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Ep. 37: Martinsville Has Hot Dogs and Hot Races
16 Plays1 year ago
Your full-season final four are back with you, as Jake reports on his experience at Martinsville on Sunday and Steve, Dillon, and Braxton join in to break down the Xfinity and Cup Series races at the paperclip. Discussion includes the RCR controversy between Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill in Saturday's Xfinity Series race, Ryan Blaney's dominant performance Sunday, and the record temperatures at Martinsville for a fall race.
In Pop Up Showers, the guys share the things that caught their eye on racing social media from the past week, including Bubba Wallace's Phoenix car design, Lionel diecasts, and a meme about Sheldon Creed's Phoenix car.
As attention turns to the season finale for all three series, the guys offer their race picks, championship picks, and spin the wheel for the final time on their random picks.
Make sure you're subscribed to Cloudy With a Chance of Racing, tell a friend about the show, and follow on social media @CloudyRacingPod.
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Transcript
Setting the Scene: Final Four Drivers
00:00:16
Speaker
It's episode 37 of Cloudy with a Chance of Racing, and the final four are set for each of the three NASCAR national touring series, just like we've been your final four all season long. Braxton here with Steve, Jake, and Dylan tonight on Cloudy with a Chance of Racing, as we look forward to the season finale at Phoenix International Raceway.
Martinsville Magic and Xfinity Drama
00:00:42
Speaker
That'll be coming up this weekend.
00:00:44
Speaker
out west in the desert guy is a a martinsville weekend that jake you took it in so i'll be curious to get your perspective on the cup race but um i thought it was uh it was some compelling racing especially saturday it was and i thought an amazing finish to the xfinity race i'll let jake take this one away he was the one who was there did you see were you there were you there inside no you're on sunday
00:01:12
Speaker
Um, but I was watching, I mean, I was watching what was going on. Man, it, I mean, it really doesn't get any better. I mean, it kind of went full Martinsville in a way on Saturday night. And, uh, I don't even know where, where to begin with the Xfinity series and not just the ending, uh, but like who was a part of it. And there's obviously, you know, uh, you know,
Controversial Moves: Creed vs. Hill
00:01:40
Speaker
between Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed moving on from RCR no longer being there next season all of that knocking Austin Hill who we've talked about we've all agreed it was I mean the championship race we thought was between him and John Hunter and Ima check now Hill's not even in the floor the Cup Series race I was there woke up real early on
00:02:07
Speaker
Sunday
Jake's Martinsville Experience
00:02:08
Speaker
here. That's about four hours from where I live drove down Took it all in Braxton you asked me last week. I had four hot dogs. Let's go. That was the total How many the errand have? She wasn't there for this weekend. I met up with a buddy of mine. So did you bring any back to her? I
00:02:31
Speaker
No, I didn't. Because I tell you what, the only thing I can think that would be better than a Martinsville hot dog would be a minimum of like a six hour old Martinsville hot dog. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. That's just assuming that she eats it as soon as she gets it. Right, right. Yeah. Yep, I got, you know, they like a, I remember they sell them in the bag. So I got my buddy and I split a bag up there in turn four.
00:02:58
Speaker
It was a great day on Sunday. I felt like, you know, there could have been a little more to the cup series race, but you know, the way it played out organically, um, was nice and the weather was near perfect. It was sold out and it really was. I mean, I looked around and all the rows were filled. It was, it was really nice. And like I thought, um,
00:03:27
Speaker
But the majority of the fans were pretty happy when Denny Hamlin did not advance at the end.
RCR Controversy: Inside the Hill-Creed Incident
00:03:32
Speaker
And the pre-race intros by far got the most reaction good and bad. So overall, I had a really fun weekend there.
00:03:46
Speaker
Well, I mean I the talking about this now a little bit, but the Austin Hill Sheldon Creed situation was very interesting because I think we all talked about this in the group chat a little bit, but.
00:04:06
Speaker
Not really surprising, the comments from Hill, but also not, and I guess maybe I shouldn't be surprised now, but the comments from Richard Childress as well, I thought were very, very out of line. And when that video clip of Andy Petrie going up to Hill, to Sheldon after the race. What was that all about? I don't really understand why Andy, I mean, I do understand like frustration in that moment, but
00:04:33
Speaker
I just think it's a bad look to be. I mean, I don't know what he said exactly. I mean, I don't know if anybody knows what he said, but no, it was kind of obscured in the video, but but you can tell like it was not. Hey, but a great race because Sheldon was like, you know, if somebody if he was, if the roles reversed, you wouldn't be saying anything.
00:04:50
Speaker
Right. I just was – I thought it was – there was like a lack of professionalism all around. Honestly, I don't really don't – I mean, I don't have any issues with what Creed did
Race Reflections and Playoff Analysis
00:05:01
Speaker
or said. I mean, I know that it was just a bad situation all around for the organization, but I thought that the organization handled it very badly.
00:05:11
Speaker
There's a great finish good for all guy or the companies I was actually pretty pleasantly surprised with. I didn't think it was going to be great. It was pretty good.
00:05:24
Speaker
The one good thing about a place like Martinsville is that there are a lot of battles happening mid-pack a lot of the time or closer to the front where you're not as much worried about the lead as you are like a position battle. For instance, it was kind of touch and go for Denny a little bit there and Byron was hanging on.
00:05:46
Speaker
I was, I thought it was a great weekend. Uh, and I kind of had a feeling that we were going to see really, really good racing with, uh, XFINITY and we did. Um, but I was very satisfied. Yeah, I thought it was a great weekend of racing. Um, I did see where Andy Petrie said, I didn't listen to what he said, but he did have a reaction on Sirius XM. I didn't get the full comment from what exactly he said.
00:06:15
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, that was, you know, that it, it was really, I was frustrated the way RCR kind of handled that, but I'm not surprised with the way they handled the whole title of redic deal, um, last year. So yeah, not surprised. Um, I thought Sheldon Creed did the right thing. You know, I guess looking back, we're saying he might've break checked them coming out of four, but I mean, I don't think he was thinking about that in the heat of the moment. He was trying to get a good run off the corner.
00:06:45
Speaker
And then the cup race on Sunday I thought it was great to see a pack crowd the weather was about as perfect as it can get with this style of Racing and how much trouble this cars had at the cold short tracks. I can't lay down rubber I don't know how much that had to do with the track being so hot and or the tire But it's gonna be around the same temperature in Phoenix. So I guess we'll find out then and I thought
Penske Power: Blaney's Triumph
00:07:13
Speaker
you know
00:07:14
Speaker
It was really impressive to see Ryan Blaney, which I don't think Penske wins. The last time we've been talking about Penske having a long run speed is usually this year. I feel like, especially at some of the tort tracks, they've had short run speed, but both. Logano and Blaney, I think both showed a little bit of a Penske power there in that race. And Blaney easily gets into the final floor, even if he didn't win. So I thought that was impressive.
00:07:42
Speaker
But yeah, and you're spot on with all of that. I guess we'll start with the Xfinity series. And the big controversy there was obviously Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed racing to the end. And Austin had a pathway. He could have made it on points.
00:08:01
Speaker
and ended up you know Sheldon had had to win like that was the deal from the get-go and ended up that uh Sheldon's moved there ended up costing both of them because Algar went ahead and won the race um that's certainly disappointing but like you guys have said the reaction to it my RCR was even more disappointing in my eyes because
00:08:23
Speaker
You look at some of the things that have happened throughout the year and I point back to like the JRM guys all taking each other out at various points throughout the season. And you never once saw Junior or Kelly Earnhardt or anybody in an organization you know treating their teammates or other people within the group the way that
00:08:44
Speaker
Austin Hill treated Sheldon Creed and and Andy Petrie and Richard Childress treated Sheldon Creed both in person and in the media afterwards That's just even if it's a lame duck situation like there's been accidents since Josh Berry announced he was going to SHR next year in the cup series with where he's had some run-ins with with teammates and it's it's never the dirty laundry if there isn't he has never been aired out in public like this and it's just I
00:09:12
Speaker
Just not a good look and and honestly, I think it might make some drivers You know, of course there are gonna be some drivers who are just like I want to get any opportunity I can but it might make some drivers who have the liberty of having a choice Maybe think twice about going to our CR in the future. Well, I don't I mean this is kind of a
00:09:30
Speaker
kind of how Richard Childress operates, I think like this is how he, you know, he's, he's had issues in the past with multiple drivers, high level drivers, not issues in particular. But like, I think he's felt spurned multiple times, which like he shouldn't, I think drivers just either progress and like,
00:09:52
Speaker
Leave or you know, they're with him forever like he's not going to run into this issue with Austin Dillon, not that it matters. But I mean, you know, there have been issues with Kyle Busch. There have been issues with sort of with Kevin Harvick. He obviously didn't respect Tyler Reddick toward the end when he knew that Reddick was gone.
00:10:09
Speaker
I think that this is just how the organization operates. It's not, to me, it's not like Chevrolet, I think, has had some kind of a strange season. And, you know, early on, I thought we're like, oh, Richard Childress racing is back. And then they kind of I don't want to say faded into oblivion, but they had some strong runs and less than so. You know, I think that this was a bad situation, but I think Richard Childress at this point is just kind of like
00:10:39
Speaker
You know, he's old and just doesn't care what anyone thinks, which I think is a problem because it doesn't exactly breed confidence for the future Xfinity or cup drivers that could be coming to the, to the team. Yeah, there's
Driver Decisions: RCR's Reputation
00:10:55
Speaker
certainly you bring up kind of the, the history a little bit with RCR and, um, some of it, I mean, you know, the, the issues with Tyler Reddick or
00:11:09
Speaker
you know, kind of just happened and are a little fresh. And I think it was Tyler Rettick when RCR put out that statement kind of saying like, this couldn't have came at a worse time or something. I think it was Tyler Rettick announced that he was leaving and it was like that weird, really weird statement put out by the team. And it is,
00:11:38
Speaker
It's not a good look, that's for sure. And Austin Hill interviewed afterwards, kind of spilling some of the beans on Sheldon Creed's next move. But I'm interested, in those closing laps, if Creed would have won, I guess, was Austin Hill in
00:12:08
Speaker
a spot to get through still. Yeah, the way I understood it was that if it had been Creed, Hill, 1, and 2, then they both would have made it. Because Hill would have gone in on points on the last spot, and then Creed, Hill had the advantage on points over Allgyre.
00:12:27
Speaker
But then because all guy are one and he got in and it got, uh, who's the fourth? And I had to pull it up real quick on the XFINITY standings. Who's the fourth? Oh, Custer. Are you talking about fuck Custer? Yeah. Yeah. So because, uh, backwards and on fire. Right. Right. Yeah. So Custer ended up getting in. Yeah. I mean, that's why, and I guess, you know,
00:12:59
Speaker
This is, this is the playoff system, I guess, in a way. I mean, this is, you know, when, and you're in the next round, when, and this is the championship four. And, you know, Creed, I mean, he, raising his teammate, you know, Hill, he, he wants to make a statement. And, uh, for RCR and you got to credit him for leaving it all out there, even knowing even before that the relationship, it's kind
Justifying Actions: Creed's Race Conduct
00:13:25
Speaker
of on the rocks. And, but, you know,
00:13:27
Speaker
I don't really, I don't, I don't see an issue like, um, with really what transpired on the track either way. I just, you know, like we've said, I see the issue post race. Yeah, I just, you know, I kind of got most of what I thought about the whole situation out, but you know, uh, I guess I like to see the passion at least, but it's the, it's the pettiness, I think.
00:13:56
Speaker
from the team that's just, I think, revs a lot of people the wrong way. And you guys have brought up a good point that, you know, what about drivers that are looking for that seat in the future? You know, if you're not, I don't know, if you're not blood, I guess, in terms of Todd Dillon and Austin Dillon, you don't know what kind of level of respect you're going to have. So that's kind of frustrating.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah, certainly. And I think it, you know, at least I saw at least one post. I think it might have been on Reddit that, you know, it called into question some of Austin Hill's character because Austin was just on the Dale Jr. Download last week.
00:14:37
Speaker
And some people were like, well, you just said this on to Dale Jr's face and then you're doing this like less than a week later after you don't make the final four in the playoffs. Like it definitely looks bad on his character in addition to the comments made by RC and Andy Petrie as well. So
00:15:01
Speaker
Not a great situation all around, but, uh, overall, I thought like the Xfinity series race was hyper competitive. There were comers and goers, you know, cars that were working hard, like strategy work sometimes didn't work sometimes. Uh, and, and it was just everything I wanted in a race. Like there was beaten and banging, but it wasn't straight just wrecking people for the most part. And I think that was really refreshing and, and good to see because.
00:15:28
Speaker
There have been a lot of times, especially in some of those lower series, that it just turns into a dump fest where people don't even try to make their corner and make a pass. They're just booting people out of the way to try to get around. So I thought it was an entertaining race overall. And then, of course, the drama at the end certainly added to it.
00:15:50
Speaker
I don't think the same could be said necessarily for Sunday. I thought that in the cup race, Sunday really seemed like it was, especially in that long green flag run in, the race was 162 laps, something like that.
00:16:07
Speaker
the longest green flag run to end the race at Martinsville in like 25 years, that's something I saw. It's a crazy long run. It definitely seemed like if your car wasn't good, you were falling back, but nobody had like an exceptionally good car. There was like the meat part of the pack was really high up in terms of they were all running really good. If you weren't running good, you were a little bit down and it was evident, but it wasn't like that the
00:16:36
Speaker
There wasn't like a bell curve. Like the bell was way towards one end, towards the good end. And so there wasn't like any exceptionally good cards that were able to make their way through the field, except maybe Blaney there at the end. But that was that was the exception, really. Was that what you saw in the stands there, Jake? Yeah, that's that's exactly what, you know, I kind of saw, you know, at the beginning
00:17:03
Speaker
you know, Truex starting on the pole, you figured that he would lead some laps. Now, whether it would be, you could kind of tell, you know, 20 laps in, this wasn't going to be, you know, the dominating Truex. And he did fall back and he never, like we talked about his playoff struggles, he never really recovered after, you know, falling back towards the start. But other than that, I mean,
00:17:30
Speaker
you saw Hamlin a little bit but you kind of knew that Blaney had the fastest car but it was always watching from the stands. I don't think that people really realized that
00:17:48
Speaker
or thought, you know, this was his race to lose necessarily because I didn't think he was, you know, he wasn't pulling away and, you know, things like that. So I agree with your assessment. And there wasn't, it was interesting coming out of, you didn't realize it would be the last, there would be no more yellow flags.
Strategic Plays: Race Day Tactics
00:18:12
Speaker
coming out of those, I guess it would be the final restart to go with 163 laps to go when, you know, Al Marolla was up front and Chase Elliott. They, and they stayed up there, but those weren't necessarily, you know, the cars earlier in the race that were up front, they based on what they did on pit road and the strategy. And I thought that was interesting the way they also hung up front.
00:18:35
Speaker
So, yeah, there were a lot more, I guess you could say goers than comers in the race.
00:18:45
Speaker
I'm trying to think. The Lugano, see I was up in turn four-ish kind of. That Lugano sending Gibbs was kind of right in front of me. That was pretty cool. I guess, well, not cool if you're Ty Gibbs, but just to see. You could see it coming for a couple of laps and it just happened right there.
00:19:08
Speaker
and that was wild and then you know the pace car incident was it was kind of funny i texted you guys because i can't uh you know i don't know what's going on on tv i can't hear anything so like what is going on but um yeah the race uh it was good it really was it was the best short track i think we've seen in the next gen era
00:19:32
Speaker
I wanted to talk about that whole Lugano Gibbs, Denny Blaney situation because obviously it's kind of like an elephant in the room sort of, but like, like, let's just say that Denny was successful in turning Blaney that would have ended his day. Well, it wouldn't have ended his day, but it would have ended. It would have ended his, his day, his season, basically. What would have been his
00:19:56
Speaker
like excuse for doing that like that it was just hard racing because like I truly did not
00:20:04
Speaker
understand what the point of what he was trying to do was outside of like, I get that he was trying to move him out of the way, but he would have dumped him if he was successful. I don't know how Blaney kept that car straight. That was a heck of a save. But like, I wasn't really upset with what Joey did. I mean, that's I think Joey was sticking up for Penske there. I'm not the biggest defender of Joey Logano in the world. But like, I just don't understand how Denny could have been upset, because like,
00:20:33
Speaker
that was the game he was playing. And it just turned out that it ended up going badly for him and Gibbs.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that was one thing I was gonna ask Jake. I see where you're going with that, Steve. And I thought that, you know, there was no... It was very difficult to really just move somebody, if all I like. You know, in the Xfinity series, you could move somebody and they wouldn't totally just wreck, but you would get them up the track enough to where, you know, you would have an opportunity to make the pass. In the Cup series, it didn't really seem like that was possible.
00:21:11
Speaker
And so I'm curious on, and if Jake saw that, but also like the TV didn't show a whole ton of the lead up to the Legano Gibbs deal. So Jake, you said you saw coming a couple of laps, whatever, was it warranted or was, was Joey on a short fuse there? From what I saw, I, you know, I, the parts of the track where I, I didn't see the most clearly were one and two, but I did, you know,
00:21:39
Speaker
You saw him from afar. It's just kind of typical being in banging, but I will say that I thought maybe to expect a little more, but you know, it is the playoffs, but those two cars aren't in the playoffs. A little more patience from Joey. But you're right with, it really had to be forced to send them up like that. I mean, for,
00:22:09
Speaker
Joey to make contact with Gibbs and Gibbs to go around because I saw some other racing they're coming around the turns, you know, your typical bumping, but things that I thought would cause a lot more havoc. And, um, but it was a little harder. I'd say that that's a good observation to, you know, to really clear someone out of there. So, I mean, Joey just kind of just sent it in.
00:22:39
Speaker
full sand Yeah, that was something I don't think TV paid enough attention to that I was kind of surprised by that I mean that was my reaction I was playing pain could it pretty close attention to the television broadcast for that part But you bring good point up about what that cam one was trying to do. I don't know I think he was just he's just frustrated I think he knew more than anyone that Blaney had a better car than him and I think that factored into it
00:23:09
Speaker
But the race itself, I mean, on TV, I really enjoyed watching it. Braxton mentioned earlier that you didn't have clear fast cars. But I think you did have cars, especially late in the runs, that were falling off pretty bad. That first long run that we saw, I mean, there were cars just dropping like flies down the field. So you did see some of that. I would have been interested to see if there was a caution late.
00:23:37
Speaker
Um, you know, Eric on roll, I think would have, I think he did have a car that was, you know, able to compete, maybe a top five top three car. I don't know if he was quite Blaney Hamlin level. Uh, but I think he might've been given the right strategy there at the end. And I thought it was interesting what Hendrick was. I think Hendrick was kind of, uh, putting at least one of their drivers, that being chase Elliott in that kind of strategy to help out Byron. I think in the end.
00:24:08
Speaker
try to put somebody up there to win so that Hamlin can't win or Truex. I think they were trying to do one person on a contrarian strategy to try to help out Byron because he was struggling so much. That was my biggest surprise too was how bad William Byron was.
00:24:25
Speaker
Well, yeah, and and I was going to bring up the strategy because, you know, it was a risk by by Al Marolla and Elliott to to stay out on that last caution and get that stage or to get that the track position that they they'd last pitted on one like 305 or something like that. So 195 laps to go. And by all means, like.
00:24:47
Speaker
All your notes for Martinsville say there's going to be a caution like late in the race, you know, everybody's going to come to pit at that caution unless somebody is going to be really brave and be out there on ancient tires. And I mean, who in the world had on their bingo card? We're going to go 160 straight laps green flagged in the race at Martinsville. Like the odds just aren't in that favor. It's just that's just crappy luck for Chase Elliott and Eric Almarola.
00:25:14
Speaker
I will say to Dylan, like the, I like your, your thought there on, on trying to get chase a win so that the other two couldn't win. But remember chase was in the final eight and the owners championship that nine car was. So if he had won that race, he would have been, um, in the final four on the owners championship. So there was certainly a stuff to play for there as well for that own team. I think, yeah, I think both definitely factored into it though, for sure. Um, I think they did need to have.
00:25:44
Speaker
Maybe even Larson could have been Larson too. So I think there was something to be said too for the fact that, you know, the end of the race had, I would say, I don't want to say it was predictable, but like, you know, I thought that there was a chance that Ford would come in and kind of dominate this race for some reason. Like I've looked at Bubba Wallace, the last few tracks that he's usually showed speed at and immediately has fallen off.
00:26:12
Speaker
after coming out, like, you know, I think it was last week at Homestead, there was the first six laps of the race that Bubba and Truex were, you know, door to door for, you know, and then it just he had this really, really precipitous fall off. It's kind of similar. It seemed like a little bit here. And then, you know, Reddick, I thought had an opportunity, but just didn't show the same kind of speed. But like, it's it just kind of goes to show that
00:26:37
Speaker
You know, in situations like this, where you have a driver like Chase, who's had such a crazy season that Landau Marola, who's probably I mean, maybe has a chance next week, but has a chance, has a chance at winning his potential winning one more race before he rides off into the sunset on a Smithfield cow. But they have, you know, cow or pig.
00:27:07
Speaker
Smithfield makes bacon. Oh, I thought there was I thought it was just meat in general. I mean, they do meats and stuff. But you know, I remember back in the in the in the petty days that he did have bacon on the car quite a bit. I think you're right. I honestly don't pay attention. I guess I probably should now. But no, I just think like, you know, the the nine and the 10 had opportunities there to kind of
00:27:31
Speaker
Uh, do something that people probably would have, I think people may have been a little annoyed with winning the race. Cause it wouldn't have been either. I understand the owners playoffs, but, uh, there's a, you know, I think with Martinsville, people want to see a winner that's punching their ticket into the championship four. Uh, but, uh, I.
00:27:51
Speaker
I was wondering how long Elliot was gonna stay out there I didn't wanna see another situation where like Watkins Glen he runs out of gas then two times in one season. Al Gustafson made a really strange call but I mean it you know it would have been interesting to see at least what happened if there was a caution.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah, from, you bring up, you know, what some of the Martinsville fans would, and fans in general probably want to see where they cut off race like that. I, uh, and I have, I have nothing against Eric Almorola, but I was like, I kind of, you know, no offense to him. Me being there, I did not want to see him win a race. I kind of wanted to see, you know, Belaney.
00:28:36
Speaker
Hamlin, someone, you know, that's punching their ticket to the championship four to kind of add to the entertainment value, if you will. But going back to Eric and we saw this in the spring. And, oh, I mean, we talked about it on last week's podcast and going back to last fall, Martinsville.
00:28:57
Speaker
You know, Stuart Haas brought it, and I was with Chase Briscoe and Ryan Priest, and we saw Chase Briscoe up there on Sunday. I mean, he was in the top five around there all day, finished his fourth. You go down the top ten, the fourth and first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, tenth. And kind of just what the doctor ordered a little too late for some of these guys.
00:29:25
Speaker
Todd Gilliland had like legit speed, finished 10th. He started in the, what, 16th, 17th, in the late teens. And, you know, being there, you know, I noticed every, he would just tick off one or two positions, you know, in the first couple of stages, every 50 laps or so, and then finds himself in 10th at the end. So just a great, great day overall.
00:29:55
Speaker
Uh, for Ford and, you know, talking about their struggles all year, uh, Ford, and now you have Ryan Blaney in the championship. Some could argue, uh, that Ryan Blaney is very easily the favorite at Phoenix. Um, looking at the track and history and everything wouldn't surprise me to see Ryan Blaney win on Sunday.
00:30:24
Speaker
Yeah, he's, he's looked impressive there. Oh, you know, uh, even last year's championship, he, he looked pretty impressive, but, um, a lot of the comments I've seen is that, uh, that how mature Blaney even present himself that whole day, the whole weekend after what happened, uh, you know, after him calling Hamlin a hack the week before and just came out and ran a very, ran a very professional race. Didn't get too heated to Hamlin when they're running hard.
00:30:53
Speaker
And then just go out, run a clean 163 laps and 80 degree temperatures in Martinsville. That was a really power statement there by Blaney. We haven't seen that out of him ever.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, Dylan, you mentioned the temperature there and you mentioned the tire wear early on in the podcast here. I want to get you guys thoughts on that because that was one of the big talking points after the spring race was that there was virtually no tire wear. It was certainly cooler for the spring race than it was this past weekend. And also they have a new tire compound that
00:31:36
Speaker
that worked good but i mean i texted you guys on thursday night i watched some of the modified race and i was like they're laying rubber in 10 laps with the modifies and i i understand the ground pounders are a different game altogether they're using a huge rubber you know it's it's very much an apples to oranges comparison and stuff but still you know i think they proved that you could lay rubber down and then it was pleasantly surprising to see the cup series lay rubber down i think i was a good improvement
00:32:01
Speaker
step in the right direction. It didn't totally fix the racing, but I'd be curious to see how this tire compound does in a cooler environment. Because, you know, if it's typical fall weather, if it's 55, 60 degrees, because Jake, you were at the Martinsville race last fall, right? For the hail and melon. Like, what were the temperatures like for that?
00:32:27
Speaker
God, from what I remember, it was typical fall day. I mean, I, people were in jeans and jackets and hoodies and mouth. Yeah. So Sunday, they heard shorts and some people didn't even have t-shirts on, but I guess that's in track. You might get to, but I mean, yeah, it was, it was legit hot. It wasn't just warm. Right. So I'm just wondering like, if it was a regular Martinsville race, do the tires wear as much as they did, uh, uh, this past weekend?
00:32:54
Speaker
And of course, none of us know and stuff. It'll be interesting to see, but I was glad to see there was some tire wear after none at all in the spring race.
00:33:05
Speaker
It definitely made drivers have to search around a little bit and, and, and move their line, some, especially on a long run. Uh, so that was nice, but, um, it still made it too much of like a one lane racetrack because, you know, they were basically like straddling all of the, the rubber and so they're like half a lane up and there wasn't, it wasn't really super easy to, to get down there and pass on the low side. I think most passes were made on the high side, to be honest with you.
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, that is a good question. Does this work with cooler temperatures? But I also think, well, I don't know if we'll see it, because there's still maybe more changes that they will try to make to this car for the short track, I think, in the off season. I still don't think they're satisfied. At least, I hope not.
Future Plans: NASCAR's Phoenix Test
00:33:53
Speaker
No, so I have heard, I've seen Bob Pokris tweet a couple of times that there is a December organizational test, I believe, or maybe not organizational, but a December test is going to be happening at Phoenix, where they're going to further experiment with the short track package.
00:34:12
Speaker
And I don't know what all of that entails. Honestly, I want to ask one of our friends who is a mechanic and stuff, Travis Braden, if it's even possible to just ditch the floor entirely. So it's not that flat bottom. I think that would help a ton with the short track package. I just don't know if it's the way the cars put together that if it's a bunch of stuff that bolts to that until you can't really just take it off because there's
00:34:39
Speaker
You know, you're not going to have anywhere to put your transaxle or anything like that. But it'd be interesting to see what what changes they do come up with. And at least they're being somewhat receptive, even if it's a slow progression, because now we've had two years of kind of bum short track races, not very good short track racing. So so it's disappointing. But at least they're being somewhat receptive and and, you know, not just put in their foot in the ground and be like, I deal with it.
00:35:09
Speaker
They definitely see those polls. They definitely do. I know fans sometimes get a little annoying, but I do think fans a lot of the time are right.
00:35:24
Speaker
uh, in, in what they see. I mean, the ratings are what the ratings are. Um, you know, the better races are the ones that, and I, I think somebody shared it in, in our, in our chat where, you know, at basically the highest rated races from Jeff Gluck's polls were the races that we consider to be good races also. So I don't think that there's a big gap between what like,
00:35:50
Speaker
NASCAR considers to be good races versus what fans consider to be good races. I think at this point, it's just about trying to figure out a softer compound or a horsepower difference or like a spoiler difference or something along those lines. And if they can figure that out maybe in the off season, I definitely complained a lot more last year about the short track package. I think it's definitely been better this year.
00:36:19
Speaker
Um, but that's the key is that it's been better. It hasn't been great. So, uh, I thought this was a good race. I mean, I'm not going to knock on it that bad, but there definitely is, uh, areas there were, there were definitely areas for improvement. Yeah. Just being there, um, past few and actually, I guess dating back, uh, been to three or four of the fall ones at Martinsville in a row. I think that.
00:36:48
Speaker
Sure. I mean, there was, you know, the hail melon and then the year before that was the Bowman and Hamlin stuff. But I, I think that, uh, from this year to last year, I, I was, you know, thoroughly and enjoyed myself on the stands and solves, you know, a little bit more of, you know, the tire fall off in the, in the coming and going and cars, like we discussed really falling off. Um.
00:37:18
Speaker
And, you know, it's, it'll take obviously a lot more work and improvement, you know, but we've, we've wanted to see some improvement and hopefully, I mean, it doesn't all have to do with the weather because you're not going to get, you know, you're kind of playing roulette with the weather forecast.
00:37:47
Speaker
that late in October, you know, in Virginia, you just don't know, um, year to year what you'll get. But, um, it's just a step in the right direction. If they can just, uh, figure it out with the, with the short tracks and, and, uh, I mean, you're in for the best schedule, the best diverse schedule in motorsports, something that, um, can really be fun if they can figure out the car.
00:38:17
Speaker
One thing I'll point out is that I think they're going to have to have some varied packages, depending on the type of tractor you're going to, more so than just spoiler height. Because I think of, like, IndyCar has
00:38:39
Speaker
different packages from the road and street courses to the the short to mid-length ovals like they've been going to Texas in the past they go to Iowa they use a different package there and then a different package for the Speedway and they're in Indianapolis you know they have different packages they're not drastically different but it's basically different note for front wings and rear wings
00:39:05
Speaker
makes a big impact in the aerodynamics. For me, the wine, I realize it's a different beast, but they all tailor their aerodynamics to the type of track they're going to. You know, a lot of faster corners and stuff, they're going to have, you know, a different aeropackage than a slower track like Monaco. I don't see why NASCAR can't do something similar if it's going to produce better racing across the entire schedule. That's my kind of little sit box there on the short track stuff for now.
00:39:38
Speaker
Alrighty, uh, do we guys want to get to some pop-up showers, uh, for tonight? Oh yeah. Mine, I'll, I'll start off. Um, obviously I was at the race, my pop-up shower just kind of be about, um, my experience in Martinsville. And what I thought was cool was.
00:40:03
Speaker
They had the hell melon car there in the Chevy had a setup out there and the line to go up and see it and kind of fans were taking photos and all this was just as long as lines for some merchandise and stuff. And I thought that was really cool. And this was brought up in our group text.
00:40:30
Speaker
Daytona 500, the car stays, but you don't really get to see a car like that in such an iconic moment come back to the track. And I thought that was really cool. Some other things I saw, I saw a NASCAR 75th anniversary and they had a trailer of
00:40:58
Speaker
of gear their NASCAR did with a bunch of stuff, kind of throwback stuff. And I would love to see that. I know it's celebrating 75. Love to see that more out on the track. I picked up this. I mean, listeners can't see this. Earnhardt, Susie.
00:41:19
Speaker
from that 75 trailer, which was pretty cool.
Fan Experience: Martinsville Highlights
00:41:23
Speaker
But yeah, just the experience, the NASCAR had like a big, huge playoff type setup celebrating the playoffs. They had a championship trophy right there where Joey Logano's name on it and fans could go up there and take photos and everything. So I just think the race day experience was really cool at Martinsville, especially for, you know,
00:41:45
Speaker
the penultimate race of the season and the playoffs and all that. It was kind of a perfect type day if you were a race fan. My pop up shower was from the paint scheme for Bubba Wallace coming up, which is Star Wars. Now I'm not like I've never actually seen Star Wars, but I did want to point out
00:42:08
Speaker
one thing that I thought was cool. First of all, it was a cool paint scheme. I wanted to point out something that was not cool, rather.
Bubba Wallace's Star Wars Scheme
00:42:15
Speaker
I thought that the paint scheme was awesome and pretty cool to see that the tweet that I saw was from Adam Stern. He said that it's Bubba's
00:42:26
Speaker
a paint scheme for Phoenix and it's promoting the new officially licensed Star Wars clothing collection, which is cool. It's good to see that sponsors like that are coming to NASCAR and getting a good paint scheme with it.
00:42:42
Speaker
Somebody had tweeted at Lionel racing and Lionel makes the die casts and it said that they were kind of wondering about a die cast for it and Lionel said that they have already inquired but there have been no approvals at this time.
00:43:00
Speaker
And, uh, somebody responded to that and tagged, uh, Steve Laletta, who is the president of 2311 racing and said that, uh, they need to tell Lionel to change their minimum guarantee. Uh,
00:43:15
Speaker
in parentheses, it's always about the money and we can get everyone aligned as we for sure want to make it happen. So it sounds a little like there is, I don't want to say, you know, it's contentious, but I think that there's issues that have to deal with just money as the reason for some of these die casts not being made despite like an overwhelming
00:43:40
Speaker
Uh, request for them, but I do think that the paint scheme was super cool. Um, and, uh, like I said, it's nice to see stuff like that, uh, in NASCAR and, and these are 23 11, I thought has had some great schemes this year with, uh, how they, how they have had modeled after Jordan shoes and stuff. So. Speaking of Lionel racing, I met the president of Lionel. Uh, he was on, uh,
00:44:09
Speaker
On our TV station, they are opening up a shop in Nashville or just opened in Nashville, Lionel trains and Lionel racing. So they're going to have two different locations, not just the one in North Carolina, but now one in Nashville. So we had them on our TV station since we're not too far from Nashville. So it's cool to meet Mr. Howard Hitchcock, the
00:44:34
Speaker
uh, vice president of Lionel, um, racing and the cool thing, well, Lionel in general, but he helped bring all the die cast to Lionel. I was reading a little bit about his story. He was the one that, you know, made sure that Lionel got the licensing needed from NASCAR to be the official provider of the die cast. So, uh, that was pretty cool to meet him, trying to get some sound from him.
00:45:01
Speaker
Potentially used on a future episode here of cloudy with a chance of racing. So I guess we have two Lionel Lionel racing mentions for the pop-up showers Very cool, maybe Lionel can start sponsoring us next year. Yeah, definitely We can each one by 64 diecast That'd be pretty sweet. Whoa, imagine the logo of this show on a diecast
00:45:30
Speaker
Pretty sweet, yeah. What number will it be? Sixty-nine. I didn't want to say it.
00:45:44
Speaker
Just funny, um, so my pop-up shower, I should get a couple of things I saw in, uh, on social media. I thought were interesting. Um, so one of them was a, um, I sent it to you guys. It was a like concept
00:46:01
Speaker
where somebody took a Pontiac transport minivan, one of those old minivans, like one of the original ones from the 80s and 90s, and they put the Morgan McClure number four Kodak scheme on it.
00:46:17
Speaker
And it actually looks kind of cool. It's pretty sweet looking.
RCR's Car Prep: A Humorous Take
00:46:22
Speaker
It's totally just a CGI rendering, but it looks pretty sweet. And then the other one was I saw on, I think it was on Facebook yesterday, somebody made a meme of the car that RCR is preparing for Sheldon Corita Phoenix. And it's the Fred Flintstones car.
00:46:48
Speaker
That car blows an engine seriously though that I mean I would get out and just throw an absolute bit Yeah, I would park it like Josh Williams did right at the start finish line and get out of my car Throw the peace sign up and then just walk into the infield
00:47:07
Speaker
If there was a way for Sheldon Creed to set the car ablaze and then keep all the safety crew away from it so the car just burns to the ground, I wouldn't blame him. Well, I was just thinking as soon as the race starts, he just waits for everybody to go around turn one and then just starts doing a burnout right at the start finish line to the point that his engine blows up.
00:47:30
Speaker
Yeah. That'd be wild. Or just like leaves it in like first or second gear for an entire lab. So it's on the chip for the whole lab. Plus like you've seen how crazy that like when that restart happens where they go like maybe a foot or two away from the, the inside wall at coming out of the pit road. So it'd be crazy to see what that would be like. Right.
00:48:00
Speaker
Oh, boy. Yeah, there's a couple of things I saw that were pretty funny. The Sheldon Creed one. That's just that's a good comedy right there. But also like as funny as it is, you also couldn't you wouldn't put it past our CR to bring him just an absolute dud of a car next week. Oh, it's going to happen.
00:48:24
Speaker
So well, yeah, so we'll look forward to that at Phoenix. Let's turn our attention towards Phoenix.
Championship Contenders Overview
00:48:30
Speaker
Let's just go through the final four. So we'll be all three races this weekend. Of course, Friday night, the truck series race where Corey Haim, Carson Hosevar, Ben Rhodes and Grant Infinger will go for the championship.
00:48:44
Speaker
Saturday in the Xfinity series race it'll be Sam Mayer and Justin Allgeier from JRM along with John Henner Nemechek and Cole Custer and then in the cup series it is Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and William Byron.
00:49:03
Speaker
In our race picks this past week, Dylan decided to rub it in on us by having, he was one point away from a perfect race with Ryan Blaney, 59 points from him in the win. So he is most decidedly the winner now. The other three of us are separated by 42 points total. Jake with 1083 after a third place finish and 53 points from Denny Hamlin.
00:49:35
Speaker
Steve and I.
00:49:38
Speaker
We lost some ground to Jake. I finished, or Steve finished 32nd. Got five points from Alex Bowman. I finished 33rd with Brad Kozlowski, but Brad did get stage points, so he finished 16th, or 16 points, I should say. So, Dylan is our champion, as we mentioned last week. Jake with 42, or 38 points over Steve.
00:50:07
Speaker
And then 42 points over me. So I get the first pick this week since I got last amongst us for Brad Kozlowski finishing 33rd. Man, so. The Phoenix winner back in the spring. Was William Byron. Yeah, it was William Byron. Kyle Larson finished fourth.
00:50:38
Speaker
Kevin Harvick finished fifth Martin Shucks jr. Was Dylan's pick finished 17th and Jake you did have Sorry, see me. I thought you had William Martin. You had Ross Chastain who finished 24th He picked him back to back weeks and Didn't do much anything. It wasn't at the one with Hamlin taking him out Yes, that was yes, and I wrote him up in in the corner there. Yep
00:51:08
Speaker
That resulted in Denny getting the penalty. Yeah. The podcast scandal. Right, right. The season has flown by. It seems like we just talked about that one. I know it does.
00:51:23
Speaker
So, I don't want to take one of the non-4 drivers, but part of me wants to go Larson or Byron, but man, the Hendrick cars, aside from the strategy call that got Chase up front, didn't have it last week at Phoenix.
00:51:41
Speaker
And it has me, or last week at Martinsville, excuse me, that has me concerned that maybe this tire compound change is throwing them for a loop and they just don't have the setup. And of course you can't really pass at Phoenix. So it's a track position game. And, you know, like we mentioned earlier, if you're not up front, you're, you're stuck going, you can't go forward. Or if you're up front and you're not very good, you're going backwards. So, um, no.
00:52:12
Speaker
I think I'm going to go... Hmm. I think I'm going to go C-Bell. I mean, it's tough. I picked C-Bell a couple weeks ago at homestead and he won the race. I'm going to run it back with him. I would not, I would not complain about him being the other champion. Steve, you're up next. So my prediction is that, uh, a non-play, uh, non-championship for driver wins, which means,
00:52:42
Speaker
Kevin Harvick. I'm taking the King of Phoenix, Kevin Harvick going to ride off into the sunset, pound in a bushlight as he crosses the finish line. But no, I mean, I just I feel like it's almost too good to be true that this is his last race
00:53:01
Speaker
in a cup car at a track where he has, I think, won nine times. Something like that. And the Fords have been good there. They've been good on the short flatter tracks. And I mean, we've seen Briscoe win there. And Briscoe usually runs well there. And I just feel like they're going to take whatever setup they had with him when he ran well and try to make it so that that's
00:53:24
Speaker
his setup and that he has the opportunity to take it. But I do think I am going to take as a championship. I'm going to say Blaney wins the championship.
00:53:35
Speaker
Gotcha. Speaking of bushlights, did you see, I saw in the Victory Lane interview with Justin Allgeier on Saturday night that Josh Williams ran up to Allgeier in the post race stuff and Allgeier was kind of shocked or whatever. I think the reaction Allgeier gave made me think that, oh my gosh, did I wreck you and you're pissed at me now? But it was Josh Williams coming up with a couple beers.
00:54:04
Speaker
You know, this is awesome. That's funny. Okay. So you're going with Harvick for the win, but Blaney for the championship. Uh, Jake, who are you taking, uh, this weekend at Phoenix? Well, that kind of sets me up for mine. Cause I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if he won. So I'll pick Ryan Blaney.
00:54:26
Speaker
to win you look at Phoenix in the spring finishes second last fall in the championship race finished second so I mean Steve could be onto something here with Harvick winning and Blaney that would be potentially his third second in a row Phoenix but couple other top fives in spring 22 fall 21 he's there he just had a way about him last Sunday
00:54:55
Speaker
kind of go with the hot hand and I was listening on the way back on the drive back from the race to the teardown with Jeff Glock and Jordan Bianchi and they brought up you know with Hendrick having two cars in the championship what do you all the resources there is there kind of a split and then you have like team Penske you know with with their vehicle and JGR can
00:55:22
Speaker
All their resources and prep this week can kind of go to those cars. Hendrix kind of split with two cars. I will roll with Blaney and the end of the year. Back to back wins in the championship. All righty. And Dylan, your pick's already been made, but I want to know who you think is going to win the championship. Dylan, of course, because he's got the title locked up.
00:56:09
Speaker
who is in the 15 that's what I'm picking right
00:56:14
Speaker
early money on Blaney to potentially win this. So yeah, I, I'm going to all in on him winning it. Um, and you mentioned a dark horse that's not in the championship for the co-win this race. I think it's Joey Lagana, the one who won last year's race. I think he could win it, but I also think he would get out of the way of his teammate, Ryan Blaney and let him win and take care of it. Kind of like Blaney did with him last year.
00:56:41
Speaker
This reminds me a little bit of Chase Elliott's run in 2020, because if you look at...
00:56:47
Speaker
From Talladega to Martinsville for Blaney, his average finish is like just over fourth. And Chase went in to Martinsville and won, and then went into Phoenix, started dead last because he failed inspection, and then made his way to the front. Obviously, it was a different car. But it just reminds me of that situation. And that's just what I feel like Blaney is just
00:57:16
Speaker
You know, he's got the hot hand right now. Yeah, I mean, I think Ryan would be a deserving champion for sure. But there's part of me that would feel kind of wrong about it just because the Fords, for a large part of the schedule, were just a non-factor. And there's just part of me that feels like that wouldn't be, you know, a true reflection of who the best car and driver was for the year.
00:57:44
Speaker
Am I totally off base with that or does that make sense? I think in 2021 with, uh, with, uh, uh, with Larson, that would have like that whole, like if somebody had won that Phoenix race that, and wouldn't won the championship, I would have agreed because he was so above and beyond dominant in the second half of the season that it would have felt wrong with anybody else last year. I mean, you could have flipped a coin and I think it would have been an interesting,
00:58:12
Speaker
I mean, you know, Joey was more than deserving and I think Blaney's more than deserving, but I don't think that Joey was the best car last year either overall. Um, so you have to look at 2020 is the best example because Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin doll made the season and neither one of them won. Denny didn't even make it to, did he make it to the championship four?
00:58:37
Speaker
I'd say the difference though is that Chase had a pretty solid year overall in 2020. The difference for me is that Blaney won one race at the Coke 600, and he didn't win again until Talladega in the playoffs.
00:58:56
Speaker
And to reward somebody as the champion to go that long without winning a race just, it doesn't feel entirely right. I think though, but at the same token is that looking at in the season Kyle Larson's had, you know, if you want to be old school, he hasn't, he's had more TNFs than anyone else this season that almost feels like. So if he goes out and wins, yes, he's won a lot of races this year, but if you look at him and you know, the old
00:59:25
Speaker
pre-playoff standings, you know, with the amount of DNFs that he's had, he would not be in this situation. So, I mean, you kind of look at it both ways. I think also, if Christopher Bell wins, I think that that would be a bigger surprise than Blaney. I know, I know Christopher Bell has shown speed earlier in the year, but I feel like Blaney was there, could have won in the spring here at,
00:59:53
Speaker
at Phoenix. He showed some speed, obviously, at the Super Speedway and stuff. I think Bell would be a bigger surprise than Blaney. I think this is a checkers or record scenario for Kyle. I mean, it mostly is. But like, I think this is really a checkers or record scenario for Kyle Larson.
01:00:10
Speaker
you know he he's going in there a lot of the time reckless abandon and you know sometimes the bites and sometimes it doesn't but I don't know I mean I I see Braxton I see you're saying I think you know with the next gen as far as the next gen car goes like Byron this year has been
01:00:30
Speaker
has been very good but I still if he won would kind of feel the same way you do because I just don't like I just would have felt like Blaney has turned it on like crazy over the last few weeks that he looks like a championship car where Byron right now doesn't to me so I get what you're saying with it with that
01:00:52
Speaker
So I was looking on, uh, on Twitter. So we mentioned that last week with Dylan brought it up the, the, the account in WCS underscore standings. Basically they take the three national series and apply points based on the old pre 2004, uh, point system, uh, the same system that Dylan Hart won his seven championships under.
01:01:19
Speaker
And that's in that account right now says that the current points leader as things stand is Christopher Bell by 67 points over Denny Hamlin. William Byron is one point behind Denny at 68. Chris Busher is fourth with 96 points behind. And then Martin Shrucks Jr. is 155 points behind.
01:01:41
Speaker
Um, so yeah, like Christopher Bell has been in net season long format, the, the, the highest point earning driver. Although they go on to say though, that without penalties, Denny or sorry, William Byron would hold a 139 point over Denny headed to Phoenix had the, uh, the penalty has not been applied. So where's Larson on that though? Larson is six. Yeah. Larson's the favorite. So.
01:02:09
Speaker
I mean the favorite doing the championship right now would have finished sixth in. In the, you know, Winston Cup standing so. Now I get it, let's see Blaney is 7th. So that's the three or sorry the four. Yeah, the four in the top seven the other the three who aren't in the top are in the final four who are in the top seven are Denny and second Busher in 4th and Truex in 5th.
Chase Elliott's Remarkable Standings
01:02:41
Speaker
Where does Chase Elliott find himself on that? Chase Elliott is 21st, but remember he missed a bunch of races. But who is he ahead? Is he ahead of anyone surprising? He's ahead. So he's ahead of the joy by like 40, 39 points. He's ahead of Haley, Priest, Syndric, Gilliland, Bowman. Remember Bowman had some penalties in there too. Eric Jones had a penalty. Austin Dillon had a penalty. Briscoe had a penalty. That's still pretty impressive.
01:03:11
Speaker
to miss that much of the season and still fish right outside of the top 20 in the Winston cup standings. Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker
He's I mean, if you look at our friend of the show from Ryan from my fantasy race, if you look at a lot of his speed ratings at a lot of these tracks, Chase is up there, you know. So it's not surprising to me to see because he's had really good runs at just about every track he's been at that he's been racing in. But yeah, for what it's worth.
01:03:43
Speaker
In the truck series, Corey Haim just has to start on Friday night and he has it locked up in this format going back to the old way of doing points 2003 and prior. In that standing, the top four will be Haim and Finger, Josevar, Ekas.
01:04:04
Speaker
And then in the Xfinity series, John Hunter Nemechek would need a 27th finish or a better on Saturday to win the championship.
01:04:18
Speaker
And that one's actually pretty representative. So, so the top five in the Bush series standing since they have it, um, are John Hunter, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer and Sam Mayer. So, I mean, in reality, right? That's your top four had the Hill Creed incident not happen last week.
01:04:41
Speaker
All righty. So we went off the rails a little bit on our picks, but, uh, for the final weekend, Jake is going with Blaney. Uh, Steve is going with Kevin Harvick riding off one of the sunset. I'm going to see bell and Dylan is going with JJ gala as part of his agreement for having the championship locked up. Who's he going with again? Who is it exactly? JJ. No, no, no. The other guy.
01:05:05
Speaker
Oh, Reed Sorensen. Reed Sorensen, baby. That should be our mission for this offseason is we have to get to Reed Sorensen and get him lined up for our first show next year. We have to go all out for that. We absolutely do. We absolutely have to try to. We need to set up a
Engaging Fans: Podcast Guest Plans
01:05:27
Speaker
bot and have it tweet him every day asking on our account.
01:05:32
Speaker
Unfortunately, I think Elon is, is getting his, doesn't bother bots. I'll do it. I'll wake up every morning. Yeah, fine. Yeah. We'll just do it. Twist my arm. Oh man. I would hate to tweet at Reed Zorin's and all that. I'm going to be on our podcast. Oh, that's funny.
01:05:55
Speaker
So in random, all of us except Steve had a miserable day. Steve finished sixth with Kyle Larson getting 31 points. Dylan finished 25th with Michael McDowell getting 12 points.
01:06:15
Speaker
Oh yeah, so I finished 28th with AJ Allmendinger getting 9 points. And then Jake with Reed Sorensen on Sunday at Martinsville got 2 points with a 35th place finish. So our standings look like this. I lead the way with 859 points.
01:06:35
Speaker
has a fifty five point deficit to me try to catch me for the win uh... no one else can catch me so it's just me and Dylan now Jake is Jake could catch Dylan if things go right uh... Steve you're firmly in the cellar on this one sorry bud what else is new
01:07:05
Speaker
Yuck it up guys Well, I know the penguins aren't doing so hot for you either so oh, I'm not a penguins fan I just work here Speaking of speaking of this speaking of the seller. I'm a coyotes fan I was about to say like we'll be in the coyotes man isn't much better right? Yeah No, I I mean I root for the pens, but I don't
01:07:26
Speaker
I don't know. It's easier for them than rooting for the coyotes, right? It's almost not, because there's no expectation of winning with Arizona. They played in a arena in front of 2,500 seats, not even 2,500 people. It's a high school arena, or it's a college arena, but it might as well be a high school arena. Right, exactly. OK, so Jake gets first pick on the random wheel. Dylan, I know the Phoenix forecasts are
01:07:54
Speaker
Really, really tough on you, so I'll give you plenty of time to make this forecast. Wapping 85 and sunny for our friends in Phoenix, which is only a degree warmer than what it was in Martinsville. Wow. All right, Jake, you're getting us started off with the farewell ride in the 31 car for Justin Haley. Before he moves on over to Rick Ware Racing,
01:08:21
Speaker
All right. Here's my spin coming up. The suspense is killing me. Oh, where's this going to stop? Okay. Chris Busher. Realistic possibility, but probably not going to win. Right. I'd say he's winning round for him in the round of seven. We didn't mention him.
01:08:49
Speaker
It certainly was a disappointing round for him. But the Fords have been fast at Phoenix, so this could be a good redemption and get his way. He can still fight his way up to fifth place in the point standings. All right, Dylan Spin going on here. Oh, ho, ho, the battle is on. Chase Briscoe. Oh, man, you know what's weird? I was literally visualizing that as my pick in my head.
01:09:20
Speaker
Well, you got them. So I manifested that. All right. Here's good to have Phoenix right there. Oh, Steve's got a good one here. Willie B. Wow. He's got a championship for contender in the cellar. As we talked about, uh, I have awful luck. So Willie B is going to be like, he's going to blow an engine on the first lap of the race. That's what's going to happen.
01:09:47
Speaker
I mean, you finished tops amongst us this past week with with Larson. Yeah, but you just went Larson Byron back to back and I'm still in the cellar. It's like God's playing a trick on me like hey, so we've only had two winners period this year in in random.
01:10:07
Speaker
Jake got a win with William Byron at Texas. And Steve, you got a win at Michigan with Chris Busher. I just want to say also, since we're doing this on a Tuesday night, the lines have come out for the betting. I already mentioned kind of the favorites to win. But speaking of Briscoe, I like that you can get him right now plus money to finish top 10.
01:10:37
Speaker
Seems like a pretty good, pretty good, that's going to be going the other way. I think after qualifying, I think he's going to qualify well again, just like you did in Martinsville. But then also, Harvick is plus money for a top five and a top 10. Wow. How much? Plus 100 to finish top 10. He's plus like 300 to finish top five. So that'd be something to look at. How much would this absolutely destroy Denny if he won this race? Oh, my god.
01:11:07
Speaker
If Denny came out with this, I don't think he would. I think him and Truex are going to be non-factors just because of their mentalities, I think. You know, when's the last time Denny hasn't been in the final championship four? It's been a couple of years, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a couple of years. I thought I sent you guys the link to it. I have to go back. Yeah. Somebody made a graphic of like who all has been in the final four.
01:11:35
Speaker
I don't know. Some of these guys in this race, if you're looking from fantasy or sports perspective, could be on vacation mode right now. Oh, he didn't make it last year. No. As soon as the checkered flag waves, Denny is going to be on a flight to Cancun. I can't believe, obviously, he didn't make it last year.
01:12:04
Speaker
Thanks, Ross Chastain, but he did race well there last year. So maybe not, but I think true. It was checked out. So right now he still has pretty good odds. So I'd try to find a, uh, anyone out there looking to take some odds looking on Fandall right now. I think there's a head to head with him and Briscoe, I believe, or Tim and Legano yet it's a March of June, Legano. I would take Legano right now. Wow. Yeah.
01:12:33
Speaker
Alrighty, well, I when I when we saw that grid earlier, I did mention to you guys, like, I am putting money at the beginning of the year of Logano to make the Final Four because he's made in every even number of year since this format started.
01:12:49
Speaker
All right, so we look forward to the all three series having their final race of the season this weekend at Phoenix. Let's take a look at some entry lists because there's some interesting entries in both the truck and the Xfinity series. Young up and comer, Caden Honeycutt getting the start in the O2 truck for Young's Motorsports.
01:13:10
Speaker
Uh, you'll see Marco Andretti back in the seven for Spire. Um, it's going down here. Uh, Christian Rose, a West Virginia driver from over in the Eastern panhandle. He'll make a start in the 22 truck, uh, for AM racing. Uh, you'll see.
01:13:30
Speaker
Let's see Sean hangarani is going to be in the 75 that's normally driven in those one-off races by Parker klugerman rule is you have to be eligible for Truck series points to race in this final race for the truck series. So So that's why klugerman cannot race in this race on Friday night
01:13:53
Speaker
was another one here i saw uh stephen parsons will be in the 25 for rackley war and uh Derek Krauss will be in the 77 for spire so 38 trucks are going for 36 starting spots there on Friday night
01:14:10
Speaker
in the Xfinity series, there are 41 cars. They're going to show up for that one, including Sheldon Creed is indeed going to be in the RCR2. They haven't cut them loose early, at least as of this recording. Stefan Parsons will be doing double duty. He'll be in the 4 car for JD Motorsports.
01:14:30
Speaker
Uh, let's see here. Derek Krause will be back in the 11 for colleague racing. Uh, Raja Karuth will be in the 17 for Hendrick Motorsports with Greg Ives on the pit box. I'm excited to see what Raja can do with that. And, and we mentioned a couple of times in the last handful of episodes that.
01:14:49
Speaker
with GMS racing closing down. I have not seen where Rajai is going to be racing next year, so hopefully this is a good audition for him to get an opportunity going forward. Let's see who else. We'll see.
01:15:07
Speaker
I think that's really the only kind of surprising one on here. Everybody else is pretty, pretty much a regular on the, on the circuit. Daniel dial will be on the 44 for alpha prime racing. That's a different one for sure. And then just the 36 charter cars for the cup series race. I mean, I think we've talked about it enough, but what do you guys, anything else you guys want to mention about what you're looking forward to at Phoenix?
Celebrating Harvick: Anticipating His Final Race
01:15:35
Speaker
I'm just excited to see the last, not excited for it, but excited to see the, you know, Harvick, I've watched him, you know, his his entire career, which is, you know, two full decades, one of the best of all time. And it'll be cool to see him one last time at Phoenix. And that's why I'm really hoping to see a victory out of the four.
01:16:08
Speaker
Um, I got my fingers crossed that there is some form of it being a good race, especially in the cup series level when we discuss Phoenix and its issues. I hope, uh, it can, uh, deliver somehow and produce some fun racing. I hope we get angry brother, future brother-in-laws at each other. I hope, uh, Byron and Blaney, one of them makes each other mad.
01:16:37
Speaker
Well, in the post race, Byron district called him his brother-in-law. I don't know if there's some sort of secret engagement or whatever going on between William Byron and Aaron Blaney or what. I guess they've been together like William and Aaron have been together long enough. So maybe that's the case. I don't know.
01:16:56
Speaker
Um, yeah, it should be a, uh, a good culmination to the, the season for all three series. And, uh, as much as it sucks, it'll be going away. Uh, I think, uh, everybody in the industry and us, and at least me included in this stuff, we'll be, you know, ready to take a little bit of break and I'll watch some stuff like the snowball Derby and chili bowl onto me, ready to go for the, uh, clash coming up in February, already less than a hundred days away.
01:17:26
Speaker
Cool deal. Well, I think that'll wrap it up for this edition of Cloudy with a Chance of Racing. Be sure to subscribe wherever podcast platform you're listening on. Also, tell a friend about us. We'd greatly appreciate growing the Cloudy with a Chance of Racing family. Also, follow us on social media at Cloudy Racing Pod. For Steve, Jake, and Dylan, I'm Braxton. Thanks so much for listening this week and every week to Cloudy with a Chance of Racing.
01:17:52
Speaker
We'll be back to recap the champions after Phoenix. Have a good one, everyone.