S1: Episode 14: The Boys Go Bowling

Speaker 0 00:00:00 <silence> Speaker 1 00:00:05 This is Ray Rowdy Racing with Caleb Conrady and Dawson Edwards. Speaker 2 00:00:11 Good morning, beautiful people. Yo Yoyo, yo. Rowdy racing. How we doing, Dawson? How we doing? We're back again. I'm good, man. I'm gonna go ahead and apologize up front. I got a, uh, stuffy nose. I've, uh, Caleb had to gimme some medicine this weekend on the road. I I just have like a, I don't know, I just stopped up. Got some ear. Yeah. Ear stoppage and nose stoppage going on. Yeah. It's one of the rare days you never get sick. Yeah. I told Lindsay, I was like, I think I'm actually sick. <laugh>. Yeah. We, you never, ever get sick. We have a, uh, we have a running joke in our friend group. We called Austin the Cockroach. 'cause there's nothing that could ever get him down. Nothing's ever gonna kill Austin. He is completely immune to everything. There goes Rams, Rams in the background. The, the mailman's here, the Mailman's here. Speaker 2 00:00:58 Be quiet. Yeah. I just saw him go by that. She, she, so the couch is, uh, sits right here in front of the window and her spot is on the back of the couch and she just, it's, she cracks up. I've never met a dog like this one that just sits and watches. Like, she, like, we sit on the porch like almost every night. She just sits on the steps and just watches everything happen when she's here during the day. Just observing. Yeah. When I'm here during the day or she's here by herself and like during the day there, like I said, that couch is over there. She sits on the back of the couch. It's right at the window and she just watches and it's so funny. Yeah. She'd be a, she'd be a great watch dog if she wasn't the size of a boiled peanut. Speaker 2 00:01:36 I mean, yeah, she's, she's eight pounds <laugh>, eight pound guard dog. I'm surprised at eight. I'm surprised at eight, man. I honestly would've thought like four, three maybe. I think Lindsay's I think it's eight. I think I could, I could be wrong about that. I don't know. I think it's Rams. Well, heck yeah. But yeah, you were, you weren't feeling a little bit poorly on that. I can't remember if it was the first day or the second day that we got up and you're, that was the second day we were out on the road. 'cause this was a brutal run and being sick on top of it. I can't even imagine that would, that would've really sucked. Yeah, it was. Uh, yeah. I don't know what the deal is, but yeah. I am the cockroach, so I never get sick. I never really have any issues, but something's got my nose a little messed up and I just kind of just felt not great all weekend. Speaker 2 00:02:19 And then, like you said, on top of the, the crazy weekend we had, of all the shows being outside, we were in Florida, it's a hundred degrees in August. It's rained at two of them. I mean, I'm glad to be home. I'm glad to be home too. I was texting Allison on the last day just saying, I'm so tired. We got on the phone and we were talking and I just had zero energy left. We had, like you said, it was been raining hot. Leroy, our steel player actually looked at me at one point and he was like, I bet you lost like five pounds, man. 'cause every time I see you, you look like you just stepped outta the shower. You're soaking wet <laugh>. It was, it was rough man. It was real rough. Yeah. It's just, I mean, you know, that's what playing outdoor shows in Florida in August will get you just soaked, you know, literally from soaked from sweat and also soaked from the rain. We had, uh, the first show we were in, uh, cocoa Beach, that's where we were. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:03:14 Dude, Speaker 2 00:03:15 During the day, it just comes a turd, floater, Myrtle Beach again. We've, we've gotten, we've been Myrtle Beach last week in Ohio. Myrtle Beach again in, uh, cocoa Beach. And we've gotten a lot better at covering everything up. Like Bud said, I wish we we could get rusty at that. But we're, we're, we're got, uh, the and up thing figured out Speaker 3 00:03:38 In the words of Josh Hammonds, you only get caught with your pants down once. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:03:42 <laugh>. I love that that saying is brought up on this podcast weekly. Speaker 3 00:03:46 It, it should. And Speaker 2 00:03:47 That's one of those, uh, you know, I used to call Speaker 3 00:03:49 Joshs dad. It be some, yeah. Uh, dude, Speaker 2 00:03:51 That's, that's a dad quote from Josh. Speaker 3 00:03:54 There's some, there's some NASCAR drivers that could definitely hear that, that should definitely hear that quote. You only get caught with your pants down once 'cause we're gonna talk about it here coming up later once we're off the trip crew stuff. But there's a few drivers out there that been getting caught with their pants down multiple times the last few weeks. And they have, we're about running out of pants to put 'em back on 'em. Speaker 2 00:04:12 And it always involves pit road. Always. Speaker 3 00:04:14 It does. But yeah, it was, it was hot, it was sweaty. I mean, we got, we got everything set up and two, the, the first two days this week it was just hot. We're sweating our ass off. We're in this truck or we're out on the stage. We have almost no roof. And so the sun's just beating down on you the whole time. And both days it just starts raining right in the middle of the afternoon. And it's like, what do you do? You just have to cover everything up. We pushed our sound checks forward. The band hardly even got the check. That was, man, I would just not rather go back to Florida in August. I don't mind Florida. I enjoy going down there. But Florida, you in the middle of the summer like that. God dang man. It's just brutal. Speaker 2 00:04:53 We should totally just play indoors. Speaker 3 00:04:56 Yeah, absolutely. Somebody get derman on the phone. We gotta tell him next year we're coming in like October or something. Late September maybe. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:05:06 Anything that's just either indoor, I just, why can't we just come indoors or play at a fucking real venue. <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:05:11 Yeah. Of all the beautiful venues across America. As, as Derek Parker said, we said, Speaker 2 00:05:16 Had we had a great, uh, quote Derek said this week, it was like this, or no, not Derek Jimmy said this. He says, we're on the parks and Rec tour. Speaker 3 00:05:24 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:05:25 I mean, that's how it felt, man. The Parks and Rec tour. That's it. We were on the Parks and Rec tour and I was just like, that couldn't be more true. Speaker 3 00:05:32 That is exactly what it was. I mean, we played two parks and one amphitheater and the two parks. One of them has shows fairly often. The other one should never have a show in it, ever. It was nothing there. And the third one actually an amphitheater, but by the time he got there, it's just like, oh my God, I'm just so tired of this. I can't do it anymore. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:05:53 The la the last show was cool. It was at National amphitheater and the crowd was, was great. Like that was, that was, if we could have played three of those and totally covered, yeah, it would've been a lot different when you're, even when you're outside, but you're totally covered. It's like, okay, not so bad. Speaker 3 00:06:07 Yeah. You can deal with this. It's like, God dang man. It was, I'm just, I'm so glad I'm home. I'm so glad that we are not on the road for three or four days so we could just recover. I don't even know where we're going next week. I think it's like Wisconsin and Iowa, like some really out there shows up in the, uh, the Midwest. Two, two in Speaker 2 00:06:24 W Midwest, Wisconsin. One in Iowa. That's where we're headed. Speaker 3 00:06:27 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:06:28 Long drive, dude. We got long drives on the way back home. Way back home. Speaker 3 00:06:33 Yeah. So we gotta, I think this is our last like really, really hardcore long drive one until we have that two week run at the end of September so that Speaker 2 00:06:42 We got a solid 15 days off after these three shows. Speaker 3 00:06:46 I need 'em, I need 'em. I need 'em bad. I need, maybe I can Speaker 2 00:06:49 Finish moving in. Speaker 3 00:06:51 Yeah, me too, man. I'm still looking around my podcast studio, everything. Like it's still blank up here. I still have nothing hanging. I can hear the reverb of the room and my microphone. I still got all my stuff just laying across the ground. There's just been no chance. I'm actually about to get the cut our lawn for the first time this week even. Yeah. I'm Speaker 2 00:07:08 Just got outta Speaker 3 00:07:09 Over last week and I'm, I'm ready to, I'm ready to get out there and sweat a little bit more mowing a lawn. At least I'll sweat for myself this time. Speaker 2 00:07:17 Yeah. I'm fresh out of the shower. I mowed grass early this morning 'cause man you can't, it's supposed to literally be a hundred degrees here this week, so you can't uh, you can't mow grass in a hundred degrees, so you really can't get up eight eight in the morning and get out there and the grass is still wet. But mowing wet grass is better than mowing grass in a hundred degrees Speaker 3 00:07:37 Straight up man. <laugh>. It's either wet grass or wet. You <laugh>. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:07:40 There's no in between. Well I feel like I jumped out of a swimming pool, but it just wasn't as bad as it could have been, you know? Speaker 3 00:07:47 Yeah. Dang. I'm just excited. I haven't mowed grass in a few years and I miss it dearly. I've been living in apartments and dude, I, my last landowners had had the grass mowed for us. So it's like, man, I'm, I'm excited. I'm ready. I feel you. I probably will change my tune as soon as I'm done, but at least right now, I'm excited about it. Speaker 2 00:08:06 I was so pumped up to mow grass. That sounds so dumb. I know, but I was so pumped up. 'cause me and you both, you know, the last eight, 10 years, we haven't mowed grass and uh, like to explain that to someone, they're like, what? And then it's, but they just, you know, most people don't understand, but to, to city Speaker 3 00:08:22 Living man. Speaker 2 00:08:24 Yeah. It just sucks dude. And that now, uh, we're both out in the middle of nowhere and it's great. You can mow grass, you can, you know, do whatever. Like I tell you all the time, you can't even go more than like 15, 20 miles an hour on my road. Here comes the mailman again. I bet I right hear a bark going back the other way. That's Speaker 3 00:08:40 Hilarious. Um, that's amazing. But you Speaker 2 00:08:42 Can't go more than 15, 20 miles an hour down this road and it is just awesome. Speaker 3 00:08:48 Hell yeah. That's awesome. And I Speaker 2 00:08:49 Really, man, and same with you. You're you're way out in the middle of B f E too. Speaker 3 00:08:53 We are, we are on kind of a major roadway though, so we do have quite a bit of traffic coming across our nose. But luckily our driveway, Speaker 2 00:08:59 You're big on that, uh, that country hospitality out there, Speaker 3 00:09:03 That country hospitality. Oh man, we got a lot of it. People are friendly around here. Oh man. Ain't gotta worry about nothing. Speaker 2 00:09:10 Ain't gotta worry about nothing out there in Centerville. Speaker 3 00:09:12 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:09:14 I need to tell Lindsay that story and my family. You really do. They'll get a kick outta that when they listen to this. What were you talking about? I was like, I'll tell y'all <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:09:22 Yeah, we'll we'll save it for another day and a few more beers. We'll Speaker 2 00:09:25 Save that for off the pod. Speaker 3 00:09:27 Yeah. Off the pod conversations. But speaking of mowing grass, y'all, we had a really good day at Watkins Glen and when I talk mowing grass, I'm talking about Daniel Suarez in the beginning of the race, just plowing it through the carousel infield right there on the exit, exit of the bus stop. He's mowed more grass in the last 24 hours than I've mowed in the last four years. So gotta give him a little bit of credit. He's doing everything i I wanna do with my life Speaker 2 00:09:54 That I must've missed that it must've happened early 'cause I missed the first like Yeah. Two laps of the race, like, or no, it's like it real early, it like five or six laps of the race. Speaker 3 00:10:02 It was real early. Yeah. He, uh, coming outta the bus stop, I mean, it's got a, it it was the first handful of laps all of a sudden you just see, uh, yeah. Speaker 2 00:10:09 So I, I didn't see, Speaker 3 00:10:10 You know how Dale Jr does? He freaks out whenever something's happening right in front of him. So he did that and it was Daniel sores just coming through that bus stop and hitting the third curb of it and just having a weird bounce of his car and it went left and he was trying to zag right. And all of a sudden he's just doing a half spin into the grass going into that carousel. So Yeah, I barely Speaker 2 00:10:30 Hit, I didn't even see that on social media. I, I completely missed that completely. It Speaker 3 00:10:34 Wasn't like the biggest deal in the world. He ended up getting it rolling back again and nothing really crazy happened from it, but he got lucky man if he had just come up just a little bit more. It was still so early in that run that there was tons of cars coming single file right behind him. So he was really lucky he didn't just get creamed on the driver's side coming outta that spin. Yeah. But nothing Speaker 2 00:10:53 Really Speaker 3 00:10:54 Overly conse. Go ahead. Speaker 2 00:10:57 What'd you say? Speaker 3 00:10:59 I said nothing really overly consequential at the moment with the, in terms of his car, but when you're in the position that Daniel soar is in, you can't do that. You can't, you can't afford those kind of mistakes. Speaker 2 00:11:11 So Yeah, dude. It's just be being under pressure like that at the playoff bubble. It's like every single thing you do is literally under a microscope, you know? Yeah. Speaker 3 00:11:18 And you just start thinking back to every other race that you've ran all year where you did this, you made this mistake here. Imagine if I just didn't miss out on these points here. Yep. It's like, God, the the wish you would've are stacking up strong for those around the bubble cut right now with the tie. Well, I mean, Ty Gibbs is forgiven being a rookie. I mean, there's only so much you can do, but Daniel Suarez and Bubble Wallace right now. You're good yesterday just looking down the road. Heck yeah, he did. Absolutely. Squirrel boy. Just looking down the gun. Little squirrel boy. Uh, but I guess let's, let's start at the top of our notes. We, uh, we, we write up these notes every week. What's a, what's, let's, let's take a look at 'em. But let's Speaker 2 00:11:57 Be honest, Caleb has written the notes the last two weeks completely. When we lived together. We used to get together and write the notes together. And then now Caleb has written the last two weeks completely. But see now I got this fancy computer so I might could start typing some notes in on here. Speaker 3 00:12:12 Yeah, your fancy fine mu computer man. It's a great time. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:12:16 Yeah, if y'all follow me on social media, you saw my pink case from Lindsay's College Days and Megan's, uh, flower light blue and purple case on here. I actually have a, uh, it's still in the package right in front of me, but I got a one to try to put on the front. We ordered one before, but it, it didn't fit so Speaker 3 00:12:35 Dang. Speaker 2 00:12:35 Trying to make sure we get the right one. But I think it's, it's black maybe like just solid black case. There you go. Speaker 3 00:12:43 Puter it says red. Speaker 2 00:12:45 I seem about putting like a, since it was black, maybe just putting like a big G in the middle. Speaker 3 00:12:49 I knew you were gonna say that. I knew you were gonna say that. <laugh>. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:12:53 I think if it's, if it's black, I can't remember what color it is. Like I said, it's in the box so if if if it's black I might put a G on there just, just because. Speaker 3 00:13:00 There you go. That'll work. Well uh, football Speaker 2 00:13:03 Season starts next week so we gotta get mood. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:13:06 It does. Absolutely. I totally feel you. But uh, getting back around Sunday, Watkins Glen, great race s Speaker 2 00:13:14 Fest. Speaker 3 00:13:14 I absolutely look forward to this race every single week. I have a bit of a so do I opinion? I don't think it's a snooze fest. I think the last, this is Speaker 2 00:13:22 Like our opinions on Martinsville Speaker 3 00:13:23 Exciting, but Speaker 2 00:13:24 This is like our Martinsville this year. Like I thought it was pretty cool race. Caleb hated it. But I think I'm going to have a hot take here. But if you took stages away at Martinsville in this car, I don't think they'd wreck. Don't, I think just ride around in circles, you'd have a 500 lap Martinsville race done in two hours. 'cause they wouldn't touch each other. Speaker 3 00:13:44 They wouldn't. Which is kind of what this ended up with this week with, uh, with the last 30 laps. Speaker 2 00:13:49 Uh, and that's depressing. That is sad, sad, sad, sad and depressing. Speaker 3 00:13:54 It is. Absolutely. And William Byron comes out there and snags him a good old win. I mean, it's hard to, it's hard Speaker 2 00:14:01 To. Do you think he would've won? Do you think he would've won if the 34 didn't have three screw up? Speaker 3 00:14:09 I don't think that, to be honest, I don't see why that question even needs to be asked, just because he did have those screw up smaller team comes out there. I don't think, I don't think Michael McDowell puts together a race like he did at I R P or an I R P. Goodness. Uh, the Indie Road course. There you go. Speaker 3 00:14:30 I don't think he comes out there. I'm, yeah, I'm, its early in the morning. I'm still drinking my coffee. I don't think that Michael McDowell comes out there and runs the races perfectly as he did at the Indy Road course. But once outta every 10 tries, I mean, he's, he's got a smaller team with less ability to, uh, you hear him talk on the Denny podcast the other day about the fact that they do have some equipment and they do have some ability to do things, but for them to come out and put a race together like that, I don't wanna say it was a fluke necessarily and take away all the hard work that they did, but I don't see them coming out and having those competitive days as often as someone like a Hendricks uh, someone like a Joe Gibbs. And they only really, I give Todd Gillen a lot of credit for what he's done in that 38, but they only really have one true winning capable car driver team combo. And that's in the 34. Speaker 2 00:15:19 If he could've passed yesterday, he'd have put it in the top 10. Speaker 3 00:15:22 Oh yeah. Without a doubt. If you could've passed. But passing's hard on this racetrack as, as shown by the last 30 laps. I mean, Willie B gets out in front and he gets that clean air on the nose and it takes forever to get back around to lap traffic on a road course. He had all the time in the world to just go out there and set Q laps over and over again. You hear AJ Alman dinger get outta the car and he says, man, the tires fall off so slowly. It's like you're setting Q laps every time. And even when they do start falling off, you still feel like you're setting QAPs. So they're out there running their absolute tails off and whoever's in first right now, just with the aerodynamics of this car and the how good they are on the road courses, whoever is in first has such a major advantage that yeah, even if Michael McDowell had a great race and ended up there in second, I don't have, I don't think I would've seen McDowell passing up Byron for that win, especially towards the end of the race after they've had a chance to get used to their cars. Speaker 3 00:16:16 'cause he passed Denny at the very beginning. But Denny even settled himself. I was, he was on kill mode and I was still trying to get settled in. I think by that point in the race, Willie B's out front, Willie B stays out front no matter who's behind him. And that was wild to see. Speaker 2 00:16:31 Now I just meant like if the, if the 34 didn't have the pit road issue and stayed out front, I mean he took off, he came out in front so far in front of Denny, I think he would've either came out dead even or in front of the 24 as well. So that's what I'm saying. I don't think, I don't think, I think the 34 had the best car all day until he didn't until he, until he screwed Speaker 3 00:16:52 Up until his car Speaker 2 00:16:53 Blew up. But then until his car stopped working. But even when he screwed up his, he had screw ups, but when he, even when he screwed up, he still, he could pass. 'cause he, that's when I think he had the best car. He drove all the way back from 21st all the way to ninth before the n next issue happened. So like he actually, he could pass and then he got all the way up to seventh I think at one point after all that happened. So it's like everybody talks about on social media, it's like the only guys that can pass at these type of tracks are the guys that have the cars that are head and shoulders above everybody else. So that's what made me think yesterday that his car was really head and shoulders above everybody else again. You know, and he was just gonna go, you know, all off and on it. I don't, I don't think he would've spent on pit road, but him and Denny were coming down pit road. They came down Pit Road together, they pit and come off pit road together. So they're just pushing it, pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. And then he went over and I was like, oh, well Speaker 3 00:17:48 He did the, uh, too many boxes. He had the too many boxes penalty on there. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:17:52 Didn't he speed though too? Uh, he had two pit Speaker 3 00:17:54 Row penalties. Uh, if he did, I just missed that one. I knew the, uh, Speaker 2 00:17:57 I think it might have Speaker 3 00:17:57 Too many boxes. And uh, and the uh, and the blow up at the end if there was another one. I was in the middle of doing a whole bunch of stuff yesterday, so I was kind of having to check in as I could. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:18:06 He had two, he had two yesterday. I can't remember. Yeah, he had two. I can't remember what they were. Speaker 3 00:18:12 I mean, that's either way though though. It's tough. Just like, just Speaker 2 00:18:14 Like looking Speaker 3 00:18:15 At a car, like you said, he had a phenomenal car and they definitely showed up with even more confidence than they showed up at the indie road course. But it just shows you how much execution has to play in these races, especially once they took stage breaks out of him. He said that became our opportunity. But the problem is, without stage breaks, it's also a big detriment. You put yourself in a hole and you've got a hardcore dig yourself out of it. And it's tough. It's a lot tougher when you don't have two built in Acks where you can make up a bunch of positions all at once. You're gonna have to go out there and earn 'em the hard way and the race just isn't long enough for you to have consistent mess ups across stage one, two, and three. Uh, or I guess he, he won that first stage and after that it was just stage two and three were just rough. They just, you just can't have that anymore. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:19:01 Cool for him though. 'cause he is bumped himself up above, uh, he went from obviously out of the bubble into above Ricky Stenhouse. 'cause he had a stage. Yeah. Uh, stage win. So that got him above Ricky and then he got another one. So that put him up. And then now with KZ and uh, Harvey being locked in, he's above them. So he's bump he's bumped his way up to like 12th or so in points. So he's gonna actually start to 12 in points. Yeah. He's gonna actually start the playoffs, you know, not dead last. He's gonna start the playoffs in about that 12th ish area. Speaker 3 00:19:34 Yeah, his best, the best place he's ever been in the postseason at this point. And that's awesome that watching that team build like that is incredible and we harped on 'em a lot last, last week, but they still deserve it. I mean, they had unfortunately terrible execution this week, really knocked their chances of another great race and potentially race win. Uh, but awesome to see the progress that they've made. If they can just get the races cleaned up a little bit, uh, that's gonna turn into a dangerous team, especially with the number of road courses that we have anymore. Speaker 2 00:20:07 And you got, you got the 38 and I feel like we're almost having the same conversation as we had last week, but like you just said, it's worth it to talk about them. And I think R F K they just, the the 38th finished 11th yesterday. And I loved how Denny's podcast Michael was talking about realistic expectations. Does he think they can go out there and win the championship? No. But he was like, if we can make it through this first round, which starting in 11th or 12th, he has a great opportunity starting off to make it to possibly that second, the next round. And that next round he has the Roel and Talladega. He was like, those are my two chances to make it into the next one. He was like, and if I can make it into the top eight, he's like, that's a cha, that's a win for this team is the top eight. Speaker 2 00:20:49 And I'm like, dude, that would be, that's like, that's the little man against the, the biggest, baddest teams in racing to be able to David and Goliath finagle their way into the top eight. That would be just super cool. And then I think R F K, they have just some momentum coming into the playoffs. I 1000% think they can make it. Butcher specifically can make it into the top eight almost No problem. I think Butcher is is coming. He's ready to go. Yeah. I got the R F K stuff on right here. We got the, I got some R F K sheet metal right here. Speaker 3 00:21:22 Heck yeah. I wore it today Speaker 2 00:21:23 Specifically and right over here Speaker 3 00:21:24 Because uh, we now have both the R F K cars locked into the playoffs and I absolutely love that. Speaker 2 00:21:30 Me too. Awesome. See I ate some kings Hawaiian rolls last night. We made sliders in, in honor of uh, making it in there. Them, both of them making it in there. Speaker 3 00:21:38 Yeah, we were, uh, we were driving home yesterday from, we went to our last house to go clean it up a little bit last night or uh, yesterday. As soon as I got off the bus, we're rolling back to the house during the middle of the race. I've got the race playing up there and we passed by that Mexican restaurant that y'all hated that one time coming back on the old Clarksville Pike. Allison immediately calls me and I answer, and I don't even say another word, but you want to get Mexican, don't you, <laugh>? She said, yeah. So we went over and ate Mexican after the race was over with. So I had a good few morgues and everything, so I was definitely supporting the, uh, the alcohol sponsors this week. It Speaker 2 00:22:12 Was a great time. Dana Suarez. Speaker 3 00:22:14 Heck yeah. <laugh>. Uh, so another, uh, another team that's worth noting with the standout performance this week that I honestly didn't see coming was Joe Gibbs. I mean, Toyota's been strong all years. Toyota has been strong at a little bit of everything, but road courses hasn't been one of them. The very beginning of the year, I remember at Cota we were talking about how Tyler Reddick was about the only Toyota with a road course package. And now here you go, Joe Gibbs finished his second, third, fifth and sixth. That's impressive. It really, really wild to see Denny Hamlin honestly ran second place all day long. I really think he had a second place car. He needed a rabbit to chase. Speaker 2 00:22:53 Nobody who, no matter who was there, he had a second place car. Speaker 3 00:22:57 Yep. He just needed some, he needed somebody to chase down. Denny Hamlin, I think is one of those guys that he went out there and set the pole, but once the race got started, he needed somebody to, to, to gauge himself off of, which worked out great for him. I mean, a second place finished for him at Watkins Glen, not a bad way to get close to the end of the regular season championship. Uh, he's closing in on, on Truex just a little bit, trying to see if he can pull that one away. But it's gonna be really tough. He's gonna have to have a lot of things fall his direction and that's gonna be hard to, uh, hard to predict at Daytona. But that's a track that he is phenomenal at and a Speaker 2 00:23:31 Track truex stuck. Speaker 3 00:23:32 Yeah, yeah. Suffers that we see. If Speaker 2 00:23:34 That's exactly what I was gonna say. If he can run a perfect race, some Truex runs in the back. He might, he might sneak it out. But, you know, Daytona's Daytona. But I I was gonna say, talking about Denny, I mean the dude has never, never had a pole in his whole career at a road course. He's never ran. He's not the road course guy. And he talks about like having Reddick is like, has helped him so much, just being able to look at his data and look at what he does and all that. And now he's come out here and he has three road course poles in one season. Like that's, where does that come from? Speaker 3 00:24:05 That's crazy. I didn't even know that stat. That's, that's really cool to see. That is, that is awesome. And then the rest never had a road ball also showing up. It is insane. Speaker 2 00:24:14 And it also, the true truex, they said on the radio, he was like, you know, we'd be lucky to finished 15th. Like, we'd be happy with the 15th place car. And then he comes out and finishes, I don't top five, top six, whatever. And I was like, where did that come from? Like just, you know, working on it, working on it, working on it. Speaker 3 00:24:30 Sea Bell who's had a really quiet year for, for a Joe Gibbs car he finishes in third. I just not something I would've seen coming. And then Ty Gibbs having one of his career days for a rookie season finishing in fifth, I mean Speaker 2 00:24:42 Second top five I believe for him. Speaker 3 00:24:45 I if it is, I I think you're right. But, uh, Speaker 2 00:24:48 I think they said that yesterday. It's his second top five and they were talking about Bell. He just, he just, I guess I, you know, he needs that like confidence boost. He needed a good run. So if that's, if that's what he needs, he was scary in the playoffs last year, won two races and got his way into the final four. So if they start picking up momentum at the, at, you know, this point in the season, then they could be dangerous in the playoffs if they have anything like they had last year. Speaker 3 00:25:15 Absolutely. That would be, that would be absolutely crazy to see. And we're going to some really tough tracks. First round of the playoffs has always been a really, really tough set of races. I mean you're looking at Darlington Kansas and Bristol Darlington itself is already a tough race. Then you got Kansas, which is a little bit more of a, a normal mile, which been putting hostile, but it has been an awesome Speaker 2 00:25:36 Race track. Awesome race in this new car. Holy shit dude. Speaker 3 00:25:39 It has been. Which tells you how competitive Speaker 2 00:25:41 This can be. The the first round, the first round of the playoffs I have loved so much because in the last couple years, just because it is Darlington, Darlington puts on a good race pretty much all the time. It put on a good race earlier this year, Chastain, you know, destroyed Larsson. It is what it is. But put on a good race earlier this year and Kansas has been absolutely killing it. And then Bristol's Bristol, hopefully with the short track patch package they can get it going. But I mean Bristol's, Bristol, so three awesome race tracks mm-hmm. To start to play off with. And then like I said, that second round is the Roel, which is one of your favorite tracks. Talladega, which is God's favorite track. And then I don't know what the third track is in there. And then Texas. Speaker 3 00:26:23 Texas much I home state, but it is what it is. Texas. Texas. They've repave Speaker 2 00:26:27 It. It's the downer. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:26:29 It is. It is what it is, man. I love, I love Texas. It's a hometown race. I would love to go to the race at some point. We'll just have to see about it. Speaker 2 00:26:37 Yeah, we've been, we've been to Texas but just not the race. Speaker 3 00:26:41 Yeah, we went there, Speaker 2 00:26:42 We talked about about that on this podcast ever. Speaker 3 00:26:44 I don't think we have. We uh, if we did it was very early on, but going there for the, uh, the 2018 Daytona 500. Yeah. Watching Austin Dillon almost murder Eric Amar for the Wind. And we were in the infield of Texas Motor Speedway. It was missing, it was raining all day long, but they had it playing on Big Hos up there. And so we were just down there watching, had all of our, it was like a drive-in movie 'cause they had all of our to ride around radios tuned into a certain, uh, pace car to a certain radio station. Listen to the, uh, listen to the broadcast and yeah, ride around in the pace car, having the guys gun it up around turns one and two and three or four. And it was really neat to see that was, that was a lot of fun. I Speaker 2 00:27:24 Had a, that was my first time ever going to a Bucky's and my first time ever on an airplane. And now I've been to a million Buckys and been on a million airplanes since Speaker 3 00:27:32 <laugh>. That's all gotta start somewhere. That's a good way to start it. It is. Speaker 2 00:27:36 Anyway, sorry to throw us off track, but I that's a good little Nah, you're good. NASCAR t tidbit of our, our history there. Speaker 3 00:27:43 Absolutely. That was a lot of fun. I would gladly do it again if we could. Totally. Speaker 2 00:27:48 We kind of hit on the, uh, we got Brad K and Harvick locking the stuff, then we kind of hit on that. But that's like, let's just go back. I saw a stat, not a stat, this is just straight up what it is, but the regular season points. We were, you know, talking about Denny and Truex, Kevin Harvick, who is running for the shittiest big team out there, <laugh>, I, I, we've, we've talked about it so much on this podcast, but my whole social media feed dude is just like, what is going on with SS h r I mean Harvard qualified 34th yesterday. Speaker 3 00:28:21 Unbelievable. Speaker 2 00:28:22 I mean it's just, it's just, I don't even have the word. I don't even know, like I I I've never, I don't recall a big team, what we consider a big team, well-funded team. I cannot remember a team running this bad ever. I you, you know, usually an off year for these big teams is like when everybody's running 15th, 20th, you know, whatever. These guys, we've talked about it so much, but they're running 30th and worse. They are literally in fights with Rick Ware in the 78 and these cars like this. Uh, all that to say Kevin Harvick is 10th in the regular season points. Yeah, I mean, what, what, I don't know. Kevin Harvick should just be Crown the Champion for doing what he's doing in these cars. It just blow, it blows me away. He, he yesterday was awful, just awful for S H R but I mean he is still 10th in uh, regular season points. Just blows my mind how Speaker 3 00:29:20 He can and how breaking for him Speaker 2 00:29:22 On his final season, I mean Speaker 3 00:29:24 Yeah, final season coming in and a team that has done so much for you and done so well for so long, coming in and just struggling the way that they are. I mean, I know it's always tough when you're on a retirement season. Everybody wants to go out on top name any athlete who doesn't and everybody tries to and it's always been so tough, even in, especially in nascar, I feel like anybody that announces a retirement goes out there and just statistically has one of their most mediocre seasons. It's hard to find a single example. And if you can let me know about it of anybody, Jeff Gordon, who's ever Speaker 2 00:29:58 Claimed made the final four his final season, which was pretty badass. Theres, he won at Martinsville and, and made the final four his final year. Speaker 3 00:30:05 And that was right before my, uh, 10 as a NASCAR fan got started. So that's, like Speaker 2 00:30:11 I said, Speaker 3 00:30:11 That was, it's, and we're talking about one of the greatest of all time in the sport. So at, at the end of the day, it's really tough to have a good solid run for your retirement year. And Kevin Harvick quietly is doing that. Like you just said, having one of the worst teams on the track right now for a big highly funded team coming out there and doing what he's doing with it, he is still the benchmark at SS H r and there's no one else that's even somewhat close to him, inability. And it's just really, really tough for them to be going through what they're doing. And Josh Berry's about to come in and step into that role and they're not gonna have a strong leader for a while. Is Josh Berry probably the one most qualified? Yeah. But coming into the Cup Series as a, as technically a rookie having to run a lot of racetracks you've never seen before in a Cup Series car and running against some guys that have decades of experience. He's gonna take, it's gonna take him a bit to really be up in the fold. He's got a lot of re respect on the racetrack already, which is gonna help him out. But at the end of the day, what are they, what is the plan going forward for s h r after Harvick retires? It's tough to say and we're really just gonna have to wait until about halfway through next season to really know. I, Speaker 2 00:31:24 But I'm so concerned. I agree Speaker 3 00:31:25 With you for what Harvick is doing, Speaker 2 00:31:27 I'm so concerned with, I mean it doesn't really make it down, but like with Barry going there and, and if he goes there and it's just awful. Like people just go ahead and rotten Josh Berry off. Like I dude is a talented race car driver and made it there the right way and I just, they're losing Harv and they're losing Anheuser-Busch. I mean they couldn't have two of the two worst things happen. I mean, honestly, it's true. It's true on a year that is so bad. And to have those two things also happening, I mean I just feel like everybody there is just the morale has to just not just be like <laugh> damn what's next? I, I don't mean I just, you know, I don't know. But whew, I'd be, I'd be nervous. I'd be nervous for sure. Yeah. And I just really don't want people to write Josh Berry off like, oh yeah, you know, whatever, you know, stuff like that. Like that would just not be good. That would, that would really suck if that's, if that's the case next year Speaker 3 00:32:22 It would. But luckily we do have a chance to see some Harvick magic. They call on the closer. We're getting to the end of the, of the actual regular season and he is locked into the playoffs and he's, I think he has a chance to come out there and do something really miraculous. I think he's still running good enough. He could get up there and get himself a win in his last season. And I really Speaker 2 00:32:44 Wanna Speaker 3 00:32:45 See that happen. Speaker 2 00:32:46 Just enough on short tracks. They, I heard somebody talking earlier, I don't remember it was another podcast I read this or what, but it's like Bristol or Martinsville. We both got, we got both of 'em left and Ss h r has done okay, I don't know if everybody remembers, but Ryan Priest kicked ass at Martinsville and probably would've won if he didn't screw his own race up too back then back earlier this year. But, uh, I could see Harvick coming out and doing something at Bristol or Martinsville, but other, and you know, we, we do have Daytona, we have Talladega. Hey, anything can happen there. But if it's not at one of those four tracks and we got what 11 left, he's got, I feel like he's got about four chances to, for something to happen in this last year. And hey, I'm all for all for him getting a win. I'm all for him making in playoffs on this final season. I mean that's just making the playoffs is something to hang your hat on on your final season if, if he doesn't get a win it is, you know, he won two races last year. But if he could do that, that would be, that would be super dope. Speaker 3 00:33:49 It would be. Absolutely. So we're definitely gonna have our eyes out for that. And, uh, R f k gets Brad k into the, uh, into the playoffs as well based on points alone. And it's crazy to think if somebody that wasn't um, a previous winner had won this race, which by the looks of everything with the top though at the top eight that were going in, I mean there wasn't really much of a chance of that happening, but that would've turned into a a, a bubble battle with Brad K and Harvick and luckily they're both in, which is two drivers I think definitely deserve for everything they've had to fight through all year. It would've been heartbreaking to see one of them not make it in. I mean yeah, I agree. And Keslowski getting in with those points, he would've been the guy on top. He would've been the one getting in and Harvick would've been the one getting knocked out had it come down really down to it at this point. There's a four point difference between the two of them and I'm just happy to see 'em both in there. And I really think that Brad k can come in and have a phenomenal run in the playoffs as well. He's been that driver that has just consistently done great things in a car that no one expected to come out and do great things in. So another Speaker 2 00:34:58 Example, he's he's changing it up, man. Consistency is good. They're, they're getting to be the team though that people are expecting to come in and do well. Like it's, it's, it's happened so fast and I feel like it happened like literally in the last like 10 to 15 weeks. But the people I think now are like, okay, R F K is gonna, is running top 10, they're gonna run top 10 today. They did it yesterday. I mean they're, they're just like, they're gonna run top 10, you know. And uh, I apologize for keep bringing up regular season points 'cause I know 99% of people don't give a damn about regular season points. But just throwing it out there I looked ke and, uh, Bush are sixth and seventh in regular season points. Like they, they are having topnotch years. They really, I mean they are sixth and seventh inch points like that is, that is awesome. That is, that is great. So I, dude next season be ready is all I know 'cause I I think the sixth and the 17 are gonna be rocking and rolling at every single place we go to. Speaker 3 00:35:55 And I'd make the argument that we should have been ready this year. 'cause we look at a team, the two teams I like to compare the most when it comes to R F K is 2311. I love to look at those two teams as teams that came around at about the 2311 and Keslowski joining in the ownership group of R F K. It kind of happened at a very similar time part, I think right around, yeah, right around each other. 2311 Speaker 2 00:36:21 Was last year. Was the sixth's first year correct? Or with, with with He came in the first year. Next year? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:36:29 I believe Speaker 2 00:36:29 So. They've had Speaker 3 00:36:30 And they, they've only Speaker 2 00:36:31 Been in a year and a half. That blows my mind. It's crazy. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:36:34 They have and 2311 gets so much media coverage because they have Bubba Wallace love him or hate him, whatever your opinion is. He is media gold. He can get reactions out of people. So they cover him all the time. Tower Reddick consistently runs up front as, as a contender to win the race every single week. R Speaker 2 00:36:55 Out and the owner of the race team is one of the biggest athletes in, uh, the history of the world. Speaker 3 00:37:00 And the other one is one of the biggest athletes in NASCAR history. Speaker 2 00:37:03 Yeah. And here Speaker 3 00:37:04 We are with them getting so much media coverage for what they're doing. R F K has a, has one more win than they do this season with Chris Buscher getting two and Tyler Reddick only has the one and Bubba Wallace is sitting on the cut line. Look, he's, he's barely got a foot in right now with Suarez and Ty Gibbs being right behind him and a slew of great drivers without a win that could absolutely come into Daytona and bump him out many. And it blows my mind that we've got two locked in R F K drivers and they get so little attention in the media compared to only one locked in driver for 2311. And they just get all the attention. And I guess you're so right. That's the, that's, that's the biggest, that's the toughest part about this playoff system is that 16th place does not matter on race day. Speaker 3 00:37:52 Yes. But 16th place sure as shit matters when it's down to the very end of the regular season. I'd rather be in 16th place for the iffy I was looking for attention alone. I'd rather be in 16th place looking out than 12th place being locked in at this point, because you're gonna get so much more attention and coverage that just boost your stock artificially because you're running in 16th consistently. So I gotta hand it to Bubba Wallace, he always manages to find himself in the media spotlight one way or another, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. Yeah. It always is happening. Speaker 2 00:38:26 Couple things, I I'm made the joke yesterday. They're, they're videoing bubba getting out of his car. Oh, he's done, he's done everything he's supposed to do today, you know, whatever, you know, for a 12th place finish. And I'm just like, who in the history of NASCAR has ever been videoed getting outta their car for a 12th place finish? And the guy commented, it's like, well I guess you didn't see Dale Junior and Danica Patrick. And I'm like, I did actually. And I never saw either one of 'em get videoed and put on social media for finishing 12th ever after a race. Like no one gives a fuck about who finishes 12th ever. They never have. And me and you, since our friendship began in nascar, we've always made the jokes about the almost top tens. You show up to the racetrack to run 10th or better if you're a top tier team, you show up to run 10th or better. Speaker 2 00:39:11 So it just cracks me up. You know it when, when a back market team finishes 15th. Yes. That's a huge deal when you're one of the most funded teams in racing. Finishing 15th is like, that's not not that great, you know, and uh, chase, he he nailed it. You know, the other day they're asking him last week about what he's gotta do, or maybe it was before this race, I don't remember the timeline, but he's like, even if we get in, he was like 16th play say, so my average finish of the year 16th, he was like, that doesn't do shit. He's like, we haven't ran well enough to even be end a, a top 10 team consistently. And I was like, thank you Chase Elliot for saying that like more I, I I I just, the whole playoff situation, I really, really, really liked the format when it was the top 10 because that's what people you run to do. Speaker 2 00:40:04 And I, you know, that was the thing for, I don't remember when they changed it to 16 honestly, but it was 10 and then I think it was 12 and then it was 16. And it's like, if you're running 16th on average, good luck winning the championship. You know, like I <laugh> Yeah, you're not gonna win the championship. And and I say I have to say a guy like Michael McDowell, I got these guys like R F K that are, that are building something and working there. Yes. Being in the playoffs. Huge, huge, huge deal. But it's these guys that are like your Gibbs and, and Hendrick and you know, uh, uh, 2311, you know, whatever all those teams, it's like, dude, ask anybody on that team, ask the owners whatever, ask the drivers, they're showing up every week. They wanna run top 10. They don't run a run 16th. I promise Speaker 3 00:40:54 That is true. And I've, I for the most part completely agree with everything you just said. It is a top 10. That's what you're looking for. That's what you want. If I have any rebuttal to it, it's simply that at least when it comes down to the end of the regular season through the first round to maybe the second round of the playoffs, there's some smaller teams getting media coverage they never would've received if it was only the top 10 that mattered. There are some teams that do run 15th, 16th, 17th to 21st consecutively that may have a chance to get increased media coverage simply because it is such Speaker 2 00:41:33 Swat Speaker 3 00:41:34 The field that ends up in the postseason and tons of money, Speaker 2 00:41:36 They get a lot more money, they get a lot more money for that. Sponsorships Speaker 3 00:41:39 Are a lot easier to sell whenever the hood of your race car is gonna be featured on TV every single week. You are exactly Speaker 2 00:41:44 Right. It does. Speaker 3 00:41:45 I agree with you. It does have a bit of a benefit there. Speaker 2 00:41:47 Yeah, I, no, I agree. That's Speaker 3 00:41:49 A way for them to help out those small teams that definitely they're not gonna end up in the Final eight, final four, but they are gonna end up with strong runs just because that extra money's coming in. So that's just a small rebuttal and a reason why I could see them keeping this around for a long while, but Speaker 2 00:42:05 Oh yeah, I don't see it going anyway. Speaker 3 00:42:07 But I agree by <laugh>. But I agree. I mean at the end of the day, you don't come to race 16th, you come to race top 10. Speaker 2 00:42:13 That should be, we should put that on a t-shirt. I didn't show up to race 16th. I showed up to race at least 10th. My favorite. Yeah, I saw <laugh>, I saw a dude, I saw a dude on social media. Uh, fuck. He said something about ran ninth this weekend at whatever track he was running, there's only nine cars in the race. I was like, oh fuck. Hell Speaker 3 00:42:35 Yeah, <laugh>, that's Speaker 2 00:42:36 Hot. I was like, yes sir, sir, Speaker 3 00:42:38 Headline that is it. That headline right there, that Speaker 2 00:42:41 Is it. Ninth place finish, dude. I was like, hell yeah. Somebody commented, the dude wrecked like hell finish ninth but posted that he finished ninth. I was like, that is what I'm talking about right there. Speaker 3 00:42:52 Heck yeah. You take a picture of a fish close up enough, man, it's gonna look like a big one. <laugh> <laugh> that, Speaker 2 00:42:57 Like you said, that's how you just ride it the right way, man. You, you can, you can finagle anything out of it, you know? That's Speaker 3 00:43:03 Definitely it, man, Speaker 2 00:43:05 That's so funny. Oh Speaker 3 00:43:06 God dang. Speaker 2 00:43:07 I don't know what that Speaker 3 00:43:08 Feedback this was. Well we're, uh, we're looking at, uh, I didn't hear anything. We're looking towards the, uh, very last race of the postseason now and talking about trying to make a small fish look big. We've got three guys that are sitting right at the bubble. We already kind of talked about Bubba Wallace here, but we got Suarez and we got Gibbs that maybe with a really damn perfect race could possibly end up knocking, knocking Bubba Wallace outta there. I have a hard time thinking that it's gonna happen with a point situation though. I think we're looking at one final spot left open in the playoffs and I really do believe it is Bubba Wallace or whoever else that doesn't have a win yet this season that ends up winning it. Speaker 2 00:43:51 I agree with you a hundred percent because Speaker 3 00:43:53 Bubba the one thing going win for Yeah, the one thing doing for him is he, he is really good at Daytona. Speaker 2 00:44:01 Bubba can play race his ass. Speaker 3 00:44:02 He's Speaker 2 00:44:02 Very good at Daytona. I mean, Speaker 3 00:44:04 He can, he can. I went up and looked up the stats before we started this podcast. Bubba Wallace at Daytona out of 18 races, he has four runner up finishes, seven top fives, 10 top tens. He's good. He is good at racing. He knows how to keep himself outta trouble and he knows how to run up front. So this is his opportunity right now to just come out and have a quiet, good race. Just run up front, get another one of those top tens. And as long as nobody, that's not gotta win yet. As long as it's one of the 14 guys, 13 guys that have wins already wins it. You are in. Speaker 2 00:44:44 That's the thing though, A quiet good race does not help when, when Corey Lejo wins the race or Michael or Michael McDowell, you know, some Brad K wins the race. Oh, he's locked in too. Anybody else, but like that, that quiet day, that's what would keep me up at night if I was Bubba Wallace. Yeah, I would just like, what, what do you do? You have to run up front. You, you gotta be, you can't just, you can't just kind of hang out and, you know, do whatever. You gotta run up front. You gotta stay outta that out of the stuff and you gotta make sure either you win or, or you better be pushing a son of a bitch with a wind past the guy that ain't got one. Absolutely. This is what you're gonna have to do. Speaker 3 00:45:24 This is, I think this is probably one of the least ex that's probably the least excited I've ever been about seeing who does and doesn't make it into the playoffs just because there's only one spot left and it's three guys that I just really don't have any, any love loss for. I mean, it's, it's Suarez Wallace and Gibbs. I, I don't, I don't absolutely hate any of 'em, but I don't love any of 'em either. I, it is just, it is what it is. We're just basically seeing who the 16th driver is at this point. And I don't think any of them are championship contenders. So I'm, I'm negative, I'm not as excited about this as I ever have been. Uh, but I think you're right. Bubba Wallace has to go out there and run like he is run. He's, he's, he is racing for a win at this point. Speaker 3 00:46:09 And we look at the other two guys and, and on down the list we've got Suarez, who's never had a top five at Daytona. Not once. His best finish is like a seventh, I wanna say. Yeah. Uh, we've got Ty Gibbs, who's only raced at Daytona five times ever in his career, both through Xfinity and Cup. And his best finish is, uh, seventh I wanna say as well. And that was an Xfinity series. So Ty Gibbs is gonna go out there and have a, and have a tough day. I think, I think those two guys, chances of making, getting into the playoffs rely on simply a win and I don't see either of 'em getting up there and doing it. This isn't their style or racetrack, and it's an easy racetrack for them to get swept up in. Speaker 2 00:46:53 Very true. I mean, Speaker 3 00:46:54 End of day, I think we're looking at Bubba Wallace or any of the guys that don't have a win yet, which includes your coil of joys. Who does well at Daytona, you got does well, chase Elliotts, your Bowmans, your Cix, Amar, those are all guys that could go out here and win at Daytona because they've either done it before or have been damn close to doing it before. Speaker 2 00:47:14 I'd be a nervous, I'd be nervous as hell if I was going into Daytona. A muscle nervous Speaker 3 00:47:19 Ray Speaker 2 00:47:20 <laugh>. I mean, they dude going into Daytona in a must win situation's gotta just be the most nerve wracking thing. I mean, possibly ever. Speaker 3 00:47:31 You're walking up to the roulette table and picking a number and praying. Speaker 2 00:47:34 That's what Chase Elliot said. He said, going into Daytona, a must win is like trying to win on the slot machines in Vegas. So said that exact thing, you know, and he's right. You're right. It it is what it is. It, oh man, I'd be nervous. Speaker 3 00:47:48 So here's a question for you. Do you think a driver without a win is going to win this race? There's 13 already, 13 drivers already with a win and a lot of big names for Daytona, including your Hamlins, your McDowell's, your, uh, who else am I missing in here? There's, there's, and Keslowski, your Harvick. Those are guys that I could absolutely see going out here and getting the wind. Do you think a non locked in driver is who's gonna come in here and sweep that 16th spot? Speaker 2 00:48:20 That's hard to say. I, I, I mean, if it's gonna happen anywhere that happens at Daytona, obviously you, you know, I have, I have won money on, uh, on, on Cory Lejo and Chris Buscher at Plate Tracks this year. My first ever NASCAR bet was a top five on, uh, Buscher that won. So I could, this is what I could see. You're talking about a guy that hadn't win won, he hasn't won. I could see Buscher lock into the sixes bumper and not leaving, and they run together. Go look at any plate track this year, including Atlanta. They are nose to tell every single race. I could see him pushing him out there. He doesn't need to win. But for R F K, you know, for just in general, Brad getting his first win with R F K, like, I could totally see that happening for sure. Speaker 3 00:49:09 That'd be a really cool moment. Speaker 2 00:49:11 But those guys, Speaker 3 00:49:12 Like, I think the, the moment, go ahead. Speaker 2 00:49:17 Like you got, we got, we got these guys know written down up here, chase, Cory, Lejo, Bowman Crick, Amar. They're not gonna help anybody. I mean, they're gonna be making crazy moves at the end of the race. Like if you're getting pushed by them, you already know your fate. They are going to okey-dokey outta the way. I mean, you just know that's what's gonna happen. So, and, and it does help, you know, you know, with Chase and Bowman, they, they have two teammates that are locked in and I'm sure they're, you know, Chevrolet and everybody's talking, you know, everybody talks, you know, every, you know, Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford about working and getting, helping these guys out. So they're, they're gonna be, they're gonna have their teammates lock their ass, I assume. And anywhere they go, they're gonna follow 'em, you know, and yeah, Amarillo, you know, they'll probably be running 35th so they might not have a chance. Speaker 3 00:50:06 <laugh>. Yeah, I could, I could see that. I'm just kidding. But Amar and Speaker 2 00:50:09 A plate track, Speaker 3 00:50:09 They'll probably be up there. Really do good here, Speaker 2 00:50:12 Amar. Good lord. They'll probably qualify 34, 30 fifth and 36. Speaker 3 00:50:16 They could, I could totally see that <laugh>. And this is just a message to all those that you remember back in the day. Everybody always says NASCAR's so rigged. If somebody needs a win, I swear to God they're going to get it and this and that. And they always talk about how like the storybook moments, like, uh, Dale Jr winning the, uh, winning the July race at Daytona after, Speaker 2 00:50:35 Uh, 2001. I have a great, I have a great thing to tell you today. Speaker 3 00:50:37 Everybody, everybody loves to talk about how those storybook moments always seem to happen in nascar. Well, here's your storybook moment. If this happens, maybe you have a little bit of a point, but Chase Elliot comes off the no gas car, 75, go bowling at the Glen, whatever the heck, 72.5 'cause that's as far as he made it. He comes off of that and then goes out here and wins Daytona. That's gonna be your storybook moment. That's the one that everybody in their mother's out here looking for. That's the reason why Chase Elliot's odds this week are gonna be plus 205. And you're not gonna win any money on him if he ends up winning this race because that is the storybook moment that everybody is buying a ticket to see if it happens. It's gonna be one of the coolest things to have happened to Chase Elliot since his Roe win and ghost riding the car after nosing it into the wall. I mean, he's got, he's got an opportunity here to really make a headline. And so I can't wait if the, if that somehow miraculously ends up happening that we're gonna have Twitter blown up with people saying NASCAR's rigged again. And I can't wait to see it, just to laugh. Speaker 2 00:51:42 I saw this meme, dude and I died laughing. It was like Chase Elliott next Saturday night and it's Dale Junior's car from oh one. It's just got a blue number nine on it. That's all. They didn't change anything else. Just put the blue number nine. And I died laughing. I was like, that is hilarious. Yep. Speaker 3 00:51:56 The old no gas car. 400 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:52:01 Oh man. But you're right. But see Hendricks between a rock and a hard place 'cause they're, they're trying to get that, that 48 car in too. Nobody spends more money at Hendrick than Ally 'cause they're on that hood of that car every single weekend. Speaker 3 00:52:14 Yeah, Speaker 2 00:52:15 They, they, it's Speaker 3 00:52:16 Gonna be a tough one. They, Speaker 2 00:52:17 They, I chase Elliot's most popular, but I promise they also want that 48 car in the playoffs too. And either both of 'em or one of 'em ain't gonna make it. Yep. I mean, it's possible both, neither one make it, you know, 1 1 1 rack and they could both be done. You know, I mean, Speaker 3 00:52:32 To be honest, my prediction is somebody that already has a win comes out here and wins this race. Bubba Wallace stays into the playoffs with a 30 point cushion and we just move on the next week and almost nothing changes. That's my prediction. It's just the idea of somebody coming out here and stealing this win. Is it possible? Yes, but I've listed out the drivers. I think it could, it could be. And it's about five of them. I don't see any more than those. The little Joy Elliot Bowman, Cindrich or Amarillo. Those are gonna be your guys, I personally think could be the ones that come out there and steal the win. If it's anybody else, I'd be amazed. And I really think it's gonna be one of the 13 that already have a win, or it's gonna be Keslowski or Harvey who are already locked in. That's not, it's not gonna change up anything, but that's my Naysay coming out. I'd love to be surprised you're Speaker 2 00:53:22 Prepared for a super tamed Daytona race is all what I'm hearing. Speaker 3 00:53:25 Uh, every plate track this year has been super tame. So yes, <laugh>, I am, I'm absolutely preparing for a Tame Daytona race. It's just been the way, it's always, it's been the way that this next gen car has raced on this track and I don't know of any changes that they're making to it to change that up. It's just gonna be side by side. No one can make a pass. And if there is a wreck, yes, it's gonna be huge, but it's gonna be in the back of the pack where all those drivers I just mentioned are gonna probably be running. So that's my prediction. Speaker 2 00:53:54 Yeah, you probably right, but I'm still hoping for all hell to break loose just because, so we'll have something cool to talk about. Speaker 3 00:54:01 Me and you both. I cool shit happening. I'd never be more, I'd never love being wrong more than having cool shit happening whenever I thought no cool shit was going to happen. But, Speaker 2 00:54:12 Uh, next week though, when you bet, always look for those guys like co lejo, who knows what Butcher's odds will be, but Cory Lejo, Buscher Klowski, those guys that kind of have, that don't, their odds aren't super inflated. Like you said Chase Elliot, it'll probably be the negatives to win this week at a plate track. Yeah. Um, look at those guys. 'cause those guys are gonna be running, they'll, they will run up front. I mean, they, they will, they have a good chance. They have a good chance. I'm not saying bet 'em to win, but their top five betts are will be plenty valuable. So, uh, I love, I love, love, love betting on plate tracks. They're my favorite tracks to bet on because you can do those crazy at crazy ones and, you know, crazy stuff happens. So plate tracks are definitely some of my favorites to bet on throughout the season, even though I am Mr. Short Track Speaker 3 00:55:04 <laugh> Mr. Short track. Yeah, no, I completely agree with that. This is gonna be one where you just, we have to wait till the odds to come out or till the odds come out to really tell you what we want to bet on because it really does. It's, it's, this is the one chance where it relies more on the amount of money you stand to make, rather than the amount of confidence you have in them to make that money for you. Yeah, definitely. You've gotta kind of balance those two a lot more. Um, well we can quickly touch on this, uh, Xfinity race we had. Sam Mayer loved it tie, it was out of the way. Loved it. It was awesome. Loved it. Hilarious to see Little tiny squirrel boy went for a ride. Unfortunately, Austin Hill also went for that same ride, said he lost all respect for Sam Mayer after that move. Flipped him off all the way down that last little stretch before those last two turns, kind of, kind of hilarious to see. Wouldn't I was surprised we didn't get more fighting out of it. Speaker 2 00:55:59 I wouldn't mess with big country if I was Sam Mayer. I if he thinks getting punched by Ty Gibbs sucked. He wait till he gets dropped by Austin Hill. Ah, Speaker 3 00:56:08 Dude, that, that guy's got some, got some country hospitality in that right here. He does. Speaker 2 00:56:12 He is old corn fed Georgia boy. So he, he knows what's going on. Speaker 3 00:56:17 Absolutely. Sam Mary gets his second win out of it and Ty Gibbs gives the most lackluster. I don't have a personality and I'm scared to say anything that grandpa's gonna get mad at me for interview I've ever heard in my entire life. Speaker 2 00:56:29 Holy shit. I saw a quote, it was the greatest comment I've ever seen. It had a ton of likes. Uh, Ty Gibbs gets outta the car. He's like, man, I raced on Sundays. I don't give a damn about Sam Mayer <laugh>. It's the top comment says, man, that'd be super savage comment if your granddad didn't own your car. <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:56:48 I died Speaker 2 00:56:49 Laughing at that. I was like, yes. Like you can't, you can't talk shit when your path is just completely paved for you when thousand percent, I know all these guys got money, but even some people got more money than the guys that got money like Ty Gibbs. It's just there. Don't fuck up. And here it is. So, yeah, I mean, you can't be Mr Shit talker when it's just that laid out for you. And I love that people caught him out. I mean, I've Speaker 3 00:57:16 Defended him a little bit on that front. I I get where you're coming from with how, with getting into the car, but what you do with it once you're in it is completely yours. And Speaker 2 00:57:27 I've seen a lot of guys get a cup ride that didn't, didn't, uh, not a lot. I, I know, I know another guy that's got a cup ride because as a family member owns a car and, uh, he didn't do anything, anything with it. He hadn't done a whole lot. Speaker 3 00:57:39 So I I, I always do give him the credit of he did go out there and win an Xfinity Series championship. It's not a Cup Series championship. He hasn't won a Cup Series race yet, but he did go out Speaker 2 00:57:49 There and do it. Good. Austin, it think Dylan won an Xfinity Series championship. I think Speaker 3 00:57:55 You're talking over my head, so I'm not sure I would've to look that one up. Um, Speaker 2 00:57:59 But yeah, I'm pretty sure he's won a truck and an Xfinity Series championship, but boy, he should just stayed there. Speaker 3 00:58:06 He should have, and then maybe Ty Gibbs one day will think the same thing, but we'll have to see. We'll just have to see what he does going forward. I just, I, if I have to rag on him for anything, it's simply the fact that he has tons of, tons of ammo he can use in the Xfinity Series to talk crap about these guys. And he gets in a situation like that and he gets wrecked out and he just leaves the car. He is just smiling and I'm just gonna move forward and this and that. Like, nah man, come on. Fire yourself up. Defend yourself a little bit. Don't just get out of the car and just smile about it and act like nothing ever happened. Do like Austin Hill did and flip the dude off down the back stretch and get out and tell him he lost all respect for him and get in his face like, what is with this, this Ty Gibbs, his personality is exactly what we've been complaining about NASCAR personalities for years. They're so scared to say anything to run a sponsor off that they're not even willing to get to have a quote worth putting on tv. It's like you're so scared of what could happen. You're making nothing happen at all. Speaker 2 00:59:08 Hate that. Well, Ty, Speaker 3 00:59:09 But I hate that viscerally, Speaker 2 00:59:10 Ty Gibbs, Ty Gibbs interviews, we saw it all year last year. They go, they go like this where he said some super outrageous shit and compares himself to God and then it goes down, somebody gets mad at him and then it goes down to this and then he'll have an interview like he did yesterday or Saturday where it's, you know, oh yeah, you know, whatever. And then we'll have another one up here where he, you know, dumps his teammate at, uh, Martinsville last year when he needs a win to get in, has some outrageous interview and then it's, you know, down here, you know, thank you everybody. You know, whatever. It's like, damn, I just can't, I'm just not on the Ty Gibbs tiny squirrel boy train. I just can't, can't get there. Speaker 3 00:59:51 Tiny little squirrel boy. Well, it's, it was a great end of the race. It was a, it was definitely a great way to finish it. You ended up winning a huge bid that Speaker 2 01:00:01 Day. Who plus 800 got a top on, top three on Mr. Kligerman, the CL as I call him Speaker 3 01:00:08 The Cling. Yeah, he did, he did a great Speaker 2 01:00:11 Job. Not cl click Speaker 3 01:00:13 The cl <laugh> Speaker 2 01:00:14 The cl uh, yeah, dude, I, coming out as you know, I put Betts on clicker every single road course and I told you all years like, one of these is gonna pay off and boom, finally it happened. Speaker 3 01:00:23 Yeah, it was a, it was a great way to end that, end that race for you with that whole shebang of Sam Maer clearing going bowling, uh, as they put it. Uh, him going out there and doing that just secured klinger in that top five, that top three spot that you needed. And he went out there and just raced for it and he got it. So wins you some money. That was the, uh, only bet that either of us had hit all weekend. Like we said, we're not professional gamblers. We just, uh, <laugh>, we just have fun with it. We just waste money on it really. Our pretty diem goes straight to betting every week, I swear. <laugh>. Um, Speaker 2 01:00:57 All right, you wanna go to your hack of the week? Hack Speaker 3 01:00:58 Of the week, hack of the week? I don't know. Uh, we didn't talk about this beforehand. I put mine in the notes, but I haven't heard yours. I don't know if you agree with that. Speaker 2 01:01:06 I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll agree with it. 'cause I don't know of anything else that, I mean, the other hack of the week could be Sam Mayer, but I like what Sam Mayer did, so you can't be a hack. My, Speaker 3 01:01:15 I was here for it. I don't have any, I'm opinion not mad about it at all. Yeah. Speaker 3 01:01:19 So my hack of the week that I picked, I agree with you this week, was the crew chief on top of the box for the nine car coming into a must win situation with two races to go at statistically, chase Elliot's best chance to win all season long goes out. Alan Gustafson listens. I don't know if he got the bad information he talked about on the broadcast from one of his engineers or one of his guy. I don't know who the heck passed this information onto him that was so incorrect. But three laps of fuel left in your reserve tank just is a mistake that Steve La Tar immediately as soon as he heard three laps in the reserve tank, said there is no way that that reserve tank is holding that much gas in it. And they run out of fuel running in seventh place and absolutely screw themselves into having a must win at Daytona. Speaker 3 01:02:20 They should never have been in this situation. Do I think Chase Elliot was gonna win Watkins Glen? I don't know. That's, that would've been really, really, really tough to do from where he was at. But how do you run out of gas in a must win situation down the back stretch and just say bad information? There is no bad information at this point. I don't understand why three laps of fuel made sense to him in that moment. Maybe it was just a mental error, but it just seems so ridiculous the way that that race came down for Chase Elliot. So Alan Gustafson has officially won, I think the first time a crew chief has won Hack of the Week. <laugh>. Speaker 2 01:02:58 Yes sir. I was gonna say that first Crew Chief Hack of the Week award, congrats to him. Yeah, Speaker 3 01:03:02 That was, that was embarrassing. And I hate it for 'em. I'm I'm, I don't hate Chase Elliott, I don't hate Al Gusto Sim, but they definitely made a huge mistake this week and they Speaker 2 01:03:11 Deserve my, my this, this, this is, this, this is what blows my absolute mind. And uh, I can say the stats because we had a bunch of people put, put the stats, you know, in people's face on the social media, people are calling for Alan Guston's head on social media. He should be fired, you know, he should be this, he should be that. He has the second most active wins in the Cup series and championships behind Rodney Childers. These people are, see, Speaker 3 01:03:38 That makes those people the heck Speaker 2 01:03:40 Of the week of their mind out of their mind. They're who in the hell? I have a ton respect. Hell are you gonna find that is a better crew chief for Chase Elliott than Allen Gus? Like what? The people are people Speaker 3 01:03:51 They want Speaker 2 01:03:52 Straight together. Exactly. The only person that has more is, uh, is Rodney. Rodney has won championship, but he is got more wins. And it's like y'all gotta be, y'all gotta be outta your mind to like, people always thinking the grass is greener on the other side in these situations. And it's like, dude, you're working with a guy that has worked with Mark Martin, won races with Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, uh, Kyle Bus and Chase Elliot, and you're wanting to fire fire him. Speaker 3 01:04:21 Like, and they're wanting to fire him on a, on a season where Chase Elliot is undergone a screwed Speaker 2 01:04:26 Himself, himself out of everything. Like he screwed himself Speaker 3 01:04:29 Suspension. Alan Gustafson Speaker 2 01:04:31 Has done Alan Speaker 3 01:04:32 Everything he possibly can with the minimal amount of effort that with, with the minimal amount that his driver has been able to back him up with. This is Chase Elliot's bad season. This is not Alan Gustafson's bad season. Speaker 2 01:04:44 I agree. That is a great, Speaker 3 01:04:45 Their notes are seven races behind. Speaker 2 01:04:47 Yes. You, you can't blame Alan Gusteson for Chase's snowboarding wreck. You can't blame Alan Gusteson for Chase Right. Rear and Denny Hamlin, you can blame Chase Elliot for putting Alan Gusteson in a situation where he has to call racists so aggressively. That's why he was trying to do the damn thing. And somebody was asked me the question, he was like, I think you answered your own question. I'm trying to win the fucking race. And it's like, yeah, yeah. Like Speaker 3 01:05:13 There's no second give Speaker 2 01:05:14 I take a Speaker 3 01:05:14 Crew chief that's aggressive, Speaker 2 01:05:15 Like that is not good enough. Yeah, I'll take a crew sheet that's aggressive like that over somebody that's just gonna powder puff me around back here for no fucking, you know, we're not gonna win. Let's just keep doing the same thing everybody else is. Screw that. Yeah, let's do, let's do something different. Speaker 3 01:05:31 Exactly. And when I give him the hack of the week award, I'm giving him the hack of the week award simply for mis misreading what a fuel situation was. That is one tiny part of a huge race they were running seventh at the time. They were in a must win situation and they were in the top, they were almost in the top five, easily in the top 10 and making up from a terrible qualifying effort to do all of that. So they were already doing what they needed to do. They just, that, that one mistake was the big one that they couldn't have. You can run outta gas at any race, but you cannot run outta gas in a must win situation. That's, that's the only reason I give him shit. But I'm with you. I have so much respect for what they've done as a team. It's amazing. I'm Speaker 2 01:06:10 So, I'm so on board with the hack of the week for Alan, but like, because it's funny and that's just what we do on this podcast, but man, just like I said, some of the shit that I was reading about these people that these people post about, it happens every week. But this, you know, specifically Alan this weekend, it's like, dude, the grass ain't always greener on the other side. You're gonna get into a side just like all these other guys. You, you know, you got something good. It's like you got one off year, one bad situation, then you go start running through crew chiefs. Like people run through toilet paper. It's like yeah, Speaker 3 01:06:42 It's, and they never have a chance to gel and mold Yeah. And talk about coming out of one of their worst seasons. If they could squeak a win out in the playoffs, whether they're in the playoffs or not, they need a win for their morale. But imagine how much stronger of a team they're gonna be if they come out here and get a win. And they finish this year strong. They went through one of the toughest years, a major NASCAR driver has gone through in a long while at, and it was, it was nobody's fault the way that it started. It just was an accident. It was a thing that happened. Alan Gusteson had to go in there and work with two other relief drivers between co Lajoie and Josh Berry popping in Speaker 2 01:07:22 And he finished, did a second, he finished second with Josh Berry in a race. Speaker 3 01:07:26 Yeah. So he still went out there and crew chief the hell out of these races and imagine how much stronger that team is going to be for what they went through. Chase Elliot's the one that needs a little bit of work right now. The team's doing fine. Yeah. Speaker 2 01:07:37 That I'm, I'm rather with Speaker 3 01:07:38 You. Like they, they were seven races behind and still had a possibility of pointing their way into that championship run. Tell me that's not impressive. That's impressive. Speaker 2 01:07:48 Yeah. That's the Yeah, I'm s i I mean a as I knew you would, but just agree and like that pe people just, you know, say the Atmos outrageous stuff on social media and it's like Yeah, you're you're talking about like possibly the second best ish crew chief stat wise on the box. Like, come on now. Speaker 3 01:08:07 Yeah, let's leave him where he is at. He's doing just Speaker 2 01:08:10 Fine. He's doing just fine. And he's been working for the, the biggest team in racing since I was a kid, so I mean, let's, you know, let's remember. He's, he's not just some scrub off the street they just found last week, you know, Speaker 3 01:08:23 It's true. Well the only thing we have left to talk about really is trading and paint. And I think it's pretty easy to pick your trade and paint this week. It that, that waffle car dude, that 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Waffle car, that fire suit was unbelievable. And I mean, it was the goofiest looking thing I've ever seen, but man, talk about a way to get some good attention, having a fire suit dressed up like you're just a one giant waffle in the car looking the same way. It was, it was just fun to watch. It was, it was goofy enough that I liked it because of how goofy it was. Speaker 2 01:08:56 It was cool. You couldn't pay me anything to drink that shit, but cool car. Uh, they, I they, they, the 47 used to get made fun of in 2020 and a few years ago before they got a graphic designer, man, they used to have some dooo paint jobs and man, everyone they have had this year has been just fire. I mean they've had some awesome cars this year. Speaker 3 01:09:19 They have, they really have. It's been a great year for paint jobs for them for sure. But yeah, <crosstalk>, it's Speaker 2 01:09:24 Been a great year for them overall. When you, when you run top 15 every week in a car like that, you can afford to have a pay a graphic designer to design your cars, you know? Speaker 3 01:09:32 Yeah. They're using that Daytona 500 money right There is what they're Speaker 2 01:09:35 Doing. They are. That's that extra sponsored money we talked about last week Speaker 3 01:09:40 Helps out a ton. Well, Speaker 2 01:09:42 Hell yeah. Like we said, we're on our way to, uh, Iowa and Wisconsin this weekend. If you're up there, come say hello. I don't know where we're playing. Yeah, what venue? What town? But, uh, Speaker 3 01:09:54 I know it's Davenport, Iowa and Hayward, Wisconsin and some other place in Wisconsin. Hell Speaker 2 01:09:59 Yeah. Speaker 3 01:10:00 We're gonna be all over the, we're gonna be all over the northern Midwest this week and Speaker 2 01:10:04 I'm excited. I just hope it's not Speaker 3 01:10:05 Hot. I'm ready for it. I hope it's not raining. Speaker 2 01:10:07 I'm hope it's not raining. Two shows, two of 'em are inside, so we're good. We're we're two for three on the indoors. Speaker 3 01:10:13 It's what you'll love to see. Speaker 2 01:10:14 We're, uh, I'm getting ready to go, uh, build a chicken coop for my little baby chickens out here. They're getting a little too big for their little pen. So we're going to bought me a chicken coop yesterday. I'm gonna go build it. Sweating my very nice ass off some more outside. Speaker 3 01:10:27 Yep. I think I'm about to go mow the grass. I see Allison out there walking around taking a look at it right now. So I think we're about to get that right. You can Speaker 2 01:10:33 Switch your ass off too. Speaker 3 01:10:35 I'm not ready. Thank y'all. Speaker 2 01:10:36 Y thank y'all again for listening. Uh, you follow me on everything. Dawson Edwards music, uh, Caleb, Speaker 3 01:10:44 We got Caleb Khan rowdy across the board. Speaker 2 01:10:46 Yep. And then, uh, follow Ray. Rowdy racing. Raised, rowdy on to find all of our stuff on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Uh, we're gonna have a lot more videos to post. I know we only posted two last week. We've been so busy. Uh, yes. Speaker 3 01:11:01 Moving never stops. It's a three month process. It's so Speaker 2 01:11:04 <laugh>. I just can't believe how busy we've been. I mean, it's just, it's just insane. But between this, between moving between working, it's been nuts. We do have two weeks off though, coming up and really gonna get some more stuff done, you know, with this podcast and we're, we're excited about. So, uh, like I said, views keep going up. People keep reaching out, so can't ask for much more than that, you know. Speaker 3 01:11:28 No, no. We really appreciate y'all listening every week. Uh, thank you to everybody out there, especially Randy Adams. You're always our number one. Let's be honest. Randy and, uh, thank you to, uh, Nick t raised writing Nick t all across, all the, uh, across all the Matt Speaker 2 01:11:43 Platform Speaker 3 01:11:43 Mattke, Matt and Matt Burrell for, uh, taking the time to edit these videos down for us. And Ike, thank you as well for everything that y'all do. We will, uh, we will get this uploaded pretty quick and can't wait to, uh, hear what everybody has to say about it. Post some toss, post some Instagram stuff and mow the grass ready for it. Hell Speaker 2 01:12:03 Yeah. We'll see y'all next week. Speaker 3 01:12:06 All right. We'll see y'all. Thank y'all. Speaker 4 01:12:13 I don't drive a Monte carload and my truck ain't painted black. It ain't gotta be white number three turning lift around a track, Speaker 0 01:12:26 But Speaker 4 01:12:26 You can hear me coming from a mile and a half away. Speaker 0 01:12:32 These good ears Speaker 4 01:12:34 Can't handle dirt. Don't need, no, Speaker 0 01:12:48 I.