Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a NASCAR driver. Here, he’s talking about his past racing years and what it was like when he first started out.
Term
six that hard
He’s talking about another driver pushing for a better number at the end—basically trying to squeeze out more speed or a better finish. It’s about how aggressively someone is trying to improve late in the run.
“Nationwide” refers to NASCAR’s former name for its second-tier series, which has since been rebranded. Stenhouse is using it to describe his earlier career before moving fully into the Cup Series.
A “single-car team” is a team that runs just one car. That can make it harder to compare setups and help each other during a race.
Company
Hyak Motorsports
Hyak Motorsports is the racing team Ricky is talking about. When a driver joins a new team, the people and equipment there can change how fast they can get the car working well.
Practice is when the team and driver try things on track before the main results. It’s used to learn what the car is doing and adjust the plan for the weekend.
Qualifying is the timed part that decides where you start the race. If you don’t get the result you want, you adjust your plan for how the race will go.
A “setup” is how the team adjusts the car to make it handle the way the driver wants. Small changes can make the car feel right—or cause problems on track.
Instead of multiple short practice periods, NASCAR is trying one longer practice session. That can give teams more continuous time to test and learn the track.
NASCAR used to run practice as two short blocks instead of one longer one. That affects how many laps teams can try and how quickly they can test changes.
They’re saying the new practice schedule will begin at the New Hampshire track. Different tracks behave differently, so practice changes can matter more at some venues than others.
NASCAR’s “next-gen car” is the newer generation of stock-car race design. The discussion here is about how it behaves on track—especially whether extra practice time could make racing tighter and harder to pass.
Rookies and younger drivers are newer to racing at this level. More practice time can help them learn faster and get more comfortable with the car and track.
Denny Hamlin is a well-known NASCAR race driver. The joke about “fishing” is just saying he wasn’t fully focused on the usual practice grind at that moment.
The “cut line” is the points cutoff NASCAR uses to decide who moves on. If you’re above it, you’re in a safer position; if you’re below it, you’re in trouble.
A “point reset” means NASCAR restarts the points after a certain stage. It’s meant to give more drivers a chance to compete for the championship from that point forward.
Joey Logano is a NASCAR driver for Team Penske. The hosts are debating whether he can still climb back into championship contention after being behind in points.
The “regular season” is the earlier part of the year where drivers rack up points before the championship playoffs start. It’s basically the lead-up phase to the postseason.
Team Penske is a top NASCAR racing team. The hosts are saying they often get really strong late in the year and use wins to move forward in the playoffs.
The “playoff system” is NASCAR’s postseason rules for deciding the champion. Instead of just points all year, it includes stages where drivers can be eliminated.
Racing series like NASCAR use a points system. Being in the top few in points matters because it gives you a better chance to still win the championship at the end.
“Lap down” means you’ve been lapped by the leader. Once you’re behind, it can be really hard to catch back up because you’re stuck dealing with other cars.
“Pit now” means the team decides to come into the pits right away. When you pit at the wrong time, you can lose positions and get stuck behind other cars.
“Pocono” is shorthand for Pocono Raceway (often called “the Tricky Triangle”). It’s known for being a unique, high-speed track layout compared with many others, which can change how teams set up cars and how drivers perform.
A pit crew is the group of mechanics that works on the car during scheduled stops. If they’re fast and accurate, the car loses less time and can stay in contention.
Here, “agreement” means the contract between a driver and a racing team. It’s the paperwork that decides who drives for which team and under what terms.
NASCAR uses a points system to rank drivers over the whole season. If someone is 31st in points, it means they haven’t scored as well as most other drivers so far.
The Truck Series is one of NASCAR’s main racing leagues, but it uses pickup trucks instead of the cars in the top series. Drivers sometimes do well there first, then move up to the Cup Series.
Lane Riggs is a NASCAR driver being talked about as a possible replacement. The idea is that he’s done well in the Truck Series and could step up to the top Cup level.
The Cup Series is NASCAR’s top main league. If someone does well in the lower Truck Series, they may be able to compete at this higher level too.
Place
North Wilkes
This sounds like a race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, a famous short track in North Carolina. Short tracks are tight and twisty compared to big ovals, so setup and tire management matter a lot.
A "long run" means staying out for a long stretch of laps. The car can feel different as the tires wear and heat up, so drivers try to make sure it still handles well late in the run.
"Right foot braking" means braking with the same foot that controls the throttle. Drivers experiment with this because it can change how the car feels when turning and slowing down for corners.
A "road course" is a type of race track with lots of turns and braking, not just left turns like most ovals. If it feels like a road course, it means driving technique matters more than just holding a steady line.
Drafting means driving close behind another car so the air resistance is lower. It can help you go faster because the lead car is cutting through the air for you.
A points cushion is how many points a driver is ahead of the cutoff. If you have a cushion, you can have a rough race and still be safe for the next round.
“Locked in” means the driver has already secured a spot in the playoffs. After that, they can focus more on racing than on hoping other results go their way.
A drive-through penalty means you have to go through the pit lane slowly and keep going. It usually makes you lose a lot of positions because you’re stuck in traffic for a while.
A track position race means it’s more about being in the right spot on the track than just having the fastest car. If it’s hard to pass, being near the front is a big advantage.
“Indy” is Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s a track where getting and keeping good position can matter a lot because passing isn’t always easy.
LIVE
It's time for Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle.
What is up, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome on in to another edition of Bringing the Heat
with Trey Lyle. I'm the aforementioned Trey Lyle. Great podcast for you. I've got another
conversation with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Caleb Barnes who'll join me in a moment. I was able
to connect with him a few weeks ago. We decided let's have it. It was such a good conversation.
We were have Ricky on for a second time this season. So let's head into the Inferno with
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Now, it's time for Puerto Rico 6-1-thousandths of a second. What was your
take on that final? Really half left. It felt really good. We had our Chevy teammates behind us,
and I was hoping Kyle wasn't going to push the six that hard. I knew that 24 was probably going
to try and get to the line there, but man, this team has put a lot of hard work in. Obviously,
we haven't won since the 523. To go into the Inferno with Trey. Alright, Ricky, thanks for taking
time with me today. I guess I wanted to talk about you've been in the Cup Series for more than a
decade now. Just signed up extension with Hayek, but I want to go back to your starting days.
Whenever you came into the Cup Series, you're with Roush Racing. I guess that was even the
Nationwide days. Ricky vs. Trevor. Very competitive. Whenever you think back to yourself as a driver
those days, what do you remember about being a young guy driving for Roush? I think for me,
it was back to those days. We were super fast, winning championships, winning races. Honestly,
I look back at those days, and I feel like I had no clue what I was doing. I feel like as a
driver, I'm a better driver now, and more knowledgeable than I was back then. Our cars were
fast, and I just drove the heck out of them, and we won races. Had a lot of fun. Mike and I
talked and reminisced about those days, and know that when we can get our car right over here,
we can have some of those days right now. The last couple of weeks have showed that. If we get it
close, we can go out and compete and perform with these big teams. I look back on those days,
and just think that they were a lot of fun. They seemed like they were yesterday, even though it
was forever ago. The single-car team now, you're obviously the driver, the leader here. I was
thinking back to the 2017, where it was you and Trevor there as well. That year, did you learn
much? Did you change your driving style? That year, did you learn much about having to step
and be the leader of the year after Greg left? Yeah, the year after Greg left. It was tough
already. Honestly, it was tough after Matt left. In 2013, we didn't have plans for me to go to a
cup. I was going to run another year of nationwide, and Matt left, and so they just threw me in.
I feel like I was ready, but I think our program was headed in the other direction. I remember
back to a flight with Carl in 2013 or 2014, the year that he left. He told me, hey, if you can get
out, get out. I don't see this going in a good direction. I owe everything to Jack for all the
support and cars that he let me drive. We mustered through. We won some races, which was cool. It
was nice to get my first win finally in 2017, but we wanted more. We just weren't able to get it.
I felt like I was a good leader there, just struggled to find the pace and balance in the race
cars. I probably got a little too frustrated at times, but I do think going through that has
helped me come to a single-car team and really keep an open mind on everything. When you made
that switch in 2022 from the Roush to coming over here with the NJTG now, Hayek, what was that
mindset changed like, that off-season like as you were switching teams and coming to a very
different team? When I got to Hayek in 2020, the first thing I looked at is, I knew they were
a smaller team. Technically, they were a two-car team like I was at Roush at the time. I got there
and I was really impressed with all the equipment, the amount of experience as far as the people
that worked there. It just was kind of blown away, really. I show up to the racetrack every
weekend planning on winning. When I get in the car, go make laps. I want to be the fastest. If
we're not after practice or after qualifying, I'll kind of readjust my goals for the weekend,
but I was really impressed with everything that Hayek Motorsports had going and what we still do
now. We're continuing to build. I feel like we're kind of getting in a groove. It's easy to get out
of a groove. You can miss the setup, but just a little bit on these cars and it could be scratching
your head for a little bit. We're in a good spot right now. Hopefully, we can continue the run that
we're on. I know the contract extension was just announced and heard you talk about this place just
feels like family. People look at NASCAR on the traveling circus. It's one big happy family,
but on the individual team aspect, what makes Hayek this 47 group much more like a family than
maybe some of the bigger teams might be like? Again, there's people, a lot of these teams have
more in their marketing department than we have in our whole shop. I think we do a lot with a
little. Every person, whether it be in our front office, in our shop, all play multiple roles.
They wear different hats. Everybody knows everybody. We're all around each other and it's
just a huge team effort, but it's like a big family reunion. How does that make a difference
in the performance when things are going well, when they're maybe not going so well?
It's tough when you show up to the shop and you're not running well, but everybody is there
working as hard as they can. Those bad days make weekends like the last couple super,
super rewarding. It's easy to get our shop lifted up. I feel like it's hard to get our shop down.
I think we have expectations of running well every week, but we know what we're up against. We know
the resources and the amount of people that we're up against every week. If we miss it,
we chalk that up as a miss and we show up the next week. I think it's easy for us to get back up
and going. I had two more for you, Ricky. From when you started in that first year that kind of
rushed up a little bit in 2013 to now, how do you feel you as a driver have changed or adapted?
I just try to be more cautious of my surroundings and bring the car home in one piece. That's the
biggest thing. I think I've finally matured as a driver and not tried to get more out of the car
than what's capable. Just looking back your journey to this point so far, is there anything
else that you would change? No. I think just continue to do what we're doing. Still get better
on resorts and pick and choose those times when you push the limits. Right now, I don't think I'd
really change a whole lot of what we're doing. Thanks, Ricky. Thanks so much to Ricky. Thanks
so much to Caleb and thanks so much to the folks at Hayek Motorsports for that great conversation.
Ricky, looking ahead to the rest of the season, we're going to look ahead
to parts that are interesting for the rest of the season now with What's Still Hot?
What's Still Hot? It's time to upgrade you on the latest news in NASCAR.
Joining me now at Caleb Barnes, underscore Caleb Barnes from frontstretch.com. Caleb,
Jordan Miyake of the Athletic over the weekend reported that NASCAR was moving practices at
most tracks to a 50-minute single session instead of the two 20-minute sessions with two groups.
It became official right before we recorded. Thank you so much, NASCAR. We appreciate you
do that both before we hit the record button so that we didn't have to come back and talk about it.
But what are your overall thoughts on this? Good, bad, indifferent. It seems to be a move
that's supposed to help the middle tier teams, mainly in terms of just giving them more laps.
They will have two sets of tires. I should throw that in as well for this. But a two 50 lap sessions
starting at New Hampshire in a few weeks time. Yeah, overall, I think it's good. I mean, the tough part
is that I saw some people talk about with the way that this next-gen car works and operates is that
the more on-track time the closer it gets, the car is already pretty close and so that might
make it harder to pass. But I think it's a net positive. I'm not, like I said, I'm not too sure
how it's going to affect the on-track product or racing. And that might be, we'll see if it's for
the better or for the worse. But ultimately, my positive overall for this is just the way that
it allows teams, especially the younger drivers and the rookies, to get more practice on some of
these race tracks. And I mean, I think that's something that NASCAR still maybe should continue
to look at this, especially in some of the lower series. How do we get these guys some more on-track
time? We'll see how it continues to go. I know there's some back and forth this week after
Wilkes-Burrow and had the long practice session and drivers didn't go out immediately. And
some people were like, oh, well, this is why they only have 20 minutes anyways. But ultimately,
I think it's a beneficial thing. I mean, hopefully drivers and teams will be able to get
their cars more doubted and work on them a little bit more. So I think it's in that positive. But
Trey, are you going to enjoy watching some more practice on the weekends?
I am. I mean, I think for covering the race, it's going to be interesting because typically,
the media like bullpen is during practice and it's typically when the drivers aren't practicing.
I do think if this can produce better racing than I'm for it, you might see, you know,
Denny Hamlin went fishing during a practice session at Daytona. Obviously, we talked last week with
Danny about the changes that NASCAR is making in the car. So I think so. We'll see. I kind of
feel the same way with that. I hope it helps. And if Toyota keeps kicking everyone's butt,
then Toyota is going to keep kicking everyone's butt. And that's how I feel about it. Well,
speaking of kicking butts, see what I did there. Wasn't it Toyota? It was a Ford leading 30s,
30, not 30, 323 laps. That's a big difference, Trey. Joey Gano dominates the return to North
Wilkes-Brow. And what can be described as a solid race? Now, he is now plus, I believe,
43 to the good in the point standings from the cut line. He's 15th. He's on the right side of the
cut line now. But I'm going to ask the fun question. We're going to go deep in this. It
is an even year. Should we watch out for Joey Logano or is the hole just too deep,
even with a point reset, for him to be considered in that championship tier?
I don't think it's too early to count out or too late to... Don't count out Joey Logano just yet.
That's what I'm trying to say. figure out the phrasing. I just won't worry about
being clever. There, I mean, there's still a decent number of races before the end of the
regular season, even though I don't know if we're calling it the regular season. I know Mike Ford
talked about that a little bit on a podcast too. But there's still a little bit of time before the
reset for Logano and Team Penske to have some more great runs and shoot their way up the
point standings. I think it would be difficult if they were down in 15th, 16th. But I mean,
we've seen how much winning does for drivers and, I mean, it's still, even though it's a
different format this year, it still follows the same Team Penske format that we've seen the
last few years of where they get hot at the end of the season go. I mean, it wasn't like they were
having good finishes whenever we had the playoff system. They were winning races to advance to
the next round and race wins are a huge deal. So I kind of hate to say it, but don't kind of
look at it just yet. I unfortunately think the hill is too climbed because I think you need to be
in the top four of points to actually have a shot at this. And I do think that there's going to be
a point where Penske puts its might behind its best bullet and then is Ryan Blaney. Because let's
also think, I know he dominated this. It was a short track. It's a place that's hard to pass. He
I do think the second best car might have got trapped a lap down because his teammate decided
I need to go pit now and ran into one Tyler Reddick. And that was Chase Elliott. If you
look at kind of the analytical take of things, maybe he's in there. Yeah, it did trap like half
the good cars a lap down and they weren't able to recover. And Ryan Blaney was really good as well.
If I had to pick someone from the Ford camp to win the championship is Ryan Blaney.
Speaking of Ryan Blaney, we're just like firing off quick transitions here today.
Ryan Blaney versus Todd Gilland in the final of the NCCC Challenge. Unfortunately, Caleb,
we're not going to pass happy hour because we both have Ryan Blaney winning it all.
I blame, I don't know who to blame. I guess the bad first round. Tyler Reddick having some bad luck
for us as well. A shot to the Todd father though. It's very similar to last year in terms of like
the guy expected to be there. Ty Gibbs not as much versus the out of nowhere story.
But I would argue Todd Gilland has a way better shot at beating Ryan Blaney at Indianapolis
than I thought Ty Dillon did of Ty Gibbs. We'll do this because you and I agree that Ryan Blaney
was going to win this thing. So we think Ryan Blaney's going to ultimately win the NCCC Challenge.
We're not going to go off that pick. If I had to give you a percentage chance that Todd Gilland
pulls it off, what would you say? I'd put it at 20 to 25%. I mean, I don't know if I feel that
it's a better chance than Ty Dillon last year or the same because I feel like Ryan Blaney is still
pretty good. Even though Ford isn't known for being fast in the big tracks like Ryan Blaney is
still pretty good. He was solid at Indy earlier or not Indy Pocono earlier this year and he was
solid at Indy a couple of years ago when Kyle Larson won. It was Blaney and Larson on the
front row there at the end. I just think what Ryan Blaney is doing right now is going to be
super hard to beat. The only way to beat it is to hope that some sort of carnage happens or that
the 12th team has a problem. Even that the 34 team has been really weird. It feels like
they're a little bit back and forth in between the 38 and the 4 where the 38 has been really fast
and had a ton of speed and the 4 has had like zero speed and you kind of never know. There's
some weeks where Todd Gill and you're like, oh, he's having a pretty good run this week and then
other weeks where he's back there running with Noah Gregson. So I think, and it's kind of been
back and forth and the 34 is pretty good this past weekend at North Wilkes-Burl. So I think Blaney's
definitely, I mean, obviously Team Penske, Blaney has the advantage, but I only give Todd about a
20-25% chance. I don't know if you think it's going to be higher trade, but I think maybe that's
pretty low. I don't know. Maybe the 34 team likes those odds. I'm going really higher than you think.
I'm going 40%. Our producer, Chris, brought up a good point about the Blaney pit crew. It could
be an issue, but Caleb, I got some trivia for you. If this was the matchup last year in the final,
do you know who would bring home the million dollars?
I'm assuming you're asking because you're going to say Todd Gilland would have.
You're right. It is Todd Gilland. He finished fifth in that race
at Indianapolis. All right. Or excuse me, sixth at Indianapolis. Do you want to guess where Ryan
Blaney finished? I'm trying to remember if he had a problem last year. I'm guessing he did not finish
in the top five. He did not finish. Well, Todd, I will tell you this. It's a bigger number than
six since Todd Gilland did beat him straight up. So you're right. It's a bigger number than six.
That's your hint. Worse than sixth. Let me guess, 27. Well, you almost got it. It's a case of
67 because he finished seventh. Oh, Todd Gilland finished one spot ahead of him
in. Okay. Okay. In sixth Blaney, seventh. Blaney did lead 14 lamps in that race.
Just just a note and did win a stage in that in that race. But but big but
Todd did finish ahead of him. So don't count out the Todd father and the word of the Todd father,
you know, like you said last week with the four guys, you or three guys competing with them,
they could find a million dollars in their couch cushion. The Todd father cannot. So do not count
out Todd Gilland. Well, speaking of front row motor sports news this week and from general
manager Jerry free said it's serious XM NASCAR that he hopes Noah Gregson will be back
with front row in the future, saying that we want no back at front row. And I feel pretty
good about it. You know, we're working through the last details in his agreement. So I feel
pretty good about it. You know, I'd look for something out for us in a few weeks on that.
Obviously, you look at the points. It's not great. He's 31st. Only people behind him are
Cole Custer, Josh Berry, Connor Zillich, Cody Ware of the full time drivers. It's not been a
great season from the 14. But keeping their young, young three at front row, which would be Zane,
Todd and Noah, do you think that's the right move for the three for the team?
Um, I, I feel like if they wanted to let Noah go somewhere else and try to bring in,
whether you bring in Lane Riggs or Chandler Smith, I mean,
Lane has been really good in the truck series. And we've kind of seen how
the truck maybe kind of translates a little bit to the cup series. So I would almost like,
so part of me with this whole deal with them talking about like, maybe they hope Noah's back.
I don't know. It's made some comments about maybe like whenever he was on the Dale Jr.
download him and Chase Prisco, he was talking about not getting in a fight with Kevin Magnuson,
because trying to get a job and wouldn't look the best some of those things. And it just feels
like he's not having a ton of fun with that car and with that team. So I wonder if it's a situation
where maybe front row is trying to, trying to retain Noah, but Noah's looking for other
opportunities. And so that's why I say like, if I was front row, I think it would be best to let
Noah go do something that he'd want to do and then have front row try to bring up
Lane Riggs who's been in the truck for a couple years now and has really improved
in his race, race, craft and obviously, I mean, he's up there competing for the championship this year.
We'll see how it shapes up. Obviously, Chandler, Chandler coming off the big win at
North Wilkes, but one of the largest in the history of the truck series at a short track.
Obviously, Lane performing as well. Well, a guy who finished third in that
truck series race and then followed it up with a fifth place finish at North Wilkes Pro,
of course, was the man, the myth, the legend SVG. He's our focus of our sound bite of the week.
Thanks, Tony. It's time for the sound bites of the week.
Get the lead and I just wasn't good enough on the long run, but
had a lot of fun. Thanks, Wendy's and Trackhouse. Everyone on the team did a great job and
good points day, which is what we really need. Are you okay physically? Yeah, man, just cooked. It's a
long race, but like I felt fine until I stopped and then I just said, oh, shit, pretty hot, but
it's all good. When you took the lead and said, now what do I do? Is that just a fun
light heart? Yeah, about just having fun. Yeah, just pretty cool to get up front and then be able
to pass for the lead genuinely and just got to enjoy ourselves and pretty pissed. I blew the
tires off and lost the lead on the last corner, but cool to be up there. What about this track
gave you that good turn through the corners? Yeah, we seem to be just like the truck race.
I could roll the bottom really well and loosen, which hurt. We had one good stage where I could
run up top, but I was married to the bottom for most of it, but seemed to work for our car.
Yeah, that's pretty cool. I saw that 22 drive off. I hope I don't see him in the mirror, but
he was fast. Like he took off really measured and look after his tires and he was really,
really good. How does it feel to not just get your first place to a more natural driving style?
Yeah, it's a bit like a road course. Yeah, I tried right foot braking for a bit.
Half the race, I right foot brake and just feel comfortable doing that. It's a real balanced track
and you can really affect the car with your driving technique. So yeah, I felt comfortable
doing that. What's the last thing for you to kind of master as you kind of make your progression
in NASCAR? I'm still weak on intermediates. I think that's probably my lowest ranked track.
Getting better at drafting ones, but intermediates. We're weak. I'm weak. Weak as a team. We really
need to step up there. What kind of confidence does it give you to be able to break into the
like that and run up and run? I mean, it's just common when you get up there. Everyone's racing
really respectful and I'm marked up once, letting Denny or past Denny and mark that up and
let him back through like it's a lot friendly type of people up there.
Shane Van Gisburgen did pretty well. He seems 14th in points.
Okay, cushion to the cut line of Eric Jones. Caleb with this top five finish at North Wilkes-Brough.
Has SPG theoretically, because he's not officially locked himself into the chase?
I think that run makes a pretty good case that he's going to be able to do enough.
Trackhouse is in a weird way also kind of following the Team Pinsky model. I feel like
maybe not so prominently because Logano and Blaney have won races, but I, and I guess SPG has won
the road course races. But I feel like that team is slowly starting to pick up some more speed,
which maybe was just a short track thing this weekend. I don't know, but it feels like they're
fine. They're starting to hit on maybe a little bit of something. And like, I mean, Chastain was
also really fast. He just had that drive-through penalty at the start and never really got the
opportunity to show his speed. He was fast at practice though. So, and I think Shane coming
back to these tracks, I think he's really getting it figured out, especially at these tracks that
are like a track position race. I mean, that was another thing that I think really did help
that team this past weekend. I mean, as good as the racing was, multi-groove and everything, it
still felt a little bit like a track position race this next weekend at Indy, as it's very much
going to be a track position race. And so I think if that team can get some spots inside the top
10, I think it's going to be really hard for Shane to give those up. And so I think he's going to
have a really good shot to be able to do plenty to retain that points cushion and make it in
on speed to the chase this year. So that's pretty interesting. I don't know, Trey, do you think
we're going to see some SVG in the chase this year, or do you think he's going to slide back
and get beaten by Eric? Because Joe's has been pretty fast at some of these big tracks like
Michigan. And Indy kind of feels like Michigan. Yeah, I would pick the Pinsky. I still don't
trust Pinsky enough. And I don't know if there's enough short tracks between now and the chase to
get over the hump, especially with Cindrick. I think Logano will grind his way in because I
just trust the infrastructure that is Paul Wolth and Joey Logano. But yeah, I would take SVG.
I would still put Eric Jones in, but don't count out Ryan Priest. I mean, the reason he's
below the cut line is mainly because of a points penalty, more than anything. So
we'll see. Chris brings up a good point. Indy is all about hitting your marks. And SVG is good at
that. By the way, SVG did finish 19th in this race. And I don't think that would be a bad place for
him to do. Get a top 20 at Indy. Move on. I would put a pass. So, yeah, indeed. Well,
we only got one more thing to do. Let's wrap this podcast up. So let's hit that checkered flag.
It's going to be a drag race all the way back to the start finish line.
The checkered flag is out and it's time for the final thoughts.
Final thoughts. Anything you want to rant, rave or review, Kayla Barnes, the floor is yours.
You know, I was pretty skeptical whenever I saw all these drivers trying to do the
busing with the boys or racing with the boys. I don't know if it's a different podcast or
and they're calling it racing with the boys or it's just busing with the boys and they're
hosting NASCAR drivers. But those have been some really fun interviews, some great moments have
come out of that. I mean, I don't know once they've like interviewed all the drivers,
if they keep cycling through or if this is just like a 2026 thing. But I just want to shout out
those guys. I'm trying to remember the names of the football players, but that's been a lot of fun.
There we go. See, I'm not a huge NFL guy. So, but there's been a I mean, that's where the
host of our stuff all came from. You had who was it Noah Gregson showing feet on there or
one of the drivers, I don't remember, but yeah, fun, fun clips, fun moments, fun interviews.
You had a fun pair today too with Chris Buescher and Ryan Priest going on. So, I haven't had the
chance to watch it yet, but those two have been fun on social media. So, I'm sure that's going to be
a great episode as well. Yeah, Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson in the pipeline. But this time they went
to Charlotte and I think they did toward HMS's facility. So, I'm intrigued by that. I'm going
to be a little sentimental. This is my last podcast inside my current studio, which is,
as you can see over this shoulder has duct tape and boxes. If there were more boxes behind here,
but they've moved to another room. I started this, well, I started happy hour in this space,
in this room. And I ended up doing, switching over to bringing heat. I joined Front Stretch
at this house. I ended up growing my life with my wife in this house. We've looked here for a
year now, or she's lived with me for a year now. We got married in June. So, next step of my life is
some of you who follow me know I left my radio job. So, shout out to Ed Lane. I know he's listening
to this at two times the speed. So, I really should like say it, try to say it two times the
speed myself and make it four times the speed for him. So, I want to shout out to Ed Lane
as well. I'm saying here, don't worry. I'm not leavingfrontstretch.com, but I do want to say
Arrivederce to my house here in Lynchburg, the first studio of Tray-Lyle and bringing the heat.
Now, hopefully similar backup. We're going to have hopefully some stuff more behind there.
I see the new space. But yeah, just thanks so much to this place. I know Caleb,
a lot's going on in your life. Follow him at Caleb Barnes underscore for his life changes as well.
So, but yeah, that's life sometimes. And Caleb, final question for you. You writing anything this
week? Are you just too busy with your world changing? I'm not writing anything this week,
just the podcast recap online. So, great interview with Ricky Stenhouse, by the way. Good job.
Thanks, sir. Chris Graham, you check him out with happy hour. He helps me out with all the
podcasts. He's going to help Michael out with through the gears. Don't know what Michael's
punishments going to be. Thank God we're not finishing last. We still got to finish it out.
Speaking of punishments, at the Brian Nolan and AM underscore Massey 22, they made a bet
if Joey Logano won the race that they had to go shirtless and wear a mankini.
Chris can attest to this. He's the witness. They are locked in. Unfortunately. You have to do it.
I don't want to see as much as anyone else, but they have to do it. So, if you want, every day,
just tag them and make them do it. This is a society lived on trust. And we, our audience,
we trust you and we love you. I would, I would hold my into the bargain. Okay. Unlike these,
these guys. There is also one that if Todd Gilliland wins the in season challenge, Dalton
Hopkins is going to shave his mustache, which I think is a bigger deal than being shirtless for
either Massey or and again. Yeah, I'm kind of dumb. Since I, I'm rooting for Todd Gilliland
this weekend. I'm just going to point that out. So, Dalton, I hope you hear this part.
Let's go, Todd, Todd, Todd. Now, I wonder if we got to have, man, Dalton's got to interview Todd
this weekend somehow. If Dalton is, I don't know who's at Indie this weekend. So, but at Caleb
Barnes underscore, you can follow me at Trella VT. Make sure you check out through the betting
podcast. What if we, what if we have a, what if we set up the interview and Todd shaves Dalton's
mustache? Oh my God. That's a great idea. Oh, oh my God. That's a great, we need, that's what
we need to do. Oh my God. Todd would do it. Oh my God. That'd be so funny. Oh my God.
That would be perfect. Oh my God. I thought I got it. The trophy is a, it's a million dollars
and the ability to shave a man's mustache. How many of you in two weeks from bringing the heat
if Todd Gillin wins? All right. That's a great idea. All right. We're going to try to get Dalton
to do that. All right. For at, and so you can tag him at pit lane CPT. All right. And just tag
at Todd Gillin because he actually is active on social media. So we can get this going.
We need to get it done. So, all right. For Caleb Barnes, I'm Tre Lyle signing off now for this
episode of bringing the heat.
About this episode
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. looks back on his early Cup Series days with Roush Racing, admitting, “I look back at those days, and I feel like I had no clue what I was doing.” He contrasts that learning curve with today’s single-car responsibility, where he’s focused on winning, making laps, and staying cautious to “bring the car home in one piece.” The hosts then debate NASCAR’s evolving practice format, playoff math, and Indy’s track-position demands, plus a few bets and upcoming guest plans.
