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Ep. 26: McDowell the McMaster at Indy
11 Plays1 year ago
The whole gang is back together with Jake, Dillon, Steve, and Braxton recapping the Indianapolis weekend and the dominating wins by Ty Majeski, Ty Gibbs, and Michael McDowell. The guys cover Shane van Gisbergen's maiden asphalt oval race at IRP, who the Truck Series playoff favorite is, a rather calm Xfinity Series race at IMS, the exciting finish to the IndyCar race, and Sunday's Cup race.
In "Pop Up Showers," Jake mentions a wild stat from Trey Ryan about NASCAR series starts, Steve noticed a unique Daniel Ricciardo/Dale Sr. crossover shirt, Dillon recaps a big dirt late model race in Kentucky from last weekend, and Braxton shares a bit about Roadkill Nights on the streets of Pontiac, MI (including this wild build around a Hellcat engine).
As always, the guys discuss their race picks from last weekend, make their real and random picks for Watkins Glen, and Dillon gives his forecast for the Finger Lakes region.
Thanks for listening to Cloudy With a Chance of Racing! We would really appreciate a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. You can follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter/X @CloudyRacingPod.
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Transcript
NASCAR and IndyCar Weekend Recap
00:00:15
Speaker
day late but not quite a dollar short cloudy with a chance of racing coming to you episode 26 after the NASCAR weekend in Indianapolis we got the whole gang back here I'm Braxton Steve Jake and Dylan here with us as well a big weekend of racing in the racing capital of the world for all three NASCAR series plus IndyCar at the
00:00:38
Speaker
Indianapolis for a course as well. But guys, how are we doing this weekend or after this weekend? I know Jake's back from vacation and there were sorry Dylan's back from vacation and there was a big dirt race in Kentucky that we'll get to a little bit later. But how are we feeling after the Indianapolis weekend?
Indy Road Course Disappointment
00:00:54
Speaker
underwhelmed about the indie road course and hoping that it is no longer an indie road course after next year, but just overall overall and I have a feeling that we're all going to share a similar sentiment here that the indie road course has run its course and that maybe next year we will get back to the Brickyard 400 or whatever ancillary sponsor though attached to the Brickyard 400.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of feel this same way, Steve. The race weekend was fine. There wasn't much in terms of drama, which I guess is good because considering last year's Indy Road course was a mess, there were some things changed about the race that kind of made it that way.
McDowell's Dominance and Playoff Impact
00:01:51
Speaker
Hats off to Michael McDowell in the Cup Series. He was dominant.
00:01:55
Speaker
And there was no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And he now shifts a lot of playoff pressure onto some other drivers here these last two of the regular season. I thought it was a fun weekend of, uh, racing. Um, I do think, I don't know, I enjoyed the race. I thought it was kind of like an old school kind of feel to it. And I liked that we had.
00:02:19
Speaker
you know, three good cars that were able to not get taken out of it at the end due to somebody that was terrible all day, having dumb strategy and winning the race. Like we've gotten, you know, in the past with, I don't know, Joey Logano's win over Ryan Blaney kind of comes to mind. Was that Vegas or was that over Blaney? I'm not sure. It was literally going over someone. Maybe Kyle Larson a couple of years ago. I don't know. Just like, like caution, allowing a guy to come in and win. Um, I'm glad.
00:02:49
Speaker
It came down to who just had the best car. And Michael McDowell did. Big surprise there.
00:02:56
Speaker
Yeah, the furniture car number 34, Michael McDowell had a fantastic ride, literally a rocket ship all weekend long. It was good to see that group be rewarded for their efforts because they definitely seem like a group that does literally everything they can and all the teams do, but they do everything that they can with very little resources compared to the big time team. So very cool to see them get the win.
Truck Series Playoffs and Newcomer Performances
00:03:22
Speaker
Let's start with Friday night.
00:03:24
Speaker
with the truck series opening up their playoffs at IRP and Time Majeski, much like the last time the truck series was out at Richmond, had the best truck once again on a short track and absolutely waylaid the entire field in route to winning the playoff race there and getting himself locked into the next round.
00:03:48
Speaker
And then the other big story in that was Shane van Gisbergen finishing 19th in his first truck race Do we think that's is that a respectable finish? Is that a lackluster? How do we how do we think of of SVGs? debut in a more traditional chassis Nascar vehicle, I'll say that not the next gen with the IRS, but You know the old style chassis kind of deal. What do we think there?
00:04:17
Speaker
fine, I guess. I mean, I think they're banking, I think they're going to put a lot, they're putting a lot of emphasis on him in the cup series. And so they want to see how he is, I think with different, like just different equipment, which I understand completely. I mean, I don't want to, I don't know, I don't want to sound like too much of a Debbie Downer. I think it's pretty cool that Gisbergen is going to be coming
00:04:43
Speaker
Uh, but it's also kind of strange to me because I'm not a hundred percent sure as to like how successful he's going to be. So like you would think and hope that if he is able to kind of jump into a car and like he did at the Chicago, you know, street course, that it would be a better finish, but I guess you can't really.
00:05:04
Speaker
You can't really expect that every single time, but I don't know. Maybe you can. I mean, maybe that's what they were expecting is that he would jump in and have a top five or win, but I don't, I would certainly hope they didn't think that. Yeah, it was, I thought it was, it was pretty decent. I mean, also considering, you know, he's in behind the wheel of a truck and not exactly what the next gen that he drove at the Chicago street course.
00:05:33
Speaker
But it was pretty respectable also being a short track like it was. I'm sure there's obviously there's a learning curve. And with it being a playoffs in the truck series, a lot of the teams in the playoffs, a lot of heightened
Haley Deegan: SRX vs Truck Series
00:05:52
Speaker
work. And you saw some of the heavy hitters have really good runs that are in the playoffs. So yeah.
00:06:00
Speaker
As far as you know what to expect from him for maybe a full season SVG It'll be interesting and there's in that's one of the storylines of all this week with him and Track house racing You know, I thought as far as SVG goes hit the run at the brickyard I thought you know the top ten. I mean you can't You can't really you know fault him for that that that is a great run again, I think
00:06:30
Speaker
I just wanted to mention that Raja Karuth had a great day. He had his best run in probably, I don't know, maybe three months, two months, two and a half months maybe. It's amazing what a lot of the drivers in the truck series can do and show when they're not getting cleaned out.
00:06:50
Speaker
which he has had awful luck over the last... Honestly, it seems like every week, sometimes it's a little 50-50, but I feel like he just has awful luck in the truck series. I thought that the race was probably the worst one, including the IndyCar race of the weekend. I actually was able to catch a little bit more of it than I was the Xfinity series race.
00:07:20
Speaker
I watched more than any car in the cup series race, but I thought it was, you know, just a dominating kind of road course win. So again, people complained about how the next gen car race is on, on the short tracks, but this kind of shows that can happen with old style cars too. You know, somebody just has a better equipment than everyone else and just do better.
00:07:42
Speaker
faster car, but, um, back to van Gisberg and I thought it was respectable. He's kind of put in a really tough spot, right? I mean, it's the playoffs. He's got to be respectable, respectful to those playoff drivers, you know, for the, the truck series, you can't race them hard. He also still getting used to driving that style of car, um, for him to not wreck out of it, I think is pretty, uh, a huge Testament to him. I was expecting him to struggle and I think
00:08:11
Speaker
He struggled, but not as bad as I think a lot of people thought he might, given his lack of experience in that type of car, and the fact that he's going against truck series drivers, which aren't known to be very kind to first-time drivers, and like you mentioned with Roger Acker-Ruth and things like that, and younger guys. He's not a younger guy, obviously, but he is someone with less experience than them, and it's a playoff. So I think he can come out of that pretty happy with himself.
00:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, especially to like, you know, he's never run an asphalt oval before. And IRP is a very weird track. It's not like a Martinsville where you're just going in and riding the curb.
00:08:51
Speaker
all the way around the corners, you're kind of, you know, two thirds to three quarters of the way up the track is the fast line that IRP. So I'd say it's a pretty respectable run for him. And the fact that he was able to finish all the lapses is huge for him. You know, you're not going to gain anything by, you know, running 10, 15 laps and then getting wrecked out like, like, unfortunately, Haley Deegan had on that topic. I think it's interesting, though, that
00:09:16
Speaker
Kind of you mentioned somebody with rotten luck, Steve, like Haley Deegan seems to this has absolutely rotten luck in the truck series. And then you see she goes out and podiums in the S.R. X race at at El Dora. And she was she's running the top five most of the S.R. X feature at Berlin the week prior. I think that S.R. X series is doing a lot to prove her ability as a driver more than running the cups in the truck series. Excuse me.
00:09:46
Speaker
I definitely agree with that. I mean, she's shown talent over the last.
00:09:51
Speaker
Well, I mean, this year even, it's just, I feel like it's so few and far between where there are issues that come up and it's like, you know, it'll be like a top 10 when like five straight, you know, 18, 19, 25, and then another one. So, you know, again, like IRP was bad for her overall. I mean, I don't even, I don't remember what she finished, but it was like very far down. Yeah, she got wrecked pretty early, I feel like. Yeah.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, I agree though. I think that like you watched and it's another thing about the SRX races is that like, you know These drivers the ones who perform well are learning throughout the entire race and that's one thing that you can see with what she's doing in SRX is it's like Sometimes you don't see that as much in the truck series with her but during those SRX races she's really like she's finding lines that you know are working well for her and
00:10:48
Speaker
you know, it works out, but just a weird dynamic between the two, the two series that it's like, if one is, it's not working in one, why is it working in the other and vice versa? I think the difference there is, is, you know, all the SRX drivers are experienced drivers, and the most part, very respectful drivers that they're not going to go out there and, and
00:11:09
Speaker
you know, just put the bumper to you to get you out of the way. You know, they'll they'll race you. And that just doesn't happen very much in the truck series. And it seems like a lot of the accidents that she is collected in our drivers just getting in way over their heads and and not being able to control their trucks. It's like an Arca race, basically. Yeah, the truck series is a glorified Arca race in a lot of ways, unfortunately. I want to check on two.
00:11:37
Speaker
I think it's interesting to draw the comparison between the Truck Series and the Cup Series in terms of the driver performances this year.
Truck Series Championship Contenders
00:11:45
Speaker
Because I feel like early on in the Truck Series, Zane Smith was setting the world on fire over there. Very similar to how William Byron was doing in the Cup Series early on. And now, in the last, you know,
00:11:58
Speaker
month or two, you know, Zane Smith's kind of falling off a little bit. William Byron's kind of falling off a little bit. Then I would put time of Jesse as the, the Martin Truex equivalent in the truck series right now. And I would, I would put time of Jesse as the, the favorite to win the championship over there in the trucks. But I'm curious what you guys think there is, is majestic. You're the guy or can Zane Smith or Carson host of our make a run at him.
00:12:20
Speaker
Well, I do. I mean, Zane Smith is over the last like six weeks has been top five just about every week, except for like one. So, yeah, I get it. But I still think that like, I don't know, does he have the highest ceiling?
00:12:38
Speaker
Overall? Right now? I think so because Majeski, I think all of his wins are on the shorter tracks. Yeah. I know where he's cut his teeth in late models, whereas Zane Smith is one on a little bit of everything, I feel like. Yeah, I'll say that. I'll say that Zane Smith. Yeah, I think, you know, it's going to come right down to the wire. I don't. I'd probably lean Zane Smith mainly because of the point you guys just brought up looking at
00:13:07
Speaker
You know, the playoffs scheduled for the trucks. Um, you know, but time, time of Jesky, um, he's, he's been knocking on the door recently. They had the, uh, that weird deal at Richmond where he performed really, really well and couldn't pull together that win just a couple of weeks ago. So, uh, they race well lately. So if you're going with a hotter hand, it would probably be tie. Um,
00:13:34
Speaker
But down the stretch here with the schedule might lean Zane Smith Yeah, I think Zane Smith probably gonna go into the championship race as a favorite but again with it being Phoenix I could play into majestic ease and you know his towels track Yeah, I definitely agree with that Dylan I was the point I was just about to make so to the truck series off for a little bit I think they are off this weekend and I
00:14:04
Speaker
Daytona weekend they are at the Milwaukee mile which would be a nice change of pace a different track that we haven't seen a NASCAR in a little while and And it'll be another flat type of racetrack much like IRP So I'm interested to see how that plays out and I and it's in time in Jesse's home state So he might go back to back there to start off the playoffs in the truck series on Saturday in the Xfinity series
00:14:32
Speaker
and Jessica dominated the whole thing. Sorry, Ty Gibbs, it was a tie weekend, Ty Gibbs dominated the whole race. And he just put on a crazy show. And it was
00:14:48
Speaker
It kind of made it a little bit boring, but also I thought it was just an impressive show. At some point, you just have to kind of sit back and appreciate that somebody has put together such a crazy good setup in a car to go out and beat the pants off everybody else. And I think that's what Saturday was, and to an extent, Sunday as well.
00:15:09
Speaker
Well, so I didn't really get to see much of the Xfinity race, but what I did see is that
00:15:19
Speaker
Clearman yet again, another top 10. Just don't see a win coming for him anytime soon, but just really grinding it out. And Kaz Grawla snagged a top 10 after his starting position. I don't know how that happened. Yeah. Well with Clickerman, the trouble for him is that he's running top 10, but like Riley Herbst is also running really well. And like they're, they're within a couple of positions of each other every race. So it's not like Parker has much opportunity to.
00:15:45
Speaker
to earn more points and try to point his way in the playoffs. But yeah, a good run for him and Casagrada, really good road racer and making the most of his opportunity there in the 26th. I was, I mean, you know, I think Ty Gibbs is in exceptional talent. And, you know, I know that we've drawn comparisons at least last year and this year to like with Noah Gregson and who is going to have more of a successful rookie year, I think was obviously going to be Gibbs.
00:16:14
Speaker
just based on talent, but also equipment. But it's funny, like Gibbs goes back down to Xfinity and just dominate sometimes. So, you know, it's the seat time is important. The understanding of what you're, you know, the how the equipment's working and things, I think, just sets him apart from other other rookies or other, you know, maybe this year, previous years. So I'm very, very impressed with what Gibbs
Ty Gibbs in Xfinity and NASCAR Future
00:16:39
Speaker
is doing. It's it's remarkable. And I think that
00:16:43
Speaker
Um, you know, he's gonna, he's having a decent rookie year, I think, but it's going to be for the years to come. I think he's going to be impressive. Yeah. I really think as far as Ty Gibbs future, I mean, this guy's kind of the limit, obviously. Yeah. He has the funding and he's been with, um, you know, great partner with monster energy. And, you know, for Joe Gibbs racing itself, but, um, as far as the, I mean, the Xfinity win.
00:17:12
Speaker
It's just, you know, kind of a statement to go down, you know, down to the XFINITY series when you've been a cup regular this season and to do it on, you know, the Indy Road course, you know, in dominating fashion, 28 laps lead. And he held off, you know, some guys that are, you know, Sam Mayer one that's been running well lately and then
00:17:41
Speaker
course AJ Allmendinger we know what he can do at a road course but AJ kind of kind of had had a disappointing stretch here really overall no matter the series he's been in recently but that's beside the point but as far as Ty goes yeah I think he's going to suit very well no matter what series he is in as he just keeps getting more seat time
00:18:12
Speaker
Uh, here, you know, he, he's so young and you have to remember that, but so he'll be well on his way here. I think he would have been somebody that would have benefited Sunday if, you know, strategy kind of fell his way after spinning early on, uh, because, you know, he was just so dominant Saturday. Um, so I think that would have been nice to see him actually being able to compete because I think he had a fast car Sunday too. So.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, again, not much you can say from that race. But I think the big kind of drama with that was all the weather leading up to their actual race taking place. You had a little lightning delay. Yeah. So yeah, unfortunately, X-Men needed to not produce. And I guess you could say the Cup Series didn't live up to expectations either. So that might lend to possibly the oval coming back.
00:19:09
Speaker
I think the, uh, the best race of the weekend on the, uh, the IMS, uh, property was the Indy car race. I mean, now it's just a spectacular, uh, cat and mouse there with, uh, with Scott Dixon and Graham Ray Hall. And man, I feel for Graham because they have fought so hard and, and, and get to get a win. And, uh, and, and they're so close to it, especially after everything that happened with them at that track in may on qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.
Scott Dixon's IndyCar Success
00:19:38
Speaker
Um,
00:19:40
Speaker
I thought that was the best race of the weekend there. And that's not necessarily a knock on the other two. But when you have the leaders right there and Graham was coming, and if a lot of traffic played nicely in his favor, he could have gotten there. But a very good race overall for the IndyCar Series. And how about God Dixon's stats? 19th Street consecutive seasons with a win? You don't see that in sports any longer. Somebody with just dominance. Not really dominance, but just
00:20:09
Speaker
And Ironman, you know, he's been there for that long. He's champion. And then he also set the consecutive starts record as well with that race too. South Dakota is cool.
00:20:20
Speaker
How about Chip Ganassi making a statement, an actual statement relating to Alex Palau and the Errol McLaren situation? You don't see him make statements on things very often. Quite the interesting scenario for the kind of triangle of those, like Zach Brown, Errol McLaren, and Palau, and Chip Ganassi. Absolutely hilarious. Just when we thought this was all over last year,
00:20:49
Speaker
it fires right back up i was i mean you know you don't like i said you don't see him ganassi make statements about really anything it's you know you could tell that this was you know he's very angry and i get it i mean i don't know the whole situation was kind of ridiculous to be honest with you but uh i would see why he would want polo i mean polo is
00:21:10
Speaker
You know a superstar, you know, and so just Indy car it produces I think so much good content Every every week the racing is very good. It's better than Formula One. The drivers are more known here There's drama, you know, it's I think it's an understated type of racing that that I think Formula One fans who only watch Formula One don't pay enough or close attention to I Would agree with that and just for sure. Yeah
Kyle Larson's Racing Versatility
00:21:41
Speaker
I, uh, before we get onto the cup series race on Sunday, how about, uh, there was a race in central Iowa on a Saturday night that, um, some guy in the 57 car one. Oh yes. Kyle Larson won the Knoxville nationals for the second year in a row. And then.
00:22:00
Speaker
literally like eight hours later if that he was in Indianapolis unveiling his Two paint schemes for his Indianapolis double for next spring The era McLaren car he will pilot in the Indianapolis 500 and then of course his Hendrick Motorsports number five He will drive in the Coca-Cola 600 that night
00:22:24
Speaker
What can't this guy do? I mean you see a guy come out there in and won the Knoxville Nationals again And you're just like it's another reminder. This might be the best living race car driver like best active race car driver right now And it makes you wonder he could really win the 8500, right? Uh Man, I that's it's hard. I mean, you know, like I don't know how
00:22:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yes, like he I think of all the drivers that could in the cup series, he would be probably, I would say he's the only one really. I mean, and I'm talking about like full time drivers, not like some sort of like ringer. But like, you have to think like, he's probably the best at
00:23:14
Speaker
adapting quickly to the equipment that he's in, I think like he can hop in anything and be competitive within maybe a few laps. If he has the car maybe but it is so hard to win that race. It's like, you know, he can't he's not good on super speedways. You know what I mean in the cup series. So not that he's not good, but he doesn't finish well.
00:23:35
Speaker
Um, and so it's like, there's not a lot of difference in the track with that. So I guess we'll see. I mean, I don't know. I, I'm going to say no, but I'm usually wrong about stuff. Man, wouldn't, wouldn't that be, wouldn't that be fun though? Um, it will be just to see him out there. It may be an Apple is 500 next year to see what he can do. I mean, uh,
00:23:59
Speaker
You know, I'm curious to see, and we mentioned, you know, part of this in our group text early in the week. I think Braxton just brought it up, you know, just how, you know, how good Kyle Larson is in any discipline of American motorsports. If you were to, you know, ask, you know, the casual fan and, and maybe, uh, you could, you could put up an argument for Kyle Larson being, you know, one of the top in the world.
00:24:29
Speaker
And I'm sure people would welcome that debate. And that's a whole other can of worms there. But I'm sure that he'll be competitive, but it will be tough. But of course, hey, if we learned anything about the last month in the NASCAR Cup Series, we saw SVG win, hop in and win the Chicago Street course. I know that's kind of apples to oranges.
00:24:56
Speaker
You never know. When I'm looking forward to someone taking on the double, that's for sure. Yeah, I remember the last time anyone did it with Kurt Busch, I was really excited. He ran really well in the Indy 500. I think that caught a lot of people off guard that Kurt Busch of all people would be someone that could compete at the Indy 500, and he did in a big way, I think.
00:25:20
Speaker
Um, I know that the whole racing world is going to have its eyes on Indy for that though, for sure. Cause that's going to be, you know, already everyone's watching, but now it's like, you know, somebody like Kyle Larson that I think, you know, could have gone on to be the greatest Indy car driver ever to, you know, hearing his story about when he almost took that path. He wanted to go down that path, but, um, you know, ended up in NASCAR. Um, so it's going to be interesting. One thing that kind of worries me though, is like the last time.
00:25:49
Speaker
McLaren had a big driver in one of their cars trying to make the Indy 500. I remember that fiasco with Fernando Alonso. So that's the only thing that kind of worries me. But I think if anyone's going to be able to put together a good month, because you know how Kyle Larson is. The man loves to race. He's going to attend a lot of those practices that go on during the month of May. He's going to find a way to get his car better.
00:26:17
Speaker
and fine-tune that thing the way he wants to race it. I just think it's going to be interesting how he adapts so well and he has so much wealth of knowledge from the different cars he's been in. The sprint car, the midget, the dirt late model, the cup car obviously.
00:26:37
Speaker
all of that melded together. I think this is going to create a really interesting dynamic in terms of the feedback he's able to give to the team that no one else really in an IndyCar is able to give that to their team because they've never driven
00:26:54
Speaker
the kind of wide range of stuff that Kyle Larson's driven. I don't know if that'll necessarily be a huge help or not, but I think it's definitely worthwhile and kind of sets him apart a little bit in that sense, right? I think it's interesting and very cool that they are going to run the 17 car in the Indianapolis 500 as a nice homage to Ricky Hendrick.
00:27:19
Speaker
with the 17 there and it's in the HMS blue. It'll be a great thing to watch there. I did see that he said he's been in the IndyCar simulator a little bit. He did the Mid-Ohio course in IndyCar Simulator and one of the comments I thought was wild that he made was he was on the brakes and stuff and the engineers were like, okay, you're doing good.
00:27:45
Speaker
And then he's like, what can I do better? And they're like, well, you need about 2,000 pounds more brake pressure. And he's like, what in the world are you talking about? Another 2,000 pounds of pedal pressure on the brake is insane. But that's just one of the things he's going to have to learn. Of course, he's not going to be on the brakes very much, Denise. That'll help him. But I'm excited to see what he does there. Like I said, he's won everything else he's been in. And I think he is going to put every
00:28:15
Speaker
effort to do well there. I did think the one comment he made that was interesting though is he said something to the effect of
00:28:22
Speaker
I think it's okay for me to focus a little bit more attention on Indy over the Cup Series car for that month because we're going to be in the playoffs anyways. I didn't say that in so many words, but that's effectively what he meant, that we're such a good Cup Series team. We'll be fine for the playoffs if I focus a little bit more energy on the Indy 500. Is that an accurate statement, a fair statement, or is that overly cocky, do we think?
00:28:51
Speaker
No, I mean, I agree with him. I agree with that. I mean, he is somebody who is he can hop into a car, like I said, and figure it out quickly. But there are very few drivers in racing. First of all, there are very few drivers in racing that get the opportunities that he gets as far as like, he could run a cup X very XFINITY truck.
00:29:15
Speaker
Any team would offer him something. He would do it and can do it. So he has different opportunities than somebody who can just do different late modified stock, wings, sprints, those types of cars. And so that gives him the opportunity to say, you know what? I do all of these things on a regular basis, and I still win in the cup series.
00:29:42
Speaker
I'm not worried about my full-time job because I already know how to balance all of these things as it is. That's how I would take that. But that's a confidence that I think that he's always had. He came into the, at a young age and it was impressive early, I think that it's probably, there's not gonna be any issues with it. Yeah, who knows by the time next year in May, I mean, he could already have
00:30:12
Speaker
a win, it would be likely in the Cup Series to clench him in that playoff spot. But I just think that, you know, I think he's the type of guy that probably will, like he said, you know, devote more energy and a little more energy time to the Indianapolis ride in May. But that doesn't mean that, you know, he won't still, you know, show up and give everything in the
00:30:39
Speaker
in the cup series when it comes time to, I mean, like Steve mentioned, he's already balancing into like we've all talked about him balancing his race schedule every single week of the year. It seems like going every rich direction just to get behind the wheel. I don't think it will be much difference at all come next year. And I don't have, you know, any issue with his statement. Yeah, I don't either.
00:31:05
Speaker
brings up a good point that he's probably going to win before the race, you know? Um, so I would read too much into that quote. I just think it, it shows that how important dandy 500 is going to be to him. So he's definitely not going to be a slouch about getting, like I said earlier, his car ready for the race.
00:31:27
Speaker
So as we say that, as I have on my other screen here, recording on Tuesday night, his high limit series is currently underway and qualifying at Houston Speedway in South Dakota. So what I said earlier, what can't the man do? He's he's put on a show everywhere he goes.
00:31:47
Speaker
Not quite on Sunday though. He was not much of a factor in the Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Road course. Of course won by Michael McDowell. Seemed like it was McDowell and Chase Elliott were the class of the field and then it was pretty much everybody else at that point.
McDowell vs Elliott: Race Tensions?
00:32:05
Speaker
We mentioned earlier, but that was very much an old school race where
00:32:10
Speaker
You weren't having, quote unquote, artificial drama stirred up by drivers being taken out in the restarts. It was really who brought the best car and who could execute the best. And that's really where racing boils down to, right? It was very much a, you know, he who has the best car wins, not he who gets the luckiest in all of the drama wins. Does that make sense?
00:32:35
Speaker
I think that's true. But one thing that I was kind of confused about was I thought that the Daniel Suarez bumping Chase Elliott out of the way was a pretty big story, considering how much time he had lost getting to Pit Road. Obviously, Daniel Suarez lost more time on Pit Road, but kind of surprised that neither reporter who talked to Suarez or Chase Elliott asked them about it. Because I mean, if you saw the closing lapse closing lap, really,
00:33:05
Speaker
uh chase was gaining a lot of ground very quickly on uh on uh Michael McDowell and you would have thought that you know if there was two more laps he would have caught him um so the nine ran out of time um time that he lost on pit road and uh i just thought that would have been really interesting had those two been that would have made the racing a lot better uh maybe not as much of a snooze fest if
00:33:32
Speaker
It was the most popular driver running down. And with Michael McDowell under attack from the 9, the last lap would have made for a pretty crazy finish. But that was really the only, those three cars, the 99, the 34, and the 9 were the focal point all day. And it was a lot of fun to watch those specific things. But you saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running into everybody.
00:34:00
Speaker
starting an international affair almost. Ben Gisbergen was doing some of that also. Kobayashi was, it was like, you know, a couple of these guys were just all over the place. And, but, you know, I just, I don't know. I mean, I thought the Suarez Chase thing was a little, it was more important than they made it seem like. But I guess it all as well that ends well. I don't think neither of them talked about it. And I don't think anybody asked either of them about it.
00:34:32
Speaker
Yeah, as far as the race itself goes, a couple stats that I have here are my notes that I saw on Twitter from on, well, I guess it's now X, excuse me, on Jeff Glock's page.
00:34:50
Speaker
There was a green flag run in this race of 117 minutes, which was almost the whole, pretty much the whole race. Cause the race, I mean, it was over, it was like a two hour and four minute race or something like that was the runtime. Just insane. It was like the longest green flag run in seven years. And then first cup race, there'd be just one caution and that was all the way in this what second lap and like a decade.
00:35:17
Speaker
since the one caution so just all kinds of factors and this is One of the you know Factors in this thing remaining green. It's obviously taking out the stages in the road course and that makes you know It just changes the whole game for pretty much these road courses and kind of makes it that race where hey if you have the car and
00:35:43
Speaker
to beat. Good luck catching that one. And that's what we saw from Michael McDowell. Michael, I listened to the whole actions detrimental. He joined Denny Hamlin after Denny a couple weeks ago challenged him to prove him wrong with what he thought was going to happen in this stretch of races and Michael did. And McDowell mentioned how
00:36:08
Speaker
He was nervous this weekend because mainly because you know in on Saturday he knew that he said I knew that you know, this was the car and and I to to win and got a little nervous. But hey, I mean with another must win playoff contender right behind Chase Elliott. McDowell finished the job so hands off to him. Yeah, I will.
00:36:38
Speaker
A couple points here. So the racing, um, I think we could have gone with a longer race and something to look at if they're going to continue to not have stage cautions because look at the time difference. I forget which race, maybe Sonoma earlier in the year. That was super short in terms of length. Um, um, in terms of time, um,
00:37:00
Speaker
So the complete opposite has happened, because stage cautions took so long at road courses, it added so much time, it felt like, to the road courses. Now, when we don't have stage cautions, we could end up, like we did Sunday, having a long green flag run. And that ends up making the race shorter. And I feel like if you would have had 10 to 20 more laps, that could have really made the strategy interesting in terms of, like Denny Hamlin, not pinning
Would Longer Races Enhance Strategy?
00:37:28
Speaker
at all,
00:37:28
Speaker
Um, and then hold in saving his fuel up to, to get the stage two victory. I feel like if we could have had a longer race with some differing length of stages to maybe add to a little bit of, uh, you know, more strategy into the race, kind of like the Indy car felt like it felt like it just the length of that race really played into the fuel amounts that they had and made the race more interesting. So I think that was one thing that could have made it more interesting, but I will say.
00:37:56
Speaker
Like we've been talking about the best cars were there. And I think the Sores could be lumped into those three with chase Elliott and Michael McDowell in terms of having a fast car. Um, he was, I thought, you know, the first two stages, they were able to kind of race back and forth. McDowell made a great pass, um, at the end of stage two, um, passing Brad Kozlowski and then.
00:38:16
Speaker
getting to Denny Hamlin and passing him. I think that was the move in the race and getting by Daniel Suarez there and then by Brad Kozlowski and then obviously Denny Hamlin when he came to Pitt. Um, and I just, I, I really enjoyed it because, um, you know, up until stage three, I thought stage three was kind of boring, but up until then I thought, you know, any of those drivers could have won the race between Suarez
00:38:42
Speaker
Um, Chase Elliott or McDowell. And then when you have a team like McDowell's team, who's not known to, you know, just having the best car and the best speed all day. And he did and took advantage of it. So I thought that was cool. Um, but I, I think in the future, that's something we need to look at. I do think the, the Suarez chase Elliott deal is interesting too, because.
00:39:05
Speaker
Um, I saw some videos after the race and forget who it was on Twitter that Chase Elliott was talking to Rockenfeller. Um, you know, kind of felt like he held him up at the end of that race where Chase has seemed a little bit, I think Chase might've been a little bit more angry at Suarez had he not been held up by, by Rockenfeller there towards the end. So that, that might've played into why we didn't hear from Chase after that. Cause I think had Rockenfeller gotten out of the way.
00:39:33
Speaker
He said he held him up one to two seconds. That's what he lost by so That's something that may have played into chase not being quite as mad at Suarez I think it's interesting how the you know the top three cars there
00:39:49
Speaker
They were head and shoulders above the rest of the field, but it was also Kyle Busch. Kyle Busch, had he not had the problems, he was showing some speed. Maybe not quite as fast as them, but if you would have had a good pit stop or something, I feel like he he was kind of closing on chase at times in the first stage before he obviously had the ended problem.
00:40:09
Speaker
That's very fair, yeah. I just think that even though the top three were so much better than the rest of the field, they were so equal together that it was very hard. I know Chase was charging at the end and Suarez and Chase had a bit of a battle, but it wasn't like they were able to flat run down McDowell and create a race that way. I felt like a lot of the
00:40:32
Speaker
The gap stayed pretty much the same for most of that long run, especially after stage two ended once Denny and Brad finally came in. The gap didn't really fluctuate a whole, whole ton. It kind of reminded me of the whole thing about how the cars are set up so equal these days.
00:40:52
Speaker
Um, and and that kind of soured me a little bit but overall, I mean it was still good to see That you know the the most deserving car won the race not necessarily the car that got luckiest like this is definitely a race where um Where where kyle bush is not saying he just backs into wins like like McDowell earned that one for sure
00:41:13
Speaker
Uh, and, and Jake, to your point that the interview he did with Denny Hamlin on actions detrimental this week was, uh, was, was a really, really good expository information about, you know, what furniture goes through compared to some of the processes that Denny has described earlier in the season about what he does at JGR and what his 2311 drivers go through. So, uh, it was very good to hear from McDowell after that. Did you just say furniture row? Front row. I think you said furniture row.
00:41:44
Speaker
Rest in peace, Furnitureo Racing. If you're listening to Barney Visser, we will take some sponsorship from Furnitureo here on Claudio with a chance of racing. Furnitureo has officially died right now.
00:41:57
Speaker
Oh no. Yeah, so I think it's good to see that the most deserving car won. I will say that McDowell's, and also last point real quick, is it's interesting that the three cars who are right there at the bubble, basically, take out like Ty Gibbs, he wasn't really much of a factor up at the front, and then Bubba as well. But the other three cars, the three that are at the top are right there at the bubble.
Playoff Bubble Strategies
00:42:24
Speaker
I now thought that made some for some very interesting storylines because if any one of those drivers won and of course McDowell did, it changed up the playoff scenarios a ton. Now Bubba Wallace is only 28 points to the good, but now also
00:42:40
Speaker
Bubba is really the only one who is kind of in danger of missing the playoffs if he doesn't win out of the three available spots on points right now because Harvick and Kozlowski are both plus 100 or more over the cut line. So realistically, it's Bubba who could get knocked out on points.
00:43:01
Speaker
And of course too, when you go to Watkins Glen where Chase Elliott is a favorite there as well, and you go to Daytona where anything can happen, I would say the 23 Bunch is sweating bullets all the next couple of weeks. Anything can happen, but it's worth mentioning that if there is a driver who can show up at Daytona, it is Bubba.
00:43:26
Speaker
uh and and keep it clean because you know i think of the drivers in the series he is the most likely to be good for the longest period and not get wrapped up in a wreck but again it's
00:43:42
Speaker
It's a night race. There's a lot more at stake. There's so much going on that you don't have to worry about as much at the 500. So we'll see. I mean, again, like Bubba I thought had a pretty decent race this weekend. He didn't do anything really wrong. His car just wasn't amazing. He didn't drive poorly. It just
00:44:04
Speaker
You know, he was what he was and, and he's, he's not a road course driver, but he did. Okay. I thought he didn't, he didn't hurt himself. Um, as, as he definitely could have put himself in a worse position schedule certainly sets up to make you nervous. If you're above a fan like me in 23 11, I mean,
00:44:31
Speaker
I guess a you know a win by any of the guys behind him obviously knocks him down so you can't just say you know go out there and Walken's Glen well you you would like to in case someone below you doesn't win too because you're only 28 above just to have a decent race you know not get into any accidents but you just you know
00:44:58
Speaker
It'll be interesting because you think that Suarez will come out here guns a blazing too, just like you did at Indianapolis being a road course and coming back. And another guy that I mentioned earlier in the show, and he's having kind of a disappointing year though, but road course guy, AJ Allmendinger is right there in the mix as well. All three of those guys below Bubba, so man.
00:45:26
Speaker
It's, it'll be interesting. Um, that that's for sure. And you know, that's kind of why they made, you know, Daytona, this playoff cut off because, you know, anyone really has a chance there. Yeah. And I think that was somebody that can win. He might not win the race at Daytona, but he, he's going to put himself in position to win both of the stages. And I think that's going to be big.
00:45:51
Speaker
when it comes to points. It would have been actually pretty interesting had Michael McDowell not win one that race Sunday or win next week. The him and Bubba, I feel like are the two most aggressive guys. You feel like early in races at super speedways. So that would have been cool to see them racing for stage wins. And that brings up another point I just want to mention. McDowell could end up being a pretty good playoff
00:46:17
Speaker
driver here because just think he could get some more stage wins over the next two races, put himself up in good position to, you know, have some stage points, some stage wins that is heading into the playoffs. I wouldn't put it past McDowell making it a couple of rounds, especially with the speed that he's shown so far this season. Yeah, for sure. I mean, they have shown improved speed across all different types of tracks. You know, I think, you know, a Kansas could be
00:46:46
Speaker
you know, a really good race for them to rack up some points and help them advance in the playoffs. So, you know, they go to the roval. He conceivably could win that and get his way into the, uh, the round of eight there. So, uh, it'll be very interesting, uh, or not the round of the round, whatever the second to last round is, uh, and it's a cutoff race. So he conceivably could go rounds. Like you mentioned, Dylan, it'll be very interesting to watch, uh,
00:47:14
Speaker
Good to have a feel-good story in the playoffs as well a couple of them because because Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Will be in there as well going to Today they have had a tire test at the Indianapolis Oval For a good year. This is to be yesterday and today yesterday apparently some bad weather I guess cars only got a handful of laps on the track closed to media and spectators although if you are
00:47:42
Speaker
uh, visiting the IMS museum, you could have technically gone up on the Hills on turn and turn one and seen some of the testing there. But, uh, I just, as we started recording, took a browse online and did not see any leaks of information from, uh, from Bob Pocris. So, uh, it seems that, uh, either they didn't get the test today. I haven't looked at what the weather in Indianapolis was.
00:48:07
Speaker
But it seems they either didn't get the test today or NASCAR has absolutely sworn everyone to secrecy and not letting anything out about how that test went. But it'll be interesting to see what happens if they return to the road course next year or go back to the oval layout. And I think we're all in agreement that the road course has kind of run its course at this point.
00:48:30
Speaker
that the oval would be a good return, at least to see what the next gen car can do there. I see Steve vehemently nodding his head there. Yes, absolutely. So as we wrap up the Indianapolis Recourse weekend, before we get to Watkins Glen talk with our picks and everything, let's get to some pop-up showers, Jake.
00:48:55
Speaker
Sure thing, something that I saw online today with my pop-up shower comes from AtrayRyan99 on X. And it's just a simple stat that you can do what you want with this. Most starts in each of NASCAR's top three series, so Cup Xfinity Trucks, without making a single start in another series. In the Cup series, Ricky Rudd, 406 starts.
00:49:24
Speaker
in the Xfinity series, Jeremy Clements, 453 starts. That's insane. Without a start in the other two. And then in the trucks, it's Tyler Ankram with 107. And he's pretty young. But that Jeremy Clements one, I don't know why I just thought that was fascinating. 453 starts in the Xfinity. That Trey Ryan guy is super good. He has these weird stats that he finds that you don't think about. Yeah, I was like, OK. Yeah.
00:49:55
Speaker
And then he also had other if you want to go to his page He has most wins in each series without winning a race in another series. So go to his page for that one Very interesting. Well, we'll link it in the the podcast description. Yeah, that's what that's what the youtubers say, right? Check the link in description below. Yeah We're not on YouTube, but maybe someday I don't know so that's a good that's a good pop shot shower Jake I Wouldn't have I guess Jeremy Clement. Yeah, he's run a ton of extended races and nothing else
00:50:25
Speaker
That makes sense. I just didn't realize it was that many. Steve, Dylan, which one of you wants to go next on Pop-Up Showers? Well, I have one that I saw. This one, I guess three days ago, so that would have been like Saturday. It was on Instagram. I saw it on Instagram. I was looking at the 2311 Racing. They came up and the caption was
00:50:51
Speaker
And Jake liked it. It's showing Kamui Kobayashi around the racing capital of the
Impact of SRX Series on Drivers
00:50:55
Speaker
world. And you swipe four pictures of three, four pictures in. You see Tyler Reddick wearing a Daniel Ricardo. Looks like a three shirt that is that old Diller and Hard Monte Carlo from the 80s. And I thought to myself, that would be an awesome person to come in and drive the 67 car
00:51:17
Speaker
Daniel Ricardo at some point for some, I don't know, Daytona 500 or Road Course. I think Ricardo, if he ever were to maybe leave Formula One or maybe, you know, in a different role to come over to the Cup Series, would do absolute wonders for viewers and would be a lot of fun to watch.
00:51:43
Speaker
My pop-up shower, um, once again, dirt tracks here in Kentucky, I wasn't able to go, but Florence Speedway in Northern Kentucky hosted one of the biggest, uh, Oh, the biggest kind of racing in Kentucky. Now that, you know, RIP Kansas Speedway, but, um,
00:52:01
Speaker
It was a, uh, fun weekend. It was a great race from what I saw, um, the North South one under their late models, dirt, late models, uh, Bobby Pierce, who's bursting on to the scene as, you know, probably the most dominant, uh, driver right now in the late models, um, on the dirt side of things. So he won, um, which was big $75,000 to him. And, um, this weekend I'll be heading to Richmond Raceway once again.
00:52:27
Speaker
Here in Kentucky for the Butterball Memorial, which is a twenty thousand dollar over twenty thousand dollar super late model purse their Saturday night August is always the biggest weekend biggest excuse me month for racing in Kentucky. So It would be a great place to put Kentucky Speedway on the cup schedule sometime in the month of August if it were to ever come back
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, Steve or Dylan, excuse me. I saw that, uh, that your motorsports Monday segment yesterday, uh, with, um, and, and you listened to the top five there. So it was Bobby Pierce, like Hudson O'Neill, uh, Jonathan Davenport and, and absolutely stacked top five. I mean, the only people I could think of that you could possibly ask for in that finishing order would have been Scott Blomquist and Mike Marlar. Yeah, definitely. And Marlar's won some races. He, he won the big race. Um,
00:53:25
Speaker
at, uh, Ponderosa Speedway earlier this summer, Marlar did. So, um, Kentucky underrated dirt track scene for sure. We Larson, we Larson to make an appearance here. Well, you need to get Larson out of the sprint car seat first. Um, yes, those are good ones. And, uh, Steve, I liked yours as well. That was a good pop-up shower. I think, uh, I think Daniel Ricardo wants to come to NASCAR.
00:53:54
Speaker
He definitely wants to. It's just all about the, you know, this F1 contracts. I feel like they're so limited on what you can do because you hardly see F1 drivers do anything. I mean, you don't, you don't even really see F1 drivers in, uh, in the Lamont anymore. So, um, he'd have to be out of an F1 contract before he can come do NASCAR. But I think that'd be really cool, uh, for him to come do it sometime. My pop-up shower, uh, was this past weekend in, uh, in Pontiac, Michigan, close to where I live.
00:54:21
Speaker
They did a deal called road kill nights. They've done it for many years now basically, they take a stretch of street literally of public street and in Pontiac and they close it down and they have Drag racing and so you see, you know big tire, you know pro mod cars Absolutely tearing it up. They don't have a Christmas tree or anything. They did old school with the drop of the hands and
00:54:46
Speaker
And it looked like a really cool time. I hate that I couldn't go. But of course, in Pontiac, they also have a place called M1 Concourse, which they have kind of a road course up there and some different places. So they had drifting. I think they might have some autocross. They had a crazy good car show. People with all kinds of insane builds out there. And it seemed like a really good time.
00:55:14
Speaker
Dylan, like you mentioned, as as August is being racing month and in Kentucky, August is definitely car month in the state of Michigan, especially around Detroit. You know, you have roadkill nights last weekend. I think this weekend maybe might be the Woodward Dream Cruise, which is a crazy deal. So Woodward Avenue runs from Pontiac and literally a straight line through through a lot of the suburbs of Detroit right down to the middle of downtown Detroit. And people will take their
00:55:42
Speaker
They're classic cars and stuff. And those drive the, you know, up and down Woodward Avenue and people will literally set up lawn chairs in the sidewalks and stuff through all these little, uh, suburb communities and stuff and just watch the classic cars roll through. Uh, so a really fun time here in, uh, Metro Detroit and it's kicked off by, uh, by roadkill nights there last weekend. So a cool deal. And, uh, I think my favorite car that I heard that was at roadkill nights, this group, uh, this up in central Michigan.
00:56:11
Speaker
Uh, called the side by side blog. They, uh, they took a, imagine like your, your utility UTV kind of deal. So not like a side by side where you're going like off-roading, but like, you know, a kind of utility side by side kind of deal where you're, you know, work on your land kind of, kind of thing. And they, it was a four seater. They ripped the max seats out. They extended the chassis and they dropped an 800 horsepower Hellcat motor in it with a power glide. Uh, so, and it is.
00:56:39
Speaker
Every bit as rowdy as you can imagine that thing being and and it looks super cool I've seen some videos of it online or whatever watches the whole build online on their YouTube channel for the side-by-side blog and it is insane So I can't wait. Hopefully I get to see it sometime in person worth noting as well. They also have a Side-by-side of some sort. I don't know if it's a Polaris or what model it is But they put a billet block to Jay-Z in it
00:57:10
Speaker
And, uh, that thing is insanely rowdy to like some sub two seconds, zero to 60 times on dirt with paddle tires. Uh, so some crazy things going on there with the side by side blog, but yeah, roadkill nights happening here in, uh, in the Detroit area last weekend, it was my pop-up shower. Uh, let's get to our, uh, race picks for this past week in our actual picks. Uh, we all had pretty good weeks and somehow.
00:57:39
Speaker
I was dead last out of us, and my guy finished 11th, Chris Busher, which is, again, a better finish than what you would take Chris Busher for at overall face value, I think. Chris Busher wasn't always known as a good road course racer in the last couple years. He has blossomed into a pretty good one, and he finished 11th.
00:58:02
Speaker
See Blake who was on with us last week. He took SVG who finished 10th. So a good run there See then Steve your guys see Bell finished 9th, which is I think a sneaky good day I don't think many people talked about him much in the broadcast but sneaky good day there for see Bell 4th place for Jake with Tyler Reddick and then Dylan's guy Chase Elliott finishing second a huge points day for
00:58:30
Speaker
Uh, for chase Elliott there, but unfortunately pretty much everybody, he is racing against him. The points trying to make it in the playoffs also had huge days. So it didn't really help him very much in the point standings. Uh, but that, um, with that result, Jake, or as to me, uh, Dylan, that has really helped you. You've jumped out to a sizable lead. Now you have 846 points. Steve's your next closest competitor were 767.
00:58:57
Speaker
I am 50 points adrift of Steve at eight, seven, or seven, 17. And Jake, you're catching up to me. I've had a string of some, some bad runs. I think in the last seven weeks, I have one top 10 and I was MTJ winning at, uh, at Loudon. And I have eight top tens in the last nine races. Yeah. So you're, you're absolutely crushing it and I am struggling. So Jake, you're only, uh, 22 points behind me to get out of the cellar. It's a huge opportunity for you there.
00:59:27
Speaker
But I'm hoping I can spoil it and so our pick order this week is myself Steve Jake and Dylan and And so I'm my backs up against the law here. So I got to do it. I got to take chase Elliott I Mean, who else am I gonna take a walk in school in right? Sorry guys. Well the whole party my thing about chase is you know when his backs been against the wall because it is and you know with the you know, I
00:59:54
Speaker
With the randomness that could be Daytona and the craziness that could happen there, this is a must win for him. He has to win this race. And when he's been put with that in the past, remember when he won Martinsville to get into the final four there, he dominated. So we could be in for something similar to that this week.
01:00:17
Speaker
Cool. I know I realized I spoiled the whole party there. Sorry, guys. So, well, so yeah, I mean, I was gonna pick Chase, but I figured he would be gone because I knew that I wasn't picking first. That's why I should have picked like Kostecki last week. And because, you know, whatever, but
01:00:37
Speaker
You still ended up with a better finish out of C Bell though. Yeah, but yeah, no, I know. And C Bell, I figured, could have had a good chance. But I think if there's anybody who can do well at Watkins Glen, it's probably Martin Truex Jr. So that's who I'm going to have to go with. If we're going to have a throwback to Chase Elliott's first win, where he
01:01:01
Speaker
I believe chase down Martin Truex jr. And passed him I believe that's how that happened and then ran out of gas after he won So I'm gonna say though reverse happens if it's not chase Elliott's gonna be Martin Truex jr All right Jake probably the two top chips are off the board so you got to dig deep here Yeah, I have in my notes right here chase Elliott if not Truex
01:01:26
Speaker
Well, you know, I was leaning, you know, I like Bubba Wallace. I'm thinking like, you know, if I pick Chase Elliott, then if he wins, then at least I get my pick right. But, and knocks him out.
01:01:43
Speaker
I will go back. I picked him last week. I'll just, I'm going to pick Tyler Reddick again. His prowess on these road courses. You know, at, at Indy, he was, he was the betting favorite heading in and he was just kind of, he was in the, you know, top five kind of just all race hanging around. I think he he's due for another one of these road course victories. Okay. And, and maybe, you know, being 23 11.
01:02:11
Speaker
Being up front battling these other bubble guys will be racing them pretty hard. If you're Tyler Riddick, I know you have to race for yourself, but does it cross your mind at all that if a driver locked into the playoffs is right on your tail on the last lap, do you let that driver by so it doesn't knock out Bubba? No, I guarantee you his team owner, Denny Amlin, is saying you win the dang race. That's true. Because Tyler winning, Tyler winning would
01:02:39
Speaker
wouldn't knock Bubba out, so that's fair. All right, Dylan, who you going with? I'm going, well, it's funny Jake just mentioned. His pick progression, I had Tyloretic as my third option behind Turex and Chase. So I'm going with my fourth option here, and it is going to be none other than the man that was right in the mix yesterday, Daniel Suarez. I think he's going to need a big race. I'm thinking, expecting stage points out of him.
01:03:08
Speaker
uh, for this pick. Um, I was really debating between him and Michael McDowell, but Michael McDowell may not be, you know, it's hard charging now that he's in this in the play in the playoff. Well, don't pick Ryan Blaney because he's going to get dumped by AJ Elmendinger at some point on Sunday. And sore as Mike get dumped by Chase. I don't think, I mean, if it becomes, yeah, I 100% see Chase bump, uh, doing a bump and run, but in a corner.
01:03:38
Speaker
What do they say? I was also thinking about picking Bowman. Bowman actually started a little bit of speed yesterday, and they're a little desperate, too. I think that was my sleeper pick was Alex Bowman, because there was a couple times where I saw he started gaining ground on the leaders, but just didn't have enough to start passing people. But that's kind of the story of the 48 this year. It's just bad luck.
01:04:06
Speaker
Yeah, he made the comment as well after the race. Like they've had speed all year. This had crappy finishes to show for him. Uh, so, uh, like I said earlier, great minds think alike. Oh, we all had basically the same four drivers on our list here. Uh, so Jake has, uh, Tyler Reddick again. Uh, Dylan has Daniel Suarez. Steve has MTJ and I have chase Elliott. We'll go to our random picks now, uh, where, uh,
01:04:33
Speaker
Jake and I had big days and Dylan and Steve did not. So Jake had chase Elliott who finished second and got 49 points. Uh, I had Daniel Suarez to finish third and got 51 points with his stage points. Uh, second highest point owner there for, uh, for Suarez, the only one higher was, um, McDowell, of course, winning the race. Dylan had, it was Andy Lally in the 51 this week. Yes. Uh, he finished 30th, got seven points.
01:05:03
Speaker
And Steve, uh, a 36th place finish for, uh, Eric Almorola getting one point. He ran out of gas on the last lap or two, right? Cause his car was, was just parked on pit road right in front of the 34 pit. So you saw it on all the celebration pictures and videos. Um, so with that, that's a huge shakeup in the rate and the random points. Uh, I still have a healthy lead. I have 643 points. Dylan is the next to me at, uh, five 27.
01:05:33
Speaker
But Jake is out of the cellar. Jake is now in third place and approaching 523 points on the four points behind Dylan for second place. And Steve, you are in the cellar now at 499 points. So it is an absolute dogfight there for second, third and fourth. I'm in a I'm in a dead heat for last place. It's like the story of my life. Hey, Jake has been there for a while, so he can he can relate to you. Yes.
01:06:02
Speaker
All right, so for our pick order this week, it'll go Steve, Dylan, myself, and then Jake. So let's give the old wheel spin here for Watkins Glen. And while I'm doing this, Dylan, you want to get to our forecast for the Finger Lakes? Yeah, actually, for the first time in what feels like ages, rain should not be a factor pretty much all weekend. Maybe some light stuff, but it's a road core.
01:06:30
Speaker
not going to be a whole lot to worry about there, so should be good to go. Awesome. First spin is done. Steve, you get, uh, Todd Gilliland. Whatever. I mean, I don't hate that. Um, I would be better than whoever's in the 15. Uh, that's Andy Lally this week. You're telling me it's not Reed. Reed Sorensen. It's not Reed Sorensen, no. Uh, Dylan, you get Todd's teammate, Michael McDowell, Mr. Houston winner.
01:06:59
Speaker
Well, I'll take that. Yeah, it's funny. I picked him at Chicago, and it was the wrong street slash road course, right? My rethinking was right. You were on the right track, and you were on the wrong train. Yep, that's right. Steve, who did you say the A. John Modinger was going to dump at Watkins Glen this week? Mr. Ryan Blaney. I sure hope not, because that's who I got. It's over for you. I'm sorry.
01:07:28
Speaker
Well, maybe, uh, maybe AJ will, will kind of wake up a little bit this week. Cause I think his baby is finally being born like yesterday or today. Well, he's been not very good this year. And so I think that he needs to worry about not dumping anybody because he needs to be focusing on winning a race. Very true. Uh, Jake, you got a very good pick. You have a good chance of taking over second place this week. You have Martin Truex Jr. Nice. All right. So, uh,
01:07:56
Speaker
There was a whole slew of ringers in the race last week, of course, you know, uh, SVG, Kostecki, Komodo Kobayashi, uh, Andy Lally, Jensen Button, uh, Mike Rockenfeller. Only two of those will be back in the cup series race at Watkins Glen for the back to back road courses. That of course will be Andy Lally and Rocky, uh, Mike Rockenfeller in the 42. Um, worth noting before we, uh, wrap up here that Noah Gregson has officially parted ways with, uh,
01:08:26
Speaker
Legacy Motor Club, so they announced that Rockin fellow will be in the 42 for this week for I guess for Indianapolis and Watkins Glen and then TBD after that So it'll be interesting to see how all that plays out because of course they're switching manufacturers So I'm sure that Chevrolet is not going to throw them many bones with Chevy development drivers So it'll be very interesting to see who they get in that car almost makes you wonder if
01:08:54
Speaker
If Jimmy Johnson would just drive it to take care of it, I don't know.
Hendrick Motorsports' Playoff Concerns
01:08:59
Speaker
Uh, but it makes you wonder who they're going to put in that seat for sure. Uh, any final thoughts guys, before we, uh, wrap up this episode 26 of Claudia with a chance of racing. I know that I picked Martin Truex Jr, but chase Elliott's going to win on Sunday. Thank you. Thank you very much.
01:09:16
Speaker
I'm looking forward to Watkins Glen that, you know, a traditional stop on the schedule. And it'll be fun getting up to that, you know, region of the United States. I think if Chase doesn't win and he doesn't make the playoffs, that's a huge story, especially if him and Bowman don't make the playoffs, Rick Hendrick is not going to be a happy man at all. And it'll be interesting to kind of see what the fallout is from that, you know, from him. You know, obviously,
01:09:46
Speaker
You can't control them getting injuries off the track. But that's going to be very disappointing if two Hendrick drivers don't make the playoffs after winning the championship two out of the last three years. Well, the injuries, keeping them out of the seat, but also the hefty penalties that they had early in the year, too. It's been a double whammy for those organizations, for sure. Last comment real quick.
01:10:15
Speaker
I think I know the answer to this, but was the moved restart zone in India, was that a good deal? I know we saw it at Chicago, but we also didn't know what to expect. Otherwise, it's Chicago, but I think this is the first time that we've had a comparison data point on the restart zone at India. Was that good?
01:10:34
Speaker
Did it kind of go the opposite way where I made the racing perhaps too boring? There wasn't enough action on the restarts. No, I think that it made the restarts good. I mean, there was there was nothing the battery restart singular. Yeah, sorry. Literally, we had the start of the race. Yeah, right. I mean, regardless, even if there were restarts, plural, it really would have made it, I think, better. I don't like seeing the entire
01:11:04
Speaker
Everybody bunched up and wrecking each other. So I certainly think it was, uh, an improvement. Yeah. We see it at the robo. Oh boy. I mean, so part of me says they have to, because the robo has been the same thing as what you, we've seen at Coda and at Andy row course with the sharp corner, but also at the same time, where would they put it in at the robo? Like the middle of, of the big track three and four.
01:11:32
Speaker
But that point you almost wondered if there's a pace car off the track then well that and it all you also wonder too like They're gonna have so much speed built up like what can you possibly do there? You know? Well on the restarts they have they have run the chicane only on the restart so
01:11:58
Speaker
But still, I just feel like if you put it earlier in the track at Charlotte, that they're just going to have so much speed built up by the time they get to the start-finish line, then they're all slamming on their brakes still anyways, and they're still going to be dive bombing each other. There's literally just not enough distance. At Indie Road Course, they had enough distance. They could put it back in that turn 13-14 region, and it was plenty of time across the front stretch.
01:12:22
Speaker
for everybody to space out a little bit. You just don't have that at Charlotte, I don't think. This is just outlandish thinking, but if they did do the... I mean, maybe the solution is putting the restart zone in the middle of this game. I mean, that's kind of thinking outside the box. Well, here's an idea. Really awkward. Here's an idea. The last two Cook 600s have been absolute bangers.
01:12:42
Speaker
Yeah. Let's just go back to the oval. Yeah, sure. I'm telling you, Chase Elliott is good at the roval. They will not do that. They want to see him win. And that's what I was going to say is that like, if he doesn't win at Watkins Glen, he's a hundred percent winning at the roval. Like, and it's not going to matter because they'll be out of the playoffs by then, but, uh, they, the 600 would be awesome if they just did more, uh, oval, more oval racing at Charlotte, but, uh, it's not going to happen.
01:13:13
Speaker
I think it should wait and see because there are a lot of, there are a lot of, uh, a lot of rumors on the, uh, the schedule, the bug, especially with Indianapolis going back to the oval, uh, perhaps and stuff. And, but we could do a whole other podcast just on scheduling debates. Uh, and we won't keep you at it for that long. Um, so I think that'll wrap up episode 26 here of Claudia with a chance of racing. Thank you all so much for listening to us this week and every week as always. Uh, if you like what you hear, be sure to leave us a,
01:13:42
Speaker
a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. Tell us what you like, what you didn't like. We very much appreciate that. Also, follow us on social media. We are on Instagram threads and the artist formerly known as Twitter, not known as X at Cloudy Racing Pod. So keep up with everything going on there. And it will be coming to you next week. Recapping the Watkins Glen Week and getting ready for the regular season cut off.
01:14:12
Speaker
for the NASCAR Cup Series coming up just a week after that at Daytona. And there's going to be so much talk about. So we'll try to keep it concise for you. But going to be storylines galore for the next few weeks for sure. Thank you all so much for listening. For Steve, Jake, and Dylan, I'm Braxton. Have a good one.