Las Vegas Playoff Recap: Denny Hamlin Advances to Championship 4, Byron and Blaney Struggle, NASCAR 750 HP News

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The thing I love about Denny Hamlin is his willingness to keep learning.

Driver of the 11 is very determined right now.

Those are the breaks in sports.

Sometimes it just isn't meant to be, and that's one of those situations.

He said Kevin Harvick came up to me and said,

In your position, you should be the most hated person.

Kudos to them for giving the cars more horsepower.

I don't think anybody will notice.

Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.

I'm Kevin Harvick.

This is Caitlin Benzzi and our one and only Mama Smith.

One and only.

Welcome back.

Already dressed for Phoenix, I see.

Listen, you got to get there.

I had a fan this weekend at the race track.

You need to tell Slappy to bring it.

You're now being referred to as Slappy by the fans.

Slappy, Slapstick, whatever you want to refer to him as.

Some of the fans do it in an endearing way,

and some of them in other places not so endearing.

So do you get Slappy or Slapstick?

Somebody on Twitter called me Slapstick,

and I said, I appreciate your closer because that means you want.

The only way that you call me Slapstick is if you listen.

Please, it's not Slapstick.

Yeah, it could be Slapstick.

That would be way worse.

That would be bad.

Babyface Slapstick today.

Look at that.

Clean shaven.

Oh, he's so cute.

You can go from looking 42 to 22.

Because he was in Mexico.

Oh.

In the Mamacitas.

Was it hot down there?

It was raining.

No, it didn't rain.

Rainy season did not hit us at all.

It didn't rain.

No kidding.

Was it a bachelor party in case people aren't following along?

Yeah, it was at a bachelor party.

That's fun.

It was 25 of us.

Wow.

Did you guys all fly on the same plane?

No, we all got in at different times,

but those 25 of us had a great time.

I've never been a part of a party like that.

So you're in the wedding if you're at the batch.

No.

You were just there for fun.

They called me because they know.

You're the chief hype officer.

I'm the chief hype officer.

So you know what?

You got to call the guy.

It was fun.

I had a good time.

Did you drink any beer?

Yeah, I did.

Because the way that they pour the liquor there is not great.

Because we had an all inclusive resort.

Okay.

So I'm pretty sure they cut the liquor.

Did you get the whistle and the head shake and the tequila shot?

Yeah, dude.

We went to Coco Bongo.

It's like this club slash Vegas-type show.

And they're with the whistles.

A whistle.

Dude, they hit me in the face, throw a shot in my mouth,

shake my head and bang it off this girl's chest.

I was like, this happens.

Very impressive.

That's a little much.

Yeah, it's a lot.

You didn't want the shot, did you?

I didn't want the shot.

It burned the whole way down.

You got it, though.

I got the shot and it hurt.

So did you eat the worm?

No, there was no worm in that.

I wouldn't eat the worm.

I got you.

Did you ever eat the scorpion?

No.

Heck no.

I love how different our lives are.

Because I was at a pumpkin patch with my kids.

Yeah.

Kevin was in Vegas, but he was competing.

So how was that?

He finally beat Keelan.

He did.

I did.

Yeah, Keelan wrecked.

Yeah.

It was a wet, rainy Friday night and Thursday night.

Yeah.

It was a monsoon and luckily we got it in about 1.

1.30 in the morning.

Oh, wow.

When it ended.

Yeah, it was late.

So killed the crowd, but it was a great event.

Had a good turn out of cars and archer race was good.

So we had good races, but I raced for the lead.

And I passed the leader twice.

I moved him the first time.

First time he got high, got under him, caution came out.

Second time I moved him, got by him, caution came out.

And third time I didn't get to him.

He was a chase.

Jace hell was a little bit, he won the race, but he was a

little bit better than I was.

And I knew that I had to get to his back bumper before

before he got through turns one and two.

Third time.

I didn't get there.

He knew the move.

Top five though.

Yeah.

Should have finished second.

Got, it got a little dicey at the end and wound up third.

That place is cool.

Yeah.

And you have quite a bit of racing coming up.

I do.

Yeah.

This weekend, this weekend we're racing the cars tour

finale at North Wilkesboro.

So we're going to go into Keele and I are going to run

the pro-late model this weekend.

And so that's the last race of the, of the cars tour

season out here on the East coast.

And then we go to run the super late model next week

at, at Kern Raceway in Bakersfield, California.

And then the finale for the, the West pro-late models is

next month.

I think it's the 15th, 14th, 15th, whatever that weekend

is in the pro-late model.

So three more.

Would you ever, would you like to bring the cars

tour West to Phoenix?

Cause I know when you race late models out there,

that was a thing.

Yeah.

I think, I think the tracks a little bit too big for,

for those cars.

I just think that the way that it's evolved with the

straight frame rails, they used to be perimeter cars.

So I felt like they're, you know, could crash a little bit

harder, but I just don't think that you want to take them

to a track that big.

No.

The straight rails kind of fold up pretty hard.

Yeah.

There's just nothing over there on that right side.

Speaking of straight rails, gotta give a shout out to

Ty Majeski.

He won the Winchester 400.

He did.

Yeah.

I like when he's one of those guys that whenever he

can, especially with the truck schedule, you have

more time.

Flexibility.

More flexibility.

And I like that he goes and does that.

I think it keeps him sharp in the truck too.

Good for Ty.

He'll be ready for Talladega.

Yeah.

Okay.

Welcome in everybody to episode 72 here on happy hour.

Plenty to talk about leaving Las Vegas on the cup

series side.

Talladega is next.

We have some good sips.

Yeah.

A special guest on the sip.

Oh, we got a guest.

Yeah.

We got a guest.

Really?

Kind of cool.

Yeah.

All right guys.

So this race, the ending had some intrigue with

differing strategies.

Two tires versus four.

A lot of aggression out of a certain driver at the

end to try and make something happen.

And it was Denny Hamlin.

What was the most about what you saw out of Denny?

Well, we asked the question several weeks ago when he had

to run in with Ty Gibbs, was that going to be the

downfall of, of Denny Hamlin's championship run?

And that is not the case.

It has just steamrolled right on.

And we saw in qualifying the Gibbs cars were super

fast again.

And we got to the race kind of started and you're like,

I don't know.

Chase Briscoe was fast.

And by the end of the race though, and Denny Hamlin,

you see the pass for the lead right here on Chase Briscoe,

who was on two tires.

He got into the wall a little bit earlier.

The 19 did and lost a little bit of pace in his car,

but they rolled the dice and wound up with a,

with a decent finish for the 19 car.

But that 11 was on rails at the end and driver of the

11 is very determined right now to do all the

things that he's doing.

A lot of emotion after the race with everything

going on in Denny's life.

And you saw how important it was to get that

60th win.

His dad's been ill.

Got the lawsuit going on.

You got all the pressure of the championship and,

and you could just see all of it just hit him,

hit him all at once.

But those guys are on a mission right now for sure.

He tied you was 16.

He did.

He sure did.

And I want to give credit to his crew chief Chris Gale

because he, he made a comment after the race saying how

he got the car exactly how he needed.

And people probably forgot like this came together

in December last year.

I don't think Denny or Gale knew they were going

to be together.

It was kind of last minute decision.

And Chris Gale is never even advanced out of the

first round of the playoffs.

Now he's going to the championship four.

Yeah.

I mean Chris Gale is, he's had usually young

drivers.

He talked about that a lot at the beginning of the

year.

And now he's able to flex the muscle and all the

knowledge that he's learned with somebody who

knows exactly what they need and what they want

in their car and maybe are a step even in

front.

And then Chris can work on something else.

Well, Denny's working on this part, right?

Obviously is working six wins.

That's a huge total.

It is.

They should be very proud of what they've

accomplished this year.

Denny hasn't been to the final four in a while.

So having a shot at championship is, is huge

for that group.

And I mean, we've said it before, we said it

last year.

He's a walk-in Hall of Famer.

Yep.

Like he's going, he's going in the driver

that he is is absolutely incredible.

What he can do with a race car on track

and putting people in compromising situations

and even when he was racing with Larson,

you could kind of see like Kyle was doing a

little bit of the same moves, but maybe not as

close and still gave him a lane and he got,

took the top.

And then once he ran down the 19, it was like,

Chase was a same guy.

It was like, okay, let's go ahead.

The thing I love about Denny Hamlin at this

point in his career is his willingness to

keep learning.

And you hear him talk about that and you

hear his crew chief talk about that.

And, and, and when Denny talks about,

I'm always learning something.

There's nothing more true.

And I think that if you're open and willing

to be critiqued and learn and listen

and take the things and apply the things

that work for you, that ever look,

I used to always, you guys have heard me say

before, evolve or die, right?

And if you don't evolve with the

situation, our sport is, it evolves

constantly as to what's good, what's

bad, what works, what doesn't work.

They change the tires, they change the

horsepower, whatever it is, you have

to constantly change what you're doing

as to what works and what doesn't

work.

And I think that his commitment to the

simulator and the SIM and his team,

I think that, you know, Chris Gales

had a lot of young guys, but I don't

think he's had the experience and the

guidance and the leadership that you

get from a Denny Hamlin type.

You know, I look at Denny Hamlin

and Joey Logano as maybe the only

two guys that can do it at the

level that they are able to

guide their team with what they need

in the car and the commitment that

it takes.

You know, committed, I think

William Byron is committed, but they

haven't seen as much and you can't

make up for that time in the seat

with a team, with different teams,

different people as to the way that

things work.

So, experience and commitment

and just being a badass driver

is hard to overcome that and

especially right now when those

Gibbs cars are as fast as they

are.

Definitely a testament to his

dedication, I think they said he

spent seven hours in the SIM and

it was a lot of questions for Chris

Gale going in about this race in

particular.

So, it paid off.

How advantageous, too, for the

team, they're locked in.

They have the next couple of weeks

to prepare for Phoenix.

Well, you look at everything

that they did for this race.

I can't imagine how much time

that they will put in for Phoenix.

I don't think that, you know,

they have the strength in the

cars that the Fords and things

do for Talladega.

I think that's almost a

difference.

I think that the Chevrolets and

Fords have better, faster cars

for Talladega than what the

Toyota's have.

But I think when you look at

Martin'sville, you know,

Blaney's going to be good.

I think that Denny Hamlin is

always really good at

Martin'sville and it just seems

like that they have more pace

at all the places except for

Talladega.

So, it'll be interesting.

I think if Bel can get himself

in, you know, I think that those

cars have the most speed right

now.

But the five in the 24 showed up

this weekend with speed that we

haven't seen out of those cars

in a while.

Kyle Larson leading a bunch of

laps, putting himself in

contention to win the race

there at the end.

William Byron obviously had the

mistake, but he had speed all

day.

So, I don't know if those guys,

it seems like since St.

Louis, those guys have found a

way back into that speed

conversation.

I'll be interested to see how

Denny decides to

try to control the playoffs

now.

Right?

Because he's in the situation

where he can.

And like if there's one guy that

you don't want to be able to have

all the control other than

Joey Logano in the 22 is

probably the 11 and because

he's fast and he knows how to

put you in compromising situations.

He knows how to help somebody

to make moves over the next two

weeks will be interesting.

I'm really, I'm very happy for

him from the standpoint of

his dad.

Because, you know, like

he talked about in his post

trace in the conference room

there.

He's talking about how his dad

sacrificed so much.

Oh, yeah.

And that's how he was able to

get there.

And when I think about my

parents and what it meant for

my dad to be at just one

archer race, let alone having

your dad able to watch you go

to the NASCAR Hall of Fame or

like it just means a lot.

So I really, I'm really happy

for that.

Because I think people forget

because Denny's been such a huge

star in the sport for years of

his humble beginnings.

And I remember interviewing him

at Langley where he started a

lot of his career saying how his

dad had to take out all these

extra lines of credit and

mortgage and all these

different things to help him

race.

And like I'm sure you can

relate to what it's like to

come up the hard way and really

earn it the tough way.

Well, I mean you just, you

have so much respect for

the achievements that you have.

And I think that, you know,

there's a lot of things that

lined up for the emotion of

what we saw at a Denny Hamlin

this week.

But I think the passion that

he has for the sport, you see

it, you know, whether it's the

respect that his dad gave

and the things that he gave

for that situation or it's the

respect for always trying to

make the sport better.

Sure, he does it in his own

unique way.

But I think after the race

you really saw all that

emotion thanking the fans,

not trying to instigate the

fans.

I mean there was just a number

of things that were very

different when we saw and

cheers.

A lot of cheers.

A lot of cheers after the

race.

So, you know, I think that

that balance of podcast

controversy, lawsuits, and

then you have the other side

of the performance on the

racetrack.

I mean you can't deny what

he does in the race car.

And so, you know, I think

that was, you know, pretty

awesome moment for Denny to

get that 60th win to put

himself in the playoffs.

And, you know, right now

he's the guy to beat when you

get to Phoenix.

Yes, he is.

So, things came together for

Denny.

You referenced William Byron.

I want to go to him next

because it was interesting at

Kansas.

They kind of limped through

that race, mile and half

race.

But they came to play when

it came to Las Vegas.

Very good car.

Bizarre incident happened to

him, though, with Ty

Dillon who was coming to

Pit Road.

But no one seemed to know

how to communicate.

How frustrating is this for a

driver?

See, this is why the one race

to the championship thing

sucks.

Because what if this was

Phoenix and you're leading

something like this happens

to prevent you from having

a good result?

Well, there's a number of

things that could have gone

a lot better here.

You know, when they go

back, you know, the 10 car

of Ty Dillon never put his

hand out the window.

Like when I was coming to

Pit Road, I always would

kind of weave my car, put

my hand out the window to

make sure that the guy

behind me knew I was

coming.

Now, the 10 spotters says

that he told the 24

spotter and the 24 driver

says the spotter never told

him.

So there were a number of

things that could have gone

better right here in this

situation.

But, you know, the line was

locked down to the bottom

of the racetrack for the

most part.

And I think from William

Byron's standpoint, he

looked and saw the 10 car,

two car links off the

white line, which was

pretty normal for Pit

entrance this weekend.

I don't know about a

car that's multiple laps

down.

He was out of the pit cycle

of everybody else by 15

or so laps when he was

pitting.

So I don't think William

didn't know he was pitting.

And he said that in his

interview.

William didn't think he was

pitting because of where

they were at from the cycle

thinking it was done.

And then all of a sudden,

you know, all that just

compiled into a bad situation

right there in a massive,

massive wreck.

Yeah.

No, that's probably the

worst way to lose a race.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

And like people like, well,

William could have,

why didn't he just move

right?

Well, like, let me tell you,

when the cars all loaded up

and you're fully in the

throttle, if you go right,

there's no bringing it back

left before you hit the

wall.

So like there was,

there was nothing he

could really do.

It was too far into the

situation to abort.

Yeah.

To abort that.

I absolutely, I hate that.

And you know, this is the,

those are the breaks in

sports.

That's you can do

everything right.

They did everything right.

They brought a fast car.

They executed well.

He was doing what he was

supposed to do.

Good stops.

And sometimes it just

isn't meant to be.

And that's one of those

situations.

But because of the

situation, they have two

more races to make sure

they lock in.

They're only 15

points out.

So they legitimately can

point their way in

or win their way in

and they could win

either one of them.

And I think for,

for me, the thing that

really caught my attention

when he was doing his

post-race interview or is

at the medical center was

just, I mean, it knocked

him to his knees.

Yeah.

He was devastated.

Said it.

Right.

Yeah.

He did.

And it's just that time

a year when,

when the implications

of something like that

happening.

And I think he feels

like whether he knew

or didn't know it was

his responsibility to,

to not hit that car.

Yeah.

And, you know,

that's a,

that's a tough one

to,

tough one to swallow

there as,

as you,

as you get into that

scenario.

So they'll rebound

and be able to

be ready for

a second.

Those are the situations

that set someone up to

go a minor step back

and then it really

locked somebody in

because you like,

I feel like that was

taken from us.

Yeah.

So go take one back.

And you heard him

talk about it as well

in his post-race interview,

but you know,

he had just made a

mistake, got loose

and lost the lead.

So he lost control

of the race.

So it was to

back to back.

Two heirs,

however you,

however you want to

categorize them

and who to blame

them on.

I don't know,

so William Byron is 15

points below the

cut line.

Further down from him

is another playoff contender,

obviously Ryan Blaney

who had an early exit

in the first stage

after a left for your

tire blew.

And your pick.

Those are both our

picks, right Byron?

Didn't you pick Byron?

No, no.

Oh, you did.

Oh, you were brisk.

I knew it was a B.

Okay.

So how much panic

mode do you think

Ryan Blaney needs

to be in?

Does he?

Well, I mean,

I think both of those

Pinsky cars are in a

whole points wise

and there's only

six to eight.

We expect the Fords

to be the,

you know,

the fastest cars

when it comes to

speed at Talladega

and being able to

push and the Pinsky

lineup.

So, yeah,

it definitely,

the good news for Blaney,

I feel like he can

win at Talladega

and I feel like he

could win it

at Martinsville.

So they have the

capability to go out

and win.

It's going to be

difficult to make

up all those

points.

Yeah.

But not too long ago,

it was death taxes

and Ryan Blaney

winning at Talladega

fall race.

So they're going to

have to reach back into

that bag of tricks

and waiting for the fall.

The bag's been gone

for a couple of years.

But it's not like

they haven't, to your point,

Kevin, it's not like

they haven't been

running up front.

Like a lot of times

when Ryan wrecks out

at a super speedway,

they're running up

front and running well

and it's like a mid

race or like before

the end.

So I think for them,

it kind of,

it kind of makes

the path very clear,

right?

Sometimes it makes it

easier.

It makes it easier.

Mentally, it makes it

easier because of the fact

that you only have

one thing to worry about.

One option.

Yeah.

I mean,

typically with the way

that they qualify

and the speed that

they have,

they're going to score

some stage points

and there's going to

be a couple of these

guys that probably

don't score points

in the playoffs

in those stages.

So I look for them

to probably go after

the points like

they normally do

in those first

two stages,

which, you know,

half of it out.

If it at least gives you

a better option

for the end of the race

first,

but at least gives you

some sort of better

option as you go

to Martinsville.

If you can,

if you can cut that,

that that point gap

from 30,

31,

like 15.

Yeah.

If you can go to

Martinsville with 15

points down,

you're,

because you know

you should run good

at both of those

racers and as good

as they were at

Loudon,

you would expect them

to go and run

if it was me,

I would go into this week

and be like,

because it's really

something to the driver

and the spotter

at Talladega, right?

Like it's those two guys

that have to really

get it done.

So I'd be like boys,

be aggressive,

go get it done.

Like go, go get it done.

Which they always are.

Right.

The Fords are always

very organized.

They're good pushers.

We know they will

be strong.

And like you mentioned,

I'm sure Ryan feels

the same way Byron does.

Like one got taken

from him.

And the hardest part

the hardest part about

is the fact that there's

so many different agendas.

So many agendas.

And everybody

and everyone

feels like they can win.

Right?

And they can.

And you got like a Brad

Kazowski.

If I'm Brad,

I feel like I should

have won Atlanta.

And if it's between

me winning Talladega

or pushing a Ford

to advance in the playoffs,

I don't know

if I'm not just

going to win for me.

I think I'm going to

win for me first.

They need to win

because they need one.

And really I think

this is the only

opportunity that the

six car will have.

A bunch of those guys

in that category.

This is the only race

at the end of the year

here that you have

a chance left to win.

The rest of them,

the other two,

the other three are going

to be our two more

are going to be one by

one of these playoff guys.

Yeah.

Kevin may be given

a little precursor

on his pick there.

Drop some subtle hints

perhaps.

You never know.

So let's talk

about Chase Elliott

for a moment

because this team

just basic errors

unfortunately for them

throughout the day.

Well, first

the pit box,

which kind of threw off

the choreography.

Easy there though.

This is just one of those

places where the pit boxes

are super slick

and slid all the way

through that pit stall

and kind of got everything

out of sync right there

on this pitstop.

So it's

it's

we saw a few mistakes

on pit road,

but you know,

I think that the last

one that that the nine

had on pit road

with the tire

getting away from them

and putting them

a lap down

and putting them

behind and

they never really recovered

never, never recovered

for that.

So it's

just something

so small

can take you out of

out of contention,

but they had speed as well.

They had speed

in like middle of the race.

I'm like, dang,

Chase and Alan

and that group,

they have really

turned a qualified

good again,

qualifying,

good running mid race.

I'm like,

y'all might y'all

might have a little

something if you can

get to Phoenix,

but but now

now they get

into Phoenix is

kind of well

and another guy

that's going to be

I would say

that he'll be a contender

this week.

I would think you

want to control the race

or do you think

this if you're a guy

that needs to

if your team that needs

to win,

I would think you want

to be upfront trying

to control the race

rather than way

and a lot of that's

going to start

and qualifying though

and then it's going

to come down to

you know,

what the how the

stages break up

from a few mileage

standpoint and

you know,

but I think

you got to take the

stage points and then

see where all that

falls before you

worry about

the rest of it.

You know,

you got to take the points

and then figure out

how to get back to the front.

Yes, Chase Elliott

currently 23 points

below the cut line

heading to Talladega.

We should talk about

his pick finally.

Chase Briscoe,

James Small,

crew chief made a

gutsy call

with the two tires

there at the end.

What did you think

about the race

the 19 put together?

I thought they

put together.

I mean he let

a bunch of laps

go out.

Whether it was

front or back,

I don't know.

But the car

lost a little bit of

speed.

They fell back

six or seven there

on that run.

And so it was a great call.

It wound up

gaining them some

finishing spots.

They already had

capitalized on the

on the stages

beforehand and

there were several

opportunities there

where the 11 and the

five could have

could have wiped each

other out.

It was a game of

inches.

And I think that

they gave themselves

that wasn't the fastest

car at the

end by getting that

track position.

And James Small said

that.

He said, look, this

we might work

might not.

But that's what happens

when you're in a

position where you've

had a good first two

stages and you're in

this playoff position

with a car that's

not capable of winning

at that point.

You might steal one.

We saw Joey

Legano do it last

year.

And Legano

stole some spots

at the end of that

race with the

exact same call

of two tires.

He just didn't

get the first two stages

like Brisco did.

But they

those are the days that

you got to have

when it's not all going

right.

And you don't have a car

capable of winning.

Sometimes you can

steal one.

I like that, though.

And James Small,

I feel like is really

starting to come into

his own.

Also this pairing

we talked about Chris

Gail and Denny, but

these two seem to

to be the right

match as well.

They definitely have

a they definitely

that team

has a different

type of energy

around it.

Yeah, a different

type of energy.

And I think

it's a

a different

type of energy

that you

that injects that

and like wants to

you know, again,

we don't need to

talk about it too much,

but Martin was

on his retirement

and like he was

ending his career.

So the energy

is different.

This is very

right.

You're doing

you're looking at

things different.

You want to win

and all the things,

but it's just

different with

how you're going

about it.

How Chase is trying

to get their

lightning fast.

They've starting to figure

out how to put

races together

and lightning fast.

When the playoffs

started, I said

they are the most

dangerous team

in the playoffs

because

they have been

just so quick

raw speed

and they've made

I think up until

like this part

of the playoffs,

I think they have

like the top

one of the top

three most

points game.

So they have

been strolling

through this thing

and that

two tire move

in really it was

a work to be better

than they were

and the way it worked

out, they crashed

right off the bat.

So they burned

six or seven more

laps of maybe

more laps than that

on the lap count

to get to the end.

So you never know.

I mean, I've been

there before

and seen a couple

crashes at the end

and then it winds up

being three or

four laps is all

you got to run.

If the five

and the 11

like if the

guys behind them

could have caught them

and made it more

of a battle

with like eight to go.

Yeah.

So it wasn't that much

more that he needed

and it almost worked

out completely to where

they stole the win.

So all the dice worked

out.

Mentioned a big crash

at the end.

I did want to give

some props to Mr.

SVG.

I know he had a

handle in the

that last big

incident there,

but we've talked about

his improvements

on the ovals

and Justin

Marks was saying

he feels like

he's made a ton of

gains and SVG

when I interviewed him

when you couldn't

last week,

he ran in the top

and qualified well

ran in the top 10

I qualified as teammate

all day.

And you know,

I think that that

that's definitely an

improvement.

And you know,

I think that that

comfort level,

but that's another guy

that's like Denny Hamlin

and Joey Logano

that we haven't seen

a lot because he

hasn't raced here,

but he has a work

ethic and an ability

to look at the

data and study

and watch and

learn and apply it.

You know,

and I think

right here,

he just,

he wasn't clear

right there.

And ultimately

cause this cause this wreck,

but I don't know

that you can blame

that on anybody.

It's just one of those

late race restarts there

where everybody's going

for it and

race and deal.

Yeah,

just a race and deal

there.

But not only SVG,

I think you got to give

credit to the 48 car.

They were,

they were super fast

all day.

Had had a good run.

Ty Gibbs had a

had a great run

all day

and ultimately got

caught up in this

wreck at the end.

So the

Tyler Reddick

they,

they ran well

this weekend

for,

for being out of the playoffs,

but a few of those guys

that,

that weren't in the playoffs

looking for that late

season win.

We're in contention there

to,

to have a chance

better late than never.

That's right.

They say,

yes.

Okay.

So Las Vegas

definitely gave us

plenty to talk about.

Now we're moving on guys

as we mentioned

to Talladega

the super speedway

do races remaining

in this round.

Martinsville will be

on track

unpredictability

what it presents

for drivers

as far as the challenges

go.

Yeah.

I like,

you know,

for me

the,

the riding around

strategy is gone.

You can't

ride around anymore.

You've got to

be able to race

as hard as you can

to put yourself

as far forward

as possible.

The wrecks

usually start

at the front

lately.

Yeah.

With

you push,

push,

push until it's

either too far

or it works out

in a positive way

for you.

So

I just think

that you have to

just go for it.

No matter

what your points

position is,

you have to put yourself

in a position to score

stage points.

You've got to be

a good pusher.

You've got to control

your spacing.

See a lot of guys

that get themselves,

they'll catch them

at the end of the

straightaway

and they get the timing

of the corner off.

There's some guys

that are really good

at it.

So,

but you've got to be

able to push and shove

and have a car

that's stable enough

to drive.

That's the problem

that the Toyotas

and the Chevy's have.

They don't push well

because of the way

that their nose is shaped.

The Toyotas aren't

as fast as the

other two brands.

I don't think

the Chevy's quite

as fast,

not as big a deficit

as the Toyotas

have to the

Fords.

But I feel like

once that

it gets mixed up

and you have

that wreck that

wipes out

two or three

nicks,

it's going to happen.

I mean, it's inevitable.

There's too many

different agendas

at Talladega.

You've got the

Ricky Stenhouses

and guys that are

impositioned,

Brad Kozlowski,

that are impositioned

to know that this

is the one race

that they have left to win

and this could

make or break their season,

to put their

team in victory lane.

So,

but everybody in the

field thinks that.

Everybody's got

the same mindset.

Those guys have done it

and I think

are capable of

those two guys

are capable of

doing that.

But so is

Michael McDowell,

guys,

Todd Dillon,

Ryan Prease.

I mean,

they're all,

everybody's got a

shot.

So,

it's a matter of

how you position yourself

and who misses the

wrecks.

Do you think,

do you guys think

that we'll see

a race more like

we saw

at

fall

Daytona?

I hope so.

Because when the

green flag dropped

at Daytona

under the lights,

it was

shitting and getting.

But the unique part

about Daytona

is it's a hundred miles

less.

And the way that those

stages split up

are a little bit

different.

I still think you're

going to have to

save some fuel at

certain points

during this race.

But,

you know,

it depends on

what those guys

are doing that

want to push the pace

to keep themselves

in position to

score those stage

points, right?

I think you've got

to race the first

two stages

and then figure

out how to run that

all of a sudden

pop up

and be in position

to win the race

that don't really

care about stage points.

Why would

Kosolowski care

about stage points, right?

Right.

You know,

but the thing that

we can't forget

are there are guys

that are still

racing for points.

All 16 of those

guys can still

finish fifth

into points.

The money

the money

change from

16.

What it does

for your

charter average

and how you get

this is probably the first

time it's really brought up

all year long.

Everyone's like,

well, it doesn't matter

if you don't, you know,

if you don't make it to Phoenix.

No, it definitely matters.

It definitely matters.

Because you're still racing

for money

and you're still racing

for points position.

You're still racing

for your charter slot

and all that stuff

matters because there's

an average that you get

and it puts you

in a different tier

and all these things.

It's a three-year average

of where you've

finished in the points

over the last three seasons

of as to what

your charters worth

basically.

And so, you know,

any time that we would get

knocked out of the playoffs

the focus immediately

became, okay,

we got to get fifth in the

points because A,

I want to make more money

and B, the team's going

to make more money.

And so, you know,

you can instantly

motivate yourself

with the difference

of fifth and 16th

when you look at the

payout.

It's not hard.

It matters.

It matters a lot.

Plus I don't want to be

16th.

Who wants to be 16?

Nobody does.

This race though,

it's like you can have

every plan in the world,

right?

You want to go out the window.

Usually once the green

flag drops,

the plans are gone.

The plans are gone.

I've always found it

interesting though how

the Fords just seem to

always have a little bit

better of a plan

in place for some reason.

It's easier to

push with a Ford.

It's easier to

get pushed by a Ford.

Okay.

Now, when you get

pushed by a Chevy

or a Toyota,

it's not the same

as being pushed by

a Ford.

It's squirrelier.

Cars move around

more with the way

that their cars are

shaped.

It's very difficult

to push a Toyota

out from a Ford guy's

standpoint.

When you're pushing

another Ford,

you can be really aggressive

in how you push that car

compared to

when you're pushing

a Toyota,

you got to think about

what you're doing.

I wrecked

Tyler Redick one year

at Dayton

or Talladega

and not even,

I mean,

just breathing on

the back bumper,

spun him out

and that's typically

what you're doing

with a Ford.

You're pushing

another Ford

and you're pushing

another Ford.

You're pushing

another Ford.

And that's typically

the case with

a lot of the

Toyotas

and not as bad

with the Chevrolets,

but

much harder

for any brand

to push those two brands

and any of the

other two brands

pushing a Ford

is even

not as effective

because you just can't

be as aggressive.

I'm really going to be

looking at

how to your point

that extra 100 miles

because if that is

a big change

in how they race,

then I think that

we should look at

adjusting the

whatever it is,

either the mileage

or the stage brakes.

Because I want

what we got in Daytona

because that was

exactly what we want.

So if that is

a major factor,

then we need to

look at just

adjusting that

a little bit

and maybe we can get

to that.

And you can tell

when they're going

and not going.

When it's two lanes,

they're going.

When it's four lanes,

they're not going.

There's somebody

that's saving gas

and stirring things up

to slow things down.

So it's very

you can

I mean,

when they're all

dicing

all over the place,

you're going to see them

three and four wide

briefly.

But the bottom two lanes

are still going to be

the dominant lanes

when they're when they're

all lined up pushing

100 percent.

I think it takes

like eight guys.

Eight cars need to

feel like they want to

go and be trying to

dice it up because

that drags the rest

of the people

along with them.

If there's only

like four guys,

they're just kind

of mixing up

between themselves

and it's not

as effective as like

eight cars

and being in the front

and in position.

I think that'll

and it's the same thing.

Control what you can control.

Don't beat yourself.

Don't speed on pit roads.

Don't have a pit roads

penalty.

All those.

Don't go below the yellow

line.

Whatever it is,

just don't beat yourself.

Can not

speed on pit road

here,

especially,

especially on the

green flag because

you are

that is it.

Like you might as well

just pack up and get ready

for Martin's role.

OK, we'll have to see

how it all transpires

out there in Talladega.

You mentioned adjustments.

There's been an adjustment

made.

NASCAR competition

officials announced

that the target horsepower

for Cup Series events

at road courses

and oval tracks less than

1.5 and length

will increase

to 750

in the 2026 season,

which I thought Kyle

Larson's comments

about this were interesting

because he said,

don't over promote it.

It's likely not

going to fix everything.

He said he did a test

and no one told him

that he had higher

horsepower and he didn't

even realize it.

So what do you think

about all this?

I think that

I'm happy that they did it.

Yeah, there you go.

I think that they

it's at least a step

in the right direction.

I think that

listening to the feedback

from the drivers,

they don't notice

the difference

in the power,

which, you know,

it's 80 horsepower

on paper.

Right.

So 80 horsepower

and I think that says

a lot about

the amount of increase

that it actually needs.

Now,

there's some,

there's a

counter argument

to the

how much it would cost

for everybody to

go more horsepower

than this.

So my hope is

they're looking

to go more horsepower

down the road

as they look

at how things

evolve.

But I don't think

we'll,

I don't think we'll

I'm happy that they did it.

Kudos to them

for giving the cars

more horsepower.

I don't want to knock it,

but I don't think

anybody will notice.

Okay.

That's kind of

a huge noticeable

difference.

No.

And like

I talked to

Richard Childress

about this

at Homestead

early on in the year

when this was a

really big topic,

he was like,

brother,

let me tell you

that it is expensive.

Like the money

to do it

is

a lot.

It's millions of

dollars in R&D.

And that's what

the man said.

So I'm not going to

I'm not going to

say that

I'm not going to

discredit that.

So if,

if that's the

where we're at

where it's like

how much

we need to decide

when,

when we're going to

get more

like how,

how are we doing?

And Steve O'Donnell

was on

with Dale Jr.

And they kind of

got into this

a little bit where it's

like, and you could

you could kind of

read the tea leaves

a little bit.

I felt like he was

saying, well, you know,

we got a new brand

coming in with Dodge

is looking at coming in

at the couple of

levels.

What it sounded

like he was saying,

he also made mention

of Honda.

So he was basically

like, well,

the Williams wanted

different engine package

in three years.

Then we just cost

everybody a

dumb amount of money

for no reason.

I'm like, OK, if that

if you're telling me

that we have a path,

like,

that was

that interview.

I felt like it was

one of the more

transparent

path leading out

once because

now we're not guessing.

At least like you

told us and we

feel like,

OK, we see where you're

going.

We'll see what

kind of how I wish

they would.

I wish they would be

more open like that

because I know

did a good job

on Dale Junior's

podcast.

It's a good listen.

If you haven't listened

to it, you should go

listen to the conversation

between he and Dale

because it was

very informative.

But I think that

if they want to be

like this,

they need to be like

this all the time

and it needs to be

sometimes it's

I know this is a

situation where

it would cost the teams

a lot of money,

but sometimes you just

got to say, screw it,

you're going to do it.

This is what

we're going to do

about money.

What point do we

get back on track

to say, OK,

here's a path to where

we want to be?

What is that?

But I think if we

could if we had a

Dana White,

that was just, you know,

don't care, don't care

about this, don't care

about that.

Yep, let's do this.

That was great.

Good job.

Bad job.

You suck.

Whatever it is.

Why did you put it in

there?

Because you're

last.

I'm walking him down

right now.

I think that

being in front

of people trying to be

so secretive

and all the things

that it seems like

they've done in the past,

that openness

and honesty,

you don't have to think

about what you said

or what you did.

Just say, oh,

that was good.

That was bad.

Whatever it is,

be more open like that.

People love it

and people like it.

They are informed.

Tell us where we're

going.

What are we doing?

How are we fixing it?

You know,

I think that the

horsepower is great,

but it's not going

to fix it.

No, we got to keep

making moves

and there's aero stuff

that you got to work on.

The tire thing,

we just barely feel

like we're starting

to understand.

So when you make

these adjustments

with horsepower and aero,

how's that going to

affect the tire?

Like Kansas was

a fantastic race.

And this was

the upgraded construction

change with this tire.

It wasn't like Kansas.

It was a great ending.

Right.

And the race

was great at the end

and it was exciting,

which is what we want.

So I just think that

different tracks,

they've taken the

tire codes and made

less of them to try to

make them work at a lot

of different tracks.

I feel like the reason

that we got to so many

different tire codes

in the past was

because all the tracks

are different.

They have a lot of

characteristics that

the other one,

like Kansas and Vegas,

they don't mirror each other.

Right.

Like it's just,

there's some differences

there that might

require some change.

They're basically

qualifying through one and two,

had to lift a little bit

in three and four this weekend.

So they're still,

they're still too slow.

You get a hard,

what you get a hard win

out of some of these places

that change that.

No one solution fits all,

but they are making

what?

No, did you hear,

did you hear what Od said

about Kevin?

No, about the show.

No, no, no.

No, he said,

he said,

he said Kevin Harvick

one time came up to me

and said,

look, man,

if you should be

in your position,

you should be the most hated person

in the industry.

Yeah.

And he said,

that's a hard thing.

That's a hard thing

as a human being,

but he like gave credit to like,

yeah,

because you're making

all the hard decisions.

Yeah.

Somebody's got to make them.

And when you're,

when you're publicly open

about those hard decisions,

like he was

in this particular instance

about all the things

that he addressed,

what are people going to say?

And people respect that.

Yeah.

I mean,

don't hide

and don't hide

and Steve's been around

the sport long enough

that he can talk

knowledgeably about it.

He has a lot of conversations,

has been around the sport

a long time.

It's just sometimes,

you know,

you go back to the

Brian France piece of it

and all those things where,

you know,

he would get up there

and talk about some of the stuff

and you're like,

what in the hell is he saying?

I have no idea

what you're talking about.

That is the dumbest thing

I've ever heard.

And I,

I think that

Steve O'Donnell has that

credibility

and even Phelps kind of struggled

with that credibility from

from the racers,

from the competition side

as far as what was

what was going on,

what was not going on,

because he wasn't in the middle

of it all the time

like O'Donnell has been.

So I just feel like,

you know,

that was a good,

the horsepower thing

is a good step.

I don't think it should

be the end of it.

I don't think it's going to,

you know,

I don't think it's going to fix

it all.

It's definitely not going to hurt.

But I love the way

that they approached

all of the topics

that they were,

that he was handed.

Yes.

Dale threw it at him.

Things are changing.

Yeah.

He didn't back down.

Yeah.

Very good.

Okay.

So that's all the serious stuff.

Time now for the non-serious.

This is when my partner

takes over.

Oh.

Hello world.

Wlappy Sips.

Welcome to Mamba's

Social Sips,

your favorite part

of the program.

What Kevin?

Well,

I just had this

old guy flashback.

I just,

and I don't know

where the world is

at with this person,

but I had this

Arsenial Hall

moment right there.

Where,

I don't know.

I just looked over and I'm

like, oh man,

hello world.

Hello world.

Good.

I'm glad I could do that

for you.

Listen,

friends,

family,

closers from

Australia,

New Zealand.

What about Mexico?

Mexico.

New friends in Mexico?

New fans over there.

I thought you did.

Yeah,

I made new friends

in Mexico City

and then I

made friends all over the place.

Listen,

welcome to the,

welcome to my segment,

Mamba's Social Sips.

And to start it off,

guys,

we have a video game

that is dropping.

NASCAR 25

is coming out.

I think it's out

right now,

actually.

And our great people

at Fox Sports

are doing a little

article about your top,

your favorite,

what are the best

racing games ever made?

Yeah.

Okay.

Kevin,

did you ever play a game?

Do you ever play

much of the racing games?

I spent so much money

when I was a kid,

they were not as cool

as they are now

with NASCAR 25

and hot racing

and all the things

that are the premier racing games

in today's world

are not like

Super Sprint

and Ivan Stewart's Off-Road

and I grew up with

an Intellivision.

Most of you listening

probably don't even know

what that is.

Have you ever heard of that?

Have you heard

of an Intellivision game system?

No.

It was like in the TV?

No.

Okay.

No.

You said in television, right?

In the TV,

I mean the TV

and I grew up.

Yeah.

So what is it?

Explain what that is.

Well, an Intellivision is

like an Atari

or an Nintendo.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

So it had

like this little round

pad on it

and then it had like

numbers,

like a telephone.

Oh, I saw that before.

Yeah.

It's like an antique now.

Yeah.

So my game

growing up

when I first started

playing video games

on the Intellivision

was Astrosmash.

Astrosmash.

Oh, no.

I do remember that game.

You don't.

The Rocks.

You're shooting it.

You're shooting the Rocks.

Yeah, but it's a different name,

the one you're thinking of.

Probably not on the Intellivision.

Okay.

That's close.

So I played a lot of video games

when I was a kid.

Mario Kart,

we would miss school.

We would skip school.

Our parents would go to work

and we'd act

like we were going to school

and then we'd just

bail out of school

and we'd sit

and play Mario Kart all day.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

We'd be on a senior trip

and skip in school for video games.

Kevin went to Mexico

for a senior trip.

I've had a lot of

video games.

I had,

in my KHI shop,

we had Ivan Stewart's Off-Road.

We had

four Daytona USA machines.

Yup, that was a great game.

Super Sprint.

Yup.

I spent a lot of money

on Super Sprint.

And to this day,

I still have a Super Sprint machine.

So

RC Pro Am.

That was a good one on Nintendo.

Okay.

And Excitebike.

It was hard to get Excitebike.

Excitebike.

Is that the one you had

at your house

that Katelyn want my ass on?

No.

Excitebike was like

on Nintendo.

It was like a motorcycle game.

Yeah.

And you could make your own tracks.

That's actually kind of cool.

And they would overheat.

So the

games that are on the list

are Mario Kart 8.

Cruisin' 8.

There's a lot of Mario Kart.

This is like

the list of their games.

Yeah.

The list of

greatest racing games

that they think.

That they have.

Yeah, that they have.

So mine didn't make the list

because they weren't born.

Well, yeah.

Cruisin' USA.

Need for Speed.

Gran Turismo.

F-Zero.

Outrun.

Daytona.

Daytona USA.

Pole Position.

Ivan.

Iron Man.

Stewards.

Super Off-Road.

Off-Road.

And R4.

Ridge Racer.

Type 4.

I think that two that

Katelyn that need to be in

there is Dirt to Daytona.

And Chase.

For the cup.

2005.

That our guy.

Look at that smile.

I got a couple covers.

Right?

Yeah.

Two.

What year?

Yeah.

I think the first one was EA Sports.

Yeah, it was EA.

And it was the EA Sports cover jinx.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh five.

That was a tough.

Yeah.

I will say though that game so much fun.

The story mode was great.

Yeah.

I think they used Kevin because you guys had KHI

and you guys were like one of those groups that were

like going from driver to owner and you had like

modified.

You could run.

You know who's getting who knows who's on that

game.

Matthew Martin.

Mark Martin's.

Really?

Yeah.

Mark Martin was in that.

Yeah.

It's a good game.

So anyway.

So what's your what I mean?

What do you think the best game is?

Oh man.

My.

And is this NASCAR 25 is probably going to blow

him out of the water.

NASCAR 25.

I was I saw the beta.

Like I played it a little bit.

The AI.

The experiences.

It's pretty cool.

Crazy part.

So it's evolved into iRacing.

Yes.

So when all this first started.

Sierra was the name of the game.

What was the name of the gaming company?

I believe.

And they would send us all these,

these discs for the computers to put them in and

you play them on your, on your PC with this

like little mini steering wheel from your,

from your game.

And so we used to always get the updated

games.

But think about that was in the late 90s when

when all that started, when we first started

getting the video games late 90s, early

2000s, right in there, whatever that time

period was.

Compared to where it was.

Compared to where it is.

It's pretty unbelievable.

Insane.

How it's progressed.

I, I, I might think my favorite is that 05

game of the total team control aspect and

the storyline of building up from nothing

and owning teams.

I always thought that that was really cool.

Yeah.

Do you still play video games?

Yeah.

I haven't played a racing game for real in a

while.

When, when Forza brought NASCAR back into

their, into their like fold in their fold.

I started playing that again.

But I play a lot of NCA.

Yeah.

I mean like year 2000 and like 39.

So you're not up to, you're not, you don't

play any of the new video games like the

Fortnite or anything like that.

No, no, I don't play Fortnite.

I got you.

No.

I'm an old school.

I'm a traditional guy.

Traditional.

So make sure, make sure you go check out

foxports.com and you can check out that

article and they got the breakdown and

you guys can decide if they're right.

What's the game for you?

I hadn't heard of half of those games.

Out of that list, I remember like the

Daytona USA one was always really fun.

Yeah.

But like the Ridgeline and the, what did you

say?

F zero.

No, I think that sounds like an F one

game.

Okay.

They have like the P zero.

The F one games were always pretty good

on.

They were pretty good.

I need to start playing games.

That's what I've learned from this

entire conversation.

Yeah.

Take your kids to Chuck E cheese

and go play some arcade.

Chuck E cheese.

Yeah.

You can fill in full adjourn.

Okay.

Davin Bussers.

Go to Davin Bussers.

Yeah.

After Davin Bussers is way better.

I remember using that one.

The other reason I got rid of my Ivan

Stewart off-road games is because you

couldn't get parts for him anymore.

I had full size arcade machines.

Oh, wow.

But I do have all the original

Nintendo's.

Now they come in a little, a little

make believe Nintendo with a chip

inside of it that has all the games.

So you can play all the original

Nintendo games.

Yeah.

So if you ever want to come over

and play games.

Sounds like a good time.

Yeah.

I just invited you over.

Yeah.

Contrary to popular belief, Kevin

loves me.

Okay.

Kevin loves me.

All right.

Come on, slap it.

Moving along.

Speed it up.

We got a guest, guys.

Oh, really?

That I'd like to bring in to the

show right now.

Let's roll it with our new guest

here.

Yo, Mamba Smith.

I heard we're teammates at Fox

Sports and you're the chief

Vibes officer for NASCAR.

What's this I hear about a

games with names Daytona car

rap?

Let's make this happen, Bubs.

I love that he called you

Bob.

What's he talking about?

Listen.

So this year.

This year I didn't.

Who was that first?

That was Julian Edelman.

Okay.

Patriots Hall of Famer.

Okay.

Super Bowl MVP.

Multi-time Super Bowl champ.

And my guy.

And obviously one of our

teammates at Fox.

Fox Analyst.

Fox Analyst on the NFL.

So he, I invited a friend to

Phoenix and he wanted to bring

a couple of his friends.

A couple of his friends

happened to work on the

games.

Games with names podcast with

Julian.

And I showed them a rap design

that I had made a while ago

like in 2015 or 16.

That I was trying to run it

loud and it was a Patriots

and American Cancer Society

combination.

And it just kind of fell

through.

But I showed it to him

because I had the 11 on him

like, Hey, if you guys

would ever want to like do

something at the racetrack

and be on a car like let

me know.

I didn't race this past

year.

That really bothers me.

And so I've been wanting

to run Daytona in the

arca car for a while.

So I pitched Julian

on running the

arca race at Daytona.

We are looking for some

partners.

Oh, so you're going to

actually try to do this.

I'm going to, yeah.

No, no, no.

We're we're going to go run.

So we're going to see that

pain scheme.

We're going to not that

scheme.

It'll probably be something

different if I had to

guess.

But who knows?

But yeah, games with names.

I mean, I've seen a few

of them.

I've seen a few of them

give it a whirl.

I think you'd be okay.

Thanks.

It can't be harder than IRP

in the middle of the summer.

I think your biggest issue

would probably just be

getting tired.

Probably.

Yeah.

But I'm not going to get

more tired than I did.

Not tired from driving,

just hot.

Then you get tired.

No, no.

Hydrated.

We got the cool suits now,

though.

I used my first cool suit

at Daytona in the

road course race

when I drove this

Miata.

That was game changer.

Oh, yeah.

I was like a brand new

person all over again.

This sounds like

something that will need

to be a whole feature

on the outside.

That arc of race is usually

on big Fox.

On big Fox.

We could have a whole thing

with the two of you on this.

So, and you know,

we had a little call.

Kevin out there coaching you.

I think that'd be awesome.

We had a little call

and they don't want me to

spot.

I'll interview you.

They have another

podcast called,

it's like called

Dude with Dude

or something.

It's him and Grunk.

Grunk has been to

the racetrack a bunch.

He's a monster.

Yeah, yeah.

He's a monster energy

athlete.

He was in Victory Land

when Kurt won the 500.

Look at him just

there.

There you go.

Hey, Kevin said

he was going to support it.

There you go.

Did he say that?

Driver coach.

Yeah.

And bush lights after the race.

Yeah.

Does that mean that we're

going to work on your

physical fitness routine

leading up to the race?

Yeah.

I'm down.

Can you help me out?

Yeah.

I mean,

you think you can run

more than two minutes?

Yeah.

We're going to,

we need to,

we need to film

like a Rocky episode

leading up to this.

Yeah.

All right.

Moving right along.

We got,

you guys know that popular

driver votes coming on.

Yes.

Right.

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