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Ep. 33: Catching Hands and Making Moves at Talladega
10 Plays1 year ago
Steve, Dillon, and Braxton discuss all the news of the week and recap the fall Talladega race weekend for the NASCAR Cup and Truck Series, including Kyle Busch Motorsports being bought by Spire Motorsports, Harrison Burton returning to the Wood Brothers in 2024, and 2024 schedule tidbits about North Wilkesboro, Indianapolis, and Iowa. On the track, the guys debate the post-race altercation between Truck Series drivers Matt Crafton and Nick Sanchez, the one-off Truck Series win for Brett Moffitt, Kyle Busch's bad luck this round of the Cup playoffs, the surprisingly clean finish on Sunday, and Kevin Harvick's disqualification.
Plus the guys discuss their Pop Up Showers from this week, Dillon gives his forecast for the Charlotte Roval race this coming weekend, and the guys make their real and random picks. Including a promise from Dillon we have on tape.
Be sure to subscribe to Cloudy With a Chance of Racing on whichever podcast platform you listen to us on, and follow along on social media @CloudyRacingPod.
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Transcript
Episode 33 Introduction
00:00:15
Speaker
with a chance of racing episode 33 coming to you tonight here in the first week of October. Braxton, Steve, and Dylan with you here as we take a look back at the week that was in Talladega, Alabama.
00:00:29
Speaker
and get set for a big week at the Charlotte Roval, where I am right now, Charlotte, North Carolina. I'll be at the Roval race on Sunday. So we'll have a unique perspective from that one.
Talladega Truck Race Drama
00:00:42
Speaker
But Steve, Dylan, what did you guys see this past week that caught your eye? Well, specifically, you know, that was kind of a pretty wild truck race.
00:00:53
Speaker
uh, you know, Talladega, I know gets wild with, uh, with any series that goes there, but, um, you know, I saw a lot of fireworks, uh, you know, on and off the track.
Cup Series Highlights from Talladega
00:01:04
Speaker
And as far as the cup series goes, I mean, um, Ryan Blaney making a late season push, uh, and, uh, he and, and, and Willie B kind of punched their ticket into the, into the next round. So.
00:01:17
Speaker
Um, very interested to see what happens at the roval, but, uh, this week specifically, um, you know, I thought this was actually a pretty good cup race. Um, I think, uh, you know, Talladega, I know that there's been, uh, it's kind of been hit or miss with the next gen car, but I thought that this was, uh, for both series this weekend that race there was a solid.
00:01:44
Speaker
Can you guys believe that we only have five more podcasts this season? The season has flown by. It really has.
00:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, we only have five more for the rest of the season.
Season Reflection and Future Content
00:01:58
Speaker
Although, I don't know, we might do something in December as an indie beer wrap-up, maybe, about to think about that. But yeah, it's crazy to think that it feels like just yesterday we started this thing, and we're already most of the way through our first season here. Let's get into some news that happened this past week, because as we get towards the end of the season, there's more and more news coming out.
Major Team Changes in Truck Series
00:02:20
Speaker
Kind of a minor deal, but one of the gms drivers right now, of course gms racing is closing down in the truck series So it was announced that daniel dye one of their current drivers is joining mackinally hilgeman racing for next year I think that's a good move for him because christian eckes with that mhr team has been Pretty good. So hopefully they can they can have some success expanding into a second truck next year I think the big
00:02:47
Speaker
Truck series news that came out this past week was news that Kyle Busch Motorsports selling lock stock and barrel to spire for a reported 25 million dollars. That's a That's one heck of a a price tag especially with the way the spires been throwing money around recently, but also a a big a big acquisition for spire and kind of a big departure for Kyle because even just said
Why Did Kyle Busch Sell His Team?
00:03:14
Speaker
a year ago that he wanted to have KBM and drive in a truck series race against his son Brexton at some point in the next handful of years and then less than a year later he was selling KBM over to Spire. What do you guys think of that move? What do you think some of the motivations would be? What do you think the alloc is for Spire in that organization?
00:03:37
Speaker
I don't really, not that I don't understand it. I mean, I guess I do understand it 25 millions a lot. But I do think though, that like, I mean, he, he's not as regular driving the truck himself.
Impact of Spire's Acquisition of KBM
00:03:52
Speaker
So I don't know if there is some sort of like, just doesn't feel like he wants to just doesn't feel like he wants to keep up with it anymore. Plus, I mean, you can make a lot of money from it. But
00:04:05
Speaker
didn't really expect that to be happening. At least right now, I figured, you know, maybe down the road five, six years, there was a chance. I mean, but I was, I don't wanna say blindsided, but I was definitely surprised by it. I mean, for Spire, I guess it would be a good deal, but not exactly sure. I'm not exactly sure why all of this happened. I think the biggest surprise for me would definitely be the Kyle Busch aspect.
00:04:36
Speaker
And it seems like we didn't really get a lot from him even this weekend from media speaking about it as much as, you know, I think we would expect.
Harrison Burton and Wood Brothers Racing
00:04:46
Speaker
So, you know, I'd still love to see him race against his son one day. I think that's still going to happen. But maybe he'll get back into it down the line potentially.
00:04:57
Speaker
I wonder if there's some element of maybe he was kind of disillusioned or disappointed or something. They're just generally unhappy with the amount of factory support that KBM was getting from Chevrolet this year.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I wonder that because we know that that Toyota puts a lot of effort into their development program at the lower levels before and on the way to the cup series and The it just makes you wonder if maybe Chevrolet wasn't doing that to that level or something like that and and discourage Kyle from wanting to have a team I don't know that to be a fact. I'm just curious and kind of spitballing here, but I
00:05:37
Speaker
they haven't had the same success at KBM that they had in previous years. You can also argue that, okay, well, they haven't had the same caliber of drivers for the most part that they've had in previous years. So that's definitely a thought. I wonder too, how this impacts the
Penske Performance Challenges
00:05:56
Speaker
recent deals that Spire has with Trackhouse. And specifically, they've long had a discussion on
00:06:06
Speaker
Um, or not long, but in the last few weeks about, you know, Shane van Gisbergen is going to be divvying up his time across all three national series. Uh, I guess it could, you know, make sense then that, you know, if track house has that alliance with spire that, you know, he has a basically an open seat right there to raise as many truck races as he wants to. Um, but yeah, so I think that certainly makes some, some element of sense there.
00:06:34
Speaker
I think this is going to be good for Spire. I mean, it could help them expand. They had a part-time truck the last few years, and there were some pretty big names that they had in those trucks, like Chase Elliott last year, Willie B, Alex Bowman, Rajak Ruth. They had Jonathan Davenport this year with Kyle Larson.
00:06:57
Speaker
A lot of big names and I'd be really interested to see how they would, how they would expand. Uh, and, and it looks like they're going to set themselves up for the future. Yeah, I think anything to help out a team that's obviously one to spend money has the money to spend is having a developmental team in the truck series or, you know, the Xfinity series. So I think it's big for
Wood Brothers Racing Driver Challenges
00:07:22
Speaker
them. Um, uh, again, though.
00:07:26
Speaker
I thought that Kyle Bush would be a good person for that for Chevy, but, um, maybe he'll have a little bit of influence in the truck series, you know, with him racing potentially for them. So that's something we'll see, I guess in the future, but I think it's a, if anything, it's good. And I, I know there's not a lot of correlation between the truck series and the cup series, but it can really help. Yeah. And certainly in this handful of races, like you were mentioning, Steve, the spire was competitive in all those races.
00:07:53
Speaker
Kyle Larson just won the North Wilkesboro race a couple of months ago in the truck series return there. So they put fast trucks out already. So we'll see if they can expand that to a handful of trucks.
00:08:06
Speaker
Other news that came out earlier this past week before Talladega, Harrison Burton confirmed to come back to the Wood Brothers for 2024. I know there was some question about whether or not he would actually be back, but also some question of, well, if he's not back, who would they possibly put in there?
Penske Team Struggles
00:08:25
Speaker
It's not like the
00:08:27
Speaker
the forward development camp is loaded with the drivers who are cup ready right now. So it sounds like Harrison Burton back to the Wood Brothers. Do you think at some point that 2024 has got to be a doer die season for him and even to a lesser extent perhaps Austin Sendrick? Neither of them has really shown much of anything outside of Sendrick's Daytona 500 win.
00:08:49
Speaker
Shindrick was the name that I was about to just bring up for that reason specifically because, you know, he's been, I forgot where he was in points this year, but it has not been good. And the only thing that he has over
00:09:03
Speaker
Burton is a win. And so, you know, if you compare those two drivers, I mean, there's a lot of lineage with Burton, plus there's a lot of sponsorship. But I mean, Syndric has the connections to stay in a seat probably for the foreseeable future. And so I don't know how much of a hot seat Syndric will be on. But Burton, I don't know who would be like who would lose their ride first, but I would probably say,
00:09:32
Speaker
Honestly, as far as talent goes, I don't really know who the better one is in this instance. Both of them are very solid, affinity drivers. But I don't know. Truthfully, I don't know. It's hard to put somebody in that Woodbrothers car and expect them to win. I think the last win that they had was Blaney, I think, at Pocono. Is that right?
00:09:58
Speaker
I don't that sounds right. Yeah, I've been sitting on 99 wins for a long time. And then what Matt DiBenno almost got that 100th win and couldn't quite get a job done. But yeah, so I mean, it's just it's not an easy car to win in. And, you know, I mean, the equipment is not bad. But, you know, the two, I mean, I feel like at some point, that's kind of a car that you really have to you have to
00:10:24
Speaker
show better results than you have and then we've seen over the last really two full seasons almost because the first win was at the beginning of last season. So, yeah, I guess we'll see what happens with with Harrison Burton, but I'm not expecting like a big jump in points or standings.
Return to Traditional Race Formats
00:10:45
Speaker
I feel like the syndrome has regressed a little bit this season. Last year, he at least showed a lot of speed on
00:10:55
Speaker
the road courses, but this year, maybe a little bit of speed, but not as much as last year. So yeah, that's a good point. They're virtually identical. You know, right now it seems like I know Sender probably runs a little bit better than most of the tracks just because of the equipment's a little bit better, but I can't tell the difference between either of them. Neither of them are, you know, making much headway this season. So
00:11:22
Speaker
Hopefully, we can see some improvement, especially with the changes around Ford. I guess one saving grace for them is that the entire Penske organization has been down this year. I think a lot of their best results have been
00:11:39
Speaker
have been Ryan Blaney and, and Joey Logano getting more out of their cars than, than what the car was actually capable of doing on that particular race weekend. So, um, so I think that, that bodes well and kind of gives, uh, Austin and Harrison a little bit of a pass, but also, uh, like we discussed here that they've not shown, uh, you know, even, you know, even in those races where, uh, where.
00:12:05
Speaker
Joey and Ryan were getting maybe five or six positions better than their car was actually driving. The other two were finishing well, well beyond that. It wasn't like they were just a couple of spots behind. They were well off from that pace. So a lot of work to be done there, but at least Harrison Burton getting another crack at it next season. Some schedule pieces have fallen into place ahead of the schedule expected to be announced in full.
00:12:33
Speaker
In the middle of this week sounds like the all-star race will be back at North Wilkesboro with the truck series part of that weekend and Both cars tour series the late model stocks and the pro late models will be in the midweek Also, it sounds like North Wilkesboro will be completely completely repaved between now and then
Iowa Speedway's NASCAR Debut
00:12:51
Speaker
and
00:12:51
Speaker
So it'll be a different North Wilkesboro from what we saw this past May. Kind of a side note on North Wilkesboro. Did you guys see the end of the wheel and modified tour race there on this past weekend? That crash at the end was vicious. Oh, that was really brutal. Yeah, I saw the end of it. I didn't see it live, but I saw the highlight. I saw a replay as well. Oh, my gosh. I have great social media with North Wilkesboro right now, so.
00:13:19
Speaker
All those kind of small things feel like a great traction on social media. For sure. And then, uh, the other piece that was announced last week was that Indianapolis motor Speedway will go back to hosting, uh, the cup and extended series on the oval instead of the road course. So Steve gets his wish. Finally. I think we all get our wish. Cause I think of anything, I think we all could agree the Bristol dirt
00:13:50
Speaker
And the any oval or the India road course had to run its course. It was time to go back to the traditional formats for those races. Yeah, I agree. Then I feel like with this car, um, the brickyard race will be better. Um, hopefully the attendance goes off, especially with what they're doing around the 30th. You know, anniversary stuff like that. I wonder if they could get some, you know,
00:14:14
Speaker
Maybe it was a Harvick retiring right now. Maybe he could do a one-off with one of the teams, you know, to get back in, to race the, the oval again. That'd be pretty cool. Or Jimmy Johnson would be cool to see too. For sure. Hear me out. Jeff Gordon runs the 42 on the 30th anniversary winning in the 24. Wow. That would be, that's big brain emulation stuff. That would be.
00:14:42
Speaker
I actually I did see his That that first break yard win car was is in the Hendrick Motorsports Museum. I saw it earlier today so it's a good deal the other schedule announcement that came out just earlier today not really announcement is expected to be confirmed tomorrow, but
00:15:00
Speaker
multiple reporters are saying that Iowa Speedway is going to get a cup and Xfinity date in the middle of June next year. So around a father's day weekend, I think June 15th and 16th of the dates I saw it's expected that there's going to be an announcement tomorrow, a press conference with the Iowa governor. I think that could put on a good race provided that NASCAR fixes the short tracks for the next gen car. But I think it also could be a great,
00:15:29
Speaker
Spectacle weekend because what Iowa Speedway has had with with the Indy car promoter and the Indy car promoters put on there With Hy-Vee the last two seasons has been incredible. I mean they had Ed Sheeran
00:15:42
Speaker
and three other huge acts. They had two concerts a day for two days with huge acts. Ed Sheeran was there earlier this year. If NASCAR can kind of follow that blueprint, there are race fans in Iowa who will go to it. They went to the IndyCar
Benefits of Rotating NASCAR Tracks
00:16:00
Speaker
race. They will surely go to NASCAR racing there. So I think it's a good move as long as the racing is not a total dud.
00:16:07
Speaker
I think the racing will probably be better. I'm hoping that they make some adjustments next year. And I was a good track. I mean, there's progressive banking, and it's almost a mile, I think. It's like seven eighths. Yeah. And so in theory, there would be better. With tracks with progressive banking, you get more of an opportunity to try to find
00:16:29
Speaker
areas where there'd be more speed as opposed to a place like Martinsville. So I would definitely be in favor of it. I don't think they've ever raced there before in the cup. I did trucks and I think Xfinity and trucks and a couple of maybe like the wheel and modified.
00:16:47
Speaker
I yeah, I think it's good. I mean, I don't, I think they said, I think I saw pakras report that I was probably the only new track that we're going to see for 2024. Which is which is good, I guess, still like to see a couple tracks go away. But I like you can't ask for a ton of like sweeping changes immediately. So if
00:17:10
Speaker
If getting rid of Bristol dirt and bringing back the brickyard 400, along with adding a new track is the trade-off, then I'll take that. No problem. And who owns Iowa? Is it ISC track? It is a NASCAR owned track. Okay. Yeah. So that makes sense. You know, with the rumor of them trying to go to Canada to race in Montreal, I'd
00:17:35
Speaker
I didn't expect, you know, as a Kentucky guy pushing for Kentucky, maybe pushed on the track. I just didn't see a fit for it. Honestly, it sounds like it's not going to happen this year, but maybe in the future, but back to the racing there, I think it's, I think it's a, like, you know, a better version of Richmond. I've always thought that when the Xfinity series races there, uh, that it's like, this is what Richmond could be. Maybe what Richmond kind of used to be, um, a better, more entertaining.
00:18:05
Speaker
Richmond. So that should be fun. And you mentioned it. I mean, just looking at the news surrounding this announcement tomorrow, the governor is going to be there. You know, I feel like a lot of resources are going to be put into making sure it's a big show, which could, you know, lend a hand into what NASCAR could do in the future, where you go to a track once or twice and then don't go there for a couple of years and then come back to make it more, you know, authentic feel.
00:18:35
Speaker
Um, you could do that with tracks like Iowa, like Kentucky, um, like Chicago land, something like that. Um, to maybe, you know, bring up, bring more fans in a short amount of time there for like two years, you could pack both places. And then instead of seeing the, you know, attendance dwindle, you say we'll be back in a couple of years, you know, stay tuned. Yeah. And that's a very good idea, especially because they're.
00:18:59
Speaker
There's now more viable race tracks than there are race dates, and especially too with the push of people saying, hey, there's way too many races going on.
Should NASCAR Avoid the Football Season?
00:19:10
Speaker
Even if they condense the schedule by a couple of races, they could do kind of the same thing there and, you know, take, you know, take a couple of races away and say, okay, we're going to go to.
00:19:21
Speaker
say, I don't know, Pocono every other year, every even year and we'll go to Nashville Super Speedway just to name a random track, you know, every even year, every odd year on the offices, right? You know, they could totally do that. And like you said, try to keep the interest going without it getting stagnant. I think the biggest key though for Iowa
00:19:43
Speaker
They're going to have to have a presenting race sponsor that is heavily invested in making it a spectacle and event and not just a race because Hy-Vee does that for the IndyCar series and puts a lot of money into it. And if there's not a sponsor that's willing to do that for the NASCAR race, then, um, then it's not going to meet what, what IndyCar has been able to do there the last couple of years.
00:20:08
Speaker
So I think that's all the news really from this week. Let's get to the actual day. So go ahead. You mentioned they're conditioning the schedule. Something I've been wanting to save until maybe our last episode or something. I think there's a lot that could be that NASCAR could benefit for shrinking the schedule and having a less interfere with the football season. Um, but that's something, you know, we can talk about in length after the season.
00:20:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah, there's definitely you're on to a right idea there. That'll be good to stew on a little bit for the next six weeks or so. And then we can we can chat about that at the end of the year for sure. So the truck race on Saturday at Talladega won by Brett Moffat in a one off second truck for front row motorsports. Interesting that his his race went nearly flawlessly while Zane Smith had all kinds of troubles.
00:21:06
Speaker
slid into his pit box and nearly ran over a crewman then had some some gremlins that crept into the truck and I think said it kept popping out of gear and ended up costing him valuable positions and he is definitely behind the eight ball headed into the final race of the the truck series second round but uh the big win by Brett Moffitt
00:21:33
Speaker
some hard hits for sure for Stuart Friesen and Greg Van Alst both went to the hospital but are released and stuff. I think the big
00:21:41
Speaker
talk of the truck series race has to be what happened afterwards with Nick Sanchez and Matt Crafton. If you haven't seen the video or heard the stories, there was an accident late in the race where Crafton and Sanchez came together on track, triggered a big wreck. Sanchez went on to finish the race. Crafton went to the infield care center, was released, went back and changed into street clothes.
00:22:06
Speaker
then approach Sanchez, as Sanchez the story goes, approach Sanchez as if you wanted to have a talk, tap neck on the shoulder and then basically sucker punched him is what Nick says happened. Crafton disputes that account of the stories but still Nick Sanchez ended up in a scuffle with a very bloody face with a street clothed Matt Crafton who was 25 years his elder
00:22:34
Speaker
Um, not a good look for crafts in here. And I know he has his own side of the story, but, uh, you know, I think somebody said it was like over 45 minutes of real time after the wreck happened. And he was still that mad about it and hadn't, you know, let cool heads, cooler heads prevail. Um, let's say, uh,
00:22:53
Speaker
Not a great look for him in the court of public opinion, right? Well, I thought it was kind of ridiculous, the whole thing, but like, not that it like, for instance, in this, in this situation, um,
00:23:07
Speaker
If even if you feel like you were wronged, because I think he had said that somebody had said that basically that Sanchez like wreck the whole field or whatever the case may be. To me, just based on all the angles of that fight that I saw, I mean, Matt Crafton did sucker punch him. And then I think his side of the story was that he kind of tapped him on the shoulder and
00:23:33
Speaker
and said that Sanchez threatened him. And I just going through this whole thing, I thought this is such a ridiculous storyline because like I get like playoff implications and stuff. But I mean, there was no part of that where I looked at it and I thought, yeah, no, I can definitely see Matt Kraft inside of the side of this here. And it was I mean, it looked like by all accounts that he just kind of went up
00:24:01
Speaker
was mad. Sanchez didn't care. And he punched him. And then, you know, he was very bloody. And it got a lot of traction on social media. But overall, I just didn't see there being that big of a deal with what happened. It's it's it's Talladega. It's a you know, it's a super speedway. These types of things happen. There's always hurt feelings.
00:24:25
Speaker
Certainly didn't see there being that much of a problem I've seen worse things happen on the at those at that track specifically so I'm definitely not on Matt craft inside I mean I'm not saying that I'm on Sanchez aside, but I'm just saying like I thought the whole situation was ridiculous truthfully
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, your point about it, it being Talladega, you know, if it was a short track, maybe the tempers flare a little bit more, he gets wrecked, whatever. But that is Talladega where you almost expect something like this to happen. And it wasn't even an egregious move. I think just makes it ridiculous on a craft this part.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, and and I watched the replay four or five times of the wreck itself. And I thought that that, you know, it wasn't even like completely clear that it was Sanchez's fault of the wreck. I thought Kraften moved up. And then what do you expect Sanchez to leave the gap open for him so he can slide back down? Like it seemed to me like Kraften moved up in the trioval and then tried coming back into that that second lane and then and Sanchez's front bumper was there. And that's what triggered everything.
00:25:38
Speaker
I mean, it is what it is. I mean, I don't I truly I just I don't get it. I know that like I know that tempers flare at these tracks a lot of the times, you know, there were there were times in the cup race. I thought there was somebody who got wrecked who could have blamed somebody else. But like I get the stakes are high and there's less room for error in the truck series right now. But like, dude, come on, let's like cooler heads prevail in this instance. But like,
00:26:08
Speaker
He almost like created an entire narrative based on something that isn't entirely clear by anybody's viewing of the video. Right, and worth noting too that Matt Crafton is not in the Truck Series playoff. Nick Sanchez is actually right now is in a transfer position to the Final Four. The next Truck Series race will be at Homestead on October 21st.
00:26:36
Speaker
So you can't really say that it costs Kraften playoff positions because he's not in the playoffs certainly has an impact on like the overall the points at the end of the year, but you definitely could say Sanchez is more to be racing for in that instance than Kraften does, but also like
00:26:54
Speaker
You know, you see a lot of spats and stuff, I think, between some younger drivers and stuff who, you know, don't have necessarily the maturity to handle things in a more calm and, you know, have a conversation about it. You know, I'm very unhappy with you, but I'm not going to be violent like that. And I think the most disappointing part is that, you know, after 45 minutes or so of real time between
00:27:20
Speaker
when that wreck happened and when this altercation happened, that a guy who was more than double Nick Sanchez's age was still that enraged and didn't show the maturity that you'd expect out of somebody in their late 40s. I think that was the most disappointing part of most people. Let's look at the- I think Mac Crafton is going to join the list of
00:27:48
Speaker
Break Griffin and not a fan of the pod Oh Yeah Yeah, I mean He's not been all that great of a racing driver recently. Anyways, he's not really done much in the last few years. So He does keep he just is a staple of the truck series. Yeah, I think of the truck series. I think I'm a character
00:28:13
Speaker
Right. Last time he's won though, honestly, it has to be a couple of years. Yeah. He won that, that championship four or five years ago, it feels like now without winning a race. Well, cause he won that he, he won the championship that year. And then I think the following year he did win a race, but he obviously didn't win a championship. So I don't, I don't remember what year that was.
00:28:41
Speaker
Um, it doesn't matter, but the point I'm trying to make though, is that like, again, I just, this whole thing was so dumb and it was like, like, it's just to kind of wrap this up, but it's not like a situation with, um,
00:28:53
Speaker
with Gregson and, and Ross Chastain were like, you know, one of them saw one after the thing. They were face to face and they started fighting. Like that was, that was interesting, but the situation that preceded it was what made it more interesting. I just thought this was so dumb, but that's all I have to say about it. Yes. Crafted won the 2019 truck series championship with no wins and then won one race in 2020.
00:29:23
Speaker
Interesting. Okay. He, uh, he won the Kansas race in the spring of 2020. Um, so one more note I have with the truck series race. I love the pedal cam they had in Carson house of our instructor and the broadcast. That was just so cool. Um, cause you see that sometimes for road courses to illustrate the, the clutching and the breaking and all that.
00:29:48
Speaker
But to do it at a super speedway race was really cool, just to illustrate how you're not really just pinning your foot to the floor. You're really feathering the throttle and feathering the brakes to keep your position in line there. I thought that was just great camera work there by the crew there that puts all the onboard cameras on.
00:30:08
Speaker
Let's look at the playoff standings for the truck series. Corey Haim is locked in with his win a couple of weeks ago. Carson Hosevar is currently second. He's 23 points to the good. Christian Ekas plus nine in third place. Then Nick Sanchez, like I mentioned, in fourth place plus three above the cut line. Grant Infinger and Ben Rhodes are fifth and sixth Infingers three points below the cut. Ben Rhodes five points below the cut. Then there's some work to be done and a lot of work to be done.
00:30:39
Speaker
Homestead if time a Jesky and Zane Smith want to run for a championship at Phoenix. I'm just key 19 points below the cut Zane Smith Effectively in a must-win. He's 36 points below the cutoff. So he pretty much must win at Homestead to to Vance to Phoenix in the cup race So yet another incident with with Kyle Bush is
00:31:07
Speaker
And I don't think not yet another, but it seems like Bush just had an up and down season. I mean, he, he, uh, he would had a crash. What like last week was it, was it at, uh, yeah, well he, uh, I think he just spun Texas. Yeah. He finished 34th at Texas and then had, had that crash at, uh,
00:31:29
Speaker
And Taladega that took Ross chest a now has some that's some bad luck for Ross because I don't think he really put a wheel wrong so far to that point in the in that Taladega race and then uh Then just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that's what happened to stage racing Well, it really wasn't even either. They're both though. I mean I had to do with spin house spluttering on a little bit of fuel and
00:31:52
Speaker
and kind of hurt both of them. Because they both kind of had a run, too. That's the crazy thing. They go from almost one in the stage to just a couple hundred feet to being in the wall.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, it seemed to me like Kyle Busch was trying to ditch Stenhouse and go to Ricky's inside. At the same time, Ross is trying to split off from that lane and go to the outside and split between the second lane and Stenhouse. And what he ended up with is people trying to go five wide and ending on a work. Well, I thought what Kyle Busch said, I had to pull it up on Twitter.
00:32:32
Speaker
his tweet. He said, my chess match is apparently horrible or I get hung out to
00:32:40
Speaker
Hung out every time it comes down to the end. So just sounds like last few weeks He's just sounds super defeated and not like somebody who's happy with his race car Happy with the way that things have been going but also kind of subdued. This is not you know Historically a Kyle Busch type of mentality where you're you're seeing a guy sound defeated It's not as much he's ever really sounded defeated as he has like angry
00:33:08
Speaker
but he's still driving well. I think it's just, he just has run into some extraordinarily bad luck. Like, like Chastain is in the similar boat. Well, you know, uh, a cool 25 mil on your pocket. We'll fix that a little bit, but never going to be satisfied. I get that, but also like that's kind of kind of just, you know, kind of makes you wonder like what's really going to happen at the roval because I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of hurt feelings. Fair. Yeah.
00:33:39
Speaker
Um, yeah, definitely. He has been good. I saw, I mean, our guy there with I finished the racing, Ryan posted for Cowboys on red courses this year has been pretty good. He's in the top five and fastest lap average speed there. So. Well, that's something to keep an eye on for sure this weekend. Um,
00:34:02
Speaker
death, taxes, Denny Hamlin, pit road penalty. I thought it was funny when he posted that, you know, the Kevin James meme that's been going around social media. Oh, yeah. Just kind of standing there like, sorry, I don't know what you expect. But there was a part of it, I had to watch some of it from from work and
00:34:24
Speaker
It looked like Denny was like a lap down, but still pushing Bubba. Yeah, he was in the pack, but he was a lap down. He had to wait for actually the big one that involved like Kozlowski and host. Some are pretty sure to get his lap back. But he was the lucky dog, right? So that would have been OK. So but he was he was racing Syndric at that time for the lucky dog. That was actually a pretty good battle. That's some of the stuff that I thought was really, really good, like
00:34:50
Speaker
You know, I thought the race overall was, was actually a good Talladega race. I mean, it wasn't a complete wreck fest and you got to see a lot of different like position changes where, you know, if you looked with what maybe three or four laps to go, you would have said, well, it's definitely going to come down to a Hendrick car. Who's going to race another Hendrick car, uh, for the win at the end in one of the two to three lines. And then Bowman got shuffled out, which again, I thought for sure.
00:35:17
Speaker
that Bowman was going to be at the, at the front of the pack toward the end of the race. I mean, like at the, like fighting for a win. Um, but truthfully, like the Blaney crossover with Kevin Harvick at the end there, um, to just kind of push himself to the lead was like exactly why I think that like super speedway racing is still top tier and that while a lot of the hardcore
00:35:43
Speaker
you know, older fans will, um, always appreciate this kind of racing because it was like for, for a, for like a plate race that this was some really good overall racing that didn't involve a ton of crazy, like big one wrecks happening that caused like,
00:36:03
Speaker
Um, like the field to be, you know, shifted, like Riley Herbst had, had some great, great speed at the end there and did wonders for, uh, did wonders for the Fords. But, um, yeah, I was, I was very surprised. I thought that the, I thought that the trucks may have a better race, but overall I thought the cup race was better. Yeah. I think it was.
00:36:28
Speaker
for not being a wreck fest, which made for really great, really great racing. And it also meant that Kyle Busch's, you know, bad day was amplified because there wasn't, you know, as many cars wrecking out, crashing, especially early on that could end up, you know, helping out a lot of guys. That's the beauty of having Caladega, you know, sandwiched in the middle of a round of the playoffs is that
00:36:53
Speaker
Um, it could be absolute carnage and chaos in terms of the playoff drivers, but it could also in the end not have huge implications, which I think kind of ended up the case for like Ross Chastain. He's, he's only 10 points to the bad, which it could have been a lot worse. Uh, I think for sure. Um, and then Kyle Bush, obviously in a pretty big hole, but he's had two bad races as opposed to.
00:37:16
Speaker
you know, just the one for Chastain, but I enjoy the race. I miss a little bit of the beginning of it, but I watched the last 150 laps plus. Uh, and I, I really 150 laps. I think that's accurate, maybe closer to 120. Uh, but regardless, it was a, um, it was a great race. I enjoyed the end Blaney just showing, I think how good he is at this style of racing.
00:37:43
Speaker
And Kevin Harvick's post-race comments kind of caught me off guard. In his post-race interview, he was saying the spotter was telling him to go down and side draft. He's like, I don't need to. I want to have a push, but I feel like regardless if you're getting a push or not, why not side draft in the trial to try to win the race? I didn't really get that from Harvick. I was kind of pulling for him there.
00:38:07
Speaker
Uh, to get that last one of his career and then he gets disqualified in the end anyway. So that would have been terrible. I'm glad he didn't win after finding that news out because that would have been the biggest buzzkill ever. Well, and it seems like, I don't know if, I mean, I think that like Tim feed wide and Rodney Childers are obviously very, very good at their jobs, but like, um, just something hasn't like meshed with the three of them. It seems like this season, I don't know, like, um,
00:38:37
Speaker
I don't know. It's just like they definitely I think could have been you know, I think they could have won this race without like taking out the DQ right of what happened which Rodney Childers still believes is like bogus. He had a tweet yesterday that explained like he was he was confused about and then it went to he deleted the tweet and then people said because they deleted the tweet that he said that he was admitting it which he was and it's a whole deal obviously.
00:39:01
Speaker
Point I'm trying to make though, is that like that seemed like it was Harvick's race to lose for a couple laps. And then when he just kind of, it seemed like didn't do, he just didn't do enough, which is kind of like a very unlike Harvick when he's in these positions, like he's named the closer for a reason. I still think that he's one of the top tier drivers in, in the cup series, but, um,
00:39:26
Speaker
Definitely had an opportunity to win there that I think that all three involved or two, two of the three involved were responsible for his loss. Yeah, I think, uh, the, the race overall, I was, I thought it was an incredibly clean race for Talladega. Uh, and to your point, Dylan, like, you know, sometimes you can get absolute chaos and a playoff race at a super speedway race. Other times, everybody is driving with a heightened sense of caution because they know that, uh,
00:39:55
Speaker
You can't win the race on the 187th lap of 188 or whatever the number is, but you can sure as hell lose it that way. So just being there at the end was, uh, it was, it was good to see that big of a pack and not just a bunch of cars, you know, was shuttered up body parts, uh, dangling around.
00:40:15
Speaker
I genuinely thought that they were, but they were still racing rather aggressively. I think that, that was what was amazing part is, you know, I was sitting there like the last few laughs, like totally expecting a green white checker to happen. And then they came all the way around. I got the light flag and I'm like, well, I'll be damned. They're going to make it all the way around. And that's another thing that like, I know that the phrase is basically with, you know, these types of races that your friends are where you can find them and, um, you know,
00:40:44
Speaker
Ryan Blaney had a lot of help, but the Hendrick cars all seem to be working well, not together, but together in a way where if it wasn't Bowman, it was Elliott. If it wasn't Elliott, it was Willie B Larson didn't, I wouldn't say he really hadn't, I didn't, I never thought that he had a shot at it, but I thought one of those three could win.
00:41:03
Speaker
Um, until they just got shuffled out and you know, the Ford's just really came on strong late and that's just what they do with these tracks. I mean, I know Ford's been kind of down this year overall, um, outside of some unlikely people like Chris Busher. But, um, this just kind of, like I said, just goes to show that, you know, you are in a position to win at the end of the race. It does not matter because.
00:41:30
Speaker
Regardless of whether there's a wreck or not, somebody is going to be behind you that is eventually going to be in front of you. I thought too, at the end of the race, you mentioned the forwards, but the Hendrick, all four Hendrick drivers at one time near the end of the race were all lined up together at the bottom and then kind of got split apart. Um, William Byron, I think took the top. He's also turned into just a great, great super speedway driver. He's always there in the end.
00:41:59
Speaker
very consistent at them turning into almost, you know, it's kind of funny. He pushed Blaney to the in there and he's dating Blaney sister. Cause I think there's a two, you know, two of the class of the fields at this style of racing right now. Yeah. It's a, uh, perhaps the discussion that we might want to save for another podcast so we can keep this one to reasonable length. But, um, I I've seen some discussion about, uh, you know, the, you mentioned like, you know, the, the deal with,
00:42:28
Speaker
William Byron dating Aaron Blaney, Ryan's sister. People are like, okay, they see the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey, whatever you wanna call it, stuff in the NFL, right? And where it's very kind of clear that they are something or another. I don't know what label you wanna put on it, but they're together of some sort, right? And people are like, well, who in NASCAR, what will the NASCAR version of that be? Or who in NASCAR could do that?
00:42:57
Speaker
I genuinely don't know. Maybe we can stew on that and revisit it next week. But I don't know if anybody in NASCAR could pull off what Travis Kelsey is doing and is having huge impacts in the NFL ratings. So as we look forward to the removal,
00:43:16
Speaker
Let's take a look at the Cup Series point standings. William Byron and Ryan Blaney, the effectively, you know, they're not married, but kind of brothers-in-law, right? Because William, William Byron and Aaron Blaney have been together for a long time. They were both locked into the round of eight. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, all in pretty good shape. Hamlin's plus 50, so he is in very good shape.
00:43:40
Speaker
With Charlotte the Roval being a cut-off race Seabell in pretty good shape along with Busher and Truex Larson is plus 15 Brad keselowski is on the bowl though plus 2 then chopping at his heels are Tyler eddick to behind bubble Wallace 9 behind Ross chestain minus 10 to the cut and Kyle Bush with a lot of work to do minus 26 So yeah round of 8
00:44:10
Speaker
will be set after this coming Sunday's race at the Roval. Let's look real quick, because the Xfinity Series does have a race coming up this weekend, and it is also a cut-off race for the Xfinity Series. So, we'll remind you that John Hernimacek and Justin Allgaier are locked in. Cole Custer effectively just needs to start his engine on Saturday afternoon, and he will be locked in.
00:44:35
Speaker
to the round of eight for the Xfinity series. He has plus 63. Austin Hill in great shape plus 44. Then Chandler Smith doing pretty good plus 32. Sammy Smith plus 18. Sheldon Creed plus nine. And Daniel Hemmerich just one point above the cut. Parker Kligerman is the next driver back. He is a ninth, only one point out of the final eight. Then Jeb Burton minus 19. Josh Berry minus 27. And Sam Mayer minus 34.
00:45:06
Speaker
Let's get to our pop-up showers for this week. How about that? Steve or Dylan which one of you wants to go first with a pop-up sharpen this weekend?
00:45:19
Speaker
Steve, I see your lips moving, but you're muted. I did the thing. We're going to pretend like that didn't happen. My pop-up shower was a tweet from NASCAR Today that was talking about Talladega. And it said that there were 70 lead changes and 24 different leaders. Both of those numbers are the most at Talladega since October of 2011.
00:45:45
Speaker
which I thought was really interesting. Now, I know that Denny Hamlin has kind of railed against some of these stats because they sort of are misleading, but still interesting nonetheless. And I think that this this package is getting better with with these tracks. Yeah, I agree. What was that reaction? I was going to say, Steve didn't even mention his his dirt track visit this weekend.
00:46:12
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I was right. I'd spent a Saturday night at Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, PPMS and Imperial Imperial. It's just basically outside of Pittsburgh and was there for Rush late model and Lucas oil late model dirt series, which was a lot of fun. I got to see some really some superstars. I'd say Hudson O'Neill and Ricky Thornton Jr. Who won and I got to say like
00:46:41
Speaker
You know, I know there's a lot of probably, you know, more cup, Xfinity truck fans. And there are dirt fans that would be listening to this. But I would encourage anybody who has had the opportunity to see Jonathan Davenport drive a race car to do it, because it's truly what he is able to do. He didn't win the race. He was in first and then he is his
00:47:08
Speaker
his tail clipped the outside wall and ended up kind of losing that that kind of arrow for his car. But just a really brilliant dirt driver. And it was a lot of fun. I think it was sold out. There were so many people there. And I thought did a great job putting on an event that was 35 years, 35th annual running of the Pittsburgher. So end of the season for them. Championships at El Dora next
00:47:37
Speaker
week, I think, or it might be. I'm not sure. I think I have to look, but, uh, for the Luke soil, late model dirt series, but a lot of fun that I had there's, uh, the new owners of the, of the track have done a great job, uh, fixing it up and I'm excited for, uh, to, to go back next season. My pop-up shower. Um, I wasn't able to head to any of the races here locally, unfortunately, because
00:48:06
Speaker
I was moving, but Ken Schrader was here in Richmond, uh, Richmond, Kentucky for, uh, the damn Yankee 50 and the prelude to the damn Yankee 50, um, was the North South series of the fast track, um, crate lay metal series. And, uh, they put on a great show there. Um, Ken Schrader was racing a modified, I think he finished second in both nights. Um, so that was pretty cool to see him.
00:48:35
Speaker
In our neck of the woods, he did him angry with fans and assumed like a fun evening there at the Speedway. Yeah, it's awesome that he gets around and he gets all over the place and in races, a ton of races every year. So great to see that he he still does that and keeps the itch going on the racetrack. My pop up shower this week is news that came out today.
00:49:02
Speaker
that the FIA has approved Andretti Global's application to become a new Formula One team. I think that's really interesting that there's still some procedural things to go with agreeing with the
00:49:18
Speaker
with the F1 teams on how they're going to admit a new team and divvy up the prize money and TV money and all that and another fraction. But still, I think it's gonna be awesome to perhaps have another American team in IndyCar. And one especially that is going to be partnered with General Motors is gonna be a Cadillac power plant in that formula one car. So that'll be really exciting to see how that develops in the coming years.
00:49:48
Speaker
No, that definitely will be cool to see. Yeah, the in fact, so today I went and as a side note, I had lunch with our friend of the podcast Travis Braden here in in the Charlotte area, then went over to the HMS. Race shop and their their campus and went through the museum and the the team store and on the HMS property right off the side. The HMS property is the GM Technical Center where all of the
00:50:18
Speaker
The Sims are for all of the GM team. So, uh, so if, you know, Ross testing, even though they're track house, they're a GM team, they do their, their, their manufacturer Sims there. Also the, uh, Indy car and MSA Sims are in that building as well. So it makes you wonder if, uh, perhaps there could be an F one Sim, uh, over that way as, and in the coming years. So that'd be a.
00:50:42
Speaker
It's still just a great, great development and good to see an American automaker wants to be involved in Formula One instead of the situation that Gina Haas is in right now where he's getting foreign automaker support and engine program and everything.
00:50:58
Speaker
Um, let's get to our race picks for this week because looking at our actual picks, I think this is the fourth consecutive week that one of us has picked the winner. So, uh, like to mention that I'm looking at the entry list here. Uh, it looks like Andy Lally is Reed Sorensen this week. Okay. Um, and Mike Rockenfeller is in the 42 and there was another one JJ Yaley is in the 51. Uh,
00:51:27
Speaker
The everyone's favorite B.J. McCloud is not in the 78. It will be Josh Bellicchi. I don't think I think so. Zane Smith is in the 36 and 38, excuse me. And I think this is the one race of all the ones that Zane Smith is in the 38 that Todd Gillan wasn't able to find a seat for, which is kind of a bummer for him because he's been able to find a seat usually in a in a Rick Ware car.
00:51:56
Speaker
And he wasn't able to find a seat for this one. So it's kind of a bummer. Also, quick note on Rick, we're racing. They are now three time NHRA top fuel race winners. Clay Milliken won at Gateway this weekend in the top field division. So we're racing making some moves. Yeah. Jim is a beast to.
00:52:15
Speaker
Okay, back to our race picks. So we've had our fourth consecutive week of a winner being picked by one of the four of us. Dylan was the winner this week with Ryan Blaney. Second of our group was Steve, who had a seventh place finish from Chase Elliott.
00:52:34
Speaker
Jake had a 23rd from Bubba Wallace. Bubba was uncharacteristically not really mixing it up at the front yesterday. And it was weird. Well, I think not that I'm taking any responsibility away from him, but I think Booty Barker was not making adjustments that were good enough for that car. And admittedly, I think over the radio, they basically said everything that they tried just did not work.
00:52:59
Speaker
Um, so I just don't think they brought a car there that was like, they qualified ninth, I think, but just during that race, they couldn't get it to work. Right. Which is not a good look, especially when the boss man is there. For sure. Um, so a 23rd place finish for Bubba has him, uh, in some trouble for the, uh, the cup series playoffs, as I mentioned earlier, that.
00:53:24
Speaker
He has nine points on the outside looking in, going to a track type that is not his strong suit for sure. And then I had a 32nd place here. I did finish seventh, but I guess he needs a little bit better and I need some stage points to get his way into the round of eight, I believe.
00:53:41
Speaker
And then I had a struggle of a day with Brad Kozlowski. He was up there mixing it up all day, one stage two, then was in that crash with Carson Hosevar. They were way at the back of the field. I was wondering if maybe Brad gave Hosevar a push that he wasn't prepared for or experienced enough to handle in his few cup races so far.
00:54:02
Speaker
It wrecked Brad out and finished 32nd at it. And Brad was the betting favorite, and you know about this deal, and he was the betting favorite. He had many sports books. He was the most expensive driver in DraftKings, Daily Fantasy. Everybody thought this is the Brad Kuzosky race, and he finishes 32nd. Yeah, it's a sad deal for him because he ran really well one stage too.
00:54:26
Speaker
Yep, so our points look like this Dylan you lead the way with a thousand fifty one Steve's your next closest competitor with 969 very nice nice 969 yeah Jake has 931 and I am bringing up the rear with 893 So with my 36 or 32nd place finish from keselowski I get to go first this week and I'm going to take his
00:54:54
Speaker
His teammate, Chris Busher, he leads the way with I think the highest average finish of any driver on a road course this season. Something like eighth or something like that. So he doesn't necessarily need to win to make the playoffs. He's already in good shape and make the next round. But I have a feeling Chris Busher is going to be having a good race. And even though I'll be wearing Kyle Larson gear at the race on Sunday, I'll still be cheering on another blue car.
00:55:21
Speaker
Jake has texted us that he would like Chase Elliott this weekend. He was in the second pick position with Bubba's 23rd place finish. We want to take this moment. Now, we'll do that in a moment. We'll get through our picks and then we'll give congratulations that are duly earned to Jake and Aaron. Steve, you're next. Who would you like this weekend for the roval?
00:55:46
Speaker
Well, Jake, Jake really went out on the limb pick and chase Elliott there. No, that's such a stretch. So it's kind of a weird situation because I don't want to do this. But I'm like, I just feel like this is a
00:56:02
Speaker
a Martin Truex Jr. race. He's not really back against the wall, but as far as road course drivers, I feel like some of the ones that are too obvious are too obvious, and I can't pick Chase Elliott two weeks in a row, so I'm taking MTJ. All righty. Dylan, I have a proposition for you while you ponder your pick.
00:56:27
Speaker
So as it is right now, you are like 81 points or 82 points in the lead of Steve, right? So if we get to Phoenix and you are more than anybody, you're already locked it up, right? Will you please for Phoenix pick Reed Sorensen? I will, I will do that. Okay, we have it on tape.
00:56:55
Speaker
But I've been backing up my 30th place finishes with wins. So I like that. That's called bouncing back. I'm taking advantage of my first pick and winning. But I'm going to go with kind of hinted at it. And this is kind of one where I picked him to make my final four. So he needs to win. I'm going to go with Kyle Busch. Kyle Busch to win and make his way into the round of eight.
00:57:26
Speaker
KFB alrighty, so Jake has Chase Elliott. Dylan has Kyle Bush. Steve has MTJ and I have Chris Busher. This weekend real quick before we go on, they are this weekend doing the pink window nets through the.
00:57:42
Speaker
Do Kurt Busch's initiative and he's paired up with Eric Jones and I think that's just a great deal they do and add some flavor a unique deal for For the rovo race, so I'm excited to see out this weekend. Just wanted to make quick mention of that It's always a cool little charitable initiative. They do In our random picks this week
00:58:05
Speaker
The best finish we all had kind of crap weeks. The best finish was actually Todd Gill and then the 38 car finished 12th for Jake. The next was I had Christopher Bell finished 14th, even with some significant damage. Kyle Bush, we mentioned earlier, finished 25th and then. Reed Sorensen, who was JJ Yaley in the 15 car or no, Brendan Poole, sorry, Brendan Poole finished 30th.
00:58:35
Speaker
for Steve so the the order will go like so and it'll be Steve Dylan myself and then Jake so I'll get that rolling while we do that Dylan do you want to take a look at our forecast for the rovo this weekend and I mentioned to you before we we started recording I'm gonna need a honey of a forecast for you because I do not want to sit through a bunch of rain and
00:59:03
Speaker
It's not going to be sitting through rain, but it's going to be a little bit chilly only in the 60s there in Charlotte. So I'm definitely dressed warm. It'll be in the bright sunshine, which is going to help things out and really make it not feel bad at all. But it's definitely going to be a lot cooler than than what it should be this time of the year there in Charlotte. But it will be dry. It'll feel like fall like some football weather, right? Yes, absolutely.
00:59:31
Speaker
Well, it's a football season is is definitely well underway. And it's been a warm fall, a warm beginning of football season for sure. So it'll be nice. At least it's dry. I'll take dry. So the first pick went to Steve and he got Corey LaJoy in the seven. Well, second pick went to Dylan. He got Martin Shrek Jr. Okay. Interesting.
00:59:58
Speaker
Third pick to me, okay, I'll take this, Tyler Reddick. Tyler Reddick was who I wanted to pick, but I just, I feel like he's gonna be, you know, I've taken him too many times. And then last pick for Jake, I'll get that sucker spinning here. Looks like he will get the five, so Kyle Larson.
01:00:27
Speaker
Not bad picks for us. I was going to say, there's no really duds there except for mine. No offense to Corey La Joy, but he's not going to win or come within. He's going to be a lap down. If you had Corey La Joy last week, you would have been in great shape. Yeah, I had Chase Elliott, so I was in great shape. But Corey was what, fourth?
01:00:47
Speaker
Oh, I was saying, Corey, if you had Corey and Rayna. Real all Rayna, for sure, yeah. But looking at your 15 car last week. Yeah, my Reed Sorensen was Brandon Poole, and he was Brandon Poole.
01:00:58
Speaker
Right. Uh, who is, who is Reed Sorensen this week? You told me it was the, uh, the intro to Andy Lally, I think. Andy Lally. Okay. Well, that's, that's an admirable fill in for, for Reed. Well, and I, I wouldn't be surprised if Andy Lally snags a top 10. I mean, he is a good, I know the car is not great, but he's good. Yeah. And, and I feel like Mike Rockenfellow could have a pretty good run in the 42. He was one of the, uh, um,
01:01:28
Speaker
the garage 56 drivers and And so he's familiar with at least the platform. I know the garage 56 car was Ultimately very different than a than a next-gen car, but it's at least familiar with the platform In terms of our standings in the in the random racing this year I still lead the way with 793 points
01:01:52
Speaker
But Jake has closed the gap. He is in second place pretty solidly. He is 71 points behind me. Dylan is second with 704 and Steve was 617, has a lot of work to do. And I'm sorry to say it. Corey LaJoy is not helping your cause. Nope.
01:02:13
Speaker
Well, uh, what, what are we looking forward to this weekend at the, uh, the roval? Obviously, uh, even, even some rumors, this could be the last roval for a while that they could be going back to a second, uh, mile and a half race here at Charlotte. So, uh, what we're looking forward to on the, uh, the left center, right to the infield of Charlotte motor Speedway. I will be assuming that my, my bold prediction that is that, uh, a non-playoff driver wins the race.
01:02:42
Speaker
Uh, I didn't want to pick it because I wanted to pick a driver that was in the playoffs. Cause I just feel like it's, you know, I don't know. I just feel like it's, it's a, it's better for me to do that because they have, I feel like a higher probability, but I, my bold prediction, like I said, non-playout driver wins. That would be fun to see. Um, except I picked Kyle Busch. So.
01:03:08
Speaker
But no, uh, I hope it is entertaining. I hope we get a better product, um Than what the other road courses have shown so far this year, but this is our first roval, um Besides indie so which this is completely different than indie So i'm excited for it Yeah When I was when I was debating on buying tickets I was like man like the road courses have been kind of stinkers this year
01:03:35
Speaker
But the justification I gave for it is that they're in a more condensed, you know, tighter space. It's not like going to to Watkins Glen, where you have a couple of miles of track. And I know that the rubble is is all over two miles and stuff, but it feels like it's more condensed. And and even if it is kind of a quote unquote snoozer of a race, at least
01:03:59
Speaker
I can see the entire track from where I'm sitting, right? As opposed to you go to a Sonoma or a Watkins Glen or anything else, and you can see just a fraction of the racetrack. At Charlotte, you can see the entire course, so you're going to see some action. Even if it's not like an intense battle for the lead, you're going to see some action deeper in the pack, no matter where you are on the track. So that's the house of redeeming qualities.
01:04:26
Speaker
No stage. Well, there are. I thought they did bring them back yet. Yeah, they did bring them back. So at least I'll see a couple of restarts. I'm guaranteed at least two restarts or three starts total.
01:04:39
Speaker
Alright, well it'll be an exciting weekend at the Charlotte Roval, the Xfinity Series, running on Saturday. I saw Connor Daly is going to be in that Xfinity race by the way, or at least entered in it. I think there's 42 cars for 38 spots or something along those lines, so I hope to qualify his way in, but he's entered in that one.
01:04:59
Speaker
Excited to see what all happens with that. And then, of course, on Sunday for the Cup Series race, cut off races for both the Xfinity and the Cup Series. A lot of things to talk about next week. And with any luck, as a lot of reporters have said, we'll have a complete schedule to talk about next week as well. So a big cloud with a chance of racing will be coming to you next week. Guys, any closing thoughts before we wrap this thing up? Nope.
01:05:27
Speaker
I'm excited for this weekend should be a good race. Absolutely. And, uh, and hopefully we can, uh, you guys can get some dirt track racing, uh, or racing, racing near you, wherever you might be listening, uh, as well. So we thank you all for tuning into another episode of clouded with a chance of racing. If you like what you've heard, be sure to, uh, give us a subscribe and a review on your favorite podcast platform.
01:05:50
Speaker
Also, follow us online on social media at Cloudy Racing Pod. We'll be posting the newest episodes and updates from throughout the week with the news, the schedule, and my experience at The Roval all weekend long. So for Steve and Dylan, I'm Braxton. Thank you so much for listening to episode 33 of Cloudy with a Chance of Racing. We'll be back next week to recap The Roval. Have a good one.
01:06:17
Speaker
Hey, Cloudy with the Chance of Racing fans. One thing I wanted to make mention here before we wrap up the show is we couldn't be more happy for our pal, Jake Fally. You've heard him here on the podcast throughout the entire season. He and his lovely bride, Aaron, said their vows on Saturday afternoon and we couldn't be happier for them and happy couple. That's why Jake's not here with us this week on Cloudy with the Chance of Racing.
01:06:43
Speaker
celebrating being newlyweds and we certainly can't blame him one bit for that. So we'll catch up with him here hopefully next week after the Roval race but sincerely all of our congratulations to Jake and Aaron and we thank you Aaron for allowing Jake to record with us every Monday night. All the best to the newlyweds and we certainly encourage all of our listeners to send their congratulations as well.