S3 Episode 2: COTA: Tires, Tires, Tires!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. This is Ray's Rowdy Racing with Caleb Conrady and Dawson Edwards. [00:00:14] Speaker B: What up, what up? What up, dog? [00:00:16] Speaker A: What's going on? The stars at night are big and they are bright. [00:00:21] Speaker B: Today is Wednesday, March 5th. [00:00:25] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, it is. We have been trying to get this podcast in for like two days straight and it's pretty much been my entire fault that we didn't get it by like at least Tuesday night, but not necessarily. [00:00:37] Speaker B: It was kind of my fault. Monday, your power is out yesterday. So here we are. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I know it's just been kind of a crazy little beginning to our week, but I honestly don't know when our weeks aren't crazy. So this is just kind of normal at this point? [00:00:49] Speaker B: Yeah, pretty much, yeah. [00:00:51] Speaker A: You were meeting your new baby niece for the first time on Monday, so that, that had to been super special. That's got to be cool. [00:00:58] Speaker B: Ms. Maggie B. Made her. She made her way into the world like 30 minutes before the race started. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Oh, you're kidding. [00:01:11] Speaker B: I wasn't there. I'm just that the. Yeah, she was born at like right at 3:00. Race started at 3:30, so. [00:01:17] Speaker A: Nice. Well, good deal. I'm glad for it and everything. Everybody's healthy. Everybody's good. [00:01:22] Speaker B: Everybody's good. [00:01:23] Speaker A: Good deal. [00:01:25] Speaker B: Went home yesterday, so that's what you love to see. No issues. [00:01:30] Speaker A: Hell yeah. Yeah, that was kind of our Monday. And then I ended up with just a serious exhaustion at the end of the day. I've been doing too much around here. And then we go into Tuesday and we got this big, giant line of storms. I know they hit you all too, but we got hit with them pretty good. We still got a hell of a win. So if you hear a whistle, it's literally the window bowing in on me. But yeah, we had power going out just in fluctuations. And we have this text message thing that our county sends out for us. And so every time that anything happens, they'll send out an alert immediately. And so we got probably 10, 15 different messages about power poles and trees being down in the road from anywhere. From the interstate down to the smallest little back road, stuff was going down. We have another tree limb down in our front yard again then. Barely missed the truck again. So we just been getting lucky with these tree limbs. [00:02:22] Speaker B: Or you could hit it and you can get insurance money. [00:02:25] Speaker A: Hey, hey, hey. We don't need to be claiming insurance fraud on the pod. [00:02:29] Speaker B: Now if a tree hits your car. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Oh, it's. It's definitely not fraud. I just don't want to give Them any excuses now. But yeah, we. We had the power fluctuations going on and the funny thing is is as soon as I stopped. Stop texting you about it, it stopped happening. But I mean it could have happened at any point. So we're just like, it's not worth it. My Internet goes out. We're done for at least 5 minutes. So. [00:02:53] Speaker B: Yeah. Anyway, I wrote songs yesterday from 11am till 8pm Left at like 8:05. [00:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't know how you have it in you to write another one. Man. I get past two songs in one day and I'm starting to wane. I'm ready for something different. [00:03:08] Speaker B: Yeah. It's got to have a purpose and there's like actual artists in the room with stuff. It gives you a little bit more, you know. [00:03:19] Speaker A: Yeah. When this song could potentially be worth like, you know, thousands of dollars except for like maybe a hundred streams. It's a lot different. [00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So our. It was when we were riding with. Me and Maxwell were riding with Colin Style and Dalton Dover. I was trying to recruit him to be on. Actually, I wasn't recruiting them. They said yesterday they just wanted to be on here. So. [00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah. That would have been a hellacious podcast. They watch a lot of racing. [00:03:42] Speaker B: I don't know how much racing they watch, but they know about racing. You know, like, I don't know if they could like comment on Coda, but they do. Like Colin was all about. He knew all the info about junior getting Dale seniors car from 94 and seeing it on social media and all that. So like they know about all that stuff. So. [00:04:01] Speaker A: Hell yeah. [00:04:01] Speaker B: We'll have to see if we can get Dalton Dover and Colin Style on here one day. That'd be pretty cool. [00:04:06] Speaker A: Oh, I'm here for it. That'd be awesome. Anytime we can have a good guest come on here, I'm always down for it. I know we got Stephen Paul still listening so he can always come back for a second one for sure. Almost said a three, Pete, but we got to work on that. But yeah. So anyways, I sang the song, so now it's time to talk about the deed. Coda, what's your initial first sentence? If you had to give an elevator pitch about Koda, what would you say? [00:04:33] Speaker B: Short course is the way to go. [00:04:36] Speaker A: Hell yeah. I love that. Short, sweet, to the point. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:39] Speaker A: So we got like what it used to be now it's like a two and a half mile track. But it used to be like three miles or something like that. [00:04:45] Speaker B: No, three. They cut exactly a mile off So I assume it was three and a half miles because I think it's like 2.4 or 2.5 miles. [00:04:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Holy crap. [00:04:55] Speaker B: 3.4, 3.5. [00:04:57] Speaker A: Yeah, but holy crap, you couldn't be more. Right? They took away that extra mile and it changed everything. And absolutely for the better, 100%. [00:05:07] Speaker B: It just felt like so. It's so much here, just. I hate this, but it started off, you know, we're die hard fans and like, for me, it's even so much better to like, you just know where the cars are on the track. Like you could. It reminded me of watching like, like growing up like Watkins Glen Sonoma, like, knew exactly where they were on the track. Yeah, there's a lot of parts of these, mainly because they're brand new, but some of these humongous road courses, like Road America Coda, you know, some of these, it's like, damn, I don't know where the hell they are. You know, I don't know the take forever. And you know, they added like 20. I want to think. I think they said like 27 laps of the race so that like gives plans, you get to see the cars more. And I'm not even talking about the racing yet. [00:05:58] Speaker A: Like all of that to me, exactly. [00:06:00] Speaker B: Way better, you know, and like cautions didn't take freaking 15, 20 minutes like they have previously, so. [00:06:08] Speaker A: And doing one lap of caution around a three and a half mile course, taking one lap away is a lot bigger than taking a couple laps away at that shorter course whenever you got 90 total. [00:06:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:17] Speaker A: I mean, so much better. [00:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:20] Speaker A: They make one mistake and all of a sudden three and a half miles of racing is gone. That's two laps at some tracks. [00:06:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So all that to say it was great for that aspect. And then I also, you know, the racing was way better in my opinion. They just kept them kind of closer. It didn't have that long straightaway to get them stretched out. You know, I saw a lot of people on Twitter talking about how like that one passing zone, it's like that hairpin up at the very top of Coda, the very top, talking about that. But then they actually kind of made two better passing zones with like 6A, 6B in that area before they go to turn, just jump to turn 12. Like. Yeah, I actually thought that those two areas were way better. And in that part of the track, I love the tire barrier there because that forced the guy not to go too low. And we saw, you know, a lot of contact there. That's where Denny Hamlin and Dylan wrecked. That's where like host of our wreck that other dump. And I mean, those were the wrecks, but like, there was plenty of. Plenty of people that were beating and banging in there because you can't go too low, and if you go too high coming off the corner, you're going straight in the wall. So, like, they really are kind of fighting for what you know. Absolutely, for one kind of area. So I thought that was great. I think I feel like they took one pass and zone away, but added two more. So I'm always into that. [00:07:38] Speaker A: Yeah, see, that's the one thing that I had a problem with after the race was over. Not, not even a problem, but kind of had a thought about is I texted you a little bit about this in the race, but I've thought about it a lot since. It's almost like those long straightaways that everybody was a little worried that we were getting rid of because it was going to create a really big breaking zone. I'll tell you one thing NASCAR drivers are really, really good at is rhythm driving. They're always into taking a corner side by side or beating and banging through a corner at either low speed or high speed. But one thing NASCAR drivers don't get a lot of practice at is learning how to make a pass. When you're coming from 150 miles an hour down to practically zero, they don't get much practice at that. And it's almost like shortening this track up allowed the corners to be closer together, where the lead car no longer was able to get completely clear of the trailing car. So if they do end up side by side, there's never a chance for that run from the better racing line to take that leader way further out to the point where the guy behind him has to judge a braking zone. And he knows that if he ends up bumping this guy going into a corner, going 150 miles an hour trying to slow down, you try to hit that guy, it's going to probably throw them off and make you look like an ass. But instead, now we've got what drivers are already used to, these tracks, even, even some of the road courses that we've already gone to for a while, especially Watkins Glen and Sonoma. There's not so many of those giant braking zones. It's a lot more of that short. You've got to be rhythmic, you got to be methodic, and you can beat and bang through there because you're not going to jack somebody up to the point where they're going to wreck. You're just going to kind of nudge them out of the way a little bit. It's all. That's kind of what I was thinking through the whole thing. And the way that going through those braking zones, it takes a lot into your brakes, it heats up your tires, it does a whole lot of things. And then you go on those long straightaways and it cools everything back off. Now we've got them so clumped up, every corner is coming before the last corners even had a chance to wear out of your stuff. So you can legitimately outbreak yourself out. Drive yourself to the point where you're worn down your equipment. It was a lot of fun to watch it because you could tell they were having to legitimately drive the. The battles were a lot tougher, a lot closer. Man. It was a lot more entertaining. I just didn't see a single part of that race I was not completely enthralled by. I loved it all the way through. [00:10:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm right there with you. That's kind of what I mean. Just like with the comparison to like Sonoma and Watkins Glen, like the act, it feels like you're kind of on top of the action, instead of the action just kind of being like so far away. You don't even know where. Like, like I said, you don't even know where certain people are. Like, what. Where they feel like they're in a different zip code almost. And like we've seen at Coda and like Road America and stuff. And I'm not. I've actually, you know, kind of enjoyed Coda like the last couple years or not. Not the first few years. I really enjoyed it last year, you know, whatever. Kind of like I've been with every road course, I guess, in the next gen kind of thing. But, man, I texted you before the race and talked about Watkins Glen, which was the last road course of last year. Well, outside of the road, last, like actual road course of the year. And like, that was a great race. I mean, that was really fun. They. They bringing this soft tire. We. Not just us, we're nobodies. But I mean, everyone's talked about this whole. Bringing a soft tire is just like it is the four things that touch the ground, you know, so like, we always should. We should make those not be hard as rocks. But man, giving them the. Give them the soft tire and kind of get them on top of each other. Not being able to spread out. I mean, that's sounds like Martinsville to me, you know, like Going in that direction. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. Making this bull ring stuff. I want to see drivers beating and banging for stuff. I don't want to see Formula one style racing where nobody touches and everybody's worried about track limits. [00:11:33] Speaker B: Like, so that's another good. [00:11:35] Speaker A: Granted, that is a whole nother concept we'll get into. [00:11:38] Speaker B: It is. But that's a good point you just made is like they. They kind of turned. They Coda is a F1 track and this new course turned into a NASCAR track, which I really like. [00:11:50] Speaker A: What a way to put it, man. Put that on Twitter. It'll get at least four likes. [00:11:54] Speaker B: Hey, I put a post on Twitter day that. What was it? I got like, ended up getting like 74. I was like, yeah, you know, you. [00:12:00] Speaker A: Had a drop of fame in the it. [00:12:03] Speaker B: Let's talk. Let's talk about the. The track limits for a second. [00:12:08] Speaker A: Because everyone's favorite words. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm just sick. I told. We talked about it last week, I think on the podcast. We talked for a long time after the podcast last week about stuff. So I can't remember exactly what was said on the podcast, what wasn't. But, you know, that's like you're kind of your drinking word of the week. It's like, dude, if I never heard the word track limits again, like, I'd be. I'd be all right if I never had to hear about this, you know. [00:12:30] Speaker A: Absolutely. And is that something that's never been at any other track? Because there's either dirt, grass, or a tire there to where if you go there, you're going to get screwed up. So it's not worth going there. I wish we just go back to doing stuff like that. [00:12:43] Speaker B: Me too, man. And that's really what changed. Like, let's take that first corner at Watkins Glen, turn one. That change when they paved that when it wasn't gravel anymore, that changed the racing at Watkins Glen. And not necessarily 100%. Like, they don't. They can. You can. You don't have to break as much. You can kind of stay in the gas as long as you want. Because I mean, how. I mean, you got what, 100 foot to run around and make that around. And then over there at Sonoma, off that one, what it turn four or whatever. The really hard, like 90 degree right there before you go. [00:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Instead of having that wall there anymore, they've opened it up. [00:13:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And like back in the day, like, I mean, that's happened in the last, like, few years that they've paved all that stuff. And like, honestly, no, this is coming from a guy that's, like, never watched F1, you know, people. I didn't really even hear the word track limits until that. People like, oh, we need to put track limits on this. And then, like, then you start realizing, like, oh, man, when I was a kid, or not even a kid, my whole damn life, this used to be gravel out here. So no one, you had to break so much harder, so much more back because you didn't have 100 foot of concrete to. Or asphalt to, you know, run over, run. [00:13:55] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:13:55] Speaker B: So I feel like I didn't even start hearing the word track limits until then. And then you really don't start hearing about track limits until, you know, it's such a prominent thing now because, I mean, we got seven road courses on the schedule, so. And multiple of them have this track limit thing going on, you know, and so it's like, put something there. And I personally, sorry to keep rambling about this, but one more thing. [00:14:20] Speaker A: Oh, you're fine. [00:14:21] Speaker B: I'm not, like, I'm not Mr. Street Course Guy, but something that makes the street course fun, I think, and, like, backs those breaking zones up much. There's no runoff. Nowhere you look. Walls everywhere. Now, you can't go put walls around the S's at Coda. That'll never work. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying, like, when there's repercussions of going off the track, I mean, damn, they're on top. It makes them even more on top of each other. And for a fan, that's even better. But I remember talking about it back in the day with all the gravel, because cars kept going over in the gravel, and you got to call a caution and all that. It's like, I kind of get it, you know, whatever. But now they've done stuff to these cars. Like, if you look at Austin Dillon when he got wrecked, you know, they have these hooks on the cars now. They run road courses. They've made it. I feel like that's a good change. Like, what they do, get in the gravel or whatever, it's a quicker process to, like, throw that thing. All you do is throwing a rope in the loop, and you're just pulling them out. Like, you know. [00:15:19] Speaker A: Yeah, there's just a toe strap. Yeah, absolutely. So, no, you're exactly right. And that's the one thing that you have to realize is drivers are selfish. They're going to do anything they can to make their race a little bit faster, a little bit better. You give them an inch of track limits, if that's what you want to do, and start saying track limits, track limits, track limits. You give them an inch, they're going to take an inch and a half and look over their shoulder and see if you're waving a flag at them. [00:15:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:45] Speaker A: So they're just going to keep on testing that limit as long as you are being inconsistent in calling it. So instead of worrying about having to call it the entire race because, yeah, that could get super annoying. We have 40 drivers in the. In the field. You look at F1, they only have 20. And to be honest, their cars are so difficult to drive. You're not having no Joe Blows in those rides. They have to be genuinely good race car drivers to drive them. Not saying that NASCAR drivers aren't, but we do have a lot more of that lack of quality in the back half of the field. Now, if we start trying to enforce track limits by a strict by the book line on the racetrack, you're going to have to have somebody watching that at all times, calling it every time somebody does it. And that's going to get super frustrating because it's all going to be about that penalty. How about we just take away all of that and put a damn tire barrier up right there? I don't see any reason why we can't. Because we go to this Chicago street course and you can't see around the corner. So don't tell me anything about visibility or a lack thereof. That's what we have spotters for. [00:16:44] Speaker B: NASCAR put those tire barriers there. The drivers did the track walk on Friday, so this is too dangerous. They're too heavy. If someone pushes you off the track, it's going to ruin your day. You run this on the track and. [00:16:54] Speaker A: It'S like, tell me about that at any tire barrier in any NASCAR track ever. And if you're going to say that about that, you got to say it about Sonoma for the last 40 years. [00:17:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I think they. I think they. I think they probably should have left them if it was going to be that big a deal, you know, Like, I think if you get pushed off the track and you hit that thing, it's going to demolish your car. [00:17:14] Speaker A: But it's like I push you off the track at Chicagoland or Luck, you know, Nashville, you're going to get screwed up, too. You know, it's a steel barrier. You want to talk about something heavy and dangerous, you're running into steel over there. We're just asking to hit a couple tires. [00:17:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So I don't know. They said it weighed 400 pounds. I don't know. There. Everybody had pictures of it Friday, and then, boom, they had Nino there. It's gone. They took them away, so. [00:17:40] Speaker A: And nobody knew the rule going into the race. They were calling. Yeah. They didn't know whether they were calling them or not. Turns out that they weren't. Nobody knows it all the way through. Was it first stage, or is the. [00:17:52] Speaker B: One that gets everybody talking? [00:17:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I just don't remember exactly when he said it, if it was, like, in first stage or second. [00:17:58] Speaker B: Me neither. But Kyle Busch gets his spotter talking to nascar, and then once that happens, everybody's listening, and it's like you could just literally hear it through the field. You know, each car getting told like, hey, they're not calling it turn six. They're not calling it turn six. And every driver's like, well, that's not what they said. So, like, why are we changing it in the middle of the race? Like, when the race starts and that they. They talked to. They played the audio, or. I don't know if I heard the audio play, but I read the quote. The quote says, like, they're gonna police the. The track limits. And I think they're. From what it comes out, they're only doing three, four, and five, not six. And then once they found out it's not six, it's like, all right, we're gonna. I mean, hell, they're at the end of the race bell, and them boys is running in the red paint, not even the blue paint. They're all the way. [00:18:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. They didn't even care anymore, so. [00:18:47] Speaker B: Just more inconsistent, really. [00:18:51] Speaker A: I just. [00:18:51] Speaker B: That drives me nuts, that. That stuff right there. It's like, how do y'all not know? Or how are y'all gonna change it? Or how do you not relay this message to message? Yeah, guys, it just drives me bonkers. [00:19:03] Speaker A: I just feel like we're planning this stuff out week by week instead of having, like, three or four weeks of thinking about, okay, what is going to be the best possible option for the fans, for the drivers, and for us as a sport, and then come out and just say, this is what we're doing. If it works, it works. If it don't, it don't. But we're gonna do it this week, so get used to it. We're gonna run it this way. Yeah, that'd be a thing that NASCAR could do that I would applaud all day long. Even if it's a bad call, at least they stood by It. [00:19:28] Speaker B: But yeah, it's just deal, I think. [00:19:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean it. Gosh, I just. I don't know. I'm frustrated by it all the way around. Frustrated. I'm always frustrated by something. But that was just a really good one. Really good example. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that was. Yeah, there's not much to say, but that was just one thing. It was like, wow, it was just so funny. Like the drivers were literally finding out about it is like us on TV and the broadcasters and all that was like, yeah, crew chief, spotters, everybody is like finding out about it in real time. And I was like, this is kind of crazy. [00:20:04] Speaker A: But luckily we ended up with a damn good race out of it and it didn't end up screwed up. Nobody had to worry about some stupid penalty pulling them all the way back. The only penalties I ever really heard about were mostly self imposed. So it turned out to be all right. So thank God for that. They have one, one goof, but at least it didn't goof up the weekend. [00:20:22] Speaker B: Yeah, it was a great race. I mean, I mean there's, I mean having. What was it, four or five guys, you know, knows to tell for the last few laps. I mean, I don't really know if you could ask for much more than that. It was nice to see just a clean finish. Like no cautions, no, you know, all 15 overtimes. Just like the dudes respecting each other. Now don't get me wrong, I love some bumping and banging. Like, I'm all here for that. But like, you know, we didn't just see William Byron just clean out bell on the last laugh or bell bush or bush, you know, whatever. It was just like, I don't know, it's just a good old NASCAR road course race. And I mean there was bumping and banging throughout the field. I mean, the cars had some battle scars, which I reposted this, but someone made a post and it was talking about like, dang, these cars. Look, they went to Martinsville and I don't remember this. This has been, you know, since you've been loving it. But back pre next gen car, the cars at road courses look like they just left Martinsville. I mean, yeah, the aerodynamics at some of these places weren't even such a massive deal at the time. And they were just in those cars specifically at road courses, I'm saying. And like, dude, you know, you remember there'd be cars with fenders missing and holes in the door and I mean. [00:21:37] Speaker A: I used to be the biggest road course fan that I knew when it Came to nascar. Whenever I first started watching, it was so damn good. You had stock cars that were wagging their tails all the way up one side track and down the other. Everybody's beating and banging and you did not have to worry about aerodynamics so damn much. And nobody had their damn butt hurt by somebody bumping into them a little bit. It was just okay. Nowadays because arrow is so important. Somebody even touches somebody else, we're crying foul on the radio, telling them, tell them, better watch out. So now I totally get you. Couldn't agree more, man. It looked wild. And I knew it was going to be that way as soon as I saw the Xfinity race. I mean, they went in there and I mean, Christian Eckis alone, He only took 10 laps to look like he'd just run 500 at Martinsville. [00:22:22] Speaker B: Was he in the 16 car? [00:22:24] Speaker A: You know it, yeah, yeah, that car. [00:22:25] Speaker B: That car looked great. It had. And they had duct tape all the way down it and the nose was missing. I was like, that was a good looking road course car. And he finished top five. Which I was like, yeah, that's. That is. That's exactly what I was just talking. Yeah, like that. [00:22:40] Speaker A: That's exactly it. Yeah, that's the old school Martinsville looking road course car. [00:22:46] Speaker B: Every car in the field look, sometimes in a road course looked even worse than they did in Martinsville. Like. [00:22:51] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. Because they got hit on both sides. [00:22:55] Speaker B: Yeah. So that was, you know, that's just how. That's what we're used to, you know. So. Yeah, I didn't take any surprise by it. I was kind of glad. They looked all beaten, bruised and battered after the race was over. [00:23:07] Speaker A: Yeah, no, they look phenomenal. And it was all because the racing was so damn good. And I mean, you touched on it a little bit there. And you've got to give those four guys credit. Between Bush, Byron, Bell, Reddick and Reddick, all four of those guys racing their ass off for the lead at one point. All four of them within four car lengths of the love each other. I mean, it was. Throw a blanket on the damn leader and you never know what's going to end up happening. Man, it was a ton of fun. Nobody wrecking each other was awesome. Not getting a stupid caution thrown out for somebody in the middle of the field fighting for 16th a little too hard. [00:23:45] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:46] Speaker A: And that lasted for, I think it was like 12 something laps. 12, 15 laps straight of just that back and forth battle going on up front that we just got to focus on, man. It was like watching The Brad Keselowski, Marcus Ambrose, Watkins Glenn finish, but with four cars for ten times the length. Amazing. You just can't ask for anything better than that. [00:24:08] Speaker B: Yeah, once we kind of got the hint of the strategy, you know, like, Bell had two different or two laps better tires. So we were getting, like. We were getting a good dose of strategy. Then that Hamlin caution comes. Then we're getting a good dose of, like, you know, Bush runs out there, gets a good lead. His car is just worn out kind of dog shit, and he's battling his ass off. And so we kind of. We got a dose of strategy and also a dose of, like, all those guys. Like, all right, well, you got what you got. We got you here with strategy. Now let's see, you know what happens. And, you know, it ends up better. Tires always prevail. But what a great thing to say. Like, back. We're only a year or so, year and a half away from that wouldn't have mattered. Like, pitting did not matter, dude. Like, it's just. [00:24:58] Speaker A: No, it didn't. It was basically just making sure you had enough gas. [00:25:01] Speaker B: Yeah. It's so nice to build a pit and make tires make a difference. Like, I'm honestly pumped that two lap tires made a difference. You know, I remember hearing Mark Martin talk about, I don't want cars on. I don't want tires on my car that y'all rode across the asphalt. Like, I need. You know that that's how important tires are. And it's like, maybe we're slowly getting back to that. I mean, I'm pumped this weekend at Phoenix. The tire they're running at Phoenix is the option tire they ran at Richmond. The soft. [00:25:31] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. [00:25:32] Speaker B: So, like, we're doing that. [00:25:34] Speaker A: Got an idea. [00:25:35] Speaker B: But we're doing that at Phoenix. But we have an even softer tire than that is supposedly what ran at Martinsville at the end of last year. So, like, if we just keep going in the same direction, man, with the soft tires, it's just. It's literally the proofs in the pudding. Like, you just gotta. If we're not gonna change horsepower, we're not gonna change nothing else. Like, we gotta make it where tires make a difference. And that's gonna keep giving us what we're looking for, really. Like, if. If. When tires are worn out and you got a guy on new tires, we don't have to worry about the diffuser. We don't have to worry about Eric. All comes back down to tires. So, like, if we just get them to where they're just really, really, really the most important thing like they used to be, man. [00:26:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, all last year, that's what we can. Yeah. I mean, all last year, all we complained about. About this car. Well, the biggest things we complained about about this car. [00:26:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:30] Speaker A: Was the way it performed on short tracks and the way it performed on road courses. And for once, I feel like we're getting listened to a little bit because both are the ones that we're working on right now. Yeah, we got a great package. At mile and a half we got. We can work a little bit on that drafting package, but we. We're. At least it's a drafting package and at least it works. But those are the two things where it was just a stretch of races right in the middle of the year that were just plumb terrible because you couldn't get anything good to happen. Now we're finally kind of getting there. We've seen it work at Coda. Now it's a little early in the year to be calling for this big old pat on the back because there's a whole lot more racing left to go in the year. [00:27:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:10] Speaker A: But I cannot wait for Phoenix. And I think my biggest one that I can't wait for right now is Bristol just to see what happens because we had such a wild card race there last year. Now that they've had a year to think on it and another race, I want to see what happens this year. [00:27:23] Speaker B: I hope it's freezing fucking cold and the temperature causes all the issues again. [00:27:28] Speaker A: How far away from us are we on that? [00:27:31] Speaker B: I don't know, but I remember temperature being the issue last year and it needed more. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:27:34] Speaker B: Tires or whatever it was. [00:27:35] Speaker A: And I hope it's April 13th. We got about a month. [00:27:40] Speaker B: So I just. Just reiterating again, like getting those tires soft and making it where pit stops are important and me and you both have said on here on Twitter and everything there is never, ever a point in racing ever in the history of ever that a set of tires should outrun a set of gas. And we've been there for a minute and we're finally turning the corner a little bit here. So, like, I'm even with Denny Hamlin. Start bringing these damn soft tires back to Atlanta and Kansas and all Darlington, all these places. Like we want to be able to back in the day, man. Dale Jr. Talked about it, about Atlanta, and I know Atlanta is different, but we'll just say, you know, Atlanta was a mile and a half. Dude, at Atlanta, you only had tires for three laps. After three laps you were wore ass out. Like let's bring it back, dude. Wore out tires is what is is. That's the only thing we got control. Well, we don't have control over, but it seems to be the only thing they're willing to change. And if they're willing to change it, let's make them as soft as possible. [00:28:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Because that's one thing that we really are missing is the crew chiefs and the drivers having to work as a genuine team. Right now it feels like the crew chief is just an extra engineer on the box, basically diagnosing issues and giving you the most fine tuned details about your car. Back in the day, man, it was, it was a full time job just keeping the driver reined back, just saying, look, this is the piece I've given you right now with these tires that you have and the strategy that we're on. I need you to run 80% right now because we got to get to this point before you have to pit. But if you cord those tires early, you're going to have to come to me early. It blows our strategy. Now you got two, now you got a team working there. And for the longest time, I mean you just didn't care. You just ran flat out 100%, 100% of the time. It's like, damn, no wonder these cars are so hard to pass because nobody has an inch to give up. Because if they give up an inch, they are literally giving up a mile. [00:29:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:31] Speaker A: Then it affects them so much at the end of the race. Now if we can just finally get to the point where that crew chief is going to have to tell you, dude, you better slow down, you're going to blister those tires. I heard blistering of tires this weekend, man. It's just been a, it's almost like a throwback weekend just for the fact that we got to watch a genuine road course race play out due to strategy and driver skill. [00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker A: And look who ends up at the front of that Kyle frickin Busch. Yeah, we found somebody at something that works with Kyle Busch which is soft tires. He's got to manage and everybody else does too. [00:30:01] Speaker B: Yep. That's. Experience has always prevailed. And if that's what it goes back to, that's what's going to prevail. And even with the new car, you're going to just like at Bristol last year, there was a reason Truex and Hamlin and Keselowski were running 1, 2, 3. I mean that the proof is literally in the pudding. I mean that's just. Is what it is. [00:30:24] Speaker A: Yep. [00:30:25] Speaker B: So yeah. Tires, Tires, Tires. That can be the name of the podcast. [00:30:30] Speaker A: Tires, Tires, tires, tires. Oh yeah. But no, it was a. It was a great end. All because of that. And I mean watching the alternating strategies come together there at the end and then with Shane Van Gisberg and to being such a big part of the conversation all race and then finally ended up back in the back of the pack, it was real fun to watch that whole thing play out because it was no longer just one driver has a chance here. We had a solid six, seven guys that could have won that race at any point. [00:31:01] Speaker B: And that one confused me hardcore because, man, he was set up to have the best tires. And then he just. I guess the car wasn't there or something. But he was. [00:31:10] Speaker A: He said that he had a bad set of tires. Him and Alvin Dinger both or who was it not Almond Dinger. It might have been Almond Dinger. I can't. Yes, it was Almond Dinger. [00:31:21] Speaker B: That just the hell out of me. Because they dropped. [00:31:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:31:24] Speaker B: You know, and they were set. I don't know about Almondinger. I didn't keep up with his race as much but. [00:31:29] Speaker A: Well, both of them got said within like maybe 30 seconds of each other. Shane, they did a report on Shane and said that he had a bad set of tires and that's what made him fall back so far is because he couldn't drive on them very well. And as soon as they put that last set on, that's why he started coming back. He said, whatever happened, it's. It's fixed now, that tire situation. And right after that, Almondinger got the same set of pit stops that put Shane back on the good tires. Almondinger came on the radio and said, I got a bad set of tires because I can't do with this. [00:31:57] Speaker B: Yeah, luck of the draw, I reckon. [00:32:01] Speaker A: It really is, man. I mean you don't hear about that crazy much, but I feel like I've heard about it more in the last like three years than I ever have, which is just interesting. Just a note more than anything. I don't know anything about it, but I never really knew about a bad set of tires until these bad set of tires started coming out somewhere. But. [00:32:20] Speaker B: Want to talk? [00:32:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it was fun. Hell yeah. Let's do it. We got a. We got a very. I guess we could talk about Connor Zillich all the way through because he had a lot to do with this weekend. [00:32:31] Speaker B: He's such a man. What a talent. I mean, just mind blowing, really Watching. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:32:37] Speaker B: I mean, being 18 years old, like, I feel like I've gotten my mind blown big time by SVG over the last two years. You know, he's. However long he's been out here. But, you know, SVG is also, like 37 years old. You know, this kid is freaking 18. It's like, yeah. Kind of hard to wrap your mind around, like, how good he really is and how young he is. I mean, we're talking about a guy, dude that's 10 plus years younger than. [00:33:05] Speaker A: Me and you, like, yeah, like, insane. [00:33:08] Speaker B: That's crazy. The kid was born, like, what they say, like, oh, six or. Oh, seven or something. Like, it's something crazy. I'm like, damn. That don't even. [00:33:17] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it. That would be it, I guess. Yeah. 0607. [00:33:22] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:22] Speaker A: So that's insane to even think, man, this dude can't even drink and he's already out driving racers that have been doing it for their entire lives. [00:33:29] Speaker B: Dude, he is as. I mean, we were all excited about him in the cup race, you know, whatever. I put him in my lineup and stuff, but I'm not expecting him to go out there and win the cup race. But, by God, in the Xfinity series, he is head and shoulders above every single guy there. He can start in the back, go to the front, have to go to the back again and come back and win. And it just is like, yeah. Damn, dude. You are crazy good, man. [00:33:55] Speaker A: It's really funny because I wrote down this note in our notes, and this was before the Xfinity race ended, and I was sure that Zillich was going to lose it because of all the mistakes he was making. [00:34:04] Speaker B: He ran. [00:34:05] Speaker A: I put in the notes. Oh, he. [00:34:07] Speaker B: He. [00:34:08] Speaker A: He ran a sloppy, sloppy race. But the problem is he can afford it when he's that damn fast. [00:34:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:14] Speaker A: And I wrote this down. I said, zillich, star of the show, but youth still shows penalty. And his three NASCAR starts, Cota both times, and Watkins Glenn. But he still got a win at Watkins Glenn. And I really meant that as like a. Let's talk about Zilla Ch. How much should we be worried about betting on him? Is he really as good as they say or. Not necessarily. Is he really as good as they say? Because I realized that more just. Is he as consistent as they hope that he will be? And he proves both of those points so well. He is a sloppy driver right now, but he is so fast, it just doesn't matter. And if somebody wants to come at me for calling him a Sloppy driver. I'll point you back to what I just said. He's got penalties in pretty much every single one of his starts. He's got a lot to clean up. But, God, I can't even imagine how fast this kid's going to be once he does. I mean, give him like two years in NASCAR and a little bit of extra practice on pit road and this kid's going to be lighting the world on fire. He's going to be just like we talked about Shane being a lock for any sort of playoff situation simply because a road course comes and that wouldn't get you in. [00:35:20] Speaker B: And I didn't realize. So somebody on social media was talking about it. His. He made like 7ish start, something like that last year in Xfinity. His oval finishes aren't too bad. His first finished like fourth. Like, he's, he's like, he's like top. He's a top 10. Speed at ovals and he's a freaking top two. Or hell, top one. Always speed at road courses. I mean, he's two for two on the two road courses he's been on. I mean, that's crazy. He is the like, fifth fastest driver to win multiple races and starts. He's had, I think seven starts and two wins. Darrell Waltrip had two wins and three starts. He has the record. Yeah. Kyle Busch is up there with multiple wins in the first few starts. There's a couple. There's like Darrell at three, I want to say a couple guys at five and like he's seven. He's sitting like third or fourth all time of like, fastest to two wins, but man, he's just fast. Kid's fast. I mean, he's got speed. [00:36:24] Speaker A: Yeah. It's unbelievable. [00:36:25] Speaker B: If I had a company, I put my company logo on his hood. [00:36:29] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. [00:36:32] Speaker B: He's going to be around a long time. And you got 20 years with this kid of what, lighting the world on fire. You know, I just, I don't know. [00:36:40] Speaker A: Absolutely fluff it. [00:36:41] Speaker B: Where he's going to be the greatest ever. I'm just saying, like, he is coming on strong. It's crazy. [00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah, there's. There's definitely some guys like a Reddick in the Xfinity series. Christopher Bell in the Xfinity series. People like that, when they're still coming up, you know they're going to be something, you know that they're going to make it. And you just wonder what exactly that success pathway looks like for them. [00:37:03] Speaker B: The. [00:37:03] Speaker A: This is one of those guys where he's barely even had starts in the damn series and already he's got people talking about what his cup ride's going to look like. [00:37:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:10] Speaker A: How many wins he's going to have and this and that. Like, it's, it's such an eye opening generational talent and I hate to like use that word too much, but man, it's like, it's unbelievable to see what he's capable of doing. And I mean, he's out there battling the best NASCAR drivers that we have in the Xfinity series at the moment and making them look like people that had just gotten started. I mean, even some of your most tenured people in the Xfinity series, like all guy and such go out there for practice and he's almost two seconds faster than everybody. I mean, it's just crazy to see what he can do with such little amount of experience. I mean, give him a couple years and some good lessons from mistakes that he makes and you're going to have yourself a piece of. You're going to have yourself a dangerous driver that could do anything he wants to. [00:37:57] Speaker B: I saw yesterday, I think it was. Was Justin Marks was on Sirius XM doing a. His, you know, whatever. He was getting interviewed and word for word, I mean, I remember we talked about this. He said this for Shane when he was talking about him running Xfinity and he was like, Shane didn't move from Australia to the States to run Xfinity. Like this man came here for cup, you know, and Zane Smith is the one that unfortunately, I mean, I think Zane Smith's a great race car driver, but he got the boot because Shane's gonna win a race this year. I mean, I promise he's going to win a race this year. He's a lot. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Absolutely in the conversation for this one. It ended up six. If it wasn't for that bad set of tires, I wonder anybody would have to say for him. [00:38:41] Speaker B: Exactly. And then he said Justin Marks. His quote was that everybody posted it's. And if you can go look, everybody can go look at it on Twitter. But it says hit Zillaj's future is in the cup series. Not. Not Xfinity. His future is in the cup series. And we're just, you know, working all that out. [00:38:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:00] Speaker B: And I just wonder if Suarez only signed a one year deal. I just wonder if that 99 car is waiting for Zillij's name to be on the name rail. I don't know. [00:39:10] Speaker A: He just. I'm telling you, man, Suarez is going to need more than a Spanish accent. To be able to keep that ride next year. I mean, he may be a media darling because he's a little different. He's a label to stand out, but outside of that and, you know, one, two wins, I don't even know if he has a second one. I can't remember it. I'm sure he does. I'm just not thinking of it. [00:39:30] Speaker B: But he wanted Sonoma, and he's one in Nashville. No, I mean, yeah, not Nashville. It's in all Atlanta. Atlanta. [00:39:37] Speaker A: So there you go. I mean, he's had plenty of years to get this sorted out. Multiple teams to get this sorted out. It's. Man, you've been in every possible ride you possibly can be with your teammates winning around you. You eventually have to show something. [00:39:50] Speaker B: That is my biggest. What's the word? Concern, I guess I would say, with Suarez is Suarez does have an Xfinity series championship, but he just, you know, was there when it ended. I'm not trying to discredit that. I'm just stating the facts. [00:40:09] Speaker A: Well, hey, I mean, you know what one good. Really good thing for him is. Another note that I wrote down about the xfinity series is it was not a whole lot of competition behind the top 10 once. Connor Zilich could come up through that field nine times out of 10. Every single time from all the way 30th up until the top 10, he could do that within about five laps. Once he got to the top 10, that's where he finally started slowing down, where the cars actually got competitive. So, yeah, hey, Asores needs another ride next year. I know about, you know, almost 30 Xfinity teams that could probably use. You got a little bit of an upgrade. [00:40:39] Speaker B: I think he was at Joe Gibbs. All of his teammates win races he never won. He goes. He goes to Stuart Haas. In their heyday, when Kevin Harvick's winning every other weekend, doesn't do anything. Goes down to has a year that he doesn't raise. He races for whatever team. Then he goes to Track House, and Ross Chastain has more wins than he does. And it's just like. I don't know, man. I don't think Suarez is a bad race car driver. I just don't know. He just. He's always. He has always been heavily outperformed by his teammates, and he's. Yeah, what I was getting at. Sorry, What I want. My point being was he has been at freaking Gibbs shr's heyday, and when track House came on the scene, they were fast as lightning. So Three major teams, a lot of drivers, they have to run some lower tier teams and they get their one shot, the big team or do this and then get a shot with a big team, you know, whatever. It's rare that a guy goes from, you know, Xfinity, Gibbs, Cup, Gibbs and then cup to sh or Gibbs to shr, SHR to track House. Like his track record has only been at phenomenal race team. So that's another thing. Like you would just think he would be. He'd have more than a couple wins in Cup. You know, I just. That's what I think. And one of them was Atlanta and he was, you know, two inches away from two other guys winning that race. And yeah, I think that Atlanta win got him a contract for this year, personally. [00:42:12] Speaker A: It definitely did. And there's nothing wrong with that. Man. If you win, you're into the series. Like that's, that's always been the thing. If you can get a win, you will have a ride. Now if you cannot consistently get a win, I'm not going to sit here and wait around for you like. Like you're Michael Waltrip or something. Like, get me a win in. Sometime in the next 500 starts. I need you to get a win within the next 30 because we're going to have playoffs here soon. You better be in them because that's where our money comes from. [00:42:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:42] Speaker A: So the more he gets eliminated out of early rounds of the playoffs, the less likely he is to get resigned. And I don't know, we'll have to see how it goes. But I think that's exactly what I'm thinking too, is that's where he's. That's where Zillich is going to end up. You have one of the most talented race car drivers, not even just NASCAR drivers, race car drivers breathing down Your neck that is 18 years old, has his entire career ahead of him. Most of your career is behind you now. And you have to understand that if you're not able to win, you are going to be out. That guy's coming in. And to be honest, it may be a little too little too late. Even if you were to knock off two or three, I'm not sure that that's going to do enough for them to say, keep you in there. [00:43:21] Speaker B: That's another thing. Trackhouse is not afraid to sign a guy right behind you, you know. Yeah, keeping you, keeping you, you know, hot on your heels with. We just, we literally just saw it with the Zane Smith SVG now, you know, Zillage, like they they don't play around with having the next guy in line. Hottest. [00:43:41] Speaker A: No market like you better outdo your teammate this year. At very minimum, you better make the Final Eight as a. As a good, solid place to start. But, man, if you want to keep that ride next year, I think you. You're looking at a Final Four appearance, and that'll be about the only thing I think is going to be grand enough for Suarez to be able to say, I deserve this ride over Connor Zillich. Figure something out. [00:44:04] Speaker B: I just don't see Suarez going to the Final Four, you know, so that's. [00:44:08] Speaker A: And I agree. I'm just saying, I think that's pretty much where we're at with him. He may. I think he's still got a bright future ahead of him. I think he's got plenty of other teams that'd be glad to have him. He could bring a whole lot of knowledge down, too, but I don't know that another top team's ever going to feel like they got that Suarez fever. [00:44:23] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, that's. That's kind of. I'm. I'm at the same point, you know, it's just. It is what it is. I don't know. It is what it is. [00:44:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So we did have one very, very solid, controversial piece of the race. Happened pretty early between the 10 car and the 2 car and the Cup Series race specifically. I know you wanted to bring this up, so I'll let you kind of take a little bit of a head start at it. [00:44:47] Speaker B: Well, they just announced. Like I said, we're doing this on Wednesday. They just announced right before we got on here, no suspension because of X, Y and Z. They said the speeds weren't high. There wasn't a caution. He didn't make contact with the wall. In my opinion, a right hook is a right hook is a right hook. I don't care if it's at Martinsville, if it's at Atlanta, that's at Cota, or if it's at Phoenix. Like, that's what I don't understand. I don't know. I just. It's a. We've seen guys miss races for this, and NASCAR comes out this year. I'm on the. I think, hey, Austin Dillon, right, hooked the 11 last year and gave him the highest G Force wreck that Joe. [00:45:32] Speaker A: Gibbs has ever had at Richmond, of all places. [00:45:36] Speaker B: Should have been suspended. My thing is, this is how inconsistent. This is how the inconsistency bothers me, and I wish I could find a quote exactly. Maybe Matt Weaver or Somebody posted it. I don't know. But nascar, you know, now if you get suspended for an on race thing, you lose all of his. You lose all of your playoff points for the whole season. If you miss a race because of. That's not for a family emergency, baby getting born, you know, whatever. Yeah, he posts. [00:46:23] Speaker A: Somewhere in there whatever. [00:46:26] Speaker B: NASCAR says they don't feel the penalty of that fits the crime. If it doesn't fit the crime. Why did you make it that way? Why have you set a precedence of suspending guys for this? But now it's gonna be, it's gonna have to be at a high speed, hit the wall. There's gotta be a caution. So now you've like made three extra like bullet points under your rule book that this is. [00:46:50] Speaker A: That are not in the rules. [00:46:52] Speaker B: I'm sure not in the rules. So I'm just trying to find exactly what this says. But it's just like you gotta, like that makes no sense. Like he right hooks him directly into the wall. Zane Smith hits the guy and there's no call and no, no penalty. Doesn't make any sense. And they're going to say, you know, there's no caution because it's a road course. Well, what if he does it Martinsville? He could spin in the same way at Martinsville. That could be the same straightaway. There's going to be a caution at. [00:47:25] Speaker A: Martinsville because it's a short track at the same speed. [00:47:29] Speaker B: Doesn't make any sense. I'd love to hear your opinion on this. I'm trying to find. [00:47:33] Speaker A: No, I, I couldn't agree more. I think they really, I think they genuinely backed themselves into a corner last year by suspending these guys. Not making it very clear that this was going to be something that would be called differently in the future. Obviously taking a hard stance on it. How many people do we suspend last year? 2 for this. 2 or 3. Chase Elliott's been suspended and Bubba Wallace. [00:48:01] Speaker B: Yeah, it wasn't last year that his was a couple years ago. But yeah, it's been like, like you're saying yes. [00:48:07] Speaker A: Yeah, we've had a year. [00:48:09] Speaker B: They set a precedent. You right hook a guy on the wall, yeah, you're out for a race. The problem is they give you a waiver immediately. So it's like I love the whole rule. If you, I have always said if you miss a race because you're suspended, why would you get a waiver? That, that defeats the whole purpose. [00:48:25] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. They've just got themselves in this horrible little box that they place themselves in. I mean, what if it's like your champion? What if it's your championship favorite? Like the. Say it's Chase Elliott, the America's most confusing popular driver. He gets right hooked into the wall or he right hooks somebody into the wall. You suspend him for what he did last year, and he is not able to make the championship because he doesn't have enough playoff points to make it all the way through. Now what? Now you've got this guy that's going to be out of the championship race off based off of one move. And you're going to have every NASCAR fan forever always looking at that as like a big asterisk because there is that Chase Elliott effect of he's. He could. He will create this Twitter beef with NASCAR just simply because he got suspended, he missed out on all his playoff points, and he wasn't able to make the championship for. For whatever reason, those fans are going to be irate about that, and then NASCAR is going to change the rule again. [00:49:24] Speaker B: I mean, I'm so. [00:49:25] Speaker A: They've always backed themselves into a damn wall. [00:49:27] Speaker B: If this happens, I'd almost bet money on if this happens to a more popular, more prominent driver. I guarantee you the call is different. [00:49:37] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. It's different every single time. [00:49:39] Speaker B: It's ridiculous. Also, I just got on Twitter to try to find that one minute ago. Chase Briscoe wins. His appeal penalty has been overturned. So his penalty from Daytona qualifying has been overturned. He is not negative 68 points back now. [00:49:56] Speaker A: Goodness, that's fine. I mean, that's stuff. That's. At least they took their damn time to figure it out. They didn't try to rush it to get it done by the next race. We got plenty of time. Make sure you got it right and then make the call. [00:50:08] Speaker B: So I'm glad to do with the. Something to do with the spoiler and like the holes were too deep or something to do. [00:50:14] Speaker A: Yeah, like a manual. Like change to the spoiler in some way probably for one of those thousands of an inches that doesn't quite match up to their car that they always talk about. [00:50:27] Speaker B: But yeah, he is. He is good. And it was not a modification to a single source part, so. [00:50:37] Speaker A: Well, good. [00:50:38] Speaker B: Think he's good. He's back probably in the. Sorry, I'm reading some stuff here. I'm just trying to get off. [00:50:49] Speaker A: No, you're fine. Yeah. Whenever breaking news happens on the podcast, that's always an interesting one. [00:50:54] Speaker B: I love the. We are not. People are pissed that Briscoe or not Briscoe that Cedric was not penalized, it seems, including K. Busch here. [00:51:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I'm. I'm here for it, but just make. I just wish they'd stop. That's what I was kind of talking about a little bit last week with the caution button and reacting to moments in the races. It's like, y'all gotta stop creating these rules because something happened and then realizing whenever it happens again. But it's a different scenario, different situation, and it's like, ooh, man, if we call that the same, that's gonna really. Man, that's what it feels like they do every single week. It's just like, oh, we didn't think about that. It's like, can y'all just. We just hire, like, five people to just sit down and look at the rules of NASCAR that are the most controversial and tell them, come up with a way in which this will work. Look at every scenario that's ever happened and look at something that creates a good scenario every time and put that into the rules. I know it's not easy. I'm not sitting here saying that I could sit here and create that golden package of rules. But, man, I think you get about five to six retired NASCAR drivers, retired race directors, get them all in the same room, have them watch a bunch of film, and come up with answers to these questions of if somebody right hooks in the middle of a race, we want that to be a penalty every single time. Tell us what that punishment should be so that it is fair in every scenario in which it has happened in the last 10, 15 years so we can at least work through it and know that if we do have to make this call, we're not going to have to either screw somebody's entire year or give the fans a reaction to a scenario that they are disappointed with. I think it's a lot simpler than they're making it out to be. They're just not willing to do the hard work in the short term to make it better in the long run. We're instead just rewriting the rules as we see fit as different things happen and we learn new things. [00:53:00] Speaker B: I mean, NASCAR has always been known to change rules, but I have seen there's been an updated, highlighted piece of the rule book, like, six weeks straight now. We're only, like, three weeks into the season. Yep, it's just been a week. Matt Weaver posts new update to this rule. And it'll have, like, three lines highlighted in purple or, you know, yellow, whatever. And it's like, Jesus Christ, man. All we want is just a little consistency. It's like they have to take every single thing so specific to what it is. I don't understand. A dude, right. Hooked a guy on the straightaway into the wall. You right hooked him. Data shows it suspended. Sorry. Yeah, sorry. We changed the rule this year that you lost all your points. Like I said, which I agree with, there has to be some repercussion for it, because if not, you're just giving a guy a paid off weekend. [00:53:54] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:53:55] Speaker B: That's all it was before absolute weekend. Chase got a paid off weekend, and. [00:54:00] Speaker A: The only people getting screwed are the sponsors in the teams, not the person that actually committed the violation. [00:54:05] Speaker B: Yes. Someone has said. I have seen someone say that. Now it is like the driver is actually getting screwed for his repercussion on the track, which he should. [00:54:15] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:54:17] Speaker B: Cool. [00:54:18] Speaker A: So run yourself. Right. And I mean, you're. You're exactly right. If you want it to stop, make it difficult. So now that we've had one person do a right hook in the middle of this year, we've already set the precedent that NASCAR is not going to call that every time. So you may be able to get away with it. Just make sure that you plan it correctly. [00:54:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:36] Speaker A: So that way nobody really knows. [00:54:38] Speaker B: Make sure, because at a road course, there's no caution. They don't hit the wall. Even though he did hit the wall and got hit by another car. But. [00:54:44] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. [00:54:46] Speaker B: Happen. [00:54:47] Speaker A: It just puts them in a bad spot once again, because now the drivers are going to say, well, why am I getting suspended? You didn't suspend the two cars just like. [00:54:53] Speaker B: Yes. [00:54:54] Speaker A: Guys, are we. Are we crazy? Are we insane here? I don't understand. Like, what more. What more do we need to see out of a driver doing something like that before you're actually willing to call the rule that you called into place? [00:55:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree, man. Either way, anyway, let's go to Phoenix. Let's. [00:55:14] Speaker A: God, could I not? [00:55:15] Speaker B: Yeah. The only thing I'm looking forward to about it is I am excited the. [00:55:22] Speaker A: Fact that Blaney's going to win the race. Right? That's. That's it. That's it. Come on. [00:55:27] Speaker B: I'm excited to see these option tires at Phoenix. See what happens. [00:55:32] Speaker A: Yeah, like, that's going to be fun. [00:55:34] Speaker B: Just give me, you know, something to look forward to at Phoenix because, man, it's been a. It's been a minute since I've remotely looked close, like, look forward to a race at Phoenix. [00:55:48] Speaker A: I like it because Blaney runs up front, dog, that's that's, that's the only reason I like Finney. [00:55:54] Speaker B: Blaney and Logano are going to do great this weekend. So, Mom. [00:55:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:58] Speaker B: Here's your picks. [00:56:00] Speaker A: Blaney, Logano, Seabell. [00:56:02] Speaker B: Yeah, those are the three. I think those are the three that battle for the win. [00:56:05] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. [00:56:06] Speaker B: It's rare, but Christopher Bell could go for a 3P. I mean, he could. It could. That's. [00:56:13] Speaker A: That would be wild. [00:56:14] Speaker B: That is not out of the cards to happen. [00:56:16] Speaker A: No, not at all. Those are definitely my three. Definitely my three, tops. And I think you got a couple others. Larson's definitely. I think he's figuring that track out. Every time he goes there, he gets a little bit better at it. [00:56:28] Speaker B: Yeah, Byron doesn't run very well there, even though I think he does have a win there. Overall, though, he just doesn't run that great. [00:56:39] Speaker A: Yeah, and I'm, I'm running through the list here just to see if there's anybody else that kind of pops out at me. But I mean, God, it's, it's, it's so hard not to pick those three. Austin Cindrick would be a fun one to watch just because he's had a better start to the year than he's ever had, but I just don't see him doing extremely well here. He might be a good top tenors. Let's see my, like, my really back there could do something. Driver is probably going to be a Ty Gibbs. I could see him doing something. He may be a good. Another top five or top ten bet. But definitely you're looking at those three guys. Logano, Blaney, Bell. Gotta have a two in your number to make it to the, to make it to the Phoenix race. [00:57:25] Speaker B: Yeah, those are definitely my three guys. I have to look see any other two, but those are Logano, Blaney and Bell. I mean, honestly, they could all three finish top five. No kidding. They could all easily. Yeah. [00:57:40] Speaker A: So do you think the option tire. What do you think the option tire is going to do to the racing that will change it? Because there's one thing about Phoenix that is so unique. It's the fact that it's different on both sides, and you're able to go 17 wide into Turns 1 and 2 if you really wanted to. Having the dogleg and all that, it's just kind of a goofy racetrack. Racing side by side at Phoenix means something different than it does anywhere else. Most of, most of your true side by side racing is in 3 and 4, but you can be side by side with somebody and be further away from them than the guy right behind you. So that's kind of my interesting question for you, is what do you hope to see out of this tire? Is it fall off? Is it better racing lines? What's the difference? [00:58:22] Speaker B: It has nothing to do with the racing lines. It's all about fall off. And like, if someone uses and abuses the tires early, we could see a guy that doesn't do it, you know, like a Denny Hamlin, Kezzle out, whoever. I'm just naming some old guys, but you see those guys. I'm hoping it gives us comers and goers. I'm hoping we got guys that use and abuse them, get them hot, get passed, cool them off, come back, whatever. That's what I hope happens. I do. I want to see. I want it to make passing. And that's makes passing. Passing at Phoenix is like damn near impossible. And they get. And they run in the line and that's kind of just where they kind of run. Like they always say, like on those last restarts, like, if a guy gets a nose on you in a turn one. They've talked about this for the last five years. The guy gets a nose on you in turn one, you could call the champion right there on a. I'm talking about so true on you going down into turn one, he's got the line coming out, he gets you and that just. I'm just hoping to see a guy, like, hoping you can use and abuse the tires and maybe some strategy comes in, some, you know, save a set or something, you know, I don't know. But just any of that, like comers and goers, where it's not like dead in the line, this guy saves some tires, he passes this guy. Because this guy has, you know, he's running on freaking chords, you know, that's. That's what I'm hoping for. More passing, more tire wear, more tire fall off. That's what I'm hoping I'm. [00:59:50] Speaker A: You hit on. What I'm looking forward to the most for sure. When you said looking for some more strategy to come into that race, because at the end of the day, what can help make a boring racetrack product look better is differing strategies and genuinely making it better for that guy that's on the newer set of tires further back in the pack to come up, that's one thing that's just. We talked about it earlier about road courses, how it's been eliminated completely. That can at least help add some intrigue to the race. It's not going to help Your casual fan, that's not paying attention to that. I realize that I don't really care about them because I'm not them. I like to see a race in which you have multiple ways in which you can make it interesting. Yes. There are going to be some times in Phoenix where it's going to get boring. And I. I don't think having donuts for tires would help that out at all. I think you genuinely are going to have to have a little bit of strategy added in to make it kind of as if you are racing a road course. And I think that's going to help out a ton for people like us, our hardcore fans. Those guys are going to be the ones that are going to enjoy that extra strategy being added into it, and that's what I am really hoping for. Now, casual fans, I do love you, but at the end of the day, I'm not one. So that's more for. That's more a hope for me than it is for anything. [01:01:10] Speaker B: Max job every day when he gives us some diagram that we've seen 800 times since we were 1 years old. [01:01:16] Speaker A: Exactly. And this week, you know what that diagram is going to be. It's going to be a big overview of the track, and we're going to talk about the dog leg and how people are going to take a shortcut through the dog leg. It's going to give them an advantage, and then nobody's going to freaking do it because the underbody of this car cannot handle the transition from the dog leg to the actual racing surface for sure. And so we're going to talk. We're going to talk it to death. We're gonna see four people try it. Every single one of them is gonna complain about how rough it was and how it messed up the bottom of their car, and then they're never gonna do it again. [01:01:45] Speaker B: You hit the nail on the head, sir. [01:01:47] Speaker A: Ma'am. I got my crystal ball up my. Up my tailpipe right now, so that way I can, you know, just see the future coming. [01:01:53] Speaker B: All right. [01:01:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So anyway, we got that all out of the way. Hack of the week. Who is your hack of the week? [01:02:07] Speaker B: Thinking a couple things. I made a big stink on Twitter about this. I feel like this could also be your hack of the week. So I'm not trying to steal it from you, but there's nothing worse than being acting like you are high mighty the man, the cleanest driver out there the week before, getting in a young kid's ass about the way he's driving. Making dumb mistakes, and he didn't even wreck you. And then on turn one, lap one of the race, you just go in there and clean them out, dog. I mean, just clean them out. And the cherry on top was declining to comment on it after the race. I was like, you little son of a bitch. I was. I could have. I could have grabbed Ross Chastain by the collar of the shirt after the whole instance and then declined. [01:02:59] Speaker A: You would have known you'd have. Noah grabbed him. [01:03:02] Speaker B: God, dude, I was so. I just could not believe. Ross is, like, a pretty talkative guy. I feel like he's a guy that normally would have done that. Someone told him not to, I feel like. And I was just like, you. Like I said, you little son of a bitch. You cannot be that guy last week and then do that turn one, lap one this week. I feel like that's a pretty. Pretty popular one, so I'm gonna throw that out there. My second one, though, is they're coming off the corner bell is passing Bush, and they hurt. They turn to that camera view. That is just the back of the grandstands, and you can't see nothing but the back of the grandstands. I thought they're side by side, and they're. Yes. [01:03:50] Speaker A: I thought the exact same thing. [01:03:52] Speaker B: In the wall. I was like, they hit the wall. There's no. [01:03:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I thought they were wrecking each other. About to go in there and blow each other's doors. [01:04:01] Speaker B: In the wall. And I mean, our whole. My whole entire screen is this gray brown. Yes. [01:04:07] Speaker A: And they stayed there for, like, four seconds, too. They just did not switch. And I'm like, guys, what? There's something happening right now. What are we not. What are we doing? Why is the director like. [01:04:19] Speaker B: Like that right there in the booth? Go back and listen to it right now. You can hear them when it happens. I don't know if it was Boyer Harvick or Mike Joy, but they're called. [01:04:29] Speaker A: Oh, it had to have been Boyer. [01:04:32] Speaker B: Like, come on. Golly, Those are my two, I guess I was so pissed off at Ross Chastain about. I didn't even hate that he did it. I hate that he acted like he did last week. He did it on lap one, turn one, and then didn't comment on it. It was like a whole entire thing. That makes me so mad because, yeah, old Ross Chastain did that every weekend. So it was like, hell, yeah, there's some old Ross Chastain, you know, but it's just all the things that lined up Together is what really pissed me off about the Ross Chastain situation. [01:05:11] Speaker A: You know what I think he did? I think he realized that he wrecked the one dude in the field that he literally cannot wreck. Chase Elliott is the one guy on the field that will make both the fans and Rick Hendrick mad at him beyond belief. And he knew that he had screwed up, and he ran from it. I mean, that's how it. That's. That is the optics of it to any person in the sport. [01:05:32] Speaker B: Last lap. [01:05:34] Speaker A: Yeah, that he's pulled out of the way of Chase to let him go by right up. [01:05:38] Speaker B: Gets completely out of the way, doesn't. [01:05:40] Speaker A: Even give him a shot. And Chase even says over the radio, like, I got wise and moved up out of the way there. And it's like you can hear it in Chase's voice. He's almost like, damn, Yeah, I almost got to do it. Because it took him all the way from the first lap to the last lap to have the opportunity, and he could have done it right there. [01:05:57] Speaker B: Cracks me up, too, talking about bringing up Rick Hendrick. You know, all this stuff happens in 2023 with him, and he cleans out Larson. Me and dad are sitting there, and we're like, I bet money, you know, the one car takes just doesn't make the corner. And he doesn't. It takes him out. This whole Rick Hendrick conversation goes down. Ross Chastain's been neutered. He can't. He's ran like dog shit, basically, since that exact moment when he quit being aggressive. And the first dumb mistake he makes is hitting, like, you said, the most popular driver, but also Rick Hendrick's other car. [01:06:31] Speaker A: Yeah, like, dude, like, it just. He. Every step of the way, man, it's like the old Ross just gets a little further away from us. Is like. Is old Ross in the room with us right now? Because, like, I'd like to know about it because we need him back. I loved old Ross Chastain. I don't care if you're making a billionaire mad. He can afford to fix it, do it anyway. [01:06:54] Speaker B: Old Ross is what made Ross fans. And now it's like a guy that's like, I don't really see him that much, you know, whatever. He. I don't know, dude. Ross, I don't know. Aggressive. Him being aggressive is clearly what was his advantage to when he won way more races before Darlington to 23 than he has since, so. Got to figure that out. Gotta. Got. [01:07:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:07:19] Speaker B: Gotta get a happy medium there somewhere. But Ross has gotta. I Don't know. He just ain't. He ain't done as good. It just hasn't. [01:07:26] Speaker A: No, he hasn't. And it's. [01:07:27] Speaker B: It's gotta figure that out. [01:07:29] Speaker A: Yes. And he's gotta start going out there and saying things to the media all the time like, he's a farmer. I want to be about him. I grew up farming. I want to be a Ross Chastain fan in the worst possible way. I try to watch out for the guy. I bet it on him in the Xfinity race. I did everything that I could to be a Ross Chastain fan for the longest time, and I'm still sitting here saying, I still don't get fired up about it. I want him to do well as a farmer and as somebody that I can relate to. He seems like the kind of guy I could get behind. And he just stopped being that guy. [01:08:04] Speaker B: Dude, I know you remember this, but people compared this man to Dale Earnhardt. [01:08:09] Speaker A: Yes. [01:08:10] Speaker B: He completely changed everything and doesn't win anymore. And I'm like, bro, I'd rather fucking make people mad, get compared to Dale Earnhardt than do whatever he's doing now. [01:08:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it's almost like, is it because he got neutered or is it because he just doesn't want to deal with it anymore? He just wants to come here, race the race, go home and be a farmer every other day of the week? I mean, I just don't. I don't know. So many things. I don't know about Ross. So many things. [01:08:38] Speaker B: I could ask things. [01:08:40] Speaker A: Yeah. But I'd have to say my hack of the week has got to be the guy. Not the guy that got wrecked. But in the middle of the race, they swing down to the go kart track they have built in the parking lot. Some dude completely obliterates some guy on live TV to the point where the guy's throwing his hands up in the air, like looking for the 18 year old kids waving the yellow flag or the red flag at the guy telling him to get off the track. He looked like he got his absolute shit rocked. And his bell rung when he hit that hay bale stack. I mean, my gosh, man, if I was me and you on the go karts, we'd be sore the next day. And so my hack of the week is whoever sent that dude into the outside wall in an attempted murder on the. On the Fan Zone Go kart track. That dude's an absolute hack. He's a hack hole. [01:09:35] Speaker B: Dude was going to be literally on live TV in front of millions of people either. [01:09:39] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And that. And you know that that was just comedy gold. You just can't plan that kind of stuff. Just pan into it right as it happens. Like, oh my God, man. But that would definitely be my. My hack of the week is a little bit more of a jokey one because the only other one I had was Christian Ekis for racing like an absolute idiot in the Xfinity series. And then he goes and finishes in the top five. So it's like, can't really hack of the week, that guy. But it is what it is. But anyways, that's about all I got for it. [01:10:11] Speaker B: Same dude. This is a good pot. [01:10:14] Speaker A: Heck yeah. [01:10:14] Speaker B: Y'all can follow me. Dawson Edwards Music across the board, raise Roddy Racing across the board raise Rowdy. Matt Burrell, Razordy, Nicky T. Got a song coming out next Friday. [01:10:28] Speaker A: Heck yeah. Don't matter. [01:10:31] Speaker B: Let's go. Pre Save it. [01:10:32] Speaker A: Hell yeah. Pre save. Take my truck. On itunes, on Spotify, on Apple Music. Anywhere else you get your podcast or your not your podcast, your music. I mean, most people get them in the same place, so screw it. Find it where you get your podcast. Yeah, you heard about it here first, folks. Unless you're following Dawson Edwards everywhere else, you should have been hearing about it by now. What's wrong with you? Why you Pre saved it yet? You can find me everywhere at Caleb Conrady. Keep up with me as I'm trying to build a garden and trying to, you know, out drink my dad this weekend. I'll be doing a whole lot of that. He's coming in. My birthday's on Friday, so my parents are coming up to help us out with a few things, getting the baby room ready and such. So we're about to be having a busy old weekend. But anyways, y'all, if y'all do end up following us on your socials, just keep a lookout for the next week. We're both painting different things in our homes, so you may just see a paint fume induced post going up sometime during the weekend. If it is Dawson's, though, just make sure that you blur out the bottom half of the screen. You never know what you might see. Anyways, y'all, thank you for listening. We appreciate you. We'll see you after Phoenix. [01:11:39] Speaker B: See y'all. I don't drive a Monte Carlo and my truck ain't painted black. It ain't got a big white spot, number three turning left around at the track but you can hear me coming from a mile and a half away these good years can't handle dirt don't need no curves with banks what I like in horses I make up with Four by four I'm in and out of trap till I make it to your door Checkers, wreckers, my ring on the gas I'm making my way to. [01:12:29] Speaker A: You, girl Earn hard, fast.