Latest / Throttle to the Floor Podcast / Ep. 85 - NASCAR (Fall Kansas), NHRA (Rockingham), High Limit (4-Crown Nats + Kokomo) + Late Models (Martinsville) Recap

Transcript

Ep. 85 - NASCAR (Fall Kansas), NHRA (Rockingham), High Limit (4-Crown Nats + Kokomo) + Late Models (Martinsville) Recap · Throttle to the Floor Podcast

• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey y'all, welcome to tonight's episode of the Thor Florida Podcast.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Will Ernest, uh, just myself tonight, but got another loaded episode, so let's get right into it.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll start with a quick sad note.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner in 1976 IndyCar champion Jordan Johncock passed away Monday at his home in South Branch, Michigan at 90 years old.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sad to hear there, but um some really big other news that has come out over the the last couple of days.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: We'll start with Brad Kozlowski leaving RFK racing both as a driver and as an owner after this year, but he still wants to compete in the next year, at least in terms of you know the NASCAR Cup series, although I've heard some rumors of possibly going back to a truck series operation as Kazlowski used to own a truck team, but I think Colig would be the best fit because Brad could use them to bring Dodge back the cup or even um do that and have ownership in their truck operations, so he could do both, honestly.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But what does RFK do?
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've seen John Hunter Niemenschek's name being thrown around for that third seat, but can they even afford it since remember they still have to try and find a third charter for that car because their third charter right now is being leased off um via Rickware Racing, and then that charter next year goes to the Legacy Motor Club, so yeah, and will RFK go back to just being Roush Family Racing, or will they find another investor for the team?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that's definitely something to keep an eye on.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Also, some really big news that dropped today.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: NHRA's new TV deal starting next year in 2027 with Fox Sports, CW, and Flow Racing all involved in this partnership.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Fox Sports will have the first 13 races of the season split between Fox and FS1, plus they'll also broadcast on the Fox One streaming app.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: CW will carry the final seven races of the season, which includes these 73rd US Nationals, along with all six races of the countdown, and uh it will also air on the ESPN app for those subscribers.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And Flow Racing will air all 20 races plus all qualifying sessions live, so you're able to watch that way as well.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So this basically kills off NHRA TV for the most part, but um I don't know if it fully kills off NHRA TV or if it just does it for the pro classes, but I mean you think about it, Flow Racing, it's like you get all of NHRA qualifying and then all the other programs that they have, including High Limit, Cars Tour, um, LucasOilate models, and all the stuff that they got there.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's I mean, that's huge.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this new TV deal is just huge for NHRA, a total reach of over a hundred and twenty-five million households, which is the largest in their history, and all although it's unclear how long this deal will last, NHRA and Flow Sports signed a five-year streaming uh agreement starting next year, so that'll run until 2031, which is ironic because that's how long the NASCAR television deal lasts.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So exciting news there.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Also, um first reported by Sports Business Journal, IndyCar is in serious negotiations to have a race in Barcelona, Spain as soon as next year.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Capitalizing on the popularity of Spanish driver Alex Pelot, who's won five IndyCar titles all in the last six years, including four in a row.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing has been confirmed yet or anything.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're still waiting on the back half of the IndyCar schedule because they released the first eight races already.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: But if IndyCar could pull this move off, it would be the first attempt at a race outside of North America since the canceled race in Brazil back in 2015.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: The first actual race outside of North America since Brazil two years earlier in 2013, and the first American open wheel race in Europe since Champcar ran in the Netherlands back in 2007.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been a while.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um but also on the IndyCar side of things, Christian Lungard has finally been confirmed to take over the nine-car at Chipkinassie racing next year, replacing Scott Dixon, who left for McLaren.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the worst kept secret in all of IndyCar, and it's finally out.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the question is, can anyone challenge Pillow?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know, but if anyone can, Lungard's definitely a good option.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: As last year he scored two wins in route to a third place points finish, and now Pillow and Lungard are gonna be teammates next year, but only time will tell.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see if IndyCar goes to Spain next year.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'll find out.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um got some truck series moves as well.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Jake Garcia, fresh off his maiden truck series win at Bristol, will drive for Front Row Motorsports next year, replacing Chandler Smith, who will drive the 21 for RCR in O'Reilly's next year.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Tristan McKee will drive an expanded schedule in trucks for Aspire Motorsports next year.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, he's still only 16, so he can only drive on road courses and oval tracks under 1.25 miles and legs next year, which does consist of 11 of the 25 events next year in the 2027 FedEx freight truck series season.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, it feels weird to say that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um McKee, he's already run three truck races, all three of them inside the top ten, with an eighth at Richmond, a sixth at New Hampshire, and then a fifth at Bristol.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: He still has uh Phoenix and Martinsville to run, um, at least in the truck this year, and then we'll see how many truck events he runs next year.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I wouldn't be surprised if he runs um all eleven of the road course and short track events, which those 11 events are uh St.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Petersburg, both Bristol races, North Wilkesboro, Lime Rock Park, uh IRP, Bowman Gray, Canadian Tire, New Hampshire, Phoenix, and Martinsville.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is unclear if uh McKee will run another ARCA East or even full ARCA campaign, but regardless, this is definitely good for him and for his uh development.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: As it's widely rumored that Michael McDowell at Spire in in the cup side of things is gonna retire and then um hand his seat over to Tristan McKee.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: But we still got a few years to get to that pipeline.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Also, speaking of ARCA-wise, JGR, Joe Gibbs racing, they are shutting down their ARCA program after the ARCA West race in Phoenix on October 17th.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did not see that coming.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh unclear what this will mean for Max Reeves going forward, so something to watch there.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, the Cars Tour announced that their season opener for 2027 will take place on February 6th at Cletus McFarland's Freedom Factory in Bradenson, Florida, with Cletus, Dale Jr., Kevin Harvick, and others all competing.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Such a great move for the Cars Tour, not only expanding to other places in the southeast, this will be the farthest south that they've been in kind of this new era of the Cars Tour.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: The previous was um last year they were at Cordillo Motor Speedway in South Georgia.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you also get lots of exposure with Cletus being involved, especially since, well, it's his track, the owns.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: But um speaking of late models, the late models they were in Martinsville this past weekend, the final leg of the Virginia Triple Crown of late models short track racing.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Caden Quaple led, coming in with a 3.5 average finish after a sixth at South Boston and a win at Langley in the first two legs.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he went on to win Martinsville too, securing his first grandfather clock, just like um older brother Carson Quappel, who of course drives full-time in the rallies, but he got his um Valley Star Credit Union 300 win two years ago in Martinsville.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now younger brother Caden does the same thing.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um Caden also gets his first Virginia Triple Crown in the process, just the fourth time ever.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The Virginia Triple Crown winner won Martinsville and the Virginia Triple Crown the same year.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Corey Heim went on to finish second, but that's not what we were that's not what we remember.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: We remember Corey Haim for uh the post-race wreck with Traydon Lapsevich, who finished third, and then Haim was jumped at the famous Martinsville hot dog stand, which resulted in numerous penalties for the Chad Bryant racing crew, which fielded the 77 car that Levovich drove.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: The most severe of these penalties was put against team owner Chad Bryant, who was fined$2,000 suspended indefinitely from NASCAR, suspended from the 2027 Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville, will be under NASCAR probation for a year.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And Bryant must also complete anger management training through NASCAR's approved program.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: That is rough.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Haim hasn't commented directly on the fight, but did share on X that he acquired the sign from the hot dog stand where the fight occurred and put it in his office next to his Martinsville grandfather clock that he won in the truck series in April of 2023, and I would presume also next to his clock from last fall that he won as well.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um in the trucks.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's just you can't see it in the picture, it's probably out of frame somewhere.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: But on to the dirt side of things now.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: We got the four crown nationals.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they were at Eldora this past weekend, or excuse me, Eldora this past weekend had the four crown nationals, saw high limit, and all three divisions of USAC, wingless sprint car, midget, and silver crown cars compete over two nights.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan Tims in High Limit, Briggs Danner, Wingless Sprint Car, and Kevin Thomas Jr.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: in midget won the prelim features, and then Rico Abraham High Limit, Kyle Cummins and Wingless Sprint Car, Jacob Boxell and Midget, and Days and Persley in Silver Crown won the Saturday night finales.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: High Limit notably, this gives Rico his eighth win of the year, his sixth four-crown nationals win, including third in a row with High Limit, which ranks fourth all time, and it's a series extending 33rd career high limit win.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: He tries to secure his second straight High Limit series championship.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Gio Celsi's trying all he can, though.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: He knocked back-to-back runner-ups at Eldora this past Friday and Saturday, but then High Limit finally got Kokomo, and it was rained out Wednesday night, so then they moved it um to Sunday, but it was worth the wait.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Tanner Holmes dominated, led all 35 laps for just his second career high limit victory after winning at Shelby County, Iowa back in June.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: This was also the finale of the Rotovur midweek series with Brent Marks securing the title by 15 points over Aaron Reitzel and getting a$25,000 payday.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Also notable Chase Randall finishing second, his best career high limit finish, and Dason Persley fresh off his silver crown win in Eldora finishing third, those three, Holmes at 22, Randall at 22, and Persley at 21 combined to set a new record for the youngest podium in high limit history.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you go beyond that to Casey Jedrizek, who's 21 and Justin Peck, who's 28, those five extend to create the youngest top five in high limit history as well.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: But Rico still leads the championship.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: He is in full control with four races to go by 116 points over Geo Celsi, who ran Aaron Reitzel down this week for second in points.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right till still sits third in points, 117 back, but back on the uh pavement now.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: NHRA wise, they were in Rockingham this past weekend for the inaugural NHRA Nationals at the Rock race two of the countdown to the championship.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy how next year it's gonna be all on the CW.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's wild.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um but Rockingham was also the fourth and final new event this year in NHRA's 75th anniversary season after events at South Georgia, Maryland, and Michigan.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we saw a sweep of those new events in top fuel.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sean Langdon did it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: He completed the sweep by winning all four new tracks on the NHRA schedule.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Rockingham, though, on a whole shot, as Langdon ran a 373-9 at 342.73 miles an hour, Rockingham's first 340 mile an hour run.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um had a 024 reaction time to beat teammate Doug Coletta's quicker 372-2 at 330.40 miles an hour.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Coletta only had a 52 reaction time, which resulted in Langdon winning at the line by just 11,000ths of a second.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Langdon's seventh win of the year, third in a row, the second time this year that he's done that, and his 29th career win.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Two crazy stats.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: For one, um Langdon, as we mentioned, he's won all four new events that NHRA ran this year, but in three of them, he beat teammate Doug Coletta.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And two, probably the even crazier stat, Langdon and Coletta have combined to win 11 of the 16 top fuel events this year.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Langdon with seven, Coletta with four, including every event since Norwalk in June when Matty Gordon took her first career top field win.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's been three months since somebody other than it than Coletta Motorsports has won a top field race, which is just wild.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: But Langdon and Coletta have driven away from the rest of the field in points already after two countdown races.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Langdon, after winning both Michigan uh last week and then Rockingham this past weekend, has a 25-point lead on Coletta, but then it's a whopping 155 points back to Tony Stewart in third, who was upset in round one at Rockingham on Sunday by Clay Milliken.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um although Coletta does enter St.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Louis this weekend and Dallas in two weeks, um as the defending event winner of both.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So if anybody can challenge Langdon for this championship, it's Doug who's trying to win his third top field world title in four years after previous titles in 2023 and last year.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Funny car-wise, Matt Hagen went to his fourth straight final round and picked up his second win in that timestamp, collecting his fourth win of the year and 59th career win over Paul Lee in a rematch of the 2008 Ice Ray final at Rockingham.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: The last time Rockingham had nitro cars there.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and Hagen also won that.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Hagen went 392-2 at 327.75 miles per hour to Bess Lee, who was ahead up till half track, but then smoked the tires, got sideways, about hit the wall, and had to click it off.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But um Hagen now has firm control of the points lead in a funny car class where control seems hard to come by.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um Hagen's now got an 84-point lead over Jordan Vandegurf and a 106-point lead over J.R.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tow, which is four races to go.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And bad news for Funny Car, Hagen enters St.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Louis as the defending winner as he tries to secure that fifth funny car world title, which would only make him the second ever to reach that mark after, of course, the GOAT John Forrest with 16 funny car titles.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: But in Pro Stock, Elite Motorsports stays a perfect two for two to start the countdown.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: This time with Aaron Stanfield taking his second win of the season over first time finalist Cody Anderson, son of six-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Stanfield went um 653-7 at 210.48 miles per hour to beat Anderson's 652-5 at 209.99 miles per hour on a whole shot with the 019 light for career win number eight and the pro stock points later as he now leads Matt Hartford by 31 points, and reigning world champion Dallas Glen by 39 points.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And in ProStock Motorcycles, reigning world champion Richard Gatson beating teammate Gage Herrera with a 678-9 and 199.65 miles per hour after Gage went 18,000th red at the starting line.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Gatson's third win of the year and seventh rear win as Gatson leads Herrera by 64 points and Matt Smith by 81 points.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: As we already kind of preluded to earlier, NHRA returns this weekend for the third race of the countdown with the Napa Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals in St.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's this year's NFL on Fox adjacent broadcast last year.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was Dallas, and it made over 2 million viewers.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was NHRA's most viewed television broadcast ever.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure they're definitely gonna try and hope for a repeat on that and hope they can get them kind of numbers next year with that beautiful new television deal.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: That television deal is gonna be so great for NHRA.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um but St.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Louis is also the final race of a three race in a row gauntlet to start the countdown after St.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: They'll get a week off and then head to Dallas in mid-October.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: But on to Kansas now.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: We'll start with the Arca Championship.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Arca had their uh championship Friday night.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jake Bowman led Thomas Annunziata by 16 points, entering Kansas in a 27 car field.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it was definitely looking improbable for Anunziata after multiple scuffles by the Nitro Motorsports teammates that uh each sent the other one spinning.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Bowman still looked poised for the Arca title until Will Kimmel broke loose in front of him in turn three and collected Bowman, which gave him heavy damage.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bullman would end up returning but couldn't get any higher than 21st at the end.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And with Annunziata managing to finish fifth, the two actually tied in points, but the tiebreaker happened to be wins.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Bullman had zero wins.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Annunziata had one win at Lime Rock Park back in July, so Thomas Annunziata won the Arca title by literally the skin of his teeth.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Carson Brown will go on to win the race as well on the last slap pass of Gio Ruggero, which is ironic now since Ruggiero was in Juggins Racing's 18 car, and like we mentioned at the top of the show.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: JGR shutting their ARCA program down after the Arca raca west race in Phoenix next month, so yeah, irony there.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: But on to the truck series.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: This race was pretty normal throughout the first half, but then more rain came just past halfway.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: But NASCAR chose to stick it out for over four and a half hours.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: If they didn't, then we'd be talking about Grant Enfinger winning his second race of the season after winning at Lime Rock back in July.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, the race came back green.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Enfinger ended up blowing a tire and then being penalized for intentionally bringing out the caution, and he goes on to finish 31st, five laps down.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: But aside from the weather and that whole debacle, uh Caden Honeycut dominated this race, sweeping the stages and leading 111 of the 134 laps on the way to his third career win, all of them coming this year.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Honeycut's only real challenge came late in the race as Lane Riggs was second trying to hunt him down, but got into the wall trying to chase him down, and Riggs plummeted to 19th just in the final two laps.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Christian Eckis ran second, Brent Cruz third, Daniel Henrick fourth, Ben Rhodes completed the top five.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Honeycutt with the win now leads Riggs by 37 points and Chandler Swift by 71 points.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Smith finished in sixth.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: However, did not score any stage points, and Honeycutt the points leader won both of them.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So big um big difference there.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Our updated picks and standings.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have taken the truck series points lead.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: It only took me to like race 20 on the year to finally get the truck series points lead.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I literally I I mean five races ago I was in a 122-point deficit and I've ripped off two wins since then.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: But um got a 14-point lead over Evan, 46 point lead over Stacy, 54 point lead over Haley.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we are all in this truck series championship.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's gonna come down to the wire, this truck series title, which is ironic because at the start of the year it was like not even close to that, but uh I guess it's just how things end up.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Noah's turning 12 back, Bernardo's turning 49 back, Zayn's turning 66 back, Ethan's 368 back.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Our picks-wise, I did pick Honeycutt, so I secured the win, led 111 laps, led the most laps.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: Evan with Grant Enfinger, he's probably kicking himself that NASCAR restarted the race.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, uh Evan would have got the win with Nfinger and would have still had the points lead, but NASCAR restarted the race, and setting bias aside, I'm glad NASCAR restarted the race.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Kansas has lights, you know, so like at least NASCAR put in the effort to try and restart it.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, it took four and a half hours, but it's better than them just sitting there for 20 minutes and then just calling it, you know.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good thing that they put in effort, and I feel like they should always do that.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they should always try and make the maximum effort to try and get the race, the whole race in.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's just me.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Haley picked Challenger Smith, as we mentioned, finished sixth, but didn't score any stage points.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Stacey with Stuart Friesen ended up 21st.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Noah with Daniel Henrick ends up fourth.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's Noah's first truck series top five.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a miracle.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ethan with Ben Rhodes ended up fifth, led three laps, and the same with Lane Riggs, ended up 19th, also led three laps.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Lane Riggs, um, what a tough start.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: What a tough start to the chase.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um had that bad run at Bristol with the pit stop and then the damage, and then uh here at Kansas, you know, could have rode it out.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: To a second place finish and maintain the gap.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but instead um plummets over the last two laps after getting into the wall, ends up nineteenth, so just bad awareness by Lane Riggs these first two races of the chase, and now Honeycutt's just driving away.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we go uh the truck series goes to Charlotte in a couple weeks, and um Riggs and Honeycutt finished one-two in that race, so that's gonna be fun to watch.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: But cup side of things, it it seems like when the cup cars come to Kansas, it's either an amazing finish or it's a Kyle Larson dominating win, take everybody behind the woodshed kind of race.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: This past Sunday we got the latter as Larson led 235 of the 267 laps on Sunday to set a new track record and scores second win of the year, both coming in the last three races.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth win at Kansas, which ties Hamlin for the most all time, and 34th career win, which ties Kurt Bush and Martin Trix Jr., sadly, for 26th all time.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to think.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Will Kyle Larson go on a run like 2011 Tony Stewart?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you think about it, you know, Stewart was winless entering the 2011 chase, ripped off five wins, and then won the championship over Carl Edwards on a tiebreaker based on wins, because Stewart had five wins and Carla just won.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that was Stewart's third championship.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Larson's trying to get a third championship.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean there there's some similarities, but it's definitely early.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: We still got six more chase races to go, but Larson's definitely in the catbird seat.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: He swept the stages uh at Kansas and was pretty much untouchable until the last 50 laps of this race.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: As Chase Briscoe started to close in, and then after the last set of pit stops where Larson saw Briscoe pitting and dived in front of him from the top lane off of onto Pit Road, I don't know how that worked.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um But it was definitely a great call by Cliff Daniels to bring Larson down at the same time as Briscoe seeing Briscoe pit and then um pitting with him.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: But Briscoe ran down Larson and passed him for the lead with 30 to go, which up to that point, Larson's car had not been good late in a run or good in traffic, and he had to navigate both.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um I thought Briscoe was gonna rain r uh uh run away with it, but Briscoe's car got tight in traffic, and Larson managed to retake the lead with seven laps to go.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Briscoe would go on to get in the wall a bit and fade back a little bit, not as bad as Riggs in the truck race, but um Briscoe would go on to finish fourth.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Austin Cindrick with a great drive to finish in second, wasn't even like a lucky second.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: He ran top five all day long, finished second and third in the stages, like my goodness.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it was his first ever top ten at Kansas, and it's his first top ten in a mile and a half since a sixth place finish at Vegas in the spring last year.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's been like a year and a half since he's finished top ten in a mile and a half, and he goes out and rips off a second.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Austin Cindrick was the best Penske car all day, and he closed to Larson within about half a second.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I think if you give Sindrick another five laps in that race, I genuinely think we'd be talking about Austin Cindrick, your winner at Kansas, but nope.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Larson managed to hang on and complete his dominating day.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Denny Hamlin would finish in third.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow Ryan Blaney's pit strategy managed to get him back to fifth.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Good recovery after a blown Blake Rotor at Gateway and a wreck plus fight at Bristol the past two weeks.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Tyler Reddick, I mean, what happened?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he ran like 30th the whole opening stage, but then he had gotten his car good enough uh via adjustments to where by stage three uh he was breaking inside the top five until the last set of pit stops where um his prick crew dropped the left front wheel knot, had an atrocious 18-second pit stop, and mind you in this race we saw the new record fastest pit stop by Chase Briscoe's pit crew, it was like 8.57 seconds or something insane.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean 18-second pit stop is just awful.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: But Reddick would go on to finish 11th in this race after winning at Kansas back in the spring, which still sits as his most recent victory currently.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: But this was supposed to be a big opportunity for Reddick to get back on track, and instead he ends up losing points, now sitting 111 points back in seventh.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Also, a big stack up on the restart in the middle of this race is Carson Hospar, Bubba Wallace, and others end up wrecking after a nudge from Brad Keslowski on the restart.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Some people say it's payback from Hospar spinning Brad at Darlington, but I don't think so.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just push has gone wrong, that's all.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're tracking at home, or if you care about this stat, whether or not you actually care, Tavitha came back to the track to watch Hostar race, and he ends up getting damage from the restar wreck and finishes down in 33rd.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: So do with that as you will, do with that information as you will.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've been saying this for weeks now, and whether you like it or not, it's still true.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: But Larson extends his points lead to 26 over Hamlin and by 50 points over Christopher Bell as we had to Las Vegas next week.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: All three have done very well in Vegas.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hamlin's won the last two cup races at the track.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Larson won the O'Reilly's race back in March and has three Vegas Cup wins to his name, uh, on his own.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And Bell has four pulls at Vegas plus two runner-ups, but he's still looking for that first cup win in Vegas as well.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our updated picks and standings, I still lead the cup standings by 189 over Haley, 334 over Evan, 421 over Stacy, 686 over Bernardo, 721 over Noah, 732 over Ethan, 838 over Zane.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: Picks wise, I did pick Larson, won the race, led 235 laps, his most laps, and got the fastest lap.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: My thought process was well, I picked Larson back in the spring.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: He almost won that race, finished second after Redick passed him last lap, last corner.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And um two things.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, redemption, because I knew Larson would be looking for redemption after Kansas in the spring, but also looking for redemption after Chicagoland in July, the last time we ran out a mile and a half, where Larson ran really good until uh he was uh sideways in the grass and wrecked the car.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So and we knew that he had made um some good gains to his car, and so um that's that's why I picked him.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I had faith, and there we go.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Went out and dominated the race, extending my points lead.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Evan with Carson Ospar ends up 30-30, tried to make it three wide for the lead um on Larson and Logano on lap one, about wrecked Hosamar on lap one, but that allowed Larson to just lead and uh pretty much didn't relinquish the lead except for pit stops until about thirty to go.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So uh thanks hosar, I guess.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't know.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hosvar's just got some really bad luck, but I mean I I wouldn't even call it bad luck, it's more like voodoo at this point.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Haley with Ryan Blainey ended up fifth.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow that pit strategy worked, uh stayed out on the track longer and it worked out, I guess.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um good result for Planey.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Stacy with William Byron, uh just a quiet seventh place run, you know, just meh.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's better than nothing, I guess.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Noah with Chris Busher ended up twenty-third.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ethan with Denny Hamlin ended up third.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, good run for Hamlin, but he ends up losing points to Larson.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean Hamlin Hamlin's gonna have to hope for a third win in a row at Las Vegas next week to try and get himself back into the championship or um flip flip the result of uh the points lead and send Larson back to second.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll see.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: If Hamlin could win three in a row in Vegas, it'd only be the second time that that's happened after um Jimmy Johnson won three in a row at Vegas from 2005 to 2007.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: And same with Chase Elliott, ended up eighth, just kinda like Byron, just a quiet day, you know.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Good day, but quiet day.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh lastly, welcome back to Hot Sauce Hurricane.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Gio Selzi, as we mentioned earlier, ran down Aaron Reitzel for second in high limit points after finishes of second, second, and seventh at Eldor and Coconut this past weekend.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: But now Selzi, he still sits 116 back of Rico Aver for the points lead with only four races left.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: So he probably won't catch him.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not impossible, but probably won't catch him.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: But can Selzi hang on to second?
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Luckily, High Limit will be at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City for two nights, October 9th and 10th, and Selzy scored a$50,000 win there back in 2023 with High Limit for his first career high limit win.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see if he can build on that and try and give Spider M Spider Motorsports brand new High Limit sprint car team a runner-up finished in the standings, despite Rico and Reitzel having a combined 18 wins this year.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Rico with eight, Reitzel with 10, to Celsius one victory, which was back at the Bob Wekker Memorial for$100,000 at Port Royal back in July.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and for Carson Husband, man, I'm not I'm not even sure what else to say at this point.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, sure, Kansas wasn't really his fault because that restart Greg was just a racing deal, at least in my opinion, but yet another sub-30th place finish now leads him 11th in points, 150 back in the lead.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's two whole races behind Larson for the points lead, with only six races left to run this year.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would say Hospar is just trying to have fun at this point, but he didn't even run Flow Racing Night in America in the dirt late model last Wednesday at Lincoln Park Speedway in Indiana, probably because Fire wants him to focus on his day job, but I don't know.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: I digress, but that'll do it for tonight's episode of the Thor Ford Podcast.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you tune in, listen, watch, and download on Spotify Podcast users.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Check out the chill photography and Thor 4 podcast, Instagrams, and TikToks, and we'll see you all next time.