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Ep. 22: Martin's Magic Touch at the Magic Mile
10 Plays1 year ago
Jake, Steve, and Braxton are in this week to recap the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including the dominant performances by Joe Gibbs Racing cars in both races. Plus discussion on the softer tire compound Goodyear took to Loudon for the Cup Series, the new underbody test being moved to Richmond due to the rain this past weekend, and news of an Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval test upcoming. The guys also mention RCR's news of Australian Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki running the 33 car at the IMS road course, the SRX season opener, and our friend Travis Braden hopping in a super late model at Five Flags this weekend.
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Transcript
Rain Delay Discussion in Loudoun
00:00:16
Speaker
A day late but not a dollar short cloudy with a chance of racing coming to you after rain postponed the Cup Series race to yesterday, Monday in Loudoun, New Hampshire. Braxton, myself here with Steve and Jake this week. Our motorsports meteorologist, Dylan, is a way
00:00:36
Speaker
doing his day job, making sure the people of Central Kentucky are aware of severe storms in that area this evening. But Steve and Jake, what do we see this weekend on the motorsports front?
Weekend Racing Highlights
00:00:48
Speaker
It was a lot of action going on. Kind of a snoozefest between Xfinity, not a total loss, but Xfinity was kind of John Hunter Neimanchek ran away with it and the Cup
00:01:03
Speaker
Truex ran away with it sort of yesterday. Although it didn't seem like a crazy Truex dominant win. Every win, people say that his races are boring, that he wins. It didn't really feel that way. I don't know if that had anything to do with the softer compound on the tires.
00:01:24
Speaker
We did see a little bit more fall off than I think we had seen in previous short tracks with this, uh, set up in the, in the next gen era. So, um, you know, it, it seemed like pit strategy was the most important thing here. Um, overall, I think that it's gotten better a little bit short track racing.
00:01:46
Speaker
Um, but there's still a long ways to go. But although, like I said, you know, the XFINITY series really wasn't outside of like a lot of action that was, you know, Rex the racing itself, I don't think was super great. Um, but you know, normally it's, it is, uh, but in this instance, I didn't really see a whole thought that a whole lot that I loved.
Martin Truex Jr.'s Victory Analysis
00:02:09
Speaker
Yeah. And I thought that the weekend was fine. It wasn't, um,
00:02:16
Speaker
I thought it was a little better than in years past, in a way, with the next gen and the current package it has on these types of tracks. But, you know, Martin Turex Jr. and Steve mentioned it there, when he wins, they seem to be in dominant fashion. I mean, the amount of laps he, you know, he won all the stages, the amount of laps he led.
00:02:45
Speaker
There were some moments in the race where I feel like, you know, some other cars kind of made it a whole lot easier for him and kind of gave it away. You know, the instance with Eric Almorola leading, loses the tire. My pick, Christopher Bell and his pit crew, they couldn't get out of their own way all day. And then he got caught up late in a wreck.
00:03:12
Speaker
But that's a pretty good win. Well, any win is good. But for Martin Truex Jr. finally went at New Hampshire. And he's been really good there in the years past. That's a great win for them. And now you're starting to think about Martin Truex Jr. as a championship favorite. I think the Xfinity and Cup races really had a lot of similar parallels.
Pit Road Challenges and Penalties
00:03:42
Speaker
and that it was a JJOR Toyota that was dominant. And it was a couple of guys on either series that were the closest competition that really shot themselves in the foot in the XFINITY series. It was especially Justin Allgaier with that pit road penalty with servicing over the line, put him in the back of the pack. He got damaged. He even drove back up into the top 10, almost the top five by the end of the race.
00:04:11
Speaker
with a damaged car so imagine if he had a clean car and kept out of the track position how much of a battle that would have been between him and the 20 but didn't come to fruition that way and then the same thing in the cup series it seemed like Almorola, William Byron both had chances to give Truex a run for his money and mistakes cost both of those guys opportunities as well. Quickly before we get into more breaking down of the
RCR's New Recruit: Brody Kostecki
00:04:40
Speaker
This racist let's get some news items real quick some big news Yesterday news earlier today from RCR. They're going to bring over their own VA supercars racer and Brody Kostecki to run at the Indianapolis third course in a few weeks a Continuing a trend I guess they saw the success of Shane van Gisbergen in the project 91 car at Chicago and decided hey, let's try to get that rolling and
00:05:09
Speaker
Worth noting, though, that Brody Kostecki, I guess, lived, he was born in Perth, Western Australia, but lived in the Carolinas for a while and made some K&N East and West starts now Arkham and Orange, East and West starts before going back to Australia. So he is more familiar with the stock car, but still the same kind of lineage of V8 Supercars making a Cup Series debut this year on a road course. However,
00:05:38
Speaker
does not have the wins in those supercars that van Gisbergen does. And he's also a lot younger. So I understand what they're doing, but it's not exactly like it's them trying to do a similar type of thing. But in this instance, I would be very, very surprised if Brody Kostecki is in the top 15 by the end of this race, regardless of whether his experience with those V8 supercars.
00:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, especially when you take into account just People in the cup series have ran obviously at the Indianapolis Road course before It's like the series went into the Chicago street race a little Blind because it was a you know inaugural event for that. I wouldn't my expectation I'm excited for it and I like to see you know teams
00:06:36
Speaker
Um, like we've been seeing bring in, um, people from outside and drivers from outside of the NASCAR world and, and see what happens. It's, it's paid off this year and, um, it just bring, it brings more eyeballs, you know, to NASCAR. Obviously, I think we've all expressed the Indianapolis road course as far as remaining on the schedule and whatnot, but, um, we'll see what happens with this ride.
AlphaTauri's Line-Up Change
00:07:04
Speaker
kind of bridging those two things you just mentioned there, Jake. A name that a lot of people I think have mentioned as being a great fit for a Project 91 ride in Formula One driver, Daniel Riccardo. That seems to be off the table for now because Daniel Riccardo has been tabbed from his Red Bull Reserve Racing position to now replace Nick DeVries at
00:07:30
Speaker
Alpha tower II the Red Bull second team so it seems like Ricardo is out of the contention for a project 91 start for now as far as I can tell but also
00:07:44
Speaker
I heard earlier this week or maybe last week that there is a test scheduled for the IMS oval coming up with the next gen car. So seems like there definitely is some momentum there. They want to flush things out before they put that on the schedule. One quick point about Daniel Ricardo, because I've mentioned him,
00:08:10
Speaker
several times and some on this pod about wanting to see him in NASCAR is that if I would actually really want him to come in, not as like somebody who could be a potential road course ringer, but I would love to see what he would be able to do on an oval. I don't know if you guys remember
00:08:29
Speaker
I feel like probably 12 or 13 years ago, I think it was at Watkins Glen where Lewis Hamilton drove Tony Stewart's car and Tony Stewart drove Lewis Hamilton's car. And it was really cool to see, you know, he and it was raining. And, you know, I think Lewis could do a lot in that car that he didn't think that he would be able to do. And so that's kind of the same thought that I had about Daniel Ricardo. I feel like he would probably be able to
00:08:59
Speaker
handle the cup car on an oval, maybe one of those big tracks, but also obviously in the road courses. So I mean, I think a part time ride would be cool for him in the future. He's still relatively young at ease in his low thirties, I think so.
Brickyard 400 and Schedule Innovations
00:09:12
Speaker
But on top of that,
00:09:15
Speaker
We need to bring the Brickyard 400 back. There's no reason for an Indy road course. I think two years ago, it was an unmitigated disaster of a race at the road course. And it's not great racing to me. There's something about the history and the heritage of the 400 that
00:09:38
Speaker
just makes it fun to watch every year that's not a Indy 500. So the racing hasn't been good, I would say, though, in the last few years that they had it. So they would have to see what kind of compound or how the setup of the car would have to be for it to be worth it again. I will say, though, the one thing I do like about running the Indy Road course is it gives a NASCAR and Indy car an opportunity to be at the same venue on the same weekend.
00:10:08
Speaker
And I think that the logistical setup of switching back and forth between Oval and Road Course, if they were to do that with NASCAR on the Oval,
00:10:20
Speaker
and indie on the road course. It's just isn't practical. And I don't think there's no interest. I don't think from Indian from Indy car to run the oval anything besides the 500 rightfully so I do. I get that it takes that away. I get that. But I also think that I'm not in favor. I'm in favor of more road courses if they want to add them. But
00:10:41
Speaker
then add a road course for a track that's not already on the schedule, like Laguna Seca or just, I don't know, somewhere else that it doesn't have to do like with taking away a current
NASCAR Playoffs and Road Course Strategies
00:10:54
Speaker
oval. That's just what I think, though. Yeah. Fair enough. So, yeah. And, you know, one where you're not running, you know, on, you know, the same track that, you know, in the infield of a track, if you will. And one that's just like a traditional
00:11:11
Speaker
road course. In the brickyard, in the last few years of it as an oval, admittedly, like we've said, wasn't the greatest. But just in the road course hasn't been either. So why not go back? I'd be all for that.
00:11:38
Speaker
I've liked the majority of the schedule changes that we've seen. I mean, they've really been trying different things in the last three to four years, but I think going away from the India oval was probably, uh, I have to think about this for a second. Probably I would say one, one of the NASCAR's biggest mistakes of the schedule and that they've made in recent years. Yeah. I mean, it has been total calamity every single start and restart going into turn one.
00:12:08
Speaker
Yeah, which is why with a place like Laguna Seca where there's a lot of big not big but areas where you can kind of.
00:12:20
Speaker
be a little more free. And there's only really two hairpin turns outside of a corkscrew, the corkscrew. But there's more. It's like Watkins Glen. You know, it's like the super speedway of road courses kind of. So gives you the opportunity to really spread your wings and not have to worry about the Newton's cradle effect of getting in and just everybody smashing into each other. Yeah, totally. I mean, there are there are plenty of tracks they could go to. I think Rotolana would be great, but I don't think really need another
00:12:50
Speaker
Atlanta market track but still interesting to see what they come up with after that test speaking of testing it sounds like the planned test for Loudon that was going to be yesterday and today to test a updated underwing for the next-gen car that could be implemented next year on short tracks has been moved to Richmond in a couple of weeks with yesterday's
00:13:17
Speaker
Move or the cup race to yesterday due to rain.
Playoff Contenders Debate
00:13:20
Speaker
So I'll have to wait a couple more weeks on that But with that, let's transition into the racing at Loudon. We talked a little bit about the Xfinity series We're gonna look at a little bit the bubble Because there were some guys on the playoff bubble or very near to it who had some some important moments Parker clearman gets caught up in a restart crash and
00:13:43
Speaker
that takes him out of the race, a bad points day for him, and nearly turned into an OK points day for the 48 there in the Xfinity series when Riley Herbst got into an accident himself, but Riley was able to bounce back and get a pretty solid finish as well. So what are we thinking in the Xfinity series? Who do you think makes that last point in spy? It's going to be Riley Herbst or Parker Kligerman.
00:14:11
Speaker
I don't know. Obviously, there's no way for, in my view, there's no way for Parker Kligerman to get in. I feel like it's got to be Herbst. And Kligerman's run well, albeit there have been a few road bumps over the last, I don't know, he's been really good. There was one issue, I think, what was it Saturday. But outside of that, you
00:14:36
Speaker
He's been solid, but I still don't see him jumping herbs. I just, I don't know. Can't see it. Yeah. You look at it. It's, it's experience and Clickerman who's been around just versus, um, a younger racer in, you know, pretty good equipment in that 98 Ford. It'll be, it'll be tough. Uh, a what 18 points. Um,
00:15:06
Speaker
It can be done, but I would predict Riley in that final spot as of right now. Of course, I'd have to look at the Xfinity series schedule, because it might be a little different from cup here to end there. So I'm pretty sure Xfinity does go to both Andy and Watkins Glen. And Parker Klugerman is a road course winner in the truck series. And Road America.
00:15:33
Speaker
I see. That's right. And Road America. Where do they what what week do they go to Road America? Is it the Michigan week? The final week of. Rich July. So, yeah, Richmond. Oh, Richmond week. OK, so next week, week after next. Sorry. OK. So yeah, three road courses in there for the XFINITY series right in a row or three out of four. Excuse me. That could be a big opportunity for Clickerman. He's one in the truck series at Mid-Ohio last year. So he knows how to get around the road courses. And I think
00:16:02
Speaker
On paper, I would probably put Parker Klugerman as a better road course racer than Riley Herbst. So a big opportunity there for PK to make up some points. It looks like most everybody else is kind of out of it. Brett Moffat is 42 points out of the playoffs. Brandon Jones is 60 points. So basically Jones and anybody down has to win. And then on the other side, Sam Mayer is 63 points to the good.
00:16:30
Speaker
So, uh, so it looks like he is pretty soundly in as well. Guys are going to look silly when Kyle Weatherman makes it. Hey, stranger things have happened. Hey, actually, you know, stranger things have happened because don't you remember Jeremy Clements making a winning at, uh, Daytona?
Xfinity Series Leaders
00:16:46
Speaker
No, he won at mid Ohio a couple of years ago or wrote America. He won it wrote America, uh, four or five years ago, made the playoffs. Didn't he win at Daytona last year? He did win at Daytona last year as well, but he won it wrote America's first career win.
00:16:59
Speaker
Like I said in 2017-18 maybe and snuck in the playoffs that way and currently he's 19th so that would definitely shake things up. That would knock both Riley Hurst and Parker Kligerman out of the playoffs as it stands if Kligman sort of pull off the win.
00:17:18
Speaker
Anything can happen there in the Xfinity series, but it certainly seems like it's the John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Cole Custer, and Justin Allgaier show with the Smiths Unrelated, you know, adding- The band. Yes, the band, the Smiths. Hey, you just need to get Zane in the Xfinity series now, right? Yeah, it's a law firm of Smith, Smith, and Smith. Right, basically.
00:17:47
Speaker
But a lot going on there in an Xfinity series. They'll be at Pocono this weekend, I believe. And then what are we thinking for the Cup series? Their bubble is pretty tight as well. I mean, you know, I really honestly have no idea what to think right now because
00:18:14
Speaker
You know, there are a couple of guys who I think are shoe ins for the playoffs every year. The Chase Elliott's, the Alex Bowman's. You know, there's a there's a chance here for Daniel Suarez, who has overall been pretty bad this year. I think, you know, Chase needs a win. I think I'm not sure how how much how many points he would need to get in, but he needs a win badly to get in at this point, I think.
00:18:45
Speaker
Bubba Wallace is interesting to me because he's driven pretty well. He had, I think it was an eighth place finish yesterday. A quiet eighth yesterday. Yeah.
00:18:56
Speaker
you know, chase really, I like nine car, I think that there are very few drivers who really can outdrive their equipment on a weekly basis. And I think he's one of them, Kevin Harvick's another one of them. And this year, I think that the 23 has been in has been impressive overall, they've
00:19:15
Speaker
Uh, cut down on a lot of the mistakes that had happened last year on pit road.
Drivers on the Playoff Bubble
00:19:20
Speaker
And, um, you know, I think that if, if he could just kind of stay the course, um, although that, you know, he's coming up to a couple of road courses, which are obviously not his forte, admittedly not his forte. Um, that there is a, I would say pretty good chance, but he's also decent at Pocono and as we know, Michigan and, uh, Daytona. So, um, I, you know, I'd like to see.
00:19:45
Speaker
the nine of the playoffs, you know, he went on that run a couple of years ago and punched his ticket from Martinsville into the championship four and then one at Phoenix. So after starting in last place, which is a great storyline for me. But, you know, at this point right now, the way I look at it, it's completely up in the air. I mean, Suarez is knocking on the door. Almond Dinger is a ringer. He can hit
00:20:09
Speaker
Uh, he can hit it at any road course. He, he goes to tie Gibbs is not too far out. Um, and then you have Bowman, Justin Haley, Sindrick and chase Elliott. And Justin Haley, who's another person who.
00:20:22
Speaker
just kind of does what he did. He just sneaks in sometimes into a top 15 or a top 10. So this is going to be a really interesting few weeks. And I think that we're going to see a lot of drivers who are on the outside looking in be a lot more aggressive and crew chiefs who are going to be a lot more aggressive. That's what it's all about and what you can like about
00:20:51
Speaker
this playoff system, I feel like, is it really does draw a lot of excitement for this, all these drivers in the mid-pack here. The way I look at the standings, probably from Justin Haley up, which is 21st, I can see that those are, and then Chase Elliott in 23rd, I think he can get a win and get in. I don't know about points with him.
00:21:22
Speaker
I see all of those drivers still in contention. I'm a Bubba guy and I'm a fan, but what worries me is the scheduling coming up in August, but with the road courses and the two guys right on his tail, Michael McDowell and A.J. Allmendinger, I mean, that is their number one strength. And then obviously Daniel Suarez is one
00:21:50
Speaker
on a road course, he's right behind Wallace as well. But then you get, you know, the final cutoff race is Daytona and that's kind of been in Bubba's wheelhouse. So it's, the scheduling in August, I feel like to end the regular season with two road courses in a row and then Daytona, it's kind of flipping the whole series on its head there, I feel like to end the regular season.
00:22:20
Speaker
And, uh, because definitely, um, could see three different winners. There's three different types of winners, um, to end August. It's worth noting bubble Wallace fifth at the indie road course last year. So, you know, could just be one of those things could just be a lucky lucky draw or, um, you know, maybe making movements.
Bubba Wallace's Road Course Performance
00:22:46
Speaker
I feel like that was a fluke and that's nothing against Bubba. He is admittedly not a fan of recourse racing. There was just so much carnage going on there.
00:22:58
Speaker
He just picked his way through and survived. I think he had a top five. I want to say it was Sonoma a couple of years ago where he was, I think he had gone ahead previously to the race and was running some Trans Am cars there, I think in practice. But he's worked, he's gotten better. He's definitely gotten better at road courses for sure.
00:23:22
Speaker
Um, I don't think he's going to have another top five at one, uh, soon, but I think if there is an opportunity, he's been, he's been better this year than he was last year. Um, overall. So I'm just assuming that it's going to be a similar, similar situation coming up. I mean, he finished 35th, I think at the Glen last year. So it's not exactly like he's figured it out, but. Yeah, I will say a guy who, if there's no new winners could, I think,
00:23:50
Speaker
do uh or no or just one new winner in the last handful of races here before the playoffs they could they could find his way into the playoffs will be michael mcdowell that 34 team has found a lot of speed uh there was a lot of concern after last year with blake harris leaving that group and going to be uh alex bowman's crew chief
00:24:13
Speaker
They get Travis Peterson in there and they've continued to step up and step their their game up And right now Michael McDowell is one point to the good. He is in 16th place one point above Daniel Suarez and 17th and we've mentioned it several tracks that McDowell's is Strong at in terms of the road courses at Indian Watkins
New Tire Compound Impact
00:24:36
Speaker
Glen. He's a Daytona 500 champion There's a couple tracks even I think
00:24:41
Speaker
He could be strong at the way that things have gone this year. So I think if you know there's only one new winner or no new winners in the last handful of raises here, McDowell could possibly point his way in with some good runs. It would be very interesting to see. We had yesterday, sorry, I guess over the weekend some new. Tire compound being tested for the Cup Series at
00:25:12
Speaker
At New Hampshire. I was done in a test back in the spring got good feedback from Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott and I forget who the Ford driver was in that test But they decided to run it at the race this weekend, and I think it did It did create some more fall-off and lap time I think it was they're talking about like three-quarters of a second
00:25:36
Speaker
a falloff and lap time, which isn't a ton, but it's certainly more than they had before. Uh, but in my estimation, I don't think it changed the racing all that time. What'd you guys think? I agree. I mean, it made it a little bit more interesting with, uh, like I said this before, but you know, um,
00:25:55
Speaker
the race probably wouldn't, if they use the normal compound that they had used for short track racing thus far in this next gen era, then Truex's lead and his win would have been even more dominant than it was. I think that it just
00:26:15
Speaker
made everybody a little bit slower, him included. And so he didn't have exactly the type of true x race that we normally see. So it was dominant, it just wasn't as dominant. I mean, it was fine. You tires really weren't that big of a deal as it is anyway. So but it provided a
00:26:40
Speaker
I guess, okay, racing, but nothing that was gonna make me think that, oh, well, they've started to figure it out. Yeah, I think if you were to, you know, if you were to win into Sunday's race, not knowing that things have changed, you might have just thought it was the same type of deal there. I mean, I can see, you know,
00:27:07
Speaker
going back to the dominant part of a typical Truex win, especially on a short track like that, it didn't seem like there were very many cars being lapped, only aside from the ones that got into Rex or were out of the race, there were probably on nearly 30 cars that finished on the lead lap.
00:27:37
Speaker
So you kind of knew once Truex got ahead on those restarts, and man, he looked really good on the restarts. He would pull away, but it certainly wasn't at the lengths that we've seen. And the fix with this type of tire and what the cup series doing on the short tracks won't happen overnight, but
Horsepower and Racing Quality
00:28:05
Speaker
I do think it was a small step forward, which I guess is better than showing up and it being a disaster. They need more horsepower. I mean, at the end of the day, nothing's going to change without it. Yeah, that's exactly what I was about to say. Steve is that it's nice that the tires are wearing more, but the problem is everybody's tires are wearing at the same rate. Still, it's not necessarily having more fall off. You have to have more variability in fall off.
00:28:34
Speaker
And the only way you can have more variability and fall off is for guys to be able to overdrive their cars and burn their tires up faster. Which they're not going to do. No, it's impossible to do. You literally with this horsepower and downforce cannot run your car into the corner hard enough to push up and scrub a bunch of rubber off or to to spin your tires off of the corner and burn up grip that way.
00:29:03
Speaker
There's not enough power to do it. I agree with you guys that there's got to be more power. But I think it's at least a step in that direction if there is some fall off. Because I think that'll be helpful and it'll make some for some better racing once they do get the horsepower situation figured out. But it also makes it interesting to wonder what other tracks they might run a softer compound at. Like I wouldn't necessarily want to do it at, say,
00:29:31
Speaker
And in the oval at the brickyard, but I think there's some other tracks that could benefit from a softer compound, maybe like a Dover, you know, try to make it, you know, more sing or, uh, or, uh, Darlington, excuse me, make Bristol. Bristol. Yeah. Uh, Homestead could benefit from a softer compound where you're, you know, the tires burn up and as the run goes on, you're moving up the track. Um, as some good data to learn there at Loudon. So I think it's definitely as a positive there.
00:30:00
Speaker
Uh, definitely, but we'll be interesting to see how they, um, how they kind of go from there. I don't, they can't just leave it where it is because it still, everybody is the exact same, uh, in terms of fall off. Um, one guy who wasn't the exact same and has had a very disappointing stretch of finishes is Noah Gregson. Did he have, he had another rotor, uh, yeah, break rotor explosion on, uh, yesterday, didn't he? Um, just, uh,
00:30:30
Speaker
a terrible run of luck. I don't know how he could be doing any worse in that car. I don't think it's anything he's doing. I think it's, you know, it's just haven't, they've been missed on setups. They've had equipment issues. It's not been a pretty for Noah and his inaugural full-time season in the cup series.
00:30:52
Speaker
There's nothing really else that he can do at this point, but I did not expect that team, him or that car to be this
Noah Gregson's Cup Series Struggles
00:31:01
Speaker
bad. I mean, there are no offense really, but this is Rick Ware levels, even which Rick Ware has had cars that have looked better.
00:31:12
Speaker
than him. And that's pretty telling, especially for a car which normally isn't this bad. I mean, I don't think that there's anything else that he would be able to do here. And I don't know if anybody else had rotor issues yesterday. I don't think so. I think it was I think it was just him. But they also had was it gateway that he had a rotor issue?
00:31:38
Speaker
And well, everybody had rotor issues at Gateway. That could happen this weekend at Pocono. Well, that's something. One thing, and since the motorsports meteorologist is not with us right now, I looked at the forecast and it's supposed to be 77 in sunny, which is uncharacteristic for a Pocono race because
00:31:58
Speaker
those Pocono races are always like 95 degrees, and that asphalt is hot. And so, you know, we're probably going to see where I mean, you know, those rotors and on those long straightaways coming down with the heavy breaking can get up to 1817 1800 degrees. And so, you know, there's a
00:32:18
Speaker
very real chance that a brake rotor explodes and it either hurts several cars or it happens to several cars so Yeah, but to back to the original point Gregson's been bad and there's really nothing he can do about there's really nothing anybody on the 42 I think can do about it at all right now Yeah, you you look at the standings Noah and 33rd and he is just
00:32:47
Speaker
one spot away from being in the bottom of full time. Uh, BJ McCloud is behind him and not by much. I mean, that, that's what's, that was disappointing. Ty Dillon is above Noah right now on the points. And BJ McCloud hasn't even ran every race. Yeah. Right. And he, and he, um, his teammate Eric Jones, I think also,
00:33:16
Speaker
has been very disappointing because we know, I mean, we've all seen, I think what Eric can do, I mean, and he has Cup Series wins, but he's sitting down there close to 30th in the points, which is just insane to me. Maybe, you know, I think with the team announcing, you know, the switch of manufacturers,
00:33:43
Speaker
Maybe some things are starting to get mailed in here for this season, but you'd still like to see a little more fight. Yeah. I mean, I think we all had high hopes for that organization. Uh, when it was announced that, uh, the Jimmy Johnson was getting in there, they're going to have petty GMS or a GMS motor source, Maury Gallagher, uh, you know, in there as well. Um, you know, even, even with the crew chief and driver pairings, I mean, Dave Allen's and.
00:34:12
Speaker
And Eric Jones had some great runs last year and then okay Luke Lambert and and Noah Gregson going together to that 42 car I think everybody was was really high on them and you look at the standings and his his season-high finish is 12th at Atlanta one Since then he has a 20th at Cota
00:34:40
Speaker
And then his highest finish since Coda is 25th at Chicago at the road course, even though he put it in the tire barrier about 10 times. Yeah, that was brutal. Yeah. And even though 10 is an exaggeration, it's not far off. It's just disappointing there for Gregson. Also kind of disappointed to see another
00:35:09
Speaker
Another brake rotor failure. And it could happen at Pocono with the way that long front straight away is. I will say with the lower horsepower, I feel like they're not having to use and they're going to have the big spoiler package. I think they're probably going to be OK and not having to use a ton of brake going into turn one there, but I guess it could be something to keep an eye out for this week. Over under.
00:35:38
Speaker
Two and two and a half. I'll put the over under a two and a half exploded rotors.
Racing Highlights and Announcements
00:35:44
Speaker
I'll go over only because I think there's going to be three. OK. Yeah, I could see about three, so I'll say over. Hmm. I'm going to take the under just to be that guy. I'm going to say two. I'll take two. Yep. All right. Well, we'll keep an eye on that for sure.
00:36:07
Speaker
Let's get to our pop-up showers for this week after we wrap up the conversation there on Loudon and everything. But pop-up showers, Jake, what do we have for this week? Sure, for mine. We're looking at our friend of the show, Travis Braden, announcing today
00:36:26
Speaker
that he is joining the Jet Motorsports team and will pilot their number nine super late model for this weekend's Southern Super Series double header at Five Flags Speedway. Travis was an awesome guest last week. And this is his first time, you know, back behind the wheel in a race since the 2022 Chili Bowl. You know, his success down at Five Flags.
00:36:55
Speaker
won the 2019 Snowball Derby. So just shout out again to Travis. That's exciting. And that will give us something to look forward to this weekend outside of the NASCAR schedule.
00:37:09
Speaker
It's definitely exciting for Travis, and we'll certainly be watching. I think that race will be available on Racing America. If you're a subscriber there, you can watch the Southern Super Series on that web streaming platform. Steve, you have a pop-up shower this week? My pop-up shower is, what if I just said no? I was just like, no, I don't have one. No, I have one. Well, there will be a skies in Pittsburgh.
00:37:33
Speaker
My pop-up shower is, uh, Frankie Muniz is second in the standings, uh, of Arca after having run all what nine races, which is funny because I was looking at the standings and one, two, three, four, five, six drivers have run.
00:37:48
Speaker
nine races this year in ARCA. And that's, that's the most everybody else's eight, seven, there's, or there's a couple, there's one other nine. And then it's like four or five and three. However, leader in ARCA, Jesse love who has four wins. Frankie Muniz has zero wins. And he's in second, which is, which is actually pretty impressive, especially coming from somebody who is running ARCA for the first time. But
00:38:13
Speaker
I know that NASCAR is keeping an eye, just at least the brass of NASCAR is hoping, obviously, that Frankie Muniz is successful in ARCA. Not sure if there's going to be any future in the Truck Cup or Xfinity series, but for now, it's kind of cool to see. Very cool indeed. Kind of is a little like,
00:38:40
Speaker
Yikes on the uh, the the car counts in the arc series, but uh, we're cool to see frankie muniz is that they're competing Yeah, right as well My pop-up shower for this week i'm going back to uh to nhra and drag racing We've mentioned them on the show here before top fuel driver clay milligan one this weekend in the uh at the mile high nationals at bandamere speedway
00:39:06
Speaker
It's a special race because Bandomir Speedway, its current location, is closing down after the season. So it's the last mile high Nationals as we know it. There's talk that the Bandomir family is going to find a new property in the Denver area to build a new drag strip.
00:39:24
Speaker
But the drag strip that's been there since the late 50s is closing down after the season. So Clay Milken with a second top fuel win of the season, getting the win there at Bandamere.
00:39:37
Speaker
And also it's pretty special because Clay Milken, he does a YouTube channel. One of his good friends in the YouTube world is a guy named Brent who runs a channel called PFI Speed, which is in the Denver area as well. And so they have this friendship and Brent and his crew were able to be at the race and see Clay win. So I thought that was really cool to see there on Instagram over the weekend.
00:40:05
Speaker
Clay is holding, uh, Rick, we're racing together by a thread. He is. He is. He has the last two wins for Rick, we're racing in any competition. I will say, uh, honorary mention to, uh, to Christian Lundgaard in the Indy car series, getting his first career, Indy car win.
Christian Lundgaard's IndyCar Triumph
00:40:24
Speaker
And, uh, he had been growing a mustache, you know, like in hockey.
00:40:27
Speaker
You know, a team, uh, the hockey team will grow out their beards, you know, for the playoffs and the ideas that by the time they get to the Stanley Cup finals, they're just got huge bushy beards. Well, Christian Lundgaard, uh, is a, uh, Danish driver, Danish or Dutch one of the two. Uh, I, I apologize for getting that wrong. Uh, and so he was growing this little thin mustache. It wasn't coming in great, but he was committed to it. Keeping the mustache until I win.
00:40:55
Speaker
He won and then he shaved the mustache off in Victory Lane. That was in Toronto last weekend on the streets of Toronto. So cool to see there. So with pop-up showers out of the way, let's get to our picks from last week. I am finally
00:41:15
Speaker
in the win column. I have not won a race in actual picks until this week, and I got a max points win with Martin Shrux Jr. earning 60 points. That was a big day for me on that front. Dylan got a fourth place finish from Kevin Harvick. I got to say the Ford showed out at New Hampshire. Chase Briscoe, I think, kind of backed into a top 10. Michael McDowell had a top 10. Legano.
00:41:45
Speaker
Harvick I think there was only one Chevrolet in the top ten and I was Kyle Larson So uh, it's a lot of Ford and Toyota Domination in the top ten Results there at New Hampshire. So fourth place for Kevin Harvick and Dylan's pick Jake did not do so well had a 29th place for Christopher Bell after Seabell was a
00:42:12
Speaker
up there and contending early on in the race. And then, uh, Steve, you had a second place finish from, uh, Joseph Lugano. I, I, I typoed and put 22nd in there. And then I was like, wait a second, that 22nd and scoring 45 points does not make sense. Right. Um, but so a second place finish from Joey, we did pretty well. We had one, two, four, and then, sorry, Jake, you had 29.
00:42:41
Speaker
I felt good see Bell was on the pole, you know last year's winner, but of course I should have known I would have went to crap So in the standings now and Dylan still leads But his lead has been cut down to 48 points. I am in second place with 648 points Steve 24 points behind me for 624 and Jake is
00:43:08
Speaker
Ring up there at 5 48 First pick this week goes to Jake. Who are you thinking this weekend at the tricky triangle? Honestly, I don't know I'm debating between a few but I think No Gregson there's no There's going to be a time this season that Kevin Harvick wins a race and I think it will be on Sunday
00:43:37
Speaker
He's traditionally done very well at Pocono. Our buddy Ryan at ifantasyrace.com said if it wasn't, he got caught up last year in a late wreck, but while he was running fourth, other than that, he has six straight top eights at Pocono. Why not be in contention for another win here on Sunday? That's a good pick.
00:44:07
Speaker
He's been doing well. He's, I think, kind of finding his stride a little bit, you know, fourth place finish at Loudon. It's a good run for him because I think you can easily say that he's not the biggest fan of the next-gen car, but I think he's finding his way a little bit in this retirement season. He also can get the most out of his equipment.
00:44:32
Speaker
Very true. Very true. So Jake you're going with Harvick. Dylan's up next. He sent us a message from the weather lab there in Lexington where he's tracking severe weather tonight. He is going with Denny Hamlin who of course crossed the line first last year.
00:44:51
Speaker
and then was subsequently disqualified for a piece of clear tape that had been applied between the body panel and the wrap that NASCAR deemed to be modifying the single source supplied part. And so Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were DQ'd for that last year, thus giving the win to Chase Elliott, but Dylan going with Denny Hamlin this weekend. Denny Hamlin coming off of SRX win.
00:45:20
Speaker
Rain shortened SRX win last week in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Or last Thursday night, excuse me. Steve, who you got for a click this weekend at Pocono?
00:45:29
Speaker
Well, this is a perfect segue because I'm going to pick Chase Elliott. And it is because I think that the nine team, they're generally nine slash 24 with
Pocono Race Predictions
00:45:43
Speaker
him, starting at the 24 and beginning of his career, was decent at Pocono, a couple top 10s. And last year, it's a fake win, but it's still a win.
00:45:55
Speaker
Um, he, he ran well last year and good enough to win, just didn't have enough to, to finish the race. Uh, but he's also running the XFINITY race this weekend. And so, um, I feel as though this is seat time that they're trying to give him to, because they think that this is a track that he could punch his ticket into the playoffs at. And so, um, I feel as though that they have to do something because the dine team overall, the car has not been fast.
00:46:23
Speaker
And, um, I think of all the people, uh, right now, uh, who can also get the most out of their equipment. Chase can, he, I wouldn't say he's like a tactician, but he knows, he knows what feels good and what doesn't. And so I think the Xfinity, uh, race will be a big test for, uh, for what the nine team could expect the following day. Interesting there. Okay.
00:46:50
Speaker
Of course, that leaves me to pick after there's been three very good cars taken. On one hand, I feel like it's cheating if I just go right back to the honey hole with Martin Truex Jr. So I think if I don't go MTJ, I think I'll go probably Kyle Busch. I'm surprised nobody picked Bowman or Larson. Honestly.
00:47:18
Speaker
Neither of them have been very impressive to me recently. Larson kind of found his way up front yesterday, but I think it was kind of quietly. I don't think he was, you know, running down Truex at a breakneck pace or anything. And Bowman, I've not been super impressed with him since he came back from his back injury.
00:47:39
Speaker
But they both of them, I think, like Pocono. That's the only reason that I thought there was a chance with them. You know, Bowman winning a couple of years ago because was it Larson's blew a tire and like the last turn. Oh, right, right. Yeah, I mean.
00:47:54
Speaker
I think it's possible and stuff. I just don't know either of them have the run of form. I will say, though, that Kyle Busch doesn't exactly have the best run of form right now, either. Yeah, he crashed last week in or yesterday loud and pretty hard and jumped that car early in the race. So it'll be interesting to see how he does, you know, coming off of that. But
00:48:23
Speaker
yes uh... i think it would be interesting to see uh... how that all plays out with uh... with kyle bush as my pick steve has chase eliot dylan with uh... denny hamlin and jake with uh... kevin harvick let's go to our random pics now uh... let's see who won the day definitely not me cordiality looks like dylan won the day with the tenth place finish from
00:48:52
Speaker
Uh, Chase Briscoe second amongst us was Steve with Ricky Steenhouse Jr. Finishing 18th. Jake, you had William Byron, which we thought on paper was a great finish. Yes. And he was, uh, he was, he was in contention early in the race and then he squandered it away late, late on. Uh, so, so it got some, uh, stage points though. So still pretty good points day. Uh, 22 points.
00:49:22
Speaker
And then I had Corey LeJoy, who finished 33rd, got me four whole points. Fortunately, I still have a commanding lead in random standings, 558 points.
00:49:36
Speaker
Dylan is 95 points behind me now. Steve at 398 is 65 points behind Dylan. And then Jake, you're only 10 points behind Steve. So you managed to gain three points on Steve this week. It's just great. So let's get the camera out here and we'll get the spinorama going. This will be for my pick at Pocono.
00:50:05
Speaker
And random, and let's see who we come up with. OK. He did well for Dylan. Let's see if he does well for me. Chase Briscoe. I think it could be one of those all or nothing races for Chase Briscoe. He's usually going to run awful, or he's going to run great. Second pick goes to Jake. And I'm sorry, Jake. You get Corrila Joy. Corrila Joy seems to be finding his way into the random picks every single week.
00:50:35
Speaker
One way or another. How about Steve and I have a combined five top 10s through 23 races? I don't know. Steve has a good chance for a top 10 this week. Tyler Reddick. Ooh. You think I'll be able to meet him? I have pit passes on Sunday. Ooh, it's very possible. I have to get a selfie with him. He and I are the same height, so. I guess this is what Dylan gets for missing tonight.
00:51:04
Speaker
Reed Sorensen. Cole Custer. Cole Custer's running. Is he in the 51 again? He's in the 51, yep. Oh my gosh. Good luck, Dylan. That car is going to get junked. Yeah. Hey, I'll give him credit, though. On paper, I think Cole Custer has a better chance of a solid finish in that car than
00:51:34
Speaker
than anybody else who's been in that car this year. Newman? I think Newman was in that car, though, wasn't he? Yeah, but that's the first time Newman's ever on the next gen. True, but Newman is also like when he was in it, he had like notes as to like how like, I don't know, he's one of those guys who I think can also like
00:51:58
Speaker
be good in any car that he gets in like, and not to get off topic, because we're basically at the end of this, but like, I now look at like Brad keselowski in the six and think, well, right, maybe Ryan Newman wasn't the problem with that car, you know, so I don't know, I, I guess, I think Brad's making strides, though.
00:52:19
Speaker
I think that organization is on the rise. I think the 17 is on the rise. I think, I don't know if Brad's ever going to win another race again. Brad's in the playoffs right now. He hasn't won a race, though. Yeah, he's in the playoffs, though. Sure, I get it. But he's not going to win a champion. He's certainly not going to win a championship in that car. And he hasn't won a race in, what was it, 83 races or something like that? Yeah.
00:52:47
Speaker
I feel like he's not far off though. Like there has been some races where he's like, okay, in contention and this little things haven't fallen his way. But I think you like pushing people too hard. Like wrecking everybody. Yeah. Hey, you can't blame TJ. He wasn't spotting yesterday. I'll blame Brett Griffin. There you go. There you go.
00:53:12
Speaker
So our random picks for this week of Pocono. Jake has Cori Lajoie, Dylan has Cole Custer, Steve has Tyler Reddick, and I have...
00:53:22
Speaker
Chase Briscoe. So we'll see how all that turns out for us. It could be a very topsy turvy week in random picks for the four of us.
SRX Series and Pocono Memories
00:53:33
Speaker
Guys, anything we want to end on here? Actually, real quick, quick thought on SRX. Did you guys watch any of it on Thursday night or get to watch a replay of it?
00:53:43
Speaker
I saw some highlights. But I like that there's racing back on Thursdays. I like the Thursday night thunder that we used to see way back. And so that's an improvement. But I like SRX on dirt, honestly. So I guess last week was on an asphalt track, I think, Stafford Speedway. So it's fine.
00:54:11
Speaker
I kind of think the allure of it's gone a little bit. Like it was like a new thing. And now it's like, oh, it's okay. I mean, I think they need some bigger name, like people to do it consistently. They have a lot of good ones this year that they didn't have last year, like Harvick and Kyle Bush and Denny and that. So I think that it's going to catch on more, but I wish it was still on CBS. Certainly. Yeah, I
00:54:38
Speaker
was watching last Thursday. And I'm kind of the same way. Last year, well, in its first year, it just had the new feeling to it. And it's kind of, it's fine now. It gives the race fans something to watch during the week, which is pretty cool. But yeah, I'll probably continue to watch and just see what happens. And I guess while we're on Pocono,
00:55:08
Speaker
I have a little Pocono story and I might be one of the few fans that I was there for Chris Busher's fog win in 2016 and I was at Chris Busher's second career win at the Bristol Knight Race last year. So I've been in attendance for both of Chris Busher's wins in that 2016 race. We drove to Pocono on the Sunday. It was
00:55:37
Speaker
rain pushed it to Monday, but for whatever reason, we had to go back. This is when I lived in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. We drove all the way back, but we went back on Monday, drove all the way back to Pocono, made another 600 trip. I think we had to drop someone back off because they had to work, but anyway, that was wild, and then it ended up being foggy, and they called the race early, and Chris Busher won.
00:56:07
Speaker
I think if you if you reached out to Chris Busher, he would fly you out to every single race. Yes, I've been at both and they've been pretty wild wins. So I wonder, you should put that on social media, Jake and see if you can find like how many other people have been at both of his wins. I just thought about that tonight.
00:56:29
Speaker
Well, I think the, the sample size or like the odds of it are pretty low because of course there were a couple hundred thousand at the Bristol night race win, right? Cause it's a Bristol night race, but how many people were really at the Pocono Monday race in the fog? There was not many and I have photos from the stands. There was not. I think that could be an interesting thing. It could be one of like 10 or something like that. Certainly.
00:56:53
Speaker
It's super cool. I was excited for the SRX only because like what you said, Steve, they moved it to Thursday night. So I think that opens up the scheduling a little bit to get some more active cup drivers or some more, perhaps some active IndyCar drivers. They already have the lineups filled out for this year, but it opens up a little bit easier instead of running on Saturday nights.
00:57:15
Speaker
a bummer that they're not going to thunder road this weekend but totally understand why uh... severe flooding is hit vermont central vermont and you know the whole all of new england over the last weekend just not safer right to have a race there and uh... and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and and
00:57:44
Speaker
So I think Kyle Busch is going to be in this one. Kenny Wallace, Elio Castronevos. So a nice group of drivers there. And I think it'll be some exciting racing. Of course, they're coming here to my neck of the woods at Berlin Raceway the first week of August. So some exciting stuff. They'll be not far from Jake as well in.
00:58:05
Speaker
I think what next week and next week. They'll be not far from Jacob motor mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia So, uh, so some races in our neck of the woods with the the SRX series and we'll keep an eye on that as well Well, I think guys if that uh, nothing else to add for this episode. We'll go ahead and wrap it up You guys good with that? Yes, sir. On to Pocono On to Pocono. When are you going up Steve?
00:58:29
Speaker
Well, we're heading up Friday to see my mom and stepdad's house. And then Saturday, we're going to hang out with some friends in the in the in the Poconos. And then Sunday morning, we're
00:58:48
Speaker
making the trek at 7 30 in the morning to Long Pond Pennsylvania meeting up with my dad who will also be at this race with me my is me my girlfriend and my dad so
00:59:03
Speaker
We'll see what happens. Um, I'm not exactly sure what to expect. Uh, I've never been to a Pocono race, but I've heard nothing but bad things about the parking. So, well, let's just say a prayer to the racing gods, uh, that the parking situation is good and I'm not stuck there for a two and a half hours to get out. All righty. Well, good luck on that. We'll, uh, we'll be excited to see a, hear a full report.
00:59:27
Speaker
from that Come next week when we come back with a new episode of cloudy with a chance of racing Thanks all of you for listening this week and every week. Be sure if you do like what you hear Yeah, subscribe leave a review rate all those things on your favorite podcast platform. We really appreciate it Also, be sure to follow us on social media. We're on Twitter Instagram and threads at cloudy racing pod We'll be posting all of our new content there
00:59:56
Speaker
and interacting with folks there as well. And of course, we'll be back next week. So for Steve, Jake, and I hope to have Dylan back next week as well. I am Braxton. Thanks so much for listening. We'll see you after Pocono.