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Ep. 24: NASCAR takes on Richmond and Road America, with Blake Harms
17 Plays1 year ago
WOOD-TV meteorologist and FloRacing broadcaster Blake Harms joins Dillon, Braxton, and Steve this week to recap the weekend's NASCAR action at Richmond and Road America, and preview the upcoming racing this week in Michigan with SRX at Berlin Raceway and NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway.
In this episode, the guys discuss the CW becoming the new home for Xfinity Series racing starting in 2025, the crazy Xfinity Series finish at Road America, Carson Hocevar's hard-charging win at Richmond in the Truck Series, and a dominating day for RFK Racing with Chris Buescher winning the Cup Series race. Plus, they look ahead to the NASCAR playoffs and who is fighting to get qualified, and who may have a spot slipping away. Dillon shares his story going to Thunder Mountain Speedway in Corbin, KY on Saturday night, where dirt racing royalty showed up unannounced. Then attention turns to the upcoming races in the Great Lakes State, where the SRX series will take on Blake's home track of Berlin Raceway on Thursday, and then the NASCAR stars head to Michigan International Speedway. As always, everyone makes their real picks and gets their random picks, and Blake and Dillon team up for this weekend's weather forecast.
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Transcript
Introduction and Richmond Weekend Recap
00:00:16
Speaker
Cloudy with a chance of racing episode 24 coming to you after the Richmond two weekend here in the year 2023. Braxton Crisp joined by Steve Binko, Dylan Goday, who has also brought in some reinforcements. Steve, I think he's ganging up on us. He's brought in fellow meteorologist Blake Harms from W O O D TV, wood TV.
00:00:42
Speaker
in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Track Highlights with Blake Harms
00:00:44
Speaker
A guy who knows a little bit about the two tracks that the two major series in the US, at least on the full body side, will be featuring this weekend in the SRX at Berlin Raceway and then of course NASCAR going to Michigan International Speedway. First Blake, how are you doing tonight? Thank you so much for joining us.
00:01:05
Speaker
Yeah, doing well. Thanks for having me excited. It's a big week up here for us race fans, you know, with a lot of tracks being in the Southeast, we don't always get to get in on the fun. So it's nice when they come north for a weekend. Dylan, Steve, what are we thinking after that Richmond weekend?
Richmond Cup Strategy Breakdown
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, Richmond weekend was kind of a snooze fest as far as the cup race was concerned, in my opinion. Although Carson Hosevar
00:01:31
Speaker
Uh, third win of the year. Uh, he's, he's been close, maybe not the last like month, uh, last few weeks. He had a win in Nashville, but, um, you know, he's starting to really turn it on. So outside of that, I mean, I just, the cup race was, it was fine. I mean, it was okay. It's not, it wasn't awful. Um, but just left a lot to be desired.
Xfinity Race at Road America
00:01:54
Speaker
Xfinity race was exciting. Absolutely. That was a nice finish there. Road America always delivers. I think it gets a lot of.
00:02:00
Speaker
uh, differing fan bases together. I think a lot of the, you know, Indy car guys, fans, I think we're watching that XFINITY race, uh, as opposed to when they normally race, but also, um, I, you know, I've said this in the past, I said this after the Richmond spring race, Richmond is kind of like my home track. I grew up going there. I still got, just like I did in the spring, a little bit of that old school short track vibe from it. I know a lot of people didn't like it. I liked the strategy. I just wish it was one of those races where we may not have had, you know,
00:02:30
Speaker
stages and I think it would have been pretty, at least the stage caution, stage breaks. I think that would have made the strategy even more interesting. And I also, I'm going to get into this when we talk more about the race recap, but I think those type of dominating wins, like we kind of saw there from Chris Busher, they feel a little bit different when it's not your typical dominator, you know, like it's not a Martin Truex Jr and Denny Hamlin. I still think it has that feel good. I think
00:02:56
Speaker
You know, on Jeff Gluck's poll that adds a couple of percentage points when it's somebody like Chris Busher, as opposed to Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex
Xfinity Series Move to CW Discussion
00:03:03
Speaker
Jr. or Kyle Larson. There was plenty to talk about, uh, on the track, uh, especially with, uh, with hosts of arguing the late win there in the truck series, that wild second to last lap in the Xfinity series. And of course, uh, RFK with a breakthrough, uh, on Sunday.
00:03:21
Speaker
But let's start off with some news that came out this past week. It broke on Friday morning with the sports business journals, Adam Stern, that the CW will be the new home for the Xfinity series starting in 2025. A seven season deal worth $115 million per year to be produced by NASCAR Productions and then distributed on the CW.
00:03:48
Speaker
It looks like everything that's going to be the home for the entire season, so no split. Kind of similar to what the truck series is with its entire season being on Fox. What do we think? Is this a plus or a minus for the Xfinity series? At least on one hand, you can say, okay, good. It's on the same channel every week, but on the other hand, it's like CW. I didn't even know that existed anymore. At least that's what I think a lot of people might have an initial reaction about.
00:04:14
Speaker
Right. I'm a fan of it. I mean, I think that they were talking about there being the possibility of Xfinity being on Prime or one of the streaming services outside of what the normal USA or you would find on like a YouTube TV or Sling or one of those. Now, it's a little bit of a different ballgame. People will have more of an ability to watch every single week.
00:04:39
Speaker
And there are at least, you know, here specifically, you know, if you have an antenna, you can you could watch the CW. So it's, I think it's a it's it's good. I don't think I don't see any drawbacks with it specifically.
00:04:56
Speaker
Because, you know, I think I read in there that the the Xfinity series draws like close to a million people watching it every week. So in my view, you got to think that it's going to be there's going to be even more eyeballs on it now, which obviously would be good for NASCAR. I think it caught a lot of people by surprise. And, you know, with it being the CW, I think that fans have a, you know, like you said,
00:05:25
Speaker
like what the CW still exists, but if you're a sports fan, you've heard they're getting into the business of college football now. They are making deals with major college football brands that clearly see that in terms of live TV, live sports is the top game right now. Everybody that does television broadcasts, that does broadcast, they want live sports telecast.
00:05:50
Speaker
I think it is going to be a positive I think- is this the first time in Xfinity series history that it's all been on one network I mean I mean as long as I can remember. I think so because of course like before
00:06:03
Speaker
They went to the current kind of model where Fox had the first half of the season, then it was NBC for a while, then ESPN and then back to NBC. It was all fractured, right? It was all over the place. You'd have a couple of races on TNN and a couple of races on CBS. It was all over the place. I think this is going to be the first time it's ever on just one network. Yeah. And I think that creates a little bit of, you know, it's going to feel like the home of it. It is the home of the Xfinity series.
00:06:30
Speaker
You know, they could add some programming to it to, you know, make it interesting throughout the week. And I think that's a good thing. It kind of lets the Xfinity series, yes, they also travel to the same place as the Cup series do some weekends, but it lets them have their own identity. And I think that'll be cool. In my mind, this is one of the biggest moves Xfinity could have made or the Xfinity series with NASCAR.
00:06:54
Speaker
NextStar, who happens to own the station I work at, they own 200 stations across the country. Now, all of a sudden, the Xfinity series has a platform for 200 stations to promote it. They do a great job across promoting their products. NewsNation, which was launched by NextStar a few years ago, they still blast ads over all their stations all the time. I think Xfinity is about to get exposure that it hasn't had before.
00:07:17
Speaker
And again, to have it on one consistent channel, once the fans kind of get used to the race being on the CW, I think this one being a big win for the, for the Xfinity series, not to mention $115 million a year for the Xfinity series when NASCAR has been taking an $820 million for all three series, almost certainly going to get more for the cup series with this next TV deal. I think it's a win-win all around for NASCAR.
00:07:42
Speaker
I will say I raised concerns about the rumors that Steve was alluding to earlier about the possibility of the Xfinity series going on like Prime or some other streaming service. And I was like, that's going to hurt the Xfinity series because it's going to reduce the number of eyeballs that the advertisers are going to have access to because
00:08:02
Speaker
You know, the advertising dollars have a big impact in the Xfinity series. It's because the purses aren't as big, so they need to have as many viewers in front of them as possible. I think being on an over-the-air station is going to be huge for that and help drive that. Not only are you in front of a million people a race, I think they said something like $350,000 just to watch qualifying.
00:08:32
Speaker
That beats a lot of a regular season MLB game on your local regional sports network or an NHL or NBA game. So that's definitely a step up and it'll help maintain that advertising dollar that's very important for the majority of the Xfinity Series teams.
00:08:52
Speaker
I also think it's interesting to note that because NASCAR is producing it, I wonder how that will impact having kind of a fracture, if you will, of different broadcasting teams. Especially in the latter half of the season, where Fox has the
00:09:11
Speaker
The truck series and then Xfinity is on CW and then NBC has the cup series you can have three different broadcast teams and It sounds like everything is going to be remotely produced from Concord from the new broadcast facility that NASCAR built right beside the R&D Center
00:09:29
Speaker
But that is the kind of interesting thing of what personalities we end up there. Because we know right now every time you tune in to a truck series race, you're going to get some combination probably going to get Michael Waltrip and Phil Parsons. And just wondering who the personalities are going to be. I'm definitely curious about that. Well, and another thing that I just kind of wanted to add is when you think of an over-the-air product, I think it's automatically going to raise ratings.
00:09:58
Speaker
just by virtue of the fact that anybody really, if they wanted to, could watch it. And if you raise it by a ratings point, that could be a couple hundred thousand dollars in ad sales. Just that little bit helps. And then obviously we're talking
00:10:15
Speaker
with 115 million dollars a year, a couple hundred thousand dollars doesn't matter in one instance. But if it's, you know, multiple ratings points every single week, it adds up to real money. And so at the end of the day, I think just money talks and we look at it and we think, OK, well, you know, my view, it's just going to be easier for people to see. If it's easier for people to see, the more people are going to watch. I think that just from like a very, you know, I don't know, easy to understand type of thing, that's what I look at.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And one more thing I'd like to add too, is that a good point that's all brought up a lot on social media is that when people take their campers to a NASCAR race, they usually have an antenna to watch TV. You know, some people might have a direct TV or something, but a lot of people are using their antenna at their camper. Now you can broadcast the Xfinity race live, you know, as you're hanging out at the track, which I think is cool too.
00:11:08
Speaker
Especially given the noted internet issues that many NASCAR tracks nobody's gonna be able to get on YouTube TV to watch it or or on the peacock whatever but they can just like get a CW on the antenna. Yeah, absolutely, right
00:11:22
Speaker
Well, let's get on to the the racing that happened this weekend. We'll start with the Xfinity series at Road America. Kind of an interesting quirk that happened there. They said it was scheduled in advance, but AJ Allmendinger goes to Road America to run the Xfinity race while he's currently 17th in points. So he's going into the weekend in the Cup series and right there on the cutoff line.
00:11:48
Speaker
misses practice and qualifying at Richmond and then ends up having an absolute mess of a race at Elkhart Lake and doesn't get the finish that they went to get. What do we think of, to me it seems like it's a, they maybe should have rethought that, like I understand they like AJ's chances anytime he's in an Xfinity car in a road course, but they
00:12:13
Speaker
making the cup series playoffs pays the big bucks. And that's where I think I would have focused my efforts on. But I'm curious what you guys think. The only thing I can think about that is that, and this is really I look, I don't like it. I think it was a dumb idea. But the only thing I could think of is getting AJ Almondinger more seat time for a road course.
00:12:32
Speaker
And we have road courses coming up in the cup series. That's all I can, that's the only thing, uh, that I would be able to like justify with that overall. It made no sense to me because, I mean, did they really think that, uh, Almond Dinger was probably was going to compete at Richmond? I mean, clearly not. If they felt he was going to be racing for a win, he probably wouldn't have, uh, he probably would have gotten seat time going into.
00:12:58
Speaker
You know, Richmond, but I don't, you know, I don't know. I just, to me, it doesn't make sense. It didn't really make sense. And he kind of had a frustrating race too, to add on top of it. So that didn't help things looking back. So, um, I think, you know, there's definitely some second guessing there. I think it was, you know, I think they were trying to put all their eggs in a basket. They're trying to win that extended race. Clearly. I think that that comes down to it. I think the team was trying to win that. They thought they had the best chance to win with AJ Allmendinger.
00:13:27
Speaker
But it didn't come to fruition and I feel like he's the type of guy to be Frustrated because I you know how you know, he wants to he's a competitive guy. He wants to make the playoffs So to add in, you know another hurdle that he has to jump through when he's already had a lot That's definitely gonna I think it get to him and you know, it might fuel him He's gonna be you know driving like crazy. I think at Indy here in a couple weeks. So that'll be exciting to see
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah. The only way I could really rationalize it would be, and this sounds bad, but if, if, if college isn't confident in their ability to make a deep playoff run, maybe they just thought, Hey, let's go try to scoop up a trophy in Wisconsin. But I mean, it's hard to see college betting and gets themselves either. So yeah, hard to understand the logic on it for sure. Well, it was a, a raucous first win, uh, on a wild penultimate lap for, uh, Sam Mayer.
00:14:24
Speaker
I thought that the way Sam Mayer Justin Allgaier, Parker Klugerman, and Sage Karam, they all raced really clean. They kind of each took themselves out of contention at various points on those final two laps. And it was Sam Mayer who was able to put it together and get the win. I was happy to see that excitement without it being somebody cleaning somebody else out.
00:14:54
Speaker
I was going in thinking like that all guy had it, you know, with like maybe, you know, going into the last few laps. I was like, I think that all guy was going to have this. And then it was like, um, you know, like clicker, man, I've been rooting for the last few weeks. I just, I thought there was a chance, you know, I was like, ah, today he's, he could, you know, do it. And then it was like, you know, that was the best racing, I think of the weekend. Um, but you know, the,
00:15:23
Speaker
I hope that the Cup Series wants to go back there in the near future. And I have a feeling they will because Chase Elliott won there last time they were there. But overall, it was just exciting. And I think that there haven't been a lot of moments this year
00:15:43
Speaker
You know where you've seen an exciting amount of racing for an extended period of time because it It seemed like in the last two laps going around the track. It takes a long time It was like every single turn there was something that was happening with one driver passing another driver and then it was like car after car going every every which way so
00:16:05
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, you know, it was great for Sam. I honestly really didn't even pay that much attention to the actual win itself, uh, as opposed to what was happening before it. But it was, what a great, great, and Chandler Smith, his rotor just exploded on the front stretch. I mean, that was a really scary moment too, but just, you know, and I don't like seeing that obviously, but just the, uh, how hot those rotors must've been coming down to that, uh, when he hit the brake and you just see it explode and thinking,
00:16:34
Speaker
What's he going to do now? And then just, you know, kind of tried to ride the wall up into, uh, that's the sand where he was. So, um, just a lot of excitement in that race that I had a lot of fun watching, but, uh, you know, just wish that we could see the cup series back there soon. And I haven't gotten the chance to see a lot of extended races recently because I've been working on Saturday nights, but, um, that was, I was kind of caught in the rain delay myself. So I was able to catch a lot of that race and it had, you know, what was that 2012?
00:17:04
Speaker
Watkins Glen vibes a little bit, you know, the Cup Series there with Kyle Busch spinning out and then you had Ambrose and, you know, Keselowski against each other. It had those kind of vibes and, you know, when Sage Karim just completely took himself, you just went off track. I mean, I was just like, what in the world are you doing? And then Sam Mayer, who I don't think, I think if we all had to pick that group of cars, who's going to make a mistake, you know, to take themselves out, I think we all would have
00:17:30
Speaker
you know, picked Sam Mayer to be the guy to take himself out. But he ends up staying clean and getting the win and then holding him off. So I thought that was a pretty impressive, kind of a statement win for him, you know. I think a lot of people have doubted him this year because, you know, Junior Metersports at a hole is down. And if he comes out and does that, I think, you know, that kind of makes such a statement. And, you know, you know, his boss is happy, too, on top of his pitch.
00:17:55
Speaker
I want to make a few notes as you guys probably do. I kind of tend to watch it from a TV production perspective. A few notes. First of all, Matt Yocum was a payroll reporter. Last time we saw him cover a race for any network besides SRX was back when he was with Fox, I think.
00:18:14
Speaker
four or five years ago. So cool to see him back. And that makes you wonder what his future may hold for maybe the CW coming out as a talent there. But the other interesting note was that WOOD TV is an NBC affiliate. So we've gotten used to where if these races run more than like two or three minutes over their window, they'll boot it over to cable USA. You know, they did that with Talladega a few years ago.
00:18:36
Speaker
We got a lot of phone calls in the news year when that happened. But they kept it on for an extra half hour on NBC. And we had to adjust our newscast accordingly. But I thought it was cool that NBC was willing to keep the finish because they were on a red flag at six o'clock when we were supposed to start our newscasts.
00:18:52
Speaker
But I thought it was neat that they didn't bump it off and I'm glad they didn't because that was One of the better Xfinity finishes that I can remember I admittedly was kind of pulling for Parker Kligerman to want to see him get a win I think it'll come in due time but Much need a win for junior motorsports where they didn't you know all guy or obviously was strong in the beginning had some issues But to have one of their guys Close it out was I'm sure a big relief for for that stable for sure
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah, a big win for Sam Mayer because he's also a Wisconsin kid, grew up there and actually showed a cool clip of his dad won a race in 2002 at Road America in a sports car series.
00:19:35
Speaker
And his co-driver was Brendan Hartley, who is one really, really good road racer, and ended up in a season or two of F1. He's won Le Mans a couple times, won a Rolex 24. So he's got a good kind of pedigree by association there. But also to your point, Blake, yes, awesome that the fans got a great finish after being kept on NBC late. For comparison's sake,
00:20:04
Speaker
My dad was watching at some point Saturday, I think it was the Formula E, E-Pre in London, and I was on CBS. And the end of that got bumped to somewhere, I don't know where, in favor of the start of a pickleball tournament. And my dad was like, what the heck? So he had to call me and be like, who won the E-Pre race? And I'm like, oh my gosh, I'll have to look it up real quick.
00:20:31
Speaker
but yeah, and then to your point Steve about the The Chandler Smith crash there were three really hard hits in that race Chandler Smith as his radar rotor exploding Alex LeBay had some sort of similar incident there on the front stretch with a much much harder hit that I thought harder hit and then John Hunter Nemechek when he went offline on the second the last corner and and
00:20:57
Speaker
basically ripped the whole front end of his car off. That looked like it hurt bad. And so the one thing that I noticed about the Chandler Smith incident, though, is he went over to drivers left to try to scrub speed off and that wall. That's not a solid wall. Those are k rails. And so some of them moved at different points, whatever. And that's what ripped the whole
00:21:17
Speaker
Door off basically right down to the the roll bars So that definitely could have been a lot worse like imagine if one of those moved a lot more than the next one You know, it could have almost you know, stopped his car, you know dead in its tracks. So fortunate that didn't happen but definitely a scary situation and honestly, it's surprising that then nobody had any issues like coming behind them with all the brake rotor pieces all over the front stretch because like Josh Berry was right there I think it was and
00:21:42
Speaker
They were bouncing like crazy when they, when they, when it came out of that, like, you know, the wheel well there, you just saw, I was like, they bounced probably 10 feet in the air over, you know, and I mean, just, yeah, I was insane.
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, most definitely. I have to give a shout out to a couple of them. Sage Karim, great run all day long. He is and he was in a one off ride with Sam Hunt racing in their second car, showed what he can do. I heard he is going to be in a Alpha Prime car.
00:22:19
Speaker
At the Indy road course here in a couple weeks. So let's see if he can back that up Also, how in the world is Austin Hill find a way into the top five at every race? I mean, that's just what a good mark of a good racer, right? But he just found his way at the top five to finish third and then huge props to Riley Herbst Came from the back to the front twice after getting spun at various points in the race and and got a top five out of it as well And that was a big deal
00:22:48
Speaker
for the point standings because he comes back at one point and I think that his points laid over the cut line was something like two or three points when he after right after he got spun and clogerman was running in the top ten and his run Riley Herbst running back up to the top five has him twenty five points above the cut line right now after that race so uh... three big shout outs for those guys clogerman's right there on the Xfinity in the the playoff standing so
00:23:18
Speaker
I'm really pulling for him to, I don't know if he's going to win, but another good finish, a couple of good finishes, and he'll be right there.
00:23:27
Speaker
Let's quickly run through the Xfinity Series playoff standings. Austin Hill is leading the way in the current playoff standings. John Hunter-Nimichak second. Cole Custer third. Justin Allgaier and Chandler Smith. Then Sam Mayer is up in the sixth spot after his win. Josh Berry, winless but in the seventh spot in the playoff standings. He's plus 107 to the cut line and I have a feeling that
00:23:57
Speaker
That he will be Effectively locked in here in the next week or so Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton locked in by virtue of wind They are eighth and ninth then 10 11 12 goes Daniel Hemric Sheldon Creed Riley Herbst. Hemric has a pretty good cushion 74 points, but then Herbst with 25 points and Creed 22 points above the cut line and
00:24:23
Speaker
Below the cut line Parker Klugerman is in 13th with 22 point deficit to Sheldon Creed And then Brandon Jones was 61 points that seems like it might be pretty insurmountable unless he were to get a win, but it looks like it's a I would put as a three horse race between Sheldon Creed Riley Herbst and Parker Klugerman Three guys for two spots there in the Xfinity series
00:24:51
Speaker
Let's move on to the truck series where West Michigan, Portage, Michigan native Carson Hosevar picked up his third career win, all of them this season in the truck series.
00:25:03
Speaker
uh... quite a run for him to uh... track down uh... time a jet ski on that last run i think he made up so like twenty two twenty three seconds over the last twenty eight laps of the race uh... to to go on and win that one over time a jet ski who i thought the jet ski had the field covered and he really did and i think that the decision to not pit and that last green flag flag cycle uh... really hurt him uh... but karsten hosevar with the win and that has a uh... uh...
00:25:32
Speaker
a third for him and it helps his case in the playoff standings and then And that's important because the playoffs start with the next race They they finished up the extended or the truck series regular season and then I have to give a shout out to to Matt Mills Great top five run in that 51 truck one off or maybe has a couple more races with a KBM But what do you guys think of the truck race?
00:25:58
Speaker
at least it was at the same track as the cup race. I thought the truck race was a better overall race. Definitely a better overall race and good for Carson Hosevar, who we've talked about a decent amount on this podcast about, you know, some questionable tactics and some races that they he's had, obviously this year. But overall, you can see the talent and he's coming to life really at the at the right time. You know, we had that when I mentioned before in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, but prior to that was
00:26:27
Speaker
like Mr. Top 5 in the truck. So, yeah, it was a great win for him, Zane Smith too. It was finished third behind time of Jesky. So, yeah, I mean, not much to say other than that was, you know, it was better overall. I mean, it's a better product with the Xfinity and the trucks most weeks and the trucks usually have more excitement anyway.
00:26:57
Speaker
Um, you know, Matt craft and snag the top 10, which is good for him too. And, um, you know, the, the playoffs are, or the playoff standings at least are, are heating up, uh, toward the bottom of it. So Matt craft and still, I believe in the 10th spot. So, uh, he did get the last spot in the playoffs. Yeah. So, uh, should be really interesting, uh, stretch here. Yeah. I wasn't able to catch too much of the race, but, uh,
00:27:24
Speaker
I did see the end and I am a big fan of Josevar. He's just a great personality. I think it's going to be cool to see him kind of grow into the sport. And he's having fun while doing it, which I think is fun from a fan perspective. I will say, you know, as we, you know, have set the playoffs. It's, you know, kind of sad that Deegan, you know, she just didn't show speed like her teammates all season long. She didn't really have a chance to make the playoffs without a win.
00:27:54
Speaker
So she's out. Matthew Benedetto really didn't show much speed all year, but it was kind of consistent 10th to 15th place car, and he finds his way in the playoffs. That's just kind of how interesting the truck series can kind of feel at times because you would think from the outside looking in that Deegan might have had a better year per se than did Benedetto, but he was just more consistent about getting finishes and finishing in the top 10 to 15. I doubt he makes much noise in the playoffs outside of maybe winning.
00:28:24
Speaker
restrict a Talladega or something, but, you know, that's, that's my take from the truck series race. Really happy to see host of our win being from West Michigan. I believe he's the youngest, uh, Berlin Raceway champion.
00:28:41
Speaker
I think he was something like 16 or 17 years old when he won his first. And so everyone here has known he's had talent. And to see him climbing the ranks, the last big NASCAR name to come out of West Michigan was Johnny Benson Jr. And people are still big fans. And every time he comes out to Berlin, he draws a big crowd. So to have someone else to root for now, he led all the sports coverage through the weekend. It's been really neat to see him having success. And I think he kind of hit a bit of a crisis period there where
00:29:07
Speaker
He was on the edge of almost no return in terms of his reputation, but has now been able to garner that back. Show his talent, not only in the truck series, but also the cup series. His debut at Gateway before he had the issues there that were out of his control.
00:29:24
Speaker
Also want to give a shout out to William Sowalich, grabbed a top 10 in his third truck series start. Sowalich actually won the ARCA race at Berlin just a few weeks ago. So he's been winning in a lot of equipment that he's been in, super weight model, ARCA, and now grabbing the top 10 in trucks. His second top 10 in his three tries. So really impressive to see such a good guy. I think he's 16 or 17. So he's already, already doing really well. It's fun to watch him.
00:29:52
Speaker
So we talked about the the playoffs standings for the truck series Absolutely horrible luck over the last month or so for Stuart Friesen prevents him from From making the playoffs. He was the first guy out the regular season champion the only Toyota in the truck series playoffs this season belongs to Corey Haim and
00:30:16
Speaker
Then it's Zane Smith, Carson Hosevar, Christian Ekos, and Grant Infinger, the top five. Taimajewski, the first guy in on points. Ben Rhodes, and by virtue of a win. Then Nick Sanchez, Matt DiBenedetto, and Matt Crafton pointed their way in. The truck series playoffs begin
00:30:37
Speaker
a couple weeks Friday the 11th at IRP Lucas oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, but for all those old-school guys, it's IRP and always will be So exciting things coming up there actually some interesting tracks coming up there for The truck series they're going to IRP then the Milwaukee mile at the end of August before they kind of rejoin some companion events with the
00:31:07
Speaker
Cup and Xfinity series. So cool deal to have them there. Actually, I think it's really cool to have the trucks at IRP the same weekend that the Cup and Xfinity teams are at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the road course. So cool deal to have, I guess, all four big series with a couple in IndyCar in town at one time.
00:31:29
Speaker
That is cool. Yeah, I had the chance to go down to IRP a few years ago back the last year that the cup series ran on the oval on the brickyard. Then the night before they had a super late model race and they also had the, um, the USAC.
00:31:45
Speaker
Oh shoot, one of the pavement series, but Ryan knew I'm increasing in that. Yes, yes, yes, yep. And then Harrison Burton was in the super late field, so they had all the NBC team was there. Rick Allendale Jr. all watching Harrison Burton. So it's cool to make a weekend out of it, and I think it's really smart for them to kind of pair those two series up, not to mention getting IndyCar out of it again, too, with that double header.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah, very true. A lot to look forward to in a couple weeks there at Indianapolis. But we have a race we're going to talk about before then here in a little while. But first, let's talk about the cup race.
00:32:17
Speaker
I'd some say still not enough action. I say there's a bit more interesting than the spring race, even with just the one natural caution. There was plenty of varying strategies, a huge race weekend for the RFK teams, Brad Kasosky leading a whole heap of laughs.
00:32:38
Speaker
Chris Busher leading a heap of laps as well and then winning the race and a strange turn. It seemed like none of the cars that were strong in the spring had good runs yesterday. So I was this is sort of off topic, but on topics in a way, I joke with one of my friends. We used to joke that, you know, in 2020, 2021, if Chase Elliott's car failed inspection, that that meant that it was going to be fast.
00:33:07
Speaker
And they, they passed on the third time and I think lost the car chief and he qualified, I think it was fourth and looked really good. I mean, the car had lost a lot of speed throughout the race, but, um, you know, there were, there, you saw the, the, a little bit of the speed that people have been, you know, saying, well, you know, what's going on with the nine over the last few weeks.
00:33:30
Speaker
And so that was interesting. I thought Tyler Reddick, that was gonna be a late race push for him until that commitment lane violation basically ended his day. And then Bubba Wallace was another one of the, you know, not great of Richmond, but just kind of really pushed forward and had a solid run late in the race. It ended up not working out. Super great for him, you know, finished 12th, but still racked up some stage points and is probably going to,
00:33:59
Speaker
you know, knock on wood, make the playoffs. But, yeah, I was overall, I mean, the place the race was OK. I mean, I I asked I asked the group, you know, what you think, maybe halfway through what you guys thought. I gave it a five. I think toward the end of the race, I would probably say it was a six. Good for Chris Busher and RFK. It's funny that the strongest car from there has been the 17.
00:34:27
Speaker
Um, over the last, you know, basically two years, understanding that Brad is in the playoffs right now, but, um, great for Ryan Priest too. Great run. Uh, for him, it's, you know, obviously we've talked a lot about how SHR has been, you know, less than impressive, uh, this year, but, um, overall, uh, you know, I would be a fan of going back down to one Richmond race a year.
00:34:52
Speaker
Um, but you know, it is what it is at this point, but I didn't really see a whole lot there that impressed me with anybody. I, you know, I mentioned this in the spring. I, I just like Richmond. I, I, you know, it wasn't the best Richmond race ever, but I really like races. Cause this is why I like Martinsville so well is that you can really stretch out a tire run and you will get speed at the end of that run. And guys that, you know, that's.
00:35:23
Speaker
That's the biggest thing that surprised me. Eric Amarillo was flying. At the end of that first stage, he was the fastest car on the track by far. And then he ended up having some issues later on. I think he could have been a really, a really key factor in that race if he hadn't had the commitment line violation, which seemed to get a lot of good guys yesterday. Um, but that's why I like, I love that style of short track racing. You know, the bumping and running is fun, is fun, but I like to see, you know, people being able to conserve tire.
00:35:52
Speaker
and seeing guys fading late in runs and the guys are charging that, that was my takeaway from it. I saw a lot of that and I, that's why I liked it. It wasn't the best kind of those races, you know, clearly we've had better Martinsville races that were like that in the past, but I thought it had a little hint of it. I feel bad for Brad Kacelowski because the past two times where RFK hit the setup, it's like they both hit it in the 17 car, which is a little bit better, like a Bristol, but that Bristol last year was kind of the same deal where
00:36:22
Speaker
You know, it looked like Brad had the win and then next thing you know, Chris and Buster just has a better car. And I think Brad was right up there with him. He just, you know, had the bad, I don't know what he's doing. He was like, he missed his box. You know, he forgot where he was in the pit, which kind of sucked for him. But, um, as I mentioned at the beginning, it's cool to see a new guy kind of come out and dominate. It's cool to see a new team come out and dominate a race. And I think that added a little excitement as a fan perspective to it.
00:36:50
Speaker
Overall, for Richmond, I don't know how much more we can hope to get out of the track. I know the debate on, you know, social media right now between Dale Jr. and Denny Hamlin is, do we put resin on the top lane? I don't think resin on the top lane is a good idea. I think that would make it pretty boring. But it's something, you know, that could, I thought resin has done pretty well better than
00:37:14
Speaker
whatever the other substance was called, but that was my take. I enjoy it. Yeah. PJ one, no PJ one that can be buried dead, put it in the middle of the Pacific ocean sink it. But yeah, that was my take. You mentioned Chase Elliott. I thought points, you know, he was the best Chevy outside of Kyle Busch kind of charging late.
00:37:37
Speaker
Which was a big surprise. Chevy kind of looked strong in the spring, had some fast laps, and they just had nobody. William Byron, who's done really great at Richmond the last several Richmond races, was a non-factor, the worst he's looked, probably all year, because he's been the most consistent guy in the Chevy camp, for sure. And he was just nowhere. And then once again, track house. What is happening in the track house? I think it's time to start sounding the alarm bells. Daniel Suarez is falling off a cliff in terms of his
00:38:07
Speaker
A chance of making a playoff and then Ross Chastain after getting a win has been nowhere, has shown no speed. So yeah, Chevys, where you at? Yeah, I'll give it one more week on track house. You know, last year Chastain was running top five at Michigan till he got tangled up with Christopher Bell. Suarez was up toward the front. I think that's sort of pit issue weight, but it's almost getting close to that and kind of going off the manufacturer deal, Ford.
00:38:35
Speaker
Finishing seven of the top 11. By the way, Stuart Haas, all four of their cars finished in the top 11, which I don't know the last time that happened, but it's been a long time. I think you'd have to go back a long way. So I think they're pretty happy with their momentum. Obviously RFK, Joy Logano was in there and ended up finishing fourth. Fourth seemed to be turning it on at the right time. Do you want to go back to something Steve mentioned though about Richmond and having two dates?
00:39:02
Speaker
Obviously, Michigan being my home track, it hurt to lose the second date. They used to be on Father's Day weekend.
00:39:08
Speaker
I would argue it's one of the better things to happen to the track, not only in terms of just the racing product, because they only go once, but also just the buzz around it. Last year, the infield camping sold out for the first time in 10 years, sold out again this year. Last year's crowd was the largest in six years. This year, it's not going to be far off from a sellout. Obviously, it makes sense if you go from two dates to one, but I like the idea of going two days to one.
00:39:34
Speaker
had their biggest crowd thirteen years are the place look packed or was packed to sell out so you know i love going to some of our. Marquis tracks twice but i think with the amount of flexibility they built in the schedule it's time to.
00:39:50
Speaker
to really start expanding and drop a lot of our tracks to one because I don't, I can't think of a track that's hurt its product by going down to one race. I think basically every track that's seen that has seen a net positive in terms of the overall racing product and the enjoyment by the fans. Yeah. I mean, Dover could probably lump be lumped in the same thing. I think they get a good, good crowd at the spring Dover race as well. Yeah. And you know who could, you know, we're talking road America, right? They owned by.
00:40:16
Speaker
That would be a that would be a race that could replace a Richmond race is a is a race at road America. Yeah, totally I agree with that because especially with this car at Kentucky the racing I think would be fantastic
00:40:38
Speaker
I'm really looking forward to Michigan for that reason. They look great last year. For sure. I agree with that because this is what we're talking about. You look at a track like Kentucky or Miami, your homestead,
00:40:55
Speaker
races like that, where, you know, we have Homestead, the playoffs this year, which we needed. Um, but two Homestead races a year, I think would help the product because the car, these cars are better on those tracks, you know? So like I completely agree with your point, like, cause there's, there's opportunities. Like, and I was at that Pocono race and it was.
00:41:14
Speaker
jam-packed. Believe me, it took me an hour to get out of there. But the race itself was OK. I just think now we have there's a lot of tracks that just they're OK. They could benefit. The product, I think, would benefit from just having one race. So I agree with your point.
00:41:36
Speaker
I want to bring up Bubba Wallace. He was strong early in the race yesterday. It seemed like both 2311 cars really found something until they had some mistakes. Redick with the commitment cone violation and then Bubba had a slow pit stop with the jack falling on the right side of the car.
00:41:54
Speaker
But Bubba over the last four weeks has really turned it on and is now plus 54 on the cut line here with four races to go. And I was looking at Bubba's stats and noticed that since the Gateway race, Bubba has finished on the lead lap of every race granted
00:42:12
Speaker
didn't do great at the chicago uh with a 31st place finish and 25th at atlanta but if you start with atlanta he's gained 119 points total he scored 119 points um take daniel suarez he's scored 69 points it's a 50 point swing and suarez
00:42:33
Speaker
has had issues upon issues. He finished four laps down yesterday in Richmond. And that's after crashing out early at Pocono. And it seems like the Suarez bunch is really struggling.
00:42:50
Speaker
for for what he can do there for what they can do to to try to get some points going. Actually, I think I might have miscalculated Suarez is a point 35 plus 25 plus 464 points for Suarez. So just a. It seems like that's the story of the of the cut line right now is Juarez Almondinger are squandering opportunities. Gibbs is hanging around.
00:43:18
Speaker
But you got to give Michael McDowell. Michael McDowell, yeah. Yeah, I understand what he was trying to do with his strategy yesterday. But in the dad juniors point on the broadcast, that's where they've gotten to where they're at right now is taking risks. But that was clearly not the best risk they could have taken. I think with the speed that the Ford showed, if he would have been on the same strategy as everyone else, I think he was a top 10 car. And they kind of blew that with his strategy call.
00:43:46
Speaker
We know it's crazy though, is MTJ was on the same strategy and somehow found a sheet of speed late in that run. I think you just caught, because they were right by each other coming out of the pits there, and then MTJ just caught a little bit more clean air. Michael McDowell's getting shuffled and Truex was just holding a spot. I feel bad for Michael McDowell because he really, that team has looked really good this year.
00:44:12
Speaker
You know, especially with the way track house is racing at the moment. I know at the moment, um, I might be sounding like an alarmist when I don't need to be, but honestly, he's been showing more speed than they have his team has, uh, of the last four to five weeks.
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, and and I got to say about like the forage like, you know, SHR has been a struggle bus and Penske has not really been anything super special either. But you got to give props to the RFK bunch and then also to front row because they do have the alliance with RFK right now. It looks like between those those four cars in the alliance.
00:44:49
Speaker
Three of them are currently in the playoffs with the playoffs started today, and there's There's not many other organizations. I think any other organization that has they can say that oh the JGR has three guys with Truex Denny Hamlin and Seabel locked in Bea and then Tyler edicus locked in with the Alliance over 2311 but still like you know for four to be kind of the
00:45:18
Speaker
The the black sheep if you will of the of the manufacturers this year and not really doing much of anything It's been a Chevy and Toyota heavy season You got to give props to the the RFK and in front row guys. Yeah, it just got better throughout the race, too
00:45:36
Speaker
And you mentioned the playoff battle, you know, if you're Michael McDowell, obviously it's a missed opportunity, but at least you have two road courses coming up, right? Indie road course on Watkins Glen. If you're Bubba Wallace, you pretty much got Michigan where he started on the pole finished second after that. I mean, a self-proclaimed every good road racer and then at that point you're at Daytona. So.
00:45:57
Speaker
Uh, got to hope for a really strong start to finish run for them or maybe interesting, uh, come the cutoff. But you got to say though, at least he has done some great work making up a bit of a cushion there. I wouldn't call him safe by any means, but he's in a much better spot than he would have been for, uh, three or four weeks ago for sure. Yeah. And he's somebody that can, uh, Daytona race for stage points, which is probably what it's going to come down to for him is, you know, if he gets, if he can solidly get himself
00:46:26
Speaker
you know, in the top five of stage one and two at Daytona, then he may finally be able to have a sigh of relief. But yeah, he's going to need some stage points this week, too, because, you know, he's going to struggle, you know, at Watkins Glen and in the road course. Unfortunately, he's getting better, but it's clearly not a strong suit. At one time, it was not Chase Elliott's strong suit either.
00:46:48
Speaker
What do you know if he turned into one of those tracks? Also, Tyler Rettick. It was the same deal with Tyler Rettick, who was not a road course guy at all. He just practiced and got better. But on top of that, it doesn't really take much. And this is the other thing is that if 2311 doesn't believe that Bo Wallace is going to win, then there's a chance that
00:47:13
Speaker
they stay out for stage points and rack up stage points. And then that's a really good point. So we'll see. Interesting to see how it plays out too with the strategy, given there's no stage cautions at the road course anymore. So that certainly changes the strategy some. Let's get a look at the Cup Series standings. Of course, Martin Shricks Jr. leads the playoffs standings, William Byron second, Denny Hamlin third,
00:47:40
Speaker
Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buscher all locked in with wind
00:47:56
Speaker
Kevin Harvick is next in this playoff standings. He is the first guy in on points. He is plus 182, so very nearly mathematically locked in. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the 14th.
00:48:12
Speaker
Sorry 13th spot in the playoff standings by virtue of his Daytona 500 win then the final three spots in the playoff standings Brad K plus 151 Bubba plus 54 Michael McDowell plus 18 and there's a hungry pack of five guys behind them
00:48:30
Speaker
searching for some points. Ty Gibbs, minus 18. A.J. Allmendinger, minus 22. Daniel Suarez, 34 behind the cut. Chase Elliott made up like 15, 17 points yesterday, even though he only finished like ninth or tenth. He is 40 behind the cut line. Alex Bowman, 42 behind the cut line in 21st place. So a lot of work still to be done,
00:48:56
Speaker
But it I think chase Elliott shows how big of swing you can have in one week and just a couple more of those and It's in good stage points runs and he's right there in the in the hunt worth mentioning. He's a perennial top 10 at Michigan usually so And also he's very I mean outside of road courses. He's very good at Daytona
00:49:14
Speaker
if he doesn't get wrapped up in the big one. Bowman, I think, is also sneaky because he's not far behind Chase Elliott. I don't see him winning any of these races. Michigan would be the only one I would see. He's always fast at Daytona, but I don't see it. I don't see it. Well, let's get on to our pop-up showers for this week. I'm going to take over the segment since Jake's not here.
00:49:44
Speaker
And I'm going to do a pop-up shower and let our listeners know that I will be at the SRX race this weekend or this Thursday night in Marne, Michigan at Berlin Raceway. And I will be bringing hopefully tons of content on our social media at Twitter, I guess, X now, Instagram and threads at Cloudy Racing Pod. I'll also try to get some audio we can play on next week's show.
00:50:13
Speaker
And I also want to ask Dylan about his experience this weekend on his Motorsports Monday content gathering mission. Because I heard he ran into somebody pretty special there at the racetrack. But let's get our pop-up showers. Go ahead, Steve.
00:50:32
Speaker
My pop-up shower is Max Verstappen winning what seems like the 150th race in a row in Formula One, and I'll be honest. The pop-up shower is supposed to be something that surprises you.
00:50:48
Speaker
Oh, right, right, right. I'm sorry. My bad. No surprise that Max Verstappen winning. Yeah, no, I know. But that's my pop up shower because I I see a lot of people talking about it constantly on social media. And I think that there is starting to be a little change in how the Netflix Formula One fan is viewing Formula One because I'm seeing more and more people who are like,
00:51:18
Speaker
All right, Max Verstappen's in the lead, and the race is basically over. So yeah, that's my pop-up shower. I obviously have a ton of respect for Formula One. I love watching a lot of the Lewis Hamilton for years. And Verstappen is impressive, but it's ridiculous at this point. I can't watch it as much as I used to. My pop-up shower this week, I have to go with,
00:51:48
Speaker
my coworkers, they went to, um, they went to Penske and to junior motorsports this weekend. They aren't really big race fans or kids are big race fans. They went there and they, um, really enjoyed it. They told me that the tour through Penske's facility was breathtaking and that their biggest takeaway was
00:52:14
Speaker
When they were doing the tour, they're like, yeah, we're running out of space here. We need to go bigger. And they were just blown away by that because of how massive Pinsky's stuff is there. Um, so I think that's cool. I think a lot of non-fans to try to, you know, if you're in the Charlotte area, it's just such a historic racing place to check out one of the, one of the facilities. Say my pop-up shower in a good way, uh, had to be.
00:52:41
Speaker
Johnny Benson Jr. getting to run this home track after Paul Tracy was rightfully suspended from SRX for wrecking seemingly the millionth time. Those guys who fixed up the cars are already at Berlin. They got, I think, five cars to fix up, absolutely torn to shreds. But this is a perfect opportunity, not only for, I think, SRX, but for Berlin Raceway to sell.
00:53:03
Speaker
the few tickets they had left in the infield. You know, Johnny Benson, senior, one of the all-time winners at Berlin. Johnny Benson, junior, obviously had some major success there as well. He does run the ISMA super modified series, which is very popular in upstate New York. And they were just here a few weeks ago, but I think he's the perfect guy to be filling Paul Tracy's seat. And I'm one of the other SRX guys. I'm pretty scared to have Benson in the field. I think he's going to be a threat to win.
00:53:29
Speaker
I'd also like to point out that the SRX people do a fantastic job, uh, every week and on the track product. But I think that the, the actual product overall with at, you know, on last year's CBS and ESPN, they have done a fantastic job, uh, last year and this year with it. Dylan, tell us about your, uh, your trip to the racetrack on Saturday there in Kentucky. Yeah. So I kind of put myself in a bond.
00:53:58
Speaker
which, you know, isn't a bad thing, but I told this track, which is a, they had three races last year, but this is their first, first full season thunder mountain speedway. It's in Southern Kentucky, corporate Kentucky. It's brand new, really nice facility. I told them I'd come down. Um, so they were, you know, kind of pushing, you know, Hey, the news is coming down. News is coming down. There was another track that was about 45 minutes off the road that was dry. And I could have gone and seen some actual action. I stayed, I waited and tried to raid out the rain.
00:54:28
Speaker
But as I'm waiting out the rain, it's a clay track. So it's a little different than most tracks here in Kentucky. So the surface was taking the water pretty well. And they were going to be able to get back to racing. And I was waiting around. I knew it was going to rain eventually. I just wanted to get some video of these cars. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, they announced Scott Bloomquist.
00:54:49
Speaker
Is is in attendance and i'm like what? Of all tracks a track has been there for a year, you know three races That one of the you know, all-time great dirt drivers just shows up. He's not racing. He's just throwing the facility Uh, I unfortunately did not bring my mud boots. I couldn't get down to where he was But I got I got some video of him in the outside It would have been cool to you know, go down and meet him but he was just you know hanging out the track they ended up getting all their qualifying hotlaps in but
00:55:18
Speaker
didn't get any features in, but they had one of the greatest all time to come toward the facility, which I will say it's new. So obviously it's going to be nice, but they did a really good job putting that place together. Don't be surprised if you hear Thunder Mountain Speedway hosting some bigger dirt races in the future because they got the facilities to do it.
00:55:37
Speaker
It's very cool. Uh, bloomer is one of the, like I said, legends. Uh, you think, uh, dirt late models, he's one of the first names you think of Scott Bloomquist. So it's super cool that, uh, he just kind of showed up in Corbin, Kentucky. He is from, uh, lives in Tennessee now. Uh, I don't know exactly where, but so not terribly far for him to go. And now that's why I think was that all the Tennessee races definitely got rained out. That's where the heavy rain was that Saturday. So there were no racing going on in Tennessee. That's probably the closest he could get.
00:56:06
Speaker
Plus, just to see a new track, that's cool that he's doing that. He's got some health issues right now, so obviously we're thinking about him, but he could be trying to be on the mend, but instead he's going and supporting the local track, which is really, really cool to see.
00:56:21
Speaker
Blake, I want to ask you what the SRX fan who maybe isn't as familiar with Berlin Raceway, what can they expect? And I want you to describe the one quirk about the back straightaway at a Berlin Raceway that might catch some unsuspecting folks off guard.
00:56:41
Speaker
Yeah, we've been joking about it. I'm a part of the full racing crew at Berlin, and we're saying, who's going to be the first car to go off the backstretch? Because there is no backstretch wall. Now, they've done a nice job of, actually, Jeff Streigle, who is the lead play-by-play for MRN, is the general manager there. And he's done a lot of nice work, including leveling it out a little more so you're not going down a hill like you go off the backstretch. But that's going to be interesting. There's also, when the wall starts in turn three, there are tires that are set up.
00:57:10
Speaker
and wear been some nasty spills with cars ramming into the tires. So that's gonna be fun. The other thing is if you look at it from high above, there really is no straight away, you're basically always turning a wheel. A three eighth mile track has not been repaved in over 20 years. So it's a really worn out surface tires are our big deal. Tire wear is a big deal. And it's it's
00:57:32
Speaker
When we interview folks who are visiting, when we interview them for Flow, they say it's one of the most unique and one of the hardest short tracks that they've raced on, especially the late model guys. So Bubble Pollard was just there on Saturday, dominated the race ahead of the battle at Berlin, which is coming up in a week and a half. But yeah, I think it's going to be a really unique.
00:57:52
Speaker
Now, if Paul Tracy was racing, I'd say half the field is going to go off the back stretch. We may be in a little better luck now. I know the SRX guys are praying that there isn't more than a few cars that go off, but I think it's going to be a fun race. There's a lot to look forward to there. And like I mentioned, we're trying to bring you plenty of content from this Thursday night's action there in Marne.
00:58:12
Speaker
To you on here on cloudy with the chance of racing coming up in the in the coming weeks Before we get on to a preview of the NASCAR weekend at Michigan. Let's go over our race picks from last week at Richmond Looks like Steve wins the day on our actual picks with a second place from Danny Hamlin Jake with a good run seventh place from Martin Shricks jr.
00:58:39
Speaker
Dylan you and I struggled a bit the two HMS guys Kyle Larson 19th and William Byron for me 21st Both of them got trapped a lap down in that first stage and could not find anything out of it
00:58:53
Speaker
Uh, it definitely had an impact in the point standings. So, uh, Dylan, you still lead with 769 points. Steve is now second with 700. Uh, and then I am third with 684 and Jake fourth with 614. Uh, because Jake is enjoying the Drake concert, I think who he says is opening for that 21 Savage. I think he said 21 Savage. Yep. Yeah.
00:59:20
Speaker
So he doesn't get to pick we will give him Who should we give him reach in cloud resource and resource and yesterday? well, we'll get with Jake in a little while, but I'll let's get to our picks for this week and And I think I have to go have to go Toyota here. I think I might go Let's go Tyler Reddick I just think that the Toyota's seem to be pretty strong and
00:59:48
Speaker
The 2311 cars have figured something out here recently. And with the way that the HMS guys have done in the last couple weeks, I feel better with the Toyota. And so I'm feeling good about Tyloretic. Next up is Dylan. What do you think? This might be a surprise because I thought I was going to go Toyota. But for some reason, maybe I'm going too much on the hype train of Ford. But I'm going with the Penske. I'm going with Ryan Blaney.
01:00:18
Speaker
Um, he done well at these type of tracks this year. He's kind of showed some speed of late at those kinds of tracks. He might be a little hungry because he was kind of the one Ford guy. We didn't mention him when we're talking about the success of Ford, uh, this, this week at Richmond. So a little bit of motivation, a bit of a surprise. Cause I think the Toyota is probably going to be the favorites coming into this. Um, but it's Ford's backyard. So I'm going Pinsky with Ryan Blaney. Uh, Steve.
01:00:49
Speaker
This is not really going to be a surprise because I picked him before, but last year, uh, he had a great run there. Uh, I'm going to, I'm going with Bubba Wallace, uh, at this race. Uh, you're, I know that you got redic. I feel like this is a, I feel like this is a race where, uh, Bubba really, first of all, um, he would punch his own ticket in. It's not going to happen at a road course.
01:01:14
Speaker
And anything can happen at Daytona. I think that if he wants the playoffs, this is the best shot that he has to win. And realistically, you know, if the card didn't fall off the jacket, Richmond, he would obviously be in much better shape than he was than he would than he ended up being in. So I know that he's hungry for a win. And if there's any track it can happen at, it's going to be Michigan. All right. So we'll get with Jake a little while later and get his pick.
01:01:42
Speaker
But Dylan has- Let's get Blake's pick. Yeah, yeah. I was going to get to that second, but go ahead, Blake. Okay, sorry. I'm not bad. Okay, well- For that Dylan, you get Reed Sorensen. It's tough because in my heart, I really want Kevin Harvick to win. He's won five of the last seven, which makes me sound crazy.
01:02:02
Speaker
I kind of want to see him win there one last time, just to kind of close it out. But I'm going to go with a driver who has said winning here would mean more to him than winning the Daytona 500. And that is Brad Kislaski. I think with the speed RK has had as of late, obviously watching his teammate Chris Buscher win this past week, maybe a little bit of a fire under him and had a good time too. And I think we can see the six contending for the win by the time the race is over on Sunday.
01:02:29
Speaker
You know, I wanted to go him or Harvick. I really did. I just, I can't trust Forge right now. I know Joey Logano finished second at Loudon. Obviously they won this week. You know, Harvick had a good round at Loudon. I just can't trust
01:02:48
Speaker
forward right now. I can't trust Brad keselowski on this track specifically right now, because he is uber aggressive in in these situations at the end of the race. And I think it's working to his detriment. So he's gonna be fast. I agree completely. And I think that he is going to be contending. But you know, I know that he's in the playoffs. I said this a couple weeks ago, I just I can't see him winning like ever again. So
01:03:16
Speaker
I think it would be cool to see it come down to Harvick and Brad, two old school veteran guys. How often are we seeing it come down to guys like that? All right, let's say it's a drag race, OK? Coming down that front stretch, who wins? I think Harvick. If Harvick gets close, he's going to be aggressive.
01:03:37
Speaker
Whoever's in third wins. You remember Kozlowski wrecked Blaney in that Sunday race back in 2020. And then in that Saturday race, he finished second to Harvick. So he's either trying to get to the lead or he's close enough wrecking to get to the lead. So I'm going with whoever's in third.
01:03:56
Speaker
I like that. I think if I had to pick one of the two, I would probably go Harvick just because he's kind of on a NFG tour a little bit. Not as much as Ross Chastain was, but he's in twilight of his career. He has no qualms with making somebody mad.
01:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, so we got two Fords and two Toyotas in our picks so far. And like I said, we'll get ahold of Jake and get his pick. Dylan has Ryan Blaney. Steve has Bubba Wallace. I have Tyler Reddick. And Blake has Brad Keselowski, a Michigan guy, by the way.
01:04:32
Speaker
from nearby here on this side of the state in Rochester Hills. Let's get to our random picks where we all had pretty met weeks. Jake leads the way with Bubba Wallace with a 12th place finish. Bubba also got some stage points which are huge. Second amongst us was Dylan, 15th place from Ty Gibbs.
01:04:55
Speaker
I ended up with a 24th from Ross Chastain. If anybody was wondering where Ross was, he was in the mid pack all day. And Steve got a 25th from Todd Gilliland. So our standings look like this. I have a 79 point lead over Dylan. Then it's another 63 back to Steve. And the tightest battle is Steve and Jake with Steve holding a 18 point advantage.
01:05:25
Speaker
A dead heat for last place. Hey, it's still a dead heat. I mean, think about the race yesterday. Uh, I mean, Dale Jr. Was kind of losing his mind and in the race between, uh, um, Larson and Bowman for the, the lucky dog spot on the other stage one, he made it sound like it was the best racing of the, of the day, which it was kind of was. Yeah.
01:05:50
Speaker
So let's get to our random picks. And while we're doing this, let's get some thoughts on what we can expect at the D-shaped two mile oval at Michigan. I think that this is going to be a good race. What I'm expecting is that Chevy's need to be.
01:06:10
Speaker
to be good. I think that this is going to, if Chase Elliott, like he can't rely on a road course, he has to be good here. And I think this is the last opportunity for some guys because you never know what's going to happen in Michigan. Steve, you got the defending winner from the last week, actually, Chris Busher. Well, he's not going to lose that random last week.
01:06:36
Speaker
I also Larson, you know, you mentioned chase Elliott Larson who's been as inconsistent as you can possibly be Looks like the best driver on the circuit and then looks like a mid-pack driver half the time This is one of his best tracks, you know back, you know in his trip gassy days Who didn't want to see Kyle Larson mixing it up in Michigan? I mean that was as exciting as it gets
01:06:58
Speaker
Totally. I ended up with Michael McDowell, so two Fords so far. That's a sneaky good one, by the way. Two hot Fords. Two Fords, but two hot Fords. So let's see how that goes. Dylan, spinning next. Blake, what are you looking for this weekend? Well, you know, I think Michigan's kind of experienced a rebirth, so it's hard to compare to
01:07:18
Speaker
Previous years are than last year and last year had so many comers and goers. That's what I'm most excited about is you did not see the same drivers in the front, the beginning as you did the end. And I think the weather looks warm enough to create a slick racetrack. And I think that's what's going to make it another bar and burner like it was last year. Dylan, you continue the Ford train. Harrison Burton.
01:07:41
Speaker
Wow, okay. We'll see. Let's see who Jake ends up with. Penske Alliance with my pick. And Jake gets Bubba back-to-back weeks. Wow. Well, that's good for both of us then, or bad for both of us. Let's see who Blake gets with a random pick here. BJ McCloud.
01:08:06
Speaker
I don't even know if it's for Jim McLeod. It might be. Oh, whoever's in the 15 this week, unfortunately. Sorry. You know what's funny? I went to an NASCAR race in 2009, or one of my first races at MIS was in 2009. I was down on pit road, and I have a Reed Sorensen lug nut. So maybe that's my good luck sign. Becky was racing the 41 target car. There you go. So if he ends up in picture lane, you'll know why. When I was at Daytona in 2014, I got Reed Sorensen's autograph. It's giant.
01:08:35
Speaker
on a dayton of football. He signed it. Alex Bowman signed it. Looking back, Kyle Larson. It is JJ Yaley in the 15, by the way. So Reed Sorensen. That makes me feel a little less good about that pick. Also, Austin Hill in the 62 and Josh Bellicchi in the 78. So it's not B.J. McLeod.
01:09:04
Speaker
Also hosts of our running the 77 for Xfinity. So oh, yeah, see how we can do there I'm I'm pretty sure that that car like is the same. That's really the same personnel that runs like whenever they JRM has Miguel Polluto on the road courses and those one-off like Hendrick Motorsports Xfinity entries
01:09:27
Speaker
And then the spire XFINITY interest, I think that's all the same personnel and same chassis out of the, out of the JRM stable, by the way. Um, but yeah, excited to see host of R on the 77 there. Um, and a little bit of inside baseball, Blake, but do you think that the racing surface at Michigan international Speedway is the best paved road in the state of Michigan? I would say a hundred percent. Yes. Yeah. I, uh, my car would agree with that a hundred percent. The car ride there.
01:09:55
Speaker
is substantially worse, I think, than what the drivers experience. There's been a construction project in Jackson just north of the track that has been there since 2018, and he still got another two years to go. So, yeah, I would say yes. Yeah, it's bumpy here in the state of Michigan, but the drivers enjoy a nice, smooth surface on the racetrack there.
01:10:16
Speaker
Yeah, so lots of Michigan flair at and it isn't the beard family that the Austin Hills running for their Michigan family as well, right Michigan company beard oil.
01:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, they are. I don't exactly know where my guests would be over on the east side of the state over toward Detroit. But yeah, I believe they are a Michigan based company. Yeah. So lots of Michigan connections in this episode of cloudy with a chance of racing. So a lot to look forward to here in the mitten on the racetrack in the next handful of days. And then we'll be sure to bring you tons of coverage of that in the coming week. Blake, you're going to be with us next week, correct?
01:10:55
Speaker
Do I have that right? Hey, if you'd like me to, I'll be here. I'll gladly be here. I think that was something Dylan might have mentioned to me. Yeah, I didn't mention it to Blake yet. I was going to wait till his experience on the podcast, because I'm going to be on vacation next week. So I thought the timing, because we were debating Blake asking you this week, a preview, or then after. So I thought, why not both? And he can be the stand-in meteorologist as I am on vacation. Of course. Let's get some weather forecasts for Brooklyn and for Brooklyn.
01:11:24
Speaker
Blake hinted at it and why not ask the local expert himself? All right. Well, I appreciate that. I'll let you weigh in after I give my two cents. Well, first of all, forecasting for Berlin is a challenge because we're within about 20 miles of Lake Michigan. So we get a lake breeze that develops, kind of like they have in Florida, pop-up showers develop right along that breeze. So I've gotten a few phone calls from Jeff Stregel being like, what's the forecast for tonight? And I'm like, Jeff,
01:11:52
Speaker
Depends on what that late priest does. I don't want to give you a definitive answer, so there's some stressful forecast. But it looks pretty good. A cold front does come through late Thursday night, so we have a chance of a shower in there. But overall, I think it's not going to be a washout. I think, if anything, just a stray shower. Much of the night should be dry. Michigan, to be determined, there's a chance of a low pressure system moving through.
01:12:15
Speaker
Hopefully misses to the south models not in great agreement. So we have a chance for a few showers But hoping that we can we can dodge and models are a little scrappy this far out anyway I'm not sure if you any other thoughts Dylan. Yeah, that's kind of where I was with that forecast as well I was really thinking the Richmond weekend was gonna be a lot more Hit or miss than what it was. Obviously they had some storms Saturday Sunday was looking worse. You know, we do this forecast as I try to tell them I'm like
01:12:40
Speaker
You guys are having to do a forecast six days out. That is rough, but especially in the summertime, it is rough. But yeah, I agree with that. You mentioned the heat too. It is going to at least likely be a little bit of heat to be enough to not destiny heat like you're dealing with out west, but warm in summertime in Michigan. Yeah. Well, the average high this time of year is right around 83, 84 up here. And it looks like it'll be close to that, which is better than it has been the last few years, upper 80s, low 90s.
01:13:09
Speaker
Hopefully again, it's still warm enough to produce a hot slick track and give us the racing that we saw last year Was lost look forward to like I said a big thanks to Blake for joining us Blake arms meteorologist at wood TV. They're in Grand Rapids and it sounds like He will be back with us next week to continue the meteorology with Dylan out on vacation Steve Dylan big things to you guys as well as always
01:13:34
Speaker
And we'll be looking forward to having Jake back with us next week. He'll tell us all about his experience in Philadelphia, seeing Drake and 21 Savage there at the Wells Fargo Center. So again, thank you all so much for listening to Clouded with a Chance of Racing. This week especially, because there's going to be a lot more on our social media than we've ever had before, be sure to follow us on Twitter slash X.
01:14:01
Speaker
at cloudy racing pod that's also the same handle on instagram and threads a lot to come from the srx race this thursday night at berlin raceway in marin michigan and then uh as always we'll uh we'll post things throughout the week
01:14:16
Speaker
as well and be back with you next week recapping SRX at Berlin and NASCAR at Michigan International Speedway. So for Steve, Dylan and Blake, I am Braxton. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back next week here on PODDY with a chance of racing.