Daytona 500 Fallout: Winners, Wrecks, and What It Means
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Concept
caution
A caution in racing means the drivers have to slow down because something happened on the track, like a crash. They follow a safety car until it's safe to race again.
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NASCAR
NASCAR is a company that organizes car races where drivers race special cars on oval tracks, mostly in the United States.
Concept
Daytona International Speedway
Daytona is a big race track in Florida where NASCAR drivers race. It's famous for big races and fast cars.
Concept
Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega is a big race track where NASCAR drivers race very fast. Because of the speeds, crashes happen often.
Concept
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a big car race where drivers compete on a big oval track. It's one of the most famous races in the U.S.
Term
throttle
The throttle is what you press to make the car go faster. Holding it down means you're pushing the car to go as fast as it can.
Term
right hook
In racing, a 'right hook' means a driver suddenly moves to the right side to pass another car, which can cause crashes if not done carefully.
Term
spotter
A spotter is like a helper who watches the race from above or the side and tells the driver what's happening around them so they can drive safely and avoid crashes.
Term
momentum
Momentum means how fast and smoothly a car is moving. If you keep your speed going well, you can drive faster and better around turns.
Term
left rear bump stop
A bump stop is a part that stops the car's suspension from squishing too much. If the left back part of the car hits this, it can break or mess up the car.
Car
NASCAR Truck
The NASCAR Truck is a special race truck used in a NASCAR racing series where trucks race on tracks.
Concept
Cup race
A Cup race is a big car race where special race cars called stock cars compete on different tracks.
Term
slick
Slick tires are special smooth tires used in racing to help the car stick to the track better when it's dry.
Part
fuel injector cable
The fuel injector cable is like a wire that helps send fuel into the engine. If it stops working, the car can lose power or run poorly.
Term
six cylinders
A six-cylinder engine usually has more power, but if some cylinders stop working, the engine runs weaker and the car feels slower.
Concept
taking two tires
In a race, changing only two tires instead of all four during a stop is faster and can help a driver stay ahead, but the car might not handle as well.
Concept
Arkacars
Arkacars are special race cars used in a popular racing series called ARCA, where drivers race on oval tracks.
Concept
restart
After the cars slow down because of a caution, they line up and start racing again. This is called a restart.
Concept
victory lane
Victory lane is the special spot where the winner of a race goes to celebrate and get their trophy.
Term
burnout
A burnout is when a driver makes the car's tires spin really fast while the car doesn't move much, causing smoke. Drivers do this to celebrate winning a race.
Concept
Firecracker 400
The Firecracker 400 was a big NASCAR race that happened every year near the Fourth of July holiday, making it special and patriotic.
Car
Ssangyong Kyron
The Ssangyong Kyron is a type of SUV made by a company from South Korea. It’s built to handle rough roads and is good for both city driving and outdoor adventures. It’s not a common car in America, so it stands out when mentioned in American sports.
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Richard Petty
Richard Petty is a very famous car racer who won many races and championships. People call him 'The King' because he was so good at racing cars.
Concept
green flag
A green flag in car races means the race is starting or going again, so drivers can go fast.
Term
G-force
G-force is how hard your body feels pushed when a car speeds up, slows down, or turns fast. It’s like feeling heavier or lighter depending on how fast the car moves.
Concept
Speed Weeks
Speed Weeks is a big racing event every February where lots of NASCAR races happen, ending with the famous Daytona 500 race. Many people go to watch and celebrate the start of the racing season.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a famous American car that looks sporty and goes fast. People love it because it's been around for a long time and is fun to drive, especially with the top down like a convertible. It’s often seen at car races and shows.
Concept
blocking
Blocking means one driver tries to stop another driver from passing them by driving in front of them on purpose.
Concept
causing a wreck
Causing a wreck means a driver accidentally or on purpose makes a crash happen during a race, which usually gets them in trouble.
Concept
racing
Racing is when people drive cars really fast to see who wins. It can be exciting but also tough because sometimes you lose more than you win.
Brand
Formula One
Formula One is a type of car racing where the best drivers and fastest cars compete all over the world.
Term
points format
In racing, drivers get points depending on how well they finish in each race, and these points decide who wins the championship.
Term
horsepower
Horsepower tells you how strong a car's engine is and how fast it can go. More horsepower usually means a faster car.
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Charlotte Oval
The Charlotte Oval is a race track shaped like a big loop where NASCAR cars race fast around it.
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All right, guys, the core of the joy here, alongside Ryan Flores and like I mentioned
earlier, Ricky Stenhouse, first off, round of applause, runner up, finish.
Let's go.
Bumped and pumped at the same time.
Well, more pumped or more bummed?
You know, it's it's Monday, you know, so I would say more bummed a little bit
right now, because I'm not still in Daytona celebrating the win.
Because, you know, when in Daytona 500, there's so much more than, you know,
the celebration right after the race.
There's, you know, all this cool stuff you get to do for pretty much a whole week.
Remember when you facetimed us in, you were in New York, uh, it was
twenty twenty two, you won, right?
Three, twenty three, and you were you were on the show, literally on a bus
or something.
Yeah. Doing whatever you've been in front of the show a long time.
Yeah.
What's the coolest part?
What's like what happens after you win?
Where does that take?
Take us through your victory lane and then where do you go?
Yeah.
So victory lane, obviously a ton of media, you know, right after.
And then like you just want to get done with that so you can go
hang out with your guys, go to your guys are in tech, you know, for six
hours and, you know, you get over there in the car is like fully apart.
And then they got to put it back together to, you know, go in
the museum the next morning.
But, um, so, you know, getting to the guys, hanging out, you know,
for us, you know, it's kind of rain delayed and longer, whatever.
I mean, we, we called her a night at four, four thirty or something that
morning, um, but then you get back up and really then I would say the next
day is really cool because you get up, you go do like good morning America
and the, um, and victory lane at like six thirty a.m.
So you're just like, you know, you just look awful, um, you know, but
then, you know, you get your, your Rolexes and your rings and you do
the concrete, you know, stamp and, um, you know, roll the car into the, you
know, the museum and I don't know, just a lot of cool things that go along
with that.
That's, um, you know, really you're like, dude, this is, this is a, this is a big
deal.
Then you get on a plane and go straight to New York, right?
We went to Chicago, um, actually I went to Disney.
They let me go to Disney because we kind of already had it planned.
So we went to Disney, um, and they had, that year was the first
year that we were going to Chicago, I believe.
Yep.
Um, and so we had to do a bunch of media in Chicago, then came back home on
Wednesday, flew to New York on Thursday and back and then Fontana on Friday.
The grind.
It was a grind, but dude, I, I think we, I averaged three, three and a half
hours of sleep that whole time.
Score was low, low, low.
And then, but then it like snowed in Fontana that year.
And so I got, I got some extra sleep.
So you have now seen firsthand the difference between first and very
close second and how big of the gap that is.
Yeah.
Talk about how big that gap is.
In what sense?
Financially, emotionally.
Yeah, talk about financial.
I mean, necessarily, but yes, you know, your, your percentages are
different from a, from a win to a top five.
Um, you know, the, the car's money intake is, is a lot different bummed
for my team because our car is destroyed.
You know, so financially for the team's sake, you know, it was a bad day,
you know, bad and, and, you know, good day all at the same time.
It almost probably came out in a wash for finishing 20th, not Torah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, dude, our car, we hit hard at the start finish slide.
At what point did you lift?
Like into one?
No, yeah, never.
I mean the engine shut off.
The whole top five did the interview from their care center.
Yeah.
Top five interviews from the care center.
Yeah.
It was, um, you hit, you hit the, you hit a ton.
So, you know, we, I was pushing the 43 there, you know, coming for the last lap
and I saw the 77 jump up, but then also saw him kind of track back down.
So I was like, I'm pushing the 43 right past him.
Well, he, he kind of gave that half block.
And then so the 43, when I gave him that extra shove, you know, got
his right rear, um, you know, I kind of thought we had room there
and it was happening so fast, you know, and, um, dude, when it, when
you're white, not when you're, you're like, you're intense and you're
getting smashed off the back, you know, hitting you in the bumper.
And, um, you know, so, you know, they cleared out.
I'm like, whoa, you were literally leading a race.
Yeah, we're leading right here.
Throw the caution.
And, you know, in 23 going into one, the caution came out.
And I'm like, Oh no, this is going to happen again.
But, you know, Kudos to NASCAR.
They, we've asked them to let the races play out, you know, that
time I was like, man, throw the caution.
But, you know, we've asked them said, Hey, if, if we can make it
back to the start finish line without driving through a wreck, you know,
let us race it out.
So, and I think they did that all weekend.
They weren't quick on the trigger, you know, let the races play out.
And I just needed somebody to go with me.
They just kept splitting me and splitting me and splitting me.
And then all of a sudden, Lugano needed help.
It was the 22 and you were like dragging until our back.
Meanwhile, everybody was like, yeah.
And then finally the 22 needed some help.
And, you know, him and I were the only ones by ourselves.
So I start pushing him through three and four.
And we got a huge run down the front stretch.
And then C's parted.
I saw a gap wide open, you know, got clipped and I thought I won.
But the 45 was so far ahead at that point.
Um, yeah, just wild.
Uh, but, you know, great day for our old chef boy, R.D.
Chevrolet and Gano.
So he's like, my kids like chef by R.D.
I'll push this one.
Yeah, he didn't.
He should have.
Yeah, he should have.
He picked up, it's so crazy.
At the end of the day, I would have gave him a lifetime supply.
Monthly ship.
Yes.
Yes.
Oh man.
So do you feel like anything you could have done different to win or pretty much
nailed it a little bit?
Yes and no.
I think when the, you know, when the 77, you know, ends up getting sideways
and 43, if I'd have stayed closer to the wall and not let Chase get to my
outside, you'd have some more momentum.
I'd have had more momentum.
I think he would have had to stick with me at that point.
I don't think he would have had room to really drop to the bottom, you know,
because it all happened and then like I, I eased down just enough that he was
able to get to my outside and.
You know, I think maybe if he would have stayed with me, he would have
had a better shot to, you know, for our momentum to keep going.
Cause I think we could have got, you know, pretty good head of steam there.
You know, all the way back to the start finish line.
But I'm sure he was thinking what I was saying is like, man, they're
going to throw the caution here.
I'm going to try and get the lead, which I had the lead, then he had the lead.
So yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I've been replaying it and watching it, you know, um, so I think
if I had to stay closer to the wall, I think that keeps me in the top, you
know, two or three positions, um, down the back and then, you know, maybe
have a little bit better shot at it.
Watch the back, you know, rewind, play rewind play.
You didn't see me until the very end to, I mean, I saw you were on
like kind of the, the relaxed first couple of stages.
Did you see me at the start of the race?
Yeah.
You were getting great TV time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, uh, I dropped, I told everybody around me, uh, Josh Berry now, you know,
taking our, you know, our last bathroom break right before going out
and he's standing next to me.
He goes, what's your plan?
I was like, you're going to see me pull to the right.
I'm not passing you.
I'm going backwards.
I'm going backwards.
He goes, I'd have lost that bet.
He thought I was going to the front, but I mean, I've, the
last two speedway races, Talladega and Daytona last year, I think
I've completed 38 laps total and I was wrecked inside the top six or seven.
I'm like, ain't worth it.
Well, the Daytona 500 is not worth it, you know, but like going to Atlanta
this weekend, I'm going to run hard, stay up front and do the thing.
Exceptional Atlanta.
So fun.
And my guys got my car.
They got a good setup.
And, you know, I can hold the throttle down, enter in three, there's not
very many guys that can rip the top, rip the top.
You and Eric Jones, Eric Jones rips it.
He'll sneak out there on your, you got to watch your right rear
quarter panel.
Um, you know, so that was kind of our plan, you know, our, our ownership
group, Mike Kelly, we were all on board and said, Hey, this is going
to be a boring race for us until it's not, you know, and, and yeah.
So interesting race.
There was a lot of stuff to talk about with, well, there was Josh
Barry, the only guy who didn't get in a wreck between the duals and the 500.
I saw that this morning.
Yeah.
To your point, right?
You probably have been thought about as one of the most aggressive
pushers.
That's why Josh said that.
And the other guy that's one of the most aggressive is Brad Kizlowski.
And then he just throws a ton of shade at Riley Herbst.
Did you think that that was warranted?
That was not warranted.
I texted, you know, Riley texted me, you know, afterwards he
said, Hey, congrats on P two, you know, Riley and I are buddies.
He said, sorry, I had to go with my teammate.
Understandable.
Don't worry about it.
And I responded as like, Hey, don't worry about Brad.
Like Brad's wrecked plenty of people.
You know, we all have.
And I mean, 2022 I was leading within, you know, five or six to go.
And he just, you know, basically right hooks me off a turn four, um, you know,
at the win.
And then he, I think the next year he wrecks Harrison Burton or later that
year, like he's aggressive, you know, and the difference.
I mean, a little bit, a little bit.
If Riley makes that block a little sooner and it all works out, he wins
the Daytona 500, you know, like, but also the difference of a good
push and a bad push is about that much.
Small, it's small.
I mean, I know what Brad's frustrated because he felt like he had a big run
and, you know, Riley, he can't push the nine past the, the 45, you know,
he already picked him, pushed him 90, 45 makes his run.
And Riley's like, dude, I got a shot to win this thing.
Tries to jump up in front of him and just didn't work out too late.
Yeah.
I mean, we're not talking, we're not talking much.
Yeah.
So, no, I don't think it's more.
We talked to Toleretic a little bit earlier in the show.
It'll be after this, but I watched it and it's, it's unique in it, right?
But when you're watching it, it's like the combination of Daytona 500,
especially when he gets down to the end is like trying to figure
out a Rubik's cube that all 43 of us are called the last 15.
There's 15 guys that have a shot at the Rubik's cube and there's no colors on it.
Everybody just spins it.
Yeah.
Pass it, spin it, pass it, because you can make a move that might be the right
one if I go with you.
Yep.
But if you don't go or there's like an infinite amount of possibilities
that boil down to being in the right spot or not.
So, like, all of a sudden, right, the spire cars pop up like, oh my goodness,
where did these guys come from, right?
And the host of ours was married to the back of the 71.
Yeah.
And they got split up or had a big run and he had to take it.
Then it's like all these things have to play out to put yourself in the right position.
It's tough.
You need the teammate.
You know, I think him and the 77 work really well together.
They're both good at drafting tracks and speedways and Carson's really good
at making those moves to make the blocks.
Um, you saw it in the truck race.
You saw it in the cup race.
You know, once he got to the front, especially with a teammate, it, you know,
you see it with, you know, Brad and, um, or I mean, Joey and Blaney, like, you know,
once those two get out front, it's, it's tough to beat them.
And something about the confidence that they're not thrown half out.
They're going 100% committed blocks.
Committed.
Dude Ross, like in the second stage, I was like, Oh, he's willing to die.
To do this.
Yeah.
But that's a little early to do it.
I feel it is early and it can turn out bad.
You saw the 40, you know, he was committed to making that block.
It was just late, you know, um, you know, and so, yeah, I mean, it's tough.
I, you know, we started 13th on that restart, you know, my spotter's counting.
I'm like, you know, I was 14th.
I wanted to take the top, but I didn't want to give up a row.
So I was like, all right, I'm going to take the bottom here.
I said, Hey, down the back, I'm going to try and work my way.
If there's a gap, I'm going up.
I didn't get a good restart.
The eight started 14th.
I think he took the spot I wanted.
Well, he drops down in front of me.
I'm like, sweet.
I'm going to the middle.
Yeah.
And then I worked my way the outside with the 43 because I know, you know,
once the 43 gets to the top, he likes to rip up there too.
And then all of a sudden we're, you know, top five.
And, um, did y'all watch, uh, the replay of call bushes in Kirk Henry yet?
Somebody posted it.
He drops down in front of me, you know, um, on the restart.
And then like a lap and a half later, he just bells his spotter
asked him, are you out of gas?
He goes, I'm not going to race to the wreck.
The bottom was supposed to be the advantage.
And like, you know, he fell straight back.
So yeah, he literally was 30 car links off the field running 29th.
Then the wreck happens.
He ends up top 15.
So like, you know, that probably was a good move to get out of there.
But, you know, it's just, again, you make the moves that you think may
work out and sometimes they do.
Sometimes they don't.
It's just, uh, you're, it's just wild.
There's like Tyler said something earlier and then you said something
when you got here about like people saying that I should have done
something different on Thursday night.
And I was like, I haven't, well, I haven't been on Twitter, but like, I
don't know what, like you're, when you're, you only make the decisions
of what you feel is best then and somebody else has the authority
to turn you if the run comes too much.
People that aren't driving the cars think that you see stuff
from the good year blimp like they do.
Yeah.
And like, you know where the, oh, they know where everything is.
You can't see a whole lot.
You literally can't see and you can't see the car in front of the guy.
Yeah.
I mean, you're like my spotter, you know, I had a new spotter, uh,
McGrennalds will spot for me in the truck and he's like, Hey, what do
you need from me as a spotter?
I'm like, really the only thing I need you to do, obviously, if I'm
clear, tell me I'm clear.
Top or bottom six, six.
Okay.
So I'm like, tell me clear.
But really all I need to know is how far I can push the guy
in front of me.
Like what's, what's that gap?
Yes.
And you know, the problem is, is at the end of the race, when
things are ramped up, stuff like that gets, yeah, if things are
happening so fast from your perspective, and then, you know,
your spotter might tell you, but like there's so much going on.
It's like, I can't keep up with it.
You know, and I feel like in your spot on Thursday, I mean,
there's nothing else.
I mean, you could have bailed out, I guess, but like, you're
not going to do that.
And, you know, where were you running?
Second, second on the inside, second on the inside.
And it's, you know, that push came from like three or four
back, you know, and it's, and it's not the seventh's fault.
It's the guy, SPG's fault for not lifting when he got to me.
Right.
Yeah, he don't know.
He don't see you.
Yeah.
And if his spotter is not, you know, it's hard to know
how much room everybody has, you know, like you were
out of room, the seven was out of room.
Well, and then Brad looked up and didn't see those guys
coming to me to get them back.
And that's so.
And somebody asked me and I was like, well, I think the
biggest problem was Brad basically stopping getting in turn
three when just stay on the throttle and, you know, then
everybody kind of picks momentum up together.
And then you've never been a big fan of, you know, dropping
back to somebody.
I think that that only kills your momentum.
They're going to get to you eventually.
What I like, you guys talked about pushing and Corey
mentioned this, the back bumpers on these cars are
very round.
Yeah.
It's super pronounced now.
And I was paying attention to the race because Corey
had mentioned like if you get somebody, he said, if you
swipe somebody from the right to the left and it gets on
the left, the left rear bump stop, you're wrecking.
So you would see the good guys like Danny, I was watching
the 40 and like when we were fifth or sixth in line and
just watching the guys get the runs and they would get
a run and then pull the left and make sure they
hooked to the right.
Like you would almost like you would spin them out of
a short track.
You would that all the good guys would do that and it
seems like you guys have gotten smarter about that.
Is that like the most important things?
Yeah.
I mean, I think, you know, I tell people, you know, the
biggest thing is just, just at least be center, you
know, or, or cheated a little bit left.
And a lot of times, I think, you know, obviously we
sit in the left side of the car and a lot of people
are like, I think they center themselves up and
don't realize it, you know what I mean?
It's like you're supposed to be on the left side
of that car, but they're like, man, I was
center, but you were center.
Your bumper is not, you know,
and it's, again, it's happening so fast.
It's like trying to push two marbles together.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's not easy.
A couple of times.
How was the truck?
Oh, truck was wild, you know, handling and I will
say in the Cup race, little hotter on Sunday, you
know, running a little earlier, that middle
lane and a little bit on the bottom off of four
with slick, you know, you'd get, and I feel
like in the cup cars, you, there was a long
period of time where you didn't really have any
handling issues.
It's coming back and it's great.
The tracks, the tracks getting rougher.
The asphalt's wearing out.
It's wearing the tires out more and you're
getting some will in it, you know, off of four
on the cup, take that to the trucks and it's
like times 10 or at least my truck was, you
know, especially when I got, I didn't feel
great and I thought there was going to be
a massive wreck.
I mean, it's the truck race.
There's always a massive wreck, but the
truck race was phenomenal.
I felt like, you know, everybody did a great
job pushing each other.
Corey and I got to the front a little bit
and I was like, all right, I know how it
drives.
I'm going to back up.
And so I was in a good spot.
My fuel injector cable was not in a good spot.
Not a good spot.
Just quit working.
Stop working.
I was on six cylinders at the end.
Oh, dang.
Yeah.
So in practice, my fuel pressure would go
out down the back stretch.
They changed everything before the race.
So anyway, I ended up, Phil Gold said, hey,
we're going to take two tires, save fuel, keep fuel on it,
keep tires on it, and then we're going to take two
tires, ratchet to the front.
And we did.
We started third when we needed to.
And then, you know, the 34 was fast and just hammering
my rear bumper.
And I'm like, I really, I felt like I was keeping
up with Majeski enough, but the 34 would get a
huge run through the center of three and four.
I started getting tied off a four, and then he would get
to my back bumper, and then all of a sudden, I would get
loose and, you know, it was in a, I was in a bad spot.
Not, not quite as loose as O'Cleeter, though.
No, but like, dude, just no experience, right?
I mean, like it's, that, that situation is tough.
I mean, it can happen so fast.
And so for me, I, I bell, we got some tires on it,
got some fuel, restarted 13th or 14th.
And yeah, drove it up to six, though.
Logano mentioned that on the broadcast when
he was on the cleatest wreck, he goes, that looked a lot
like my first time here.
And I was paying attention to that.
Like even Zillich, Zillich got like tight, he wrecked
for the whole, like before he finally wrecked,
it was going on for like a half a mile.
Yeah.
But he got like tight, whoa, whoa, whoa, and just never
got it back together and finally wrecked in the trial.
You don't get, you don't get that feeling in
Arkacars, you know, and especially the Arkacars
these days, cause, you know, I feel like
everything's kind of a little bit slower.
I haven't driven them, but they just look like
they handle pretty good and you just kind of,
just run around.
The air's not as turbulent cause there's only
eight cars in the pack.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, it's hard to get that experience,
especially with no practice.
I mean, you used to go down there for preseason thunder
and you would test and you see everybody drafting
and you would get those experiences,
but you don't get that now.
It's, it's a tough ask.
I almost forgot that's such a fun conversation
with Ricky that we talked to Tyler Reddick,
Daytona 500 champ on his media tour early in the day.
So let's see what he had to say.
Daytona 500 champ, Tyler Reddick.
Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, we are joined by none other
than the winner of the 68th great American race,
Mr. Tyler Reddick joins us on this.
Hey.
Thank you very much.
Have you slept?
My wife made sure that I slept a little bit.
You know, we, we went and celebrated together a little bit
at oyster pub.
Some of the, some of the team went back to the hotel.
The bar stayed open there and so yeah,
I think it was like two o'clock or something.
We, we shut it down.
Obviously, you know, the kids are, are back at the bus
with, with my mom and dad and some friends.
And so I wanted to relieve them so they can have some sleep too.
So yeah, as much as upfront, you want to stay up
and just never go to sleep.
It's like, man, you know, there's things I need to be
sharp for a lot of great things have taken place today.
You know, getting, getting the Rolex, getting the, the
jacket.
Let me see it.
Let me see it.
We got the ring right here.
Let me flip it over here.
Hold up to the camera.
I can't see it.
We got the, oh, there's the camera.
Yeah, there we go.
Okay.
I, I, yeah, it's, it's insane.
And then for me, one of my favorite parts,
I mean, the ring's amazing by Jostin's, but I'd always
told myself I had to earn my Rolex, my Daytona Rolex.
And I've always wanted one, but it's like, nope,
I'm not going to shortcut this.
I could buy one, but I want to earn the first one.
So it's, it's, yeah.
It's a real dream come true type, type deal for me.
Buddy, you earned it right down to the freaking bitter end.
I mean, I watched it from my couch, unfortunately,
but I was watching it back like the last three laps,
just rewind, fast forward, rewind.
And just to see like, I feel like the end of the race
is like a Rubik's cube that everybody gets their own
turn of like messing it up.
And when you cross the finish line, you only,
that's when you get to tell who got the right
combination or not.
So at what point in time did you feel like,
oh, I'm in position to win this thing?
And then how many times did you feel like
then you were shuffled out without position?
Yeah, when we cycled off Pit Road,
I felt pretty good about it.
You know, we had a little bit more feel
than a lot of my Toyota teammates.
They peeled off in Pit before I did.
We ended up tagging on the back of Kizlowski,
Busher, and I think was,
Graxon was up there too.
So maybe it was Aint Smith,
maybe it was a combination,
but we ended up just having more fuel.
So it made more sense for us to pit later.
We were able to jump on the back of that group,
get to pit road cleanly.
And we cycled out in front of the larger pack.
And I thought at some point, you know,
it was gonna kind of bite us.
But the other packs that pit, you know,
the Chevy groups and some of the other four groups
that pit after we did kind of shuffled out
and slowed that pack down,
gave us time to get really up to the speed
that we were gonna have as four cars.
So all that played out really well
for me to be in position to take advantage of that
and jump ahead of the cars that I pit with
to get to the lead.
And then we had the caution obviously.
And in that caution, that's, you know,
I as a driver have just,
when you're leading the Daytona 500
as the camera goes blurry, there we go.
As you're leading the Daytona 500
and you get that caution with like eight laps to go, right?
I mean, when you're sitting there leading the field,
obviously I wasn't.
I thought I was.
It was me last year.
Yeah.
You're saying you've got multiple infinite combinations
of how this can go wrong.
Well, not quite like that.
But for me, I was more coming from the place of
I've been, you know, dying for this opportunity.
This is the opportunity you may only get once
in a career at a place like Daytona.
And I was just, I felt the emotions of everything
kind of hit me at once.
And yeah, I mean, we're able to take the lead
shortly after the restart.
It didn't quite work out shortly thereafter.
Like you said, I was like, oh, I'm in control.
We're good.
Oh, I lost it.
Oh, I'm kind of back in it.
Oh, I'm back out of it.
And yeah, we crossed the start finish line
to take the white.
I felt like it was kind of unraveling on me.
Honestly, you know, the top was kind of rolling.
The middle didn't really have the momentum.
The bottom was kind of surging a bit.
And then, you know, the pushes just get so extreme.
They really do.
I mean, you're not going to give a breath.
You're not going to lift off the throttle any bit
at the end of this race, as you see it,
a lot of the speedways.
And yeah, I was far in McDowell, just got crossed up.
And somehow I only barely clipped.
I think it was the 43 coming across my nose too.
So in that moment, it's like, all right,
I got to try and get by Ricky, side draft him hard
and be the leader, because I thought the caution was
going to come.
And then it was like the longest five seconds ever.
It's like one, like, I mean, you know what I mean?
It just took forever.
I realized the caution wasn't coming.
And it's like, oh, shoot, now what?
I'm bottom of three.
I don't have help.
And the top surging, and me and Ricky are kind of just
pulling each other back.
And it's like, oh, man, that's a shame.
Here comes Riley Herbs to the rescue.
Yes, exactly.
Riley with the huge push, not only to help me,
but advance himself up to the front
and have a shot at winning the race too.
I was just glad he helped me.
I'm proud of him, obviously.
And I don't know if it made sense to him in the moment,
but I told him, I was even more proud of him
that after he got me there, that he
did what was best for him and tried
to win the race for himself too.
Now, obviously, I would have appreciated his push,
but I think he did everything right in my book
to help me and obviously give himself a shot
to win the race too, potentially.
Yeah, I mean, he's been in the mix here
the last couple of years too.
But talk to me about like cool down lap, right?
Mention the emotions with eight to go, let alone,
you know, they had the in-car camera on you
when you cross our finish line.
I can't imagine, you know, the emotion that's going through.
Then you see both, right?
Then you do the whole song and dance
on the front stretch pit road.
Talk to me about how that, just maybe even the cool down
lap from the time you take the checker
to the time you get out the window.
I mean, I instantly lost it.
And then in just, it's, you know,
just the way these races go, I was so excited.
I felt like I had won and I stopped myself
from like, wait, was it costing out?
Cause I don't know.
I was racing the nine.
I was racing everyone behind me and around me.
Yeah.
Did the car come out?
I mean, I know I was the only car that crossed
our finish line for a minute that wasn't wrecked.
But again, just seeing so many races go different ways
or the caution coming out at a weird time.
Like I just immediately I go to guys, did we win?
Did we win?
Like I'm sitting there just on the brink of absolutely
losing it for about a minute it felt like.
And then they finally come over the radio
and said, yes, you want to race.
I'm like, oh thank goodness.
That was like a weird moment.
Just again, these races end so chaotically.
I was trying not to get ahead of myself just in case,
but yeah, just, that's the stuff.
Your dream of hopefully having one day of just
having a shot at winning a race like the Daytona 500.
And yeah, it's just unreal.
It happened to me in just my eighth try.
Man, congratulations.
Again, what's it mean?
You know, when you're, luckily for you
you were on a two foot pedestal when MJ walked up.
So you looked, you were able to see him eye to eye.
What was that, what was that interaction like?
Oh, the timing was perfect.
I mean, it's incredible.
We were just getting ready to lift up
the Harley Jerald trophy and Michael gets to victory lane.
I said, hey man, you know, we, we embraced each other.
Obviously he was very proud of, of what,
what our entire group had accomplished.
You know, he's made so much of this possible with,
you know, what he's done for this team as an owner
in every way imaginable, you know,
what the, the kind of powerful things that he delivers
in his speeches, his presence just,
it does so much for, for 2311.
So for him to get there when it was time to lift the trophy up
and, and pick up the trophy with him was, was just perfect.
I know that last year was, you know, a lot to be,
especially with the 45 team and what your expectations are
and what you showed everybody in the past.
Last year wasn't tremendous.
So to start literally the year with a bang
coming out of the gate with a win at the Daytona 500,
you've got to be feeling pretty good.
Does this, does the season start this week now?
Like that you got this one behind you.
Kayla's lock in for the next 35 weeks.
Yeah. In the past, I feel like I do my best again, you know,
because of the Daytona 500 is, is everything that it is.
I try to make it, you know, its own race.
Again, when you win this race, you become a champion.
Right. So I try to, we do race for points, you know,
we have the duels, we race for points in those as well
and a dual win, but in years past, yes,
it's kind of been its own thing.
And then we go tackle the whole year.
And you know, you, you don't want to be thinking crazy
about points right out of the gate,
but this year was a little different, you know, like,
you know, I was trying to do everything I could in the duels.
Knowing points are going to matter all year
to try and get the best finish possible.
That didn't work out in the duels for us.
So again, in the stages and everything, you know,
this year was a bit different for me in thinking
and treating it like, you know, a points race.
Like almost like when we come back here in the summer.
So that part was a little bit different for me,
just mentally getting ready for it,
but how I guess I raced the race itself
and approached the end of it.
I treated it like, you know, like any race,
I'm in it, I have a chance to potentially win at the end.
I just, I do everything I can
and I trust my gut and my instincts.
Well, those are pretty good
because now you're a multiple speedway racer
and those things are might as well just roll the dice
and hopefully come up on snake eyes
for your numbers to be pulled.
But I said earlier in the week
that somebody is going to drive through this tunnel
on Tuesday, just a mere mortal human being
and somebody's going to drive out of here
on Monday morning, immortal, a Daytona 500 champion.
And that's you, buddy.
That's you, like, and just hearing you,
just hearing you in this last 10 minutes
is like, you know how much it means
and you know what it does for somebody's career.
Do you let that, has it sunk in yet?
It has today, you know.
In the moment, standing in front of the crowd,
you know, in the Tri-Vul, it just didn't seem real
even then, you know.
I did my best to botch the burnout.
Just just, it's hard to do a burnout
on the front stretch here, but you know,
it slowly sunk in.
I made sure to do what I could to back up
and wave at all the fans that stuck around
to see the finish.
Yeah, once I started to get to everybody
that helps make it possible,
that's a part of the team,
sharing those moments with them,
that's when it really started to sink in.
I got to share a little bit of that
with them on the front stretch
by the start and finish line,
but when we were all as a team,
one group in Victory Lane,
that's when it really started to sink in.
But certainly when I woke up this morning,
it was, yep, it had happened.
The ring was in my possession.
I have the hat, it was not a dream.
The watch was on your wrist.
Well, I got the watch this morning,
the jacket this morning,
put my feet and hands in the cement,
so yeah, it's crazy, honestly.
That's pretty syrup, and you cap it all off
with a night at the Oyster Pub,
off a sea breeze boulevard, buddy.
That's what dreams are made of.
Yep, yeah.
Well, I know you got a long day ahead of you.
What's like a media trip?
I know they have like the next two days for you.
Are you going to New York?
Like what's it look like?
I'm going to New York.
I don't, I think they've got it loaded on my calendar.
I haven't really been looking at my phone yet.
They're just pulling you wherever you need to go.
Yeah, I know we're going to New York.
I think we have some media stuff tomorrow.
We fly all day tomorrow.
All day tomorrow.
Bro, that points are racking up.
Come on with it.
They're not going to count, I don't think.
For Atlanta they will, not New York.
Oh, come on now.
We're bringing a champion.
Part for Atlanta?
We'll see what we can do.
We'll sit down.
Oh, Friday, I am.
The Friday, OK, so the stuff I'm going to New York for
doesn't count, I guess.
It's part of the champion.
It's the experience.
You earned the media, buddy.
You are the X1 500 champion.
So proud of you.
And you're one of the good guys, buddy.
You're one of the good guys.
I'm happy you were able to get that done last night.
So, Tyler Reddick, congratulations, and thanks
for joining the stack of pennies.
Absolutely.
Thanks, Corey.
See you, buddy.
Congrats.
I'm happy for you.
We have a lot of last-slap reactions here for the 500.
Oh, man, you worry.
OK, so we're in the lead for a little bit.
And then do we know what shirt is on this blue one?
I'm sure he's pulling for me.
Yeah, he's not.
I'm sure he's pulling for me.
Right here, see Joey thought about going with me,
and then he didn't.
Yeah, OK.
And then here's where I get behind him and locked on.
You know, we get rolling.
Brad.
Who was that on the bottom?
Brad.
Brad.
OK.
Yeah.
Man, it's crazy.
Yeah, it's like two teammates, and then you got four Fords,
and then Chase.
If he had stuck with me earlier, I would have been up there
to help him.
Dude, it's just dicey come to the line.
Yeah.
Oh, big Rick.
Oh, that's a Tyler Reddick shirt.
Oh, was it a Reddick shirt?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, I was super pumped after the race, then.
Yeah, he should have been.
How about, did you see Priest?
I did.
Did you see the meme that was like when your girl tells you,
hey, there's a parking spot over there,
and then you pass the parking spot,
and then you throw it in reverse?
There he is.
Well, like Denny is debating on it, but he's like, no.
Like, Tyler Reddick is in the middle of crowd surfing.
He's crowd surfing right now, and here comes the 60
putting backwards.
I am glad that he, I mean, he pulled it all the way
to the top of the track.
Yeah.
This is a great topic right here.
Hot take number two, because this is a perfect question
for you, because you have one of the all-time quotes
in NASCAR history.
America, 1776, we are the champs.
The old Firecracker 400 win.
It just felt right.
It did feel right.
What made that come out?
I don't know.
I mean, July 4th weekend, fireworks.
America?
Yeah, and in my spotter, Mike Herman, at the time,
he was really big on the history of NASCAR, right?
He's been in it forever, and he's mad that they've changed
the names of these races.
And he's like.
To sponsors?
Yeah, to sponsors.
He's like, no, this is the Firecracker 400, you know?
And guys like Herman really put their stake in the ground.
And then, yeah, I don't know.
Yeah, just rolled with it.
I mean, you just felt.
Just felt right.
Red blooded America.
Kyron's number one of the most American moments in sports
to that.
I love to see him, John Groot,
and post in a pic fired up about being there at Richard Petty.
Did you see any of those guys just now?
Groot in?
Groot in was there?
Yeah, Groot in was there.
I passed him as I was running to the bathroom.
So I didn't stop.
I ran into beast mode.
What was he like?
I thought about tackling him, but I didn't.
It would be like hitting.
It'd be like running to literally a center block wall.
Yeah.
I saw Noah in his trailer with Groot and Sander going,
Red 40!
He was doing like the call, calling him off.
It's like, only Noah.
Mike All-Star was hanging out with us.
Noah's looking more like a left tackle right now
than a quarterback.
I was standing there in four trucks,
Stapled and just walked in hanging out.
There's so many people you don't even realize.
I got a little bit of a bone to pick.
I don't know with who.
We've got all these dignitaries there.
We've got John Groot.
We've got John Daly, golfer John Daly.
Was this kid there too?
He was across the street.
He probably was just passing.
I don't know if he ever made it to the track.
Okay, so John Daly.
The list goes on.
Kurt Russell.
Kurt Russell.
Oh, oh, shout out.
Harry Hyde from Days of Thunder passed away.
Robert Duvall passed away, literally today.
No, he didn't.
Dang.
Yeah, RIP.
But my bone to pick.
We got all these people here.
And we got Homer Simpson dropping a green flag.
I thought my spotter in a big Homer Simpson fire suit.
My spotter says, hey, we had that's so much hell.
Yeah.
And then that's like a hell nah, bro.
My spotter goes, hey, I think Homer's dropping the rag.
Homer's dropping the rag.
Be careful, man.
Make sure it don't fall.
Yeah.
There's bars, bars, bars, skateboard up there.
That's a hell no.
We had so much Thunderbirds buzzing the tower
at 8 o'clock in the morning.
That's America.
Have you got to do that?
Yeah, last year.
Dude, it was the coolest thing I've ever done.
So I talked to Conner.
Conner pulled 9.2.
How many did you pull?
9.42.
So Conner and John Hunter did it this year.
And I kept talking Thursday night.
We're sitting there on the stage
and we're talking because Joey was there.
Joey's done it.
He passed out or puked both.
Trevor and I did it the same year.
Joey's got a longer neck.
Like a lot of the blood flow comes from here,
travels down.
But Conner, I was like, did you pass out?
And he goes, no, but I blacked out.
And I was like, I think that's the definition.
That's the same thing.
I don't know, but I think it is.
He said that like two or three times
we were talking about it.
I'm like, Alex Bumlos here.
He goes, yeah, I don't know.
That sounds like the definition of passing out.
But he was convinced.
9.2.
My vision got tight.
But no, it never went out.
So oh, yeah, you have to.
You can't explain the force on your body.
What'd you pull?
9.2.
OK.
You did 9.4?
9.4.
I knew you're a crossfitter.
And here's what I said.
I told him, give me a little extra.
The difference in 9.
It ain't much of a difference.
I don't know what a big like, if you were like, say,
rock climbing and a big boulder like fell on you,
I don't know like, for force.
And you trying to get up.
It's nothing of a 45G hit for you guys.
Well, my hit was.
What was your G hit on the end of the race?
45.
You just kept on going.
My was 42 on Thursday night.
Yeah.
But that's instant.
Instant.
Like this is like a can.
Four seconds.
Yeah.
What about the Blue Angels, though?
Like they don't wear G suits.
Real man.
Dale Jr. said he rode with the Blue Angels,
and he didn't have a G suit.
Real man.
I wonder if it's.
Steve Kinzer did, too, back in the day.
He's probably smoking a cigarette, just.
That's an unbelievable.
So that, every time I do it, though,
every time I do anything with any arm of the armed forces,
it's like, we're good.
Yeah.
We're good.
Dude, I met somebody this weekend,
speaking of the armed forces.
Joey and I did a USO tour.
It was 2012 to 2013 season, and we went to Kuwait and Germany.
And dude, I met a guy that he was there back when we went there.
So that was cool.
He was at the Daytona 500 from 2012-13.
I'll tell you what, my all-time, I love all the pictures
of all the celebrities, but my all-time picture from Speed Weeks
is Scott Bloomquist just in that Mustang convertible.
Oh, yeah, drawing his suit.
Just trying to, like, that is peak speed weeks to me.
When I, you can see all these people, right?
But then when you see Scott Bloomquist come walking up
on the grid, I'm like, hell yeah, Speed Weeks, baby.
It's a special place in February.
But now it's not get back here to Charlotte.
Now it's like, OK, now the season is upon us.
But before we get talking about Atlanta or anything else,
Ricky, we're starting to do these little things,
a little bit of a video segment called That's Racing.
And I don't really know what That's Racing is.
We all know what it is, but it's hard to articulate it.
So what is racing to you as open-ended?
Well, I mean, I think if I'm using, like,
that's just racing.
Like if I'm talking about a single thing that
happened on the racetrack, it's just to take from last weekend,
like from Daytona to Riley pulling up to try and block Brad.
Like, he didn't wreck him on purpose.
He didn't want to wreck himself.
But it didn't have time to think like,
didn't have time to think about it.
That's just racing.
Or two guys meeting the middle.
Like in the truck race the other night,
host of art at the time, I think he's a lap down up trying
to win the race.
Either the old-fashioned way.
Yeah, he tried to block a guy off a four
and they kind of met in the middle.
It's like, that's just part of it.
Things like that.
Thursday night, that's racing.
Yeah.
Did you hear the quote that Kalita said
that Carson told him before the race?
If you cause the wreck, you're usually not in it.
That's what comes like,
that is the Carson host of our quote to the court.
And it's pretty accurate.
Yeah.
I mean, it's accurate.
60% of the time.
Oh, maybe eight.
60% of the time, it works every time.
I think we're still beating this up.
I don't know.
You're the first person I asked.
I think that the better question is like, why racing?
Why is it the highest highs and the lowest lows
and why do we keep coming back?
And why do we do it?
Yeah.
I mean, in racing, like, you know, and I,
and I tell people in other sports, like you lose more
than you win.
Kyle Larson loses more races than he wins.
Like he's the most winning driver.
I would say, you know, across all motor sports,
you know, jumping to different cars and doing this,
but he still technically loses more than he wins.
Max Verstappen might win more, you know,
just in Formula One, right?
Like, but I don't know.
I don't know why we do it.
Speaking of guys like that, man,
seeing Tony walk through the garage and spending years with him
and being part of that number one garage stall
and then seeing him and Nelson, it was.
His dad ain't, his never age.
Nelson and Tony's store's dad's a stud.
But talking to him, it was just weird.
And we've talked about this a lot,
but now that I'm, you know, we're getting older
and we see people come and go in the garage like,
all the people in the 14 car and everything Tony had
that was the champion 10 years ago is gone.
And it was just weird to see that.
And like for them, for Nelson to be like,
I got to run out to the car and get my stuff out of the car
because he didn't have a, like a place to go.
Yeah.
And I just had this weird feeling.
And I was like, man, this shit is so fleeting.
Like we really need to enjoy it while we're here.
Yeah. I mean, I've been very fortunate
to be here as long as I have.
And, you know, and, but like you speak into Tony.
I mean, like there was a time that, you know,
I felt like the legends were just always in the sport.
You know, and now we're getting to a time where
they're not there anymore, you know,
and then the guys that, you know, in the 90s,
you know, early 2000s, they're out.
It'll be, it'll be interesting in the next 10 years
to see what, what it looks like.
Those guys, you know, the list,
Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr.
Like those guys were lowercase G gods to NASCAR.
Yeah.
And there's just, there's own,
there's not even somebody,
I'm sure the guys that are consistently winning,
but those guys haven't really elevated themselves
to like folklore.
Yeah.
Like, like the previous generation has.
Yeah.
I wonder what.
Like, that's what I'm saying.
Like in 10 years.
Because the competition's tighter.
There's more disparity.
You know, a lot of people have blamed it
on the format of points, right?
And they did not, the points format,
I've heard this a lot through everybody talking about
the playoffs and how the system works is
you're not talking about the guys and the points
every week, you're talking about different people
and no one has a chance to build themselves.
I don't know what the right answer is,
but I do know that.
I don't think that's true.
And you've been here a long time.
Yeah.
What I do know is that it seems refreshing.
Like the lawsuits are over, the bullshit's over,
and it seems like there's a little bit
of breath of fresh air.
Have you felt that in the garage this year?
Yeah, I feel like we're in a really good spot.
I think there's a, you look at all the things
that NASCAR has going for them
and what our sport has going for them.
I think now it's like, all right,
maybe we can kind of get back to kind of taking off.
Right?
The cloud that was hovering is gone.
Yeah, and I don't think it was just a lawsuit.
I mean, there was plenty of other things going on
that just kind of felt like we stayed just semi, right?
Just a little still.
Yeah, but I think right now, man,
it's like, yeah, we're doing a lot of things that are cool,
you know, more horsepower.
Again, I think that's going to keep going.
You know, I don't think we're done.
Yeah, I can't speak for NASCAR,
but I don't think we're done there.
Good year, I feel like is doing more than ever
than they have of everybody working together.
You don't have drivers getting out
and bashing the tires, right?
Like, so they're willing to work on them.
And they've incentivized you guys, right?
Like we talk, we joke about the DAP program,
but they've incentivized the drivers
and you guys are out in the media doing more stuff.
The numbers are fascinating, you know,
of how many more, you know, interviews, impressions,
you know, whatever you want to call it
that we had last year versus any previous years.
I mean, it's a lot.
So, yeah, there's a lot of good things going.
Going back to Chicago land, you know,
again, like NASCAR is listening to everybody
and they're listening to the fans.
Yeah, with the going back to the Charlotte Oval,
I mean, these race cars put on great shows
at mile and a half.
And Charlotte is sick.
Charlotte is, you know, the roval was actually fun.
Like I didn't dislike it.
It just wasn't as good as the oval, you know?
And if you still wanted to go there a third time
and run the roval, I don't care,
but the oval needs two races.
Kind of like the Bristol dirt race.
Like, Bristol dirt race was fun,
but so is regular Bristol.
Yeah.
And more of something good doesn't necessarily make it great.
Yeah.
And then, you know, now we're going to the base, San Diego.
And I think, you know, what Chicago taught NASCAR is,
hey, we can move this thing right.
Like we can go to some one-off markets every now and then.
Which is big too.
San Diego's gonna be sick.
Have you been out there yet?
No.
I mean, I've been to San Diego.
I just haven't been to the track or to the base.
Buddy, I don't know if there's any more
at that point so we can get you,
but I damn sure appreciate the time it's been fun.
Congratulations again.
It's always good to hang out in the old stack
and pennies garage.
Is that what you call this thing?
Nonsense garage.
Nonsense garage.
It's not an official name.
Just like any week, man, I think the first week
we're gonna be back on Serious XM Channel 90s
to those who've been listening to this.
They appreciate it.
YouTube, NASCAR channel.
Where you find Ricky on all your social channels?
Oh, just at Stenhouse, Junior.
We keep it simple.
That's it.
And Slide Job Ranch is gone, right?
Are you gonna make it?
I don't know.
I mean, the store's still up.
We still got some merch to sell.
But you're in the process of building a new one?
Yeah, we're kind of building a new one.
Is it gonna be Slide Job Ranch?
I don't know yet.
It's up in the air.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, hey, good luck to you.
Thanks, ladies and gentlemen,
for stacking pennies with us this week.
Tough week for me.
Good week for Ricky.
Better week for Tyler Reddick, 500 Champ.
Appreciate you guys.
Have a fantastic day.
Goodbye.
About this episode
Corey LaJoie and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. dive into the intense aftermath of the Daytona 500, sharing firsthand experiences from victory celebrations to the grueling media grind. They discuss the fine margins between winning and finishing runner-up, the financial and emotional impacts of wrecks, and the strategic nuances of drafting and pushing in superspeedway racing. The episode also touches on rivalries, race dynamics, and the unpredictable nature of the event, offering a detailed look at what it takes to compete at the highest level in NASCAR's biggest race.
Original notes
The Daytona 500 gave us both ends of racing.
Corey was half a lap from making the show and didn’t. The truck motor blew. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was right there at the end again. And Daytona reminded everyone that superspeedway racing isn’t about domination, it’s about decision-making under pressure.
This week, we break down the winners and losers, what really causes the big one, why engine failures happen, and what fans misunderstand about racing at 195 mph.
Green Flag.
Winners & Losers.
Quiet Part Out Loud.
Predictions.
If you’re new here, this is Stacking Pennies. From inside the world of all things racing.
Leave a review if you’re riding with us this season.
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