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2025 Happy Hour Awards Show: Driver of the Year, Biggest Story, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Best Word of the Week, and Best Viral Moment
2025 Happy Hour Awards Show: Driver of the Year, Biggest Story, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Best Word of the Week, and Best Viral Moment
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About this episode
Kevin Harvick and co-hosts celebrate the 2025 NASCAR season with their second annual Happy Hour Awards, covering categories like Driver of the Year, Biggest Story, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Best Word of the Week, and Best Viral Moment. Highlights include memorable race moments, fan-favorite viral clips, and debates over standout performances such as Denny Hamlin’s resilience, Kyle Larson’s championship burnout, and Shane van Gisbergen's road course dominance. The hosts also reflect on racing culture, showmanship, and the ongoing Charter System lawsuit, while engaging with fan votes and sharing personal anecdotes from the season.
Topics:
driver of the year
biggest story
best burnout
craziest finish
best viral moment
charter system lawsuit
showmanship
fan voting
race highlights
nascar season recap
Cars:
Buick Grand National
It’s the final episode of the 2025 season, and Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith close things out with the second annual Happy Hour Awards Show! The crew hands out end-of-season hardware for categories like Best Word of the Week, Best Viral Moment, Best Burnout, Craziest Finish, Biggest Story of the Year, and the prestigious Cup Driver of the Year Award. Some of the biggest names and moments in NASCAR this season are featured in the winners circle — but you’ll have to tune in to see who walks away with what.
0:00 - Intro
6:46 - Best Word Of The Week
11:19 - Best Viral Moment
18:30 - Best Burnout
25:48 - Craziest Finish
31:48 - Biggest Story Of The Year
37:07 - Cup Driver Of The Year
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
- Intro
- Best Word Of The Week
- Best Viral Moment
- Best Burnout
- Craziest Finish
- Biggest Story Of The Year
- Cup Driver Of The Year
Select text to request an explanation
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I'm a firm believer in karma.
This interview was unfolding.
I was just like, this is real.
If you want to be number one, you got to be odd.
The showmanship is a piece that people forget about in what we do.
I'm glad that the fans are focused on the race.
He said, I bet you didn't think I was tall enough to be here to sit on the door and
touch the gas pedal the same time.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Benzzi, and Mama Smith.
In the house.
We're here for overtime.
We are.
This is overtime.
This is OT.
Yeah.
The awards show.
It's fun.
Second time we've done this.
Well, it is always interesting to see what we think compared to what the fans
think.
This is not the same.
There are a lot of times that we are not on the same page.
A lot of times we're in line and they like what we have to say, but it'll be interesting
to see where all these categories fall.
This is a little different because the way we pick the moments, there's so many moments
that happen throughout the year.
Yeah.
Anyone can pick a few to vote on.
Yeah.
So, you know, you kind of forget because the season so long ago, oh yeah, I forgot
about that one.
Like the Blaney and the Swares one, I was like, I know.
Where did they race at?
I was like, what was that one?
I don't know.
It's crazy.
You know, when you look back at the season and I did this as a competitor, but you lose
track of, if it happened more than two weeks ago, it seems like a lifetime ago.
And going back through all these things, I was like, huh, I forgot that happened.
Where did I use that word?
It seems like a lifetime ago.
Because the Fox half seems like ages ago.
Oh yeah.
When you were in the booth.
It seems like a different season.
Yeah.
It's a 10 month season.
You'll have that.
We are, we are long.
We are long.
Yeah.
What are you guys going to do in the off time?
I'm going to race.
Yeah.
I'm going to race this weekend.
So back for the, my last race of the season, but in the late model world, it's
really big race season.
So they had the All-American 400 last weekend, Keelan Race on Saturday in the pro
late model piece of it.
Got caught up in a Daytona style wreck, but he did a really good job.
He picked, he qualified fifth and then drew eighth to start the race.
Yeah.
So he learned how to draw last.
So that was eight out of eight.
Why were you in Nashville?
You said you were in Nashville over the weekend.
Yeah.
That was for the, for the All-American.
All-American.
Yeah.
Is that the fairgrounds?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, so you've got the All-American 400.
You've got the Billy Bigley.
You've got Governor's Cup.
You've got the Snowball Derby.
So a lot of, a lot of big races.
Florence has won.
Florence.
And then you've got the Thanksgiving Classic.
Thanksgiving Classic.
At Southern National.
Southern National, yeah.
There you go.
Racers race.
What are you going to be doing?
Racers do race.
It is so crazy, like a Martinsville weight model race.
That one really starts the big race season for, for short tracks.
And I love that.
I'm, I'm, well, first of all,
I need to get a wallet.
I need to get a wallet.
Yeah.
Number one thing I'm going to do is get an ID again.
So I don't,
Good luck with that.
Yeah.
And I'm a little, you know,
the government's been shut down for 40 days.
Yeah.
I'm a little nervous about that,
but I do have my credit cards coming back.
So that's good.
Did you see if the DMV was open?
I, well, I did before we came in.
Yeah.
And I got the hours,
but I didn't like call.
And I still have to go back home and get some other things.
So now I'm going to call.
Now I'm going to call and make sure.
The DMV is a dreaded place to deal with that.
There's a DMV and then there's a licensing off,
the license off.
So it's kind of like,
hopefully it's not the same deal.
I'm nervous.
You should have contacted the establishment you're at.
See if on the surveillance, they see.
Well, I did go to the,
where were you?
I was at retro bar in uptown.
Okay.
And I've never been there.
And no, you wouldn't know.
Yeah.
Well, it's kind of new.
You guys would like it.
You would like it.
I don't know.
And then, and then an Uber.
So you would have thought that it would have been found
somewhere in between there.
I think someone just picked it up and went with it.
Yeah.
My favorite bar is the one at my house.
There you go.
That's nice.
You have to leave.
Nice bar.
Yeah.
But you know,
sometimes it's good to be around the public and people.
And I get to be around the public and the people a lot.
So I get my,
I get my,
I get my feel for being around the public.
Yeah.
But that's like Kevin Harvick driver.
Sometimes you got to be Kevin Harvick.
Like just the guy,
you can't separate them.
Especially if you're in race market.
Like if you're driver at the track,
you're driver at the retired driver.
Like it all blends together,
especially if you're in race market.
That's right.
I have zero plans to be perfectly honest.
I worked a lot this year,
so I'm excited to do nothing.
Yeah.
I just got back from Miami.
I was telling you about this,
the electric boat race that I went to see,
the E1 race.
Very cool.
Our Fox co-partner,
our worker has a team, Tom Brady.
Okay.
His team won the championship.
Of course it did.
Yeah.
So it's really neat.
I just don't understand
why you'd invest in electric racing anything.
Well,
they're very big on the sustainability of the environment.
I know, but,
but is it really more sustainable?
I just thought we've gone through all this.
It's clean tech sports.
It's really weird.
We didn't take the wind out of myself.
I'm sure you did a great job
in supporting their adventure,
but think about this.
We're going to take an electric boat
and put it in the water.
Yes.
That does sound
on its face a little strange, right?
Electricity and water.
You go to a race,
you don't want to watch a boat go by
and just go...
I want to hear noise.
They're very quiet.
They are very, very quiet.
I want to hear noise
when I'm at a racetrack.
You would have had fun at this.
Oh, this was definitely your vibe.
Is it in Miami?
It was in Miami, yeah.
There's some Ritzy people
who are interested in some good food.
It was a really neat experience.
Okay.
I'll take your word for it.
Different people from motorsports
that have worked in Formula E
and Formula One,
and they're all kind of involved
in this new endeavor,
so that was cool.
I think the funny thing about that
is the more different it is,
racing is racing.
Racing is racing.
It kind of comes back
like you're doing the same.
If you say electric racing,
I'm out.
See, he said that to me
immediately last week.
He's like, hey, I have something
I think you might be interested in.
All these team owners
are on the same level as you.
No, you lost me at E.
You lost me at E.
Way lost me.
There's no snow go fuel
and Kevin does not want to hear about it.
I want to smell the fumes.
When you talk about racing boats,
I think of Miss Budweiser
and all the big boats
that used to just glide
across the top of the water.
And Jimmy Johnson went
and got back into one of those boats
not three or four months ago.
But those are the boats
that I remember racing.
And that boat racing was cool.
The speed boats, those things are sick.
Kevin, not impressed.
No, I haven't even seen it.
He's like, no sound.
I'm not going.
All right, guys.
So as we mentioned,
we have six different awards
determined by us.
Also the closers weighed in
on social media
to put in their fan votes.
So I think it's time
to kick off the second annual
Harvick Happy Hour Award show.
Yeah, I mean, there's only one way
to kick it off
with your favorite segment
of the Kevin Harvick Happy Hour podcast.
We are kicking it off
with The Word of the Week.
And if you forgot,
because again,
it was a very long time ago,
we have a full video
of all the words.
Let's run it.
When you can push
like he was able to do in practice,
that just has a lot of risk to it
when you look at the field
wanting to be pushed.
Yeah, that was definitely
one of those ice in the veins,
cold-blooded moments
right there from the driver
to not overreact.
It's definitely been quite
the metamorphosis,
you know, for this 11 car
from where it was 20 laps ago.
It's been quite the
the attitude for Kyle Larson.
He won that stage,
got a speeding penalty.
Typically, Clint is our lead
rapscallion up here in the booth.
So when we see Kyle Larson
right here,
definitely he's the best guy
up against the fence.
Well, you definitely don't want
to be all hat-no-cattle
in this type of situation.
Well, Clint,
we saw shenanigans
on the pre-race
with you, my friend,
making fun of me.
I'm still blown away
by the reciprocity
from the 19 team of Chase Briscoe.
And it looks like Chase Elliott
right there
rubbing up against the wall
down the back straightaway.
He's got that thing
high-widen handsome up there
down the back straightaway
in that fourth lane.
Those cars three-wide
some of those guys
are putting it on the top
and letting the big dog eat.
Well, that guy right there,
he's been busing all day.
It's fun to watch him
drive this racetrack.
I got it.
I got to be honest.
I forgot
what that looked like.
Lot of great moments there.
So funny.
I just think it's cool
you've leaned into it
and you actually do it.
It's fun.
And I think that
one thing I remember
that Eric Shanks told me
when I took this job
and talking about
what makes it more fun
and what makes you
be okay at it
is being able
to poke fun at yourself.
So screwing up
allows everybody to
make fun of me
which we usually
make fun of Clint.
Right.
And so
easy to do.
I did screw up
a few of those words.
They were several of those
Yeah, but I mean
there were several of those
mornings that I looked
at the word
and I'm like
So I would go to
Mike
and usually say
Mike, how do I say
this word?
And then you get
so wound up
when you're getting ready
to say the words
half of them are screwed up.
It was great.
I thought you executed well.
It was great.
And my joy
like
when it's a big
when it's one of those
big vocab words
you can just tell Mike
loves it.
And I love that.
So ladies and gentlemen
here are the
here are the nominees
Riz
Rapscallion
Indubitably
There you go.
and Bussin
Nailed it.
So
Indubitably
Indubitably
We got nice little
envelopes and everything.
Rapscallion
One which I love
this one because Biff was in there.
And for that one
this was one of my favorite ones
that I picked.
That's what I voted for
but you must not have.
I didn't.
I voted for Bussin.
Really?
You know why?
Why?
Because it was the easiest to say.
That makes sense then.
I voted for Indubitably
because I remembered
him struggling to say it
so I thought that was it.
Anything that I struggle with
he's happy about it.
No, I was happy about it.
So our producer
Tyler must have cast
the tie vote
which agreed with me
Rapscallion.
It was just like a really funny
moment in the booth.
It was a good moment in the booth.
Yeah.
There you go.
So what about
who the
closers?
Oh, yeah.
Closers.
I want to know what you guys did.
Let's see.
Let's take a look.
There we go.
Wait.
Oh, Rapscallion.
Dang.
That was pretty even though
with everything that
was up there on the board
I was expecting something to be
the standout vote.
The standout?
I guess it's
11% more.
24% of you voted for Riz.
35% Rapscallion.
18% and doodably.
Even the professional
can't say the word.
23% Bussin.
That word is hard.
And doodably.
Yeah.
Especially when you have to say it.
You're reading the first two
getting to the third one going
oh shit.
How do I say this?
That one is tough.
I love that.
I love this.
How do you say it?
And doodably.
I don't know.
That's it.
We look forward to seeing what
words Kevin has to say next year.
Okay.
Now it is time for our next award
and it is best viral moments.
Time now to look at the nominees.
We have quite a few good moments
here.
I want to start with the very
first one which was Keelan
Harvick beats Kevin in their
first race together.
So let's take a look back at
some of the footage from this
epic day out in Bakers
Field, California.
Kevin, what do you remember about
all this going down?
Well, I remember I was racing
for the lead and we all wrecked
and then Keelan stepped into
an early Christmas gift there
and wound up racing for the
lead here at the end and making
a good crossover move.
But that was a cool moment to
have that race and be able to
compete against each other for
the first time.
Sure.
Yeah.
He's pretty much got the best
of me this year.
No, not pretty much.
You beat him once.
I've got him the last two.
Have you?
Yeah.
Once he won the whole thing,
I stopped racing.
He wrecked in the other two,
so I wrecked in this one
and he wrecked in the other two.
Okay.
I've kind of got a little bit
back.
He was at one point,
his average finish was like
1.5 or something
against you.
Still a very cool moment for
the whole Harvick family.
I'm sure this whole
experience has been.
Okay, so that was one nominee.
The next nominee,
this one is hilarious,
it's Ryan Blaney's nephew.
He hijacked the radio during
the race.
Let's take a listen back to
what happened.
Hi, Ryan.
Hi, Ryan.
What in this race?
What in this race?
Mom.
Get podium on the scanner.
Okay.
He found Gianna scanner in the bus.
Found I had to turn it off.
Freak smart.
I just wonder what was going
through his head initially
when he heard that
like the little child voice.
He was probably like,
what is that?
It's really weird
because all the radios
that we always had
that were not somebody
that was on the team.
They don't talk.
You can't talk.
So I'm surprised that they had that.
But it made for a great moment.
It really did.
It made for a great moment.
That was not a scanner.
That was definitely a radio.
Usually it's everyone else
to get the scanner.
So they probably will not
be having radios anywhere else anymore.
A cute viral moment though for sure.
Okay.
This one, I don't know
if this one's cute or not,
but it involved me
interviewing Cleetus McFarland.
It's a very legendary sound bite
from him at Daytona.
Take a listen.
A lot of anticipation
obviously with Cleetus
in the field.
I know this isn't how
you wanted it to
come to a close.
What was your experience
like as a whole?
Well, I was having the best
day of my life.
Ripping around Daytona
like a bald eagle.
It was flat out.
You know,
avoided a wreck,
which was awesome.
I thought I was the best
driver to ever exist
in that moment.
And it's probably
because my sleeves
were cut off
because I was able to pull
off that maneuver,
come down Pit Road.
Then someone slammed
into my rear left quarter,
spun me out,
lived through that,
got some fresh tires,
went back out there.
I'm hot dogging
into one and two.
And the car
lost it in front of me.
And I saw it.
Didn't have enough brakes
to get slowed down
before it and
tried to go around it,
misread it,
zigged instead of zagged.
And I should have zagged
and I zigged
and bam,
blew the front end
right off my hot rod.
I hate that for you.
And before we came
to this interview,
you were watching that jet
taken off.
Have you ever seen anything
like that?
You seemed pretty impressed by it
when you were just standing
here.
Yeah, I'm a pilot
basically the baddest aircraft
in the country,
but that at 16 is pretty cool.
You just rolled it,
like you didn't check.
I'll be just rolled
right into another
professional question.
I don't think I would have
been able to do that.
I go, I hate that for you.
As this interview was unfolding,
I was just like,
is this, this is real?
He's, this is,
he's really seen all this.
As an amateur
interviewer.
Yeah.
When you got to the point
of hearing that interview,
I'm like,
Mamba, I would have just
been like,
that was the greatest
interview ever.
I don't know,
I don't know that I could have
asked him about an F-16
fighter jet.
I think the producer
got in my ear and said,
ask him about that jet.
So that they
directed me to ask another one.
It's a team effort.
It's team effort.
But yeah.
See, I would have been,
at this point,
I've learned to just ignore
the producer because
he's usually telling me
something that he's
tied on time
or something along those lines
or, you know,
that Mamba has screwed
something up.
That's weird because he
never tells me that in my
ear.
He just tells it in your
ear.
That interview was epic.
I will remember that one forever.
That was epic.
Okay.
The next and final nominee
for best viral moment
is Kyle Larson telling
our own Kevin
he wants to embarrass
NASCAR.
Take a listen.
This is going to come across
like very cocky.
I want to embarrass them.
I want to embarrass
NASCAR a little bit.
They probably think
they're in a good spot.
I want to smash the
field when I run.
That's motivating
for me for sure.
And that was,
I like that.
That was him talking about
when he races down
in the other
series of the O'Reilly
series and he just wants
to smash the competition.
Look at you.
You nailed that.
O'Reilly already.
We can't refer to it
as its old title anymore.
Yeah.
It's the Grand National
series.
That has to be coming.
That has to be coming.
We're just going to refer
to it and it'll just
catch on.
I think the O'Reilly
people would really
love that.
If it was that.
They probably wouldn't
because nobody would
say O'Reilly.
Yeah, exactly.
That would not get
their branding out there.
You get like a
$50 gift card to get
some free auto parts.
I don't know.
We'll have to find out
what the incentives are.
I hope that they're listening
and, you know,
I got you in the first show.
How much boy.
Good job, Mamba.
All right, let's take a look
at the winner for Best Viral
Moment.
It is Cletus McFarland.
I'm surprised there.
He has an unfair price.
Yeah, he's a very large
baller.
I bet you on YouTube
he probably won the vote
by like 95%.
Yeah, he might have.
There you go.
Kevin, who'd you pick?
Did you pick that one?
You must have.
I did.
Yeah, you must have
picked that one.
That's all right.
No.
Brian Blaney.
Of course you did.
Yeah, but I thought it was
your super fan.
I am a super fan.
Support me, I guess.
The one that had me.
I was definitely supporting
you.
Oh, that's why you did it?
Yeah.
That's exactly why I did it.
It was the best interview of
the year.
It was funny.
Okay.
So who do the closers
vote for?
We want to see what you
guys had to say on Best
Viral Moment.
Here are the results.
33% said Kevin.
Where are the closers?
I love you guys
for picking that one
just because it's an L for Kevin.
Thank you so much.
You guys are the best.
24% Blaney's nephew on the radio.
31% Cletus and 12% Larson.
Embarrassing.
I think you've learned this
over the last two years.
We have a very loyal fan base.
No, no, no, no.
You have a very loyal fan base.
That's what I'm saying.
I mean, in general,
have a very loyal fan base
that's always had my back.
Perfect.
Any of the votes?
There you go.
Cool.
I like that Kevin won.
Okay.
You're up, Kevin.
Some driver stuff now.
So, you know, the best burnout for me
is obviously a category that
I take a little bit of pride in
because I always felt like
our burnouts were pretty good.
So I think it's fair
that we get to critique these guys
because, you know,
I've done a few of them in my day.
They obviously listen.
Here are the nominees.
So here are the nominees
for a best burnout.
The first one we have is Chase Elliott
after the clash.
He really set the tone
for what a burnout.
And the things that go with the burnout
that can set you apart.
Yes, he did.
There you go.
Started out right this season opener
at the clash with a solid burnout.
And the cool part about this burnout
was the fact that
he started down the back straightaway
and he drifted.
We've seen SBG do this,
but he did a backwards drift
with a Kawiki.
Yeah, well, yeah.
A Polish victory lap
and basically dragging the tail,
but not dragging the tail
all the way around the wall
at Bowman Gray.
So that one was,
that would set the standard really early
in the year as to
not just doing a burnout,
but doing a burnout
that was good enough
to set yourself apart
from a guy that just sat there
and melted the tires.
There are some days
that you just need to sit there
and melt the tires,
but that one was not.
The second one was
another trend setter.
And we've seen SBG really step into
the showmanship of what comes
with celebrating after the race,
but his burnout at Watkins Glen.
And we've seen some good ones.
The middle finger out the window
with Austin Hill last year,
but he basically went
everywhere around this racetrack
doing burnouts.
I was surprised that the tires
lasted as long that they did.
And he made it all the way back around
to the front straightaway at Watkins Glen.
And then as this burnout ends right here,
this is the best part.
Still doing burnout.
And we're going to do some high fives
along the way.
So working the car over,
getting close enough to the team.
Very special moment for the whole crew.
So that was definitely
rubber flying in the camera right there.
That was definitely that one.
And Chase Elliott's were high marks.
The third one was William Byron
at Martinsville.
I think when you look back
at that win for William Byron,
obviously it meant a lot.
But his burnout right here
after the race
was definitely William Byron's best burnout.
Yeah.
When you can kind of lock
the left front or the right front
and do a perfect donut like that,
I always think that's really impressive.
And this is a huge moment for this team.
It was a, it was a, it was.
And I think, you know,
those are the moments that we talked about
throughout the year,
but the celebration of this burnout
and the smoke in the donuts
and just the longevity of it.
But William Byron up there,
obviously in our top four,
but he did a great burnout
and wound up parking it
at the start finish line eventually.
Eventually gets there.
He was, he was a little excited.
And he got out to that.
Again, you talk about Kevin,
when you get out,
give me a little bit of juice.
Yeah.
When he got out, he had a,
he was pretty loud yelling at the fans
and I thought that was pretty.
He was jacked up.
Well, and I think, you know,
each burnout kind of represents
where you are in your season.
Yeah.
What it means to you.
I think as you,
as you win multiple races
during the year in a row,
the enthusiasm for that
kind of goes down.
And William hadn't won in a while.
So to see that enthusiasm
after the race was,
was pretty cool.
You see that the, the,
where somebody is in the type of burnout that they do.
The last one was Kyle Larson
after winning the championship.
And there were a lot of elements
to this particular burnout.
And, you know,
I think being the surprise winner at the end
with all the strategy
and not being in contention all day.
And then Cliff making a great call at the end
and Kyle Larson,
you know,
keeping that car ahead of Denny Hamlin
and the rest of them that were,
that were in the race,
still racing for the championship.
But this burnout right here,
getting out of the car,
car against the fence,
got the wave in the flag on the gas,
team standing on the wall
and the celebration afterwards.
To me,
was definitely one of the top moments.
He told me at the banquet,
he said,
I bet you didn't think I was tall enough
to be able to sit on the door
and touch the gas
but at the same time,
I said,
you're right, I had no idea you could do that.
He got his,
he's got a little baby seat in there.
Little baby seat.
Little baby seat.
So let's see who the winner is.
Yeah, this is the best burnout of the year.
Who do you pick?
The winner is Larson.
Larson the champion.
There you go.
That's who I voted for.
That's who I voted for as well.
I mean, it's hard to beat a championship.
I mean, unless it just was a complete dud,
it's hard to,
it's hard to bet against the champ.
Also because they're,
they're like,
when they're in that burnout,
that celebration,
there's just so much going on with it
and he added a lot to it.
So it was deserving.
Cool.
There you go.
I like it.
Who do the fans think?
Let's see who the,
let's see who the fans pick.
What did the closers get?
Closers, did they agree with us?
No.
They didn't.
Not even close.
Well actually,
that's not surprising.
SVG at Watkins Glen at 48% got it.
22% to Chase Elliott,
12 to Byron and 19 to Larson.
The SVG one was as far as pure like.
We just saw the view clips of it.
Yeah.
As far as pure burnout,
it was amazing.
Yeah.
When we first saw that,
we're like,
we've never seen anyone do this like this before.
And I feel like SVG has a lot of fans.
Like I'm wondering if he is going to overtake
most popular driver at some point.
I don't know about that.
You'd have to,
you'd have to need,
I don't know.
You'd have to need a lot of the people
in New Zealand and Australia.
They would really need to like
We've got to have a better campaign
is what you're saying.
Yeah.
They have to buy into it.
We've got to get that,
we've got to get that international vote.
Yeah.
It just seems like he has a lot of fans already.
He does have a lot of fans.
Which is cool.
I'm not going to say anything else.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like that we evaluate the burnouts every week
because it's such a unique thing to racing.
It is.
A unique sports celebration.
Yeah.
Well, we hear so many fans talk about,
you know, the drivers are boring,
this is boring, that's boring.
They don't have any personality.
And we've had several guys.
I mean, Larson,
gets it.
He leans in,
SVG leans in,
Chase Elliot,
you know,
with his burnout,
I think that the showmanship is a piece that
people forget about in,
in what we do, right?
You're there, we're entertaining people.
And so Denny Hamlin leaned into the things that he says
and does off the racetrack and that interaction
with the fans, whether they're for you or against you,
is part of what you do.
You are an entertainer.
It's true.
When I think Byron did it, Blaney did it,
Austin Dillon did it, like when they get out
and they like do this big yell at the fans,
I'm like, yes, like that is big jack up.
We want to see the passion and the emotion.
I love a good AJ Almedinger win too.
Those are always great.
Those are very good, yes.
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All right.
Next, craziest finish is what we got on here on tap.
I actually had to go back and look at some of these
because I forgot like exactly what was crazy about it.
We're one week at a time, people.
Yeah, yeah.
This week is the most relevant week.
And what happened three weeks ago, I forget.
10 months ago.
Yeah, 10 months ago.
It was really tough.
So let's go back through them.
The first one on the list,
Ryan Blaney over Daniel Suarez at Daytona in the fall race,
which he kind of came out of nowhere too.
I think at one point with like two to go, he was like 12th.
Yeah.
And usually when he's in these situations
on the super speedways, he wrecks from the front.
So I thought they were wrecking from the front right there.
It was a big block.
Cool Custer did a great job at Daytona at both races.
Well, this, and in my opinion,
this was the best super speedway race of the year.
Yeah, they were getting after it from the top.
This from the start to the finish was the best complete
super speedway race that they have.
And we talked about this.
Obviously Blaney comes on at the end right here
to win this race from deep in the field.
But they race like that all night.
And that's what we talked about all year.
NASCAR's got to figure out a way to get these super
speedway races so that they race from start to finish
like they did at this day.
Right. Yeah, for 0.031 seconds.
Yeah, four wide coming.
That was that was that was a great way to end the regular season.
Next, Christopher Bell over Denny Hamlin, Phoenix.
Obviously in the March race,
I definitely went back and looked at this
because I forgot completely that it was like this one happened as well.
Yeah, teammates going at it, getting after it,
which was big for them at the time because we're like,
well, we're coming back here for the championship.
So this meant a lot.
And yeah, didn't use them up.
Just kind of leaned on it.
Oh, you used them up as a shootoff.
And that was, you know, one of those scenarios.
And I don't remember who I was talking about.
But when you go back and look at the championship race
at Phoenix, I'm still a little perplexed that.
William Byron didn't use Denny up more than he did
at that, at that point of the last restart
or the next to last restart because I just felt like,
and we talked about this at Martinsville, right?
He got back to Brian Blaney to make that move.
But he didn't he didn't take advantage
and get aggressive with him early on that in that restart at Martinsville.
And I felt like that was the type of move that you needed to do
to put yourself to you have to look at every opportunity as a last opportunity.
But that was the type of move, you know,
that that you have to do to win these races.
I had to do it.
Then you didn't get that one done.
Third, Austin Cendrick over Kyle Larson,
Talladega, April, another great super speedway finish.
I'm just glad Kyle Larson was there at a finish.
Yeah, he's still in the super speedway.
Yeah, it's been weird for him.
Poor guy.
Yeah, this one .056.
It's actually over a priest.
Larson was right behind him pushing.
So which is, you know, for the RFK group,
that's when they had the disqualification.
Yeah. Oh, that's right.
Yeah. That's right. That's right.
Yeah. So the 60 car got got disqualified
after that particular race.
So, you know, I think when you when you look at those Talladega
finishes and Daytona finishes, the finishes are always
pretty exciting when they're all hammered down like that.
And this this one, the last nominee is probably my favorite
and most heart-wrenching finish of the year,
both at the same time, Chase Elliott over Denny Hamlin,
which is quasi-Bubble Wallace over C-Bell.
Denny Hamlin over Bubba Wallace.
Like the way this race ended, and this is.
It was amazing.
There were all the drivers are laying it out in the line over time.
Over time, you know, Bubba and C-Bell were really leaning on each other.
All the Toyotas are in the front.
You're like, OK, one of these guys is going to win.
I think at this point, most people are like, oh, Bubba's probably going to win.
Denny's going to like try to race him hard,
but probably not do anything wild.
Chase Elliott says, nope.
And this was the this was the race
that that Denny Hamlin had the power steering issues.
Yes. Remember correctly.
Yeah. And he knew that.
And he goes, sends it down in here and we just use them up.
And then it comes to nine.
Here comes the nine.
Thank you very much.
And that that last lap for the nine really started at the at the start finish line
right there, the lap before when all the chaos started with the 23 and the 20
getting into each other off a turn four.
And that momentum led all the way back around to all those moments.
Insane finish.
And let's see for us here on the show, it was Elliott over Hamlin.
I did vote for this one.
Is that what you guys had?
I didn't. No, I did Blaney.
Yeah, the Blaney one was really good one, too.
I thought that was, yeah.
I want to know.
It's going to be the outlier, Caitlin.
Didn't mean to.
Yeah.
If you want to be number one, you got to be odd.
So let's hear from the fans.
Let's see what the closers.
What the closers had to say here.
Oh, 67% chase Elliott win, of course.
That's a pretty substantial win.
It's also, well, it's also chase Elliott win and a Denny Hamlin loss.
And I think that probably added.
Probably doesn't hurt.
Anytime you have a chase Elliott thing in there, it just goes.
So you were still in the odd.
21% did Blaney.
Oh, you picked Blaney.
Yeah, yeah, 21% went for that one.
Wrong super speedway race.
7% was Bell versus Hamlin, 5% Cedric versus Lars.
Yeah.
There you have it.
Honestly, the Phoenix one with Bell and Hamlin,
I think people generally forgot it was that close.
I did.
Because when you watch it, you're like,
wow, that was an amazing finish.
There you have it.
The fans have spoken.
A lot of great finishes throughout the course
of the last 10 months.
OK, time now for our next award.
And it is for Biggest Story of the Year.
Well, we had a lot of great stories throughout the course
of the season.
The very first nominee, though, has been ongoing for two
seasons now.
And it was the Charter System lawsuit, of course,
with 2311 racing in front row motorsports, suing NASCAR.
So this has been a persistent story.
So of course, we had to include it.
The second one is Denny Hamlin's Championship Chase
Falls Short.
I know where we all weighed in on that a week ago.
And then the third nominee was NASCAR Announcement
Horsepower Increase for 2026.
And the final nominee was SVG Dominates Road Courses
winning 5th Street.
OK.
Well, when I look at that list and obviously the Charter
System lawsuit is still going.
Yep, it might be a 2026 story.
It's set for trial.
And I'm sure they'll, whatever the decision is,
hopefully they settle it before it all gets to that point.
But if they don't and it goes to trial,
I'm sure there will be an appeal.
And then it will continue.
And we'll still be talking about it next year.
But I can tell you, I hope it's over.
Yes, we all are hoping for that.
Yeah, it's hard to.
I mean, that one obviously is the story of the year.
If you take that out and just focus on the racing
that we care about the most, I think SVG's Dominates
was wild.
It was a very cool story.
More horsepower.
A pleasant surprise story.
Yeah, pleasant surprise.
More horsepower is always good.
And Hamlin, missing the champion,
has been a story for 20 years.
Yeah, it's kind of.
Yeah.
And when you look at the Hamlin championship story
and everything that went with that,
I felt bad for him this time.
I did too.
And just the way that they dominated the race
and the way that their cars ran,
you know, the story with his dad.
And just, you know, I think we saw it at William Byron
and Martinsville with the pressure that is on these guys.
And I think in Denny's situation,
knowing that the clock is ticking,
announcing when his last year will be,
his dad's health, the performance of the cars.
I mean, it was a, that was a,
that was a tough, tough moment for Denny Hamlin
to lose that championship.
And you saw it on his face after the race.
At the banquet.
At the banquet.
I was just going to say that.
Yeah, I've never seen more people sad
for the last year.
For a competitor losing.
So is the tide turning for Denny Hamlin?
No, I don't think so.
Is he on the Kyle Busch path to where people are going to like him?
I don't think so.
Next year?
No.
No, I don't think so.
It's going to be short-lived.
Like, I think everyone feels for him because he dominated that race
and you look at it like, you should have won.
That sucks.
But I don't think he's...
You know what was interesting to me before that race
is all the, all the, get on the bandwagon train talk
and just all the hype that they promoted before the race.
Man, I'd have had to, I'd have had to nix that.
What do you mean?
I just, I'm a firm believer in karma.
Oh, you are?
Yeah.
Yeah, well.
And I just, I don't, self, I don't know.
I just, I'm so cautious about stuff like that
because I just, I don't ever like to beat that drum
before you get to the front.
You never had to because you had such a legion of fans.
I know, but I don't know.
I just...
Yeah, I get what you're saying, though.
It was kind of strange.
Well, when the time comes and you got to take that out,
put a lot of pressure on yourself.
A lot of, yeah.
It's entertaining.
It is entertaining.
Speaking of entertaining,
what was the biggest story of the year according to our crew?
It was indeed the charter system lawsuit.
Two years in a row,
we think we have voted for this one.
Yeah.
I mean, how do you, you can't argue against it.
It's a huge story.
It's a huge sport.
Like it's a huge sports story.
And it's getting bigger.
It is getting smaller.
I saw, I read an article last week
that they were going to drag Roger Pinsky,
Rick Hendrick, Formula One.
I mean, there's so many things that are getting drug into this
now that it's just, it continues to get messier.
But...
Yes.
We appreciate Bob Poccaris,
who has very diligently covered this story
and allowed us to kind of understand all the many layers to it.
I might add.
Okay.
So what did the closers vote for?
What did you guys have to say?
What was the biggest story of the year to our fan base?
Oh!
44% said Hamlin's championship run coming to a close.
39% were on the lawsuit.
9% horsepower, 8% SVG dominance.
I'm glad that the fans are focused on the racing.
That's not bad.
Literally, because like...
This is true.
That's what it should be.
Probably because they don't understand the lawsuit.
Yeah.
They're over it.
Over it, yeah.
It's like talking about politics in the middle of sports, right?
True.
You just don't want to do it.
Don't care.
I don't ever turn something on in sports to want to hear about politics or lawsuits
or all the...
I turn the race on to watch the race.
Right.
So that puts a damper on things.
That makes me happy that the fans are actually showing
what their voice is as far as what they're doing.
I think we chose lawsuit from a journalistic standpoint.
Yeah.
For sure.
Not that we actually enjoy having to talk about it.
Well, we have to talk about it.
Yes.
We have no choice.
All right.
Kevin, you're up.
Well, we're down to the last category that we have.
I can't wait for this.
Which is Up Driver of the Year.
And we've got quite the list for our nominees here.
Our first one, obviously, our champion, Kyle Larson,
who had just a fantastic year to close it out and start with.
Middle.
Yeah.
Not up to Kyle Larson's standards.
I would say that most cup drivers would be okay with the results that he had,
but those standards were a little bit subpar in the middle of the year.
So I'm not sure if you heard this,
but he spoke to Sirius XM recently.
And a lot of what you were saying on the show throughout the year was saying
he didn't seem the same after Indy.
And he admitted to that.
He said he was off his game.
He lost confidence in himself.
He was like, I just didn't perform well.
I was disappointed in myself.
And then he referenced that Hendrick kind of lagged a bit through the summer months.
I'm not going to.
Also, I don't, I think it's, it's hard to talk about it,
but the loss of John Edwards like affected the whole industry.
But the way it directly impacted the five team and Hendrick,
I think there was more to that than what people would expect from someone in that position,
but he was a big piece of that place.
Well, there's a couple things.
You hear us talk about it on here all the time, the circle of life, right?
When you have the John Edwards scenario, the lack of confidence,
cars being off a little bit.
But when you have the John Edwards piece,
the Indy piece with the lack of confidence,
that directly affects the development piece
and the week to week of what you think of the car,
what you drive it, what capability you can drive it to,
the communication between the teams,
because you're having to deal with other things, right?
In the past, we've seen Larson not have a problem dealing with other things,
but typically it's not dealing with all the things that happen in Indy,
the loss of someone's life.
I mean, these are major, major, major moments that are going to,
you're going to have to have to deal with in ways that you didn't have to deal with
going to a sprint car race and figuring out how to get there,
going to Indy and battling for the win late like he did the year before,
totally different scenarios.
So that circle of life definitely affects things.
Second driver, Denny Hamlin, he had another career year
with the way that they performed, new crew chief,
all the things that they went through this year
in contention to win the championship up until about five laps to go.
A lot of wins.
Yeah, a lot of wins.
William Byron, another Hendrick driver that had a great year,
battled for it all the way to the end at the championship race.
And the guy who dominated on the road courses, SVG,
I think, you know, we've seen the evolution of Shane just get better and better
on the road courses.
He was pretty much unstoppable.
And the ovals do not let him average at top 50.
Don't sleep on him.
Don't sleep on him.
If he can average top 50 next season at the ovals,
like at least a mile and a half, like whatever, you know what I mean?
And we saw him in the top 10 at several of the races
over the last part of the season.
So guys are stunned.
Let's see who the cup driver of the year winner is Denny Hamlin.
Interesting.
I knew he wasn't going to vote for him.
No.
But we must have.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
You guys must have.
Yep.
The thing about it for me is Byron won the regular season championship
with one race to go.
And I thought that was highly impressive for what you got to remember.
Denny Hamlin missed the race.
Denny missed the race.
He did.
I think that race that he missed wouldn't have changed anything
because it was a road course.
But I think you're the most wins.
You can make a case for every single one on the list.
I picked Denny because he had six wins on all different types of tracks,
mile and a half, short tracks, Darlington, Crown Jewel,
going through the lawsuit, his father's illness,
the crew chief change you referenced.
I just felt like he had an amazing year, career 60 wins.
To me, he was the driver of the year.
Yeah.
And I think that from an overall standpoint, you know,
I think Denny, you know, he,
with all the things that he had going on,
I just think he dealt with more than the rest of them.
So he didn't, he didn't win the championship,
but the rest of it was better than everybody else's, I believe.
I did have a write-in and Tyler told me I couldn't use it.
What?
That's why I says, that's why I said he's a cup driver.
I rode in Corey Heim.
I thought that Corey Heim, see, I thought he was the best driver.
Well, then we need Conor too.
Well, I thought that Corey had the best year,
like take away, yeah, he's in trucks,
but like that was incredible.
It was a, the best truck season that on record.
On ever.
But it's like I tell people all the time,
can't compare to cup.
It's not Sunday.
It's not Sunday.
It's not Sunday.
It is Sunday.
But he had a great year.
So what do the closers think?
I wonder if they agree to us.
Well, I would assume that the closers are,
are probably going to be split on this one.
Yeah, I would assume so.
Oh, no.
Not really.
50, okay.
See, this makes me wonder if he is getting more fans.
Yeah, but listen,
this is a sympathy vote.
I agree.
54% is a high number.
I don't think you're going to,
I think this is what I think.
I think Denny is Denny and come date,
Tona will be five, six weeks in.
And the guy that is always like pounding his chest
and heckling the fans is going to be that same guy.
I don't know if he will be.
I wouldn't.
I think he will.
I don't think he'll change.
I think that, I think he, I mean,
looking at that vote,
I think that the sympathy towards his situation
and everything that he's gone through this year.
And, you know,
I think you saw the, the,
the reaction that he had to the fans and talking in,
in appreciation of them.
It was a much different change,
much different than,
than what we've seen in the past.
So I'd rather,
if it were me,
if it were me,
I'd rather go out with the arms of the fans wrapped
around me,
not with them.
I think pointing both middle fingers.
I think that's a,
that's a 20, 27.
That's what you'll get in his last year.
Yeah.
Like, I think you'll get,
I think it's the last year.
We haven't had a,
like the last time,
like when you were the last one to retire, right?
As far as I know,
it seems like it was 47 years ago.
It feels really long ago.
But like,
we don't have a whole lot of moments like that,
like retirement tours.
So I think Denny's will be special.
Well,
54% went with Hamlin.
The second percentage was to Kyle Arson.
A reminder,
11,000 people voted on this particular category.
Wow.
So that's pretty awesome.
I think that we,
in the sport,
in the industry,
we need these type of awards
to happen at the banquet.
Like best driver,
best crew chief,
like every other sport has these type of awards.
I think they're important to,
to help with star power and all those things.
Yeah.
I mean,
maybe we would just do like they're doing it
at the Super Bowl,
which created our own show.
I think down here we are.
Fantastic.
I mean,
you've got 11,000 people that,
that turned into that boat.
Yeah.
So they're obviously interested in,
in having that conversation.
And I think it creates a,
it creates a healthy conversation.
So that's good.
Yes.
Well, that's it guys.
That's it for the award show this year.
What do we do now?
Right now we get to talk about the Daytona 500
because the 2026 great American race is right around
the corner.
Make sure you purchase your tickets
at Daytona International Speedway.com.
And the race will be Sunday,
February 15th,
back on Fox,
the best freaking network covering the shit.
Yeah.
Sorry.
No, no, no, no.
Make sure,
make sure you get in the comments,
tell us about the award show,
what you liked,
what you thought about the winners.
You guys know,
even though we're offline,
we are always engaged.
Yes.
Thank you to the closers
for tuning in for another season.
Thank you, Kevin,
for having us back with you.
Good job guys.
It was a fun year.
It was a fun year.
We'll start again in about two months.
That's right.
Not very far away.
Not very far away.
We'll be back in January.
So you guys can see
Harvard Cappipod
returning in 2026.
Make sure you continue
to follow us on social media
for more updates.
Thanks again for tuning in
all season long.
We'll see you in a few months.
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