Bowman Gray Survival, Preece’s Win, and Daytona Next
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Hey friends, this is Stag & Penny's Clash Edition.
We got all that to break down and we're going to start dabbling into some more motorsport
so we have all that and more coming up on Stag & Penny's today.
Let's buckle up and roll.
Stagging them deep, selling them cheap.
It tastes like gasoline, grubber and victory.
Where's that here Stag & Penny?
Alright guys, how's it going today?
Corey the Joy here alongside Ryan Flores.
We're Stag & Penny's still getting a groove here.
Episode two of the year, we pushed this back with all the weather we had.
We had to snow them again.
Man, so much snow in North Carolina. I've never seen this much snow.
Well, you haven't because there hasn't been this much snow in North Carolina in 40 years.
Yeah, it's been bad. I've had this in New Jersey.
I've actually grown up there like two feet, but nothing like this.
But good news, I wasn't in town. We were away, but we'll get to that.
But dude, shout out to Justin Swilling.
Poor Justin Swilling is the track president pretty much for Bowman Gray,
what happens at NASCAR and just what they had to go through to get that race in.
And it looked like, obviously the grandstands were a little light because it was a Wednesday night and 20 degrees,
but they made it happen above, listen, racers above all else find a way.
On Sunday, there was a foot of snow on the racetrack and in the grandstands.
It was cool to see everybody pulling the rope to even like Stenhouse and Todd Gillin up their show.
I was giving Ricky a hard time. We were doing the trackwalk yesterday.
I said, you probably didn't even shovel your own driveway,
but you'll drive to Winston to get some dat points and shovel snow.
Whatever it takes.
You will go to the end of the earth for some dat points and you won't even shovel your own driveway.
I wonder if he sent in Swilling a bill too.
Hey, I got three hours there as well.
Hey, trading off some dat points is worth cold, hard cash.
Amen. How did it feel? Cup driver again, buddy, in that six car.
It was fun.
I was listening on MRN.
Yeah.
Because I was dine on.
It probably sounded electric on MRN.
Oh, dude, it's so good.
And just like watching qualifying, you're so close and qualifying to making it.
I mean, it was, I mean, you turn the fire hose on as soon as you get there and you start rolling, right?
Because real quick turnaround, you're not really making any changes to the car.
You're changing bar blades.
You're changing a little bit of air pressure and you got what you got.
Buddy, there's no tiptoeing anymore either.
You get in these cup cars and you're hammered down right away.
There's no easing into it.
No, which is what I love about it.
It's because it's so, so hard.
And it took me all of the first practice to like knock the rust off of like, okay, the independent rear.
I mean, I really, truly haven't driven a cup car anything but a speedway in over a year.
You know, on the short track tire and stuff.
So did it.
So that's a good point.
So being that you haven't been in a car and then you get back in with 750 horsepower.
Was there a big difference?
I was like, oh, this thing's got some pickup.
Really?
Oh, because the Elmore engines in the trucks, they're like, they're really heavy rotating weight.
And so they don't get off the corner.
They don't get they have your own.
Oh, but the I was like, oh, cup cars are a snappy.
Oh, yeah.
Like, I love that.
You know, because you could just really romp on it in a truck.
But the cup you I mean, you were like, you could blaze them at any time.
Really?
Yeah.
So it's way different than what you remember in the cup car.
Well, I hadn't done the only thing comparable is that was LA, right?
And they had fresh asphalt.
So it was grippier had been to Bowman Gray, but it was since been repaved.
So it's just it was a different animal.
And I was just a little bit timid on the tire of like how getting to the edge of the grip,
like it's hard to to really get on the razor edge.
Like you got to really work up to that and you got to be comfortable.
And it took me all of practice and all of qualifying to really feel like I wasn't loose in.
It was just you got to kind of your butts got to get used to it to tell your brain, OK, here's the edge.
OK, you step over it because I didn't want to chatter the thing and back in the fence, right?
But we spoke about Bollins quite a bit.
How was working with Bollins?
He was awesome.
And he was great.
Yeah, he was super complimentary, which, you know, nobody's gonna be harder on my on me than myself or my dad.
Right.
But I feel like I got in.
We had some pace off the truck and I just couldn't like we miss qualifying in the show by 300,
which was like three feet probably.
And then, right, that sets up having to go into the desperation L.C.Q.
So you got to do whatever you can to get in.
You're in the thick of it, though.
Oh, we were in the fight, bro.
I think you would have gotten the two off of four if if we had a drag race.
But I think he'd have brought me up.
Yeah.
High enough.
You expect them to.
Yeah.
Before the race, he started right in front of me and I said, Hey, I just apologize for anything I may or may not do in the next 75 laps.
He goes, I apologize to you.
So we had that one out of the way.
Did he jump that?
I was listening to it.
Did he jump that bad or?
The one that was the one that that was that was what got me that the whole and the whole thing.
I was right behind them.
So I was tight and I knew he launched great.
I don't know timing of who launched first and he's obviously going to point to SMT, which isn't very accurate.
Like the lines and stuff don't really overlap, but the tweet from Dale Spice.
I wish you'd stick up for me as much as Dale Jr. sticks up for his friends.
I mean, damn, I'd stick up.
Okay.
Maybe not on social media because I don't have it on my on my phone, but I was sitting in the truck and saw that.
I'm like, damn, Dale.
He either really likes Josh Berry doesn't like Michael McDowell.
One of the two either.
I mean, either were people talking about it.
For context, who those didn't see there was the video posted with McDowell, right?
He was pleading this case.
I didn't jump early.
I think he said on his on his radio, just because I embarrassed them doesn't mean that they need to throw me to the back.
Hence, Dale Jr. said, one's a short track ace and one's not.
Yeah, which I love that for Josh Berry.
And I hate the Josh Berries and the LCQ, but the 21 lead in a Bowman Gray, any type of race with the Wood Brothers and their history there with the backseat driver.
Well, it's easy to look at like the chasm between the guys running the hooligans race versus the guys that make it.
And there is 10 guys on within four hundredths of a second.
Like if you're on the positive side of a four hundredths versus not, like you're sitting there in the grandstands watching us smash into each other.
How sick is Bowman Gray, though, just as a facility?
It's one of the most.
It's one of the most fun places to run single car runs.
Just by yourself.
My favorite thing is practice because you got to get your car to work.
It's hard to get around.
You can make speed.
You can you can miss it.
It looks easy.
I mean, anybody thinks driving is easy, right?
You just look at social media.
But like when the car is going slower, it's harder to drive.
Listen, because it doesn't stop.
It doesn't turn.
It doesn't go.
It doesn't do anything.
You're just trying to manhandle a brick around the racetrack.
Easy is a relative term because getting the car from the start finish line and back around most race drivers can do.
If you put any race car driver in, it goes to show that going faster than everybody else there is the hardest part.
And like you said, three hundredths is what, you know, puts you in the show or out of the show.
Look at Bert Meyers, right?
Like, obviously it wasn't in the best car, but he's a second off the pace.
All time winning SkyBowman Gray.
Never can barely be beat there a lot of times.
So it was it's just a great event.
And I'm I'm bummed that there was like a cloud over it figuratively and literally I fell asleep at the beginning.
A little nasnap at the beginning of it.
But then when I woke up, the track was wet and I was like, oh boy.
And when I was just watching the progression of the wet tires and how it was going, I was like, sprinkle tires, buddy.
They deliver.
They put on a pretty good show.
They either it's like it's like a light switch.
They either have traction or they don't.
Right. Somebody goes there and locks the tires up.
I felt like Denny was backwards more than he was forward.
Then you look up at checker flag and he's four or fifth.
There were some spicy comments from some fans and some Bowman Gray locals.
But like at the end, just about like this is some of the guys from Bowman Gray were hounding Freddie because Freddie is pretty critical on Bowman Gray.
And they're like, bro, what are you guys doing there?
You want to talk about us?
But in the back of the field, there was a little frustrating there through the middle that they couldn't get a restart in and get going.
And they did in the five run out of gas.
It was like, man, we're never going to get a green flag run here.
Yeah.
But that was that was interesting.
Kelly was sitting there watching on that.
She's like, how do you run out of gas?
It's easy.
It is easy because like if you start low or if you do the equation, which everybody's doing, right?
I need X amount of fuel to make it 200 laps of Bowman Gray because you don't get the opportunity to fill up at the halfway break.
Let's just say holds way 22 gallons, 20 gallons.
Yeah, 22.
Then if you only need 14 gallons to make it to the end, right?
You're you're holding or you're not putting in eight gallons.
And it's six pounds of gallons, 6.7 pounds a gallon.
And if you're trying to get your car around the corner of Bowman Gray and you can be 60 pounds lighter, that's going to be more better.
It's better all day long.
So there was guys doing that calculation, not banking on that many cautions.
Now the unique thing about the clash, every lap is green.
You have to be running green.
I would probably adjust that to the last 50 being under green if it was me.
That is a huge topic, especially with me driving the 99 which I'm fired up about.
But before that.
Did you play the game at all to be in an odd number?
No, because you could run the top.
Oh, because you can choose.
Yeah, copy.
So what had happened was I played it right.
And then with like four to go, the 16 was trying to keep pace.
But I didn't anticipate him not having as bad of a drive as he did.
So he was behind me and there was like literally a 16 foot gap between myself and the 16.
And your car is 16 foot long.
And yeah.
And the two parked it in there and got me out of the way and put me on the top.
And I'm like, oh man, now he's got me.
Yeah.
And you're trying to out there, you're trying to hang on.
And you're trying to like, I was looking like, OK, if the 16 is back there.
I might be able to drag race this into the line because I started to see like, OK, four or five laps in a row.
I'm beating the line.
I'm like, all right.
And you're waiting on it.
You're waiting on him to drive you up into three, up into the marbles and turn and go.
So I had it all planned out.
I gave him a big door shot down the back stretch to kind of get him try to break some traction.
And then the 16 way laid both of us.
Well, the hope is that when the 16 hits him, he gets them loose or spins them out.
Well, get some loose and you can get the drive.
But he got him tight and he just up up into you and took away your angle.
But it was it was good that when I look at the six, right, I think it's cool that Brad drives that.
But like, it's kind of cool thinking that he like drove the same car that Mark Martin made famous with the old Viagra car and Balvelling car.
I was thinking about that.
Like, man, that's that's pretty sweet.
And you get to do it again next week in the 99, which I think is a super.
That's, you know, I think about how quickly the sport moves.
When I got into the sport, you know, I worked at Roush.
And I remember going and walking in the shop and being in the 99 shop, the old office depot car.
And like that was like one of the cars, the top five cars in the sport.
Now the 99 number is gone 20 years later, right?
And just how fast the sport comes and goes and numbers.
I love seeing the 21, like I said, at Bowman Gray, the 21 is probably my favorite car.
But then like seeing Richard Childress and the three there as well, I thought that was cool.
And just I really love the significance that Bowman Gray brings to the sport.
And I hope we stay there.
I know there's a lot of talk about, you know, bringing it back to Daytona and this and that, which I thought the clash of Daytona was great.
Yeah.
But this finds a way.
But we go to Daytona twice a year.
Yeah.
And maybe there's something else we do with Daytona.
We do do the duals.
But to get to be able to bridge that gap between the short track guys and the cup guys and make Bowman Gray feel important and find another place on the schedule.
I think that's what it's really about.
So yes, I get the racing at Daytona was awesome.
And the clash Daytona was a staple for a long time.
But this is the way that we're able to get another track into the line into, you know, get the bright lights figuratively and literally.
I think one of the biggest news items of the weekend.
I don't want to harp on somebody's health or talk about it, but I think Denny's shoulder is massive news.
That's big news.
And just to hear what he went through like so for context watching, if you didn't get to watch the clash, Denny had gotten shoulder surgery a couple of years ago.
And man, talk about somebody that's just gone through it personally.
He fell when he was going through the debris and the fire that he lost his father in.
Yeah.
And re injured his shoulder.
Yeah.
He said there was no bright lights of his off season.
He said it was just absolutely brutal.
So Ryan Priest is calling me.
Hey, Jesus.
What a day.
The winner.
We have not slept.
We are not a wink of sleep.
45 minutes.
Why?
Yeah.
Why do you even bother?
Yeah, pretty much.
Dude.
How you feeling?
Great job.
Thanks.
Yeah.
No, I'm, uh, I don't know.
I mean, honestly, it was, you know, when you cross the line and you win your whole thing.
And when I looked at Regan in the eyes is really when it hit me because Regan, you know, I've known Regan for quite a while.
And, you know, he was a grinder and I could see, I could see it in him and I'm like, oh, here it comes.
Yeah.
So then I couldn't hold it back.
Oh, I couldn't hold back watching you not be able to hold it back.
I was like, dang, that's a long road to hoe.
Yeah.
My favorite was when you saw Heather on FaceTime and you went, F me.
You're not, I wish you were here.
Like I felt that in my soul.
Like, man, I wish my wife and kids were here because they've been through the struggle with you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I actually, you know, when I was driving down here, I was thinking about it because she was there for that truck race.
She was there for the Xfinity race.
And, you know, obviously when you have kids to have them out there that late at night, it was like, you know, I don't think you want to bring them out there.
It's going to be 34 degrees this and that.
And now, you know, I almost wish I said, hey, you know what, we just come out.
Yeah.
Because, you know, if I was able to see Rebecca running at me and Heather and, you know, I guess that's just more incentive to go do it again.
Yeah, you got to do it again.
You got another shot this week.
There's no risk for the weary or a racer that is because you are literally driving your motor home south right now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I mean, you know, and I feel like most people that are racers, it's like, this is what we live for.
And honestly, I was just thinking about it.
Most people, this is their hobby.
They have a business and, you know, racing is their fun.
And I get to do it for a living.
You know, I get to race in the Cup Series.
I got to win a race in the Cup Series.
And, you know, now I'm going to play at New Smyrna with my super and the modified and, you know, it's living a dream.
And it's a dream as a kid.
Like you chase after it, whether it's going to happen or not.
You don't know.
But, you know, I'm thankful that that it did.
And honestly, last night, you know, I probably had about three or four times in my racing career that have really had.
An impact on me emotionally because I'm not much of an emotional person.
I'm just like, nah, stoic.
And yeah, whatever.
Yeah.
And yeah, that hit me hard.
What were the other ones?
Forget it.
Probably my first modified win 2008 New Smyrna with my dad, you know, it was a grinding, you know, long, long road.
And then the other one was, I remember it was 2017.
I moved home back from North Carolina after race and Xfinity.
And I went to work full time for Eddie Park, retreated in the modified.
And, you know, that was like my first time going without my father to the racetrack, kind of like holding your hand, right?
He had something else he had to do.
And I went, I won, you know, and the disbelief, like, you're not disbelief, but like it was a moment that I remember because I earned my father's respect in that manner.
So those were those are two big moments that I think of.
Priest, I think of a lot of your career.
I've known you since quarter major racing, the old burning boilers car, you and David gravel traveling from Connecticut.
But there's been nobody when you talk about, you know, the gap from doing it as a hobby, right?
Working 40 hours a week, put an air condition in HVAC and then working another 60 on your race car, going to Stafford and grinding it out.
There's been nobody who's, I know, whose career has been over more than yours as far as professionally, right?
From the flexible cars to betting on yourself, it gives to get in your first cup opportunity and not going right to get an opportunity to big team and it's shutting down.
You find yourself at RFK and you, you know, what is your message to the people who feel like their dreams are over?
There's a will, there's a way.
You know, you got to, I feel like karma is a real thing and I always try to be good to people.
And, you know, I've been lucky enough that sometimes when one door closes, another one opens.
And, you know, Corey, I listened to your podcast a week or so ago and you mentioned talking about trying to force things.
And I've had those moments where I feel like I've forced things and they don't quite fit.
And Heather and I have had these conversations of it's meant to be, it's meant to be, if it's not, it's not.
And you, when you come to terms with it, whatever God's plan is unfolds.
And, you know, last night, I'll tell you what, this past week, I felt like I had all the odds against me when it came to the group qualifying.
You know, when it comes to quarter mile racing and I put a lot into it and it's my background.
So going into this week, when Saturday I canceled, they changed the qualifying groups, I just felt defeated before I even got there.
And after the race last night, I was talking to Heather on the ride home and she even said, she's like, I've never seen you like this.
Where not that you, you lost before you got there because racing is as much of a mental game as it is anything.
But you just, it was just a different, different feeling going to the racetrack.
I was excited, but I didn't have that intensity that I usually have.
And, you know, once we were able to qualify in, it was like, it was a spark to fire.
And, you know, even the past few weeks working on a late model and ever since really the derby when I, when I came home, like I just, I felt defeated.
And trying to get out of this funk and last night is what I needed to, you know, get that second win.
Like when you're on a road trip and you're like trying to force through the night.
Love it.
Yeah. Cause dude, you're radio during the race. You're in your crew chief or pissed.
You said at one point, I think there was a quote, whoever made this decision, we're going to make them drive home without their windshield wipers on.
But, but to your point, right? If you got a reset refocus and then the opportunity arose and you took full advantage of it and you wear the weight of the modified series and all those guys on your chest.
And I think, I don't know if you notice it, but, you know, seeing Bonson, you're get more opportunities in, in the O'Reilly series.
And then even seeing Austin beers and Michael Christopher on the Ram show.
When I look at Kyle Larson and what he's able to do and, you know, Chris Bell and Corey day and all the guys that have come through the system because he was successful in midgets and so good.
I think that because of, because of your success and what you've been able to do, there's some eyes on that modified series again. How do you feel about that?
Yeah, me.
The thing I love about the Northeast is passion.
You know, all all your race car drivers up there, Austin, he comes from a great racing family with Eric beers, his father, I race against them.
And then Michael, you know, his father and his uncle, Ted Christopher, that's a legacy.
And you have a lot of passion and, you know, it's just different up there.
So I'm happy there's eyes being looked up there again because there is a lot of young talented race car drivers, but they're not going to just bring a checkbook.
They're going to bring the passion. They're going to bring the drive, the determination and, you know, it's hard to find that you can't, you can't buy that.
So, you know, I hope those guys get more opportunities.
And for me, it's, it's trying to accomplish the goals that, you know, when I came down here, or I did a handful of races in 2013 and 14 and, you know, got through NASCAR's approval process and 15 and then 16 at JD.
It's like, I have goals and I want to accomplish them.
And I feel like last night was, was definitely the first step, but there's a lot more.
And yeah, it feels like there's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you.
Like, what sort of accomplishment does it feel like you've checked the box, but does it spark even more like, oh, like this was awesome.
But now let's go get a points race.
Let's go get in the chase.
Let's go make a deep run at this thing.
Does it change the focus at all?
I mean, the focus going into the season for us was to win, right?
And be consistent and be competitive every single week.
And once you make the playoffs, you, you kind of, you know, you can look at those races and say, these are, these are where I feel like we can truly maximize against our competition and these are where we need to be here.
And so I think going into the mindset and, you know, what our team has, what Chris has, the six has, you know, everybody at RFK, it's to go win.
And usually when you win, everything else takes care of itself.
So yeah, do I want to race for a championship?
Yeah.
You know, like all of us, you would, we all do.
You know, I think there's just a lot of things that got to come together.
And right now, you know, I feel like our team has this boost of energy.
What's the motto?
The motto that the new motto at RFK.
Back to the front.
Yeah, back to the front.
You're putting me on the spot on this one.
I'll help you out.
Bold, aggressive, true question.
Committed.
Committed.
Committed.
Gotcha.
Well, you fit the bill, buddy, and you carried the banner well last night.
My friend, we're happy for you.
Hey, listen, you can't force culture.
You got a bunch of racers there and you're building it one block at a time.
It seems to go in the right way.
Now on a Daytona, no more highlights, buddy.
Keep that thing all four wheels on the ground.
You got another pusher here in the 99.
Corey sitting next to us.
I'm excited for you guys going down there.
I'll see you Saturday in Samerna.
Appreciate it.
See you there.
Good luck, dude.
Drive safe.
Thanks, man.
Now back to our regular scheduled programming.
Oh, dude.
First and foremost, you the gamblers classic this week.
Oh, we didn't even talk about that.
You were a race.
Went up there, Atlantic City, buddy, you want to talk about cold.
It was a next level cold up there and they're heating and the building was built in 1920
and they've started racing midges there like 1930.
It's a great track walk with a guy named Lenny Boyd who won the races there and has been going there
since he was a kid, not in 1938.
A super modified guy.
Lenny Boyd is a little bit of everything.
He's raced everything.
Kind of like, he's a little bit like myself, right?
Where he just run everything, do whatever was one and everything.
And we talked about just the history of that building, but with that building being built
in 1920, we got there.
Sometimes the power was off because it had snowed, it had frozen.
The building was super cold and it made it super tricky, but had a rough night.
Friday got wrecked.
Old Randy the Joy running the back of the squirrels.
Get your nuts broke, but had an opportunity to win on Saturday.
Ended up one spot short and second to a great racing family, the Catalanos.
They got five boys, dude.
You think you got a lot with three right now?
And they all, they all raced.
They all raced.
I told Dave Catalano at the end of that.
His mom, Amy, was a great race car driver.
I said, buddy, being a father is a thankless job and he's got five boys that are all great kids
and they all raced and they all have great equipment.
So the amount of work that they're putting in, man, I can only imagine.
So was happy for them, but a great week and a lot of penny stackers.
Yeah.
Got to bring the sticker next week.
A guy brought me put stickers or put starters on Sprint car sticker.
I'm going to bring him in here.
He'll be our penny stacker this week and next week.
We got to plug that and let you know where you can get that sticker from.
But a lot of, a lot of people talking about how much they love stacking pennies and just
a melting pot of racers there that weekend in Atlantic City.
Shout out to my neighbor, Doug, D U G, Doug, Doug won the go kart race.
And it was just an awesome weekend of racing and didn't blow motor this weekend.
It was my first race in a while.
All the parts stayed inside the engine.
Speaking of that, going to go down to Florida, be there Sunday, Monday with my 602 that I blew up.
We got that rebuilt.
I'm like, man, I'm going to go down and being the flow booth, calling the modified race.
The tour race.
The modified tour race on Saturday night.
The priest is going to be in.
So I'll be in the booth there doing commentary for that.
Really excited about that opportunity.
But since I'm going to be in Florida, that is, that's one of the coolest tour races of the year.
So anybody's down there for speed weeks and needs to go to Smyrna Saturday night.
It's the best.
And, and then since I'm going to be there, I'm like, you know, I'm not a real racer unless
I bring my car to Smyrna at least once.
I'm going to bring my car run Sunday and Monday night, then head over to Disney.
I'm fired up.
Was in the dial this morning and just running pit road lights.
And we're going to get more to Daytona on Monday.
Pretty excited about some other crazy stuff.
Dude, you ever watch World Rally Cross?
It's my favorite thing.
I wish there was like an easier way to watch it.
World Racing World Rally.
I thought they had the gnarliest wrecks before we get off of Atlantic City.
Did you see my man, Andy Jay, who's going to be in the arc race?
Bro, he looked like he was going to go get popcorn in the fourth row.
That's right.
He's a pizza delivery guy.
So what?
Somebody had an order up there.
Somebody had a little Caesar's to go order.
He tried to door dash it.
But then he's running the arc race.
He literally flips up into the catch fence, lands, starts it up.
They beat this thing back and goes and runs like 10th.
No, he kept going.
Yeah.
And then he was running 10th.
He flipped again.
Turns out there's a two flip rule.
He was trying to go back out there like, dude, you're done before you hurt yourself.
But I asked him, I said, you just getting ready for the arc race on Daytona, buddy?
Because he's running the, you know, he's running the arc race on Saturday.
Well, there's this like, he was too tense fashion to feel in practice.
All I had to do was like lay it up, but instead he just kept wrecking.
There's like this feeling.
There's like this naive feeling as a racer driver as when you're wrecking, you'd never
feel like you're done.
Like you're always driving it.
You just keep going.
Like if this, the good ones, if this stop, like it's not going to stop and keep driving
until it literally won't roll anymore.
That's it.
That's a real racer.
You just keep finding a way.
But, but a reason I talk about that is the World Rally Championships.
They are the gnarliest wrecks.
Oh, yeah.
Well, because you're going down the side of a cliff if you wreck.
Yeah.
And I saw.
So let's give these a.
Takamoto Katsuta and.
Johnson maybe, but they, but yeah, he loses power steering.
This is in.
This is from money for Monica for Monaco to Italy.
His.
So he's got his car.
He's driving no power steering, just wheeling this thing.
And he's, he's telling his co-driver while he gives directions to pull the e-brake so
the thing will turn for him.
Oh man.
Too much.
Not enough.
Too much.
This reminds me that this, they need to go to the chain race of Bowman Gray when they
have the guy in the front with the gas and the guy in the back with the break.
It's the best.
How can we get it?
How can we get an entry into that?
We should go build a car.
I reckon.
Oh, this guy's reading turns, given, you know, all the stuff, threes, twos, and he ain't
going to break.
So good.
That's a real one.
That's like, uh, that, that is like equivalent to race car supercross.
Have you been following supercross as much?
I love supercross.
The problem is it's on Peacock now.
It's hard to follow.
It's literally the only streaming app I don't have.
I've got Hulu, Paramount Plus.
It's hard to find.
This Plus, that Plus, HBO Max.
There's Disney Plus.
It occurs to screaming.
You can see anything at any time, but if you don't have it, you can't see it and you
don't know that it happened.
So there was a little bit of, I miss, I missed the channel guide a little bit.
Going to the old TV network guide and seeing what's on.
I mean, this is off, off throughout a little bit, but it got a little bone to pick with
Fox last night because they kicked it over to FS two, like the last 30 laps.
Listen, they, somebody had to see the mass singer.
I guess, I guess they probably had a little bit of a bone to pick with.
Yeah.
Like, hey, you can't wreck it.
Or like Wednesday, we've got the mass singer, judge, judge Judy coming on.
We can't put the clash on.
Let's give some flowers here.
I loved Gizillich locking in his first clash.
He's going to be a problem this year for a lot of people.
And it also seemed like our Amigos Suarez was a little feisty with the track house guys.
He said at one point he was going to beat SPG's ass.
I was like, that'd be a whole fight.
It'll be a fight.
Class of nation.
It'd be a clash of nations.
Yeah.
It would be an international affair because I don't know.
My money'd be on Shane.
He's just pure size.
I've seen that guy go shark mode to the Amigos feisty though.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah.
Like rough and rowdy.
We could set up.
We could put it in the Constance garage here.
Well, also, let's give some flowers to some some liveries because we all appreciate a
good old fashioned paint job.
And this is really the first first time we've seen any cars on track all year.
Chase Briscoe's car looks sick.
Yeah.
But dude, I was I was for the track house cars.
You can tell a track house car from a mile away.
Yeah.
That's what I love.
Flow flow numbers.
I don't know which one it is, but I know it's one of them.
So that draws my eye right to it.
Hamlin.
Danny Hamlin's car was bright.
I don't.
I don't love the color.
I want Danny in a purple car.
But you know, it's cool that Bob's is in the sport and you can tell that one from
a mile away too.
No.
Yes, can.
Well, I thought the Robin Hood car was cool.
Yeah.
Bob is.
Yeah.
I think that thing is sick and the 67.
How about the how about he just hooks hooks host of all right.
I'm done with this.
When I was leading, I'm like, everybody's going to get a shot when they go by him.
They're just going to keep smashing him.
But that dude, the cup series is so cool.
You got a.
I was thinking about it sitting there.
A modified driver from Berlin, Connecticut grew up at Stafford and SVG super in his go
not in the 97 back in his number.
That means so much to him.
Like we talked about numbers earlier.
You see how much a number can mean to somebody when he's crying because his dad's numbers
on his car.
Yeah.
The one he grew up with.
And they're toe to toe modified champion, super car champion, Bowman Gray Stadium in
the wet.
I was like, this is America, dude.
Hell yes.
That's that's all hell.
Yeah.
Hell yeah.
You know what else is hell.
Yeah.
That freedom 250 speaking of America.
I sent that in the group chat because they're normally events like this freedom 250 at
DC, Grand Prix at DC, they get out years in advance.
Yeah.
And they're like, so I wonder, I mean, hey, Raj, captain in their doing deals.
They're doing Roger and Roger doing deals, bringing the Indy cars to some street course
in downtown Washington, DC on the 250th anniversary of the United States.
There ain't nothing more American.
And I don't care what your political views are.
This is awesome.
We're celebrating the country and Donald Trump has, let's be honest, Donald Trump has a ton
of respect for Roger Pinsky.
They're both big time Americans Joe Biden.
They put in Indy cars and street service.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's just call it.
Hey, he did it.
DJ T has put them right, right down national.
What?
I don't even know the roads.
Yeah.
I don't know the roads and run them around.
But I know it's going to be sick.
Octagon fight on the front lawn.
Indy cars going around it at the same time.
Fireworks.
America.
Pretty, pretty awesome.
I would love that.
I'd love to get Pat.
No, Scotty McLaughlin on here after that race to really get, I think that's peak America.
Also, I think nobody's getting more indoctrinated into American culture than Scotty.
Scotty.
Like he's going to Panthers games football.
Oh, yeah.
He's into it.
His wife's a New Yorker.
So he's a Knicks fan.
Knicks guy.
Yeah.
He loves it.
So I would love to get him in here maybe before and after to see what he thinks.
A little pre and post.
Big fan of the show.
Lot of energy behind the Indy car series Arlington race as well.
That's going to be cool.
So maybe we could pull some strings and get some other cats on here.
Awesome.
I'd like to talk to Pat.
We talked to Alex Palo last year on the show.
That was pretty cool to get a peek behind the curtain with his championship efforts.
Cameron wants to know if SPG would do a good Indy car.
I don't think you'd get his big ass in there.
I don't think that there's if he could.
Of course he's.
Oh, dude, he'd be good in anything he drives.
You give him a PT cruiser in his backyard and he's going to go faster than you.
Hey, news and super car Toyota is joining.
That's that's awesome for them.
That that's basically down under NASCAR, buddy.
That's what it is.
It's a street course, road course NASCAR.
I mean, the cars are very comfortable.
We've got a little hype video here for me.
Super cars curb launching to nothing better than these guys launching over curves.
My buddy George Medecchi would say best if you're going to hit it, frickin hit it, mate.
So so one thing we talk about numbers.
I almost wish I think something that's so specific to NASCAR is the branding of the number
and it makes it easy to follow, you know, who's in it.
The problem with me with with super cars is like, I don't know who's driving them.
And maybe I need to watch it more.
Well, we don't know what cars we only know a couple of guys that are friends of the show.
Yeah, but like if I knew that number seven is, you know, Mark Winters bottom.
Yeah, I would just follow the seven car.
Just because you know, you can look at Brody Kostecki.
Brody Kostecki dog.
He's our guy came to the Christmas party this year.
He did.
He stopped by the stop by the house when he was in town.
We should have got him on a podcast, but we'll get him on.
We'll get him.
We'll get him talking.
I love the fact that the crossover is happening between Indy car, NASCAR, super car, you know,
high tides, raised all ships.
That's it.
And everybody's working together, buddy.
You know what the low tide is going to be is whatever they're trying to do with e-racing and AI.
Oh, you don't.
Yeah, you're not a killer.
Hey, you drove the damn electric car.
I know.
So that's just race car drivers.
And like I said, it's cool tech.
But when you go to the racetrack, you've got to feel like when you're when you're standing
next to the racetrack, if you don't have to like reach up and grab your ears so your
ear drums aren't blown out, like it's just not it's just not do it.
Yeah.
Doesn't do it.
Listen, different strokes for different folks.
This ain't for me.
If they had the Formula E race in New York City, I thought was cool because it was in New York
City.
Yeah.
But I need to hear some horsepower, buddy.
V8.
Racing is about humans doing superhuman things with a race car being the tool or like the
weapon in which they do it with.
Yeah.
Yeah, I can't.
I can't give up.
I'm about human performance.
A lot of people are watching.
There's a lot of people.
It's about it's it's a it's a human game, right, trying to build one car faster than
the next car, trying to execute the details over the course of a race to beat that the
next human being.
It's just not my thing.
Listen, we're trying.
There's been so much talk about fixing NASCAR for the last decade that I don't have any
time to fix anybody else.
And I think NASCAR is in the best spot we've ever been.
We got our championship back.
We just said it five minutes ago.
What like you have a guy from Berlin, Connecticut racing a guy from New Zealand.
That's what it's about.
The win on a quarter mile race track that's been running since 1940 in the ring in the
ring.
And we're finding out ways to race like we find we find a way, dude.
And I freaking love it.
It's an entertainment sport.
Just sit back and be entertained, man.
That's because there's a lot of cool stuff.
There's a lot of great personalities.
Just enjoy the show.
And we're going to the granddaddy.
I'm all this week.
You're going.
We're going to it.
We're going to Daytona.
Great.
And the other thing too, like when you look at guys, we talked about like Max Verstappen,
right?
They got Max Verstappen pulled up here.
He's been running.
What's a G what's a GTP GT three?
Well, which I don't know much about that stuff.
But he's just wax in the field because he is so good.
Now, when Max Verstappen gets in a car, his car is going to be exceptional, exceptional
because of who he is, but he's earned that.
But like this guy gets in his private jet.
And you think hosts of our school with with his is Simrig up in the trailer.
My man's got a Simrig in his private jet.
That's we think the Wi-Fi bill on that is as baller.
That is awesome.
It doesn't make sense for him to come race in the car because he'd really be putting
himself out there.
But I wish he would.
I wish he would eventually.
Man, I hope with Max will.
I don't say never.
But like there's got to be a little bit of an intrigue.
Hopefully that connection with Suarez gets in there because you see Dario Franckini's
race and St. Pete truck race.
Yes.
Jimmie Johnson, dude, he's he's he bridges the gaps.
He does.
Shout out Dario.
Well, let's get Dario Franckini.
We need to get him in here.
Yeah, let's just shift gears.
So we we've touched on the clash.
We've touched on all things motorsports.
And we're going to dive deeper into the 500 next week.
But just a quick, a quick guide.
What are your favorite things about the 500 for somebody that's going down there?
Favorite things about speed weeks for guys that are going there?
It starts on Friday.
It already started.
Yeah.
World Outlaws race last night.
I know.
And Volusia.
I don't know who won.
I saw gravel got wrecked.
I didn't see it.
That's on me.
But you know, we start Volusia.
Volusia's got sprint cars this week.
Late models and big block to modify as next week.
Samirna's got every kind of race car you could ever want to race for the next week.
They even have sprint cars the Saturday.
So here's before the 500 ticket, right?
You just go on and load up and head south to Florida where hopefully it's a little warmer
than where it is in anywhere else in the country.
And you could go to a race every night from tonight being Thursday until Sunday night,
the 15th at the 500.
But when you go to the Daytona 500, you it's like it's what I love about it is it's
so town like Daytona International Speedway is a city for a week inside of itself.
Yeah, like there's nothing like rolling into that tunnel, dude.
Build the wall.
Build the wall.
That's what it's like.
It's like a fortified city back back in the like you ever seen a movie Troy?
Yeah.
Where they show up and it's like the big wall.
That's what it's like.
That's what Daytona is.
When you roll through the tunnel, you know that you're in a different world.
That's it.
What I love about it is like you can shut off anything else.
It doesn't matter.
You didn't take the trash out last week back home because you're Daytona now.
You're in a different place like Narnia.
Yeah.
Turn on the days of thunder theme when you pull when you pull through the tunnel.
Palm trees blowing in the wind.
Rolling in Saturday night before the 500.
Everybody's excited.
Campfires are going.
We just will jump in the golf cart cruise around and see the sights.
But then Sunday morning, it's the most it's the most fun.
I haven't been to a Super Bowl.
Have you been to Super Bowl?
I've never been to Super Bowl, but I've been Daytona 500.
It's my 20th time.
20th.
This is well, maybe 19th.
I don't know.
But I'm excited.
If you're down there, you need a good place to eat.
And this is our favorite place to go.
New Sumerna is the garlic.
Oh, go check out the garlic.
Don't tell people our spot.
You better get there early.
You better get there.
Last year we were at the garlic and Cory's kid puked at the table.
Hopefully it's a better trip this year.
Dude, it was a whole thing.
But yeah, that dude, there's so many great places up.
Just look it up.
You can go down to what is it?
They'll turn four down there where they used to have the track on the beach.
Like if you just go down there and start searching stuff on your phone,
you're never going to run.
There's going to be too many things to do.
You're going to want to keep coming back.
And I'm excited to be back on pit road to get after it.
Change tires for June Bugs car for the 40 and the 88.
And for the 40, Chris Stapleton and juniors car.
It's been really fun getting that thing ready and being a part of that.
There's so many wins.
We had practiced yesterday with our road crew and there's so many just.
I would call them like Hall of Fame road crew, men and women.
Lisa Smokes that has been around forever.
It's really cool to work with her finally after knowing her in the garage forever.
And, uh, and they just, you know, go down there and be part of that and then be part of the O'Reilly series.
Again, the O'Reilly series has a lot of exciting stuff.
Raja is going to be in the car in 88 for, uh, for the first three races.
So dude, there's nothing better than going to Daytona in February.
Florida in February is undefeated.
It's undefeated.
And we're main under feeding until the end of time.
Uh, so stay tuned to staggin pennies.
If you're not able to go, uh, we'll give you the recap on that for the week.
We'll be shooting some social media content, following our journey on punching our ticket into the big dance with our 99 team.
Uh, so let's go ahead and get on to some penny free thoughts questions.
You guys fired some in from Wesley Riddle.
Yep. First one.
Are there any special memories, moments that you remember from your first cannon win at Bowman Gray?
Um, I think doing a burnout in the grass, which is a big no, no, but I didn't care as my first one.
And then like all of our buddies came out and we did like a little, like a big pal out right in the grass.
That's pretty cool.
I remember you're asked to and you got for pulling in the infield, not from the track, not from anybody else,
but your own father, because it was before Bowman Gray was repaved.
There was a big berm and you knocked the nose off the car.
Didn't have a scratch on it all day and knocked the nose right off of it.
In celebration, your dad was mad, but I wasn't there.
I was watching from afar because I was away racing, but I just remember.
Uh, I haven't won Bowman Gray, which I did run second there.
I got a lot of pissed off memories leaving that place, but I've always been excited pulling in.
I love it.
Love going there and we'll get a win there eventually.
Um, Jig Jigill underscore J a G I L L.
Would you rather have hands or feet or feet for hand?
Would you rather have hands for feet or feet for hands?
I love this question.
Yeah.
It's a little, it's a little, uh,
it's a brain exercise.
Hands for feet.
Hand.
I agree.
You for sure.
I mean, that's what like orangutans have hands for feet.
Just need an extra hand here.
You wouldn't say that again.
Hey, give me a hand.
You wouldn't need that stock of celery with my foot.
I need some more flexibility.
Talked about this one from sports on the sport.
Uh, was the horsepower difference noticeable to you?
Also difference between the RFK car from any other car you raised.
Yeah.
I mean, it is substantially nicer than anything I've raced.
Cause when I, when I drove, uh, I mean, anything.
The nine was a great ride.
That was like my seat.
That was a weird week.
Like, I didn't, yeah.
Like, of course it was nice, but it was still like Chase's interior.
Like the shifter was in the wrong spot.
So I knocked that master key off three times.
Uh, just one of those weekends.
That's one, that's one you'd like to, you know,
it was an opportunity you wanted forever.
But it's like one that you'd almost like to forget too,
with how tough it was that weekend.
Yeah.
It's just, I was the guinea pig for the no lift shift.
We were trying to work all that stuff out,
but like this one was like dialed in for me.
Like everything was right.
Um, you know, and just came up with a touch short for making the big dance.
But like this week, this week going to the 500,
like it's, it's, it's right.
It's right, man.
It's a nice car.
Everything is thought through everything.
All like the switches are like, it's just a really, really nice car.
Um, 750.
Yeah.
What the short track batch is, is, is noticeable.
You know, she's snappy.
Like I told her she's snappy.
So we've been asking for Larry Mac.
Larry Mac went to the Toyota cutaway car yesterday and talked about it
and showed how much more horsepower, how much more flow there is.
So it's exciting, man.
Like I said, hell yeah, more horsepower.
You've been asking for more horsepower.
The chase is back.
The rovel's gone.
Everything they've been complaining about.
Everything everybody's been had gripes with.
We, we is back.
But what was the move of the week?
What do you think?
I just think it's just priests winning.
You know, priests betting on himself winning every short track racer in
America between Josh Berry, winning the LCQ and priest stealing the show
for the race.
That's got to be just the biggest story for sure.
Yep.
We all got, we all got stuff to do.
You got to go a couple more pit practices.
I've got a pit practice here today.
Every last T is getting crossed and last I getting dotted before we head south
trying to get the cadence for us Thursday night will more than likely be a
fuel only stop.
So getting the cadence of if you need 3.5 seconds of fuel, what is 3.5 seconds
actually, but the communication of the crew chief seeing it on his watch to
telling me to roll.
Well, if you don't want to take four or two.
If he tells you, then you've lost a half second again.
That's right.
So it's all about laying your lane and getting in front.
And we've got it down to the 10th.
And I've won the 500 with bones because of that.
We actually beat the six car off of pit road.
So, so yeah, so pit.
So what, what Corey is talking about is the cadence between your gas, man.
Real quick, if you need 3.5 seconds fuel to make it to the end, you want to make
sure that you don't get three point five to two gallons per second.
Yep.
Say I need seven gallons.
So we need three and a half seconds of gas.
So from the time your gas man plugs in is right when he plugs in, it's flowing.
You want exact, you want to have about three seconds of fuel and then that car is
leaving so you get the extra half second when it's leaving.
If you sit there for four, it's about three tenths per car to pass the car.
It's three tenths of a second to pass the car in front of you.
So say you sit there for four, four and a half.
There could be six or four cars by it.
Yeah.
And then you're buried in your lane.
You can't go anywhere.
So that last pit stop, that's why we've always talked about everybody saving fuel
and taking less at the last stop or you, you know, we saw Danny Hamlin at Charlotte
not get enough and run out of gas.
So it's the game that's going to be played.
Well, tires are not going to be an issue in Daytona.
No, I mean, the margins are so slim that if you hit your number on fuel, that might be
the difference of qualifying for the 500 or not.
And that will be.
That's what it's going to be.
In the in the 40, that's, you know, or the in the duals, you know, with the 40, with
the 99, with the 67, whoever doesn't make it on time, that's going to be huge getting
your fuel right for the duals because you're going to have to take gas.
And you're not going to win it on pit road.
But you sure as hell can lose it.
There's some people lose it for sure, whether it's pit road rolling speed, but appreciate
positive feedback from last week, whether you're listening to us on Sirius XM Channel 90
or YouTube or wherever you find your podcast, Spotify, Apple.
So appreciate episode two.
A little bit of Daytona preview next week.
Stay tuned.
Corey and Joe here alongside Ryan Flores.
Keep stacking pennies.
Busy show today.
Action packed, action packed week coming up.
Y'all have a fantastic day.
Goodbye.
About this episode
Bowman Gray’s brutal winter conditions set the stage as Corey LaJoie and Ryan Flores break down the short-track Cup crossover, including Corey’s time in the 6 car, the razor-edge grip, and how qualifying chaos forced an LCQ push. They debate incidents, fuel math, and why Bowman Gray still matters on the NASCAR calendar. The conversation then pivots to Denny Hamlin’s shoulder news, Ryan Priest’s emotional modified win and “back to the front” RFK momentum, plus Atlantic City racing, World Rallycross wrecks, and a Daytona 500 speed-week preview.
Original notes
Clash Edition is here. We break down the Bowman Gray weekend, the weather chaos, and why this one felt more like a chess match than a sprint. Then we get into what Preece’s win actually means, the strategy and fuel games people miss, and why Daytona is still the biggest castle in racing.
Also: Corey’s fired up for the 99 at Daytona, we talk numbers as identity, and we hit a quick motorsports round-up (WRC madness, IndyCar street race talk, and more).
Highlights:
- Clash recap and the Bowman Gray vibe
- Preece wins and why it matters
- Fuel weight, strategy, and the stuff fans do not see
- Daytona 500 energy, storylines, and why it hits different
- Motorsports quick hits (WRC, IndyCar, more)
Follow, rate, and drop questions for next week.
#StackingPennies #NASCAR #Daytona500
0:30 - Welcome to the show and talking about winter weather
1:30 - Corey driving the 6 car at Bowman Gray
5:06 - Michael McDowell jumping the start in the LCQ
6:49 - How great is driving at Bowman Gray
8:00 - Reaction to the wet weather racing
8:40 - Cars running out of gas in the feature
9:57 - Corey breaks down his duel with Austin Cindric
11:01 - Driving cars with historic numbers and seeing those cars drive at Bowman Gray
13:16 - Ryan Preece calls in to talk about his Clash-winning weekend
15:44 - Ryan Preece living his dream and significant moments in his racing career
17:20 - Ryan Preece's never-give-up attitude
20:44 - How Preece's success has impacted drivers in the modified series
22:19 - How has the win impacted the season goals of the 60 car
24:15 - Skip and Corey talk about Skip's performance at the Gambler's Classic in Atlantic City
28:16 - Breaking down a World Rally Championship clip with no power steering
31:00 - Favorite Clash paint schemes
32:40 - Freedom 250 IndyCar race announcement
34:50 - Toyota joins Australian V8 Supercars series
36:10 - Opinions on electric car racing
38:15 - Max Verstappen racing GT3
39:20 - What makes the Daytona Speedweeks special
43:00 - Penny for your Thoughts questions
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