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Ep. 34: Roval Cuts off 4 Drivers and A Fan
12 Plays1 year ago
Jake is back from getting married and joins Dillon and Braxton on this week's episode to talk about the news of the week, the 2024 NASCAR schedules, and cutoff races in the Xfinity and Cup Series at the Charlotte Roval.
With Braxton being at the Cup race on Sunday, the guys got to share how seeing the race in person varied from watching on TV, and how perhaps some of that is the nature of the track versus the nature of all the information TV gives.
In Pop Up Showers, Dillon shares big news about the Motorsports Monday segment he does at his TV station, Jake gives his thoughts on the 2024 schedule, and Braxton points out the wide variety of race cars Kyle Larson will be driving this week.
As always, we give our real and random picks, and Dillon updates us with a weather forecast for Las Vegas.
If you like Cloudy With a Chance of Racing, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, leave a review, and tell a friend. You can also follow along on social media @CloudyRacingPod.
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Transcript
Introduction and Apologies
00:00:15
Speaker
episode 34 of Cloudy with a Chance of Racing underway here on a Tuesday. Sorry for the delay in getting this recorded, but there's a lot of stuff going on here in the fall. We're happy to have you along with us. I'm Braxton, Jake, and Dylan with me tonight. It's a big hockey night in Pittsburgh, so Steve is tending to that at his day job, but Jake and Dylan, we saw a couple of exciting races at the Charlotte Roval that were cut off races. What'd you see from that weekend that caught your eye?
Racing Highlights from Charlotte Roval
00:00:45
Speaker
Uh, just there, there was a lot of drama and that's kind of what you would like, uh, to see with, you know, being a cutoff racing with this playoff format, obviously in the XFINITY series with Sam converting a must win Sam Mayer. And, um, then in the, in the cup series, you had AJ Almondair winning who wasn't in the playoffs, but still it was a, it was a great win for colleague and we've.
00:01:15
Speaker
You know, it's no secret, uh, here on this podcast, you know, we've mentioned the struggles from that team all season long and. And criticize and question that at some points in the season, but it was a big win for them. Uh, and really in the cup series, as far as drivers advancing and getting eliminated, it was pretty, um, all the big favorites, uh, you know, the true exes of the world, Larson, Byron, they're handling all advancing. We're all kind of really.
00:01:45
Speaker
seeing everyone up at the top that was predicted to be there. I really enjoyed Sunday's race.
AJ Allmendinger's Emotional Win
00:01:54
Speaker
You know, AJ Almondinger's emotion after the race really kind of hit home. I don't know. It just felt great to see him showing that kind of emotion. He's always been, especially recently, you know, a fan favorite in terms of just his attitude about racing. I wish more drivers were like him.
00:02:13
Speaker
Uh, so that was cool to see that emotion out of him, but also, uh, the points battle, you know, Kyle Busch was right there. He tried, you know, clearly didn't have the car that AJ Allmendinger or Tyler Redick had, but he, or Chase Elliott, but he was probably the fourth, you know, best car out of that group. He was able to consistently run up front to hate that for Kyle Busch. Um, but I thought it was a good race. Um, don't really know how I feel.
00:02:40
Speaker
about the, you know, cautions back at the end of stages. I don't know if that race was a good example of it. It allowed some of those playoff drivers to try to get some points at least. So that at least added to it. I think it actually took Tyler Riddick out of the race to win considering he was points chasing. So I guess that added a little bit to it.
00:03:02
Speaker
Yeah, there was a, it was an interesting time for sure. I was at the cup series race, not at the Xfinity race, but got a chance to, to watch back most of it.
Attending the Cup Series Race Experience
00:03:11
Speaker
Um, yeah, I, it was, uh, it was definitely an interesting experience being at a, at the roval. I, I personally thought that I would be able to see a lot more of the track. I was like, okay, I've always wanted to go to a road course.
00:03:26
Speaker
I'll go to the rovo that way I'm not limited to seeing just a couple of turns. I did see more but it wasn't perfect in the seats I picked but still a cool experience and I'll talk about that some throughout the show. Let's get to some news that happened.
New Full Schedule and Playoff Changes
00:03:41
Speaker
throughout this past week, and I think it might as well kind of do a little bit of pop-up shower early because the big news last week was the full schedule coming out for all three national series and some changes, especially with the playoffs next year, the first round of the playoffs in all three series, given the Olympic break. Jake, I think that you said that was going to be your pop-up shower, so do you want to lead the way on this one?
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, definitely. It's kind of, you know, we get hints being dropped for about a month before we finally see the full schedule here. We mentioned the change in the playoff schedule, which, you know, is crucial and really can play to some people's strengths. And you're looking at a round of 16 now that will have
00:04:39
Speaker
Atlanta Watkins Glen in Bristol, three completely different tracks. Um, and you have, you know, Daytona, um, being taken off of the cut-off race as NASCAR, the way the schedule falls with the Olympics and everything. Um, wanted to keep Darlington Labor Day weekend, which I I'd
Reactions to Playoff Schedule Changes
00:05:02
Speaker
like. Um, and then.
00:05:05
Speaker
you know, the season goes back one extra week, the November 10th finale is, you know, remains at Phoenix Raceway. But I, you know, I, uh, I don't, I didn't really mind some of the changes in the playoffs. I, I think the round of eight, the way it is right now is perfect with Vegas, Miami, Martinsville. Obviously I mean, it would be cool to see the championship return to Miami, especially when we know the, uh,
00:05:31
Speaker
what the next gen cars can do in the cup series. Interested to see how the cup series and in going to Iowa. We know Iowa's hosted the other national series. And so
End of Bristol Dirt Race
00:05:47
Speaker
overall, I guess I'm pretty pleased with the schedule. And I guess also of note, we've discussed this Bristol, no dirt.
00:06:01
Speaker
Thank goodness. Yeah. I'm sad I didn't get to see it in person once. I think it just wants just to, you know, say I was at Bristol dirt, wouldn't it? Cool to see. But, um, your takeaways from the, you know, playoffs for next year, I agree that does really mix it up, especially that first round. I think we could get some surprises. You know, somebody who's stuck in the playoffs could win one of those, you know, a Michael McDowell, a, you know, um, somebody like,
00:06:30
Speaker
whoever's filling in for the 16, we'll get to that, you know, potential ride change later. You know, somebody that's not really a road course ringer, but is good at road courses or somebody that's good, like a Cori La Joy at Atlanta
Fan Attendance Concerns at Atlanta Playoff Race
00:06:42
Speaker
or something. He sneaks his way in the playoffs. He could, you know, move on out of the first round with, with winning at Atlanta in the playoffs. So that, that would be, that'll be interesting to see. I wonder what the fan attendance will be at Atlanta considering, um,
00:06:59
Speaker
You know, that weekend will be right around the start of football season. If I'm not mistaken, that will be. That'll be a week one in the NFL. Yeah. So, you know, I guess that's one way they could try to combat that. But yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure about that change, but I like Iowa being on it. I mentioned this in the past. I was kind of like, you know, Richmond light. So, um,
00:07:24
Speaker
that would be something to look forward to. I think a cooler Richmond, not really a Richmond light, but a cooler version of Richmond, I should say. I think a big change at the beginning of the season that will help teams with their logistics is you get basically a month off between trips out west. So obviously this season will start with the clash at the Coliseum on February 4th.
00:07:52
Speaker
You know, go to Daytona for a few weeks. Then the first Atlanta race is race number two of the season before going out West for just two races, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Uh, and then as it's a short West coast swing and then back East into the, to the regular part of the season, the, uh, third track that was always in their auto club. Uh, actually I saw pictures online today that they finally started moving some dirt there. So maybe it'll be done at some point. I think it's been.
00:08:22
Speaker
What, uh, 10 months, just, I don't know, eight months, just short of that since the last race there. And they're just now starting to move dirt. I guess, uh, having lots of permitting problems or something of that nature, holding things up in, uh, in Riverside County, uh, California. But, uh, I like no dirt at Bristol, especially with the way that Bristol has raised recently. And I certainly hope that they continue to make improvements.
Bristol: The Best Short Track with Next-Gen Cars
00:08:51
Speaker
I think Bristol has been the.
00:08:52
Speaker
the best short track of the bunch with the next gen car. So I'm happy to see that go back to asphalt, but they definitely still need to make some improvements to the short track package, especially with adding a short track in Iowa Speedway on Father's Day weekend. So that's definitely one that has my eye. I also think that I'm excited to see or curious to see what happens
00:09:22
Speaker
with the title sponsorship of that Iowa Speedway weekend because the last two years when IndyCar has gone there, supermarket chain out in that part of the country, Hy-Vee has put together a huge presence with big concerts and they bring in like sweets and chalets that you'd see at a golf tournament and put them alongside the outside of the track where they don't have grandstands and make it really a top notch experience and they spare no expense. I just hope that
Return of the Brickyard 400
00:09:52
Speaker
They're able to somebody is able to come along and do something similar for the NASCAR event there because I definitely think that could be one that Somebody drops the ball be like well, how come any car can do it and NASCAR can't and and that'll be Quite the argument if it does happen one that I think we all collectively have circled on our list is the the Brickyard 400 is back on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway July 21st
00:10:21
Speaker
that will be the last race before the Olympic break. And then you get a month straight of races at actually really four different types of racetrack. And I like the variety heading into the the last part of the regular season there. Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, Darlington are your last four races before the playoffs start. I like that variety. And I actually think having the final race before the playoffs be Darlington could be really cool.
Darlington as Final Playoff Race
00:10:52
Speaker
Uh, cause it'll force you. There's so many tire strategies available at Darlington. Do you take two here and take your chances on that just to get track position at the front, you know, tires fall off so much there that there are comers and goers. And you're talking, uh, Dylan and Jake, both of you about, you know, drivers being able to make a, a surprise win at some point. We remember who's won a couple of the last three or four Southern 500's who's otherwise not had a great season overall was Eric Jones.
00:11:19
Speaker
Somebody like Kim could win another Southern 500 and find themselves in the playoffs. Definitely excited for that. The Glenn being in the playoffs will be cool. Overall, I think it'll be an interesting year. The only change that I'm still pleading for, and I think we're all on the same boat, is take the finale
Should the Championship Finale Rotate from Phoenix?
00:11:42
Speaker
away from Phoenix. Let's move it around a little bit.
00:11:47
Speaker
On, uh, one of the replies I saw on social media about the, uh, auto club finally having some dirt move there. Uh, somebody was like, why did we never have the championship finale there? Huge market. You want to be, have a presence in Southern California and the track race. Great. Because it was all ancient asphalt. So it ate up tires. Um, awesome championship for sure.
00:12:12
Speaker
It has a lot of the same profile as like a Kansas that we've all been saying would be a great championship race, right? It's just a half a mile longer and and for some reason they never considered having the championship there. So does Phoenix have it what year to year? I mean, is this a year to year? How long do they have it? I'm not sure exactly what the if there is like a contracted link or anything I mean the track is owned by NASCAR so they don't necessarily have to
00:12:40
Speaker
you know, abide by a contract. It's not like they have a contract with Pocono, which is independently owned or anything. I think there's kind of, I don't foresee NASCAR giving the championship race to a SMI track, you know, being Atlanta, Charlotte, Bristol, anything like that. But this NASCAR, I think, could certainly move it around amongst their own. I don't know if they're getting some sort of significant money from
00:13:09
Speaker
The Phoenix Convention Visitors Bureau or anything like that to have the race there. I'm not sure, but. Well, I think the whole point of it too was like, you know, they spent all that money renovating the track. That was the one track NASCAR spent, you know, I see, I guess, spent the money to, you know, do their changes that they made to Phoenix with the whole reconfiguration there. But I'll, I'll, one other note about the schedule.
00:13:32
Speaker
One thing that kind of scares me is the such early start, early time for Bristol, the first Bristol race, Sunday, March 17th. That's going to be tough, you know, but it could be in the middle of a winter storm, potentially there in the mountains of Tennessee. So I, one change, if I were to make one change stay in the Fox after the schedule, I would flip Bristol.
00:13:59
Speaker
And Sonoma, I've always, I know it's always like NASCAR Reddit and NASCAR Twitter has always been love to go to Sonoma when it's green and not a desert. Well, if you went, you know, in early March, mid March, you could end the West coast swing there with your three races on the West coast by going to
Concerns for Early Spring Race at Martinsville
00:14:17
Speaker
Sonoma. Um, and then go to Bristol for the night race to end the Fox season. That would be, I think would be a cool way to cap off the Fox part of the year.
00:14:27
Speaker
Yeah, I agree that that would be pretty cool. And it's interesting you mentioned the cold potential at Bristol because I feel like the last couple of races of Martinsville in the spring have been very difficult because it's been cold and they've been having trouble with the tires wearing onto the concrete, right? Because the concrete stays so cold. And that's been April, right? We know Bristol is all concrete, right? Well, this year it's in April 7th, but yeah.
00:14:57
Speaker
Uh, but I think in, in the last couple of years, it's been a little earlier and, uh, and it still had issues with, uh, getting tire wear on the concrete. And we know Bristol is all concrete. So that certainly could be, you know, you're right, Dylan, it could turn into a, just a one group racetrack where they just run around the bottom. Cause there's no second lane being formed. Yeah, definitely. Interesting. Uh, you mentioned Fox, Dylan. I don't, I don't see many changes as far as, um,
00:15:25
Speaker
start times or, you know, network versus cable. It seems to be all the same as it was this year. One thing I will say, though, having it on Fox right after the West Coast swing, that's usually when ratings are still pretty high. You know, that could pull a pretty good TV number. That might have been, you know, part of the factor in putting it, you know, that early in the season. Elaine is going to have a great TV number, I think, because, you know,
00:15:53
Speaker
Going straight from Daytona to a similar style race at Atlanta. I think that's going to be great. And they used to go to Atlanta right after Daytona, correct? 20 years ago, it was, it was, it was Daytona Rockingham, Atlanta. Rockingham. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. I was actually in Rockingham. I drove through Rockingham, North Carolina yesterday. I didn't get a chance to go by the racetrack, but it was cool to see the sciences. Welcome to Rockingham. They're on the side of the highway.
00:16:24
Speaker
Uh, I will say that Richmond, uh, spring race is back to being a night race because it's on Easter Sunday. Uh, I think the last few years that that race had been at daytime race on a Sunday afternoon. So it was going to a Sunday night several years. It hasn't been a night race in the spring race. Hasn't been a night race in a while. Yeah. Um, the father's day race is at, uh, at Iowa. That'll be a seven PM start. That is the transition. That's going to be the first race for, uh, NBC's crew.
00:16:55
Speaker
And I like the idea of having it at nighttime because that Father's Day Sunday is always the finale or the final round of the US Open golf tournament. And so just going head to head against that doesn't make sense to being able to put it on after that's all done. I will make for a pretty awesome Father's Day. I mean, I know my dad would appreciate watching the end of the US Open and then flip it right over and watch an NASCAR race to wrap up Father's Day.
00:17:24
Speaker
Yeah.
Daytona Race Timing Adjustment
00:17:26
Speaker
One thing about Daytona too, moving up a week, one more thing, especially TV numbers wise, it won't be going head to head, you know, maybe week zero college football season, but won't be going head to head with week one. Like it has been. Um, so very true number there. That is very true. Yeah. So it'll be Saturday, August 24th. So it would be week zero at a 7 30. PM.
00:17:51
Speaker
So a lot to look forward to with the 2024 Cup Series schedule. I just want to hit on the Xfinity and Truck Series schedule because those races mirror the Cup Series quite a bit. There's only one one-off race for each one of those. So that one is June 1st in the Xfinity Series. The series goes to Portland while the Cup Series that weekend
00:18:21
Speaker
is at worldwide technology site Gateway. And then the truck series schedule, they will... Oh, I gotta get the right tab on the website here. There we go. The truck series schedule will be at the Milwaukee mile on August 25th. So that's the weekend of the Daytona race in the summer.
00:18:48
Speaker
So that'll be actually a Sunday race while the Cup series will race on Saturday. The Truck series will race on Sunday at Milwaukee. But only one one-off race for each one of those, which I suppose helps with the teams and stuff because they do share pit crews and everything so much. And so I guess those two races will have non-competitive pit stops as they've had in the last couple of years.
00:19:15
Speaker
So anything else on the schedule you guys want to head on? I know there's been some chatter in our group chat about trying to make a trip to Indianapolis and go to that race together. And I think that would be a blast. I love downtown Indianapolis. I guess my only, I don't want to call it a gripe, my only kind of sigh about that is that there's not really any camping at IMS.
Drawbacks for Fans at Indianapolis
00:19:40
Speaker
It's not nearly as much as like a Daytona or a Michigan or something like that.
00:19:45
Speaker
Uh, still, I think it would be a great time if we can make that happen. Absolutely. Yeah. We need to take the show on the road and invite the followers to come out like, uh, like a tweet up like Jeff and Bob Pockers do. We totally could. We could even, uh, take the show on the road and go to Jeff and Bob's tweet up. Yep.
Haley Deegan Joins AM Racing
00:20:06
Speaker
Maybe get a quote from them to put on the pod. Very cool. Yeah. We'll have to work on that for sure.
00:20:13
Speaker
And like I said, downtown Indy, if you've not been, I think is one of the most underrated downtowns in the United States. So, uh, so let's look forward to in 2024. Uh, one more thing in 2024, I guess it was announced last week that Haley Deegan is officially moving her way up to the Xfinity series. She'll be in the second car, uh, for AM
Carson Hocevar's Move to Spire Motorsports
00:20:35
Speaker
racing, uh, that has been, uh, a team, a single car team this year with Brett Moffat. He's Moffat unconfirmed for next year.
00:20:44
Speaker
that you have one confirmed driver in the AM racing stable and that will be Haley Deegan. I think this is a move a long time coming and I'm excited what she can do, see what she can do when hopefully she's not getting wrecked out in a bunch of other people's messes like she has been in the truck series. Yeah, I think this is very exciting overall just for the sport because we know her draw a lot of fans and
00:21:12
Speaker
So anytime you can get a driver as popular and move them up, I think it is exciting. And I'm interested to see how she does. Yeah, same here. Hopefully we can see some improvement. I think that's the biggest thing. And just knowing her schedule and in terms of Xfinity, you're going to be racing more races than the truck series. And it's going to be more consistent, stay in the headlines more.
00:21:41
Speaker
Definitely looking forward to that, at least. And some news for 2024 that just dropped right as we started recording this. It's been long awaited the news of what Cup Series fell in and Truck Series driver Carson Hosevar would be doing in 2024. And it's been announced that he will be in the 77 car for Spire Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. So it sounds like the Spire stable will be Cory Lajuli, Carson Hosevar,
00:22:11
Speaker
and Zane Smith next year. And honestly, that's a pretty good stable, I'd say. And given the amount of money that Spire has thrown around with getting that live fast charter and then buying KBM, I would certainly think that they're fully into we're here to win now mode. They're going to spend the money where they need to and put some really competitive cars on the track.
00:22:41
Speaker
That's for Spire and what they're building. I mean, that's as good as it gets. We've talked about Carson here numerous times, and I think he's one of the talks of the garage when he's in and how he's performed in the Cup series when he's gotten the chances. Even the season, he's putting together in the other series. But, man, Spire, their stock is going up, so buy now.
00:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, and the stock is definitely growing up. Next year, the expectations part is going to be tough. But there are a lot of opportunities they could sneak in a win. So I don't really necessarily know how high is too high for those expectations. I have an interesting Carson house of our story, actually. So if any of you haven't been to the Roval weekend or the Cook 600 weekend, usually when NASCAR is racing,
00:23:41
Speaker
there in at Charlotte that a lot of the teams will have extended hours or extended openings, if you will, to have like shop tours. They'll have an open house or something like that. So I went to the legacy motorclubs GMS open house on Friday last week while I was in North Carolina and
00:24:07
Speaker
Weirdly enough, the first person I saw there is a guy I know from back home in Huntington West Virginia. His name is Steve Chapman. He's a Richard Petty diehard fan. He was there to get Eric Jones' autograph on an entire 2021 Gen 6 front bumper that he has. He's going to put it somewhere in his house.
00:24:29
Speaker
And he was like, well, go on and get a, so legacy had like body parts for sale. They had like a hood was on sale for like 500 bucks. They had a whole like, um, next gen, like front nose piece. Uh, it was pretty priced something like 400 bucks. And, and she was like, go ahead and get something so you can get a sign. I'm like, see if I flew down here, I have no way of getting it home. And he's like, well, when are you going to be a Huntington next Thanksgiving? Why? He's like,
00:24:58
Speaker
We'll go get you a piece, and then I'll drive it home to Huntington. And you can get it when you're back in town for
Carson Hocevar's Performance and Team Dynamics
00:25:02
Speaker
Thanksgiving. So I got a Carson Harsivar front fender piece from his race at Kansas in the 42 car. And I got a sign by Richard Petty. And then I'm going to hold onto it and try to get a sign by Carson Harsivar at some point. And then it'll have a spot in the main cave or the garage or something going forward.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah, they seem to be really happy with Carson Hosevar over at Legacy Motor Club. I have to say, if they weren't going over to the Toyota camp, I feel like he would be a top candidate to stay in that 42 car because the gains that they found with him behind the wheel in the last couple of weeks has been really impressive. And it was just now, I think last week, that he is going to finish the season on the ovals.
00:25:49
Speaker
in that 42 car. So Mike Rockenfeller drove it in the, uh, in the rovo race this past week. Of course, the, uh, garage 56 teammate of Jimmy Johnson, but Carson Hosevar will be in the car for the rest of the year.
Spire Motorsports Driver Strategy
00:26:03
Speaker
And I think that's just going to give him a leg up, right? You know, spires getting guys that don't have a ton of cup experience, but you know, St. Smith's had a cup of tea in the cup series, uh, Carson Hosevar same boat. And I think they've both run well in their opportunity. So.
00:26:18
Speaker
It's not like they're getting rookies fresh off having never driven a next gen car. Worth mentioning too, that I guess after the win on Sunday, AJ Allmendinger was very emotional. And it sounds like he might not be back in that 16 car next year. Is that the vibe you guys got too? That's, you know, I was watching the race and I loved the emotion and you see it from him.
00:26:48
Speaker
And then, you know, in the hours after, you know, you start to realize, well, maybe, you know, he mentioned, you know, winning in the cup series and how tough and, you know, something to affect, like, you don't know when the next one might be. And you start thinking, well, maybe, you know, maybe he's on his way out. And it's been,
00:27:09
Speaker
Certainly right now it's an up season for him, but there's been a lot of downs this year Especially I know he hasn't been happy with his previous results on the road courses and some people Myself included pegged him. I remember in our very first show as a sleeper Didn't work out for him to make the playoffs, but you know getting a win like that Certainly is emotional especially, you know
00:27:35
Speaker
when he realizes that the writing might be on the wall for him in that car this season? Yeah, it's, it's kind of sad because he, you know, he's, there's, I kept mentioning on the broadcast, he's a company guy.
AJ Allmendinger's Future Speculations
00:27:50
Speaker
Um, so, you know, I know the colleague loves, loves to have him, but you know, when it comes down to money, potentially in the end, you know, money talks, unfortunately. So, uh, some potential drivers that could fit in that 16 car,
00:28:06
Speaker
Uh, are yet to be named. It sounds like colleague knows what they're doing. They just haven't announced it yet. So we'll be, uh, we'll be awaiting that and pass it along once we, uh, and give our analysis once we do hear something. Uh, I saw an interesting rumor. I want to get your guys thoughts
Potential Driver Changes at SHR
00:28:20
Speaker
on it. That if, uh, if Eric Almerola indeed does retire after this year, it's still up in the air that, uh, leading candidate to get into that car would be Noah Gregson. Wow.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, I guess potentially maybe a little bit of money that's the only thing I could think Yeah, I just don't know right now About Noah but you know Eric What at what point last year? What wasn't he late to make a decision last year as well her last it was before this He was late, but I felt like he had he had made a decision before now. I mean this this is I
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. You would think, you know, as a team, you would like, you know, the driver to make a decision by now. So maybe they know. But I know Al Marola, when you think about, you know, sponsorships these days, himself in Smithfield, I mean, that is that is as strong as it gets in the cup series right now. And that's pretty, pretty important. And you wonder, you know, what will happen with that if he does leave?
00:29:30
Speaker
As far as replacements go, I guess we'll see when the announcement gets made. Noah, we know how it ended this season. It was pretty disappointing all the way around, but he deserves, I guess you would call it a second chance here in the cup series with the way that ended with legacy. Hopefully he gets one. It certainly would be interesting.
Eric Almarola's Sponsorship and Retirement
00:29:57
Speaker
I think Stuart Haas Racing
00:29:59
Speaker
needs some kind of a spark here. But do you think that what the holdup is is money and the fact that Smithfield is going to stay on with Eric Gomorola as long as you know they can't find anyone else to put up that kind of money and Smithfield's like hey Eric we will continue to you know as long as you want to go
00:30:24
Speaker
Eric might not be wanting to, you know, really continue that. I mean, I think he would step away potentially, but I think that, you know, the amount of money that Smithfield to want to give him and get the team to, you know, drive a full-time season, that might be what the holdup's been the last couple of years. Yeah. Just my opinion. Yeah. I feel like there has been some talk about how, um, you know, I think at least last year there was some talk was like, okay,
00:30:52
Speaker
Like it really hinges on whether Smithfield's coming back, that if they were back, that Eric would be back. Now, I've not heard anything to that nature. It sounds like it's purely just an Eric Almerol decision on, is he retiring or not? So, and like you guys said, I'm sure that SHR would prefer to know sooner rather than later because the pool of qualified drivers is very shallow right now. Absolutely. Maybe, could it be Matty D?
Sam Mayer's Impact on Xfinity Playoffs
00:31:25
Speaker
That would be a I'll be digging kind of deep I think it would be but I don't know of anyone else besides Noah Gregson Yeah, true. I guess Noah does have the advantage of having next-gen experience that Matt does not yeah Well, let's get on to the racing this weekend at the roval sorry there was a lot of new stuff to talk about there but we're now on to the roval a
00:31:52
Speaker
A big win on Saturday in the Xfinity series for Sam Mayer. I almost said Sammy Smith there. I had the S right. Sam Mayer gets the win and jumps up from being eliminated to locking himself in the playoffs and bumping Driver out in the process. I think it was Cole Custer who got the bump on that. So the final four in the
00:32:21
Speaker
Or excuse me, I messed that up. It was Daniel Hemmerich who got the bump with Sam Mayer winning. And then to now your final eight in the Xfinity series are John Henner Nemechek, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed, and Sammy Smith. The drivers eliminated. Daniel Hemmerich, Parker Kligerman, Josh Berry, and Jeb Burton.
00:32:51
Speaker
I thought the race was okay from what I saw. I thought it had actually more action than the Cup Series race. I was impressed with the ability of guys like Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier to work their way back to the field and after some pit strategy. Man, I hate it though for Allgaier. It just got cleaned out by Jeb Burton. I can't blame Jeb for staying out and trying to get the track position because he needed a win to make it into the next round of the playoffs as well.
00:33:22
Speaker
cleaning cleaning Justin out like that was tough to watch from what I saw I wasn't able to watch it live so I rewatched a lot of the race recap there on YouTube but yeah I agree I thought as far as you know the action there was a just a little more in the Xfinity series but you know the
00:33:50
Speaker
The roval has kind of been underwhelming to me, well, this year as well. I think it might just be time. We just talked about the schedule and here we go with more schedule talk. I was maybe to go back to the regular track there at Charlotte the Oval. But in the Xfinity series, when you look at the playoff standings right now,
00:34:17
Speaker
You know, anything can happen, but I just think that out of these eight, you know, I, you know, it would be shocking if the Final Four didn't at least consist of John Hunter, Nemechek, Hill, and Allgaier. And then, so I think, you know, those other five are kind of battling for that final spot, you know, between Mayer, Custer, Smith, Creed, in both Smiths. But yeah, I thought,
00:34:48
Speaker
When you look at it overall, it's good for Sam Mayer to sneak in and get that win to advance in the next round because we mentioned this year with Junior Motorsports and some of the troubles they've had. But now they have two drivers right now heading into the round of eight that are in the top four in the standings. So shout out to Junior Motorsports and Sam for getting the big win.
00:35:20
Speaker
I do think the Xfinity race had a little bit more drama than, uh, the, the cup race because of all those reasons, uh, Dale Jr's reaction kind of after the race, you know, he's saying I'm a proud team writer. There was a lot that went on with his team during that race and they were able to, uh, you know, prevail in the end. So I watched the end of the race and missed the first half, but yeah, the Xfinity series just, I think delivered once again, um, when
00:35:51
Speaker
when we're gonna need some excitement delivered.
Challenges of Following the Cup Race
00:35:55
Speaker
As I mentioned, I went to the cup race on Sunday. And from what I saw, you know, of watching the Xfinity race back, I thought, man, I should have gone to the Xfinity race, which I should have known better, right? Because I mean, I've said all season long that the Xfinity race has been the best racing of the season. But yeah, the Xfinity race had some good battles there. It was it was good to see. I mean,
00:36:23
Speaker
you look at the point standings, Hamrick missed the cup by two points, Klugerman made it by five points. So they were within just a handful of positions of advancing. I thought that made it more exciting than the cup race because I think the cup cutoff was like 12 points different. So a lot of positions to be made up in a cup series race there to make a difference. And so I definitely thought the Xfinity race put on a better show.
00:36:52
Speaker
The only thing, I mean, I guess the only thing I could say is that it was, uh, it was exciting to see that there was people willing to make, you know, charges into corners, uh, in the XFINITY series that I just didn't see on Sunday in the cup series race. You know, there was some guys who did it in the cup series race into the backstretched chicane and the frontstretched chicane, but, um,
00:37:17
Speaker
you know, the Xfinity guys that were sending it. And so that was definitely exciting to see when I watched the race back. Anything else you guys noticed from the Xfinity series race? I noticed that Jordan Taylor was in the 11 car for for colleague and had a finish in the, like just just outside of the top 10. So other than that, what'd you guys notice? I actually want to give a shout out real quick. I thought Alex LeBay had a great race going until he had contact.
00:37:47
Speaker
And bummer for them. But he had a really good race going, so I want to give them a shot out. I guess nothing else in the Xfinity race then. Must not have been as good as I hyped it up to be, right? No, I mean, we just, especially Jake, I think in his YouTube recap, that's when you know YouTube recaps the race well. He's able to cover all the big things.
00:38:15
Speaker
For sure. Yep. Okay. So Sunday, uh, the cup series race, I want to start off and you guys give your reactions based on what you saw on television. And then I'll give a, uh, my, my reaction from being at the track. Sorry, a little bit of a distraction going on right now as my, my wife just walked through. Um, hi, Aaron.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yes. Now wife. So my new, my, no, I guess I have to respond here. Yes. Yes. My first episode since I got married. Um, but I, you Braxton, you mentioned, um, you know how you thought the Xfinity series cars in the drivers were a little more aggressive, you know, diving into the, some of the corners and Dylan mentioned, uh, just, you know, how some, uh,
00:39:12
Speaker
drivers in the cup series, you know, we're pretty much racing for points and it, some of the strategy like took Tyler Radek out of contention. And that, that is, is to be considered. And I think some of it may have taken the aggressiveness out of some of the drivers who are just trying to, you know, might, might be able to want us to scoot into the next round or, you know, play rather more conservatively and aggressively. Certainly, you know, a guy like AJ Allmendinger is going to go all
00:39:39
Speaker
guy like Chase Elliott, nothing to lose once a win will go all out. But, you know, but, but also the Xfinity series is in the playoffs too. And you, you just saw a little more aggression. So I guess that theory, we might be a little gunned down, but, um, you know, I, I enjoyed it, but you know, I, I just think the Robles for me has lost just a little bit of luster.
Is the Roval the Most Unique Track?
00:40:06
Speaker
And maybe it may just come down to oversaturation of these types of tracks on the schedule. I do think it was one of the better road courses of the season, though. It might just go back. Is it the car? Is it the car? Is it not the robo? Because I do think the robo produces a good product. I think it's raced better than Sonoma has in recent years.
00:40:35
Speaker
There is some of the, you know, it does still have it's, you know, it's the road will still has that, but, um, the comments that it makes it the most unique track and NASCAR that was made, you know, by ownership group. It's not the most unique track because Daytona can do the exact exact same thing and also host one of the biggest motor racing events in the world and the 24 hours of Daytona. So don't say.
00:41:03
Speaker
that it's the most unique, maybe it's the most unique, uh, within the company. Yes, it is, but it is not the most unique in racing. That is the most unique SMI track. Yes, definitely. He could have just said that because Daytona's can do more than that. And SMI does own Sonoma, which has a drag strip in the middle of it too, for what it's worth. Yeah, that's a good point. But it also owns.
00:41:33
Speaker
you know, Charlotte and Bristol, which have drag races on the property. But, um, but back to the race, I hate it for Tyler Riddick. He needed to race for points obviously, but I think he would have won this easily. He had the fastest car. I think he was able to go through the field. Um, I do think it would have been cool to see, not really cool to see, I think it would have been entertaining to see chase Elliott and Tyler Riddick head to head on the same strategy for the final stage. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way.
00:42:03
Speaker
Um, but that, that would have been cool to see, cause I think they were the two best, you know, with AJ Almondinger in that group as well. But I think Chase was a little bit better than AJ and Tyler Reddick was better than both of them. Um, but you know, me, how I watch a race like that is I try to pick out, you know, I love watching, you know, lap times going on the NASCAR app, seeing, especially out of race. If I'm at one sitting the lap time, see who, who can improve late in the run. Um,
00:42:31
Speaker
With the stages, you don't really get that as much, you know, super long runs where you can see, Oh, who's charging late in a run? So we didn't really get any of that. Um, but, uh, but I don't know. I, I think it just all got jumbled up and in the end it just was AJ, you know, being old, typical AJ and what was better than everybody else around him there at the end. Yeah, I do agree that it would have been nice to see some sort of context on the lap times, uh, for what it was worth.
00:43:01
Speaker
In my experience at the track, cellular data was not very good at all. They did out for Wi-Fi in the concourses, but in my seat, I couldn't get the Wi-Fi, so they didn't really offer me any help at all. And I felt like at the race, I did get a scanner, and I chose to listen just to a cycle of driver comms. So I have Truex.
00:43:32
Speaker
Almond Dinger, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Kyle Larson, Brad Kozlowski, a handful of drivers that were playoff drivers or in contention for the win. I think I had Redick in there, too, and Bubba. And I felt like I was very disconnected compared to watching on TV. My seat was, like,
00:43:59
Speaker
lower lower third, if you will, of the of the grandstand right where turn one for the road course goes to the left and then into the infield and then turn eight goes out of the infield back into the big track. And so I felt like I could see a good chunk of the race. I could look down on the left and see the front stretch chicane. I could see the big track, all of the big track early, except a part of the back straight away. I wasn't quite high enough to see.
00:44:26
Speaker
And then I couldn't see the back part of the the infield portion. So turns two through five and a half. I couldn't I could see the exit of six. And then as they came to seven and an eight. And but even then, like, you know, so much of the of what's made the roval so special and exciting, I think, in years past has been drivers just sending it into turn one and making some crazy dive bomb moves. And, you know, you saw in
00:44:54
Speaker
What was it? The first or second race where Chase Elliott knows it into the tire barrier and then, uh, went on to win the race. Like there was nothing like that. There was very little action in turn one, I thought. And that, that was, now it's disappointing to me. Uh, I think there was a couple of good passes and, um, in turn eight, where AJ Almondinger, I think got underneath, um, Kyle Bush for the race lead. He made that move off of turn eight. And so that was cool to get to see as he, as they,
00:45:24
Speaker
He was able to get underneath Kyle on the big track, turn one, and then go on and take the lead going into the back strip chicane. But I just felt generally disconnected. And especially at a playoff race, I had no idea what was going on with the point situation. Except for a couple of times during cautions, Cliff Daniels would come on and give Kyle Larson an update. And Cliff gave a lot of big picture information. So I was able to understand what was going on there.
00:45:54
Speaker
Um, yeah, I certainly could have listened to the TV broadcast, but I felt like I really needed two scanners so I could have one on the TV broadcast and one cycling through driver, uh, audio to, to really get a big picture and a kind of holistic view that I just, I just really missed being at the track. I will say not able to hear, were you not able to hear the, uh, you know, PA system, but were they not, was that radio not enough to update you on that? Or you just couldn't hear cause you had this scanner in.
00:46:24
Speaker
I just had the scanner on my head, so I couldn't really hear any PA and stuff. Especially when the cars were going and then having the scanner on my ears and stuff, the PA got kind of drowned out. So I missed a good chunk of that. But during cautions, I would take the scanner off for a little bit. And I took one ear off because I still wanted to hear it. That was a lot of times when
00:46:47
Speaker
You know, crews and drivers are having a lot more extended conversations, understanding the strategy and stuff like that. Uh, but also I wanted to hear what the PA was saying. Um, so, um, like I said, I certainly could have turned it tuned in the scanner to the TV or the radio broadcast. I just made a conscious decision not to just kind of get an understanding of what that race experience is like. And, uh, and it was definitely, uh, definitely one that I probably wouldn't do again.
00:47:16
Speaker
Um, but still, it was cool to hear kind of all of that. Um, you know, they're talking to Kyle Bush about where AJ was better and, and where Kyle was better. And then Kyle Larson, you know, it was interesting hearing his radio all day. Cause they had that crash on Saturday and had to start from the rear in the backup car and, uh, and worked their way up. And that was a huge effort from that team to get the backup car ready and then make up enough spots to get the points they needed to point their way in.
00:47:47
Speaker
You know you talk about your the your experience at the track especially with the playoffs and the points and Dylan and I Have been to Martinsville recently And my experience last last fall with the Hail melon And I sat counted you know in the turn going into turn four and out of it and
Martinsville vs. Roval for Fan Visibility
00:48:17
Speaker
Man, that's one of the reasons why I love going to Martinsville. You can see everything. I could kind of tell everything at once. I could hear the PA at some point, only during cautions though, because I guess the short track, you don't really get a break with the noise, that's for sure. But it's tough. I've never been to a road course. I guess it's honestly probably a whole different experience from anything else.
00:48:46
Speaker
that you will go to NASCAR wise. So it's interesting to hear your perspective on going to a road course, especially during the playoffs. Yeah, I will say, so you have a good point about Martinsville. It's good. You had something to do on, sorry. I was just going to say that's the one style track I've never been to was a road course.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah, so you have a good point on Martinsville and I guess Bristol and to other short tracks would be the same way. It's depending on where you sit, especially in one of the corners is that you don't have to like move your vision very much to see the entire racetrack.
00:49:23
Speaker
Whereas where I was sitting, I had to turn my head pretty far to the left to see the big track turns three and four and then coming to the front shut chicane and the start finish line. And then like the turn one and two kind of complex. And then the exit off of the infield was straight ahead of me. And then over to the right was big track one and two. So I had I had to turn my head a lot to see a lot of stuff. And I felt like I missed a lot of things like
00:49:51
Speaker
I had no idea until after the race when I was catching up with stuff on social media that Bubba didn't miss the chicane. He got kind of punted through the chicane and then ultimately penalized for it. And I'm like, oh, that's a bunch of crap. I had no idea any of the context behind that or any of like, you know, when Brad Kozlowski kind of had a similar deal and ended up having to do a pass through. I had no context of what happened there. Whereas, you know, you might not see everything at a
00:50:21
Speaker
Uh, at a short track, but I feel like you could see more and, and it's all right there in front of you. Also, I wouldn't even say that I've been to a road course race only because going to, uh, the road course, I like the Roval is totally different than, um,
00:50:41
Speaker
It's totally different than going to like a Road America or a Sonoma or a Watkins Glen where you really only see the cars for a couple of seconds at a time as they go by. So that's definitely different too. It was a cool experience going to the fan plaza and seeing everybody out in the campgrounds and stuff. I was excited for that.
00:51:04
Speaker
the race experience itself, I felt really isolated from the information stream, and I probably wouldn't make that choice again, to be honest with you. Where were most people sitting, just near start-finish? Yeah, I mean, the front stretch grandstands, because the grandstands basically go from the exit of turn four all the way to the entrance of turn one, right through the quad oval and everything, and the stands were
00:51:33
Speaker
Pretty packed, I thought. It wasn't a sold out crowd, but I had a few seats around me that were empty, so enough for people to spread out and not be sitting on top of each other, but it was a pretty sizable crowd and all spread out throughout the grandstands. Certainly they don't have much interest in watching the Carolina Panthers. No, not after my Detroit Lions put the curtain on them on Sunday either. There you go.
00:52:01
Speaker
Well, let's get to pop-up showers. You kind of already did yours, Jake, with the... Actually, real quick, before we do that, we got to mention that it was won by AJ Elmendinger. We mentioned that the playoffs as a stand. So Byron Blaney advanced on wind, then pointing their way in was Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chris Busher, Tyler Edick, Kyle Larson, and Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Brad Kislowski, and Kyle Bush.
00:52:31
Speaker
but all four of them eliminated. We're noting that Truex is only in the top eight in the driver standings. Chase Elliott has gotten that nine car into the top eight of the owner standings. So they're still in the owner's playoffs. That's the one difference between owners and the driver standings for this round.
00:52:55
Speaker
As it stands right now William Byron leads the way he's put together a solid playoffs He is plus 20 to the cut entering Vegas Truex plus 15 to the cut still writing those regular season playoff points But he's definitely not been the same driver in the playoffs that he was in the regular season same with Denny Hamlin to an extent as well starts the Round of eight plus 11 Kyle Larson just plus three Chris Busher
00:53:22
Speaker
minus three, Christopher Bell, minus eight, Tyler Eddick, minus eight, and Ryan Blaney, minus 10, as the Cup and Xfinity series head to Las Vegas this weekend. So now we'll do some pop-up showers. Jake, you did yours, or do you have something else you want to add there? Yep, that was mine. I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the schedule for all three series. I think we definitely exhausted that, right?
00:53:51
Speaker
Yeah, I would just want to say that my Motorsports Monday segment is now on my TV station. It is now officially sponsored by Camargo Transmission and Autos. Obviously, I don't sponsor this show, so I won't be getting too much of a shout out out here, but I just want to say that we will be continuing my local motorsports and NASCAR and motorsports as a whole coverage.
00:54:18
Speaker
you know, very few TV stations anymore. And mine is now committed to doing that through next year. So next summer should be a fun summer in terms of getting, you know, the local short track product put on television. So I'm excited for that. That's fantastic. And especially too, with you're an ABC station, right? So you, uh, you have the partnership with, with some ESPN stuff. So you got some Formula one things going on after the NASCAR season ends.
00:54:48
Speaker
So, uh, a lot of exciting stuff for you there. That's awesome. And, uh, you know, honestly, the portal to get on to NASCAR media was easy to apply for, get on. Um, and they are, they will post all the driver interviews on there, um, a lot of access to video through that. Uh, that's a good thing. NASCAR and IndyCar does a fantastic job. I mean, these groups want their product to be, you know, on television. So if, uh, especially a local TV person is, you know,
00:55:17
Speaker
wanting to get info, man, we get press releases for everything from IndyCar announcing to us and, you know, access to all their video and audio and stuff. It's pretty cool. And it's fantastic. My pop-up shower is as I'm going to go with the whirlwind few days, it's going to be for Kyle Larson. So, of course, he was at the NASCAR weekend this past weekend at the Roval, caught his way up and
00:55:46
Speaker
from starting dead last into advancing into the next round of the playoffs. As we record this podcast, he is at Lincoln Park Speedway in Indiana with his high limit racing series, trying to win the championship there. As soon as we finish recording, I'm going to turn that on. And then starting probably I think tomorrow or later today or no, not later today, tomorrow or Thursday, he is going through his
00:56:14
Speaker
Ricky orientation process at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to get up to speed with driving an Indy car at the famed oval and so I Don't know how you could possibly go from three different type driving cars in the span of four days But he is going to do it and it'll be exciting to see how he does at that ROP Session for Indy car and and gets up to speed there
00:56:43
Speaker
All right, well, let's take a look at our race picks from this past week. Kind of actually, Dylan, you nearly nailed it with Kyle Busch at the road course, which he's never been known for being a super good road course driver, but he led the way of all of our picks. So well done there. He finished third, getting 38 points. I had our second highest finish was Christopher Buscher with seventh place finish, 30 points.
00:57:12
Speaker
Jake had Chase Elliott, ninth place, 42 points. Big points today there for Chase and for Jake, high point getter of the week for us. And then Steve's MTJ pick, 19th, sorry, 20th. He's struggled in the playoffs. He's not better than 15th in the playoffs. Wow. Right. That's just crazy. And he's still entering the semifinal round, if you will, plus 15. Yeah, that's the vein. I mean, people say,
00:57:38
Speaker
You know, forget all these points don't matter now, you have to win. No, I mean, it proves that if you can be the regular season champion, you still, it still carries a lot of weight. For sure. You got 27 points. You got some stage points and finishing 20th. So our full season standings, Dylan is ahead by, uh, what is it? 93 points now, uh, over Steve.
00:58:04
Speaker
Jake is in second, he's only 23 points behind Steve and I have 50 points back of Jake. I'm dead last still. So I figured out some math. So the max points you can earn in a weekend, in a race weekend is 60 points. That's sweeping both stages and the race. So if, basically if Dylan has more than a 60 point lead,
00:58:30
Speaker
after Martinsville so heading to Phoenix and he's already got the championship for our actual picks lined up maybe 120 for actually it'd be 61 points minimum 122 or 121 points minimum for Martinsville
00:58:46
Speaker
after if he's like the head of that much heading into Martinsville and then use add 60 basically to all of those. So you could be having a situation depending on what happens the next couple of weeks that Dylan could lock up the championship before we get to Phoenix in our actual picks.
00:59:03
Speaker
We neglected to get a pick from Steve before recording tonight. So I guess we can all play nice and we'll accept a double pick as Steve picks one of the drivers that we picked. So after Steve and XNR picks is Jake, who are you liking tonight for this weekend at Vegas? Well, I'm a little bit bitter at AJ Olmendinger only because I picked him
00:59:32
Speaker
two times on road courses this season, and he had really, really bad results, especially I think last at CODA, and then kind of went off, decided not to pick him. He takes the win, but that's okay. I'm going to, Vegas is one of these where I think the stars really come out in the leaders of the points, and I'm gonna go with William Byron.
00:59:59
Speaker
really on the limb there. I need these points. If there's any, any miracle in catching Dylan in these points, got to, I guess I got to go with a heavy favorite. I do want to say one thing about William Byron to go first, second, second in that tough round of Kansas, Talladega, roblo might not be done again. Like that is,
01:00:28
Speaker
pretty impressive. Yeah, I will say, though, that, you know, we talked about it, Dylan, and Steven, I talked about it last week. And then I think there's a similar trend that happened this week is it seemed like, you know, there wasn't a lot of chaos at the at the at Talladega, and there wasn't a lot of chaos at
01:00:48
Speaker
The roval and I think that certainly played into it because you know you get some some of those talladega or roval races We've had in the last few years. You know there's there's very little chance I think William Byron does that one two two like you just said true All right, so Jake is going with William Byron Let's see at least I'm up next So go back to Vegas
01:01:16
Speaker
None of us did great at Vegas back in the spring. Steve had Truax who finished 7th. It was the highest finish. Had a couple. Jake picked Ross Chastain for that one. Nobody's picking Ross Chastain in a long time. Finished 12 back of back weeks. Oh yeah, there it is. Yeah, Dylan picked. Ryan Blaney and I picked.
01:01:40
Speaker
Uh, Joey Logano. And that was before we realized that the Forbes were not very good this year. So I won't be picking Logano again. Um, I think I'm going to go. Hmm. I'm torn between a couple of drivers. Uh, who wanted the Kansas race back in the spring? William Byron. William Byron. That's right. I knew it was either him. I thought it might've been Denny for some reason.
01:02:07
Speaker
OK, I think I'm going to go at Kansas or you said Kansas. Do you mean Vegas? Oh, Vegas. Yeah, that's right, Vegas. I think I'm going to go with Kyle Larson this week. I was hoping you would forget that he should have won that race in Vegas. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Hey, hey, you got a lead. I'm trying. We're trying to keep it interesting for the rest of season, Dylan. No, Dylan, I want to go with.
01:02:38
Speaker
I'm gonna go with Hamlin, man. So we all three did not take a very big risk. I think that could be one, two, three in any of the order we just said. So, so, so Dylan, you're in horse racing country. So would that be a trifecta if we, if we get it in whatever order? Yes, yes. We could hit a trifecta. Okay. Good deal. I'm learning, I'm learning the sports gambling lingo and the horse racing stuff.
01:03:08
Speaker
Um, don't ask me what a super effect is though. That's a lot. We need to see one of the books have a, uh, a trifecta. We can put our, all of our picks on it. Okay. We need to see if I had a sports book with it, but I will say too, your pick last week, Chris Busher Vegas for some reason, whoever was making the odds did not like Chris Busher last week. They had him.
01:03:34
Speaker
bad odds to barely even make the top 10. And I took full advantage of that. Thank you odds makers for continuing to drop that line last week. It started out around even money. It went up to like, I think plus 1600 or something like that for plus 160, sorry, to make the top 10. So that was pretty easy, I think. He had a bad qualifying effort, but he ran strong at the end. For sure. So we'll get Steve's pick.
01:04:04
Speaker
But we all the rest of us went out on a limb with Jake going William Byron Dylan going Denny Hamlin and I got Kyle Larson in our random pics Not a great week for us in that either I led the way with With Tyler Reddick then it was Jake had Kyle Larson finishing 13th Steve had Cori La Joy who finished 17th. That's actually a good run for Cori La Joy
01:04:33
Speaker
In that car and then Martin Shrix jr. Finishing 20th for Dylan in our random So don't look at the first pick this weekend random our point standings look like this I have 841 points my next challenger is Jake I think 91 points or 89 points 89 points behind me then it's Dylan just 19 points back of Jake and
01:05:01
Speaker
and Steve bringing up the rear by nearly 100 points on Dylan. So I think Steve almost has last place locked up unless he, unless he's able to somehow get like two or three wins in a row. So while I'm doing the spin, Dylan, you get to make the easiest forecast of the year on this because the cuff series doesn't race in San Diego, but Vegas might be the next easiest place to predict the weather, right?
01:05:29
Speaker
Yeah. And I was going to say, actually, it's not that hot there this week, but it's going to be heating back up mid eighties Sunday with a lot of sunshine. So, so that should be a recipe for good racing. Right. I mean, theoretically. You'd think so. Yeah. Uh, also it's a big weekend in Vegas because the, uh, PGA tour is in Vegas as well. So, um, Dylan, you got actually a really good pick. Tyler Rettick.
01:05:57
Speaker
Wow, yeah, I will take that. Let's see who's next next would go to Steve. The wheel for Steve lands on. OK, Alex Bowman. Not a bad pick, Bowman had actually a solid week for him not being probably you say he's the weakest road course racer at HMS and and he had a pretty solid week in that 48 car, so.
01:06:28
Speaker
Um, maybe you can carry some momentum into Vegas. Uh, the next pick. Oh no, I am so sorry to Jake. I'm not sure I had to go to look and see who is in the 78 car. You know what? I don't, I don't think I've had BJ all year. So why not?
01:06:58
Speaker
BJ, be surprised like how little he's come up, which is. Yeah. Okay.
Driver Picks for Vegas Race
01:07:04
Speaker
And then I get chase Elliott. So, uh, in our random pics, it's a Jake with BJ McLeod, Dylan with Tyler Reddick, Steve with Austin or sorry, Alex Bowman. And I have chase Elliott. I'm looking ahead to Vegas. Um, one important point I want to make.
01:07:26
Speaker
is I was looking at the Xfinity series entry list for Vegas, and I noticed a name I haven't seen in a long time on the entry list, and I have to give them a shout out. Driving the number 66 car for MBM, but it's going to be in a partnership with Alpha Prime, it's Ryan Reed.
01:07:52
Speaker
Yes, you heard that right. Ryan Reed, a former Roush Fenway Xfinity series driver, making his return to the Xfinity series after five years is going to be in that car. It sounds like it's going to be officially the MBM 66 entry, which I'm pretty sure has enough owner's points to qualify in because there are 40 cars going for 38 spots. But it's going to be a Chevrolet, and I'm certain it's going to be prepared
01:08:22
Speaker
under the Alpha Prime banner. But how cool is it to see a guy come back after not being in the series for five years, especially a guy that I think a lot of people had hopes for and thought he was pretty good. And then he just kind of disappeared when Roush wrapped up their Xfinity program. I'm certainly intrigued. It's nice to see some guys come back. And we've seen that a few times with Roush Fenway.
01:08:52
Speaker
Some guys come back, but it's exciting, interesting that, you know, it'll be in Vegas. Sometimes it'll be, might be at a little different kinds of tracks where, you know, drivers have, you know, whether a road course or something of that nature, a specialty track and you will, but excited to see what Ryan can do. Also, I want to give a shout out that, uh,
01:09:21
Speaker
in the 11 car or be Lane Riggs once again for colleague. I'm excited to see how he does because he has been tearing up the late model stocks and it'll be really cool to see what he's able to do in the 11 car and in a limited opportunity.
01:09:35
Speaker
Uh, for, for that organization. Also, I want to correct something I mentioned last week. Um, this is the news came out the week, my guess before that Daniel Dye has signed with McAnally, Hilgeman racing in the truck series for, uh, 2024. And I thought that was going to be, I forgot about MHR second truck. They already have this year with Jake Garcia. So it'll be a third truck for MHR. And I figured that out.
01:10:02
Speaker
Because when I went to the, uh, the legacy slash GMS open house, Matt McAnally shop is right next door to them. And so they had trucks sitting out front there and, uh, they had the 19 for Equus and then the 35 group for Garcia. And I just had to do a face palm. Yeah. Oh my gosh. I forgot about G Garcia. They'll tell me for that. So that'll be a third, uh, third truck for MHR. And ironically.
01:10:26
Speaker
It's literally next door. The GMS shop is next door to the McAnally shop. So that's pretty cool. Also, right down the street, like just down the street from the legacy slash GMS slash McAnally shops is Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing. I'd always wonder where that was. So that was pretty cool to drive by. Last thing on my trips to North Carolina,
01:10:53
Speaker
On Friday morning when I went to Statesville, I kind of went the circuitous route. So I took kind of back roads from Concord to Mooresville and then got on 77 there to go up to Statesville. And as I was on the back roads, just about to get into Mooresville, I look over to my right and I see a tan building or a couple of tan buildings with black windows. They looked very like 90s, like nice buildings for the 90s. Like you'd see like office buildings, like doctor's office or something like that in that era.
01:11:24
Speaker
And then I glanced back at the road and looked back over and caught this out of the corner of my eye, some script on a door that I recognized, and then realized that I had driven right by the old DEI shop, still sitting right there. And then I looked at it on Google Maps later on and realized that on the property, not just behind it,
01:11:52
Speaker
uh, you know, a ways back, you know, subway from the road on the property is, uh, is where Dale and Hart senior is buried. So, uh, that was interesting to, to see. And now I didn't go like to the, anything like that by any means, but, you know, seeing that online or whatever and realize I call it that, that is what I drove by. I was, I was an old DEI and it's, it's even labeled on, uh, on
01:12:17
Speaker
Google Maps as the deer head shop that you might hear Dale Jr. talking about all the time. So that was definitely something unique to drive by. And it looked like a ghost town. There's not been really anybody there. It's not been cleaned up in a while. So kind of sad that two nice shops and a lot of history are kind of just sitting there doing nothing.
01:12:42
Speaker
Alrighty, Sirius is going to Vegas. The trucks are off this weekend to just Xfinity and Cup. Anything you guys looking for at Vegas or keeping your eye on as we go on? A lot of silly season stuff still to sort out, then we'll keep you abreast of all of that as the season winds down. But what do you guys keep an eye on this week for Vegas? I'm looking forward to just, you know, getting to this type of racetrack and where I really think and
01:13:11
Speaker
saw buyer picks that the championship favorites will come to play here. And I think it'll make for a great race. And I'm, I'm, I'm really looking forward to this weekend more so than, you know, some other tracks recently on the playoff schedule. Yeah. Some of the better races this season had come down to the three are three picks really, you know, William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin you add in.
01:13:39
Speaker
somebody like Chase Elliott, who's actually earned by Saul, shout out to Ryan with I fantasy racing, earned the second most points in the playoffs. Chase Elliott, even though he's not in the playoffs, he has earned the second most points behind William Byron so far. So I think this is the race he could perform well at, especially given the strength of his team earlier in the season there. Yeah, I'm just looking to see.
01:14:07
Speaker
you know, how the the racing ends up being there because I think the the ratings have gone down is especially as NFL is picked up. NFL is setting huge ratings numbers every week in the NFL and NASCAR, it seems like is is suffering. So definitely curious to see how how the season and the last one of the last mile and a half to get to back to back, you got Vegas and then Homestead to produce some great racing and then
01:14:37
Speaker
The way the short track package has been with this next gen car could have a, unfortunately as it is, a couple of snoozers in Martinsville and Phoenix. So last couple of weeks perhaps to see some of the best racing of the season coming up here at Vegas and Homestead for sure. Well, a big thank you to all of you for tuning into Clouded with a Chance of Racing. We really appreciate it for all of you listening, sharing, subscribing, reviewing, all those good things online. We thank you so much for that.
01:15:06
Speaker
If you have a The desire to do so, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and follow along on social media at cloudy racing pod We hope to have Steve back with us next week when he's not on hockey or hopefully not on football duty either and we'll have a good discussion on the the Vegas race and and get ready for
01:15:32
Speaker
the final three races of the NASCAR season. So for Jake and Dylan, I'm Braxton. Thank you so much for listening to Claudia with a chance of racing episode 34. We'll be back after Vegas next week. Have a good one.