NASCAR History at COTA! Tyler Reddick’s DOMINANT Run, Lawsuit Update & Phoenix Preview
Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX
NASCAR History at COTA! Tyler Reddick’s DOMINANT Run, Lawsuit Update & Phoenix Preview
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Term
diffuser
A diffuser is a part at the back bottom of a car that helps the air flow smoothly, making the car stick better to the road when going fast.
Brand
Toyota
Toyota is a big car company from Japan that makes cars and also races them in big car races.
Concept
car balance
Car balance means how the car feels when it turns and moves, making it easier or harder to drive fast.
Concept
top 10 finish
Top 10 finish means the driver finished the race in the first ten places, which is really good.
Concept
NASCAR
NASCAR is a big organization that runs car races where drivers compete on oval tracks, kind of like a fast car race.
Concept
spotter
A spotter is someone who helps the driver by telling them what's happening around the car during the race so they can drive safely and smartly.
Concept
road courses
Road courses are race tracks with lots of turns and hills, not just simple loops. Drivers need to be good at turning and slowing down to race well on these tracks.
Term
restart
A restart happens when the race starts again after a pause, letting all the cars race closely together to try to get ahead.
Term
qualify
Qualifying is like a time trial before the race that decides where each driver starts when the race begins.
Concept
the esses
The esses are a part of a race track where the road curves left and right quickly, like the letter S. Drivers have to steer smoothly to keep their speed.
Concept
stage points
In some races, drivers can earn points during the race at certain checkpoints, not just at the end. These points help them get closer to winning the whole championship.
Concept
points reset
Sometimes in racing, the points that drivers have earned get adjusted or reset partway through the season to make the competition closer and more exciting.
Term
cool suit
A cool suit is like a special jacket that keeps race car drivers cool by moving cold water or air around their body. This helps them not get too hot while racing.
Company
Hendrick Motorsports
Hendrick Motorsports is a big team in NASCAR that races cars and often wins. They have many drivers and cars in races.
Company
Team Penske
Team Penske is a famous racing team that races cars in big competitions. They are very good and well-known in the racing world.
Concept
diversity team
A diversity team is a group that helps people from different backgrounds get involved in racing. It helps make racing more fair and open to everyone.
Company
Rev Racing
Rev Racing is a team that helps young and diverse drivers learn how to race cars professionally. They help new drivers get started in racing.
Term
helmet
A helmet is a hard hat that drivers wear to keep their head safe if they crash. It helps stop head injuries.
Term
fire suit
A fire suit is special clothing that race car drivers wear to keep them safe if there is a fire. It helps stop them from getting burned.
Concept
Arca races
ARCA races are car races on oval tracks where drivers practice and compete to get better and maybe move up to bigger racing leagues like NASCAR.
Concept
IndyCar
IndyCar is a type of car race where very fast, special cars race on different tracks, including city streets and oval tracks. It's one of the most popular racing series in the US.
Brand
Chevrolet
Chevrolet is a big American car company that makes many types of cars and trucks and also has race teams.
Concept
Phoenix International Raceway
Phoenix International Raceway is a race track in Arizona where many car races happen, especially NASCAR races.
Concept
Winston West
Winston West was a racing series on the West Coast where drivers raced cars similar to NASCAR, helping them get ready for bigger races.
Concept
brake zone
The brake zone is the part of the track where you slow down your car before turning so you don't go too fast and lose control.
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Momentum is a real thing in our sport. When you have that things just happen
easier but you better ride that wave. He looked at me dead in the eyes and said you
want to be a race car driver and you didn't bring your helmet to the racetrack?
Trust me there's nothing more than I want to do than grab the controls on that
thing and just throw your ass right off of it. My at Snyder is Jamie Littles
pit spotter. What do you think he's thinking right there? Probably nervous.
Holy s***.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin
Harvick. She's Caitlyn Vincey. An official Fox attire. Fox attire Mama Smith.
Yes sir. Top button button. First time I've ever seen him wear a Fox shirt. I
like the Fox shirt and also they make my arms look really weak. I've been in the
gym. Either your arms look big or your shirt's too small. Either way that means I'm
getting you know I'm getting there. It's the fit. One way or the other. Yeah we're
throwing a fit. We're gonna throw in a fit. I gotta be honest. Your shoes the shoe
socks shirt game today. Yeah. Thank you. Looks like you really thought about it.
I got home at 3am. Yeah the color palettes. I got home at 3am so I'm the sun was up
when I got dressed. I guess that's what I was saying. Oh yeah you had some troubles
leaving Austin right? Yeah. Yeah got stuck in Austin for a bit. The best part about
that is when he when he was getting back I was just going to the airport in Austin.
Yeah at least you both made it. We made it. That's a positive thing. Welcome into
another edition of Harvick happy pod. We have a lot to talk about leaving a very
eventful race out in Austin Texas. Coming up next will be Phoenix and you've got
some sips on tap for us. The sipses are cool. The sipses are cool. I had a fan tell me this
weekend hey just make sure you tell mama that the sipses is the best part of the
show. Oh you had a fan tell me that. Yeah I had a fan tell me that. I told him I said
you should quit listening because obviously you're not paying attention for the right
reasons. Listen man look they come for Kevin. They stay for Caitlin but their favorite
part of the show is the mama's older sips. Is that right? Yeah that's what they keep
interesting. I like the mentality here. Yeah there you go. You like the confidence. Yeah
where can they follow us on social to stay with us. Harvick happy pod. There you go. All day long
baby. And make sure you subscribe to our new YouTube channel as well. Yeah that was a no
looker by the way. I didn't look at my paper beforehand. Yeah you didn't even have to look.
At least you're studying. Yeah. How was your weekend out in Austin Texas overall. My weekend
was good. It was 80 degrees so still a bit windy but it was nice to go to the racetrack and not be
cold. That is nice. After we went to Atlanta and the clash and even Daytona was chilly. It wasn't
warm for Daytona but it was a great weekend I think to start off with a couple super speedways
and then be able to go to a road course and see where everybody's cars are right. We've got more
horsepower. We've got the the simplified diffuser on the back at all the all the short tracks this
year. We had it on some last year but you know I think that everybody had a lot of questions
about about the power and what that would what that would do but it's definitely changed some
things. I think we all had questions about where the Chevrolets would be as far as the balance of
their cars didn't really see many of them other than SVG this weekend Ross qualified up front
kind of fell back as the race went on. Still and I think we'll learn more this weekend at Phoenix
with the balance of those Chevrolets and the teams learning where they need to be to get
their cars to not only run fast but to run long as as we go through the weekend so
Tyler Redick you know he did it again and you know I think when when you look at at Kota it has
been a great racetrack for him so I think when when the when the streak was on the line to to go
to Kota I think that for them they were confident that they would be competitive. Toyota started
off super slow in practice kind of missed the pace of of where they needed to be which means you
miss your height and balance and all the things that go with that that that pace that that they
missed and the balance that they missed from what they guessed it would be from from the simulation
and all the things that they have to to try to put it in a ballpark but
overall you know I felt like it was a great race we had great storylines with with Michael Jordan
and 2311 and Denny Hamlin went in the race and saw a lot of a lot of you know the the the
Toyotas in the finishing order at the at the end of the day Michael McDowell was fifth Denny Hamlin
got his you know his first top 10 at Kota so to me that's a massive win for Denny Hamlin I know
that feeling when you get to those places where you just struggle and and kind of out of your
comfort zone so a lot of a lot of good stories you know the the point lead is massive massive
70 points I think from second to 26 I think it's like 62 points yeah wow so you know the the whole
chase format and the points battle and everything to put yourself in position is up and down for
everybody chase briscoe had a good week last week had a parts failure this week
Brad Kosolowski made it through the whole race finished 20th Alex Bowman on the opposite end
of that spectrum too well you guys just hit all the stories we can leave now
I do want to go back to Tyler Reddick obviously making history I feel like at this point in the
sport historically it's hard to do that I mean we even saw SVG trying to break a record of consecutive
road course wins trying to reach Jeff Gordon that came to a close now he has to start all over right
trying to achieve that feat but Tyler Reddick able to win the first three races of the year
that speaks volumes to the strength of their program right now these are tough race tracks
it's it's not like it was simple tracks that he was able to make this happen at and I think too
Austin Texas really showed the strength of the team as a whole because they came they had speed
they qualified obviously really well throughout the race Tyler did everything he's supposed to do
he showed such great precision didn't make mistakes pit crew did what they're supposed to do
yep that's a big big statement yeah they put the they put the whole race weekend together really
because when you if you start on the pole that's the first thing you're supposed to do check one
check one and then after that you just need to keep everything and manage all the rest of it and
you know they're I think the interesting part of social media right now that people are like
oh after the lawsuit like of course NASCAR is like helping them win it where's my camera over here
apps that's wild for multiple reasons outside of the fact that that's not what racing works
but you think thirty nine other teams are just like yeah we're gonna let these guys win yeah
and then yeah because I'm sure it makes Bubba feel good about where he's at yeah exactly
teammate winning the first three races yeah and then on top of that the first two were speedways
he wrecked in one of them like it's not like it takes a lot of luck to win Daytona Atlanta
but they had luck and they were fast and he made all the right decisions and all the right moves
from a nick paying a spotter did it all right and Billy Scott's breaking fast race cars then they
come to coda beat one of the best belt to ass like from start to finish and beat one of the best
so now you're really confident in what your program is and what your process is and now you got a
points lead you can kind of work massage on your stuff and now we're going to phoenix and we're
going to figure out what everything's really going on so Tyler Reddick is getting it done yeah and
you know I think momentum is a real thing in our sport and when you have that things just happen
easier but you better ride that wave while you had it we saw Christopher Bell win three in a row
last year this is not not abnormal it's abnormal that you win the first three but to win three in
a row is not something that that we haven't seen happen before we've seen that happen a lot so
you know and when you start the season sometimes you just have that momentum going and it can be a
great thing it's obviously a great thing for them right now but it can also be a bad thing
because everybody else is working while you're you're riding the the the wave of momentum and
the details and preparation that you have in your cars already uh that that everybody else might not
and sometimes you get we saw it happen to Bell last year they kind of got stagnant and and didn't
perform like they needed to in the summer because they just um you know they they didn't do a good
job of of keeping up with the progression of of trying to get better so but right now you know
Denny Hamlin Michael Jordan 2311 Tyler Reddick all those guys are are doing good and there is
nothing better from a driver's standpoint a team standpoint because everything just
it happens easy when you've got the luck on your side you've got the performance on your side your
pit crew is executing there are so many things that can go wrong and you know I think that the
the conspiracy theories are ridiculous as you go through when you look at the the inspection
process is in the time that the team puts in and all the things that this competition I mean
it's not happening yeah it's kind of ridiculous you mentioned Denny Hamlin Michael Jordan was
very complimentary of him saying he's the brains of this operation I put up the money you know but
I think it was important that he made that note because sometimes I feel like Denny gets a little
lost in this whole story because he's still competing for him you know his own endeavor
in the series yeah I think it's hard it's hard right when he's he's a driver active driver so
like he's there at the car right when he's not right and he's also you know he has his podcast and
all the things that Denny Hamlin is doing I gotta give him a lot of credit because I don't think
I've ever given him any credit for running road courses like I just seems like they really
just like mail it in and then show up but he ran top ten like he you could tell that he
with the effort was there and maybe it's he felt better in the car maybe the car was more suited
to him this week than other road courses and he's like oh I have something I can work with
but regardless of top 10 for them when they needed it too like if he would have came out of here with
like a 25th place finish that ain't that ain't getting done so you know you talk about pressure
being on the points matter yeah right now so your pressure's on for everybody and tolerated
to your point Kevin like that the carrot is out there for the rest of the teams very motivating
and Bubba Wallace too Bubba could have won two races this year already he could have won Atlanta
and he could have won Daytona and then at Cody he has like a 11th place finish which for Bubba
on the road course is really good so 2311 as whole just crushing it yes they've definitely
got it going on SVG was the guy who got relegated to second but he gave it everything he had right
he did at the end of that race I mean he was throwing up right next to the barriers and
and doing everything that he could do but they just didn't have the pace this weekend that that
the 45 and the 12 really Ryan Blaney was was definitely the standout forward of the group
by far and really had the speed to compete with Redick you know I think that if he could have
he got in front of Redick one time and was able to you know to to pull forward and do what he
needed to do but at the end Redick just never made any mistakes to to let Blaney or SVG buy but
SVG just didn't have the pace qualified 13th you could tell that that pace was was not there
in practice kind of the same way seemed like they they struggled with the short run speed again and
he talked a lot about lateral grip and the car back of the car sliding and where that paid off for
Redick was really turned 20 off a 6b and all the places that you needed to be good to not get past
under braking he was good and but it really really made him look strong down the front straight
away when he would get off of off of turn 20 so well and be able to pull three four car links
every lap on Blaney and on on SVG so they just they were superior this weekend my favorite thing
watching Shane even though his he couldn't run second right which he was funny he's like it's weird
being disappointed about running second he's like yeah that's a good thing brother like yeah
that means you feel confident and feel good about what you're doing that you feel like you
should be winning all these races now but when he dive bombs into the corner and he doesn't
sing with the car and it gets real light and he usually gets floated into the corner and it keeps
a lot of speed and can he can get off the corner that's where he dominates and you could see it
with Redick and Tyler was just like not worried about what Shane was doing and laser focused
and what he was doing and that was how he was able to defend but Shane just trying to own that car
plays was awesome to watch I love watching that so let's talk about his teammate Connor Zillich
Shane's teammate because he was involved in multiple incidents but was able to battle back
numerous times ended up 14th on the day I know he had to have been pretty disappointed with the
outcome here given the fact that he had a legitimate chance to potentially have a top five maybe even
a win did you think I thought he was in position to contend at the end when he got to a certain
point in the field he had arguably the second fastest car and equal to Tyler Redick at the end
of that race and you know he just wound up in a few spots and he can't really blame it on track
position he had that last restart in fourth right there with a chance to race for the win
but didn't qualify well got himself in the back and got torn up with a chain reaction the first
time he spun second time you know kind of kind of all the same scenarios but Connor did a great
job and had some bad luck on Saturday with the brake hat failing and then on Sunday just wrong
place wrong time a couple times but battled his way back to the front in all those scenarios so
had the speed but doesn't have much to show for any of it you know from a point standpoint
out of the out of the first three races so they're definitely having an uphill battle as
they go to places that now you know you got two super speedways where you can be kind of off your
game and now you got to go to Phoenix and and figure figured out the one comment he did say
after the races at least I know I can do this I was there in the mix he needed that had to have
that this weekend there's no doubt like Connor Zillich is he's he's like he's he should be in
make those passes and come through the field that restart where he restarted fourth he probably
that's the one he probably wants back the most because you can tell you kind of went wide to
give the room to try and not get wrecked and the wider he got the quicker they all kind of got in
there and shoved it in there like four or five wide and he gets taken out of the top because I
think it would have been a wild show in 97 in the 88 trying to figure out how to put the pressure
on the 45 and it's going to happen right throughout the year like Connor and Shane are
going to be in that situation together and double teaming whatever drier team is in front of them
and it'll be fun to watch for sure. Well and the other thing is as Connor goes through this process
of understanding the limits of the car and and how to qualify better in those situations on the
road courses we'll give him a better shot because of not having to put yourself in in the back of
the pack and in the chaos of the field so yeah so yeah you know I think that going back to SVG
the the interesting part for him is Kota seems to be his kryptonite it's just not it's not he
doesn't show the the same ability at Kota that he does it the other road courses that we go
to Kota is just a it's a very unique racetrack and I think you saw this through the esses with
with Shane he was just so good at putting his car right next to the barriers and and getting that
rhythm through the esses and he'd make up all that time that he would lose to Redick but when it
came down to those those you so you've got the rhythm flowy section through the esses and then
you've got the short junk through the stadium and and all the heavy braking and stuff and into
turn one so you've got so many different styles of things that go into making the car balance
be right that you know you can't manipulate it through all those sections and and you know I
think turn 20 exposed that a lot he just wasn't able to get his car rotated like Redick was and
Blaney really had the best turning car SVG got by him at the end of the race and and kind of put
him back to third and that was kind of the end of his day when he started getting shuffled
doesn't seem like the Ford is as good in traffic as it needs to be and if he had clean air I think
he probably you know would have been would have been okay but you know I think you know the SVG
to to to the 45 of of Redick I just his car didn't handle like it needed to to be able to get off
the corner and accelerate with Redick to really showcase the the techniques that he could use
under braking and to make those passes happen he just never was close enough yeah we should
as fans of this former racing that we have now we should really be thankful for SVG because he's
made everyone better it's and they're like nobody wants to get their ass whooped right it's embarrassing
when you get your ass whooped and he was he was doing that and everyone has stepped their game up
in the gap you could see the gap kind of getting closer but it's like also how much is Shane allowing
the gap to get closer well we saw it at Kota and then Tyler Redick even talked about in his interview
he's like we wanted to beat Shane right we've been trying to beat Shane like every all the effort
and work I think he was as happy about beating Shane at Kota as he might have been for a Daytona
500 just because it that's the type of pressure that they put themselves under to try and beat
the best well it's so much on the driver there too right thank you yeah and that goes back to your
preparation and all the things that you do in the simulator and video and studying and and being
able to get better but it has been by far Tyler Redick's best road course yeah I mean since
since he was at RCR on the road course he's been good there it was also a good race for Ty Gibbs
you also finished in the top five was able to collect points as well what did you see out of him
well I think you can when you when you look at 2311 I mean they have an alliance with with Gibbs
and you know I think that you know Joe Gibbs racing with Christopher Bell they're in third and and
Ty Gibbs in fourth Denny Hamlin in tenth Briscoe was up in the front all day Bubba finished 12th
so it was a really good day overall for for all of those cars to to be able to perform well so
but for an instance like Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell they needed to have a solid day they needed
to score stage points Ty scored a ton of stage points to be able to win the second stage and
then finish sixth in the first stage and do all the all the things he needed to from a point
standpoint because we talk about how big the points lead is but from second down to 20 something
it's pretty tight yeah it's a lot tighter so I think he was 32nd or 33rd and in the points going
into the race and wound up 17th coming out of the race so yeah great way to put yourself back in
contention because you really need to be in that top seven when the when the points reset if you're
going to have a chance at winning the championship yeah so Ty Gibbs finishes fourth you mentioned
his teammate Chase Briscoe who was having a good run until they had something break in the transmission
which derailed their whole efforts then he had a hard time finding the dvp did you guys hear this
on the radio that was a very small very frustrated said read the map yeah no that's not what he said
he said I'm leaving out some of the verbate okay yeah well I know that they were all frustrated at
that point but even if you read the map when you get on pit road you're looking all around
their buildings and pit boxes cut the guy some slack tell him where the damn opening is let's go
he yeah I mean they are they are primed for this season I think in the 19 camp I think
they're gonna have a really strong showing throughout the rest of the year the speed seems
like it's it's there chase seems locked in I mean obviously you have some moments with your
with your family members that sound a little you know harsher than other moments but I think
fine that's just how it goes and that's just James and I think chase loves James for that same
thing because that's what's going to put him in victory lane too he's led laps in every race
over 20 in the first two in each of those races and then obviously he led laps yesterday before
that happened to him uh so you referenced you got something oh I was gonna I was just gonna say
something about CBL real quick I thought the him his speed early I was surprised how much it dropped
off like every run I thought he was gonna be contending as a top as a contending in the top
three and he would get there it start there okay he's gonna be good and then all of a sudden it
just like taper off but he was super aggressive yeah he was super him and Larson were putting on a
yeah those two again but not having to show there at one point you know bouncing off each
other's doors and dive bombing each other so that that part was fun to watch it was fun you bring
me to the next point Kyle Larson a number of drivers having issues with their cool suits
throughout this race this obviously is the hottest race we've had so far this season
temperatures in the mid 80s so when he would stop they'd do the ice packs they would have
to do the water bottles dump them over his head everything you're basically just cooking in your
suit right yes is that well they never had a chance to to drain the system to get all the hot water
out of it so you just can't afford to to take the time unless you just can't tolerate it but
they they managed it the best that they could um you know I think Larson's cool suit um
Ryan Priest's cool suit and there I think they might might have been yeah AJ Almond Dinger
but you know I think Larson in general never really showed up at the at the front he was
consistent you know right around seven you know that six to 10th six to 10th area right there so
William Byron I thought at one point I'm like yeah man he looks like he might be able to contend
but it just never seemed like like the Hendrick cars were in the same league as SVG and and some of
the Gibbs cars and and so you know that's that's what we talk about with the balanced piece of a
new body um and and getting that figured out once they get all that information from a race weekend
like this and then they're going to go to Phoenix and and do the same thing but not definitely not
the the weekend that you would at least expect one of those cars to contend for a win and Larson
was was mediocre yeah I want to give a call to the college team with 16 with AJ for sure because
they had one of their better qualifying efforts um and then he fought obviously he didn't have
it was cooking like a lobster he said on the radio he's like I don't know if I'm gonna make it yeah
and then you know at the end we see that quick shot of him laid out basically with all his gear on
which is super scary and I'm glad that Mike was able to get you guys were able to in the booth
to get the information to everybody because I know a lot of people were in I texted AJ and I said
when do you think it went out he said I started getting hot at the end of stage one and I said
how hot did the car get he said the car was like at 130 and I said how and he goes the water was at
100 so he was the water in the system was at 100 that was just cooking him as the car is like 130
yeah well and and let's not forget this is a full day's work whether your cool suit is working or
not it's just there's not a lot of caution laps not a lot of times to take a break there's a lot
of shifting the car hits the ground a tremendous amount here so just that that constant pounding
of all the bumps and all the rub blocks hitting the ground is it's a tough day's work on the on
the driver because you have so many shifts and so much going on inside the car the cars are hotter
anyway because I mean you go down the front straight away fast but the rest of the lap is
is pretty slow so you don't get a lot of time to cool everything off and with all the heavy
braking and things that are happening there it just builds more heat in the car so it's a it's a
it's a fatiguing day for the drivers in general let alone when everything's not working with your
with your cool suit you gotta have a different mentality to allow yourself to cook like a lobster
and then still run away like because our guys are so tough and I don't think that toughness really
gets we're either tough or dumb it can be both yeah two things can be crazy just dumb enough to
be that tough because he and then you got Brad with a broken leg like yeah but almond dinger
wound up finishing nine yeah yeah I mean these guys battled it out they did now one driver who
did not was alex bowman who in the middle of the race seemingly could not finish for some physical
reason we're not entirely sure what exactly happened it is my understanding he did not go
into the race sick or anything like that it happened obviously during the race so he comes
out hendrick motorsports looking for a relief driver which it's not like they're just all
standing around waiting to get the call up now this is the interesting story here my
at snider as you see in that clip is jamie littles pit spotter and a lot of people are
asking what is a pit spotter it's basically the second ears and eyes for the reporter
scanning the radios getting notes to the reporter that is his primary job right now
until yesterday he was asked obviously by hendrick to fill in and complete the race for the 48
what do you think he's thinking right there probably nervous I know exactly because so
Brad Perez uh who actually relieved drove for JJ yaley in the O'Reilly series race the day before
is is roommates with my my at texted him and Brad put it up there my at texted him I was like
hey man what are the breaking points in 6a yeah real quick yeah real great yeah Brad like gave
him the information it's like what would you need that for then all of a sudden Brad sees it's a while
am I about to go in their car like that is wild well that's why you bring your helmet bag
there probably wasn't wasn't too many people standing around with their helmet bag
able to drive that car but what an experience for for my at we saw dale jr. do that a number of
years ago in Kyle Busch's car and then ultimately wound up at hendrick's sports and how how things
can change but um I don't I don't know I mean you never want to speculate on on somebody's health or
what's happening but it just feels like the 48 thing is just kind of unraveling right in front
of us um haven't had a good week yet as far as uh performance and and coda was definitely one of
those places where alex bowman hadn't finished outside of the top 10 ever that's a good spot for
in the first five years and and really never did anything to go forward on on the weekend
so they've they've definitely got some some things that they got to work through pretty
quickly um you know or it's going to unravel pretty quick even before the situation occurred
with this health they had the uncontrolled tire also on pit road so there was a mistake there
from the pit crew um I want to go back to my for a second though because I obviously work with
him every weekend we share the same office space in the trailer and he is a grinder I mean he is
always on his computer emailing sponsors trying to set up his next opportunity with racing because
he wants to be back behind the wheel that is obviously the ultimate goal but he's kind of one
of those people that's willing to work any kind of job just to be involved in racing and still
making connections and still talking with teams and that's kind of I think why he's in that spot
so Jefferson Hodges who's over at team Penske I used to work for him at the diversity team at
rev racing and one time um when I was still when I was a mechanic just trying to figure it out he
one of the drivers couldn't come to practice before the race and they were late and he's like
mommy you want to he's like getting this thing and I'm like hell yeah but I didn't have any of my gear
I had none of my helmet none of my fire suit because I was scared to like have it with me and
them think that I wasn't committed to working figure out a life here and he looked at me
Danny I said you want to be a race car driver and you didn't bring your helmet to the racetrack
never again and so why didn't they call you you could have been in that 48 do you still bring it
huh do you still bring it on now I do yeah now it makes it did you have it there this weekend
oh no I wasn't gonna be doing that no I mean you never know I don't know Riley car you got
sports cars there listen I'll bring it to the Arca races didn't you say yeah no I'll bring it to
ovals okay yeah not a road course guy not a big road course guy I got you well there you go yeah
well interesting stories definitely coming out of coda on the cup series side some things we didn't
expect I do want to touch briefly on some of the other series the st. Pete race for the trucks
obviously the inaugural lane race the short track racer from north carolina was the one who got this
which is awesome and he talked about how much effort he'd put into preparing for this race
specifically well he definitely paid off for him because he he definitely drove the thing to the
front and kept it there for for most of the day but for for me the winner the weekend was the
trucks in st. Pete yeah great crowd they didn't have much practice the truckers made themselves
look good by not going out there and just crashing all over each other and and did a great job on
the racetrack and it was a it was a fun race to watch but lane rigs is is definitely improving and
and that's the expectation that we have for that team was to go out and compete for a championship
this year didn't really have a lot of things go right the first couple weeks of the season to be
able to hang their hat on and say we did a great job but they did a great job at st. Pete and put
a whole weekend together and we're able to capitalize on the fast truck and all the things
that they were doing right so good weekend for for lane good weekend for Ford time of
jeski second um you know we had dario franckini and and uh jameson's first jimmy hinch jimmy hinch
jimmy hinch and in the uh in the truck race uh landon louis uh his first road course for for
niece and and did a great job uh in both stages and and wound up six so had a lot of great stories
as as as we went through the weekend of of people that we didn't really know how how they would do
but lane rigs got it done love that i think it's safe to say trucks should return there yeah i think
we should keep doing this whole blending of the indy car and the nas car i think it's great for
everybody and there's it becomes a whole lot more respect from not from the garages because the
garage is not hard both uh forms are but just the fans and getting to see different drivers and lane
is he's an eight short track ace but like he's really figured out how to drive these trucks
at a high level and i'm super happy for him um now that he's not throwing his shoulder out
after wins anymore he's got that figured out got that big yeah got that big yeah got that fixed uh
and then i thought the one of the coolest moments was uh franckini and hinch just banging doors like
i thought that was like the coolest thing because how they never would have probably been able to
do that even when they raced the other stuff they raced together so yeah here it is right here
here we go here's some footage of it yeah it was definitely a banner weekend you know it's always
a question mark if you put a series in a new race market of how it may go but they have to feel
obviously encouraged uh from what they saw it's a well established event for for indy car always
has great participation from the fans but when you look at the size of the crowd on saturday and just
it's just different and sometimes you don't have to i mean if if it was that great and you want to
go back fine but sometimes you just leave the impact and move to the move to the next event
but i think for the the truck series guys this is a great street course to learn on it's got a
lot of sections that are wide it's not like the whole course is street course narrow and you know
a lot of curves and and natural curves that they build into the into the track that that you can
use that the trucks actually climbed over the top of and and were able to to do something different
than than the indy cars so successful event a great day to be a race fan you know you turn
to turn the truck race on on saturday then you had the orally race you had the cars to a race on
on saturday a lot of drama there then the cup race an indy car race on sunday back to back on fox
great weekend to be a race fan we had a race said kevin harvick's current raceway no we had an
race it's a great time to be a race fan in general i think is the consensus so far in 2026
okay so let's touch on this once again guys the chris gay part situation a federal judge did not
issue a ruling friday on whether to impose a temporary restraining order that would prevent
gay part from working with rival team spire and he amended his complaint as well chris gay part did
formally opposing jgr's request for a temporary restraining order filing a sworn declaration
disputing the allegations of trade secret misappropriation so what is the latest you
have learned of it on this situation oh well we're in court again and you know i think that that part
is um not ideal uh you know for the sport i think you got you definitely have two sides to the story
you know chris gay part defending himself pretty emphatically on on how he feels the situation
is joe gibbs trying to protect the information that that you know they have at joe gibbs racing so
you know it it sucks to see a relationship like that in the way that it has and and you know it's
i think there was more news that that came out you know with different each side's gonna have
more news come out now that you know you did this and you did that and it's ultimately gonna
come down to the judge settling things or it's gonna come down to the the two sides making an
agreement but uh definitely a tough spot for both parties i think it's gonna really change what
technical alliances are gonna how that information is gonna cross over not that you know obviously
jgr is a Toyota team and it's by the Chevrolet team but just how the conversations are when you
are aligned with teams that are outside of your building and how that works i think we're into a
new era of of life and and those things aren't going to be as free-flowing as they probably were
in the early 2000s we'll continue to follow that story as it develops coming up next is phoenix a
place that you saw a lot of success over the years nine times to be we want a couple nine times to
be exact there's a lot of dates that you went to victory lane at that place says here the secret to
success at this race track the secret the secret can you share the secret the secret is the back
window just being attached yeah that's the secret yeah you can have it in or out there and we can
maybe yeah but you know i think um let's see we won twice in 2006 12 13 twice in 14 15 16 18
and a cool part is you know it was the last race of of my career so to be able to i grew up you
guys have heard these stories before i know a lot of fans haven't haven't but um i i grew up as a
kid going to to phoenix international raceway and i raced my southwest tour cars there i raced
my winston west car there i raced trucks there so that was our i mean that was our big event
that was our daytona 500 from west coast lake model racing that that we got to go to and
and so um you know as as i would go there every year my grandpa would be he'd take his motor home
and park it over there a year or like a month early a year early so that he could get his parking
spot so every time i drive in he'd be hanging on the fence smoking a cigarette yelling at me
making sure that i i came over and and said hi to him um you know while he was alive but
it was um it's a special place and to be able to have it be the place that i had the most success
you know kind of puts it's kind of icing on the cake uh we led a bunch of the race and in my last
race as a cup driver uh there in in phoenix so that was that was a it was a good place to be good
and ultimately to be good there we always concentrated on the end of the first third
into turn one to be able to at the end of the brake zone right there to make the car turn from
that point to the center of the corner if you are tight in that section of the corner right there
you're just not going to get the car pointed and get off the corner good and if you can usually
if you can make the car good there it's it's usually good on the other end of the racetrack
but you've got the apron that you can use you can put the lefts on it you can put all four
tires on it you can hook the rights on the line you can drive all the way down it you can go up
the racetrack in one and two and and sometimes the groove moves up in in three and four but
it's a technical technical place your car has to handle well a lot of breaking opportunities to use
different strategies to help manipulate the car and throttle strategies so you have a lot of options
at at the racetrack um and i felt like that was one of our strengths we could adapt and adjust
throughout the race when the groove moved up or it moved down uh to be able to find those things
first so you got to be you have to be have a versatile car and have a versatile driver to
to go out and and not only run in the one spot right next to the yellow line that everybody
knows that they need to do but be able to be creative and do things in in in the corner in one
and two whether it's up the racetrack or down on the apron you headed out there this weekend i'm not
no i'm not headed out i mean unless someone last minute wants me to come out holla at your boy
no ramp burnouts at phoenix no ramp burn out the next ramp burnouts will be at darlington and it's
gonna be special yeah we got some stuff coming through you guys we kept showing the we kept
showing the mechanical bowl this weekend did you i mean yeah we didn't take much to throw anybody
off no it's hard you know uh i can do it pretty well but i know you i tried to get you to come
out and i so i could show you my skills i i never i never found the time to to come out through this
weekend but trust me there's nothing more than i want to do than grab the grab the controls on
that thing and just throw your ass right off darlington lock it in we're gonna do it i'm calling
the truck race drivers only that that's right drivers only in darlington there you go somehow i
keep being getting getting to be on the driver's oh yeah you're not really that grandfathered in
i'm the grandfather of the program wasn't it your idea initially to do driver's only i mean i was a
part of the conversation okay yeah that's cool uh anyway what are you looking forward to though
about phoenix phoenix well honestly like from the driver's there but that's actually one of the
tracks that i've been able to race on and i really enjoy phoenix like to kevin's point there's so
many different ways that you can drive it and search for different grooves and speed and grip
i always get confused ever since we reconfigured it it doesn't surprise it gets me confused all
the time i'm like yeah that end but the turn one and two end took kevin's point when you get it
right you're in the gas so long and you figure you're carrying a ton of speed and then it's
heavy braking into three and then there's like really a line that you that you need to hit and
it's not very wide into turn three turn three was always i always when i got to the the three cones
on the wall i always wanted to have my eyes to the left to to look for the for the end of the fence
and then i would just aim there and the unique part about turn three is it's got these little
waves and in the in the in the asphalt that you have to modulate the brakes to get in there hard
enough and a lot of people want to back the corner up right there but you actually need to drive it
in hard to get keep the car loaded and modulate that brake pedal over those bumps and there's like
this little trough that if you can get the left front tire right there just right you can immediately
let off the brake and roll right back to the throttle open the wheel and drive it straight at
the wall and if you hit it right it's like it's like magic it kind of reminds me it's kind of like
richman's kind of like that too right and one yeah it's a little bit like that more in three okay at
richman than than anything turn three at richman and getting that car brake under braking right and
aim towards the line is very similar to the entrance to turn three at phoenix when the car drives
good it's really fun yeah but you can manage it you can make it do things that it if it's way off
it's it's impossible but if it's a little bit off you can you can manage the car with the brake
pedal a lot of unique nuances that make that track what it is okay so let's talk about some of the
team specifically to keep an eye on for phoenix who do you think is going to rise to the occasion
potentially i mean i think that the chevys can show up at any point and hit it but i don't know
that they know what they're actually 100 sure of what they need to get the balance of their cars right
so it wouldn't surprise me if they were all over the board it wouldn't surprise me if they won it
wouldn't surprise me if they ran 20th it wouldn't surprise me if they qualify good and race bad
so i i still think that there's a little bit that they're shooting you know trying to understand
as to what they need with the with the balance of those race cars i i think that ryan blaney's
going to be tough to beat he had a ton of speed this weekend he's been good at every race
pinsky cars have typically been pretty good there from from the 12 standpoint the 22 has
been hit or miss um two i can't really ever tell where they are as far as you know what what they're
interesting what they have going on yeah and and when you talk about cindrick i mean i really
expected at this point in his career for him to be contending on all those road courses i thought he
would come in and just be where like yeah what he didn't know riley's you would think and that is
i mean it happened the first year but it hasn't happened since and and so i can't really ever
tell you know some weeks the two shows up and and more times than not they don't and and they wind
up in in the mid-pack and and i there's just no consistency to that team but team penskey in
in general has been really good at phoenix but i i believe that blaney's gonna lead the way from a
speed standpoint so i expect him to to be in contention wouldn't surprise me if joey the gano
shows up and and is in contention but could run 15 i don't know um but i think that the you know
it's reddix got the momentum reddick in 2311 have had the momentum and and you see a lot of the
the short track stuff and and it's who who can adapt their car to the power and the extra breaking
in in extra tire wear that go with the the added horsepower so um i think it could go a number
of of different ways but if i had to pick one right now i'm not gonna tell you because that's
later that's later i already know who's gonna pick he just talked about him for like three minutes
he said brainy eight times he did say him quite a few times but but ryan's usually really good
at phoenix uh they're also like whether it's spring or fall um i it's interesting to see
how it flips because uh the joe gibbs Toyota's you know christopher bell has won
here in the spring right so he's obviously someone who's coming off a good momentum from coda um
but also sometimes they miss it there the Toyota's miss it there it's it's kind of random it's not
hard to do in this car yeah do that just about anywhere i would think uh i do think that the 24
and the five uh from Hendrick you know Byron and larson will be will be up in the mix just based
on last year have to watch and find out and see what happens that's the action coming to you on
fox okay it is time now for apparently the fans favorite segment according to the fan at least
one i've only i've only heard that from one fan one fan yeah okay yeah
kevin only heard from kevin only heard from one fan but i heard it from a lot of you guys at coda
a lot of closers came by the display shout out to you it was awesome there was so many
you guys that came out and chatted racing and stuff but also you know katelyn doesn't love me
like i love her because she does skip the word of the week at the beginning of the show but i didn't
forget let's run the word and he's he's become slicker than a grease pig in in practice i mean
he's just he's one of those guys now that knows everybody's watching him and he'll go out on the
racetrack and and he said it to me he's like hey i'll go out there and just make sure my car is good
but i don't want to show everybody what i have in my car because they all look at the data they all
are trying to imitate what he is doing so i don't know how slick that is kevin it is slick sounds
pretty slick sounds pretty slick yeah you guys sent that to me this week and i'm like oh my god
how am i going to use this phrase so i i mean there's certain ones like that that i i have to
try to create something before the broadcast start but this week i've gotten to the point where
i feel comfortable with whatever you guys throw at me but it's more fun for me when i don't tell
mike and clint so they have no idea what's happening yeah and this week they both looked at me like
slicker to grease pig what in the hell is this guy gone off the deep end i'm like i'm thinking of
myself well i you were committed to yeah i committed to that one so hopefully it's okay yeah it went
well so i realized why i forgot because we just went straight into all those storylines and i just
totally went i followed his lead and that's why i forgot the word sorry it's okay there you go
something that we expect out of you but we'll let it slide this time i guess we can mess up everyone
for a while sorry but it's mama's social sips and we're here to have some good times uh starting
with an og one of everyone's favorites bill elliot 70 years old awesome bill from dawsonville
got back behind the wheel uh shout out colby evans for this uh this post allegedly
chase won a pro cup race back in the day with this car so now now bill's one in it and chase is
one in it that's pretty neat and red bull guy i guess red bull got a little extra love too because
i guess they're sponsoring the car i don't know yeah that's pretty good worked out pretty good it's
always and it just seems like we have more and more guys just getting back in the in the cars to
to just make laps and and have fun you know dario franckity was was on speed with us and
and what was talking about just getting back in the car not having any pressure and enjoying it
it's like you hear me talk about the late model stuff you can get back in the environment and
just enjoying the car but from a competitors state of mind to get into that point can sometimes take
a while and you know i think bill being back in there he's run some srx races and different things
but 70 70 70 still getting it good for him still getting after it so maybe kevin's got some years
left in him after all i mean i guess i got 20 years i was gonna say there's a pretty big age gap
between those two hey i was just saying uh we talked about a little bit earlier on the show but
actually we actually the actually have the text from my snider to brad perez that you can see
there and then brad posted it i think that was so cool like imagine your your roommate is getting
a shot like this and you literally just had a same opportunity the day before i think that's
so wild it's probably never happened yeah it'll remember that forever the day you got to step
in in the 48 i i don't know what i would feel like if someone like chat can now said uh hey bud
you mind jumping in the nine car four i didn't rip some laps for us yeah we just got no one else
here we just need to finish this race and we don't just need to finish this we don't have any options
right now you want to make some you want to take a fourth spin yeah sure yeah how do you start it
literally which switchers do i use how do i what not to do and i think he did a actually you know
how i know he did a decent job because we didn't talk about him after yeah like he wasn't so i was
paying attention and i looked down at the lap times a couple times he ran some really good laps
there you go yeah i i was curious i mean the car was last yeah right and i was but i was curious as
to how hard he was pushing it but typical hindricks fashion just go out there and go as fast as you
keep it on the track stuff like that gets you opportunities and other things for sure
so shout out my snider and brad pres both of them boys um we have a voicemail guys oh really
let's hear what this gentleman has to say i want to know something i watch the show every week
those beer cans have not moved in that refrigerator behind you ever those have to be like green
beer by now yeah cans they never move see you yeah and they're gonna stay that way
just let you know what was this gentleman's name do we know i don't i don't have that in my notes
yeah well we don't know your name but uh those are collectibles those are the original
harvick beer cans now the budwizers on the bottom i guess we could drink those they look good down
there but i wouldn't drink them now the harvick cans were not touching they're there for looks
they're real beers but they only sold them at dover when i drove the harvick
beer car yeah so those came from the racetrack that was the only place you could buy them
they gave us a couple cases and they live there that's why we don't drink them yeah they're special
i didn't like i mean would you drink one of those budwizers well that's what i was about to say
in fairness i did ask at the beginning of this thing like two years ago yeah if we could drink
those and you said i would not do that so that's funny that a fan like felt so compelled to ask
about the status of the beer at least critiquing our set or paying attention and looking around it
at what we have i don't even know what we have some of your stuff came out of our storage room
so yeah looks good no it was great uh closes no seriously they were really out in full force there's
a lot of fans at kota and the vibes were really high and i read the best vibe at kota we've ever
had it was unbelievable but and it what yeah i mean i was outside the best time the sun was out
i got i had to i had to take my watch off i was starting to get a line i was like i can't come on
the show with a watch tan line that doesn't that ain't gonna fly so and rg3 came out oh really
yeah rg3 came by but by the display a little forward brother rg3 did you see r2d2 no r2d2 is
not there i destroyed i don't know anyways kevin there you go closes if you want to leave a voicemail
805-317-4175 and if you want to leave an email harvick happy hour four at gmail.com also i just
forgot we didn't last week give any credit to sheldon creed want to make sure i said his name
because he finally got off the hide and won last week at wayna do we have a fax machine a fax machine
yeah i don't even have a fax machine tyler i'm pretty sure we do what do you need i mean i don't
know it'd be fun to have like a fax number two we got everything else on here kevin send us a fax
machine do you think these people have a fax machine i bet you more of them have a fax machine
than an email at their jobs maybe they could send us a nice little fax i think you should let us know
fans let us know if you have a fax machine if you have a fax machine i'm going to go find one at
the antique store we're going to start accepting mamba faxes pictures of yourselves we'll get a
beep drawings whatever it is we need a number but they're all going to be addressed your faxes
will be addressed to mamba uh so if you have a fax machine let us know if more than two of you
have a fax machine we'll go get one i think i think you're tired i you had a hard time i think
you're a little tired oh i think you both probably are after a very busy weekend okay it's time now
for the last call guys and to grade the burnout and we gave tyler eddick very high marks last
week man we might have we might have should have backed off a little bit last week because this one
this one was just a badass burnout he's listening they're definitely paying attention when you do
well that that's what happens when you win three weeks in a row you got to do it better than last
week so the gear is probably great for this too to be honest well i can't believe that the tires
didn't pop sooner because it this seemed like it went on forever but all the way down the front
straightaway and then we're gonna do some donuts and come back the other way and see the boys it's
like the the tires that would never die yeah the burnout that would just kept going and going yeah
you know what happened to is on saturday svg had a really good one so tyler i think was like
i beat him and i'm gonna beat him with my burnout saturdays was saturdays was saturdays was pretty
good i was able i was actually on pit road for for that one while svg was doing it and in between
the grandstands and the suites right there everything is so freaking loud yeah and when those
tires blew out it sounded like a bomb went off in there and by the way i know we're i mean the
burnout is still going so it was really good nice job tyler reddick we'll give you a b plus
because you know that just those style points it was a great burnout yeah but those style
points from reverse last week so that's still the top no no for sure it's gotta be unique that was
like a good regular burnout like without any extra style yeah no style points yeah yeah but um the
flyover this week did you guys see it yeah the flyover the helicopter literally was down in
between the grandstands run the course and on top of the racetrack and then just ran the course all
the way around this badass it was very cool yeah okay so two weeks in a row we've got good scores
for tyler reddick and the burnout department uh time now to take a look at the point standings
are you notice did you hear her voice just a little bit you heard that because this doesn't
get to happen well the good news is mama's still in last so i'm not in last i'm tied for that sheet
on the sheet you're you're listed as last but because alphabetical order i have a better finish
i finished second you finished third so i'm ahead of you kevin and i both picked svg obviously he
just said finished second so kevin's at six i'm at 12 mama is also at six your pick did well i don't
like the way you said it now you like change your voice everything like my like my six points is
lesser than his it is i mean the tiebreaker right now would be best finish and i have a second and
your next opportunity to break the tie is in a few days at phoenix so you might as well cast
your vote you want to go first no yeah i'm picking blaney i see that's why i i didn't okay we knew
that was coming i'm going with christopher bell two wins the last four has momentum on the side
from kota see this is this is this is also the thing like i wait until you guys pick because i
want that was your choice so don't complain i don't want to gain points but if i would if i
what you got william byron william byron yeah so i'm telling you this thing is wide open this
weekend just as just as it has been at at the two super speedways and and if you had a looked at the
first practice session and told me tyler reddick was going to win i would told you that you were
the dumbest human being on pit road and then we go to qualify and he's on the pole and i i think
that phoenix is that wide open as well there you go we got a blaney bell and a byron triple
bees okay someone's gonna get it right hopefully we'll see um so we've talked about svg a lot on
the course of this show and you have an interview with him on your thursday edition yes yeah we got
to sit down with with shane and and ronald um they're peeing on everything but you know we sat
down and and just going back to kota not having one there having the streak on the line just wanted
to get some insight into into where his head it was at in a second full-time year because
it feels like he's been here forever yeah and it's he's going into his second full-time year
yes the first it was four years ago at chicago was his first start yeah and then he ran o'reilly's
for a year so this yeah yeah just we talk about him a lot so maybe it feels like he's been here
longer than he has and you know he's gonna win one of the road courses this year and and just so
we got to sit down and just kind of pick his brain and where he was on not only the road courses but
ovals and uh his farm life and all the things that he has going on over there you go we look
forward to seeing that on thursday all right losers make sure you subscribe to our new youtube
channel check us out on harvick happy pot as well we'll see everybody after phoenix
About this episode
Kevin Harvick and Caitlyn Vincey break down the recent NASCAR race at Circuit of the Americas, highlighting Tyler Reddick's dominant performance with three consecutive wins to start the season. They discuss the impact of momentum in racing, the challenges Toyota teams faced, and Denny Hamlin's strong top-10 finish at a tough road course. The hosts also touch on the ongoing lawsuit rumors, the competitive balance among manufacturers, and preview the upcoming Phoenix race. Insights into team dynamics, driver strategies, and the pressure of the points battle add depth to the conversation.
Original notes
Tyler Reddick rewrites NASCAR history with three straight Cup Series wins to open the 2026 season, becoming the first driver since 1949 to start 3-for-3, as COTA delivers chaos, mechanical failures, late-race drama, and major playoff implications. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down Reddick’s dominant weekend, Shane van Gisbergen’s push to second, Ty Gibbs’ statement finish, Kyle Larson’s cool suit malfunction, Alex Bowman’s early exit, Ross Chastain’s costly penalty, and the latest developments in the Joe Gibbs Racing–Chris Gabehart lawsuit. The crew then previews Phoenix Raceway — where Harvick won nine Cup races — explaining what makes the track so challenging and revealing their official race predictions for the weekend. Mamba’s Social Sips dives into Bill Elliott’s vintage victory at age 70, Myatt Snider’s last-second braking advice, and fan voicemails from around the country.
0:00 - Intro
2:32 - COTA Weekend Recap
33:54 - Phoenix Preview
42:30 - Mamba’s Social Sips
50:05 - Last Call
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