Chase Elliott Wins 2nd Cup Race of Season at Texas, Kyle Busch-JHN Feud & Watkins Glen Preview
Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX
Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOXMay 5, 2026
Chase Elliott Wins 2nd Cup Race of Season at Texas, Kyle Busch-JHN Feud & Watkins Glen Preview
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Term
limited late model
A “late model” is a type of race car used in grassroots stock-car racing. “Limited” means the rules restrict what you can change so teams can’t go too far with expensive upgrades.
A crate engine is a new engine that comes pre-packaged from the manufacturer, ready to install. They’re using one for the race car, but they’ll test the car first before dropping the engine in.
Track position just means where your car is on the track compared to other cars. Being in front at the right time can help you control the race and avoid getting passed.
Hendrick Motorsports is one of NASCAR’s biggest racing teams. Here, they’re talking about how well the team’s cars were performing and whether they were ready to take over.
“Next gen” is NASCAR’s newer race-car rules and design. Teams have to learn how to make it work well, and once they do, their cars start performing more consistently.
“Gen seven car” means a particular generation of NASCAR race car. Different generations behave differently, so teams often need time to learn the best way to set up and drive them.
NASCAR’s “chase format” is the playoff system. Drivers don’t just race for one-off wins—they need strong results to keep advancing through elimination rounds.
A “stage” is a part of the race where NASCAR awards points at the end. Teams plan their strategy around these segments so they can score and still race hard later.
“Turns one and two” are the first couple of corners on the course. The hosts are saying they’re tough—especially when cars are close together—so mistakes are more likely.
“Side by side” means two cars are driving next to each other. In tight corners, that makes things riskier because there’s less space to react if something goes wrong.
Banking is when a race track corner is tilted. That tilt helps the car stick to the track at higher speed, but it can make the car feel tricky when you move from banked corners to flatter ones.
A “setup” is how the race car is adjusted for a particular track. If the track has very different corner types, you may have to compromise, and that can make the car more difficult to drive.
A “flat corner” is a corner that isn’t tilted much. The car has to rely more on tire grip and good driving, which can make it feel harder than a banked corner.
They mean the team is getting small wins—like good finishes—so they can keep improving over time. Instead of big mistakes, they’re building confidence with steady results.
They’re trying to get the car to handle “just right.” If the car feels too loose or too tight, the team changes the setup until it drives consistently.
It just means how the car acts when it’s being driven hard in a real race. Tires wear, the track changes, and the car can feel different than it does in practice.
“Gen 7” is the current NASCAR race-car generation. They’re saying the same handling issue shows up again: the car doesn’t steer well in the middle of turns and struggles when cars are packed together.
They’re saying the car doesn’t handle well once you’re in the middle of the turn. That makes it harder to stay on the fastest racing line and can slow you down.
“Traffic” means racing close to other cars. They’re saying the car feels worse when it’s surrounded by other vehicles, not just when it’s driving alone.
Pit road is the special area NASCAR cars pull into during the race to get serviced. If something goes wrong there—like the car won’t launch properly or the stop isn’t done correctly—you lose a lot of time.
“Qualified 31st” means the driver started 31st on the grid because of qualifying. If you start near the back, it’s tougher to move forward, so pit strategy and pit stops matter more.
“Wrong gear” means the driver (or car) is in the wrong transmission setting for the moment. If you leave the pits in the wrong gear, the car can bog down or stall and you fall behind.
A pit stop is the scheduled service stop where the team changes tires and may adjust the car. The transcript’s “13.3 pit stop” highlights how fast the crew can execute the stop, but the outcome still depends on whether the car is released cleanly and correctly positioned.
A pit box is the specific marked spot on pit road assigned to each team. If the car enters the pit box crooked, it can complicate tire changes and the release, forcing the driver to back up and lose time.
During a pit stop, teams can change two tires instead of four. Two tires can save time, but it can also mean the car doesn’t handle as well as it would with four.
Adjustments are changes the team makes to the race car to help it handle better. They’re often done during pit stops so the driver can go faster and stay in control.
NASCAR has a points race during the season, and then the best teams/drivers move into a playoff. “Making the chase” means you’re doing well enough in points to reach that playoff part.
Spire is the racing team the speaker is talking about. They’re saying Spire is getting better and could be a serious threat because they have strong cars heading into the playoffs.
The Chevrolet Spin is a small family-style vehicle meant to carry people and gear. The podcast mentions it in connection with a car spinning out and then getting back on track. That suggests it was involved in a driving moment during practice.
They’re talking about Hendrick Motorsports, one of NASCAR’s biggest teams. When they say “the Hendrick team,” they mean how that whole organization is doing, not just one driver.
Qualifying is when cars run to determine where they start in the race. If qualifying looks strong, it usually hints the car may be fast in the race too.
Attrition just means some cars don’t finish—usually because of crashes or mechanical problems. More attrition can make the race outcome less predictable.
Topic
groove get as wide as it is
The “groove” is the best path around the track that drivers like to follow. If it gets wider, it usually means there are more places where cars can grip and go fast.
Term
rec
“Rec” here means “recovery”—getting the car under control after something goes wrong. The point is that some drivers avoided the problem while others had to recover from it.
“Strategy” is how a team and driver plan their race—how they manage the car and make decisions to get the best result. Two drivers can take different approaches and end up with different outcomes.
A “stock race” means the race cars are based on regular cars you could buy, not a one-off prototype. They’re still modified for racing, but the starting point is production vehicles.
Watkins Glen International is a famous road course track. NASCAR races there, and the track’s turns and braking zones make it a big deal for how cars are set up.
Heavy braking means the track forces drivers to slow down hard and often. That can make the tires and brakes work harder and changes how the car handles.
Tire packs are stacks of tires used to protect the track. If they’re right at the exit of corners, drivers can’t cut the track as much, so you have to be more accurate.
The “carousel” is a named part of the Watkins Glen track with a series of corners. How you exit it can make it easier—or harder—to get a good run for the next section.
A “caution” is when the race slows down because something happened on the track. If it happens at the right time, teams can change their strategy and often gain an advantage.
The Craftsman Truck Series is another NASCAR race series that runs on trucks instead of the Cup cars. The field can be stacked with drivers from different teams and backgrounds.
The Challenger is a sporty, performance car made by Dodge. It’s designed to be quick and fun to drive. In the conversation, it’s mentioned while the speaker is talking about their car choices.
The Prius is a car that uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. It’s built to use less fuel than many regular cars. In the conversation, it’s brought up as a specific model the speaker didn’t want to be the answer.
The Scion FR-S is a small sports car. It’s meant to feel lively and easy to drive compared with bigger, heavier cars. In the podcast, it’s brought up as the car someone had before their other vehicle.
SMT sounds like a shorthand label for a specific piece of race data or tracking info. The exact meaning isn’t spelled out in this clip, but it’s part of what Kyle shared.
A burnout is when the driver spins the tires to make smoke. It’s often done for show, especially after a good race.
Topic
championship stuff
They mean the parts of the race that matter for winning the season championship. It’s about doing well enough that you stay in contention, not just one good finish.
COL here means “Circle of Life.” It’s a way of describing how a NASCAR driver balances racing with everything else that comes with success, like obligations outside the car.
COT is NASCAR slang for the “Car of Tomorrow,” which refers to a particular era/type of NASCAR race car. They’re jokingly comparing the “Circle of Life” idea (COL) to that NASCAR reference (COT).
Topic
Watkins Len
They’re previewing the next race at Watkins Glen, a famous track known for road-course turns rather than just oval speed.
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Stage was big this weekend. I sat here on week one and said a breakout season for Chase
Elliott was coming. Old ****. The moon thing is not a thing. I don't have enough time on
this show to go down that road. I had to clean his shorts after that one. Skid marks.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick. She's
Maestro's. What was it? Dingo and Speedy and Dingo. Speedy and Dingo. Yeah, Speedy's in the
house. Speedy and Dingo happy hour. Yeah, Speedy Pete's in the house today. I have to start
with the helmet. Can you explain why that's here today? The classic billiards helmet? Yeah.
I'm going racing this weekend. That's exciting. Where at? We're going to Florence, South
Carolina. What kind of car? A limited late model. Okay. I've worked out this deal. I've been
working on it for a while with Mopar and with Dodge with them getting a crate engine back in the
late model stock racing. So is the engine in the car? The engine is not in the car this weekend,
but I had to buy a car and so we probably need to make sure it runs pretty well before we put the
engine in. So we're working on that. So this is the first week that I'll be in a Dodge on track.
So I'm excited about it. We have plenty to talk about leaving Texas Motor Speedway. We will also
preview the road course race of Walkins Glen that's coming up next and you got a full house of
sips. We got some real funny sips coming out of the Harvick household this week. I can't even
wait. I don't even know. I know. That's the best part. I don't like that. Yeah, we look forward
to it. Okay, let's go ahead and start with the Cup Series event where Chase Elliott scored his
second win of the year, 23rd career win. He was very candid after the race saying,
I have not been a huge fan of Texas over the years. I've made that very obvious. So this is
a testament to the whole nine team. How do you feel like it was a statement by them? Well,
it was a statement because we've been wondering when, you know, the Hendrick cars were going to
we're going to show up and dominate. And, you know, I think that I don't think that they dominated
until the 20 and 54 kind of fell out. But as the race went, they got better and took over
dominating the second half of the race. And honestly, the nine, the 24, 48 all had speed
in practice. The five was probably the worst car of the four cars there this weekend. But the nine
was quick all weekend. And when he got the track position at the end of the race,
he definitely had the speed to compete with whoever was on the racetrack at that time.
11 was right there with the 20 and 54 at the beginning of the race. And he just flat out
ran him. So I think that's the moment we've all been waiting for from, from Hendrick Motorsports,
as far as the, you know, the, the, the speed to go with, they did a great job at Martinsville,
but they didn't dominate that race. And he took control of this race and, and, and made it happen.
So great day for Chase Elliott won two races as early in the year as, as he's ever won multiple
races in a season. So could be dangerous. Let me ask you guys this, are you surprised that
Chase Elliott has two before any of the other drivers at Hendrick have one?
You know what? You probably would think that, but I'm not, because I sat here on week one and said,
a breakout season for Chase Elliott was coming. And some people on socials, they were like,
how can he have a breakout season? He's a champion in his 120 races. I knew what you were trying to
say though. Yeah. But I was also with a different car at a different time. And he has struggled
realistically with the next gen. And, and now that they're starting to figure it out,
you could see it last year. We talked about it a lot at the end of last season on the show. Like,
you know, Chase Elliott and Alan, they got something cooking and now they've taken what
they had last year. And it seems like whatever that was, that magic's working again this year.
And they had the consistency to go with, you know, I know since the gen seven car,
they haven't had that breakout season as far as, you know, multiple wins and the amount of
wins that we would expect from, from Chase and Alan and that group. But they've never lost the
consistency and the grinding that they can do to keep themselves in a position to get solid
finishes, which I think is what Kyle Arson and hasn't been able to do well lately. William Byron
has been super inconsistent. Obviously, Bowman has had his issues with his health and all the
things that they've been dealing with, but the nine has never lost the being consistent and all the
results have shown that. And I think when you look at the chase format, I mean, it plays
right into their hands. And if they're winning, makes them dangerous. I think, I think Chase
and Alan and that nine group, they, they haven't really lost any races. You know what I mean?
They haven't lost any races. They've, they've really gone out and taken them. They've put
themselves in position and then either finished like top three or top five or gone off and been
able to win because they put themselves in position. Whereas some of the other guys,
they're fast off the rip fast all day and then they lose races. It's an interesting
dichotomy between those two. I was going to also say they have a lot of depth with their core group
of guys. A lot of them are the same people he won his championship with on the road crew and things
like that. So the guy that finished second was Denny Hamlin admittedly saying he didn't have great
restarts all day. What'd you see from the 11? I honestly thought he had him beat on the last
restart. He got a good launch and they got to, you know, turns one and two and just couldn't
quite hang with the nine and he has admittedly, he said this, but he has had a few races where he
hadn't had great restarts and put himself in a position to where, you know, he doesn't,
doesn't win the race because of those, those restart. So nine car just beat him on the last
restart. Three turns, one and two was clear and gone by the time that, you know, we even,
we even knew what happened. It was over. Well, when the lights come on, the nine shows up.
When the stage is big, the nine does not falter. Is that the new quote? When the stage is big and
not the lights work? Stage was, stage was big this weekend. That's as big a crowd that I've
ever seen at Texas in a long time. It was awesome. Yes. I think, I think part of that is,
and now we're going into a different thing, but part of that is like less is more sometimes.
Yeah. And, you know, we want to go twice to a lot of places, but some, some areas can't support
that the same way. And the fact that Texas is supporting so well right now, there's something
that we should probably look at as an industry, but as far as the nine goes on that last restart,
like they, they, he, he got up on the wheel and got it done. And that dude turned one and two is
so treacherous down there when you're side by side and you got to lay it all on the line
because it's just as, just as likely for you to wreck down there as it is for you to get out
for turn two. And it's just so flat, right? Like we, we saw a bubble wall spin out practice.
We saw Kyle Larson spin out in the race in turns one and two. It, it feels like you're at a parking
lot after you go through turns three and four, you're just dug into the banking sucked down in
the seat. And then you go to turn one and you're like, whoa, not much to lean on here. So, you know,
when you have those compromises in the setup to get through the bank corner and have to figure
out how to get through the flat corner, the cars just become challenging to drive. And, and Texas
is a full day's work. And, and, you know, I think that we saw a lot of people spin out in turns three
and four as, as well. From all the drivers I interviewed this weekend, I can't tell you how
many use the word treacherous. Like everybody use that as their vocab buzzword to describe this
place. It's just uncomfortable because of all the bumps and the speed that you carry. It's just
uncomfortable. Every lap is uncomfortable to go fast. Yeah. So we've been talking about the
motorsports drivers. I do want to hit on Alex Bowman for a minute, probably very encouraged
by two top three performances in a row, given everything that's gone on. And you mentioned that.
But at least things are moving in the right direction seemingly. So I think so. You know,
I look this, this sport is all about confidence and momentum. We've seen it. We see it the other
direction with a couple of the other guys that have had the speed right now. But with Bowman,
with his injury, we'll call it an injury. And everything that's been going on in his racing
career and everything that the team has had to deal with and not being on the racetrack and
go to a place like Texas, it's super fast. And you got to be right on the edge in order to go
fast. But you go back and you start looking at the last three weeks, they've had solid finishes
and able to put themselves in a position to have those building blocks of, Hey, we're going to get
out of here with a third place, finish it at Talladega. We're going to get out of here with a
third place, finish it at Texas. Now you can, now you can continue building. You're not spinning
out, crashing, running in the back. And when you have those multiple weeks in a row where you can
have those building blocks, it's a huge build boost for your confidence. Yeah. I think Alex is,
you know, starting to remind people why he's in the 48. I think that's the internal confidence,
right? I don't think he lacks personal confidence. I think the people around him and the media and
the voices around them sometimes feels like they have no confidence in Alex Bowman and driving
that car. But Jeff Gordon seems to have plenty of confidence. He's very ecstatic and complimentary
of Alex and what him and Blake are doing with that group. Now that he's back in the seat,
they got their A1 driver. And I think Hendrik as a whole is better when they have all four of
their guys like locked in, right? Like with the 48 has speed, I think everybody's going to have
speed. I think that is really the good measure of where they're at as a company. Yeah. I mean,
honestly, the guy that's like I said earlier, the car that is the most inconsistent is Kyle
Arson right now. I did still send some apprehension from Jeff Gordon when he came on post-race of
where they're at as a whole right now. Like you could tell he was still like, we're getting better.
We still have quite a ways that we need to go until they're like consistently contending for
wins. I mean, I don't know what you gathered from that interview. Well, I look, they've been,
they've been kind of chasing the balance of their race cars. And when you are chasing the
balance of your race car, you continue to have questions until you, until you hit on something
when you go on the racetrack. And there was a lot of talk this weekend about the Chicago test and
them hitting on, you know, some things that were going to work. Kyle Arson did the test and he
probably ran the worst right of the, of the four cars over the weekend. So, you know, that's,
you don't really know until you get those cars in race conditions and see what the handling is
like. So I think they're still a little apprehensive about being confident and saying, Hey, we're
going to go out there and kick their butt today with, with just sheer speed, but they still have
the most potential to make their cars better. You know, the Toyotas have had the same body. They're
kind of locked into all the little things that they know how to do. The Ford's are locked into,
unfortunately locked into, to where they are right now and struggling, not really any upside
potential. And, and, you know, if these guys keep continuously making the balance better on
these Chevrolets, they're going to be hard to deal with by the time you get to the middle of the
year. I think Jeff, Jeff is talking from a place of like, they're used to dominating and he knows
that they're not, they're not there. They're not dominating. They're not dominating. He's, he knows
that, but they can still go win races and go compete at hell. Hendrick Motorsports definitely
making gains. Another team that we consistently see in the conversation lately is Chris Busher,
the Texas driver finally got a good finish in Texas because he said it's been a place he struggled
in the past. I is finishing forward for him and he's just right there in the mix. He's just Chris
Busher, right? We interviewed him on a pre-race show and he's just steady 80, always consistent.
And, and I, you know, I look back at, at Talladega last week and I asked him, I said,
does that sting? Because now you're starting to consistently be up there and, and missing out on
these opportunities. And you know, he's, he basically said, this is, yeah, it's frustrating.
And we have to try to take the positives away, but we got to win here at some point. And I think that
he was really the only forward in sight this weekend up in, up in the top 10 consistently
with enough speed to, to compete. So to, to stay up there. So he just does a good job. And, you
know, I look at, you know, if you take Chris Busher and you put him in a Hendrick car, what would
that be like with all the experience or, or just a Gibbs car for just using the two dominant cars
that, that are out there, because he's, he's driven at JTG. He's, he's driven at, at Rouse now,
and he's been around it for a long time, always the same. He's consistent, takes care of his
equipment, gets more out of it than probably the, the capability of the car when it comes to the
results. So he does, he does a nice job and did a great job again this weekend, getting his first
top 10 at Texas. Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure that was, when you, it's your home track and you're
sucking at your home track, that stinks. Cause I'm sure he has a lot of people that comes out. So
for him to have an opportunity to win is huge. And you know, RFK, they're really kind of toting
the flag for Ford at this point. Um, for whatever reason, it's not clicking at team Penske right
now. And I know I've said it before, like they're going to figure it out cause they're going to
figure out, but I mean, I assume they're going to figure out this year. I hope they're going to
figure out this year, but it's not, it just seems like it's the 12 and then the other three cars
are just hit and miss. That's the part that concerns me is the 12 at Kansas and, and at Texas.
No bueno. Yeah, it wasn't great. It was, I mean, he qualified 31st. I know he had a little slip up
and in qualifying, but it wasn't like the, just the 12 car driving all the way to the front,
like we've seen at so many racetracks. So that, that concerned me that he kind of fell back into
the category with the rest of the Fords and the struggles that they, they had on, had been having
on the mile and a half racetracks. And this is where when you don't have a SHR around another
quality team where you're starting to be like, well, what is it? Because you don't have as much data
to pull from, right? Like front row, those guys, you know, Zane and Todd and Noah,
they're doing all they can do and they have some good runs here there, but they're really
off of what's going on at RFK and those other places. So talking to a lot of those Ford guys,
I mean, it's, it truly is the exact same problem that they had when I was driving the Gen 7 car.
The car won't turn through the middle of the corner, right? And it's not as good in traffic as,
as the other two makes. And they haven't made any headway as a manufacturer in making their race car
better. And they're stuck with the same thing that they had last year. I think they're getting a new
body, you know, for, for the next year. But the problem is when you design these cars, same thing
that happened to Chevrolet, right? You're going to be back again. Well, you design a car and then
all of a sudden the rules change in January and you designed a car for a completely different
arrow package. So the Chevrolet is that the way that this car was designed was for the car
and the arrow package that we race at Kansas, Texas, Vegas, three of the places where they've run
pretty good, but can also analyze the easiest because there's no changes from the rules package
from last year. Well, we're talking about the Ford. So let's go and discuss their teams and what
happened to them. Ryan Blaney, you reference qualified 31st, started to make a lot of ground
early in the race, picked up 11 spots, but on pit road, he stalled out multiple times, seemingly
in the wrong gear. It seemed like he was in the wrong gear right there. The time that he had trouble
on pit road, trying to, trying to leave the pit box. And we heard him call himself stupid and
all those things with the, with the mistake that, that ultimately happened on, on pit road. So
um, yeah, I mean, originally we looked down at it. We saw a 13.3 pit stop or here we go again.
Here we go again. Pit crew, pit crew had, had major problems, but that was not the case at all.
And then you see the second issue right here behind Eric Jones, uh, who had to go around
his tire changers, um, and get, got in his box crooked. So Ryan has to back up. So
again, just an unfortunate spot to be in on pit road. Yeah. When you don't qualify well,
then you're kind of relegated to not a great pit selection. Yeah. What'd you see out of your
boy? My boy, my boy just, is he still YRB? Are we still? No, he's RRB. He's old. Yeah. He's old.
Right. Right. Right. He could be middle. What do you call him? Oh, a RB. Oh, what is that? Old
ass. Right. Let me get some beers and that beer and that mustache. It'll be old ass. Right. Maybe
maybe with the way that things are going, maybe we should just go back to
clean cut. No, it could be right back to YRB. Mustache off. Just really just put the,
put the sport on its ear. It'd be a heartthrob again. Hey, when you're not getting the results,
you got to get the, got to get the headlines and to, to go a different direction. I don't know.
I think you're talking about how you're running bad. You shave everything off and they want to
talk about how you look. I think he's going to stick with the mustache because he didn't,
no, I think he's going to stick with the mustache. It's all between the ears. That's right. I think
that they, they just, I mean, it's on them for better, for worse right now for the, for Team
Penske. It's on the 12 car to find the speed for the rest of the team. And if they're off,
then it's like, oof, it's really tough because we have not one time this year made mention of the
21 car of Josh Berry. No. And last year, it was like, at this time of the year last year,
whole race last year until he spun out, right? He won Vegas. Like he had, he was fast last year
and he has been non-existent. So what about the Penske teammate of Joey Logano? He too had an
incident on pit road running into the back of Cole Custer, who was just trying to do a solid for
the 54 of Ty Gibbs, letting him out of his box. A lot of damage ended his day.
And we heard some frustration on the radio. Logano wasn't happy that they just did two tires.
Two tires. It didn't sound like he knew about it, but you see Ty Gibbs pulling out and,
and Cole Custer just waiting for the 54 to go by to get in his pit box and
I want to say Blaney with that discount tire. But Logano just blasts him right here. And you see
him go around the car right there. And I don't know if he was looking at his mirror or
what happened right there, but it seems like he just ran him over. And it's been a tough
sledding for Joey Logano. His last three finishes, 30th at Kansas, 39th at Dega, 37th at Texas.
And now we're going to a road course. So when it rains it pours, it does pour.
This is like with the, with the points is like, if you have a stretcher race is that like, aren't
your best and then you get mixed in there with a road course and you're like, well,
no, we just might throw this week. And in the new system, you can't lean on, well, I want to race.
No, I mean, we'll get it right by the time. Every week.
That's what I love about this. Every moment, every week, it just, it makes every moment matter.
And when you have that, it's all about the, the scope of work for, for the whole 26 weeks
leading into the playoffs. And you know, right now, Logano 17th in the, in the points and,
and they're in big trouble.
It puts a much higher premium on every race, obviously. So Briscoe also had contact with
Kyle Larson on pit road. Kyle Larson seemingly very frustrated throughout the course of the race.
You talked about it a bit. They made a whole host of adjustments to try and get the five
to his liking. Ultimately, well, we had this incident here with Briscoe and him.
And then Kyle goes for a single car spin, just saying, I lost it, which you've said it is easy
to do at this track, right? Yeah. And you know, you heard the back and forth
exchange on the radio with, with Larson and his team about what happened right there. And,
and I think that, you know, both he and Briscoe chase Briscoe, that damage on that,
that pit stop right there pretty much ended his day. He basically struggled the rest of the day.
So between Briscoe, they're in my opinion, the 19 or five are very similar right now
that you see a lot of mistakes. You see a lot of things happening. You know, this is ultimately,
you can say that's, I would put that on the 19 team as far as getting out of their pit box and
the call that they make to clear the driver out of the pit box. You can put it on the,
you know, the driver a little bit for not making sure that he knows where he's at on pit road
and who's, who's where on pit road. But we continuously see the mistakes out of the 19 car.
We saw it last week at Talladega into hot miss, miss the pit box, slid past, knocked his team
guys over this week. We have the, the mistake on, on pit road right here. So, but the five in the
19 are exactly the same to me right now. Just a multitude of mistakes from the driver's seat and,
and, um, off the racetrack and in scenarios, they've had some bad luck, but just a ton of
mistakes and they're taking themselves completely out of contention. Yeah. The more, the more
top teams like them make mistakes, the, the more at least some teams slide in that you would
normally see, right? Like a whole swore. It's war as whole sport getting a win. Like you,
honestly, you don't really, I haven't seen Carson Hosebar in a, in a, the last time we saw him in
a championship situation was him and Corey Heim in the truck series. So you'll know, you know
that he'll go after it for all it's worth. And I don't know if you really want to have to deal
with Carson. We'll play the whole interview this week that, that we did with host of our,
uh, on the, on the podcast this week on happy hour, but, um, he was, it was a very interesting
conversation with, with Hosebar, just for that fact. And, and I point blank asked him because he
kind of insinuated that, you know, they were thinking about championship. I'm like, can you win
the championship? He's like, well, it might surprise a lot of people, but it wouldn't surprise us.
He has that confidence. He knew he was going to win a Talladega. He said, I, he said that is,
it was one of the most intriguing conversations and interviews that, that I've had and, and, but
he's very confident in what he does. And, and right now it's like on a day like yesterday,
right? He qualifies on the pole, all the momentum wins the truck race, wins last week in Talladega,
but they didn't freak out and, and they got a solid finish. And that's what's happened to the
77 car. When they're having a day where they're not solid enough to, to win the race, he's figured
out how to not get himself in positions to tear the car up and get decent finishes out of it.
And that's what makes them dangerous if they can capitalize on the days when they have speed.
But it's also the days like we're talking about with Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe that they aren't
capitalizing on and, and getting the finishes that, that they deserve. The 77 car is, which brings
me to Spire as a whole because Daniel Suarez had that flat tire in practice, but qualifies on the
front row with his teammate Carson Josevar early in the race, nor to be seen made a ton of gains.
Yeah. How impressed were you with that bounce back? Look, this exact same thing that we're
talking about with Josevar, seven car, absolutely horrendous when they dropped the green flag,
just couldn't go back fast enough. And, you know, they made some adjustments on their car,
got a good break on the strategy, got their track position back and ran there the rest of the day.
So when you can make the adjustments on your race car and be able to put yourself back in
contention, get the break like they got from a track position standpoint, they've got the,
the ability to do that. And, and you know, when, when you're taking a bad start to the race and
turning it into a good finish, that's when you assign of, of the team doing the things that
they need to do to put all the pieces together. And I think they're 14th in the, in the points,
which for them, in my opinion, it's not about winning the championship. It's about making the
chase. When we talk about those top six, we're talking about the hitters, right? The guys that
we expect to go out there and compete for the championship. Suarez making the chase,
home run from, from where he was at track house last year to where he's at at Spire and what
Spire has done. That'd be a massive win. It's interesting because we talked a lot last year
about 2311, who was in the middle of a lawsuit. So to aspire right now with this whole Chris
Gabe hard thing, seemingly not distracted by it. There's a lot of momentum in their program right
now. I talked to multiple people from the team this weekend. They're like, Hey, we're heads down.
We're focused on winning and producing results. They're not letting any of that distract them
from the task at hand. And it seems like, what is that, that quote, rising tides, raise all
ships, right? That, that thing's happening. Well, I mean, it seems like, I think the difference
in the two situations is one was a whole company was going up against the sport, the league.
And, you know, I mean, so it is a, but, you know, it's still a distraction, but honestly,
I've seen gay part around the racetrack every weekend. He's smiling. He's having a good time
doing what they're doing. And everyone is, um, success, breed success. And that confidence,
it just keeps adding and they're building bricks, brick by brick and building, um,
Spire into something that is you got to contend with and, you know, them having two cars in the
post season, that is definitely a home run. Cause we wouldn't sit here last year and think
realistically that they would have one cause we weren't looking at them as a group that was
going to win a race. And now we're like, Oh, now they got two. And Michael McDowell still has,
he's still got that dog in him. He can go off and run pretty well.
He better get it together though, because he's got two teammates that are there. They're hungry.
They're, well, they're running good. They're getting results. I mean, you had two Spire cars
on the front row this weekend. So, you know, and, and typically McDowell is a guy who's at least
going to qualify good, but that team's, that team's not where the seven and 77 are right now from a
performance standpoint standpoint. Love Michael McDowell to death, but ultimately in the end,
now you've got two cars that are consistently running in the front and the 71 is not. So that,
that'll definitely put some pressure on, on that situation because with everything that,
that Spire has done, they, they position themselves as, Hey, we want all of our cars,
we want to be winners. And, you know, that the lack in performance on the 71 definitely
will be a question mark as, as we continue to go forward, if it stays that way,
this is not the spiral. This is a different version, different era here, just to say we're,
we're a part of the, it's part of the show. We're here to compete. Yeah. They are doing just that.
Well, two of them anyways, um, right behind them was the finisher of William Byron, which lap 93,
he goes around able to have the field miss him, essentially Lugano being the most impressive of
all. I want to show his on board for a second as driver 22 misses William Byron, but you know,
he's still got a top 10 performance. Even after all that, this is a great weekend for William Byron
and could have been exactly what Kyle Bush took out of the weekend. But you know, his, his weekend
took a different turn. William Byron as we watched the Lugano, oh man. I had to clean his shorts
after that one. Yeah. He had skid marks. No, in that moment, you're just like, you don't really,
you're assuming you hit him. Like you think that you're hitting him in that moment. But you know,
I think that for William Byron, I think this weekend was a win because they showed up with
speed and practice right when they got off the truck, spin out, come back, able to put themselves
back in the, in, you know, the top 10 to, to finish the race. So I think there's a lot of positives
in what was a spiraling out of control in the wrong direction ship of William Byron with the
performance of the race cars that they've had over the last month. And to be able to go and,
and unload fast and do the things that they did this weekend and overcome and everything,
still think there's a lot of positives to take away for, from the weekend for the 24.
Yeah. I mean, they, they were with 300 cars in the top 10, right? So with William, they,
they expect to be the top of that. You know what I mean? And they just haven't had it, but
they're starting to figure it out. And it just goes back to what we've been talking about all
day realistically is that the Hendrick team as a whole, they have a long, they have a long way to
go, but they are chipping at it and getting closer. And when all the cars are starting to get towards
that top 10, now the rest of the field is like, okay, here they come. Yeah. And I think that the,
the biggest thing is when you know, you know, they're searching is when the cars are all over
the place. Yeah. Exactly. You can look at qualifying and say, Oh man, they're just, there's
nothing that we can say, Oh, they're back. Yeah. And they've got it figured out because when they've
got it figured out, usually all four cars run good. And when, when, when, I mean, who had Chase
Elliott and Alex Bowman be in the top two cars this weekend? Yeah. The top 10 was a centric. I
thought it was interesting. That's Texas. It's 100% Texas. A little attrition. A little attrition.
Always have some attrition. You know, I don't know what it is about Texas, but for a while,
it was a mid race. And for the last few years, it's been phenomenal. I don't know if it got
some frosty's over there. I don't know if the track has a little bit more character in her now.
Chacks got more character. When that asphalt ages and you see that groove get as wide as it is right
now, just, it'll keep getting better too. Yeah. Oh gee. What's going on with this crescent waxing
crescent moon? What's going on with that? I think they were totally kidding and people actually
believed it and ran with it and Kyle Busch even said it in my interview, like that's not a thing.
Is it a thing? The moon thing is not a thing. That's not a thing. I know it can control tides
in the ocean. That's like saying that the world is flat. Yes. The world's not flat.
Moons. And we went to the moon. I don't have enough time on this show to go down that road.
Somebody brought that up in commercial break during the race on whether or not we actually went to
the moon. It was very funny to hear who thought we did and who thought we did not. It's always
intriguing. You want to get into an interesting conversation with your friends. Ask them if
we went to the moon. Yeah. Maybe we'll open that up to the fans. Do you guys think so?
One final incident I want to take a look at, it includes another spin, is Christopher Bell,
who was our pick for the win. Kevin and I looked though, like if he had stayed in the race,
I'd be curious how this all would have gone if he had been a contender right to the finish.
He said I was a couple feet away from having a great day. It's going to turn around at some
point. Here are his last four finishes, 27, 20th, 17th and 38th for him. That could have been way
worse. Yeah. I just, you know, I look at that and I'm like, man, 11 slowed down a lot.
Yeah. What? 20 didn't slow down much and wound up in the rec. So definitely two different
strategies right there as to how to miss that spinning car of Todd Gillin. But you'll see him
right here. The 11 is going to start to see that, that situation up there and slow down. And Bell
was up the, up the racetrack one groove and wound up in the rec, but they've got the speed.
Yeah, they do. They just have a lot of bad luck, but you, you know, it's, they have bad luck.
And, you know, I look back at Kansas. I'm like, coming off turn two, he's got a chance to, to
win that race. Really difficult. And you can see it starting to drag him down and just,
you know, after the race, you saw Joe Gibbs over there, you know, telling him to keep his head
up on the back of the medical cart. Yeah. And, and, you know, you could just see it in his face
that it's like, when is this going to end? And that is the worst feeling as a driver, just
your car is running good. You know that every week that goes by, it's a good possibility that you
won't have the advantage that, that you have or have a car that runs like that when you get another
week down the road, because everybody's working to catch up and they're working to slow you down.
And he's just, he knows that he's not capitalizing on potential wins. And that's, that sucks as a
driver. Yeah. Three drivers in the top 10 and points crashed yesterday. The way that the pressure
is mounting on these guys and the opportunities to win. And they know how few and far in between
they are, because it is maybe the hardest, one of the hardest things in the world to do is when,
when a stock race, a cup race, like just winning in general at this level is feels impossible all
the time. And we were talking about Christopher Bell, someone who won three straight last year,
you know what I mean? And he's stressed. So. Yeah. I want to give a quick at a boy to Corey
Heim led second most laps in that race. I know he didn't have to finish the show for it, but he
is impressive when he gets in the car. He did a great job, but I will be the bear of bad news that
that is the reality of the cup series. And that's why it shows 90 to 100 starts. But, but we did see
champions do the same thing. So I'm just saying it is not easy. That's my point. It is, it is super
easy. Exactly. I just want to, I just want to point out that a couple of weeks ago, people were on
me about my Riley Herbst take that he was pretty good and getting better. He had another great
weekend. He did. He's making gains. We are seeing that out of him for sure. Well, a whole new
challenge is presented this weekend because now we're headed to a road course. It's Watkins Glen
International also totally different time of year than we are accustomed to going up to New York.
Much cooler temperatures. I was looking at this mid 50s. Do you think that will be impactful in
any type of way? Or like, how do you think this may go? Well, I hope the impact is we go up there
and have a great weekend. And then we go back next year in August. I think it was a great event in
August to the fans loved it. It was always packed. So I'm curious. You know, I think it's
be lucky to have all the leaves on the trees and it's going to be cold and possibly some rain
here and there. But what a great facility. What a great town to host a cup race. And it's
it's very much a hammer down style road course, heavy braking, fast corners and and
putting the tire packs at the exits of a lot of the corners so they can't just fly over the
the exit curves and just run all the way up off the race track. I think that that changes the
dynamic of the race a little bit just because of the fact if you don't get up off the corner good,
you can't just slide all the way to the exit of turn one or coming out of the carousel. You
can't just roll all the way to the outside. If you're not lined up correctly, you know, you're
going to run out of racetrack. And I think that that that changes the dynamic of how you'll be
able to pass and the things that that you'll do. But it's probably the most important weekend that
that SVG and Connor Zillich have had in their racing careers as far as things that that they
need to capitalize on. The I the eyeballs are on the 97 and the 88. And I think that
probably the season rests on how those trackhouse cars run this weekend, those two cars for them.
I unfortunately, you know, pressure is a privilege. And there's definitely a lot on them because
this is why you're here. Yeah, right. I mean, you're you're here because you're world class
drivers and that you can step in on any road course in the world and compete and go off and
bring home a victory. So that's a lot of pressure, but you've earned that. So go show why you earned
it and go get it done. One of you guys, one of those two guys need to get it done. I'm sure.
But the pressure is not only on the drivers, the teams need to give them horses that are,
you know, fast enough to do what they need to do on track. So hard to do when you're not running good.
When you're not running good, it's hard to bring a good horse to the place that you're supposed
to bring a good horse. Your horses all have a gimp in them. And I think that, you know,
I think that that they're going to run good, but it's just how good, how good question. Yeah,
they're going to run good regardless, but how good, because Tyler Reddick at Kota kind of put
them on notice. Like you got to come get me. So this race track, it sounds like it's fast. It's
technical. It's unforgiving in those high speed S's. How can just a simple mistake be really
detrimental to the day at all? It all, it gets set up and turned to and how you enter that corner
and how you get to the exit to turn two, because if you don't have the car positioned to the right
side of the race track for turn three, then it hurts you all the way down into the, into the,
into the bus stop. And so that, that dictates the speed that you carry down that back straight away.
So very technical race track, but you've got to be aggressive and the guys that are,
that are good with the brakes and things into the bus stop and into turn one,
turn one so tricky because it's kind of downhill and it's got some bumps as you go into that corner,
but fun race track, just the way that it flows and the way that Watkins Glen has laid out. A lot
against Stewart. Had a good battle with, with Tony that year, had another one of them one and
ran out of gas coming off last corner. I don't know if you're still on the team at that point,
but 15. I don't remember. I try to, try to forget those things, but that sucked. At least you won
there. That's cool. Yep. Check it off the list. So that was good. I think a couple other guys that,
that really have to keep themselves as this race be in circle. I think Bubba Wallace,
we know that road courses is not if he's at best. Yeah, it's a little bit iffy,
but I mean that the wheels have kind of fallen off the 23 a little bit from where we were the
first couple of weeks of the season. All the way, you know, we've fallen out of the top 10
and the points and they just can't give up a lot. I think that the 20 is in that same boat.
Got to have a good weekend. Joey Logano, we know that the road courses haven't been,
can be hit or miss for those guys lately. And Michael McDowell, you know, he's going to have
to have a good weekend. There's a lot of guys that need to just maintain, I think too. Like
Carson holds for just maintain. Like Carson does not, he's outwardly not lover of road
course racing yet. So he just like maintain and keep your points within, within the bounds. And
then there's some guys that are going to be at a really shoot for the, shoot for the moon here
and really kind of shoot the moon, really, really mess up. You can really mess up some
points with a little bit of strategy. So you might as well go for it. If you're already struggling,
this is a go for it race. And that's what we saw at a Kortie High last weekend, right? Like they
just left him out on the racetrack. If the caution falls, you're going to get the track position
and, and be in the game. So yeah, like I say, the 97 and 88 of SVG and Zillich, in my opinion,
that's where the most pressure lays. Well, yeah. Cause you know what they can do there,
but if they go up there on Sunday and don't perform like they have in the past, then it's
like, wow, what's really going on here? Yeah. Yeah. Um, one other thing I want to note is you
got to watch the craftsman truck series race on Friday. We got a stacked field with AJ, Almond
Dinger, SVG, Connor, Zillich, uh, Ross Jessane, Carson, host of our all running that race in
addition to all of our regulars. That'd be cool. The AJ, Almond Dinger, Connor Zillich, SVG show
and the truck race. That is, that might be the most tuned into your truck race.
I wish you were doing that race with us. Well, AJ, he's good at overachieving.
He's a little disadvantage in those dodges. They're not quite, not quite what the,
what the Aspire trucks are. That's his whole career. He'll get the most out of it. I can
promise you that. It'll be fun to watch. It'll be fun to watch. We'll have lots of reasons to
watch a walking slide. Okay. Guess what? What? This is your turn. Did you see that tweet though,
where someone said their favorite part was me and not your sips? Did you see that? I didn't
favorite it because I didn't, I'm not going to poke the bear. I saw the one tweet. I saw the,
the one tweet that happened. You gotta let me have my one crown. I like your cup. You give
your lips off me. Listen, listen to Kevin. He, look what he did to my cup. That was actually
done right before you came out here. Unreal. Yeah, there you go. That's better. Are those not
stickers? I feel like you could peel the back off. That's a lot better. Yeah. That's a lot better.
That way when you're holding your cup up, ladies and gentlemen, we'll get you a sticker. Welcome
to your favorite segment of the Kevin Harvick happy hour podcast, mom is social sips. And I
want to start out real quick with two things. One, Texas. I've never been to Texas motor
speedway. You fans were out in drones. I've never been there because it's you hadn't. No,
because it's not, it was never, it's not NASCAR track. It's an SMI track. I never got to go there.
And so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Stockyard was awesome. The fans that were out, their closures
were out. Like I had this had never been. It was so cool, man. A lot of people. A lot of people.
Texas was always our number one market for a fan club. Also shout out to NASCAR Sundays.
We had 120 people watching the Texas race this weekend. Wow. That's a high number. Yeah. High
crowd. High numbers. It's a hybrid down of a NASCAR watch party and like a car show. Yeah,
we have our friends from RealPrice. They were the car culture. Yeah, they were the car culture
and they bring a lot of them folks out. So it's been cool. What do you drive? What do I drive?
I drive Dodge Durango Hellcat. Okay. Yeah. I was hoping you weren't going to say like a
Prius or something. No, no, no. I got that. No, we got 700 horsepower. You got a Prius too? No,
no, no, no. What was your car before the? I got a sign FRS. What about before the Durango?
The sign FRS. What was your first car? A 2002 yellow Cavalier.
Chevrolet Cavalier. A yellow one. A yellow one. I couldn't get away with anything.
Listen, let's start this out. Word of the week. Man, I love this one. Run the Dave. Yeah. I mean,
on that last run, you see that quick lap time that Corey Heim laid down and gets another good
restart right now. So he's looking like the cats pajamas out front looking good. You're not getting
off the hook with that. Kevin, we'll come back to that later because we've got some chaos going on,
but Clinton never could get back to it. He couldn't. He can't remember. Once we get 30
seconds down the road, he'd forgotten all about it. So it saved me. It saved me the, uh, it saved
me the grief of, of having to try to defend myself. The worst part was I didn't want them to laugh.
So I told Mike what the word was and I didn't tell Clint and I think he really wanted me to
explain to him what it meant. Yeah. And I didn't really want to get into that in the middle of
the broadcast. So I'm glad he didn't ask me. I hope he comes back with a chafed ass.
He's going to, he's going to ride a Kyle Petticharty ride and it's going to rain
every day. So he drove six hours from, um, the racetrack up to Wichita and then he was going to
be supposed to rain every single day. Oh, that sucks. That's not going to be great. Yeah,
there will be, that's a change. Powder up, Clint. Powder up. Um, this is a sport that is highly
driven around family and, um, that's what makes it so great. And this kid had a gift that he was
waiting to use until he could go to the racetrack. Let's run this clip. You never worn this hat.
Why?
For what?
Okay, we're gonna wear it today. We're going. Let's go. We are. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go. Yeah.
Yeah. I'm going to go to Darlington and John Ryzer and Mack are going with us.
Yeah. So we've got to change. We've got to go pick them up in 20 minutes.
Okay, I'm fine. Okay. Thank you. That'd be fun. So we've got to change your clothes. Okay.
Man, I remember being a kid and being so excited. It's like going to Disney World,
you know what I mean? That's just like, and it's cool because, you know, chase one this weekend.
So it felt like a good time to put that clip out. That was awesome. Good job by that dad,
surprising his kids. Might be dad of the year award or something like that. Absolutely.
So I told you we had some from the Harvick household. Well, last week, Kevin put out,
was talking with Tony about doing a truck race. Co-sign on this. So this is us. You know,
yes, please. Kevin Harvick talks with Tony Stewart about running a truck race together next
season. I think that would be great. Which track should they do? Well, I don't think the message
got all the way through the house. Because Delano said, what? Which I love that gift she
chose. Well, yeah, probably my bad. I mean, look, I come up with some great ideas and sometimes
I forget to tell my wife. I did say next season, not this season. No, yeah, not this year.
Well, so that's plenty of time to smooth this over with her. Yeah, she'll be fine.
I promise you, there'll be something else that he'll do that'll, that'll get her.
Yeah. I mean, that's like one of the things, the least of my worries that that's,
that's going to be low on the get in trouble list. Get in trouble list. Yeah, fair. Okay.
Yeah. Well, thanks Delano for that. I mean, I think that would be fun though. That was fun.
Tony said he wanted to run a race. I said, well, let's just run one together. Yeah,
he said it. Yeah, he said, he said he was going to do it again. So, I mean,
now the fans would love it. I vote for having a truck race at Kern.
Oh, is that running there? Let's do that. I guarantee you, Kevin Harvick will run the race
if it's that current if it's a current, I'll run this. Um, yeah. So Cow Bush, I don't think anyone
wants Cow Bush to win much more than Cow Bush and myself. And I really want Cow Bush to run well.
He was running well this weekend until lap like 263 of 67 or whatever it was.
And he kind of got into it with John Hunanima check and they wrecked, they wrecked off the
back stretch and you know, there's some words over the radio. Well, Kyle went to Twitter
and like showed the telemetry, the SMT. And I'll read this real quick. He said,
I did not start this. The 42 apparently doesn't know where the right side, right side, thank you.
The right side of his car is and where he is in relation to the outside wall. There was two feet
outside of him and I was juggling my left side tires to the hash marks. Always know who you're
racing beside. Kevin, what say you, OG? Um, I don't think that John Hunanima check did anything
wrong right here as you see the car in front of him is a little bit closer to the wall,
but the car right in front of him is in the exact same line. And regardless of where they are,
I mean, Kyle has to give him the room and they're going straight and he turned over the front of
John Hunanima checks car, put some both in the wall. They go into turn three and then he wipes
him out again. So I don't know any other way to explain it. I want Kyle Bush to win. I want all
the success for Kyle Bush. And I think that, um, you know, at the end of this race, he put a damper
on what was a huge turnaround for his team qualifying well, running in the top 10 and they
could have finished 25th at that point and no controversy and, and called it a great day. But
instead now you got to deal with all of this nonsense. Uh, at the end of the race, what was
otherwise a complete win for the eight car with the new crew chief for the whole day and the
whole weekend, all you had was positives all weekend. And then it turns into a disaster,
unfortunately. So I don't put any of this on John Hunter personally.
And to clarify, I did speak with Bob Pocrus, the bloody nose John Hunter had was not from
a fight. He got a nosebleed in the car. The video of him just walking away and everyone
thinking he got it. There was a physical altercation. It's not silver lining. Kyle Bush had some
speed and a lot of speed, a lot of speed. So hopefully they can, they can build on that.
Guys, uh, that is it for the sips this week. Appreciate you as always. If you want to leave
a voicemail 805-317-4175 mailbag harvickhappyr4 at gmail.com.
There you have it. Not too bad. Well done. I guess average seas get degrees. Speaking of
average time now to take a look at the time for our last call and we got to dial up the footage
of Mr. Chase Elliott with his burnout. And I'm not trying to be mean. Maybe it's just because
of Carson hosts of ours have been so awesome. It was such an incredible celebration a week ago.
What did we think of this one? I think it was windy. Are we making excuses?
Yeah. Well, I agree with Caitlin. I think it was just average. And, you know,
I think that host of ours set the bar really high. We've seen Chase do.
Amazing. He was one of our epic burnouts last year. At Bowman Gray, you know,
we had some, some good smoke right here, but just average. Well, cause we have been pretty vocal
that we like the extra additional theatrics, you know, style points. I just think that it was
a standard burnout and nothing special, nothing special. And I hope that he's still the winner.
Yeah. I think Chase Elliott is going to win probably two or three more races this year.
So I have a feeling that they'll get ramped up. Yeah. We need to ramp those up, Chase.
We need to look at Bowman Gray last year, study that video.
And maybe something along those lines. We'll give it a C plus maybe.
Speaking of C pluses, let's take a look at the points. Nobody really gains actually.
When you get zero points, that's an F for all three of us because Kevin and I picked
Christopher Bell who finished 38th. Mamba got zero points for picking Kyle Larson who finished 34th.
So the points remain the same, 40, 38, 31. There you have it. I picked the right team.
I just felt good about ours for a minute. I felt good about it for almost one stage.
Well, our chance to redeem ourselves is right now with our picks.
I'm really, I'm really curious about where you guys are going to pick.
I think mine is going to surprise you guys, but whatever. My heart wanted to pick SVG,
but I, I'm a show me lately kind of person and I'm just not feeling it. So I'm going with
Chris Busher because he has been good there in the past and he's been very good as of late
at all tracks. Yeah. Well, thank you. I'll take SVG. Yeah. Go ahead, mom.
Oh my Glanta. I think I came in here with a strategy and I, I really,
where'd it go? It's out the window. Yeah. You know what? Is Michael Jordan going to be there this
weekend? Probably. He's there every week. It seems tolerated. Okay. I think that's a good
way. They did a great job again and you're seeing championship stuff out of that 45 team.
They were not good to start that race, kept grinding away. The next thing you know,
they're up there racing for the lead and pitted at the very end and still came through to the top
five. If they got a caution, like if he might have got around that, I forget who he was racing.
He got held up by him for a second. If he got around that one, that one and two corner there,
he probably would have won. Who lays the biggest egg this week lays the biggest egg,
like who should be good and show up. Yeah. I feel like it's going to be track house in some
former fashion. I don't know. I hope not. Yeah. Hope not. Well, I mean, I don't want that for them.
Yeah. Well, it'll be interesting. I can't wait. I'm glad I get to watch. I don't have any pressure.
I get to go up there and watch and critique the shit out of everybody who's sitting in the one
critiqued. That's got to be nice. Yeah. After all those years of competition. What a turn
of events. You know, you go through all those years of having to answer questions and now
you got to answer mine. That's right. We're just smiling your face. That's right. Speaking of
answering Kevin's questions, you mentioned it, your interview with Carson Hosbar,
drops Thursday. It was great. And don't get me wrong. All these guys have been great to interview
so far. And I just appreciate how honest they are. And Carson was
super honest. And I don't know. I mean, he's not going to be any different with me than he is
anybody else. He's honest and straightforward. And you know, the most interesting part to me,
one of the more interesting parts to me was the fact that really everything he does is based upon
six year old Carson Hosbar and his his fan interaction that he used to how he used to
view it from the grandstands. And he doesn't want it to be the way that he saw some of the events
happen. And he's he's a he's a crowd pleaser. And I think part of what we do, we talk about on this
show, you part of what you do is that showmanship piece of it is important as to who you are as
a racer. One other thing I learned about him this weekend, I think it was Jeff Gluck that posted
it as he does all of his own social media posts. There is not a single person doing those for him,
which I just think speaks to his authenticity. Like he wants to have his hand on all of that.
And then, you know, the next hardest part is how do you when you start winning and you have more
to do and you have all these things happen? How do you balance it all? So, you know, we talk about
that with all of our first time winners and the things that go with it. He backed it up with a
poll and a solid finish and a truck win. So week one was was pretty good. But as you keep going
down that road, it gets harder and harder. And the thing that you run out of first is time.
The thing Kevin always talks about is the COL, Circle of Life. That's right. How you balance it.
That's exactly right. He says it a lot. It's a key to this sport, my friend. Yeah, it's a very big
key. There are several of them that don't have a very good COL. Yeah, the COL better than the COT.
All right. On that note, thanks so much for joining us. Make sure you follow us on Harvick
Capipod. We will see all of you after Watkins Len.
About this episode
Chase Elliott’s Texas win anchored a wide-ranging conversation about Hendrick Motorsports’ growing speed, with the No. 9 team praised for its consistency and William Byron and Alex Bowman also showing momentum. The panel contrasted that progress with Ford’s ongoing struggles, especially Team Penske’s pit-road mistakes and Joey Logano’s rough stretch. They also looked ahead to Watkins Glen, where Trackhouse’s road-course entries carry major pressure, before breaking down Kyle Busch’s feud with John Hunter Nemechek and Busch’s Twitter defense.
Chase Elliott’s Texas victory, Denny Hamlin’s runner-up finish, pit road mistakes, major wrecks involving championship contenders, Watkins Glen predictions, NASCAR Cup Series analysis, and Kyle Busch’s viral social reaction headline this high-intensity racing breakdown. Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down Elliott’s second win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, analyze Hamlin’s strong but frustrating finish, unpack costly pit road errors and multi-car wrecks, preview which drivers and teams face the most pressure heading into Watkins Glen, and react to Mamba’s Social Sips featuring Kyle Busch’s response to his incident with John Hunter Nemechek.
0:00 - Intro
1:42 - Texas Weekend Recap
32:17 - Watkins Glen Preview
38:44 - Mamba’s Social Sips
47:24 - Last Call
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