much traction that 30 to 40% of the people in that that NASCAR
9:14
building were on the 36 full points race.
9:17
So Long story short, at the end of the day going there's there's
9:23
plenty of reasons why you would struggle to get to 36, but if
9:28
getting to 10 was possible, now getting to 36 is not nearly as
9:34
impossible as it was to start with.
9:37
Yeah. And I do think the timeline of
9:39
this is, is very interesting. So real quick, can you just tell
9:42
us when those meetings were the first, second and third
9:46
approximately? The first was in February.
9:50
Everybody was at Daytona, so they could do it together and I
9:53
had to do it virtually. The second one was, I don't
9:57
know, Midsummer, sometimes, sometime Midsummer.
10:03
The third one was was September when we were leaving Maine, the
10:10
day we were in the coach traveling.
10:12
So it was September and then honestly with the, you know,
10:17
everything going so quiet afterwards, never hearing a word
10:21
after that, I didn't know if we were even going to get a change.
10:24
You know, you, you had a lot of problems with, with this
10:27
lawsuit, you know, that, that, that sucked a lot of wind out
10:31
of, of, of everything. So, so you know, I got like 5
10:39
days before the announcement, I get the call and find out what
10:44
it's going to be. And it's like, holy cow, this is
10:47
a big win for everyone. No one loses in this thing.
10:51
You know, really, it's a big win.
10:55
It's a big win for the fans. Kudos to NASCAR for the bold
11:00
move. Kudos to NBC for saying, hey,
11:04
you guys figure out, we'll just cover it because I really
11:09
honestly believe that most people in the room thought they
11:12
had to have that for the sparks and the and the smoke and all
11:17
that stuff because they were trying to bring in non racing
11:21
fans for the entertainment. OK, if that worked, it worked.
11:28
You know, we would pay the sacrifice for that, you know, if
11:31
it worked, but it didn't work. So the thing I couldn't
11:35
understand is why are we fighting so hard to have a
11:39
playoff when it hasn't delivered what it was intended to do?
11:44
And so, you know, honestly, you're going to have less of
11:49
that. You're going to have less of the
11:52
Game 7 moments, you know, and some of this goofy stuff, you
11:58
know, the eliminations were actually interesting to me.
12:01
You know, I they were interesting, but at the end of
12:04
the day, there was just so many flaws in the system.
12:08
Why are we doing that when we've run off a huge portion of the
12:13
classic race fan? Because they don't recognize
12:17
what they're seeing anymore. It's not it doesn't resemble
12:21
what they grew up watching. So why why are we pushing?
12:25
Why is it that we want these playoffs so bad?
12:29
I do want to go back to that first meeting one more time in
12:32
February, just to give people an idea of exactly how it went
12:36
down. I'm curious, when you raise your
12:37
hand and say, hey, I want to speak first, did you just go off
12:41
for 15 minutes? Like how long did you talk?
12:44
Were other people chiming in or was it just you full steam
12:48
ahead? And then you said you could hear
12:51
a pin drop. Like who spoke next?
12:54
Was everybody just so surprised that like, they didn't know what
12:56
to do? Yeah, I mean, I wasn't supposed
13:02
to, but I eavesdropped on the the conversation because, I
13:05
mean, it was, it was hard to resist.
13:08
But I'd helped him prepare his notes, you know, just with all
13:11
the historical work that I've done, you know, for researching
13:15
his book and all that kind of stuff.
13:16
You know, I just put him together a little CHEAT SHEET of
13:21
notes and everything on different, you know, great
13:24
seasons that they had, you know, during the Winston Cup era, you
13:30
know, as examples that like, you know, I mean, these seasons were
13:34
exciting. I mean, everyone now and then
13:35
you have one that I guess people might think is boring or
13:39
somebody, you know, runs away with it.
13:40
But I mean, a lot of times you didn't have that.
13:45
And yeah, like as soon as I open it up, I mean, he, he went off
13:49
for like 1520 minutes. And I mean, he, he, he went
13:54
into, he just, he talked about, you know, not only his gripes
13:58
with how they do things now and their terminology of, of things
14:02
and, and the decisions that they make under the playoff system,
14:05
but, you know, he also talked about, you know, why 1992 was
14:10
such a great season, why 1997 was a great season.
14:15
I mean, you had a three-way battle for the championship, you
14:18
know, the whole year. And it was a real close finish
14:22
there at Atlanta as well. And then, you know, but then you
14:26
had seasons like 1998 where it was just dominated by, you know,
14:31
2 drivers, you know, him and Jeff Gordon And, and even still,
14:35
you know, Jeff Gordon, you know, end up running away with it.
14:37
But I mean, that's actually fun to see, I would think for a fan,
14:44
you know, I mean, every season is a little bit different, so.
14:49
Yeah, respect the dominance of 1998, you know, respect that.
14:54
Just like the time that Martin Truex LED almost all 400 laps of
14:59
the Coke 600. Respect it.
15:02
Why be, you know, OK, You know, and one of my examples I used
15:07
was I watch 1 football game a year, the Super Bowl and this
15:12
past year I thought it was boring and I'm going to watch
15:15
again next year because it'll probably be a great game.
15:19
You know, that's how racing is. Not every race and not every
15:24
race is, is, is going to be a four wide finish.
15:29
You know, not every season is going to be the difference of
15:34
leading. One more lap made the difference
15:37
in the championship, yeah. The Hooters 592 Not every race
15:41
is going to be like. That no.
15:42
And and if you manipulate things to try to get it to that every
15:47
time people get tired of it. The four wide finish at Atlanta
15:53
was it was awesome. It was awesome.
15:55
But if you manipulate the rules to try to get that every single
15:59
race, it's not awesome anymore. And it's also fake.
16:06
And there was so much fate, you know, there's so much, you know,
16:11
manufactured drama, you know, in, in all of what was going on.
16:16
It was just it was time for a change.
16:19
So clearly your movement for full season points had built
16:24
momentum. It had built momentum.
16:27
You talked about Jeff Glock, Clearly more people were on
16:30
board. You had those poles out there.
16:33
But Mark, you also mentioned about 5-10 minutes ago that you
16:36
think maybe the, the lawsuit also changed things.
16:40
So do you think it was a combination of both the fans
16:43
were on your side and you also had you had the lawsuit?
16:47
Because I'll just be honest, about a month ago I was Privy to
16:51
a conversation of, I'll just say somebody who was in the know,
16:56
and this person basically said to us that it was going to be a
17:00
three or four race finale. This was probably a month ago.
17:05
So it sure as heck seemed like everything changed, that it was
17:08
headed to three or four. And then it got to A10 Race
17:11
Chase in a matter of about a month.
17:15
It's hard for me. I can only speculate, but you
17:18
make a good point. I didn't think we would get to
17:21
10 and maybe through this lawsuit and the traction that
17:26
that I had finally got by the after the last meeting, after
17:32
the last meeting until the decision was made.
17:35
There was great momentum in NASCAR itself, you know, for for
17:41
a full season. And that was an icebreaker.
17:44
You know that, you know, I mean, when you, when you go in there
17:48
guns blazing for it all, which is what I did.
17:52
I didn't go in for a compromise. And I'm not going to name names,
17:57
but there were drivers who suggested a three race thing
18:01
would be better. And there was one other driver
18:07
that should have easily been in my camp, thought, well, you
18:12
know, maybe even 5, you know, where there was no one in in my
18:18
camp. But it built momentum because of
18:20
the fans. I think they finally started
18:23
listening and hearing the fans. I, you know, and I can't blame
18:29
anyone in the industry. If I was a driver, if I'm Denny
18:34
Hamlin, I'm not going to stand up and tell NASCAR, you know,
18:37
hey, it's this is how it's got to be because I, I stand to
18:42
lose, lose a lot. See, I could only the only thing
18:46
I could lose in this deal was my hard card.
18:49
That's it. So I could I could say things
18:53
that they couldn't say. Even even Dale Junior, who is a
18:58
racing purist, you know, had to be careful about, you know how
19:02
he, you know how he approached this?
19:05
Well, I went into it not caring if they didn't like me ever
19:08
again. You know, I had, I was the only
19:12
one that was able to not be inside, inside and, and trees
19:18
everywhere and not being able to see outside.
19:20
So to benefit them, there were many people who thought they
19:25
could never get anywhere except playoffs.
19:28
And then there were others that didn't even realize that it was
19:32
so unpopular because they can't see outside of their circle and
19:38
I'm outside their circle. Yeah, I don't, I don't go to
19:41
races. I'm a huge fan.
19:43
I watch the races and I go to short track races.
19:46
And I, you know, honestly, that's why I said in the press
19:50
conference, I hear all the time, I don't watch anymore.
19:55
And I'm asking those fans to give it a chance because we, we,
20:01
we were able to move the needle. And if we can actually get more
20:06
back? That that have gone away.
20:09
If we can get some of those back, some of them that will
20:13
help us turn the next corner because we're not done.
20:17
There's lots of problems, you know, that we need to work on
20:22
and this just shows that it can happen.
20:25
It's very encouraging to to many of the race fans and I'm super
20:30
encouraged. I believe Steve O'Donnell when
20:34
he says we want to get back to our core, who we are.
20:40
We're not, you know, not trying to be ball sports like that.
20:44
That was one of the things I just blast them over.
20:47
It's not ball sports. We're different and we need to
20:50
embrace who we are. And this is what Steve says now.
20:53
We need to embrace who we are and be the size that we are and
20:58
have some fun and let it grow organically or organically.
21:04
And so I agree with that 100%. Matter of fact, I, you know what
21:08
that's some of what I had said is like you just they forced
21:13
growth so hard down the throats of traditional race fans that
21:19
many of them just turned away. That it, it turned them away.
21:23
And I and Jeff Burton says we can't get them back and he's
21:26
probably right. But maybe we can get a few of
21:28
hopefully we can get enough of them back to offset the ones
21:32
that are only there for the sparks and the, you know, the
21:35
fireworks show, you know, because you will lose some of
21:38
those. So you said the only thing you
21:41
had to lose was your hard card. But I've, I've heard you say, I,
21:44
I was at Kenny's shop when you said that respect, respect is
21:49
everything to you. Respect is your championship.
21:52
I, I saw an interview with you after the press conference and
21:56
I, I believe you said that after the first meeting.
21:59
You're about 50% maybe embarrassed, I'm not putting
22:02
words in your mouth, but 50% worried about tarnishing your
22:06
legacy. So you did have that also on the
22:09
line. Let's be honest.
22:10
And do you think this has even more so solidified your legacy?
22:15
Because clearly the fans were on your side.
22:18
And I know you didn't get full season.
22:20
That's what that's what you wanted.
22:21
But the fans were on your side. And now NASCAR is surely, surely
22:25
inching, inching your way to the 36 points.
22:29
But they met in the middle here. Yeah, it was a big relief.
22:32
I do feel, you know, I feel like it it was worth it.
22:37
Even if I lost, you know, some respect and admiration, it was
22:44
still worth it because I did it for the fans.
22:46
I didn't do it for me. I wouldn't have done it for me,
22:49
you know, I did it because I love the sport.
22:53
And even more than that, I love the fans, even the even the ones
22:58
that I don't like, you can love them and not like, you know, and
23:02
there's some that I don't really enjoy, but but I love the fans
23:08
because I am where I am today. And the success that I had in
23:14
racing was because the sport of the fans.
23:17
In other words, those sponsors like Valvoline, Viagra,
23:23
Kellogg's, Carquest, Folgers, all those people that kept me
23:28
errands, all those people that kept me in the driver's seat all
23:31
those years. It was the fans that that the,
23:36
these companies recognized, you know, supported the sport and
23:41
supported me. And, you know, I, I always felt
23:45
like I tried to have a lot of integrity and, and I really owe
23:51
my career largely to the fans. So in another interview, when
23:57
you hear Ben Kennedy say we don't get here, we don't land
24:02
with this compromise, the 10 race chase without Mark Martin,
24:06
he flat out said that. What does that mean to you?
24:09
Wow. I haven't, I haven't text Ben
24:13
Kennedy. I've hardly talked to him since
24:16
he drove Matt's race car, you know, way back, I don't know, 25
24:21
years ago or something. It seems like it was a long time
24:23
ago. And I I text him after,
24:27
afterwards, because that really meant a lot.
24:31
I was actually surprised that Steve O'Donnell and the folks at
24:38
NASCAR, you know, mentioned my name.
24:41
You know, so much in this. There's a little pressure to it
24:46
because if it, you know, if it crashes and burns, I'm going to
24:49
get blamed for it. But honestly, it, it's not going
24:53
to crash and burn. It is a, it's a, it's a, it's
24:55
going to be a big win for every, everyone in the sport because
24:59
it, it adds legitimacy, you know, to our champion.
25:04
And look, the 2026 NASCAR Cup champion will have to be
25:10
blistering fast and amazingly consistent.
25:13
You can't get there any other way.
25:15
And that's what we want. That's what the industry wants.
25:19
That's what the core fan wants. And you know, they'll be some
25:23
sparks and fireworks along the way.
25:26
Maybe not quite as much as there was, but it's going to change
25:30
the whole it's dynamic like the broadcasters and the journalists
25:37
need to cover this sport differently now.
25:41
They had ready made talking points every Monday after every
25:45
race, who's in, who's out, who made the cut, who got you know
25:48
what, you know the champion is a it's a result of all the races.
25:59
The races need to be the primary thing and these guys that win
26:04
these races need to be celebrated big time.
26:08
Just like I said, I truly believe and I know it makes a
26:11
lot of fans mad older fans, but these are our Pearson Petty's,
26:19
Yarbrough's of today. And the media needs to help us
26:26
show their personalities to the to the fans so that they can
26:31
latch on to them. Same thing with the crew chiefs,
26:35
same thing with the engineers, I believe with the cars too.
26:39
All those cars have serial numbers.
26:42
You know, if I'm a journalist, I'm going to go figure out What
26:45
Car, you know, that that this guy's bringing to this race.
26:49
And maybe I just do 11 driver, but that car and all of its
26:53
history and say, well, that car he's never had any luck with.
26:58
That's material for you to talk about instead of these stupid,
27:02
you know when and you're in, you know all that's that stuff.
27:06
Let's talk about something of substance.
27:09
Not the whole time, but let's build these heroes.
27:12
Let's. I mean, dude, what these guys
27:15
are doing is amazing. No, it's not getting their hands
27:18
dirty on the race car. No, it's not the same as as
27:22
Penny or Pearson or Yarborough. No, they're not.
27:26
But they're still working just as hard.
27:29
It's a different era. It's electronic era and you
27:35
know, I also think the playoffs didn't build superstars because,
27:40
you know, you know, there was this win and you're in.
27:44
Let's just talk about I I use this all the time because it
27:48
really bothered me. Bubba Wallace whooped everybody
27:52
at Indy and that is a big deal, huge, big deal.
27:57
But all I heard was he's in the playoffs now and then that and
28:00
that's all they focused on. And it's like, no, they should
28:03
have been focusing on he whooped and he didn't feel mileage in
28:08
it. He didn't do that.
28:09
He outran everybody and they need to handle every race that
28:13
way. These guys are heroes.
28:15
These races are hard to win and the ice, we need to cover it
28:21
that way to build and grow the sport.
28:25
One of those heroes, those superstars?
28:27
Chase Elliott said he wouldn't be at the announcement if he
28:31
didn't sign off on it if it wasn't at least this 10 race.
28:33
Chase, I know you probably don't want to continue talking about
28:36
yourself, but I, I think in the same vein, NASCAR needed you,
28:40
Mark Martin, in my opinion, to sign off on this.
28:43
I, I'm guessing, again, I want to speak for you.
28:45
I'm guessing you don't show up at this announcement if it's not
28:48
this, correct? At least this I, I sent the
28:51
message I will not support anything less than 10 race
28:55
because I at that point it was obvious we weren't going to get
28:59
36 and we got a lot closer to it than I than I ever dreamed we
29:03
would. And you know, and I've, I've, I
29:06
wanted them to know that not my not supporting it meant that I
29:10
would not support it to the fans like this.
29:14
I, I, you know, I present to the fans is this is a good thing.
29:21
And if you, if you're not happy with it, look at the
29:24
alternative. Look what we were almost going
29:27
to get. We fought hard, we turned the
29:30
corner. You know, everyone is better off
29:33
by this. So, you know, that's, you know,
29:36
that's kind of where I stand on that.
29:37
And, and I, you know what, I, I'm really proud, I'm proud of,
29:41
of Chase, but I think all the drivers, not all, I think the
29:47
large majority of the drivers want this.
29:50
I will tell you this, the only guy in the first meeting that
29:55
said anything in, in support was Christopher Bell.
30:00
And he says, well, I think 36 races, you know, is, is the best
30:04
way, but I know it's not realistic.
30:10
So, you know, he was all for, you know, a three or four, you
30:14
know, whatever he he knew it wasn't realistic.
30:17
And so did everyone else in the meeting.
30:20
And because I fought so hard for it, I feel that we got to the
30:27
chase instead of a playoff. I just could not stomach
30:33
playoffs Game 7 moment. All this ball sports stuff, you
30:39
know, it's not ball sports. It's not that we aren't those.
30:44
You can't put us in that box. Let us be in our own box.
30:47
It was fine for 50 years. You know the way it was and it
30:52
was growing and it you know it will continue to be a great
30:58
sport that we can all love unless we let it transition into
31:01
something we don't realize recognize.
31:05
For both you guys, how do you think this will tangibly change
31:09
the racing? And then we've talked before
31:11
about how some of these ideas sounded good in principle, but
31:15
there were unintended consequences.
31:17
For example, I kind of liked the drama of when and you're in, but
31:22
it caused the racing to be silly so many times.
31:25
At the end. I kind of like a green, white
31:28
checkered every once in a while, but I don't want them every
31:30
single race. I don't want five of them at the
31:33
end of every single race, right? So how do you think this Chase
31:37
format, which NASCAR has done before, we've seen this before,
31:40
but how do you think this will actually improve the racing
31:43
guys? Well, I don't know if I can
31:47
speak so much on that. I mean, dad would be more the
31:50
expert, but I mean, you know, the, I guess the, the points and
31:55
stuff, your consistency is going to matter more.
31:57
And so, you know, maybe they will be a little bit, they might
32:02
second guess certain moves that they would make because if it
32:06
doesn't work out, that's going to bite them more.
32:10
Yeah, a bad, you know, a bad race.
32:13
You don't get to ride off races off under the old format.
32:17
You didn't really see that coming.
32:18
But you know, you know, now if you can run 25th and you do
32:27
something stupid and you wound up 36th, it's going to be
32:31
devastating. You need to, you need to run.
32:33
If if that's all you got is 25th, you better damn well get
32:39
it, you know? And so I see tempers, I see more
32:48
conflict over someone doing someone else wrong under this
32:52
system, because you can't write these days off like you could
32:56
before. Every single race matters.
32:59
And even though there's a points reset for the last 10, it's
33:03
still 100 points, you know, and the guy that wins the regular
33:06
season still 25 points over second.
33:10
That's substantial because these things come down to a point or
33:13
two. So, you know, and there's still
33:18
there's now there's a huge bonus for winning a race points wise,
33:22
much more than before. You know, it puts it in a
33:26
situation where you could win a race, but somebody it but you
33:30
didn't get any stage points and someone else that didn't win a
33:35
race gets more points than the winner.
33:38
You know, now that's kind of straightened up, you know, so
33:44
there won't be there may not be quite as many Hail Marys, which
33:49
were kind of fun to watch, but every spots going to matter more
33:54
than it did before. You know, if if you're running,
33:58
if you're running fifth, you better get damn well get 5th.
34:02
If you're if if that's all you got, you better get it.
34:06
Whereas before, you know, if you were running 5th, we could take
34:09
a shot to win. And if we finish 25th, it's
34:12
there's no consequence to that less consequence to that.
34:17
And so you know, it just it it, you know, it's going to make
34:21
them think twice about wrecking their cars.
34:25
And I honestly think that it's going to take some of these I
34:30
like to call. Them kids, it's going to.
34:31
Take some of these young guys a while to learn that because they
34:36
drive you drive by instincts and you they're making these moves
34:40
and stuffing in holes that are are very high risk situations.
34:46
And after they wreck a time or two and they see that they put
34:49
themselves in a hole that they can't dig out of for the whole
34:53
year, they're going to make different decisions.
34:57
So you know, it is it I don't racing still racing is made fun
35:02
as heck to watch and and and all.
35:05
But yes, it does change the strategy.
35:09
It will change. It will fall right in the hands
35:12
of the guys that are always being consistent.
35:15
William Byron's or the Chase Elliott's.
35:17
They always race smart, you know, And it won't.
35:23
Necessarily let's. Just talk about, you know,
35:26
Josephar, he's going to have to look at what he does and maybe
35:33
either learn the hard way or address it before it happens.
35:37
You know, for just for example, you're, you know, some of these
35:40
guys that are in the gas and they go in these holes that are
35:44
nearly impossible, you know, and they, they 'cause these big
35:48
wrecks, if they do get through it, the guys that did get
35:50
wrecked are going to be wanting to fight a lot more than they
35:54
did when they, well, it's just a bad race, no problem.
35:58
You know, now a bad race cost you.
36:02
Yeah, with this. Format.
36:03
You also you don't have the Harrison Burton story.
36:07
I mean, these guys can still win a race.
36:08
You don't have the Austin Dillon story.
36:11
But then I'm thinking also those guys never really had a chance
36:14
to actually win the championship.
36:15
It was it was a nice story for them to get into the playoffs.
36:18
But then Kenny Wallace and I were kicking this around the
36:21
other day and I said I kind of liked win in your end.
36:24
Could you do two wins in your end?
36:27
The only reason I bring that up is because SVG.
36:30
Now again SVG was never going to win the championship but I do
36:34
feel like a guy if you win 5 races in a year should you make
36:38
the play offs which you know he has to be more consistent on
36:41
ovals. But that's the one guy kind of
36:42
thought man. I feel like A5 race winner
36:45
should somehow find his way into a a chase or a play off racing
36:50
man. It's the full body of work.
36:53
It's not one number one number two.
36:56
If you win a race, you need to be celebrated as a bad ass big
37:00
time. It needs to be a big deal
37:03
because you won because you beat everybody else, not because you
37:08
you're in the playoffs or the you know, or are in the hunt.
37:12
You it's the it's about the whole body of work.
37:15
And we need to celebrate these race winners for being, you
37:20
know, the amazing days that they have and to.
37:26
To put. A bow on this points discussion,
37:29
a long one that I think people are really going to appreciate
37:31
before we move on to some other topics.
37:33
I, I want to throw it to you if you guys have anything else to
37:36
add, but also I, I, I loved at the end Mark where you kind of
37:39
said, look, now that we've landed on the chase, it's much
37:44
easier to get from the chase to the 36 than it would be from the
37:49
three to four to the 36. And then you said something
37:51
along the lines of that's not them talking, that's me talking.
37:54
Everybody kind of chuckled that hey, still, maybe next time
37:58
we're all still thinking about this full season deal.
38:01
Absolutely. And.
38:03
You know, for the the the ones that are mad that they didn't
38:07
get the full season, you know, it's very complicated.
38:12
It's a lot more complicated than than they realize.
38:14
And a lot of these issues are more complicated, you know, then
38:19
then you realize until you get on the inside.
38:22
But you know, you've got contracts, you got, you know,
38:25
like I thought 16 teams, you know, in the chase was too many
38:32
and then the point was brought up.
38:34
But these teams all pretty much all have incentives in their
38:39
contract to make the make the playoffs.
38:42
They get big, big bonuses. Heck, let them in.
38:45
Let them get their money. They can't win the championship.
38:47
You know, 16th place. A guy that has a 16th place
38:52
performance for 26 races is not going out outrun all 15 of these
38:58
others. You know, So let them get their
39:00
money. It's OK.
39:02
Don't freak out that it you know that it's not ten, it'll be OK,
39:08
it'll work itself out. And so, you know, there there
39:11
there were a lot of factors in in this, you know, and I don't
39:15
know what the contract exactly is on the NASCAR television
39:19
side, but I do know from a team side and I don't want the teams
39:24
to not get, you know, the money that they could do.
39:29
So you know, I'm I'm fine with the 16 based on that.
39:33
I would prefer less, but you know, that's the way things are
39:37
structured. So it helps the teams, it helps
39:41
NASCAR to have 16 in there, so it's OK.
39:45
OK, couple other. Newsy Topics 1 from last week,
39:49
because we recorded on a Monday and then later in that week you
39:52
have the news that Steve Phelps, the commissioner now or was I
39:57
guess he's going to be commissioner for another month
39:58
or so of NASCAR resigns. I think it's it's fair to say
40:04
whether it was resigned. Let go It was kind of clear that
40:08
after the comments came out the the leaked messages or emails of
40:12
what he said about Richard Childress, that he was a stupid
40:16
redneck that needed to be taken back and flogged.
40:20
However you feel about Steve Phelps and and what he
40:23
accomplished during his time at NASCAR, to me even that just
40:27
seemed like 1 where you couldn't get past that.
40:29
Is that is that fair to say? I I think it's.
40:33
Fair to say, I think that that was the death blow.
40:36
You know, Steve did a lot of good things.
40:41
He was a great communicator and did a lot of good work.
40:46
But there was, you know, there was quite a few decisions, you
40:50
know, in the past, you know, several years, many years that,
40:57
you know, didn't didn't pan out to be the best decision as a
41:03
whole. Anybody who's in, you know, the
41:06
power is always going to have you're you're not going to do
41:10
everything right. I think Steve did a lot of lot
41:13
of good for NASCAR. I think with this lawsuit and
41:17
with the, the remarks that came out, you know, I, I don't see
41:21
any way around it, it not. Because.
41:26
He's a bad person or anything else.
41:28
I'm not saying that. I'm saying from, from the optics
41:32
of it. If I'm NASCAR, I got to turn the
41:35
corner. This lawsuit's behind me.
41:37
We're going to make this points change.
41:39
We're going to try to go back and embrace, you know, our sport
41:45
as it is instead of making it something different we need.
41:49
He's got, you know, he's got to go.
41:52
I mean, that's the way I would feel if I was a friends not not.
41:59
Because of any. Other performance other than,
42:02
hey, we need to turn a corner here.
42:04
That's part of turning the corner and made it, you know, it
42:07
made yourself look real bad with these comments.
42:11
And that overshadows all the good work that he's done here.
42:16
You know, sometimes you have to make those changes.
42:19
Sometimes you'd have to change a crew chief or, you know, in
42:22
these corporate, you know, CE OS, sometimes the CAC, you know,
42:27
CE OS got to go for no other reason than just optics.
42:32
You know, it just it, it makes things, you know, it make makes
42:36
a different perspective. So, you know, I don't have, you
42:41
know, ill will, you know, I know a lot of fans do.
42:43
I don't have any ill will towards Steve Phelps.
42:47
I I do recognize that he did a lot of good work and made a lot
42:51
of good decisions. I didn't like, you know, and and
42:54
many of us didn't like some of them.
42:56
But but that's not why, you know, that's not the real reason
43:02
that I, I think he, you know, had to move on.
43:06
So NASCAR is. Clearly going back, they're
43:09
going back with the the chase format and now they're bringing
43:12
back Tony Stewart, at least for one race.
43:15
He'll race the truck at Daytona with colic racing.
43:19
They're doing kind of this cool All Star deal where they have a
43:21
different driver each week. But they announced Tony this
43:24
week to to build some some positivity, obviously.
43:27
And, and look, everybody knows Tony didn't leave the sport
43:31
happy when he was an owner. He didn't like the way things
43:35
were going. And I I'm just guessing again, I
43:37
don't like to speak for any of you.
43:39
I don't think just like you, you wouldn't have signed off on a
43:42
format you didn't like. I don't think Tony probably
43:44
comes back to NASCAR if he doesn't like the way things are
43:48
going. So it seems like things are
43:51
heading in a in a good direction and Smoke is back for at least
43:54
one race now. I don't think Tony was happy.
43:57
When he was in NASCAR, yeah, we knew.
44:01
When, when, when he was still driving, it was it was obvious
44:04
that he wasn't happy with the with with the sport and the
44:09
direction of it. So, but you know, to speak on
44:12
Tony, he also, I think has connections with with the Dodge
44:18
folks or whatever as well. It all makes sense.
44:22
This is a good time is a huge win for the fans, huge win.
44:28
We're so excited to have a smoke back in any race, NASCAR race.
44:32
So that's that's really awesome. But you know, I I I'm like you.
44:38
I would be skeptical. I'm sure this this format, you
44:43
know, points format probably pleases him.
44:46
I know he would be a 36 racer guy, but I know I also know that
44:50
he's, you know, he's a very smart man and he sees how hard
44:54
it was to get where we even got, you know, on a format and so
45:00
NASCAR. Also.
45:01
They're they're doing the new marketing push.
45:03
You got the hell yeah commercial that came out a couple weeks
45:06
ago. They have a commercial today, at
45:08
least I saw on social media with Cletus McFarland.
45:11
What what do you guys know about Cletus?
45:13
I just kind of got to to know what he was doing the last year
45:17
or so. I mean, this guy's a superstar.
45:19
He's just so big on YouTube. He's holding these races with
45:22
the with the Crown Vic. I mean, fans love him, NASCAR
45:26
fans love him. I can't tell you how many
45:28
comments that I saw from old school NASCAR fans that said,
45:32
you know what, I love NASCAR. Back in the day, I stopped
45:36
watching NASCAR for whatever reason that we've talked about a
45:39
million of those reasons. But now I'm coming back simply
45:42
because of Cletus. This is last year when he was
45:44
running our this. This guy is a difference maker
45:49
blue collar. That's who he's appealing to.
45:53
That's our core race fan and NASCAR got away from appealing,
45:59
I think to the, you know, to the blue collar race fan.
46:05
And Cletus is just fun. I mean, he's, he's fun and he's
46:12
real, real and real, down to earth and he's fun.
46:16
And. That's why he's he's a star.
46:19
And I didn't seem, you know, I'm like you, it's just been a
46:22
couple of years and I'm, you know, like they got after me so
46:27
hard to come and do that race. You know, two or three years ago
46:30
just the fans were saying I need to do it.
46:32
So not something that's racing is not something right on the
46:37
top of my list. But I love what he's doing for
46:39
the sport. I don't know him personally, but
46:43
he's doing great things for the sport.
46:45
He's he's got a huge following and it's cool to see him, you
46:50
know, dipping his toe into into NASCAR, into the big league.
46:55
So what do you guys? Think is left to still fix it's
46:59
it's a work in progress. I think the fans have gotten a
47:02
ton of wins in the last couple weeks.
47:05
I'll just throw a couple out for, for myself.
47:07
I feel like the the short track racing we've seen with the Next
47:11
Gen. car, it's really good on the intermediates.
47:14
They did this test the other day.
47:16
The drivers said they didn't see a huge difference in the
47:19
horsepower. So I'm interested to see what
47:21
you guys think about that. How can you make the car racier?
47:25
And then this is just for me, the fuel saving at
47:29
superspeedways. I always just think about, you
47:32
know, Mark, you said blue collar.
47:33
When I think about how NASCAR started, which is outlaws, which
47:38
are guys cheating up cars in the Carolinas to run moonshine from
47:43
the law and then we're fuel saving on superspeedways.
47:48
I'm just like, that's come on, that's that's not how this sport
47:51
was founded. So that's just one of my
47:52
personal things. I feel like they need to change.
47:55
What do you guys think they still need to fix as we continue
47:59
to try to improve? Just little things here and
48:02
there. I think the.
48:04
The most difficult thing, even more so than than fixing the
48:08
point system is, is I would say probably moving the number to
48:12
the door. I mean, I mean that.
48:16
Cost no money, but that's not easy from.
48:19
What I've heard no it's it's not easy but all.
48:21
These things, you know, the fans are, you know, are very, a lot
48:27
of fans don't like this car, don't like the way it races.
48:30
That's not an easy fix. I spent 3 hours with John Prost
48:36
in the R&D center looking at the car, looking at the all the
48:40
machinery, talking about aerodynamics, figuring out what
48:44
the numbers are. It's taken four years for me to
48:47
find out how much downforce that this car makes.
48:51
Four years. So a lot of these problems, a
48:57
lot of these issues are really, really complicated.
49:03
The single lug isn't as easy. You know, everybody wants 5
49:07
lugs. Well, the explanation on that,
49:09
for example, is 18 inch wheel. I approve that.
49:15
That's more, you know, representative of what you buy
49:19
performance on on roads today. So yeah, you need 18 inch wheel.
49:23
Well, still so damn heavy they can't carry it.
49:27
I mean, it's unbelievable. OK, so you got 5 lug aluminum
49:31
wheel, now it's 30% weaker. And when these guys leave one or
49:35
two lug nuts off, it leaves you vulnerable to break a wheel.
49:41
Problem those. Tires too wide.
49:44
Why is the tire so wide? Well, this is just what I found
49:47
out. You know the tires because
49:50
Goodyear, for some reason it's very important the Goodyear to
49:53
have a total volume of air. So when you make the wheel
49:56
bigger, they want to make the tire they they wanted the tire
50:00
wider. So all these things that you
50:03
complain about, if you don't get educated on, you just don't
50:07
understand and you think, well, these people are stupid.
50:12
All this stuff is complicated. And most of all these things, a
50:16
lot of things NASCAR gets blamed for.
50:18
Let's just let me just give you an example.
50:21
The fans hate that damaged vehicle policy.
50:26
They hate it. That's the teams.
50:30
That's not NASCAR, the number location, that's the teams.
50:36
They wanted NASCAR to make that rule.
50:39
They didn't want to, you know, they didn't NASCAR, I, I heard
50:42
suggested you put the number where you want it.
50:45
No, we want to rule, you know, and they they want it up there.
50:48
So all these different things for sponsorship reasons for.
50:52
Sponsorship reasons. OK.
50:54
So the quarter panel isn't as big as is the old car?
50:58
That's something that I would have and.
51:00
I questioned, I said why did you, why don't you make the
51:03
quarter pounds longer and widen the rear bumper and flatten out
51:06
that wheel well and make it look like a race car?
51:09
You know, the OEM sent us this silhouette.
51:14
That's what the OEMs wanted, you know, and so there you have it.
51:20
I still, I would have, if I would have been in charge, I'd
51:22
said I know that's what you want, but this is what you're
51:25
going to get, you know, and then you would have had a better
51:29
signboard for the sponsor on the quarter panel.
51:32
It's like y'all tweaked the. Thunderbird back in the day
51:35
multiple times. Yes, exactly I.
51:37
Mean sometimes you just got to stand up, say no, we're not
51:41
doing that and I wish they would have done it, but you've got the
51:45
teams fighting for some things to save money.
51:48
That's why 750 horsepower is as high as you can go, because if
51:52
they go higher than that, their engine builds going to
51:55
substantially go up. And so the teams don't.
52:00
Want it so 900 horsepower. I, I, I just, I'm going to tell
52:06
you you'll never see it because once you give the teams these
52:12
things, you can't take them back.
52:14
Once you give, once you start giving somebody money for
52:18
something, it's you just can't take it back.
52:22
You know, it's like that's that system is there forever.
52:26
And so, you know, there's a lot of pushback.
52:29
NASCAR has a lot of pushback. And I'm not defending them.
52:32
They I'm going to tell you they've made a lot of poor
52:35
decisions in my mind. But there's been a lot more.
52:40
They get blamed for that. You know, it's not really them.
52:44
The only thing they could have done is said, no, we're not
52:46
doing that. No, we're not doing that, which
52:50
I wish they would have, but Bill France Junior would have.
52:54
Probably done that would have exactly.
52:56
Done that, but you know it's a. Different world now.
53:02
And it's just like that points committee.
53:04
After we had the first meeting, I was just mad.
53:07
I was like, that's what you get for having a committee.
53:10
If you have a committee and you have the wrong people in the
53:12
committee, you get the wrong answer.
53:16
And Bill didn't really have. Committees, it was like him and
53:20
like a couple people and he was like a dictator and just the
53:25
world we live in today. I mean, there's very few things
53:28
that are like that. I guess that's right.
53:30
And I I. Love that, that he was a
53:33
dictator. I love it because, you know, it
53:36
was his way or highway and he was right almost all the time.
53:40
But it's a different world we live in now, and things are just
53:43
more complicated than they appear.
53:46
And so I'm not sure. There's a lot of things that I'd
53:50
like to see change, but I want to break.
53:53
You don't know how hard I've fought for an entire year to get
53:58
this, and I'm not ready to start today on the next one that is so
54:03
hard to win. Like, dude, I have never won.
54:07
NASCAR has never listened to me. What was it?
54:11
Back in the 90s, you Bill Friends junior got real pissed
54:16
off at you because you said something about taking the banks
54:19
out of Tao Tang in Daytona. I hated, hated plate.
54:24
Racing and we're all wrecking and, and it was just, I hated
54:28
it, you know, And I'm like, there's only one way to fix this
54:32
was take the banking out. I thought he was going to tear
54:34
my head off. And he's right.
54:37
I mean, it wouldn't. Be you couldn't see the tracks
54:41
too big if you flatten the the turns, you know, it turns out.
54:45
But I mean that is the only way to fix it.
54:47
If you wanted to race without restrictor plates, you had to
54:51
take the banking away. And I also said during that time
54:54
privately that we're going to outgrow these intermediates too.
55:00
And we have now they're restricted there as well.
55:03
So, yeah, auto race. I mean, the tires are better,
55:07
the cars are better, everything's better.
55:08
We've got less power than we ever had, you know, had and
55:12
still going fast. It's, you know, it, it's an
55:16
ongoing process, but I love the way Bill.
55:19
France ran it, but. You can't run it like that now.
55:22
And, and so you, you've got a lot of parties that have a say.
55:28
You know, NASCAR uses this word, all the stakeholders.
55:35
And that's I mean. They've all got a say in all
55:40
these decisions, so. You said you want a break.
55:44
You're still going to do the podcast though, right?
55:45
Of course, Of course. Yeah.
55:47
I just don't want another. Another NASCAR fight you don't
55:51
know. I mean, yeah, you don't know
55:53
what you know. This sucked the life out of me.
55:56
And I, like I said before, I never, ever won an argument with
56:00
NASCAR. Never.
56:02
This is my first win ever and it's a big win.
56:06
And I don't want to take on the next one knowing that I'm
56:08
probably going to lose because I just want to enjoy the victory
56:11
for right now. I thought it was really cool
56:13
that. You know, Ben and and Steve and
56:16
and everybody gave you so much credit, you know, for this.
56:20
And I, I don't know, I mean, I get the feeling that they really
56:24
want you to be involved and, you know, give them some advice and
56:29
help them make decisions, which I, I think that's, that's really
56:32
cool. Yeah.
56:33
There's, you know. You don't don't ever know what's
56:36
what's in the future. They, you know, they've shown
56:39
interest in, in having me, you know, and, and some other guys,
56:45
you know, have some influence on things.
56:48
I really think they're trying to right the ship.
56:53
I really do. And we'll see.
56:56
I've, I've said it all along, you know, actions speak louder
57:00
than words, but we've seen some action.
57:03
Let's, let's keep it going. Let's, let's just keep going.
57:06
Yeah. And now we're we're having fun.
57:08
Now, so once you have your break and we give NASCAR a break and
57:12
we celebrate the victory, is it is it fair to say if we have a
57:14
tease that the next big fight would would it still be the the
57:17
number on the door is that, is that the next fight maybe months
57:21
from now, a year from now? You know I don't.
57:24
Know there are some. Things that are more important
57:27
than that, honestly, I don't know, you know, there, there,
57:32
there, there are some. And I don't want to name
57:34
anything I don't want. I don't want to start that.
57:37
But there, you know, that's important to me because of the
57:40
aesthetics. And people don't realize, they
57:43
don't recognize that the aesthetics of a race car is
57:47
really important. It's a big factor, but.
57:52
You know, in the in the scheme. Of things we've got a you know,
57:55
there's other things the cars got to race better.
57:58
You know, there's a lot of other improvements, you know, that
58:02
that need to be had and they're working I mean they've they're
58:05
they're testing right now different packages and
58:08
everything at North Willsboro, you know, different teams,
58:14
different ideas. They're really trying to improve
58:20
the racing on the track, NASCAR, and they're allowing teams to,
58:25
you know, be involved in that as well.
58:27
But it's not easy. If you ask three different teams
58:31
what needs to be done, you'll get 3 different answers.
58:35
And that's it's not clear. I still think honest honestly
58:42
if. They would let me if they would
58:46
let me. Dictate a car and the things I
58:49
want to do to it and a first Test to see if we could get one
58:53
car and and a driver to drive it.
58:56
I still believe that the trailing car problem that they
59:01
have, The Dirty air problem that they have, that is bigger than
59:05
it's ever been in the in the history of the sport.
59:09
It's been growing ever since 1993 and now it's the biggest
59:13
ever. I believe.
59:15
I believe that. I believe I'm the only person
59:19
that believes that that can be be cured.
59:23
But it brings a lot of other problems up and it requires a
59:27
lot of change. And you're going to have drivers
59:30
that resist that and probably teams that resisted.
59:34
But I think I think that could be resolved or greatly improved.
59:39
But that's some. That's a bigger.
59:42
One probably than the points thing.
59:44
No one, no one wants to do that. No one wants to go in the
59:50
direction that I've been screaming since 1995, you know,
59:55
like 1995 we we had arrow push for, you know, and people are
1:00:02
tired of it. And I said we need to take
1:00:04
downforce out of these cars and Earnhardt said no, we need more
1:00:08
downforce. So we got more downforce.
1:00:12
And we just kept, you know, it's just it's it's grown since we
1:00:15
started in 90. We didn't make no downforce.
1:00:17
And there was no arrow tight. There was no dirty air.
1:00:21
There was none of that. Didn't you?
1:00:23
Say around 93 or something at Martinsville that you were arrow
1:00:27
tight and everybody thought you were insane, thought I'd lost my
1:00:29
mind. And I'm like, I'm telling you
1:00:32
behind cars, I can, I'm tighter. I can tell it at Martinsville,
1:00:36
at Martinsville. And nobody believed that Arrow
1:00:39
made a difference. And I'm like, it makes a
1:00:42
difference if the car's moving, you know?
1:00:45
It may not make as big. A difference at 30 miles an hour
1:00:48
as it does at 150, but it does make a difference.
1:00:52
And so I can't get anybody to even talk about the downforce
1:00:58
level because they've they've tried, well, the short track
1:01:02
package is greatly, you know, greatly less downforce than
1:01:07
their big track package. And then they tried, they've
1:01:11
tried without this, the diffuser.
1:01:14
Drivers say they can't tell. They've tried all kinds of
1:01:17
things. Driver says they can't tell.
1:01:20
But you know, when you take downforce away, it's going to be
1:01:23
hard for drivers say, yeah, that's what we want.
1:01:27
It's just I've no. Driver I know, but but so
1:01:32
anyway, that's a long story, but I don't know I've got to think
1:01:36
about this a long time before I take, you know, tackle the next
1:01:40
thing because there's it's it's like wrestling a bear.
1:01:45
Well, enjoy the win. Before I wrap things up, we're
1:01:48
at about an hour. Anything else you guys want to
1:01:50
get off your chest before we say goodbye?
1:01:53
Looking forward to next week. Yeah, I'm sure Matt, Matt will
1:01:56
come up with some great stuff. Yeah, and Matt'll have some.
1:01:59
More great vintage classic NASCAR stories, which I I love
1:02:03
that format. I think people love it as well.
1:02:05
I did lie though, because I want to I want to finish on one last
1:02:09
thing And and Matt and I did talk about this off air.
1:02:13
I'm I'm going to read a a tweet from Ryan McGee because you guys
1:02:18
saw Ryan Blaney had the mustache at the announcement and Ryan
1:02:21
McGee says this is his tweet. Ryan McGee, ESPN reporter Big
1:02:26
thanks to Ryan Blaney for leaving the 1897 spring training
1:02:30
game between the Cleveland Spiders and Boston Bean Eaters
1:02:33
to attend today's NASCAR announcement.
1:02:36
Matt, you said he he looked like, what, an old soldier or
1:02:39
something? Yeah.
1:02:40
I mean, I really. Thought that I saw a photo of
1:02:43
dad talking to Ryan before the announcement and I mean, I
1:02:48
thought he was a Prussian officer that had traveled there
1:02:52
after his victory over the French to be at the, you know,
1:02:55
NASCAR, you know, points announcement.
1:02:57
So I mean, I, I'm extremely envious of his ability to grow
1:03:02
hair. I mean, it's just I seriously,
1:03:06
I've never seen anything like that outside of the 19th
1:03:10
century. I mean, if he if he wore a
1:03:13
military uniform from that time period, you would think, yeah,
1:03:16
that he just stepped out of the time into our time.
1:03:19
It's fantastic. It is it make no.
1:03:22
Mistake. We love Ryan Blaney.
1:03:25
Oh yeah, and and we are not picking at or making fun at all.
1:03:30
Sure. Yeah, big.
1:03:32
Fans of Ryan and I mean, I'm, I'm going to call that look,
1:03:36
Otto Von Blaney and Otto AUTO Auto Von.
1:03:40
But I mean, it's like, dude, it's awesome.
1:03:42
Yeah, I love it. That's awesome.
1:03:45
Perfect way to end the show there.
1:03:46
Episode 2 of the the Mark Martin archive talking about the
1:03:50
points. Mark Martin, he got his win.
1:03:54
I know the the 36, we'll talk about that later, but you got to
1:03:57
win and I'm happy for you. I think NASCAR fans are happy
1:04:01
for you as well. So great job and good show guys.
1:04:05
We'll see you next week. Thanks.
1:04:07
Thank you. Thanks Sir.