Racers time everything very precisely. “6-1-thousandths of a second” means the cars were separated by a tiny amount—so small it’s hard to notice without timing equipment.
A lap is one full circuit around the track. A “half-lap” means they were talking about what happened when there was only about half the track left to go.
The All-Star Race is a special NASCAR event where the best drivers race in a more showy, high-stakes format than a normal race. Moments from it tend to stick in fans’ memories.
“Spun him” means the other driver’s car got turned around and lost control, usually slowing them down a lot. Daytona is a fast track, so mistakes or contact can have big consequences.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series was the sport’s top “second-tier” national series for years, sitting below the Cup Series. Drivers often used it to build experience and prove they could win before moving up.
In NASCAR, the “garage” is the working area at the track where teams fix and prepare the cars. It’s basically the teams’ home base during the race weekend.
The “driver intro stage” is where drivers go on stage to be introduced to fans before the race. It’s part of the pre-race show.
Place
Dover airport
They’re talking about meeting at an airport near Dover, Delaware, after a NASCAR event. It’s just the travel location, not a racing detail.
Term
energy drinks
Energy drinks are drinks with caffeine meant to help you feel more awake. In racing, drivers sometimes talk about them because race weekends are long and tiring.
Term
how the cars are dry
They’re talking about how the cars handle when the track is dry. When it’s dry, grip and tire behavior are different than when it’s wet.
The “truck series” is NASCAR’s series where the race cars are pickup trucks. It’s a different championship from the main series, and many drivers use it to build experience.
A “race truck” is a pickup truck built to compete in racing. It’s usually changed a lot from the normal version you’d buy at a dealership so it can handle track driving.
Bristol is a short, steeply banked NASCAR track. Because it’s tight and fast-turning, it really tests how well the car handles and how the tires hold up.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made by Chevrolet. It’s designed to be fast and fun to drive, especially for people who like performance cars. The podcast mentions it because it was being driven or used in a run or event.
Super speedways are the biggest, fastest NASCAR tracks. Cars often run in packs, so being in the right spot and timing your moves can be more important than just going fast alone.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is a major international racing series focused on long races. Drivers and teams have to manage the car and strategy over many hours, not just a short sprint.
GT Daytona (GTD) is a racing category in endurance sports-car racing. It’s for cars that are based on real production models, and drivers learn how to race for long periods while sharing the track with other classes.
“DPI” is a class name from IMSA sports-car racing. It’s for prototype race cars—cars built specifically for racing—so the driver experience is different from driving a production-based GT car.
They’re talking about road courses—tracks with lots of turns—rather than oval tracks. They’re trying to figure out whether the team’s speed matches what they’ve been used to on those types of tracks.
“SVG” is shorthand for a specific driver—Scott van Gisbergen. They’re talking about whether one driver can help another with race prep and whether they can run similar pace during the event.
Legacy Motor Club is a NASCAR team. In this part of the conversation, they’re saying the team is getting more investors, which can affect resources and planning.
Company
Nighthead Capital Management
Nighthead Capital Management is an investment firm mentioned as part of the investor group associated with Legacy Motor Club. The hosts are discussing how outside capital is entering the team’s ecosystem.
Denny Hamlin is a NASCAR driver. The hosts are talking about how race-ending restarts and overtime can change the outcome for him, especially late in the race.
A restart is when the race slows down and then starts moving fast again after an interruption. When it happens near the end, it can completely change who gets the best position to race for the finish.
In NASCAR, “overtime” means the race gets extended if something happens late that prevents a normal finish. It’s designed so the cars can race to the end under racing conditions.
Christopher Bell is a NASCAR driver. The host is hoping he can win soon because it would help his confidence and position going into the most important part of the season.
Stage racing means a NASCAR race is broken into parts, and drivers can earn points in each part. That can affect strategy because teams might race harder at certain times, not just for the final checkered flag.
A “lap car” is another race car that’s on a different lap than you. When you’re close to the end, getting caught up with lap cars can lead to accidents or lost track position.
A “points day” in NASCAR is how well a driver finishes in terms of the championship scoring that weekend. Even if you run well and lead laps, a late incident (like engine failure) can turn a strong performance into a poor points result.
NASCAR “stages” are sections of the race. Drivers can earn points at the end of each section, which encourages them to race hard throughout the event, not only at the finish.
NASCAR races are split into parts called stages. A “stage break” is the moment when one part ends and the next begins, and it can change when teams decide to pit and how they race.
A “caution” is when NASCAR slows the race because of something unsafe on the track. Teams often change their plans—like when to pit—because the race is moving slower.
“Offset” here means your pit timing is different from other cars. If you pit earlier or later, you’ll be on a different schedule for tires and fuel, which can change how you run when the race gets slowed.
LIVE
It's time for Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle. What is up, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome
on into another edition of Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle and the aforementioned Trey
Lyle. Our guest this week will be the one, the only Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Danny Peters
was able to sit down and talk with him this past weekend at Nashville after a fourth place
finish, mind you. So Danny was sat down, had a great conversation with the man Ricky Stenhouse,
Jr., who now heads into the Inferno.
Boy, Ricky, 6-1-thousandths of a second. What was your take on that final? Really half-lap.
It felt really good. We had our, you know, Chevy teammates behind us and I was hoping Kyle wasn't
going to push the 6 that hard. I knew that 24 was probably going to try and, you know,
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 and I'm here with Ricky Stenhouse. How are you doing today?
I'm doing great. Good. Thank you. You're honoring Kyle Bush this weekend with your paint scheme.
Just talk to me a little bit about how that came to life and the paint scheme itself and some
of the things you're doing. Yeah, it was kind of a little bit last minute on, you know, Nall
Center to Drink sponsor and this Nashville race and, you know, they've been a long time
sponsor of Kyle's, you know, and he won a lot of races for them. And so, you know, we both kicked
up the idea of doing something to honor Kyle and, you know, just worked out that they were
sponsoring this weekend where Kyle won a lot in that car and, you know, obviously smashed the
guitars and things like that. So, you know, it just all worked out and it was a kind of a rush
from the team and everybody to get, you know, it all pulled together. But definitely happy with
how it turned out and honored to drive it this week. You know, it's, I like our Nall Center
to Drink, you know, regular paint scheme, but, you know, this one's definitely very special to
get behind the wheel of and hope we can run, you know, towards the front with it and, you know,
do it solid. Would you smash a guitar if you won? If we won in Kyle's honor, I would definitely do
that. No, I thought it was cool. And, you know, I mean, Kyle paid for another one to get done.
And, you know, it was, Kyle put a lot of thought into that one. It wasn't just, hey,
I'm going to destroy this guitar. And, you know, he definitely went through the whole process to,
you know, get another guitar painted and pay for it and things like that. So I thought it was a
great moment. Looking back, obviously, with your All Star Moment with him, it's kind of iconic now
in NASCAR folklore. Like, how do you look back at that now? I mean, obviously, you guys are
friends, but yeah, you know, Kyle and I really only had, I guess, really that run in. You know,
he wasn't happy with me when I, you know, spun him at Daytona in 2018. I think it was, you know,
obviously not on purpose. But, you know, we only really had one major run in and that was it in
the All Star race. But, you know, after that, I think we, I mean, we were on great terms.
Yeah, we let that simmer down for a little bit. We talked about it and moved on and everything
was good. So, you know, race with him for a long time, chased him forever, you know, especially in
the nationwide series back in the day when we were contending for wins each and every week. And,
you know, he was in his own car, the Gibbs cars, you know, he was always one that you had to beat.
And so a lot of fun racing with him. And, you know, he definitely set the bar really, really high
for all of us. And so that was fun battling with him. But yeah, just that was water under the
bridge, you know, fairly, fairly soon after that. You know, it's been amazing to see all the tributes
and sort of seeing how much Kyle touched so many drivers throughout the garage. Just a little bit
about that from your perspective. Yeah, I think it's just the first time that any of us has been
really put in this position to lose a current driver, you know, that is racing with you each
and every weekend right now. And, you know, so, you know, we've all felt a major loss when, you
know, Biffle passed away, you know, but he wasn't in the garage every week. And so, you know, to have
somebody that, you know, you're talking on driver intro stage with the week before or, you know,
like from Kyle and I, we talked for 30 minutes at the Dover airport after the All-Star race,
about old times, about energy drinks, about, you know, what the sport's going to look like in,
you know, eight years, seven years, you know, how the cars are dry. I mean, we talked about,
you know, anything and everything about Brexton racing. And so, you know, just it hit us all
hard. It hit all the crew guys hard, the teams, the fans. I mean, the fans haven't had to go
through something like this, obviously, since, you know, Dell senior. And so, you know, Charlotte
was a tough weekend and, you know, you still feel so bad for Samantha Brexton-Lennix, you know,
Kyle's parents, his brother, you know, just everybody that, you know, was with him day to day.
And, you know, hopefully that, you know, there's a lot of people in this garage that are going to
step up and do everything you can for that family.
Fifteen years for you in the Cup Series now, 485 races. And if I do my math right and I add up
all your other races, this will be your 600th start across all three NASCAR series this weekend.
Now, my math might not be great, but I think that's right. I mean, talk a little bit about that. I
mean, the longevity of that. I mean, an amazing run that you've had. You must be really proud.
I'm proud of the career that I've been able to, you know, put together so far. Yeah, you always
want to win more. You want to be in contention for wins. But, you know, I know the places I'm at
and the places I've been and, you know, where I've been in the sport. I'm proud of the wins that we
have. You know, Daytona 500 was huge for myself and this team. You know, again, winning, you know,
in 2024, you know, at Talladega was another huge win as well. And, you know, I look back on my
career and, you know, definitely the nationwide series stuff I felt, you know, really, really
good about. You know, we battled for wins against, you know, Cup guys that were winning on Sundays,
you know, in, you know, Cup level equipment, you know, battling against us and felt like we
went toe-to-toe with them for, you know, two years of just hard racing. You know, my 2012 season
is probably what I'm, you know, probably most proud of. You know, we won six races. I think
we finished second nine times and I think seven or eight of those were two Cup guys coming down. And
so, you know, two championships. Yeah, I felt really good about those years and, you know,
the Cup stuff, you just plug away. I think, you know, where we're at at Hayek Motorsports,
you know, we're continuing to, you know, show a lot of what we're made of. You know, we got
30 employees, 28 employees that work on our race car and we do a lot with little around here and,
you know, so super proud of moments like the Coke 600 last week. We ran in the top 10 all
race, had a bad pit stop, but, you know, battled back for a 12th place finish and got stage points
in every stage. And, you know, that's one of the biggest, you know, crown jewel events we have
other than, you know, the Daytona 500. So for us to go out there and compete like that, you know,
says a lot about this race team and, yeah, I'm proud of my longevity and, you know, I feel like I
still got another, you know, seven or eight years left in me as long as, you know, we can keep putting
the, you know, runs together like we had last weekend, you know, keep putting sponsorship
together. We got great partners here at Hayek and hopefully we continue to grow the program.
And speaking of the team you recently signed a new long-term contract,
you'll be approaching almost a decade, right? By the time, by the time that contract runs out.
Yeah, it'll be cool. You know, I haven't been, you know, this is the only second team I've been
with, you know, I was with Rosh Fenway from 2008 to 2019 and, you know, now I've been here since
2020 and, you know, I really love the family atmosphere of this race team. Like I said, it's,
you know, we're not going to go out and compete for wins each and every weekend. We know the
racetracks that we can go out and compete for wins and I feel like we do that each and every week
at those racetracks that we know we can contend. We know that, you know, we're going to have runs
like at Charlotte, Bristol, Dover. There's other racetracks that we can run well at and we know
that and we just try and take advantage of those and the ones that we struggle at, we just continue
to try and improve. But yeah, almost a decade here, you know, by the time this next one runs out
and like I said, hopefully we can continue to push that out a little bit further and, you know,
see what happens. For as long as you've been racing, this is, I think, the first year that
you've raced in the truck series before it starts this year. That must be a lot of fun to race in
the trucks. Yeah, the trucks have been fun. Everybody at Nice Motorsports has been super fun
to work with. Cody E. Fall that runs that program, he was at Roush actually in the truck series
as a truck chief when I got there in 2008 when I started running the Arkadkar. So I've known Cody
for a long time and, you know, they're continuing to build that program up. They got Ross running
a lot. They got myself and, you know, SVG ran one and, you know, all the JF electric guys
and Al Nice and, you know, they've put really good race trucks on the racetrack and I've had a blast.
You know, Daytona, Atlanta, we weren't as great at Bristol as what I wanted to be. Charlotte was
really, really fun and, you know, looking forward to a couple more maybe. Which ones we see you in
a notes car? I don't really have anything lined up right now at the moment to run any O'Reilly stuff,
but, you know, when I watch the races, I think back to the years that I ran and I definitely
would like to get back in one. I want it to be the right situation. I don't want to get in it
and go out and have a chance to win. And, you know, so hopefully maybe one day we'll put something
together. Last couple of questions. You made a little side appearance on Danny's podcast.
Any chance you'll be back for a full appearance? I know you guys are good buddies.
Yeah, that's up to Danny. I had fun stopping in. I think Danny does a great job with his
podcast with Jared and Travis. You know, I've known Jared ever since Danny, you know, got him
into the sport and, you know, he's a really good dude. I feel like, you know, Danny, I've been a
great friend of him since, heck, I don't know, I'd have to really think about it. It's been a long
time and so I really respect what he does and his take on the sport and feels like he puts a good
show out there. So, yeah, if he wants me on, I definitely would jump back on. You had some fun
with Cletus this week. Talk to me a little bit about that and also the t-shirt that you're wearing,
the wolf t-shirt. That was cool. Yeah, no, that was an old throwback Jeff Gordon shirt that I'd
found at a vintage shop and so, yeah, Cletus had asked if, you know, we wanted to come out,
obviously a bunch of Chevy drivers come out and run his Corvette. I was, I think,
Josefar was sitting in the car when it started raining so he didn't get to make a run
and a handful of us didn't either. So we jumped in his Cadillac drift car and ran it around,
had some fun. So, yeah, hopefully we can, you know, get back and do some drag racing. I hadn't
done a ton of drag racing stuff in my past so, you know, watching his Corvette run definitely
got me excited to get behind the wheel. We just ran out of time. The rain came in.
And last question, obviously, you've won the Daytona 500 so you've won the big one. What would
be kind of your top three bucket list wins if I was a genie giving you out wish?
Yeah, the next one would be Bristol Night Race and then the Coke 600. Those, those three are
definitely, or those two extras would be by far the next on my list that I would want to win at.
But in the Cup Series, I mean, I'll take a win wherever I can get them. If it's at Atlanta,
Daytona again, Talladega, I don't really care if all my wins are on super speedways.
I just want more wins, you know, because I think that, you know, looking back throughout my career
and, you know, just, just need some more wins. I feel like on the Cup side and if those are all
in super speedways, cool. But I definitely feel like where we're at as a race team,
we put together runs like we did last weekend at the Coke 600. There's definitely more than
half race tracks we can win at and, and I feel like we can always have a shot to win at Bristol.
Awesome. Well, thanks for your time. Good luck this weekend. Welcome.
Thank you so much to all the folks at Hayek Motorsports. Thanks so much to Ricky and thanks
so much to the great CHEP, Danny Peters for joining us on, for getting us that interview.
Now let's get to the latest news and notes with what's still hot.
Joining me now, Caleb Barnes at Caleb Barnes underscore. You can hear him typing away
vigorously. He's rocking the Team USA kit. Caleb, good to see you. He's locking in and speaking of
locking in, Trackhouse has locked in Kevin Magnuson as its newest member of Project 91.
They will have the former F1 driver and current FIA world, world endurance championship driver
at, in the 91 at the Cup Series race in San Diego. This was the long been the rumor
that it was going to be KMAG, but are you excited to see Project 91 back on the racetrack?
Oh, absolutely. I think maybe, I don't know if it was to really talk that at length, but maybe
some other concern with Trackhouse going to the three car team and their continued growth was,
hey, what's going to happen with this Project 91? Because you know, Brouch
ran that 60 for a few races and then they made that a full time deal with Ryan Priest. And so
it was kind of like, well, was that Project 91? Was that the third time car and then
SVG taking over full time? Like, does that mean that they're only going to be,
their Project 91 is dead? Well, thankfully it's not dead. So that's exciting. It'll be cool to see
how Kevin Magnuson, KMAG does, especially, I mean, he's got all that experience and kind of the GT,
well, I don't know if it's, I'm trying to think about, it's all the MSA stuff. So he's been in a
bunch of those different cars, the, I just immediately go to like GT Daytona, but I'm
thinking of down the list and the Rolex 24 of the prototypes, the DPI's, that's what they're called.
So I'll be curious if any of that translates over very well. I felt like with like Catherine Legge,
once she's been in the car and gotten comfortable with things, she can put together some pretty good
lap times. Now, obviously, I think that 91 is going to be a little bit better than the 78
that Catherine's been in. So it'll be fun to see Trackhouse, they have high expectations for the
road courses. I wonder how much he'll lean on SVG, both like before the race and literally in the
race, if they're leaning on each other, if they're racing around each other, if he can keep up with
SVG. And then the one thing is like Trackhouse, again, the expectations are super high for those
road courses. I do wonder if like the way their performance has been this year, if there might
be maybe just a little bit of concern about maybe not as much speed as they're used to in past years,
but at the same time, it's always fun to see these drivers come in. I think the previous
91 driver was Elio in the Daytona 500 last year, right? So it's the first time we've had
the last one, yeah. And obviously SVG, well, no, because SVG was full time, so.
It's in the 88 before he moved over to the 97.
Yes. Anyway, speaking of celebrities, if you want to call KMAG a celebrity, Legacy Motor Club
will be lining up additional investors, it appears, as Jimmy Johnson told Sports Business
Journal this week that his team in the Nighthead Capital Management,
bringing in Darius Rucker has already been announced, but there's going to be a formal
announcement of all 27 celebrity investors. What do you think of this kind of
interesting announcement from Legacy Motor Club and Jimmy Johnson?
I'm excited to see it, right? Did you see the video of Darius inside or not inside,
but like out of the holler? Performing? Yeah, it was great.
Free concert? I mean, not bad.
I mean, I love that these new teams are taking their own direction and not just following the
traditional approach. Like 2311, obviously, you have Michael Jordan and his involvement
that speaks for itself, I feel like. And then Trackhouse, while I guess Pitbull is not there
anymore, like they came in and talk about their hospitality area looks if you've been in the garage
area, their hospitality outside of their hollers look very different. They kind of changed the
game with some of the LED stuff that they were doing and some of the amenities that they were
providing. And then this is now an example, an opportunity for another team, Legacy Motor Club,
and they, they're kind of reminding me in some ways of maybe where Spire Motorsports was a few
years ago. Now, now Legacy comes from a very different background. Whenever Spire came in,
they were kind of, they were just starting out to kind of collect that check as one of those
charter teams and everything. And it was more your starting park model. Got lucky with that,
Justin Haley win, but they, I believe I remember hearing about like whenever they started out that
it was their goal to be competitive. And again, you think back to that unsponsored 77 car back in
2017 or 2018, whenever they first kind of started coming around, like,
you're like, oh, like even pay attention to them at all. And then now they're,
that those, those drivers are a weekly storyline. Now, there's also some litigation. I'm curious
to see how that plays out. And if that will end up having any bearing on, like, if they find like,
hey, this actually, they maybe got some things that they shouldn't have. But that's a whole
different topic. That's a whole different conversation to follow along with. But Legacy,
Jimmy Johnson, since he's gotten involved, it feels like he's been very, I'm trying to think
of the word, not cautious, but he's been very intentional. That's the word of with what, with
the steps that he's taken to add Matt Kinzett, to add some of these bigger owners and to bring some
of these names in. And I mean, I don't know a ton about like Jimmy, like his business mind,
but it seems like he's, he's got something, he's got something planned. The hard thing with all
these, like with the cup series is these teams, like, it's just, it's so hard to get to the top
and stay there. Like it's so crowded because, I mean, you expect Hendrick Gibbs, Pinsky to be there
every week, 2311 is kind of taking over that role. But then you got other teams like front row
with Zane Smith, start your boy tray, he's starting to get up there a little bit more and
lead some laps, some of those things. And I'll aspire motorsports is another, so it's very crowded
at the top. And I'll be interested to see if Jimmy can turn them into some contenders and get them
on par with 2311. We will see that indeed. Well, someone who felt short on Sunday late, well,
by that point, it felt like it was Monday morning, was Christopher Bell, and he's our focus of the
soundbite of the week. Well, Tony, what angered you at the end of the race? What did you take
issue with? What the hell do you think I was mad about? Dumb little s**t runs us clear down to
the infield. He wants to s**t about everybody else. And he's one that drives like a little s**t.
I'mma bust his a**. Thanks, Tony. Thank you. Sure track racer. It's time for the soundbites of the week.
Christopher Bell, you're battling your Joe Gibbs racing teammates, Chase Briscoe and any
hand on there at the end and the closing laps. What more did you need right there and what
lines did you need to take and what happened for your respect back to battling with those guys?
I didn't need anything. My car was amazing. Had the right strategy, the right
right everything. And I just I did not win the race. I didn't I didn't do a good job of driving.
And I got no one to blame but myself. What was the challenge of racing to not one but just two
minutes there at the end. You guys are so close and it's just going into three or three wide.
Yeah, I mean, it's just I don't know. It's it's I don't know. I mean, it's it's fine. We all have
really fast race cars right now. So it's going to come down to us a lot. And I just didn't get it
done. That's all there's to it. Yeah, I needed to not let Denny get beside me on the restart.
You know, I focused on getting clear into one and I opened the door and then he
got right inside of me and then it was going to be a yeah, it was a drag race from there.
Seems like you're taking this one pretty hard. How why why is this one hard?
Because I got no there's there's nothing like there's nothing there's nobody nobody to blame no
circumstances. It was all completely in my hands and and I dropped the ball. So
there's literally nobody that had anything to do with losing the race except me and sucks.
That was Christopher Bell talking to the media post race. Caleb, the question is yours. Do you
think Christopher Bell with these if if he's not able to capitalize late? We saw it in the
cost him a championship down the line. I think it would cost them a championship if he if that's
a pattern that continues into those final 10 races. I think he's in a spot where he can finish high
enough in the points with the reset. Now I know that reset does matter. I'll be curious to see how
much it matters. There's been talks about some of the simulations that they've run and I won't get
into those numbers. But I think people were looking at like top three top five are really
your your people who you expect to be contenders when that reset comes and obviously being number
one gives you a pretty big bonus compared to everybody else. But I mean he's had the speed
and if he can put it together like we saw it's kind of on one hand like I do feel bad for
Christopher because he's been so close to getting that win. He hasn't won since Bristol
last year and there's been a few opportunities. Last week it was out of his control. I think of
that race goes green. There's a very good chance he wins the Cokes 600. But at the same time
at the start of the season last year he rattled off three wins in a row and we saw how Tyler
Reddick started the season this year and it's kind of like back when we had the chase with
Toadie Stewart 2011. Like he rattled off some wins or some great finishes. There is the level
of preparation and just being up front and you want to get those finishes that you deserve and
you want to win whenever your car is the best. But sometimes things kind of don't go your way
like they have the last few weeks. But then who knows that maybe Lady Luck will pay him back
in those last 10 races and again that's when things really matter. Like Denny Hamlin like
everybody talks about how these late race restarts and over times have hurt Denny Hamlin and
he kind of got one back. This wasn't like officially an overtime restart but it was a late
race restart that in a race where he actually wasn't the best car and so he was able to capitalize on
that one. So I think I understand for those guys especially those Toyota guys I feel like Reddick,
Bell and even Briscoe to an extent whenever they have race winning cars and aren't able to get
the job done. I feel like those are the guys that take it the hardest. Then again I mean I think
any driver if you dominate a race or feel like you have dominated a race you're going to be
disappointed if you don't win. So that being said yeah I think Bell like right now it's just
kind of the mental aspect of it but come September, October, November those last 10 races I think
he'll be just fine as long as he doesn't have a summer slump or anything but knock on wood.
Better knock on wood indeed. We'll see if Christopher Bell can break through and get some
wins which would go a long way in helping him as he gears up for the chase. Well let's wrap it up
with one final thought and wave that checkered flag Gail Barnes. It's going to be a drag race
all the way back to the start finish line. No caution. They're side by side. Right to the line.
Here they come. Checkered flag. The checkered flag is out and it's time for the final thoughts.
Final thoughts. Anything you want to ranch for review Gail Barnes, the floor is yours.
Well this week's trending social media topic that kind of I mean because I
would talk about this every year but again just blew up this week after Denny Hammond's comments and
the late races, the length of races and I mean I don't think there's anything wrong with the
length of races. The big one that everybody always goes to to criticize is stage racing
and that's where I would I want people to be able to define their terms because I love stage
racing. I just don't love stage breaks. These races are very long and I remember as a kid watching
my favorite driver have a really good race and I was like oh this is going to be great for him
at the points and then something happened at the end, got taken by a lap car, I had a blown engine
and they finished 25th or worse and it was like a horrible points day and I was like that's not
fair. Like this dude like dominated the race, led the most laps, was in for a great day and then
ended up having nothing to show for it. So like I love stages. I love that we pay out points to
the guys who are running well early in the race and in the middle of the race. I think it also
incentivizes racing hard at those points. I just wish I hope people whenever they're talking about
like oh we need to get rid of stages they're thinking about stage breaks but would like to still
keep stages themselves and that is one thing that I'm worried about that like if if NASCAR still
sits on its feet for too long and just tries to keep the stage breaks I feel like there might be
enough pushback to where people just associate the two together and NASCAR does away with stages
entirely and I don't want that to happen. So NASCAR if you're listening to me and all you know the
poll and everything that I have sitting in my bedroom in Kentucky please get rid of the stage
breaks. I know we tried that and it was boring for the road courses but for everywhere else
I mean you think of that late stage two caution where there's some of the strategy like you know
how cool it would be if different guys had the opportunity to stay out to get those stage points
but then they had to maybe break up their runs differently later in the race because they had
to pit earlier their offset like that's great strategy talk as opposed to knowing like all
right halfway through this stage we're gonna pit because we know we're getting another caution here.
I think getting rid of stage breaks, stage breaks make sure you keep that in there keep
that in your mind stage breaks not stages themselves getting rid of those those breaks would
be great for helping shorten the race in most cases and also still rewarding the drivers for
hey you led a lot of laps you were running well early on in the race and if something happens
late in the race you still get something to show for it. Well Kilb's not married to that idea of
stage breaks and I'm getting married this weekend on Saturday to my beautiful bride Storm so I'm
has had to watch countless NASCAR races and indie car races which she fell in love with
David Maluchus so I'm gonna end with a shout out to my beautiful bride Storm who if you
watched a couple of the watch parties you've seen her join so I'm gonna end with a shout out she just
had her last as we record this on Wednesday she had her last day of school today or with the kids
so shout out to my beautiful bride Storm and that will do it for us so for Kayla Barnes at
Kayla Barnes underscored for Chris Graham who helped produce this and for me at TrellovT
signing off on this episode of Bring the Heat.
About this episode
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. opens by talking through a finish decided by “6-1-thousandths of a second,” then explains how a last-minute sponsor-driven paint scheme was created to honor Kyle Busch—complete with the tradition of smashing a guitar if they win. He reflects on past interactions with Busch, including a Daytona 2018 incident, and looks at his own momentum across wins and tougher weekends. The conversation also ranges from stage points strategy and late-race execution to Trackhouse’s Project 91 and Legacy Motor Club’s investor news.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. talked to Frontstretch prior to a strong showing at Nashville Superspeedway. The BTH crew also discusses the return of Trackhouse Racing's Project 91.
