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Ep. 31: The Bristol Night Race Magic
12 Plays2 years ago
The whole gang is here this week, as Steve, Dillon, Jake, and Braxton review the news of last week and break down the playoff races for all three NASCAR national series at Bristol Motor Speedway.
In news, the guys discuss Kaulig Racing's "Arm-Gate" that culminated in Daniel Hemric being announced as the driver for the No. 31 Cup car in 2024, the blockbuster deal with Spire buying Live Fast's charter, and Trackhouse signing Zane Smith to a Cup Series contract. They also share their condolences for the passing of Sherry Pollex.
On the track, the guys note how the Truck race was rather tame for most Truck races, the Xfinity race produced possibly the best race of the year, and the Cup race redeemed some of the short track ire from earlier this season.
As always, the guys make their real and random picks for Texas, and Dillon gives his forecast for this weekend's action in Fort Worth.
If you like Cloudy With a Chance of Racing, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and follow along on social media @CloudyRacingPod.
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Transcript
Surprisingly Good Racing at Bristol?
00:00:15
Speaker
episode 31 of Cloudy with a Chance of Racing getting started right now. The whole cast of characters here with you. My name's Braxton, joined by Jake, Steve, and our meteorologist, Dylan. And it was a, I'd say, a pretty solid week of racing at Bristol. All things considered with the way the Cup Series has run on short tracks this year, I was pleasantly surprised with the racing, but how are you guys this Monday night?
00:00:40
Speaker
Solid. It's a Monday night football night that I would rather be podcasting. So that should tell you guys how happy I am to be here. There he is. I'm riding pretty high.
00:00:57
Speaker
from the Bristol weekend. One of my favorite drivers Bubba sneaks in to the round of 12. I think NASCAR tweeted out today that was the second largest deficit of a driver needing points to get into the next round of the playoffs in the playoffs.
00:01:15
Speaker
history. So that was a pleasant surprise.
Playoff Shakeup: Bubba In, Harvick and Logano Out
00:01:19
Speaker
Some guys like Harvick and Logano, two guys I picked in the championship race all the way at the beginning of the year get eliminated. But my champion prediction in Denny Hamlin is looking very strong as he took the checker flag. Yeah, this is a great race. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch most of this probably the first time all season that I've watched the
00:01:42
Speaker
infinity series race more than the actual cup race. Uh, but I still was able to go back and watch the replay and I followed along of course, during the whole thing as well. And the points stories, I know a lot of people kind of complained about how far Denny Hamlin was able to stretch his lead at the end, but the point stories, I think made it. And that's why it's a cutoff race.
00:02:08
Speaker
Well, a lot to get to. Let's start off with some news from the week because there was a lot of it and a lot of big news.
Daniel Hemric Joins Colleague Racing: Reactions
00:02:16
Speaker
Of course, there was Armgate earlier last week with Chris Rice, the president of Call of Gracing, posting a picture of a handshake where he just saw the arms and let everyone speculate whose arm is or whose hand is Chris Rice shaking and some very
00:02:38
Speaker
I don't want to call them creepy, but some very sleuthy internet sleuths. That's a good way of putting it, Steve. Literally, a freckle passed a hair, figured out that it was Daniel Hamrick, and they were accurate. Daniel Hamrick announced as the driver of the 31-cup car for cologracing in 2024, I'd say, OK, moved by colleague, in my opinion.
00:03:07
Speaker
They got an OK driver who has a year of Cup experience, although not in these cars. And and I would imagine they probably got him at a at a keep it in house discount compared to some other drivers. But what do you guys think? It's fine. I mean, I haven't really been wowed by Hemric. I mean, it seems like a.
00:03:30
Speaker
It's fine. There's really nothing I have that is going to say any like give them praise or not. I'm not sure. Well, let me let me ask you this. What? Obviously, I mean, for me it's obvious, but like who would you rather for the future, Daniel Hemmerich or Haley?
00:03:54
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I was going to bring up like people were saying that Matt DiBenedetto or was
How Does Hemric Compare to Other Drivers?
00:04:01
Speaker
a candidate like that. It could have been his arm. And my thought was.
00:04:05
Speaker
Daniel Hemric has exactly one national series win more than Matt DiBenedetto does. And the same holds true with Hailey Deegan. So I feel as though it's like a decent move. I saw that there were people who thought that DiBenedetto would have been like a potential candidate, which I think I've said before that I just don't see why anybody would want him there. At least Hemric has had
00:04:33
Speaker
moderate success, obviously, albeit not in the cup series. But so to me, I didn't really think one way or the other of it. But I truthfully, I would say that I would rather obviously have Justin Haley, but I would rather have I would rather have Hemmerich than DiBenedetto. So it's kind of a six to one half dozen to the other.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, when that was announced, myself and I think we all were just kind of, I guess, fun the way they did it with that handshake. But when you look at, even like Chris Rice making very interesting comments to the media when he signed them,
00:05:23
Speaker
Cause a lot of people are, you know, are questioning, you know, Hemric's career so far and what he's done, but I mean, he has won.
Colleague Racing's Future: Strategy and Performance
00:05:33
Speaker
But Rice said something to the effect, like, it doesn't matter how well you run on the track. It's how much you care talking about Daniel Hemric's passion, I guess, for racing. That raised a lot of eyebrows. I'm just like, colleague has kind of,
00:05:51
Speaker
It's just been, I guess, kind of stalled in a way, I feel like, in the Cup Series. When they came onto the scene, there were lots of high expectations. I mean, there still are. But you look at some other new teams that have came into the Cup Series, 2311, and Track House, and the success they've had. So colleagues looking for something. And they might get it.
00:06:19
Speaker
They're bringing in a guy with cup experience, not in this car as Braxton mentioned, but we'll just see where it goes from here. I'm really, I'd be real curious to get the full story with Justin Haley and in the backstory with his move and this following move here. Yeah, it's just kind of been the story as you just talked about Jake with
00:06:46
Speaker
their team has just been underwhelming. And this, this announcement, it's just like, no, it kind of feels like they're a back marker team just filling a seat with somebody that can bring some money. So I don't know. I wish it in the best though. He's always, he's always been a nice guy in the garage, it seems like. So I'll be rooting for him. I hope they can find some speed. You mentioned how they started out with a lot of expectations. I mean, remember Justin Haley,
00:07:14
Speaker
in the first clash was the fastest car in practice and stuff. I mean, I thought he was going to win the class the first clash. Yeah, like you said, Dylan, Hemric seems like he's been a stand-up guy throughout his entire career. He hasn't won enough for me to be like, this is a great hire. But I also understand why a colleague would want to keep the familiarity there.
00:07:43
Speaker
It also makes sense that I understand some drivers can be
00:07:49
Speaker
some difficult personalities. That's the nature of being a competitive person, right? Is it sometimes if you haven't matured and understand how to focus that competitive nature, that it can make you kind of a difficult personality to work with. And so perhaps this is a sign that Chris Rice and Matt Collett value having a good person who jives well with the team,
00:08:13
Speaker
in that seat as opposed to somebody who's perhaps going to break the team apart and be a fracturing personality in the seat. I don't know who else they were considering, but it's definitely worth thinking of reasons why they could be bringing Hemric over to the Cup Series. I will say, though, this does open up a
00:08:37
Speaker
door for, you know, depending on what all happens with Trackhouse, who we'll get to in a moment, we know they assigned Shane Van Gisbergen to a developmental deal. You know, there could be an opportunity to run him in this colleague car in the Xfinity series some next year with that seat opening up. Many moving parts happening there, but it'll be interesting to see who colleague backfels there, or if they even stick with three Xfinity cars full-time.
Trackhouse's Big Move: Zane Smith Joins, Ford Loses Out
00:09:09
Speaker
Speaking of Trackhouse, we might as well go on to the news that Trackhouse has bought, or excuse me, Spire Motorsports, has bought Livfast Charter, which was co-owned by Joe Falk and the Livfast partners being BJ McLeod and Matt Tift for $40 million.
00:09:32
Speaker
You got to say that those guys made out like bandits on their huge return on investment for those guys. And it has since come out that Livfast does intend to continue on as a part time open car team next year. But then the news comes out very shortly after that, that Trackhouse has signed the rights for Zane Smith.
00:09:54
Speaker
for in a multi-year deal starting next year in the cup series and it sounds like Smith is going to be effectively be leased out to a Run a car under that spire charter whether it's a spire built car or a track house built car I'm not really clear on but The charter owned by spire Zane Smith under contract with track house This has got to be a win-win for traffic track house and Zane Smith. I think right I
00:10:21
Speaker
win win for track house and big big loss for Ford. If I were a fan of Ford, I would be so there's a couple things that I'm thinking about here. I think there's one, one main issue here is that we look at shr. And you're going to see, you know, with Harvard retiring, and
00:10:44
Speaker
Almorola 100% say you would think that before even the season or at least before Josh Barry that there was a chance that the four would have gone to Zane Smith or one of those drivers.
00:11:00
Speaker
I think that this just speaks more toward that Chevy is still closer to the top. And despite the fact that, you know, I think Toyota is obviously has looked pretty good at, you know, tracks, some tracks, Ford has now lost some talent, some big talent. And it's, I'm not sure how it's going to be for track house. I mean, it's fine, but
00:11:26
Speaker
The bigger story here for me is that Zane Smith I think is going to, is a potential budding superstar. I mean, you know, I said that about Tyler Reddick a couple years ago and I think that I was right about him. So I guess we'll see what happens. But this is the bigger story to me is that Ford I think is in big, big trouble.
00:11:48
Speaker
And we've discussed forward this whole season in the Cup Series with the struggles of Stuart Haas and you're right, Steven, it really is worrisome for the Ford camp. You look at, I mean, the career stats for Zane Smith. I mean, you have every right, people have every right to feel like this is the next superstar. I mean,
00:12:12
Speaker
Uh, just his stats in the truck series, the guy just gets it done for wins last year. But you look at the top fives and top tens. I mean, he nearly had 20 top tens just last year. He's had in double digit top tens for four straight seasons in the truck series. Uh, you know, and he can perform track house is, I, you know, is rising still. Um, they, they can get a lot better and they're already a competitive.
00:12:42
Speaker
Cup Series team. I know we've talked about Track House a lot and how we really like what they're doing. This is just another feather in their cap, if you will, along with what they're going to do with SVG and Gitzbergen.
Ford's Strategy Under Scrutiny
00:13:01
Speaker
I don't know, it's exciting if you're a fan of Track House, that's for sure.
00:13:08
Speaker
Yeah, I just love the way they're investing in the sport, uh, has been cool to see. Um, but yeah, the, the tough thing about Ford is you can tell that though the management, even though they're struggling right now in terms of speed and just lack of, you know, younger talent at the moment with what happens with the St. Smith, but the fact that they were having conversations apparently with Denny Hamlin shows that at least the people within Ford racing, they're trying to get.
00:13:38
Speaker
Um, you know, uh, an injection, I guess of some, a little bit of, you know, investment for the future and trying to get Hamlin and 2311. So, um, we'll see what, what moves they make in the future from a broader scheme of things to see if they can get some change with that.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely is a loss for Ford, as we mentioned now. I was just going back and looking at the Ford trucks in the truck series, the Ford drivers. You take out Zane Smith. That leaves the only Ford development drivers in the truck series. And you hardly really call some of these development drivers Matt Crafton, Ty Majewski and Ben Rhodes.
00:14:21
Speaker
So really, oh and Hayley Deegan. So really the only true prospects out of that, I would say Majeski and Hayley Deegan. 47 year old Matt Crafton and Hayley Deegan. I mean, Hayley Deegan, I mean, she's going to come up faster than I think people think. She is. I just caution that she's not won anything past the Yarka West series. Yeah, I mean, I'm I don't she's OK. I think she has some talent. I think she has eventual cup talent, but not to the point of like,
00:14:51
Speaker
Ford should be thinking, like, well, you know, we're really going to really going to invest a ton into her to be a feature driver and craft that craft and no offense is never going to be a full time cup driver or anything like that. So, yeah, Majeski has some promise. Yeah, I just you also have to wonder about Majeski, like how many of his wins this year, especially are legit, given the the cheating scandal and an L1 penalty, they were levied
00:15:21
Speaker
After after inspection at Milwaukee where they were caught with a bleeder valve on one of their tires So, I mean there's a lot to be thought of there and when you look at the Xfinity series It's not like Ford has a deep roster there either. They have Cole Custer and Riley Herbst Granted Cole Custer has been in the cup series Riley Herbst. I think had the best season of his career But neither of them exactly setting the world on fire and banging on the door for a cup opportunity I think
00:15:51
Speaker
I also forget that Cole Custer actually has a cup with everybody. I mean, Jake, were you there for that one? Shout out Kentucky. No, that was a COVID year. Oh, that's right. Nobody was there. Yeah, I knew it was in Kentucky and I was like, Oh, Jake might've been there. Yeah.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, I just think that the Ford let their big fish get away Much like much like Toyota has had issues with in the past where there's just too many drivers and I don't have seats to go around I think Ford was bitten by that this year and it makes you wonder too how much if any of the
00:16:30
Speaker
of the Eric Almorola swashling, swaddling back and forth on to retire, not to retire, kind of force Zane Tan and be like, look, I can't wait for Almorola to make a decision to get to see, or I can just take this one. That's a sure deal.
00:16:45
Speaker
Which which of the equipment would be better? Because I don't think it's the 10 at this point. I mean, I mean, I don't think so. I was thinking that along the lines of staying in the Ford family versus jumping ship. Oh, I agree. I'm just if you know, if I had to choose between two manufacturers right now, it's probably not Ford in just in general.
00:17:08
Speaker
And he had an offer and he took it. I don't blame him at all. I also understand that I think Ford has been trying to be competitive with there have been talks with Denny and talks with 2311 allegedly. And I don't know how much if they threw their hat in the ring for
00:17:29
Speaker
for Legacy Motor Club at all. But, you know, like them leaving Chevy, you would have assumed that Ford had, unless they were completely just not at all and knew that this was happening, that they would have tried to make a play at that, too, especially considering it would have been coming with more, more resources and in lineage. So I mean, I have to say right now on your question of which has better resources and a better car,
00:17:59
Speaker
If I have my druthers of any current Ford team in the cup series to sign with, it would be RFK. Yes. I agree with that for sure. Um, and that's another thing too. Uh, how many more years does Brad K have left? I mean, I think that he's going to be like, how old is he? Is he 40? I think he has to be right. Hold on. Let's see. He's 39 right now. He's 39. Yep.
00:18:25
Speaker
So I mean, is he going to be like Denny and go however long six, seven more? I don't see that. I mean, I just he still competes pretty well. But I mean, you would be thinking that there's a chance that they would be looking for a driver for the future, maybe.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah. Well, it seems for for their sake, the Zane Smith ship has sailed to track house racing.
Shane Van Gisbergen's Potential Future
00:18:50
Speaker
And with track houses announced alliance with Spire, it makes you wonder, too, if that the 77 car or we know Cora La Joy is already re-upped with Spire. It makes you wonder, though, if the if the 77 car could be a kind of like an all star car type deal that heavily features Shane Van Gisbergen. Only time will tell. But
00:19:13
Speaker
That's the thought that came to my mind with that announcement as well.
Remembering Sherry Pollux
00:19:19
Speaker
Big news that came out yesterday and some sad news that we must get to is the untimely death of Sherry Pollux, longtime partner of Martin Truex Jr., passed away after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer, only 44 years old.
00:19:36
Speaker
Her and Martin had split up earlier this year, but still I figure he was very much beloved in the NASCAR garage and the NASCAR communities did a lot raising awareness and funds for ovarian and childhood cancer. So definitely a huge loss in the NASCAR garage and certainly our condolences to her family and friends.
00:20:01
Speaker
It makes me wonder, you know, just how people are putting NASCAR in a little bit of perspective. I mean, these people are especially in the garage area on the road, on the grind every day, every week, just about for most of the year. And it's a bit of a sobering moment, I think, for most people in the garage area.
00:20:19
Speaker
It is. And you have like a lot of opportunities now where the drivers have said that they want more time with their families. And there are reasons like this that are why. And I think that it arranged true that, obviously, this is the hardest, I think, the hardest sport to be in, because it's basically year round. You get a very short break, and then you're back to racing again.
00:20:46
Speaker
Just again, it just goes to show how much time that these drivers don't actually get to spend with their families and how much they really need to. And in the drivers are away on the weekends every weekend. It's normally a lot of your free time with your family. But just a tragic situation. I know how much
00:21:08
Speaker
that she's done and they had their catwalk every year and a lot of drivers and people in the NASCAR community participated in that for children's cancer. So it sets all the way around. Yeah, just especially, you know, the timing of it. I understand that, you know, obviously the family is going to keep it tight knit that, you know, that she was as sick as she was, but
00:21:38
Speaker
you know, all of her work that she does, um, actually have a, my high school girlfriend, her, um, step sister worked for Sherry Pollack's, um, for quite some time. I think, you know, I don't know if she still works for her or not. I haven't spoken to her in a while, but she worked with her PR team, with her foundation and stuff.
Truck Series Highlights: Corey Haim's Victory
00:22:04
Speaker
So.
00:22:04
Speaker
That was kind of a little bit of a connection that I ever had to that. So yeah, the work that she's done for other people, the work she did was just, you know, bigger than life. So, of course, thoughts and prayers with her family for sure.
00:22:22
Speaker
Certainly, as mentioned, all of our condolences with Sherry Pollack's and her friends and family loved ones all around and everybody in the NASCAR garage over her loss. There was some racing this weekend in Bristol. Let's get to that. Why don't we? The truck series started things off on Thursday night last week with a fright by truck series standards, a very tame race at Bristol. Only a handful of cautions in that one. And winning was Corey Haim.
00:22:52
Speaker
After he, uh, he chased down. Oh, I thought the best truck all night was Christian Ekas to get the win and, uh, and lock himself into the next round of the playoffs. Christian Ekas finished second grant in finger, a third, a good run continuing for the, uh, outgoing GMS racing team there. Carson hosts of our fourth and Taylor grave finished fifth, a good run for him. Uh, the highest finishing Ford been roads, but, uh,
00:23:22
Speaker
Corey Haim is coming on strong at the end, and he has got himself set up for a good run into the playoffs. He's, like I said, he's already locked himself into the Final Four. He will be one of the Championship Four running at Phoenix. As it stands, Akas, Hosevar, and Infinger are the other three who would join him. Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, Nick Sanchez, and Tym and Jesky all fighting their way up.
00:23:47
Speaker
All of them double digit points behind in finger so a lot of work for them to do at Where's the truck series go next they go to? Vegas is their next race October 15th, and they're at homestead so they have a few weeks off on the truck series side But the truck series race Friday pretty tame by my standards
00:24:10
Speaker
They, I, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I saw most of the race, but I wanted to just mention that Ekis has been on a heater for the last month. And I think, you know, I.
00:24:23
Speaker
I think he's going to, he's my pick, I think, to, to, uh, seal the deal at the end of the season. Um, but, uh, yeah, I mean, I definitely thought that he was going to win that race, but, uh, Corey Haim also very solid. Um, there was a decent amount of action all weekend, I'd say, uh, less so in the cup series, but, um, I thought the, the, uh, Xfinity and the trucks were good.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, you'd think there's normally chaos in the truck series race. And when you put them at Bristol, you expect anything to happen, especially in the playoffs when they're fighting for every position. But Corey Haim, I mean, Haim and Ekas, I think are one and two, and they're really doing well this season. And the usuals,
00:25:16
Speaker
You know, well, I'm sure we'll get to Carlton Hosenbar, his performance in the Cup Series, which has been doubly impressive, but, you know, he scores another top five, Roger Caruth in sixth place, and he's putting together a really good season for him. And it's kind of, I understand the way that the scheduling works in the playoffs for the Truck Series, but it is kind of a, I guess you'd say a bummer, if you will, when you're a fan of,
00:25:46
Speaker
you know, the series to get some of these, um, extended breaks. So the schedule aligns, you know, where the cup series and XFINITY series are some weeks, but, uh, they'll pack up. And I think it's, you know, tragecting into a really exciting finish for that series. Yeah, I agree with you on that assessment. But expect more.
00:26:12
Speaker
Uh, as you kind of said about the drama there, it just wasn't, I don't think a racist, another race that I watched more of the truck race than the actual cup race. I tried to make up for the fact that I knew I wouldn't be able to see much of the cup race. So I watched the truck in Xfinity and, uh, yeah, I just expect a little bit more out of that race, but you could tell that. I was also watching the arc race, which was an absolute disaster in terms of there were some back markers on that track that should not.
00:26:42
Speaker
be given a license to race Orca. That's surprising. Nonetheless, yeah. I expected more of the truck race.
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah, well, the good thing the Xfinity race made up for, I thought the Xfinity race on set on Friday night, excuse me, was perhaps one of the best Xfinity races, best races in the NASCAR National Series all year long.
Xfinity Excitement at Bristol: Allgaier's Win and Dale Jr.'s Return
00:27:06
Speaker
It was great battles that you had cars that, you know, came and go, you know, lap traffic made a difference.
00:27:14
Speaker
Not helped at all, I guess, facetiously, by the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a great run going until his paint legs started catching on fire. But I thought the Xfinity race was fantastic, ultimately won by Justin Allgaier, who played the tire strategy perfectly late in that one. Well, I was watching that from my hotel room, and I was sitting there, and I was like, oh, wow.
00:27:40
Speaker
didn't realize that he was, I caught it toward the end, maybe 10 or so laps before Dale caught on fire, but I really thought he had a chance, you know, toward that run, but just bad luck. When he said he was on fire, I thought like his car, he was like, my car is on fire, but he physically was actually on fire. And so when he got to, when he was like, went down pit road, I thought, oh man, that doesn't look good.
00:28:08
Speaker
That late battle was fantastic. That was some of the best, probably last outside of before all guy really kind of took the lead.
00:28:24
Speaker
It was some really, truly great racing at Bristol, which is always a lot of fun to watch. You didn't see a whole lot of that for long runs in the Cup Series race. But good for Allgaier, another guy who's just been really lights out all season long. Truthfully, I thought he was going to be the one who, when they were talking between Hemric for that seat, I thought it was actually, honestly, Allgaier.
00:28:53
Speaker
Good for him nonetheless. And, uh, yeah, I mean, the racing was better in the Xfinity series and it generally is. Well, all guy approved you wrong, uh, writing his, his comments right there at the start finish line. And I was saying that he is re-up with a JRM for next year. I thought the Xfinity series was, was pretty fun race, especially, you know, when you have a guy like the legend himself, Gail Jr. coming back.
00:29:21
Speaker
Um, yeah, it didn't work out, but the fact that, uh, you know, he was very competitive and man, he, uh, he was saying some cool stuff on the radio, like how glad he was to be back and how fun it was. And from the hop back in the car, be competitive. That's great. Uh, and then, you know, all guys are winning the race and that's big, uh, overall a big night for junior and junior motor sports. So I thought it was, it was a pretty fun race. You had some other guys in there. Um,
00:29:52
Speaker
Trevor Bain was racing, finished with a top 10 in seventh place. The big news for Daniel Hemmerich this week, and he gets himself a runner up position and then, you know, John Hunter and Nemechek staying on, you know, a care and really putting together a strong season.
00:30:17
Speaker
Yeah, I thought that it just had the ebbs and flows of a typical Bristol race, right? I mean, the Xfinity race, you had comers and goers, which you exactly expect for this kind of race. And then obviously, yes, biased. Dale Earnhardt Jr. running at the front was freaking cool to see. And it's cool to see, I mean, the awful announcing Twitter page, which posts everything and everything about people in the TV booth and sports.
00:30:47
Speaker
Um, not saying they don't share just awful broadcasting, but they show cool things that announcers do. And they posted that, you know, Dale Jr. Was, was in the lead, which got a lot of attention on their social media pages or X. I called it Twitter, but X, I mean, so, um, but I, uh, I was really impressed with the race. Cool to see Trevor Bay and Dale Jr. Racing also cool to see all garages, you know, that's kind of his style as a grace like that. So.
00:31:16
Speaker
It was fun to watch. I watched that start to finish. I'm proud of that. Yeah, I did as well. And like we mentioned, it was a fantastic race.
Teammate Clashes in Xfinity: What's the Impact?
00:31:25
Speaker
Not without some controversy, though. Two instances of teammate on teammate crime. Josh Berry getting into it with Sam Mayer ends up collecting the other teammate, Brandon Jones. So while Dale Junior did have a good run of his own and got the win with Justin Allgaier, his other three cars all took each other out.
00:31:45
Speaker
Uh, and then also Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill tangling and ending Hills day. And, uh, I thought, I thought if Creed had wrecked his car and been out of the race as well, that Austin Hill might've gone to strangle him right there in the garage. Austin Hill was livid. And he's a big dude. So I would not want to be on the leaving end of one of those hits.
00:32:09
Speaker
I definitely would not want to be either. He looks like he could be a tight end in the NFL, to be honest. I think during qualifying for Daytona, when he was trying to qualify for the cup this year, you could see him under the lights in that car. And I was like, man, that guy is massive. But yeah, that's unfortunate, especially considering how good he's been.
00:32:34
Speaker
What happened to clickerman i must not have seen that so he burnt up a right front hub and ended up basically burn up the bearing in it so it created and made his right front brakes basically drag because the hub was kind of going back and forth and so they had to go behind the wall and they replaced the whole spindle that includes the hub and what the
00:32:58
Speaker
The the tire turns on to turn left and right and and got it realigned and was able to To go out and then made up some positions, which is important They think they made up like four or five spots based on cars that went out and he ended up finishing 31st, I just the 31st. Yeah, like a number of laps down but but you think about it they gained I think four or five points just by going back out on the racetrack and right now the
00:33:25
Speaker
They're still a ways back. They're 22 behind but they're not the worst of the of the playoff drivers right now Josh Barry's minus 24 Parker Kliger my minus 22 And it's at a time when every point matters. That was An unfortunate deal, but also props to them for getting the car back out there
00:33:46
Speaker
Worth mentioning the playoffs standings in the Xfinity series, of course, their playoffs just started. So Justin Ogeier, the first driver to lock himself in. John Hunter Nemechek is in pretty good shape, he's 65 above the cut. Then gone down to Cole Custer plus 39, Austin Hill plus 21, Chandler Smith 18 above, Hamrick 12 above with his second place finish.
00:34:11
Speaker
Then Sammy Smith plus five Sheldon Creed plus four on the wrong side of the playoffs right now Jeb Burton four below Sam Mayer 14 underneath Clickerman minus 22 and Josh Berry minus 24. They all have some work to do coming up at Texas and the next race for the Xfinity series Just like the cup series
00:34:39
Speaker
going to Texas next, but at cup race, I'd say overall I'd give it probably a six out of 10, maybe six and a half, but compare it to the other short tracks
Bristol Cup Race Review: Standout Performances
00:34:51
Speaker
this season. I think that's the best short track race we've had all year so far.
00:34:54
Speaker
I think so too. I was talking with one of my friends about it that I kind of went into that with no expectations, not thinking about how bad this car has been on short tracks. And it was actually OK. I mean, there was not a lot of action. When you have tried on short tracks, there has to be a lot of pit strategy. And it's a tire battle a lot of the time.
00:35:22
Speaker
Overall, I think it also goes to show that you don't need a lot of wrecks to have a good amount of action, whereas there's a ton of passing or not a ton of passing or tires getting burnt up or whatever the case may be. You look at a situation like Joey Logano, who is
00:35:46
Speaker
championship last year and this year it was pretty good but fell off at times and that was one of the situations with this race too and then you had the the kind of the it was like a bubble watch box where they had the race and then seeing where Bubba Wallace was hoping that he would kind of get into the playoffs so there was a lot of like storylines that all happened so I think that that kind of
00:36:12
Speaker
Regardless of the racing, there were things that you might have been looking for that weren't necessarily like position battles. You know, the Truex spinning out and then coming back and Denny and Larson and Bubba. And so there were just a lot of things happening where, you know, who was battling for first and second or third or fourth wasn't necessarily like at the forefront of everyone's mind.
00:36:40
Speaker
I think, you know, the race was pretty entertaining for what we've seen out of short tracks. And I think a lot of what we saw is why some people really do like, you know, the playoff system. And, you know, traditionalists, some of them don't at all, and they would rather just have the whole thing scrapped down. But I think that it creates a lot of these storylines
00:37:06
Speaker
And just following the playoffs is fun. And you wouldn't have a story like Bubba Wallace is making it to the round of 12, obviously without this playoff system. And that creates storylines for the sport. And I think it's very positive.
00:37:32
Speaker
And, you know, there's the dramatics and they built this playoffs for them with certain tracks in each round, some being elimination. You know, you had Daytona to get into the playoffs.
00:37:46
Speaker
But overall, I mean, the race at Bristol, it did. There's a lot still, I think, that needs to be done with a short track in this car. But I think it delivered. And I was at the Bristol night race.
00:38:03
Speaker
last season and the one I watched on Saturday night, I wish I was at that one as well. But I think it had a little bit of everything. Denny Hamlin winning and what he said to the crowd, I beat your favorite driver, I thought was that was P. Camlin right there. It was pretty funny. Overall, yeah, I enjoyed Saturday night.
00:38:30
Speaker
Yeah, I did as well. I was expecting when I went back and watched a lot of the race prompts in NASCAR for just providing a lot of content on their YouTube page and their website for people like me or be like anyone that misses a race live. I basically was able to watch the entire thing just two days after it. So I'm really impressed by that. But, um, yeah, I was expecting it to be a lot worse from the way everyone was acting. And I really thought it was exciting. I don't know how much that has to do with NBC's production of it.
00:38:59
Speaker
because I think they do a great job of showing points battles. That's why a place like Bristol, I mean, I think we really got the showing. You mentioned Brad, because I mean, sorry, Bubba Wallace coming back from such a deficit. The only place that's really possible outside of Talladega is Bristol because you have just, you know, you can get so far behind just with one mistake or one thing happening. You can get two to three laps down and you're just facing an uphill battle the whole time. So I really thought it was impressive.
00:39:27
Speaker
With them switching to pave on the concrete for the spring race, hopefully I'm able to go down. Hopefully I can get some media credentials to head down there and do coverage of that for our motorsports segment because we got some feedback from people here in Kentucky and that's a track they like to go to outside Indianapolis. It's the second closest currently on the schedule.
00:39:52
Speaker
Very true, and I gotta give some shout outs here. So the JGR trio of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, led 431 of the 500 laps. So dominant showing by those cars. They all three finished in the top five. Of course Denny winning Bell third, Gibbs fifth.
00:40:13
Speaker
A good run by Chris Buscher, kind of a quiet run. He wasn't really up there mixing it up a whole ton and challenging for the lead, but quietly finishing fourth. And those kinds of quiet, you know, solid races are how you win championships. So be on the lookout for Buscher going forward. Heartbreak for Michael McDowell, sixth place finish. Just couldn't get up there enough to get the win and advance on.
00:40:38
Speaker
And a big shout out to Carson Hosevar finishing 11th in his Bristol Cup Series debut. Finished on the, it's hard to call it really a lap down, but really it was a lap down. He got passed by Denny Hamlin, like in three and four the last lap to go a lap down. But a great run there by Hosevar. It was up in the top 10 for much of the back half of the race. And he continues to impress in a car that, you know,
00:41:08
Speaker
you know, to be quite honest with you, Noah Gregson didn't do anything to impress him. So, it'd be interesting to see how that pans out going forward, especially given that it's been announced today that Carson O'Sivar will be back in that car this week at Texas and next week at Talladega. So, we'll keep an eye on that for sure. It was mentioned briefly here that it was a cut-off race, so
00:41:32
Speaker
took a look at the playoff standings not making it from the round of 16 where Joey Logano, the defending champion, the first time ever a defending champion has failed to make it out of the round of 16. Kevin Harvick ends the playoff push in his
00:41:49
Speaker
final Cup Series season in 14th place and not making the the cutoff there. Ricky Sinhaus Jr finishing 10th but couldn't get enough points to make it up in the top 12 and same with Michael McDowell despite his sixth place finish so
00:42:09
Speaker
Some surprises there, some excitement abound. There's some cars below the cut line. We're trying in their hardest to make it up above the cut off line. The driver's advancing, of course, Larson, Hamlin, Redick, Byron, Bell, Kozlowski, Buscher, Bush, Blaney, Chastain, Truex, and Bubba Wallace.
00:42:31
Speaker
So as we reset the playoff standings, William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. start off the second round, tied at 25 above, Danny Hamlin plus 21, then down to Kyle Larson plus 12, Busher plus 10, Kyle Busch, eight to the good, Seabelle, five to the good, and Tyler Reddick plus three. Then Chastain, Keselowski, Blaney, and Bubba, all with work to do. Headed into the next three races, which will be
00:43:03
Speaker
See Talladega What wins where's the Texas race that no, it's Texas Talladega Texas Talladega Roval Roval And I'll be at the Roval and I'm looking forward to that one for sure Jake briefly
Denny Hamlin: Embracing the Villain Role?
00:43:17
Speaker
mentioned it. But how about Denny Hamlin celebration? I mean he is fully embraced this this This
00:43:25
Speaker
heal the the anti hero if you're a Taylor Swift fan kind of role. I'm fine with it. I love it. I think that it's great. I think my only complaint is that he Denny does not like when people
00:43:45
Speaker
I think he doesn't really like when people actually criticize him a lot. He has the podcast. I think that he tries to sometimes wear the black hat, but there are times where I think he has
00:44:00
Speaker
hurt feelings and doesn't like to admit it. There are very few situations I feel like he does in the moment feel like he's wrong, later go back and look at it. But I like it. I just, it needs to stay that way, like through every situation. Yeah. Yeah, I see where you're coming from, Steven, I agree.
00:44:27
Speaker
But, you know, I mentioned, you know, that was one of the things I took away from the race. It's kind of like, you know, it's kind of taken the spot of Kyle Busch, if you say, in the way fans react. And I think it's definitely needed. And I am a fan, and I think you guys would also agree, you know, you'd love to see drivers, you know, have more personality. And this is one of the big ones.
00:44:54
Speaker
You know, he should kind of be a little more, you know, consistent with some of his thoughts and feelings towards fans and what, you know, some of the way he races and what drivers say about him. But I think this is great. And he has been really good. And this could be finally be the year that he captures his cup title. I do think it's a little bit forced.
00:45:25
Speaker
maybe that's biased I don't know I think he doesn't want I don't know maybe he does it doesn't feel like to me it's as authentic as say you know who's the last person we've even had like him Kyle Bush Kyle Bush yeah yeah I also agree Dylan it's Kyle Bush oh yeah I agree with you too it seems very like WWE forced yeah it absolutely does especially with this podcast and everything it's like
00:45:54
Speaker
Come on, dude. I think it would bluntly without even having to, you know, think about it.
00:46:01
Speaker
have a quirky remark or just being a jerk? I think that I completely agree with that. I but I think that he plays into the booze and it's not as much of a like people booed Kyle Busch because they hated him because he was like the outlaw, you know, like he was a rebel and you know, like I said before, like he was the wearer of the black hat. But now people boo Denny, I think from a it's not like a
00:46:29
Speaker
like they're more of like a they're just sick of them instead of like they have this like visceral hatred for him if that makes sense and I think he's taking that as like oh well you know everybody hates me out there and I'm like well I don't know about that because like when I was at that Pocono race that he won there like I heard of people saying like there was a whole section of booze but like there are a lot of Denny fans there that were cheering so
00:46:56
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I get it, you know, and he can lean into it. He's won what I think is it three, two, three races this year and he's in the hunt for a championship. So I don't know. It's fine. I feel like he's just leaning into the fact that no Chase Elliott fan also likes any Hamlin. And he's leaning into the the the whole idea that NASCAR is out to get him about finding him for what he said he did to Ross at Phoenix earlier in the year.
00:47:27
Speaker
That's what he wants to do that. Okay, it's attracting eyeballs people listening to his podcast So ultimately I can't really you know blame him for it. But also it is it does seem very sticky Let's get on to our race picks from this week and We all had a good week. In fact, we all had such a good week This is the first time since Fontana week two of the regular season that we all finished in the top ten and
00:47:57
Speaker
Look at that. Yeah. And in fact, we all nearly had the same results. In that week, Jake finished eighth with Alex Bowman. Dylan finished second with Chase Elliott. Steve won with Kyle Busch. And I finished sixth with Denny. This time, Jake finished eighth with Brad Keselowski.
00:48:20
Speaker
Dylan won with Denny, Steve finished seventh with Chase Elliott, and I finished second with Kyle Larson. So while we all had a great week that didn't help many of us really separate from the rest of the pack,
00:48:40
Speaker
Dylan did extend his lead a good bit. He's now up by 92 points over Steve Dylan you're gonna crack the Unless you have the 36th place finisher this week at Texas. You're gonna crack a thousand points the first one reached that mark this year Steve is in second with nine hundred six points and
00:49:00
Speaker
Jake, third with 870, so 36 behind Steve, and I'm 14 behind Jake. That lasts at 856. I will remind everybody I have the fewest top fives of anybody, and fewest top tens. But I did stop my streak of no top tens at eight weeks in a row, so I went two months without a top ten. So that's a welcome sight there.
00:49:26
Speaker
Uh, our first pick for Texas goes to Jake with an eighth place finish. Jake, who do you like, uh, there in Fort Worth? Uh, I'll go. One of the title contenders punches his ticket to the round of eight and pick William Byron. We were in the big hat from victory lane. So that's a good point about the big hat because the.
00:49:53
Speaker
The Texas winner gets a cowboy hat anyways, which is already pretty big. So is he going to have an even bigger cowboy hat? We can only hope he's going to have the big hat and then on top of that hat is going to be the cowboy hat. It's going to be like, what's a Doug Demedone? I was going to say, who is the Looney Tunes character that wears the huge hat? Oh, yeah, what is his name?
00:50:23
Speaker
I can hear him. Yeah, I can hear him too. It's not Elmer Fudd. Yosemite Sam. Yosemite Sam, yes. I was gonna say Yosemite Sam and then you totally trumped me with Doug Demedome. Which I'm sure you only thought of Doug Demedome because of the memes about Dion Sanders this weekend. Yes, definitely. That did help. That was at the front of my mind because of that. Okay, so Jake has Willy B. Steve, you're next.
00:50:51
Speaker
I will say that I think Mr. Rick Hendrick is Doug Demedome. I just wanted to point that out. But Rick doesn't own a venue.
00:51:04
Speaker
He probably does, and we just don't know about it. That's possible. So I think he's been kind of quiet. He's been good, but he's been kind of quiet over the last few weeks. The wreck at Daytona didn't help for that. But I'm going to go with Ryan Blaney, who has been good at Texas the last few years, last few times he's been there.
00:51:26
Speaker
you know, could use another win after his, uh, win at the 600. So I'm going to say that I think that, what is this race? This race and night race. Uh, let me look here. Oh no. Three 30. Um, that's fine. So I was going to say that another race, uh, under the lights, uh, and he wanted Texas was the all-star race. Was that it was last year. Um, but I'm saying he's going to get a points paying win, uh, on Sunday.
00:51:55
Speaker
Alrighty, next is me. I was looking back. This is the first true mile and a half race. Since. This the. Cook 600. Because Gateway is not really a mile and a half, Nashville is not really a mile and a half. Kansas, not a mile and a half. Kansas, yeah, OK, I missed that one, my bad. Yeah, I was like crazy.
00:52:23
Speaker
Kansas put on a good race, so how dare I dismiss them. But it's crazy how different they attract both of those tracks of race. Yeah, so and given especially the way that they just ruined Texas, hopefully it's a little bit better now that the hopefully all the resin and PJ one junk is kind of burned out of it, but that turn one and two is just an absolute disaster. In fact, I'll kind of want to look real quick at the results from last year.
00:52:53
Speaker
I will even forego for that. I'll let Dylan go ahead and pick while I look at the results from last year. I'm flustered with my pick. I don't know what to do with this. Usually, I'm very confident because of the stats, but I really don't think we're going to know what is going to happen in this race. This could be this could be really interesting. I'm going to go with Kyle Busch. Okay. Hi, Bush, which I actually.
00:53:23
Speaker
was debating the NASCAR Pickham having him eliminated in this round. But I think this is his one shot to get. I think he is eliminated. If he didn't have a great race in this one, he might be done. All righty. Kyle Bush for you. I'm glad you didn't take my guy. I'm going to go. You picked the car that won last year at Texas in this playoff race. I'm going to take the driver who won that race last year and also won the most recent
00:53:53
Speaker
My own half race, not at Charlotte, but at Kansas and Tyler Reddick. I just think, uh, you know, he's on the heater.
00:54:06
Speaker
Well, we kind of each got half a Tyler edict, right? I got the driver. You got the car. He's also, by the way, I don't say his backs against the wall, but he's not really good at super speedways. And the rovel is anyone's race. He would really have to win here to kind of punch his ticket because he's on the bubble. Well, he's he's he's not on the bubble. He's still within the top.
00:54:29
Speaker
8 but he's just plus just just plus 3 so he's got work to do but but you don't want to leave it to chance at Talladega or a road course
00:54:41
Speaker
for sure. Let's get to our random picks real quick before we talk about Texas. So while I'm doing random picks, actually, let me review the random picks real quick before I get ahead of myself. Dylan had the best day, an eighth place finish from Brad Kelzlowski. Then the next three of us finished all in order. Steve had Ross Chastain finishing 23rd. I had Eric Jones finishing 24th.
00:55:09
Speaker
and uh... jake had uh... corilla joy finishing twenty-fifth actually let a handful laps in that race on saturday night so uh... stanings look like this i still lead the way with seven hundred forty eight points uh... dylan is in second six sixty two just twelve points above jake and then steve looking to crack the six hundred point mark five ninety six sis tally so uh... it'll go
00:55:36
Speaker
Jake, myself, Steve and Dylan this week. While I'm doing that, Dylan, you want to get the forecast for this week in Fort Worth? It is a little interesting. So Saturday looks like there could be some rain and early Sunday. It's still too far out to say the exact timing. So this could be one of those Texas. We wait and see when a couple of years ago is delayed to what Tuesday?
00:56:04
Speaker
Oh yeah, with all the mist. That was a disaster. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be that type of situation, but we could get some rain there on Sunday. So to be determined, but don't be surprised to see it being an issue again. We really, really lucked out Saturday night. My goodness, the rain couldn't have come at lighter amounts and more random times because it could have been a disaster. Yeah, it definitely could have been a much longer race.
00:56:30
Speaker
In fact, it was it worked out so well that I was able to watch a good bit of the Colorado Colorado State game after that ended after the race and it was it was a win-win for sure You know one more spin here to do They'll say Jake and I are looking good Steve has some work to do and Dylan you might have a little bit of a tough time as well. So So Jake gets William Byron and
00:56:58
Speaker
Wow, double. It's a double double of the year. He's either going to win or he's going to come in dead last. So it's going to be a double double because I got my guy Tyler Reddick. Whoa. We need video. Yeah, we're playing the lottery tonight. Somebody has to play the numbers. Yeah. Twenty four forty five. Steve, you got Ryan Preece.
00:57:27
Speaker
Okay. I mean, he's yeah. All right. Good. Yeah. And Dylan, you got Daniel Suarez.
00:57:36
Speaker
Okay, that could be. I can hear you both of you trying to talk yourselves into. Yeah, I mean, sure. You know, it's not as good as your two picks. I think Suarez could maybe sneak in a top 15. Sneak. Sneak, yeah. His teammate could be somebody that can win this race too.
00:58:01
Speaker
I look I'm looking right now last year at Texas. He was 12th, but he was also much better last year. So yeah, we're in the world is Ross Chastain. The fact to the Ross managed to. To make it to the round of 12, and he's only three points out of advancing right now is a miracle. Yeah, he's going to be done in this round.
00:58:31
Speaker
Real quick, I want to take a look at the entry list for the Xfinity Series race because there's a couple of names in here I'm excited to see make their Xfinity Series debuts.
Xfinity Debuts: Lane Riggs and Daniel Dye
00:58:43
Speaker
One of them is going to be in the All-Star car for colleague. It's been renumbered to the 11 since the 10 was in the owner's championship in the Xfinity Series. So Hamrick is now driving the 10 in Xfinity the rest of the year.
00:58:57
Speaker
But in the 11 car for Cola gracing will be Lane Riggs making his Xfinity series debut the son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs
00:59:08
Speaker
has been tearing up the late model stock ranks. He was the NASCAR weekly series champion last year, a national champion that's encompasses all of the NASCAR sanctioned short tracks around the country. Lane Riggs was the champion of that last year. He's made six truck series starts. He has a close relationship with Rodney Childers. He's run Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers,
00:59:35
Speaker
Late model stock a couple of times and done really well in it. So Excited to see Lane Riggs get an opportunity in a good car You know another young driver Derek Krause has done really well on that car this year So excited to see Lane Riggs get the opportunity there and another truck series driver Daniel Dye will make his Xfinity debut this weekend. He will be in a 44 car for alpha prime racing and
01:00:00
Speaker
at the D-shaped Texas Motor Speedway so a couple guys to keep an eye on there and and that's actually I think a big audition for Daniel Dye of course He drives in the truck series for GMS and that that shop going dark at the end of the year So it could be a little audition for him to try to get a seat lined up for 2024
01:00:23
Speaker
Two other items I wanted to make sure we mentioned that we've missed in the news section at the beginning. Track related news, of course, it was announced Bristol will be two concrete races
Road America's Absence in 2024: What's Next?
01:00:33
Speaker
next year. No more dirt at Bristol. So that's a change I think most people were happy with. I think the dirt had kind of run its course there. Also, it was announced over the weekend that Road America told its shareholders that they will not have
01:00:51
Speaker
a NASCAR date of any kind in 2024. So no Xfinity, no truck, no Cup series at Road America. So that leaves a question mark on the 2024 schedule, especially for the Xfinity series. Then also was announced yesterday during the Dallas Cowboys game.
01:01:10
Speaker
the NASCAR Bushlight clash will once again be at the LA Coliseum and we'll have a Support series with them. Maybe the NASCAR Mexico series Will be the support series at the the clash So it'll be exciting to see those drivers from south of the border showcasing their talents in LA next February
01:01:32
Speaker
Anything else you guys want to hit on real quick? Uh, any little thoughts about Texas? I think I present my piece. I hope they got all of the, the resin out of it and race is better than it has for years. I don't have anything. I remember a couple of years ago, they asked Denny, I think it was on the download. They asked any how to make Texas better. And he said, uh, start with a wrecking ball and I'm going to stick with that. There's only one major
01:01:58
Speaker
a puzzle piece left for the schedule and that involves the track that Dylan has been clamoring to get back. Isn't that right? There's one more piece we need. Bring back Kentucky. That's right. Absolutely. Bring it back. Hopefully, yeah, hopefully next time we have an episode, there is a schedule for us to see. Yeah, it's very true. I mean,
01:02:26
Speaker
Apparently it's been coming for a while and I feel like usually by now the schedule is out. So Fingers crossed that comes out Sooner rather than later for sure. Well, it's been a big episode of cloudy with the chance of racing We thank all of you for tuning in this week and every week as well we have a big week coming up after Texas as the the pressure increases on the the NASCAR playoffs and all three series and
01:02:54
Speaker
The intensity increases and a lot of exciting things to talk about as the season winds down here in 2023. For Jake, Steve, and Dylan, I'm Braxton. Thank you so much for listening to Cloudy with a Chance of Racing. We'll catch up with you after the series goes to the Limestar State.