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Austin Dillon’s Richmond Redemption, Daytona Preview, NASCAR Playoff Debate, and More!
Austin Dillon’s Richmond Redemption, Daytona Preview, NASCAR Playoff Debate, and More!
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About this episode
Kevin Harvick and Caitlin Benzzi dive into Austin Dillon's redemption at Richmond, the intense playoff battles, and the upcoming Daytona race. They discuss team dynamics, tire strategies, and the mental challenges drivers face. The episode also covers the new Xfinity Series sponsorship, debates on NASCAR's points system, and highlights from recent races. With insights on key drivers like William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Busch, plus a preview of Jimmy Johnson's upcoming interview, the conversation blends race analysis with behind-the-scenes stories and spirited debates.
Topics:
austin dillon richmond win
nascar playoff points debate
daytona race preview
team dynamics in racing
goodyear tire performance
xfinity series sponsorship
mental challenges for drivers
richmond race analysis
nascar points system discussion
jimmy johnson interview preview
Cars:
Buick Grand National
Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down the NASCAR weekend at Richmond, where Austin Dillon scored a crucial win just one year after his controversial finish at the same track. The crew discusses what the victory means for Dillon and RCR, and how it shakes up the playoff picture. Then, they look ahead to the regular-season finale at Daytona, with Kevin explaining why it’s always the most stressful week of the year for teams fighting on the playoff bubble. The group also dives into a heated debate sparked by Mamba on X — should NASCAR make changes to its Playoff system? Plus, Mamba shares the best fan content in Social Sips, and the show wraps up in Last Call with burnout grades for Dillon and Daytona race predictions.
LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR DAYTONA: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2xDJlaDIiw_5hfGTU95Qb9TATcsAkLdQkwg6lzdtbMSm02Q/viewform?usp=header
0:00 - Intro
6:34 - Richmond Recap
30:28 - Daytona Preview
37:53 - NASCAR Playoffs Format
50:53 - Mamba’s Social Sips
53:05 - Last Call!
58:38 - Submit Picks For Daytona
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Buick Grand National
"I like his suggestion. I think it should be the Grand National Series. Because we went back to the Cup Series, r..."
- Intro
- Richmond Recap
- Daytona Preview
- NASCAR Playoffs Format
- Mamba’s Social Sips
- Last Call!
- Submit Picks For Daytona
Select text to request an explanation
This is like one of the biggest hold my jockstrap moments.
The black part is supposed to be the three kind of encasing the 29.
That's interesting.
It's the most miserable thing that you can possibly do all year.
Go to Daytona on the bubble.
It's a team sport.
It is a driver-driven sport by a lot.
If you want to know who the best driver is,
everyone needs to be in the exact same stuff.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm Kevin Harvick, Caitlin Benzzi.
What do you have?
Look.
He's got a car.
This is one of my diecasts as a kid.
I need you to sign it before the show's over today.
Why?
But why?
Is it yours?
Yes, mine.
I thought you showed it last week.
No, I had a different.
I had a Ron Hornadale on it last week.
Oh, that's right.
So cool fact about that car, other than it was really slow
in 2000, I think it was really slow.
We did win one race, but it was slow most of the year.
So we went from year one to that paint scheme.
And trying to, Goodwrench was trying to figure out
how to rebrand the car, not being black,
but they didn't want it to be white.
So they wanted it to be silver and black.
And I have all the original renderings
of all the different versions of that car.
So that background was supposed to be the three
in the background behind the black part is supposed to be
the three kind of encasing the 29.
That's interesting.
Yeah, that's cool.
But you wouldn't believe all the different versions
of that car trying to be the Goodwrench brand
without being Earnhardt.
And the process that that all went through
to try to still be silver and black, but not be rude
and to the Earnhardt brand and his legacy.
And so there was a lot of thought that went into that car.
That's very interesting.
I actually had no idea about that.
We would have never known that if you hadn't brought that in.
When I was a kid, I was always confused
why it wasn't your rookie car, right?
Because Earnhardt started the year and I didn't know
because I always thought this was your,
I had to me as a kid, I always thought
that was your rookie season.
Yeah, well, my rookie season started,
you know, one race into the season.
Right, so you didn't get two races into the second race.
Yeah, so it doesn't have the rookie stripes on it,
which is very, very intriguing process
about that pain scheme though.
That's worth a little bit more.
There was a lot of, there was a lot of time spent on that.
But it had to be decided quickly.
It did. Well, that was 2002, but still the white and red car
had nothing to do with the Goodwrench brand, right?
So the colors were all completely wrong,
but the last thing that Richard wanted to put on the racetrack
was a black car, you know, the week after Dale's death.
So he wanted it to be the opposite.
He went from black to white and, you know,
the just, I don't know how the red wound up on there,
but it was okay the first year with the circumstances,
but the second year it needed to be more brand appropriate.
So you need him to sign it for just for yourself?
No, yes, for me.
He wants that signature on.
I love this sport and I love, like,
and I'm like thinking about it, like,
man, I have all these die casts,
like I'm around these people now, like we're friends.
I need to, for the kid version of me, I need to do something.
Yes, hopefully Kevin has a sharpie.
Reinvigorate the child inside of that wired, child energy.
The inner child in that 50 year old body.
That's crazy.
I was looking up, that's crazy knowing how old you are.
I'm not going to, you look pretty good for 50,
but that's crazy.
Yeah.
He's going to be 50.
Going to be 50.
I don't know if I look like,
I'm going to look like this in 50
because black don't crack, Kev.
No, you're not.
You're not going to look like that when you're 50.
Your beard is going to be gray.
That's okay.
That'll look better.
Your beard is going to be gray.
Speaking of 50, welcome into episode 56 here on FDR.
We have a lot to discuss.
Leading Richmond, many controversial topics as well.
Yeah, my guy is topic number one of controversy this week.
I love it.
We'll preview Daytona,
which is of course the regular season finale.
And you've got some sips on tap as well.
Yeah, we got some sips.
Got some more middle fingers.
Some shot at me, some shot at other people.
Most of them shot at me.
A lot of you, unfortunately.
Hey, I'm here for it.
How was everyone's weekend?
My weekend was great.
I went to Colorado and raced the pro-late model
on the Carsture West.
How'd you do?
Well, I led the first 68 laps
and then the 13-year-old passed me on a restart.
Yeah.
He snaked you.
Battle of the Harvicks.
I knew it had become more intense
when we drove in to turn one on the restart
and the pipes were sealed off against this door.
And I can't see very well anymore,
but I can hear pretty well.
And when I heard the pipes seal off,
I'm like, I've got no room out there.
And he pinched me down and drove off.
He won that race.
And brother, I told you,
when we watched him go kind of like,
everything is going to be so much slower for him
once he figures out the cars and everything,
and it seems like it is slowed down.
And we had another capacity crowd.
Races were three weeks apart
because we put the schedule together
with Colorado National Speedway late.
Those fans are starving for more.
They absolutely love their little short track
that they have there.
So 11,000 plus both races.
There was a couple that called in to the voicemail
right after they had met Kevin and Keelan
and did a little autograph
and they wanted to do it.
They wanted to explain how appreciative they were
of you guys being out there.
But check this out.
That was the autograph line after the race at the pit party.
We've tried to bring back the pit party.
Yeah.
Two and a half hours we signed autographs
after the pit party.
We'll get that posted up on our video portion of it.
We need that short track.
Yes, we do.
I love seeing that.
Congrats to the fam on another good weekend.
Is it five and oh now or four and oh?
What's it?
I don't know.
It's four and oh five.
I haven't won.
That's all I have to say.
Technically I won, but technically I didn't.
No, you didn't.
No, you didn't.
No, you didn't.
I won the first half of the double header.
Yeah, you got the trophy though.
See, he's modest.
I know he's always talking about the standings
on our point.
He's not modest because it's...
No, he's not.
Thanks, Keelan.
Giving way too much credit.
I appreciate it.
I'm glad you're in the middle to be the referee.
I try my best.
Okay, guys.
Let's talk about Richmond.
Good race, very entertaining, short track,
under the lights.
You're looking at me like I'm crazy.
No, no, no, I'm just letting you do your thing.
Austin Dillon, this is...
I don't think any of us were necessarily expecting this,
given everything that transpired a year ago.
Well, we mentioned it.
We mentioned how well that the three ran a year ago.
But first thing I want to do,
I give everybody a lot of grief
and the other side that's listening,
when things go good,
you can...
I would expect some love back instead of just calling me
when you don't like what I say
and you know who I'm talking about.
But anyway, it was a good race.
It was a great race.
It really reminded me of the rain tires situation
when everybody was all over the freaking racetrack.
I think kudos to Goodyear for their tire
and the things that they did this weekend
with all the fall off and the wear.
And that made for a better Richmond race.
And I think that the thing that didn't change
was the speed that that three car had.
Austin Dillon and he talked about it
on our Victory Lap interview.
Just he had that really low line coming off a turn four,
didn't even go to the wall down the front straightaway,
kind of had that little diamond in the middle of the corner.
And that works for him.
And he talked about finding that line
and being able to go to the simulator
and replicate that.
But the thing that I will say about RCR
the three group has had a good three weeks.
Richard Boswell coming in there as the crew chief,
very intense, but Austin talked about a conversation
that they had to have a little sit down conversation
about who they were, what they were doing,
things that they needed to change.
And they've got some results from that for the last three weeks.
But the one thing I will tell you,
my time at RCR, I don't ever remember going to Richmond
no matter how the year was going
and not thinking that one of our cars couldn't win the race.
Myself and Boyer won a lot of races there.
And we never went there, whether it was RCR or KHI,
thinking that we were going to not win an Xfinity race.
And it was the same way in the cup car.
Going into this race, Austin Dillon was 212 points below the line,
but capitalized when it mattered most.
Didn't let what happened a year ago derail his efforts.
That's what's so cool about the sport,
seeing the teams execute the right moments.
When the lights are brightest and the stage is the biggest
and you can get it done.
And this is one of the biggest hold my jockstrap moments.
No, listen, because last year everyone dogged him.
And he really should have won that race.
And he didn't run up Joey Logano down into one on that restart.
And that's really where he should have done that.
Whatever, whatever.
Dogged him, didn't get the playoff birth.
This year comes back.
Got penalized.
Got penalized.
Won the race, didn't get the penalty.
Comes back, does it again with a different crew chief, right?
And Boswell has ice in his veins,
because this is the same guy with the 14 group last year
and Trace Briscoe that won at Darlington to go into the playoffs.
So they already had the confidence going to Richmond.
They got a crew chief that knows he can get it done
when it matters most and a driver that felt comfortable there.
And this just shows how, so one, how hard the cup series is,
but that these guys that run 25th, 28th,
if you get them a good car
and they have their confidence in where it needs to be,
they can get it done when the car is there.
I have so much I want to say right now,
but I'm going to wait.
We're going to wait.
I'm going to wait because we have this debate.
And I even brought an extra sheet here.
The points.
Who's got the points sheet?
Oh, this is, ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be awesome.
We're going to have a debate.
We're going to have a debate a little later in the show.
Let's talk about the guy who finished a second, Alex Bowman, 48 team.
Do you think if he'd had more time and actually got them,
he would have gotten around him?
I thought it was possible that Blaney was going to actually be able to do something
and his car listening to him talk after the race
was the worst that it was all day.
But I felt like the 48 had a shot.
And I feel like they're in a bad spot now.
And I think with Austin Dillon winning this race,
and I look at Alex Bowman plus 60,
I just don't think that spot's going to be there after this week.
I think there's a good possibility that we see somebody else
outside of those 14 guys that are locked in when at Daytona.
We've been talking about this for months.
And I think that a lot of those guys that have been counting points
and not won a race,
it just had the feeling that it was coming down to this 14, 15 winners.
And I think going into Daytona, being brave and taking chances
and putting yourself in a position to win
is something that Ricky Stenhouse can do.
Brad Keselowski can do.
Kyle Busch can do.
Chris Buscher.
Yeah.
And I think priests will be fast.
I think that those, I think when you look at Kyle Busch
and Chris Buscher, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse,
those guys have already done it on a super speedway.
And they've done it multiple times on a super speedway.
And I think the Fords are going to be going to be fast.
Yes.
They're always very good at pushing.
And I think with Austin Dillon winning and RCR
being able to focus just on that eight car for Daytona.
I know personally how good the RCR cars
have been at the super speedways.
And we saw them kind of out qualify their Chevy counterparts.
And I don't know.
It just has that feeling that there has a high possibility
of an outside those top 14 guy winning these points.
And I think that puts Bowman in a bad spot.
And having to try to figure out how to gain those points
on Tyler Redick is going to be a tall task.
But what does that do?
What does that do for Redick?
So what do you do go in there?
I think the agendas are all over the place
as far as what you do from a point statement.
What's the gap right there between Redick and 29 points?
Redick's 89 and Bowman's at 60.
So if I, I don't know.
I mean, look at this week, Redick crashed.
I think if I'm the 48 group, I'm trying to apply pressure.
He said they're in a must win is what he's saying.
I would go into it trying to apply pressure to the 45.
Yeah. And if I'm Redick, I just follow the 48 around.
And if you wreck, just make sure you wreck with him.
Because if the 40, if the 48 can apply the pressure
and close that gap, like I'm already in the bad spot
because if someone else wins, I'm out.
So I'm going to try and apply pressure
to make you be the one in the bad spot.
Or if he's in a position to push the 45
and make sure maybe he wins versus someone else,
maybe you do that.
I don't think I don't think that I think Redick is on defense.
I think I would race on defense.
And trying to minimize the points off,
I think you're right with the 48.
I think that he has to try to win both stages
and try to gain those stage points, gain 15 to 20 points.
And that changes the game if you can get some stage points
across those first two stages.
If you can get 14, 15 stage points
and you knock that gap down to 14, 15 points,
just enough, then it's a real situation.
But if Bowman doesn't score stage points, he's done.
I think it's interesting with the layout, right?
With Hendrick, the other three cars,
how much are they going to help the 48?
Then you look at RFK.
How much are they going to help each other
to make sure or try to make sure?
Yeah, and the other four.
But try to make sure one of you guys get in.
Well, I think an interesting one is the Joe Gibbs 2311.
Because you would assume everyone's going to want
Ty Gibbs in there from the JGR camp.
But Denny's going to still want Redick there for 2311.
Like you said, there's a lot of varying agendas to play out.
And I think that the politics of it all are thick.
As far as how do you help somebody?
And nobody wants to see Martinsville.
But this is a racetrack where you can help.
You can push the guy that you want to push.
You can choose your lane.
You can get, cut a guy a break and let him back in line.
I mean, there's a lot of things
that are just a part of super speedway racing
that that process is all a part of the scenario.
So those meetings this week will be very interesting as to what
is decided from teams and manufacturers as to what the focus is on
and how do you achieve that?
Even track house, right?
They got two cars in right now.
Talk about the levels of stress.
If the 99 gets it, they got all three.
And it wouldn't surprise me at all
if Daniel Suarez went out and did just like he did at Atlanta.
Why not?
I think I point out those three or four guys that I pointed out,
but really everybody has a shot.
I mean, it's not like...
The reality is, yeah.
The reality is everybody has a shot.
It wouldn't surprise me if Ty Dillon went out there and won.
I mean, and you mentioned all the meetings and things
and you can have all the plans in the world,
but a lot of times things just don't go according to plan.
I mean, they're going to wreck.
They're going to wreck at some point.
It's going to be aggressive and there's going to be wrecks
and you're going to have to be lucky.
But I think you're going to have to be in the front.
And I think that you're going to take chances on pit calls.
There's going to be all of it.
And because it's just guys that have to go for it.
But let's not forget, the regular season points championship
is William Byron.
Oh, it's over already.
It's over.
Oh, yeah.
One week early.
The traditional point system is over already.
I think that the race for second is important.
And the reason that I say that are the points that are on the line.
You know, it's 15-10.
And you've got the 9, the 11, the 5, the 12, the 20.
I mean, you got to get all the points that you can get.
So, I mean, when we talk about agendas,
you've got the regular season second place points battle
for those extra playoff points.
You want to get all that you can get.
And those guys are pretty close together stacked into points.
Let me ask you guys something real quick.
Battles within the battle.
Yeah.
Let me ask you guys something real quick.
Do you think that the 2014 and William Byron
have been the best team for the first 26 races?
If you look at it, I know what the numbers say.
They had a tough stretch there for a while.
But if you look at it, you're like,
man, they are the champion.
Like that is who I'm hanging my hat on.
I thought Briscoe towards the tail end of this stretch.
Last 10 races.
Yeah.
And then.
Yeah.
And when I look at it, William Byron has won two races.
You know, when I think of his season as a whole,
it's been pretty up and down.
But I think that they've performed pretty well.
I think a lot of that,
I think next gen racing in general is more inconsistent than
what we've been used to in the past.
And I think you're going to have more DNFs.
You're going to have more off weeks.
And how do you minimize those off weeks?
But as I look at this list,
I can't pick anybody out that's had a better regular season.
I think that Kyle Larson started off like a ball of fire.
You know, after Indy, after the Indy 500,
hasn't been that car that's been capable of leading laps
and dominating and putting himself in position to win a race,
quietly finished six this weekend at Richmond.
So I don't really know where they are as far as Kyle Larson.
But I could argue maybe for the five.
But I think that William Byron and Denly Hamlin
have probably been the best two cars.
I think in the last 10 weeks, I'm standing by Chase Briscoe
in terms of what they do in qualifying on Saturday,
the speed they have, the finishes they've had,
they haven't made a lot of mistakes.
Now I'm not talking the whole of regular season.
No, no, if they had one more, I would probably agree with you.
But they've accumulated the most.
It was up until Richmond, the last 10 races,
they had accumulated the most points.
But here's the thing that stands out to me
with William Byron winning the regular season championship.
He's got 241 stage points.
The next guy is 217 and that's Ryan Blaney.
And it's a pretty good gap after those guys from a stage point.
So those guys have scored a lot of stage points.
And when you're scoring stage points, what's that mean?
That means you're running up front.
So when you're running up front, and to me,
that shows that you have speed in your car,
but that's a lot of damn stage points.
That is a lot of stage points.
No one all year has been like,
oh man, that 12 car has been like,
they've been better earlier than any other time of his run
over the last few years.
But no one's been like, they've been blazing fast.
But the numbers say they've been up front.
Second house is everybody.
Yeah.
So and, you know, let's not forget that,
you know, Buscher had the 30 point penalty.
I had almost like kind of forgotten about that
until I referenced that and what impact that actually had.
So, I mean, there are a lot of things that,
that you can look back on at this point in your season
that just happened.
You can probably say this could have been prevented.
I could have done that.
But when you look at that 30 point penalty,
it definitely makes things look different.
Definitely changes.
It does.
Definitely looks different.
So, you know, sometimes those self-inflicted mistakes
or gambles in their case, mistakes, whatever, whatever,
however you want to put it, have its tremendous effect.
And that's why, and I know Boyer hates it when I say this,
but every point matters from its,
from the start of the season at the shootout,
or whatever we call it now, at Daytona.
Yeah.
The 500.
No, the qualifying race.
Oh, the qualifying.
Oh, the duals.
The duals.
Yeah, the duals.
Sorry.
I got one with the fuse there.
I knew what you were trying to say.
Yeah, I'm just still the Winston Cup series.
But anyway,
those points matter right from the duals.
And those points in those duals start your season.
And we've seen guys lose by small points.
And you talk about penalties, you talk about the duals,
you talk about stage points.
That's why the grind is so important.
And that's why I talk about the William Byron's
and the Christopher Bell's and that inconsistency
of that grind.
And you have an off week or whatever the case is,
whether it's performance or those things.
And you give up two or three points with a 15th
or a 16th place finish.
Bless you.
I was like, I was going to know, I was going to know, okay.
Your sneezes are a lot quieter than mine.
I would have blown this mic off.
The grind matters.
And that's where it starts to show up right here
at the end of the year, for sure.
So I want to go back to Richmond for a little bit
and talk about Joey Logano,
because they had a rebound performance
after crashing in practice,
didn't have to go to a backup car.
But this is usually the point in time
where we see Team Penske's start to come around.
Here we go.
And when you look at the playoff races,
I mean, half the tracks are pro Penske
with the places that they can perform well.
And they've been good at Kansas.
They've been good at Vegas.
You show up at Richmond.
They got three cars in the top five.
You just, you can't ever count these guys out.
Logano has the trouble in practice here.
He has a flat tire in the race
and still finishes in the top five.
And from what he said after the race,
a car that was capable of winning the race,
and those guys have been dominant at St. Louis.
And so it's that time of year
where the Penske cars show back up
and here they were at Richmond.
Yeah, I mean, they did exactly what they needed to do
from their group and what they expect to do.
They know what their home run swing is,
and they know when to apply the pressure
and when it's time to go.
They have the blueprint.
It's just obvious.
The whole organization does.
You're right. That's a good point.
Just that team has gone to battle and capitalized a lot.
When you think about Paul Wolf and all the success he's had
and this team, a lot of the guys on there
have been with them for a number of years.
I'm sure they will be a threat
some postseason time.
Joey started because he started in the back this week.
So it was the first guy to do driver intro,
the first guy to do for driver intros.
And I'm like, man, you're not usually this far.
I don't see you this quickly.
And he's like, yeah, it's going to be real fun.
And he didn't really have that like confidence
that it was going to be fun,
but obviously they had a good car.
And I think when you look at the race
and we talk about the tire that Goodyear brought
and all the strategy and the falloff
and everything that went into it,
it was just a traditional style looking NASCAR race.
No matter what generation that you have,
it's the kind of race that you're really looking for.
I know that there's a lot of work
that needs to be done to the car,
but the tire made it a lot better.
If the tire is not right,
then it doesn't matter how good the car is, right?
It doesn't matter.
Right.
Okay.
It doesn't matter.
I think people were like, well, it's an outlier.
We're just like, no, it shows that you can do it.
So like as the tire is changing,
the teams are changing the car
and everything is changing at the same time.
So there's a lot of work.
And I think that they've spent millions of dollars.
NASCAR has spent millions of dollars
arrow-wise on this car changing diffusers and this and that
and everything that they have going on underneath the car.
I think that everybody should go look at Colpern's tweets
with everything that he talked about with the car.
I think there are other things that can happen
with the car that might move the needle.
I think it's weight.
I think it's arrow.
I think it's side force.
I think it's power.
I think that the tires can still be better.
So I hope that we don't wait.
And being involved in this,
I know how hard NASCAR has worked on it
to try to move the needle,
but you got to think differently.
Because the tire really moved the needle this weekend.
So it's not just the car.
And like you say,
getting the tire right really makes a difference.
And maybe we need some more tire codes
at these different styles of racetracks.
Like we used to have a number of different tires
to tune it more towards each track.
We went to less tire codes,
but we really moved the needle
with the way that this race looked this weekend.
Yeah.
Definitely made for a much more compelling event with that.
Mentioning the tires,
lots of issues out there on Pit Road.
And those are the kind of mistakes
that's going to knock you out
once the playoffs begin.
Once again, we saw the 19 team
with the assist on Pit Road from Bubba Wallace.
But you said you're in favor of this now.
Well, I was a little confused.
I didn't even know this was a rule
when we saw it the first time
and didn't really think I liked it.
But when I look at the scenarios
that have happened
and everything that has gone on
from a safety aspect of it
and everything that we've seen
with the other crew
being able to put the tires on,
not have to throw a caution,
not impede the style of race,
not go on the racetrack with three wheels
or three tires on the car.
This is a good rule.
And I think it's just,
I think more than anything,
I had to understand it.
But here again,
didn't have to throw the caution.
He didn't have the car drive around
on a racetrack with three tires.
Not only tear thousands and thousands of dollars
worth of stuff.
Nobody got hurt.
So I think it's,
I like that this has evolved the way that it has.
We originally saw that with Christopher Bell
in Vegas in March.
That was the first time
I'd ever seen it happen.
The first time we'd seen it happen.
It still is impressive to me
the wherewithal that the crew chief
and everyone has
and the crew to execute
and make that happen within seconds.
Charles was on it.
Yeah. And since this has happened,
we now know that that's a plan
that the Toyota teams had.
And so they've been prepared
for these moments.
And sure enough,
it's happened a couple times this year.
I think he was trying to get into the 67
because Corey Himes,
the other 2311 car,
was right there
and it kind of got there late
and it ended up in the 19
and they all knew what to do.
And listen,
I know we're talking about
the wheel falling off
for Bubba Wallace,
but Tyler Redding and Bubba
were dominating a lot of this race.
There's some swagger
to what the 23 group has going on
in Bubba's.
I said it when he won,
the guy that used to be smiling
all the time
and was happy and go lucky,
I think that guy's back
and it's changing the air
at that place.
Well,
we talk about it all the time.
The mental side of this sport
is it can be devastating.
And I think the pressure
that was on Bubba,
he started the year fresh.
He got a new crew chief,
had a lot of good performances,
had a couple of weeks
where things didn't go right
and then all of a sudden,
the media,
you have to go into the media center every week.
You have to answer the questions.
You have to answer to the sponsors.
You have to sit in the competition meetings.
It's draining.
And it just,
it is really hard to deal with
from a mental side.
And I think that that relief of that win
from a mental side for him,
this is a couple of years
that we're talking about,
two, three years of being in that mental state
makes it difficult to go out and be happy.
And I think you'll hear that
in Jimmy Johnson's interview this week
that I did with him,
just how unhappy he was mentally.
And that happens to every one of these guys
in the field,
because there are weeks,
you're going to go through a slump.
You're going to ask,
you're going to get asked hard questions.
You're going to get criticism on social media.
Nobody deals with it more than Bubba
on social media.
So those guys being in the right frame of mind,
they look a lot like they did at the beginning of the year.
And if you don't have the right people around you
in your team
to keep you focused and re-engaged,
but I still don't think that Tyler Redick,
I think the performance of the 23
is better than the 45 from a speed standpoint.
I think that, you know,
Redick figures out how to finish races
and do the things that he needs to do.
And his experiences is starting to show in the series.
But I still don't see Tyler Redick
as a, you know,
as what he was last year
from a race winning capability.
Regular season champion.
Yeah. And I haven't seen that all year
out of the out of the 45 car.
You were talking about kind of the mental relief
when you have a breaking point
and things are positive again.
I want to mention Josh Berry
because he hadn't had a top 10 since Kansas
and May was able to finish eighth on the day.
And SVG was 14th people, by the way.
On a what kind of track?
On a noble.
Oh, yeah.
Okay. And I think, you know,
that that 15th to 18th, 19th average
running finishing position in a round,
typically will advance you through the first round.
So, you know,
if he can get those 14th, 15th place finishes
in the first round with the points that he has earned,
he could make it through that first round.
And why would you bet against him?
Why would you not pick him on a road course?
I don't know.
Maybe I can ask two of my fellow members here.
Call him.
That's why.
Call his friends.
He was totally, he couldn't even,
he was like, what do I call him?
Why would you not pick SVG on a road course?
But my point is,
why would he not be the favorite for the Robles?
Yeah, I mean, if he makes it to the side.
All right, I'm picking him.
I'm saying that now.
Okay.
Okay.
At the beginning of the year,
we talked about what we thought the season might turn into
and for different people.
And when we were talking about SVG,
I said I almost have him going through the round eight.
I said, I feel like he's going to be able to figure out,
he's going to win a couple of road courses.
I feel like he would figure out the ovals.
And it's getting closer to that.
Like, I'm not going to stamp my name on it,
but like he, they're getting better.
They're getting better.
The progress is happening.
Yeah.
That's the point we're trying to make.
You can even have 100 NASCAR starts period.
Yeah.
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All right.
So we've kind of already touched on Daytona
and what we think will be happening there
with the different agendas.
But I guess, Kevin, just speak to the level of stress,
I guess once again that this is going to present.
It's miserable.
It's the most miserable thing
that you can possibly do all year.
Go to Daytona on the bubble.
There's not anything else that's more miserable
than that the whole season.
And I think that Alex Bowman in the position
that he's miserable.
There's no way he's not miserable this week
because they know they're fast enough to be in it.
You've got guys in it that are 25th, 26th in the points
that have now won a race
and put you in a spot to where you know.
And I think that Alex Bowman has probably had
a top five type season.
Top five.
You know, well, just with the way that he's had
a top 10 type season.
I'm looking at the points.
Oh, okay, okay.
So he's got 685.
What do you think he would stack up?
Yeah, of the winners that would put him 9th.
But I think that they've run well enough to win races
and haven't capitalized on it.
But he's miserable.
He's going to not sleep all week.
He's going to second guess everything that they've done.
The team's going to do the exact same thing.
But once you get to the track and you're there,
you're like, all right, it's almost easier
because you know in his position, you know what to do.
The hardest part is going in like Reddick.
What if something happens and what if Bowman has a great day?
Should I race for points?
Do I need to win?
Not knowing what that scenario is.
Now they've got a 29 point cushion.
So you can lean pretty heavy towards the point side.
But what if you lean towards the point side
and the dude wins and I mean, there's just.
This is why that points play is tough.
Winning is the simplest remedy for it all.
But it's miserable.
Yeah. And it's easier.
It's definitely easier for Alex and Blake to be like,
we're going to go this direction because we can kind of control
our destiny a little bit as far as much as you can.
When it's for Tyler and Billy, it's like,
look at all these variables.
Confusing.
It's hard to decide what the best thing to do
is because you are the one with all the things to lose.
48 really has everything to gain, which is.
I do everything the 48 does.
It'd be the safest way to do it.
Yeah. Just do it.
Just copy the 40.
If they pit, pit.
I'd just copy them because if you're going to,
if he's going to wreck, just wreck with him.
Right?
Seriously, because he has to beat you by so many spots
that it's not like it's one spot.
Yeah.
So I would lean heavily towards just points
and racing a smart race and just surviving.
For the 45.
For the first two stages.
And I would base stage two off of what happens
in stage one.
If the 48 doesn't score any points,
then I would become even more conservative
because of the fact that he's really the only guy
that they're racing.
It's a precarious situation to be in, that is for sure.
So which manufacturer you think will be the most dominant?
I guess.
I think that eight car is going to be fast.
I think that Ford, I would lean pretty heavily towards
just because of the fact that they've been so good
on these super speedways.
I think they're going to out qualify all but those Chevy's
unless they've made gains.
You don't know.
I don't know.
You don't know if they've made any gains
on their super speedway engines and packages.
I don't see it being a lot,
but I think Ford was a fair amount ahead of the rest
of the manufacturers on that side of it.
Chase Briscoe did sit on the pole at the Daytona 500.
So there's going to be surprises,
but I think off of past history,
I'd have to lean towards the Ford camp.
Yeah.
I mean, especially the team Penske cars,
they just have for years been the best at working together
and controlling the front of the race.
But also Ricky Sales, Jr., man.
And Brad, there was a point where Brad Kazowski was...
That six car is going to be tough.
Yeah.
That six car is going to be tough.
After Atlanta?
That was his bread and butter.
That six car is going to be tough to beat this weekend.
He's strong.
And he is fired up.
They've run better.
They've run better.
And when you run better all of a sudden,
you start walking a little bit different.
You have a different confidence to you.
Everything feels a little bit better
because now we're getting closer
and you can see it the light at the end of the tunnel.
That's right.
It's going to be a huge weekend for the Cup Series.
We can't wait to see how it unfolds.
Some news came out this morning concerning the Xfinity Series.
So I might add.
O'Reilly Auto Parts.
They're now going to be the new premiere name.
Well, I'm really happy for what is the Xfinity Series now
to have O'Reilly come in and sponsor the series.
But I have a lot of questions.
Okay. What are they?
I mean, are they the same company as Advanced Auto Parts?
So what happens to the Advanced Auto Parts weekly sponsorship?
And the second thing that I think we need to work on
is giving the, I don't know.
I guess we'll just call it the Xfinity.
We need some identity for this series.
We have the NASCAR Cup Series.
And now we have the Bill France Cup
and we have all these things that are true to the Cup Series.
The trucks are the easy one, right?
Especially the Craftsmen.
They're just trucks.
But they're trucks.
Even if Craftsmen is not there, it's still the Truck Series.
And then you have the Cup Series.
So what is the Xfinity Series?
So next year are we going to be the O'Reilly Series?
And then everybody's going to be like,
what the hell's the O'Reilly Series?
I don't know.
But I just think that we need some consistent identity
for the Xfinity Series as to what is it?
So what is your suggestion?
I like his suggestion.
I think it should be the Grand National Series.
Because we went back to the Cup Series, right?
We are the Cup Series.
Make it the Grand National.
The waters are muddy with all the different...
I understand why we did it before, right?
For branding purpose and everything.
But you can still brand it.
Yeah, you're still going to brand it great.
It's still branded, but it needs like that.
Just lock it in.
Yeah.
And I think that when you talk so much in today's world
is trying to have that identity to brand something correctly.
But it confuses the fans when they don't...
When the branding changes from a sponsorship standpoint,
when you don't even know what the series is, right?
It's AAA Baseball.
It's Major League Baseball.
It's AAA, AA, single A.
And we really are working on the ladder system
to try to make it easier for everyone to understand
what you can do in racing.
You go from go-karts or legends or bandoleros to late model stocks
and then on to whatever it is.
Trucks, and now we're going to spend time rebranding Xfinity
to O'Reilly.
So why not just make that break now and let's make it
if it's the Grand National Series so that it never changes again.
Yup.
And you know what that does?
Consistency.
Yeah, and what that does is it locks in the legacy
of what it started as.
That's right.
And now you're tying the old to whatever the new is
and whatever the present is forever.
Yeah.
Just like the Cup Series is.
Just like the Truck Series is.
And it just I think it makes people a little nostalgic
and you like remind you of the Brandy LaJoyz
and the Jason Kellers and all those guys that really laid
the fabric down for that series.
Yeah.
And I'm really excited.
I'm happy that they sold the sponsorship.
I love the Xfinity series, but it's just a little muddy.
I think so too.
Let's lock something in.
Yeah.
So I want to document these two are agreeing right now
but they're about to not because we have another subject
we want to bring up and it's involving a tweet
that our friend Mamba here posted.
Oh, my friend, my friend.
To the fans about this championship format
which people are weighing in on this all the time about this.
Oh, they're weighing in.
Yeah, they're weighing in.
They were definitely weighing in.
So do we want to show the tweet first?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you can take it from here because this was your thought.
So I don't want to put it.
Yeah, tell us.
Tell us.
So I don't know if you mistyped or were drunk
when you tied.
No, no, no.
I would have because it seemed like you might be drunk.
I was still in bed when I when I put this out.
But is this in the morning?
Or you're sleeping?
No, it's in the morning.
Monday morning.
I don't even it seems like you might have been
so I said because this is talking to responding to someone else.
It's the point isn't a crown the best driver.
It's a crown the best team who executed the best
when the pressure was on at the highest
and the lights were the brightest.
Listen, and here's what I'm saying.
I will. Kevin Harvick.
Oh, he's got notes.
You had 23 wins at RCR from 2001 to 2013.
Okay.
Why did you decide you've told us why on the show?
You told us that you felt like to win a championship
you had to have Hendrick support somewhere.
And when you made the switch in 2014
to the end of your career, you ended with 37 wins
in a championship and arguably should have won some more.
Not all with Hendrick support.
No, not all with Hendrick support.
But with a but the team was different.
So the driver is older.
Reaction time may be a little slower.
Oh, come on, I got faster.
But you were definitely smarter.
I'll give you that.
I know you're smarter, but it's a team sport.
It takes all the people.
That's the point you were making?
That's the point I'm making.
Why were people so upset about the team aspect?
Well, the way I interpreted your tweet was the team
was more important than the driver.
Absolutely.
The driver drives everything that happens.
The teams think that their name means something
but the guy's name above the door means the most.
For sure.
And the guy who makes the biggest difference
is in the seat.
But you can't do it without the rest of it.
So I understand what you're saying,
but it is a driver driven sport by a lot.
Without a doubt.
But when the championship is the team,
it's the team, the driver is the driving force,
right, of this championship,
but it takes the entire team to get it done.
So should we rename the point system
to the team point system?
I mean, why do we try to hide the owner's points?
I don't know.
And I would, if we changed it,
we wouldn't have this conversation
because if we want to know who the best driver is,
then we need everyone.
That's what I want to know.
Then we need to, then everyone needs to drive the same cars
that are brought to you by the same people
with no pit stops.
So everything is the same.
If you want to know who the best driver is,
everyone needs to be in the exact same stuff.
That's why this is a team sport because you're not.
I agree that it's a team sport,
but I think the way that you typed it
was like you were half asleep.
I think you're trying to make several points.
I think you were also addressing the fact
there was a lot of criticism about the fact
that a driver 212 points below the line
gets a win and gets to move on.
And that's how I took it was somewhat talking
about the point system.
The conversation was because I talked to so many of them.
And I read through that.
So are you on the side with Mark Martin
and these guys that it needs to be
the classic point system?
No.
Okay, no, because I'll tell you why.
William Byron, we just talked about it a little bit ago.
He locked it up.
He locked it up in the traditional style of race early.
If he kept going, if we kept going,
how many races would he have the championship
locked up by?
We don't know because we're not going to do it.
But Alex Palo just won the IndyCar Championship
with two races early, two races to go.
That's not good for sports.
I think that there is a middle ground.
I agree.
I think there's a middle ground.
I think points should matter more than they do currently.
I even like the fact that if we're going to get into
the regular season points championship,
and I don't really mind William Byron
winning by that point,
because I think that in those first 26,
you should be rewarded for having the best season.
I don't know that getting down to the end,
it will be that exciting if William Byron wins
by 37 races or 370 points or something.
I think there's a balance at the end
with multiple tracks crowning our champions
over a few races.
I think that the regular season,
I would like to look at,
let's just say somebody wins this weekend
and we have 15 different winners.
And you knock a guy out that's in the top 10
in points like Alex Bowman.
Should there be two or three spots in the regular season
that are automatically locked in on points
so that a guy wins,
he puts him in self that's 30th in the points
that puts himself in the conversation.
If you win twice, you're automatically in.
How do you feel about someone who-
Seize it by multiple points,
but I hate the fact that somebody like Alex Bowman
is going to get knocked out by guys
that are 25th plus in points.
But don't you also feel like you've got seven months to win?
Yeah, but is winning one race being 30th in the points?
Well, who's the worst in the points?
Let's see.
Austin Dillon is the worst in the points.
He's 460, so that would put him 26th in the points.
So he'd be 26th and SVG would be 27th.
So at what point do points override a win?
So this is where I think I've obviously thought about this.
I think there's a middle ground between the two.
I would like to see the championship round be three races.
I would like to see the first round be one.
And in that first round, it's kind of like a wild card.
Then you are able to, to your point,
like if you have two guys that are in on points, right?
The last two guys in on points, whatever.
Then that last race, that first race is a one race in
and then you get into the next round.
Then you're giving those guys a chance
that had a better point season
and the guys that are further down in points to compete.
Well, the only way points guys don't get in in the first three rounds,
I mean, the highest guy in the points is going to get in.
Right.
Regardless in the first three rounds.
I think the wild card should come in the last round.
In the last round of the guy that has either,
the guy that's the highest in the points
through the playoffs as the wild card.
Oh, interesting.
And I think, didn't you once say
you thought the regular season champion
should maybe be advanced the next round?
I think that the regular season champion
should be advanced somewhere into the playoffs automatically.
I think there should be more weight off of 26 races
than there is Tim.
So saying all that,
I don't know how you put your arms around all this
and come up with something that's not so damn confusing.
And that's the part I get for the traditional point side
of the things, just let the points run
traditional championship.
I like more merit on points.
I don't think it's the end all this is how it needs to be.
I still think there should be more merit
on the team that got the most wins too though.
I think of some of your.
I think that the compound winning formula,
if you win one, you get five.
If you win two, you get more points,
the more wins that you get.
So one is worth, first one's five,
or I'm just using this as an example,
first one is five, second wins 10,
third wins 20.
Because you had nine one year
and you weren't in the championship four, right?
Yeah.
See, I have an issue with that.
I have an issue with that too.
And I think there's a way to make those wins mean more
and still reward the guys that get the most points.
If you win the regular season championship,
I think that you should be advanced around it.
I have no problem with that.
Then that championship really mattered.
The regular season really mattered.
Cool.
And the other thing is,
Kevin, when you guys raced with the old point system,
right, because when you want to win,
that's all we want to do is win.
But people were okay with taking a good points day.
Now they don't take good points days and they push to win.
I want you to do both.
And so we got to find, that's what we got to find.
I want you to push to win
and try to collect the most points
and make it all matter.
Because maybe I fell asleep, I don't know,
but did they even talk about Wayne Byron
winning the regular season championship?
It was kind of glossed.
And it needs to be...
Barely.
Yeah, I mean it needs to be...
Like that needs to really mean something
so that if he does win it,
if somebody does win it a race early,
this is taking you to the championship for
whatever that reward is.
You're guaranteed a wild card spot
in the championship for whatever.
I don't know what it is.
But, and I don't...
I just know that the balance of it all
right now is off.
And I look at...
If you win multiple times,
you probably need to be there.
And if you win one race
and you're 26th in the points...
Hang on, don't...
Easy, because if you win multiple times,
like SVG,
people are going to be very upset.
The fans are never going to be happy.
They'll be very upset.
Nobody...
I'm not going to be 100% happy.
You're not going to be 100% happy.
And we'll just act like we're fans
because that's really all we do anyway.
That's...
Fans with opinions.
Yeah, we're just...
Yeah, we're just fans with opinions.
And nobody's ever going to be happy
in this situation 100%.
But there's a compromise.
Oh, for sure.
There's a compromise that...
is here.
So I don't know who's making those decisions.
And...
I think it's pretty clear they are looking at it, though.
There may be a big change coming.
Everyone's always looking at it.
And I think the...
I don't know who's looking at it, though.
That's true.
Because I think it's...
I think it's NASCAR and TV looking at it.
I don't know...
You don't think the teams are all that involved?
I mean, there's been people that are involved,
but I think the conversation has shifted
to a smaller group.
So long story short...
Your tweet, back to the tweet.
Back to what started this.
We are not on opposite sides of that whole conversation.
I think that the...
I think every...
Yeah, they were all wearing a hand down.
I think I'm a lot closer to everybody than what they thought it was.
I think it was word...
I think people misinterpreted what you were saying a little bit.
I think they didn't read the under tweet
because it was a...
I don't think they read the conversation.
Which is fine.
And if y'all think that I sat and spent one of my Sundays off
thinking about who's tweeting me back
while I'm sitting...
No, wait a second.
You're answering to the people that tweeted you back.
So don't...
No, no, no, that was in the morning.
I have to post that?
So you didn't read the 1,000 responses?
I have no idea.
There was a 1,000 responses.
Denny Hamlin weighed in.
Hey, man.
I'm just glad you acknowledged me, bro.
I appreciate you.
That means that you acknowledged my opinion.
That's a big deal of Denny's response.
Yeah.
Because he doesn't acknowledge anyone.
Don't forget that the drivers
are the most important piece of the puzzle.
Hold up.
I know they're the most important piece of the puzzle.
I know the pit crew guys,
some of them want to think that they're more important.
We do not, as a crew member,
like when I have a guy that I know can get the job done,
that makes me work harder.
That makes me more excited.
When Kevin shows up by the shop at SHR,
there's 300 people there,
and you see Kevin walk through?
God dang it, that's my guy.
I need to get to work.
I need to get this thing done.
There's a reason why we are at the shop
until 11 o'clock at night
trying to get this one little thing right.
But to say that the team doesn't matter,
I can't get down with that
because my whole life is on this.
The way I read it was,
you were trying to give credit to teams
who make it happen in those clutch moments as well.
And the driver is a part of the team.
I was reading it as you were trying to give credit
to the teams that made it happen in that moment,
as you were kind of defending the current points.
No, I think the teams that win when it matters most,
I think that's badass.
You just misinterpreted.
Literally.
You misunderstood.
That's why I was like,
why is everyone so mad at me?
Nobody's mad.
No, yeah, they were.
Yeah, they were.
Yeah, there was people mad.
They're going to be mad
if somebody wins by 300 points.
That's why I'm saying there's a middle row.
They're mad at SVG for winning four races.
No, they're mad that he won four road course races.
I'm just saying.
But if Chase Elliott won four,
if Chase Elliott won four super speedway races,
they wouldn't care.
Yeah, fair enough.
That's true.
Very true.
It's very circumstantial.
So anyway, he is acknowledging.
So who's the regular season champ?
Is it over?
William Byron.
And you know, I didn't hear it.
I just I didn't find much coverage.
Who picked William Byron to win the championship
at the beginning of the year?
I don't know.
Here we go.
Oh, OK.
You don't know.
I'd ask you who your championship four are right now,
but I don't know.
I just don't even know.
The one winning it all is all that matters.
So anyway.
And so we do know that Mambo does believe in fact
that his sips are the most important part of the show.
So we will now move to that.
I've been told.
Hey, see, everybody's going to boycott the sips this week.
Well, they don't.
They got the sips early kind of.
So did you piss off the fans that are that are your fans
or did you piss off everybody else?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'm sure some of the people you know.
No, I know.
I know I pissed off everybody else,
but I think I'm sure some of the people that follow me
don't agree with me.
And that's OK.
That's OK.
I don't need you to agree with me.
You like my shoes?
I do.
I'm glad that we all kind of went in the same.
We all went black and white today.
Yeah.
Anyway, welcome to Mama's Social Sips
after that riveting conversation of my social media.
Literally.
Keep it up.
Yeah.
We're just going to keep digging.
And just like Carson Holsovar was this weekend,
he was or this week, he ran at Berlin.
He ran his super late model.
Him and Bubba Pollard got into it a little bit.
Had an amazing save, but let's roll the tape here.
So here we go.
They've been racing like that for about three laps.
Right.
Side by side.
And Bubba was getting a little more aggressive and impatient.
And he gets a little loose down here and gets him.
Amazing save, by the way.
That is unreal.
Yeah.
That reminds me of Pocono.
And then you can see a finger just kind of come out.
Dart.
Dart.
It reminded me of his Pocono save.
And it reminded me of Connor Zillich at Iowa,
flipping off Daniel Diwali still driving the car.
I mean, he's still sideways.
Almost the whole lap.
The whole lap.
I think he got to cut Tyra after that.
We've seen a few of those pivotal saves.
Yeah.
So listen, that's really the only sip this week,
because we were talking about so much other stuff.
But Kevin, the younger guys, they can just drive
with one hand, I guess.
One hand out the window.
They'll learn that they need to just keep their hand
in the window.
It's entertaining.
It is very entertaining.
Listen, guys, that does not mean
do not send in voicemails and mailbags.
If you want a voicemail, 805-317-4175.
And for the mailbag, it's Harvick.
Happy hour of four at gmail.com.
Appreciate your closers.
Yeah, appreciate those people who left a voicemail
talking about Colorado and seeing the Harvicks.
We do go through them all.
Very nice.
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Okay, guys, before we get into our picks for this week,
let's take a look at the best bet of the weekend,
courtesy of the case.
Oh, man.
You could have made some money this week.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
3,500.
That might be the largest we've seen.
No, it's without a doubt the largest we've seen.
Buy a lot.
Okay.
Buy a lot.
And I think there was merit
behind picking Austin Dillon
based upon his performance at Richmond in the past.
So you could have made some cash,
but take the checkered flag with DraftKings Sportsbook.
Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app
and use code Harvick.
That's code Harvick for new customers
to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks.
Only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.
I'm just going to bring him a Burger King crown next week
so he has something.
Piper came home from school
with something that she made in class.
You know what?
Maybe I'll bring that.
No, I just need Piper to make me something.
There you go.
Yeah.
Pipe, if you don't mind making me a crown
for the show, that'd be fantastic.
Thanks, Piper.
Yeah.
We've been asking for that prop for about six months.
I know.
I really thought they were going to send it.
Yeah, I did, too.
Yeah, can we get on that?
Yeah.
All right, let's see this $3,500 burnout
because it was pretty good.
You could tell he was,
had been wanting to do that for a while there.
Austin Dillon, what do you think of this one?
It's good last year, too, here.
I think it was loud.
You could definitely, based upon his usage of throttle
and the RPM levels that he did not give two shits
about what they were going to do with that motor next.
Yeah.
And there is pure joy and excitement
but behind those kind of celebrations.
Totally.
And there is nothing better when you hadn't won in a year.
And I think that it is hard to win these races
and there's a lot of pressure on these guys.
And when you finally break through,
it's just a huge relief.
And you could hear it in his burnout just with the RPM.
So I think that's a top five burnout.
Okay.
I like that.
Top five burnout.
I think that's a top five burnout
because I could feel the enthusiasm you could.
I thought the same thing.
And the thing that got me, KV, at the end,
was when he got out and he said,
I have a broken rib.
I was like, what a gangster.
That's not, you can't even breathe.
Like, you can't even breathe.
Oh, that is a very painful injury.
Yeah.
And he came on the victory lap and told us what happened.
I asked him.
Obviously, the victory lap was on on Monday.
So when this show comes on, it's over.
But he actually was getting his hunting season,
getting close to hunting season.
So he was getting his bow down,
put the bowcase down, fell off the ladder,
landed on the bowcase and broke his rib.
But that's what old people do.
That's when you know you're starting to get old
is when you start falling.
Fall off the ladder.
Fall off the ladder.
I did that the last year.
I fell down the steps in Italy at Keelan's go-kart race
and had to survive Nashville in all those weeks
with broken ribs.
But I wonder if he got it in as much trouble
with NASCAR as we did.
We're not telling him.
For keeping it a secret.
You'll probably know today or tomorrow.
Yeah.
You're supposed to report those things, apparently.
One other thing I thought was...
I'd worry about it later.
Yeah.
One thing I thought was cool too
was the embrace of his brother coming to him
after the win.
I was somewhat surprised in his comments
in the winner's interview this week
in talking about he and Ty being more involved
in the family business and those conversations
that they've been having with Richard
on decisions and things like that.
And I really enjoy that unity of Richard
and both of those kids.
I call them kids because they were kids when he...
They were kids when he...
They were like, yeah, six when I got there.
And to me, that is super important
for the longevity of RCR.
Them growing up, having families maturing
and being able to understand the business
because there's no doubt that Richard Childress
is the glue behind that company
when it comes to picking up the phone,
finding sponsorship in the politics
and the day-to-day business.
It's very important for those two
to understand what's happening.
When I interviewed Ty this week
in the NASCAR experience, he was very passionate
about talking about what happened last year
at Richmond with his brother.
And I've never really seen that before from that.
I didn't really...
Their bond is, I think...
There's something changing.
There's change over there.
That's a good thing for that group.
Absolutely.
You can hear that conversation
with Kevin the Victory Lap is available now.
The point standings, you and I picked up a little bit.
You and I.
I mean you.
Yeah.
Oh, that one's over.
That one's like the regular season champion.
We hadn't talked about it much,
but that race hasn't been over for a while.
It's momentum, maybe.
We only have to deal with one more week
and then it resets.
Exactly.
Up top, KB.
So basically, I'm the regular season champion.
You're William Byron.
By a landslide.
You're Corey Heim.
Okay.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
No, it's better.
Yeah, you're Corey Heim.
Yeah.
Yeah, 124, Kevin.
Mom is at 73.
I'm at 67.
She says a 67, Corey Heim.
I know.
Let me just gloss over that.
The cool thing is that
we are going to get the fans involved.
Oh, yeah.
When we start to do the playoffs
and we want to have you guys weigh in.
So you can submit your picks
by scanning the QR code on the screen.
You see it right there.
Or go to the link in the description
of the podcast to start.
Make sure that you scan that
because I'm going to kick your ass too.
Yeah.
No way.
All right, closers.
You got to weigh in.
I am.
So you can weigh in for Daytona
by scanning that code.
So it's time for us to make our picks
who we think can get it done this weekend.
I'm in first.
You're in last.
You go first.
I'm going with Chris Busher.
Okay.
I'd love to see.
We've talked about the strength of the forwards.
We know he can be good there.
He is currently below the line.
So if he could do it.
I was surprised how far off they were at Richmond.
In really the last few weeks, they hadn't run well.
But I think it's a good one.
All right.
I think the 48 group deserves to be in the playoffs.
And there's a way that they get in
without winning this weekend.
Two weeks in a row, he's picked Alex.
I'm not picking Alex.
I'm picking Kyle Busch.
I think I want the 48 to be in the playoffs.
There's a way for them to be there and then not in.
Oh, I'm sorry.
But I'm picking Kyle Busch.
I want Kyle Busch to win so bad.
I don't know if I've ever wanted someone to win
so bad as I do for the eight of Kyle Busch.
Well, I think you and a whole bunch of people
are hoping that Kyle Busch can get back to Victory Lane.
I'm going to go with another guy
that needs to get back to Victory Lane.
Brad.
Okay.
I like this is the most adventurous we've gotten in picks.
First of all, I'm always adventurous.
This guy over here just takes the low hanging fruit.
I'm just a winner.
That's what you can call me.
Just call me winner.
All right, winner.
Well, do me a favor and sign this while we're doing this show.
Yeah.
Don't unplug yourself.
Don't do that.
There you go.
We look forward to the Thursday edition of the show
because seven time champion Jimmy Johnson is joining Kevin.
And from what we understand, it's a very interesting conversation.
Yeah.
And you know, I think that Jimmy opened up
about a lot of things that I was pretty surprised to hear.
And honestly, straighten some thoughts out
that I've talked about on here before,
just why would you go run the IndyCar?
What happened at the end of those last three years?
He answered all those questions.
So it's, it'll be a pretty fun listen.
So hopefully everybody tunes in on Thursday
and mama stirs up some, has some more stupid tweets.
Yeah.
There you go.
Tweets in.
I'm going.
I like it.
I like it because it's not you.
That's right.
That's right.
You're like, two of the sports greats talking on Thursday.
So that'll be cool.
All right, everybody, keep subscribing on YouTube
where we podcast, leave a review, leave five stars.
We'll see everybody after Daytona.
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