They’re talking about how Taylor Gray knows Ty Gibbs and what it’s like racing for someone you’ve known for years. In racing, the person who owns the car can also be a big part of your career.
This means how fast the car is after it has been out on the track for a while. Some cars are quick at the start but slow down more than others as the tires wear out.
This is the part before the race where drivers try to go as fast as they can to get a good starting spot. It doesn’t always mean the car will be just as good during the race itself.
This is NASCAR's playoff system. Instead of the title being decided only by total season points, drivers have to survive a series of rounds to keep racing for the championship.
They're talking about how long a driver should stay in a lower series before moving up. It's basically a 'when are you ready for the next step?' conversation.
They’re talking about moving up to the highest level of stock car racing. The point is that Cup racing is a much bigger step than it might look like from the outside.
This is the part of the show where they talk about drivers arguing or fighting after the race is over. They’re debating whether the sport should punish that or let it happen.
These are pictures taken while watching someone, usually to prove what they were doing. The argument is about whether those pictures should be allowed in court.
Jeff Gordon is a famous race car driver. The speaker is using him as an example of someone connected to a team, but not necessarily doing that exact job.
A restraining order is a court order that tells someone to stay away. They’re joking that the legal fight feels so intense it’s like someone might ask for one.
An injunction is basically a legal rule from a court that says, 'you can't do this.' Here, they're discussing how a team leader might still give advice without breaking that rule.
This means people on the team are talking through a radio system during the race. Drivers and team leaders use it to share information and make decisions quickly.
A caution is when the race gets slowed down because something happened on the track. Everyone has to drive carefully behind a safety car until racing can resume.
Concept
O'Reilly level
This sounds like a racing class or series name tied to O'Reilly sponsorship. They’re using it to identify what level of racing they’re talking about.
Cable TV is the older kind of TV service people used before streaming became common. They’re saying it changed how many people watched sports like bowling and racing.
This is a smaller racing series where drivers learn and prove themselves before moving up to the top level. The idea is that fans who follow those drivers will keep watching when they get promoted.
IndyCar is a major racing series with open-wheel cars, kind of like the cars you see in the Indianapolis 500. The hosts are comparing its TV audience to NASCAR’s.
The pit crew is the group of people who quickly work on the car during a stop. In racing, they can make a huge difference by changing tires and fixing problems fast.
A restart is when the race starts again after a pause. Cars are packed close together, so it’s a big chance to pass or lose spots.
LIVE
It's time for Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle.
Welcome on into another edition of Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle on the A4-mentioned
Trey Lyle.
Great show for you.
We're bringing him back-to-back podcast.
He's coming from behind the scenes to in front of the camera.
Chris Graham will join me in a matter of moments to talk about the latest news and
notes in NASCAR.
But first, we have a fun guest to bring into the Inferno.
He drives the number 54 for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Boratio Gibbs Racing, Taylor
Gray.
Michael Basti and I sat down with him right before Martinsville.
So we do ask a little bit about his relationship with Martinsville.
So this was recorded a few weeks ago.
So do want to preface that.
But we also talked about technically his owner, Ty Gibbs, who just came off a win at
Bristol.
So Taylor Gray joins us now in the Inferno.
Now, it's time for, here we go to turn three, Gray out front of Smith.
This time he's all clear.
Welcome to the club.
Taylor Gray, you are a winner in the NASCAR Expedition Series, and here comes Kershan
Waffle.
To go into the Inferno with Trey.
Bringing into the Inferno now, Taylor Gray, the driver of the 54 in the NASCAR O'Reilly
Auto Parts Series.
Taylor, good morning.
Hope you're doing well.
Let's dive right into this conversation.
I do want to ask you about the relationship with Ty Gibbs.
You're technically your owner.
What is that like having Ty as kind of the owner of your car?
Yeah, I'm sorry if you hear my dogs barking.
I have four, so I've got like a zoo downstairs.
If they want to answer some questions, they can too, but.
Yeah, they'll try to.
No, that's cool.
I mean, me and Ty, I've known each other for a really long time and started
racing go-karts with each other at Millbridge whenever I was eight years
old, seven, eight years old.
And so, yeah, and he was, I don't remember the age gap between us.
I don't remember how old he is now.
23, maybe?
I think he is now.
Yeah, I think he turns 24 this year in October.
So, yeah, so obviously a few years older than me.
But yeah, I remember racing with each other and running around
the dirt track when we were seven, eight years old or whenever I was
seven, eight years old, you know, and then during the week, you know,
I'd go to go to his house and his parents' house.
And we'd race, raise our scooters around his cul-de-sac for, we'd run
300 laps on razor scooters around cul-de-sacs and have to change the
little plastic wheels because they'd wear them down to like the plastic rim.
So, yeah, I mean, me and Ty had a lot of fun growing up together.
Yeah, so it's kind of a full circle deal.
It was cool.
You were doing like 500 mile races, went back and forth in NASCAR days.
So we're heading to Martinsville this weekend.
Let's talk about your relationship with that track.
Because obviously it feels like it's a little bit of love, hate, where there's the
the two races, the truck race, the O'Reilly race, the spring last year
that you should have won and had kind of robbed from you.
And you had the sweet redemption this past fall.
You finally got the win there.
So just how do you, like going into Martinsville, how do you think about the track?
Just what are your, how do you like it, I guess?
Yeah, I mean, I love Martinsville, you know, even though it's taken
quite a few from me, I love the race track.
I've always been super fortunate to be able to show up to the race track
and have really good cars.
So, yeah, I mean, I love the place.
I've raced there since, you know, I raced like miles there
around where I was 14 years old.
I love going there.
It's a fun race track.
I like the atmosphere there.
The fans are always great.
So it's a cool place.
I've never, I've never not liked it.
Warning for you.
The last two times I've been there, I've had to chase you
in terms of the competition you've had.
Just so thank you for the two workouts.
I appreciate that.
But speaking of year two in the O'Reilly Auto Parts series,
where's your confidence level at now that you've gone ahead?
The rookie season to get used to things.
And now you're in year two, kind of navigating this second year.
Yeah, I'm confident.
You know, I know what I needed in my cars.
I know, you know, what that looks like
and what I need to go fast.
It's funny, not funny.
Actually, it's pretty bad.
But you'd think, you know, year two,
we would have fired off off the gate really good, right?
And, you know, we've had speed,
but we haven't had the finishes that we need this year.
You know, Dayton obviously got wrecked out.
Atlanta got wrecked, but lucky enough to finish ninth.
Koto, we were just off.
We just weren't great.
And then, you know, we showed up to Vegas and,
sorry, Phoenix, and we're not great either on the long run.
We, you know, show up in qualifying and on short runs.
But as soon as we get to the long runs, we really struggle.
And then getting involved with Wreck there.
And then we showed up to Vegas, right?
And we are hauling at us all week and long.
And the car to beat and then get wrecked, right?
Racing for the win.
So, yeah, I mean, it's been a journey.
And then, Darlington, we struggled again.
So, it's been tough this year.
I mean, like, I think we all, the 54 group,
we know we need to go fast, right?
And we're all confident.
This year just hasn't really gone our way.
Like, we needed to.
So, trying to go into this weekend, right?
And kind of have this as our turnaround race
and kind of start getting that trajectory upwards again.
It also feels like, I don't know, for whatever reason,
this year that the Gibbs cars haven't matched,
been able to match up with the Junior Motorsports cars
just yet.
So, what are you guys kind of, I don't know,
have them circled as like, we gotta catch up
to these guys, find out a way to just be as good
as they're being right now?
I mean, I definitely think they're,
they've won the most races, right?
So, this year.
So, we're definitely chasing them in terms of speed.
I mean, we show up to the race track
and then we understand that Justin Algar,
he's a car that we're going to beat every single week.
And whoever's in the 88 that week,
they're gonna be really fast.
So, yeah, and even the nine and the one as well,
or yeah, the one.
So, yeah, I mean, I think, when you show up
to the race track, I think every week,
you understand that those are the guys,
those are guys that you're gonna have to be
to be able to win on Saturday.
And then, and talk as much as you want about them,
but Corey Day is starting to haul ass.
Like, I don't care what anybody says about him.
Like, he's good, right?
So, he's another one that you understand
that you're gonna have to beat him
when you go on Saturday,
because they've been ripping
and they've turned up the whip for sure.
How are you navigating the new format?
Obviously the chase format,
first time ever in the NASCAR,
Riley Auto Parts series.
How have you been able,
are you really not even focused on that at this time,
or just focused on improving the car each week
and then the points will come eventually?
I mean, I'm definitely looking at the points, right?
I think I like the new format
in terms of it doesn't feel like
you can necessarily get cheated out of it in a way, right?
Like, it just kind of is what it is.
Like, you gotta have it,
you gotta put together a whole season, right?
So, I feel good in that aspect,
but now I mean, I've definitely been looking at points
as of this far.
And, you know, we need to be better, right?
We're 12th in points,
and I've kind of figured out in my head
that if you're not top five or six in points
by the time you get to chase,
then you're probably not gonna have the opportunity
to win championship.
So, it definitely need to be better for sure.
Gotcha.
Where do you, I know this is probably way too early
to talk this kind of talk,
but what's the timetable do you think
that you wanna go top racing?
Would that be next year?
Do you think that's something that maybe you need
a little more time at O'Reilly?
Where do you think you're at,
like the, your development right now, I guess?
Man, I mean, yeah, I mean, that's a tough question.
I mean, I don't think anybody's ever necessarily ready
to go top racing.
I think the most,
I think the one you could argue the most
that is ready is probably Corey.
I'm,
but man, it's tough, right?
I don't feel, I think, you know, you put him aside.
I don't really think that you ever,
anybody's ever really ready to go top racing,
and especially now with the new car
and how much different it is.
Like, you know, you can go run five or six years
in O'Reilly's, right?
And then you go to the cup car
and it's literally everything different
that you ever learned to do in an O'Reilly car, right?
So, and I honestly think truck racing
now is paying off more
and going straight from trucks to cup
than it is going to the O'Reilly car
from how much different the O'Reilly car is from the cup car.
And not saying the truck and the cup car are similar,
but from what I've heard,
they drive more similar than the O'Reilly car does.
So, yeah, I guess to answer your question,
I don't know that anybody's necessarily really
like just ready to go cup racing.
It's just a different level.
And like, I don't, that's the biggest thing
that I feel like the majority of people
don't understand is how much harder cup racing is
than any other series in our sport.
Oh yeah, we see like Jesse Long
get to that 33 car struggle,
but we'll send you out with one final question.
A big thing, a big talking point last week
was drivers not wanting to like get
into a physical altercations fight
because of the fine they get hit with after.
We've seen two Martinsville races with you
where things could have potentially ended up being,
I don't know, a brawl over a road or something like that,
but what's your stance on NASCAR?
How should they handle post race altercations?
Should there be a fine, should let them fight?
What are your thoughts on fighting post race, I guess?
So, at least for my instances
and my experiences, the last two altercations I had,
I was told that I wouldn't have gotten a fine
for fighting them.
But the problem is, so where I have an issue with it
is, okay, so if they're great people,
they're great guys, but the security guards,
the security guys, the NASCAR security,
they won't let you fight, like they won't let you get close.
If they know that you're mad or whatever,
and you want to talk to them,
they're not gonna let you get close to that guy.
So that's the part where I have a little bit of an issue
because if you can't set an example
in terms of fighting and letting the guy know
that's not gonna work, if you do it on the racetrack,
there's a few different things
that I don't like about it on the track.
Number one, his guys, so whoever you're having
an ear and altercation with,
his guys aren't driving the race car, right?
So they should have to have the responsibility
of fixing their stuff whenever it's torn up.
So that's number one where I don't love it.
Number two, the team owner shouldn't have to,
shouldn't have the responsibility
of having to pay for the torn up stuff
because their driver made a stupid mistake, right?
Number three, this is where it really
kind of hurts me a little bit
is NASCAR starts to step in
and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, we're not gonna do that.
Slap, it starts slapping penalties or whatever.
So I think there needs to be probably a little bit of a,
a little bit more room in terms of fighting.
Like, I mean, I just, I get why they don't want it
to happen because probably it's by a liability issue
and all of these things much past my pay grade.
But I think there needs to be a little lenience, right?
I mean, I don't know just by my opinion,
but my opinion doesn't really matter.
So, I don't know.
I will tell you what, the NASCAR security guards
that they have, they're legit.
The last two, two altercations I've been in, man,
they won't let me get close to the guy.
So it's wild.
Well, Taylor, we appreciate the time this morning.
We know you gotta go.
Good luck this weekend at Bartonsville
and we look forward to seeing you at the track.
Yeah, cool. Thanks guys.
That was Taylor Gray in the Inferno.
Thanks so much to Massey.
Thanks so much to Taylor Gray.
Thanks so much to all the folks at Joe Gibbs racing
for that great conversation.
But let's get to the latest news and notes.
What's still hot?
What's still hot?
It's time to upgrade you on the latest news in NASCAR.
Joining me now is a man who you typically see
behind the scenes here with the podcast network.
He's like my Robin to my Batman, you could say.
Chris, we are really, you know,
they're putting us to double duty this week.
They're really grinding us, you know, as, you know,
as hard as they can this week.
It's just, you know, Brian Nolan has to cut two in a yard.
So we, we have to pull double duty this week.
Yeah. And some of that is actually my fault too.
I've got some family stuff tonight and all that.
So our normal seven o'clock recording
for distribution at like nine tonight,
obviously doesn't happen on that timeframe.
But whatever it's supposed to happen,
I'm looking forward to it.
Like being in front of the camera once in a while.
So I think we're going to have a pretty good show.
We are. And we're actually going to bring up something
you brought up at happy hour.
You did it for your poor at else segment,
which was how Joe Gibbs racing had a photographer
basically follow Chris Gay part during this past weekend
and went to the judge saying,
since he was listening on the radio
and doing other such things that he basically was partaking
in similar responsibilities that he would have
with Joe Gibbs racing.
Obviously there's been a response
that both Gabe Hart and his legal team issued response.
They asked the court to disregard it.
It's an improper attempt to introduce surveillance photos
as evidence outside the briefing schedule
unable to substantiate its claims.
JGR has restored it to stalking Mr. Grave Hart
at race tracks, then rushing to this court
to spin routine behavior into suggested misconduct.
The court should not give this filing no weight
as the has been argument all along.
Gabe Hart and his legal team put those representing spires
say that Matt McCall is the competition director
at Spire Motorsports.
So there's no reason for anyone else to perform their duties.
It's been pointed out.
I think a good example is you can use Jeff Gordon
as an example for this.
There are plenty of people who are wearing official merch
that will listen on the radio
that are part of the team
that are not the competition director.
This just feels like, and I'm not a legal expert.
I promise this at any time, Chris.
This feels like a,
just a Hail Mary of sorts by Joe Gibbs racing.
I have two thoughts that actually come to mind on this.
And the first is how soon until Chris Gabe Hart
asks for a restraining order
against everybody attached to Joe Gibbs racing.
They're stalking me.
They're following me everywhere I go.
They're taking pictures of me.
Everywhere I go, I'm feeling threatened by their actions.
So there's maybe the potential of that there,
but I don't think so.
But it also may be a little bit of Gibbs
trying to just litigate Spire and Gabe Hart
into a settlement.
It's kind of one of those deals where they're just spending
more and more and more money.
Every time they file one of these things,
if Gabe Hart and Spire don't respond right away,
then Gibbs wins the suit.
So it's kind of just this game of file, file, file, file,
file, and hopefully you can just make them go away.
Yeah, unfortunately, Spire Motorsports does have,
which at Spire Motorsports is claiming
they're not covering Chris Gabe Hart's legal fees,
which wink, wink, nod, nod, sure.
If you think about it, the backing of Spire Motorsports,
considering what they own has probably a lot more,
I'll use discretionary funds
than what Joe Gibbs racing could have.
So I don't know if that strategy would necessarily work.
But Chris, do you think this was, again,
I think ultimately the court of public opinion
wins a lot of these cases.
I think it was a big reason why the 2311 F4M
versus NASCAR lawsuit got settled the way it did.
Just too much public pressure on one side led to NASCAR.
And obviously it looked like they were gonna lose the case,
like from a court point of view, but public pressure.
It feels like Joe Gibbs had an easy PR win this weekend
with the guy who's been at the center
of all these attacks, winning the race in Thai Gibbs.
It does feel like this is a little bit petty
and probably misguided to kind of do this.
I don't wanna say baseless claim
because he was there at the racetrack,
he was on the radio.
So theoretically speaking, he could do some sort of like,
hey, we should do this kind of thing.
But ultimately, I think Chris Gapehart's smart enough
to know what to do on a race weekend
to not violate the injunction.
Gapehart was on the radio.
So theoretically speaking,
he could do some sort of like,
hey, we should do this kind of thing,
make that call, whatever.
But ultimately, I think Chris Gapehart
is smart enough to know what he can and can't do
on a race weekend to not violate the injunction.
He's going to play within whatever lines
the lawyers tell him he needs to play inside of.
It's not out of the remote possibility
that he only listened.
But just like every other one of these teams
that has multiple cars on the racetrack,
there is a management channel on the radio
where we'll use your example of Jeff Gordon
at Hendrick Motorsports from earlier.
Jeff Gordon can talk to all of his crew chiefs.
He can talk to all the engineers.
He can say, hey, this is coming from above.
This is what we want to see happen.
Not, you know, take each other out,
don't harm the team, those sorts of things.
But all I can think about is
at one time, Bill Franch Jr.
had a radio for Dale Earnhardt's race car.
He talked to him during the 1998 Daytona 500.
Another really good example of this we saw in Martinsville.
I know it's the O'Reilly level,
but during every caution,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on the radio to leave podium,
kind of coaching him through,
especially after the misshipped attendants,
like kind of saying, hey, man, get past it.
You can, you're doing great.
You see it with RC all the time, Richard Childress.
We've seen it before.
I think we've seen,
I've heard Roger Penske on the radio before.
This is nothing new.
Something that might be new is some lower,
lowering of ratings, which is kind of not new.
But unfortunately, Bristol Motor Speedway on FS1 average
is a 1.09 rating with 1.94 million viewers.
However, a 3% increase in the rating,
but a 5% drop in total viewership
compared to the same rates last year.
Obviously, this went ahead to head with the Masters
that peaked near 20 million
and had one of the most popular golfers in the sport
win his second in a row.
Chris, if I gave you a 1 to 10 scale,
ratings this season have not been great.
They've been up and down to say the least.
O'Reilly ratings are pretty good,
but a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of concern level
when it comes to TV ratings,
where would you put it then?
If I am NASCAR brass, we are at a 10, if not higher.
This is the lowest rated race in Fox's history.
Going back to the 2001 Daytona 500,
25 years of airing NASCAR
and they're not growing the numbers.
They're not drawing anywhere close
to the numbers that they used to draw.
And a parallel that I think we can start to look at
at this point is what happened
to the professional bowlers tour.
In the 70s and 80s,
they were regularly over 10 million viewers a weekend.
By the time cable TV came along,
those numbers had started to fall off.
By the time we hit 400 cable channels,
they were lucky to draw 500,000 a week,
but they weren't on national television anymore
at that point.
NASCAR isn't either.
I think NASCAR brass has to be absolutely
crapping a brick over TV ratings like this.
Yes, they lost to the masters,
but they got killed by the masters.
You have March Madness, you have to contend with.
You have the US Open, the PGA championships
in a few weeks.
Are we going to start running away
from golf tournaments now?
I don't even want to think about Labor Day weekend
when the NFL comes around
and that's who you're contending with.
Yeah, I do think they sometimes lack creativity
in what they could go head to head against
because obviously the PGA championship
is nothing compared to the masters.
The masters is, I think,
like if you rank top five sporting events every year,
the masters belongs in that category,
like the Daytona 500 belongs in the argument for that,
but the masters is the masters.
So I always take it a grain of salt
on these type of weekends.
I do think there could have been some creativity
in terms of, hey, Bristol already has one Saturday race
where you move, flip the weeks.
And obviously being on FS1 doesn't help as well
compared to the masters being on CBS.
It's a way complicated issue.
I'm a little less worried.
I'm probably like a six
because I also think if you're NASCAR, you're looking at it.
Well, one way to grow viewership
is if we can have a developmental series
that is growing.
And if the CW with the O'Reilly series
is growing in viewership,
eventually enough people are gonna become fans
of that series in terms of new stars.
Once they jump up the cup, they will follow them in suit.
That's sort of how you have to build kind of new viewership
is find younger stars, have them grow,
latch onto viewership.
My only concern with that is it relies
on a three to five year development cycle
just to make that happen.
And right now the ratings from NASCAR
last weekend at Bristol are directly comparable
to what IndyCar is going to do this weekend.
Now it's a bit of a crown jewel race for them
going to Long Beach.
But I think we're back into Apple's
to Apple's comparison territory
for IndyCar versus NASCAR TV ratings.
And that's not something we've done since the mid 90s.
Most of the viewing audience
wasn't alive the last time we could do that.
True.
It helps that IndyCar is on Fox.
This obviously is on FS1.
We'll get a good comparison this week
with both races being on Fox, both IndyCar
and the Cup Series race in Kansas.
And we'll see how that shakes out.
Well, someone who might be, as you said,
crapping a brick to use your words
is Ryan Blaney after his performance of his pit crew,
which is our focus for 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*** runs us clear down to the infield.
He wants to s*** about everybody else.
And he's the one that drives like a little s***.
I'm gonna bust his ass.
Thanks, Tony.
Thank you.
And short track races.
It's time for the soundbites of the week.
You've been retired so far on this race?
I thought I laid a lot of rubber down, which was good.
And the race, which was better
than what we thought after practice for sure.
So, yeah, I thought I was gonna clump
the bottom like crazy.
The top came in like I thought it was a pretty good tire,
personally.
We got to keep working on the car itself in dirty air,
for sure, but I thought the tire was pretty good.
I, it's weird, like I didn't think it fell off a ton,
but it like clumped.
Put a lot of rubber down,
so I don't know what to think about that,
but it was fun working through the rubber progression
through the day.
Walking through that restart in the last lap there
with the racing tire?
Yeah, I got a good restart.
I thought I got a really good restart,
and gosh, I just got done talking about the rubber clumps
on the bottom.
It was really hard to like hit it right,
and I got a decent first lap.
I didn't get a great one and two the last lap,
and it didn't kind of let me be even with that,
and I got a really good three and four.
The last lap, it just wasn't,
wasn't quite enough,
and I'm not gonna throttle up and just destroy somebody,
so yeah, I thought I got a pretty good restart.
I just wish I would have maybe got a better lap,
but it was so hard to do.
It was easy to miss, and I missed it.
Honestly, I looked back at where I lost to race was
before the last yellow, I slipped into three
and was up the track when I was side by side
with Ty, and that really, really hurt us,
but yeah, it was too late.
You had held off two cup champions,
but your first win as well
was this moment being for Ty.
I mean, never forget your first one, that's for sure.
You know, even though I'm bummed, we didn't win the race,
like I'm happy that Ty was able to get his first one,
because I remember what that was like,
and I remember the elation and the joy,
especially when you've come close.
You know, a handful of times, which he has,
you know, honestly,
Ty's dealt with a lot of criticism,
I feel like, from the outside,
and I feel like he's handled it pretty well,
and it's good to see that he's been able
to prove himself on the racetrack,
so yeah, never forget that first one.
I hope they have a good time.
I'm not sure you look back over what you could have done,
you know, rethink that, in a race like this,
I mean, come on.
Yeah, I mean, I'll pick through a little bit,
but like, I don't know, it was so hard
to hit the bottom in three with pace.
Like, I mean, so many guys missed it all day,
messed up, and I'll probably think about that.
Corner more than any, but I don't know
if there's really anything I could have done different,
like I had to commit, and I just probably,
I probably missed my entry by like a foot,
and you missed the whole bottom,
and he slide up, and it's a handful,
so I'll think about it a little bit tonight,
and forget about it tomorrow.
To the road today again was an issue.
We gotta get it better, gotta get it better for sure.
If we're gonna keep competing and get cars
that can win the races and stuff,
we got to clean that up.
And you split, when you had the lead,
did that impact the decision to come in before tires?
Did that impact the tires?
No, no, I thought we just, we had so many laps on them.
You know, I figured some guys would stay out,
but I felt with, I don't know,
it was gonna be like 20 to go, maybe.
High teens, when that restart came,
I felt good with the decision.
I thought it was the correct decision,
and honestly, if I would've had
a couple cleaner corners battling for the lead,
I would have paid off.
Ultimately, Chris, that was all
of Ryan Blaney's post race comments.
I wanna go back to one of the last ones
that was asked about his pit crew.
I think one of the big stories of the race
was Ryan Blaney having to overcome his pit crew.
This has been a story all season.
I will freeze it to you this way.
It feels like Ryan Blaney is the best Ford
and one of the best drivers contenders all year.
Will his pit crew cost him the championship?
I'm going to rephrase what you said last night
on the Happy Hours show and say if it was the four of us
working his pit crew all year,
meaning the four guys hosting last night,
yeah, I think that cost Ryan Blaney a championship.
Does it cost him a championship now?
I think it potentially does,
because under the old points format,
you had to be great in the last race of the year.
You had all year to get there,
you had the playoffs,
and then you got to that last race.
You had your five, six, eight stops
that you really had to execute on,
and ultimately it came down to the one at the end.
Now, giving up points in March, April, and May
has a very real chance of costing somebody
a championship down the line.
I don't know that I'm totally lighting the building
on fire if I'm Team Penske,
but I think there's a consideration of at least
maybe a smoke bomb into the locker room or something.
Yeah, it definitely feels like it's costing him.
He had, I think, clearly either,
if you want to say Lawrence sent the best car
because he led so many laps,
but Ryan Blaney was put such behind the eight ball,
and they had the advantage of the first pit stall.
So you knew he had a fast car.
Ultimately, they did have a good pit stop at the end.
It was just four tires put him behind a couple of cars.
And as we mentioned yesterday,
I think he just ran out of laps
competing with Ty Gibbs.
But it seems to me, unless things can get corrected,
that they, especially,
there'll be a top five seed in the chase,
but if they execute like they have in the season
in the chase, they are not winning the championship.
And it just, it's the biggest thing
that has to be cleaned up.
And clearly they know it and he knows it.
And my expectation is they will.
It's Team Penske.
So I feel like it is definitely something
that in which we'll get cleaned up fairly,
hopefully fairly soon.
Yeah, I mean, it's the team that originated
the concept of Penske perfect.
Do every little thing right.
Do it all perfect.
And the big things just fall into place.
I don't know that it's time for a come to Jesus meeting
with Ryan and crew chiefs and competition directors
and all those kinds of people.
Because ultimately those guys on the pit crew
know they had a crap day at the office
and people are allowed to just have a bad day.
I think it becomes worrisome if this weekend looks just as bad.
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, we only got one more part of this show.
It's time to wrap things up with some final thoughts.
It's going to be a drag race all the way down
to the start finish line.
No caution.
No stop.
Go to the line.
The checker flag is up.
The checker flag is up.
And it's time for the final thoughts.
That checker flag is waving any final thoughts, anything
you want to rant, rave or review.
Chris Graham, the floor is yours.
You know, there's not a lot that I
have to say that I'm upset about as a racing fan right now.
And by this point in the year, that kind of late April
into May, the season's rolling on.
There's usually something to complain about.
And the biggest thing that I can find
is that Indy doesn't have more than 33 cars
for the starting lineup this year.
We're having really good racing all over the place.
The short tracks around the country
are starting to get fired up.
It's a chance for the fans to get out there
and support their local race tracks
and support those guys and girls that you're
going to eventually see on the car's tour,
on the ASA Stars tour, in the trucks, in O'Reilly,
and eventually in the Cup Series.
So I'm going to say there's nothing to rant about.
There's a whole lot to rave about.
Get out there this weekend.
Support your local race tracks and then check in
on what's happening on TV.
I'm just going to talk about something in which I chat it.
So this interview is going to be aired later in the podcast.
But right before the recording,
I got to chat with Kyle Petty about the KP charity ride
that's celebrating 30 years.
And he's starting in Sonoma on May 1st, start of May.
And maybe just think, can we?
Sonoma is in June when the basically it's not green anymore.
It's brown.
And I just I really wish that, you know, for example,
Texas motor speedway is May 3rd.
Why can't we switch Texas and Sonoma?
Obviously, Watkins Glen being the week after,
maybe not ideal to have back-to-back road courses.
Maybe if you want to move Bristol around
and not do in August, do it in May,
you could put Sonoma that weekend.
I just, again, I say this every year.
I, Sonoma is the best-looking race track
when there's not racing because it's green.
The winery is popping.
It looks beautiful.
And I just think, why not go when it's beautiful
where there's a bunch of race cars on the track?
And that's it.
It's that simple.
Well, Chris, that will do it.
You did, we got through it.
We got through a double duty week.
Chris Graham joining us.
Chris, before we get on out of here,
anything that I forgot that you want to plug
so people can get connected with you?
You know, I don't think so.
I'm really very private on social media and all.
So I don't give that out a whole lot.
But follow us here on Front Stretch.
I do a little bit of writing there as well.
He sometimes dabbles in the writing.
I don't, which is good for society.
Probably for the best.
Yes, at Trelaw VT, you can follow me.
Check out the latest episode of Happy Hour.
Unfortunately, I mean, fortunately,
we had Ed Lane on to celebrate the Tide Gibs win.
He decides to take a machine gun to Stephen Malazi.
So if you missed that, check that out.
Check out all our, if you're listening on the audio side,
whether it's through Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
wherever you get to podcast,
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And if you're watching on YouTube,
subscribe to the Front Stretch podcast network.
That's all you got to look for.
It's one spot.
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So that's Through the Gears,
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which is White Wash and Hoats,
which will be our next podcast,
getting you ready for Kansas.
Stock Car Scoop with Eric Schneck,
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So make sure you check that out
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So we ask you to do that for us.
So, for Chris Graham, for Caleb Barnes,
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and at me, Trey Lyle, at Trey Lyle ET.
Thank you again for another edition
of Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle.
About this episode
Taylor Gray talks about life in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, his long relationship with Ty Gibbs, and why Martinsville still feels like both a love/hate track for him after heartbreak and redemption. He admits year two has been frustrating—speed without the finishes—while chasing top teams like JRM and Corey Day under the new chase format. Gray also weighs in on post-race altercations and NASCAR’s penalties. The show then pivots to NASCAR legal/PR drama involving Joe Gibbs Racing and Spire, plus TV ratings concerns and Ryan Blaney’s pit-crew woes.
