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New Hampshire Recap: Ryan Blaney Shines, JGR Teammates Clash & 23XI Under Pressure, Plus Kansas Preview
New Hampshire Recap: Ryan Blaney Shines, JGR Teammates Clash & 23XI Under Pressure, Plus Kansas Preview
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About this episode
The show recaps the New Hampshire race weekend, highlighting Ryan Blaney's strong performance and the resurgence of Joe Gibbs Racing's Pinsky cars after testing improvements. Tensions within 23XI Racing are discussed, especially between Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs, with analysis on how their on-track clash could impact Hamlin's championship hopes. The hosts also touch on Kyle Busch's struggles amid crew chief rumors and preview the upcoming Kansas race, emphasizing the pressure on drivers to perform. The episode blends race insights, team dynamics, and candid driver interviews, offering a deep dive into the current NASCAR playoff landscape.
Topics:
new hampshire race recap
ryan blaney performance
joe gibbs racing improvements
23xi racing tensions
denny hamlin ty gibbs clash
kyle busch crew chief rumors
playoff pressure
kansas race preview
driver interviews
nascar playoff format
Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith recap an eventful NASCAR weekend at New Hampshire, where Ryan Blaney scored a big win and Team Penske showed serious speed. The crew breaks down Blaney’s performance, the impressive day for Penske, and the growing drama between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs. They also analyze Tyler Reddick’s struggles and what the recent performances say about the state of 23XI Racing heading deeper into the postseason. Looking ahead, the team previews Kansas Speedway and the next challenge in the Round of 12, breaking down which contenders need a strong showing to stay alive. Mamba shares the week’s top moments online in Mamba’s Social Sips, and the show wraps up in Last Call with grades for Blaney’s burnout (or lack thereof) and the crew’s picks for Kansas.
LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR KANSAS: https://forms.gle/EzD5tkBAAQkJqK5A8
0:00 - Intro
4:40 - New Hampshire Recap
33:37 - Kansas Preview
39:55 - Mamba’s Social Sips
46:28 - Last Call!
51:21 - Submit Picks For Kansas
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- Intro
- New Hampshire Recap
- Kansas Preview
- Mamba’s Social Sips
- Last Call!
- Submit Picks For Kansas
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Denny Hamlin is the Dallas Cowboys of NASCAR.
There's no hiding that that wasn't intentional.
Is that the moment that derails Denny Hamlin's 2025 championship?
There's just a lot of things that scream, I'm pissed.
I don't like where we are.
I don't like anything that's happening.
We all want to see Kyle Busch win.
I've hated Kyle Busch with a passion.
I can't imagine Kyle Busch going out like this.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm Kevin Harvick.
She's Kate Vincie and that guy.
Yeah.
That guy.
I'm glad you didn't say favorite Cheetah.
I thought for sure you were about to do it.
Katelyn's part of it.
I feel like there's a group called the Cheetah Girls or something like that.
That was like a Nickelodeon thing.
Oh yeah.
Maybe back in the day.
I don't know something like that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It looks great though.
Kevin, this is a relaxed, cool Kev.
Oh yeah.
This is cool.
This is cool Kev.
Look, Kevin never wears hats.
He never wears hoodies in these shoes that he has on.
Very skater-esque.
You like them?
Yeah.
I do like the colors.
Yeah.
So all of green.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Who put this together for you today, Kevin?
I did.
Oh.
Yeah.
And he's got the color.
I got dressed today and I was like, you know what?
I'm going to dump this all the way down to mama today.
And I'm going to find my oldest hoodie, my stinkiest hat in my most comfortable
shoes.
So here I am.
And he looked great.
This was a conscious effort then.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's trying to be like me.
And you came close.
But if you notice, I got my Kevin Harvick white J's on.
So yeah.
There you go.
Hey, how was the weekend back in your homeland?
Oh my God.
I love, there's nothing, I love more than going back home and seeing all the things
that I used to see.
It really reminds you of why you loved this thing being at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
And then the fans.
Fans are awesome.
They're awesome.
And they were just so excited.
We had this happy hour show that we did after Miho's day.
It was called a happy hour.
It was called a happy hour.
Yeah.
It was cool.
Honestly.
Honestly?
I was thinking the same thing.
Maybe next year take the show on the road a little bit because it was packed
out.
They had so much fun.
Ricky Craven was up there.
Kurt Busch.
They talked about that whole thing.
Ricky Craven's like the goat for New England.
And it was just really cool.
And there was a lot of closes up there.
A lot.
A lot.
I've told you guys that's a heck of a region up there for my fan base.
It was always one of the better fan bases that we had.
And they're very passionate.
And I think some of that passion comes from the fact that they know in about two months
they won't be able to come out of their house.
Seriously though.
It could be, it could have been snow.
I mean it was beautiful.
It was like 69.
Perfect.
I think there was like 21,000 people in the stands for the truck race.
Then 1,000 stayed for cup practice and qualifying.
There was like over 3,000 campers.
Like they deserve.
I love the fact that it's a one race.
Yes.
I think that this is another great example of making one great race instead of having
two mediocre races.
Like when you look at Kansas it'll be sub par in the grandstands this weekend.
The first one sub par.
And I think a one race town is loud in Kansas.
Those types of places.
Pocono.
I mean, look what I did for Pocono, right?
But I love the race fans up in the Northeast.
They're just so passionate.
Yes they are.
They showed up.
Showed up big time.
I did notice that for the truck race.
I was like, we have a great crowd here today.
I love that.
I just kept looking up and it was like.
Is there any fall there?
The leaves have all changed.
Leaves are changing.
Well technically it's not already fall.
But it looks like it.
It looks like it.
Yeah.
When does fall start then?
Technically.
Yeah.
Well I had to have my daughter tell me this the other day.
Okay.
Sure.
Yeah.
It's in a couple weeks.
Okay.
So you don't know exactly?
I don't remember the exact date.
But it's not yet.
Because I said, you know it looks like fall outside Piper.
She's like, no.
It's not fall yet.
Tyler just told me the research department says it actually starts today.
Oh.
So you corrected me.
Yeah.
And you're wrong.
So you'll be wrong tomorrow.
Oh my God.
I can't.
This is already going well.
Welcome in to episode 66 here on Harvicks Happy Hour.
We have a lot to discuss leaving Loudon.
Some storylines we weren't necessarily anticipating.
And you have your Sips.
We got Sips.
We got a little cross, yellow cross sports.
Cross sports.
Yeah.
I like that.
Cross sport.
Cross country.
No.
Crossing sports.
Oh.
Cross over.
Cross over.
Yeah.
Sure.
Yeah.
Okay.
The old crossover.
I love how Gay Park categorized them as yellow cars.
And I think it's very specific to the 12 and the 22.
Yeah.
Look, here's the deal.
You haven't seen the Pinsky cars.
Let's think back to last year.
Pinsky cars awful, right?
To start the season.
Joey Logano goes to North Wilkesboro does the test.
Veteran pro leader goes to the test.
They figure something out.
Off they go.
Joey Logano goes to Loudon.
All you heard when he comes back from Loudon,
how fast that the 22 car was.
They show back up.
All the Pinsky cars are fast on the pole on the front road.
Josh Berry, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano leading laps.
And that's why you got to take your guy to the tests because
you don't get many of them.
And as much as you want to send all the other guys to the
tests, there are not, not everybody is capable of taking
your car and making it better.
A guy like Joey Logano is there's not very many of them that
can go do stuff like that to do the development and dig you
out of a hole, but he's dug them out of a hole and they're
back and they're going into they got to victory lane.
Logano had a great weekend and got a lot of points.
Blaney's in there.
And so when you look at, when you look at the way that
that went for them, that was what they needed.
And I think that it's a little later than it was over
the last couple of years, but they're, they're back on the
back on the tracks.
It just seems like you can never count them out when it comes to
this time of the year.
And we've seen it multiple years in a row now.
I saw you tweeted, you regret it, not picking Ryan Blaney.
Yeah.
Which is a rare occasion.
Well, well, yeah, it's because, you know, you guys
understand anyone who watches the show understands my picks
usually turn into a little bit of a soup sandwich.
You know what I mean?
So, but he's been fast here.
They've had good car.
He's haven't had a great finishes, but they've been fast over
the last couple of years.
And this year, the 12, I think again was toting the flag
for the team, for the group all year, like in the mix
about seven.
I think you average somewhere between like seventh and ninth
every week.
And then all of a sudden they turn the, they got to the
second half of the year and it's like, okay, they started
chipping away and chipping away.
But it was lights out this weekend from the time that
those cars rolled off a pit road for the 12.
I mean, when you look at practice and the speed that
that 12 car had, and you listen to the commentators talk
and you look at the lap times and everything, that thing
was a bullet.
And then you look at Lugano.
I mean, he outqualified him by a 10th and a half for
the polls.
So I just, I can't emphasize enough how important
those tests are to take the right guy.
I think in, you look at Hendrick switching gears
a little bit, Hendrick was a part of a test at
Stateway and they felt like talking to a lot of their
crew this week.
They felt like they found some stuff for the flat tracks.
Absolutely.
It made it better.
It made it better.
So you look at William Byron, he ran pretty well.
Kyle Larson had some, had some spurts of old Kyle Larson.
So like having to Kevin's point, you got to take
whoever maybe can take in information the best
and give you back what you need.
That's your driving to take to help your whole.
Yeah.
And I think when you look at it from a manufacturer
standpoint, when you take a, when you, when, when
a Ford sends a subpar team and I would say anybody
but Pinsky, you know, I, if it were me having to
pick who got to go to all the tests and even
when I was driving still and they would say, well,
it's not our turn to go test.
You don't get very many of those tests.
You got to take your guy and sometimes your guy
doesn't want to go.
Sometimes it's, it's, you know, it's not fair
to the other teams, but if you really want to keep
getting ahead, you got to have the guy at those tests
to be able to do it.
What's fair doesn't matter.
You want to be faster.
You want to be, you want it to be fair.
Josh Berry went fourth out in qualifying
and sat on the pole until one of his
Pinsky until a Pinsky teammate came up.
Yeah.
I have him written down next because Ryan said
it was the hardest 20 laps he's driven
to keep Josh Berry behind him.
This was great to see because we've obviously
documented how hard the playoffs were for him.
What did you see out of Josh?
Well, I think when you look back at
Josh Berry's, you know, playoff performance
and really the second half of the year,
it hasn't been, hasn't been great.
They've had some, some crazy things happen,
but I still think that when you look
at this type of performance, it shows the
capability of the race team, you know,
Josh Berry himself, his crew chief
and that whole 21 car to be able to
put the speed together when they can put
all the pieces in the right place.
And they were right on par with the rest
of the Pinsky organization this weekend
as far as speed.
And you got to remember, he got spun out
in the second stage to battle back.
And on older tires there at the end
still had a great shot to race with
Ryan Blaney and be able to compete for the win.
So exactly what the 21 team needed to
be able to put themselves in a position.
And let's, let's not forget how,
how all this works, right?
You got the top four that go to the championship
race. That's one, two, three, four and a point.
So fifth through 16th, they're still racing for
their spot once they get shuffled back into
the playoffs. So still a lot to race for
for these guys that aren't in the playoffs
and out already because at some point
the next four guys are going to get eliminated
and they're going to be, what they've done
will be tallied up to see how you see
the points from six to 16.
I'm glad you brought that up because a lot
we, we don't talk about that, right?
We don't talk about whoever is running for the
championship. You want to hear how this rule
was made? Was this the Kevin Harvard?
Was this the beginning of the DUNN committee?
This was, this was one of the first
DUNN committee decisions. Yeah.
I walked in when we changed the,
when we changed to this format,
Brian France was sitting in the meeting
and he was explaining,
super mad by the way. I couldn't have been
more mad. Oh, you were. Okay.
Oh, to say that we were going to a
one race playoff format and they were
in the playoffs in general.
At that point I was, I was livid
and we got done with the meeting.
I was already mad before I got there,
but we got done with the meeting and they
said, well, anybody got any suggestions?
I said, yeah, when you get knocked out
of the playoffs, everybody who's not in
that championship needs to be seated
by how their whole playoffs went.
So the, the points are actually
matter. They matter a lot
in this format. They just isn't
advertised, but, and, and I got
that Brian France ever said, I had a good idea.
But he's like, you know, that's a great
idea. We're going to, we're going to implement
that. So that's, that's how the, the point
seating got implemented. There you go. All the
drivers can thank Kevin Harvick for sticking
up for them. Half of them probably don't even know that that's how it worked.
They, I'm honestly, probably
not the fan. We don't talk
about it. So how would anyone know that?
But we, we talk about points so much
and it's such a hot topic right now.
And I don't understand why we don't advertise
the fact that that's the points actually
matter for your points position at the end
of the year. Yeah. I thought you
brought it up then. It seems very old-school
traditional, mixed with new, I don't know. Somewhat
yes. So you, you
referenced Hendrick Bonersports earlier. We talked on
the last show about how we felt like this round
prior didn't go well for them.
Do you think they've turned to corner? Well, I think
St. Louis and, and you talk about
the tests and some of the things that they,
that they did with their short track program
found them some speed. It didn't find
as much speed as, as the, as the
Pinsky Cards found. They started ahead.
But, you know, the 24
has been consistently better.
The five has been better. He
had some glimpses this weekend of,
of, of, of speed.
You know, I just,
I still don't see
the same speed and,
and dominant car out of that five
car that we saw at the beginning of the year that we've seen
last year. I think Kansas should tell
a good story if it, if it is
there, they talk about the short track.
So we haven't heard much about the,
the mile and a half. So now we've got Kansas in the mix here
to, to be able to
see where that five car is.
I'm more impressed with the 24 car
to be honest, you know,
as far as their consistency of speed. And I
think they've been better than the five.
So still don't
see it out of the five, but the 24
tends to, I tend to
lean towards thinking that they have a little
bit of life with, with how close they
are now. Yeah, I, I interviewed
him during practice and qualifying.
I was surprised that you could interview him though. I mean
that collar was tight.
It looked good. I literally said that to him
because we were at BSI making the exchange
on packs. I go, you got that top button
up there. Make it look
nice and pristine for Kevin because I knew he was
watching. Wayum is very
confidence. Yeah. Is that all?
It's like at an all time high,
but he is so calm.
Yeah. Like the group seems
like they're laser focused
even in his post-race interview.
He's like, he's not too high. He's not too
low. He's like very matter
of fact, like this is where we're at. This is where we're doing.
We gain some. That works. We got to
keep gaining. Yeah. And
you don't want to go into, you
don't want to go into the roval in two weeks
having to get it done
at that point. That's not what you want.
Yeah. That is looming. Yeah. And I
just, you know, I think that
you know, even, you know, we'll get into
the chaos in a little
bit, but, you know, I think that when you
look at the roval, there's just so many unknowns
and, you know, you've got,
I mean, Hamlin is, has been
awful on the, on the road courses and
you look at the Fords haven't been great
on the, on the road courses.
Now the roval is not,
it's not the same. It's different this year.
It's very different. But I mean, just the
course in general is different than
a traditional road course, but
you know, I just, I
look at some of those guys that
need to have a buffer if they haven't won
and I think that, you know,
there are a few of them that, that need
to be in that position before they get there.
So we've been talking about
the teams that had speed. Let's talk about some
who did not. And I want to start
with Tyler Redick and let's hear from him
first before we talk about him.
He did a post race interview with
a bunch of media members. Take a listen.
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't expect that.
That's for sure. The way the race
started, I thought we were going to
be able to run the top 10 all day, but
yeah, between the break issues
we had and
yeah, I mean, it just, it just got away quick
bouncing away and then, you know,
like saying, I know we were trying to battle for 20 years.
So hopefully like whatever
you guys fought today, that doesn't carry
you over to a mile and a half on a road
course, does it? We've been
hopefully not. I mean,
I don't know.
It seems like we've
struggling all year. I don't know.
Weaver for that sound bite, by the way.
So when you read between the lines, what are you hearing
there from Tyler? Big trouble.
That's what I read between those lines.
I think that we've talked about
the 45 all year and how they
haven't had that speed. You can
just tell by his demeanor and the way
that he's answering those questions,
but the way he's swaying back and forth,
you know, I mean, there's just a lot of things
that scream, I'm pissed.
I don't like where we are. I don't like
anything that's happening.
You know, I think you can, you can point to
the lack of speed. You can point to
a lot of rumors, you know,
from around the race team as to
what might happen as far as,
you know, if things go down
the path with the lawsuit. So I think
there's just a, there's a number of
things to me that that
interview and the things that he says
speed is one of them. It's everything.
And I don't think that you can get away
from that and seeing how those cars
were awful this weekend. You know, the 23
and the 45 were awful compared
to what we expect
out of them. And the 45 hasn't had any
speed all year. And that
is an unhappy driver. Very, very
unhappy. I interviewed him last week
actually and I referenced this, you know,
working through the ebbs and flows
of racing and we saw last year three
wins regular season champion. I said, you know
what's going on? And he said, last
year was one of those years where it felt like everything went
right. This year it feels like anything that
can go wrong is literally going wrong.
And he was even a little defeated and
that was in Bristol. So what
have you gleaned from your conversations with him?
Tyler, I mean, he's
honestly both of their drivers at 2311,
Tyler and Bubba. They kind of
ride that emotional roller coaster
a little bit. Bubba's done a really good job
at kind of staying even more
especially since the birth of his son
Bex. But Tyler looks
he looks frustrated
and unknowing
about what to do because confused.
Yeah, like there was a time
not too long ago where it's like, oh
Kansas that's a 2311 track.
Yeah, because both of them have won there.
They won like three in a row, I think between the two of them
or something like that.
And Tyler
looks like they ask him about Kansas
run in the top and he's like
I don't know. Like this supposed to be
the fact that you feel like you got it. Well they don't win there.
No, I think if
whichever one
if one of them wins, the other one's out.
I just don't see him win in the
I don't see anything that says
that the 45 is going to
be dominant at either of those
places. But it wouldn't surprise me
if they showed up and he did
because of his
past history.
I think with his recent history
I don't think that they win Kansas.
I don't think that they go there and
win the race. I think that
the 23 has a better shot to do that.
But if one of them doesn't win, they're not
if they don't win, they're not going forward.
I think that they put themselves in a pretty big hole.
This was a pretty rough weekend
and you got it. If you're going to have a bad weekend
it needs to be like a contained
bad weekend.
And it was kind of outside. If you're outside that
top 20
points wise, it's usually if you don't get any
state points, it really hurts you in this
state.
I think that
he looks miserable.
He just looks miserable.
I'm not sure if you've probably never been in that
situation, but I'm sure it's got to be very
debilitating for a driver when it's all going on.
This is the time of year when you
would just have to send the message that
you want to send. And you got to figure out
how to send it.
And come across
as whatever you wanted to come across
as. Because now
the way that he looked in that interview
the things that he said, the way that he acted
and just the total
defeated
front that he put on there
now everybody's going to start asking questions
or at least I am. You're going to start
asking questions. In the playoffs
you have to be able to control
the message. You've got to be able to control
the message because now
people are going to start not only are they going to ask
him again next week, but they're going to ask his crew
chief and then they're going to ask his owner and then they're going to
ask Denny Hamlin and then they're going to ask
Bubba Wallace and that's the type
that's the type of interview
that leads to the rest of the
questions and you have
to be able to if you're going to be
the guy you've got to be able to
control those types of situations in the
media so that it doesn't get to your
competitors and your team and all those things
to to drag it down and
and I don't think he intentionally did
that but that's the mental warfare
that you have to have to be the guy
if they don't
if one doesn't transfer
if one doesn't transfer for the rest
of the year until this lawsuit
thing is either in December
or figured out beforehand that's the only questions
that they're going to get. It will not
be about racing anymore. It will only
be about the lawsuit. So
Kevin you mentioned Denny Hamlin.
There's a few items to cover with
him today right guys? I don't know what
he does. What do you do?
Interactions
between him and his teammate
Ty Gibbs on the track
a very spicy
radio from both parties
very interesting
post-race interviews that didn't really share
a whole lot. You had an interview
with Coach Gibbs saying he believes the drivers should
handle it amongst themselves. Denny
sort of indicated he feels leadership should
have a role in this. So
Kevin question for you
is how do you think it should be handled?
Yeah this is
this is a tough one.
You know I think
when I look at this scenario obviously
the 11 as you can see him go up from
the hash mark right there straight into the back of the
54 that was intentional.
There's no hiding that that
wasn't intentional.
I think that they raced hard
like this. They raced hard like this with the
roles reversed earlier in the race with the
54 trying to
pass the 11. You could have wiped out
all three of them right there.
And I just don't understand
here's the question that I have
is that the moment that derails
Denny Hamlin's 2025 championship
because of the fact
that decision
now is a decision that you have to talk
about next week. It's a decision
that will divide the shop. It's a decision
that shows a lot of
a lot of people that you just
you don't really
have a lot of
respect.
And I think that
when you make those
when he made that decision it could
be the moment that derails
Denny Hamlin's championship chase for
2025.
We go back and we look at a lot of those moments
through the years. What are those moments that have
derailed those championships before?
But that move right there
for
11th or 12th
was in a position to possibly lose another championship.
And the first part of the race too
wasn't even like it was like towards the end.
Like how do you walk into the shop
with all the
employees of JGR?
Like what do you say to them?
You just dumpstered one of the cars that we all
work for and
granted they were racing hard
but as someone said I had a back and
forth with someone on X and I was like
well the whole subar has done way more
to deserve something like that
than what just happened
with how they were racing.
Look man Denny
there's a documentary
about the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones
and I think
Denny Hamlin is the Dallas Cowboys
of NASCAR.
He is the show. He is the lights
and he gives you all the quotes
and when he wins it's
fireworks and when he loses
sometimes it's also fireworks
but the one thing that they talk about
especially on our Fox other Fox shows
the Cowboys
don't win championships
they win a lot of games throughout the season
Denny Hamlin wins a lot of races
throughout the season. He's on his way to
a clip 60. He's a
walk-in Hall of Famer
but there's always a collapse when it comes to the championship
and it's hard to
when it's all said and done it could be there
it could be somewhere else but
do you think there's more to this
story behind the scenes?
Well I think there has to be
and I think that
I just
as mature
as Denny Hamlin has become
and as much of a leader
as he has become I'm really surprised
that he chose that action
in that moment
during the playoffs for a championship.
Now
should the 54 move over?
I think you could argue that all day long
should he move over or should he not?
I think that you could sit on both sides of the fence
and a lot of times
those moments
when you're outside of the playoffs
and I've been in these moments with my teammates
a lot of those moments
are earned during the year
as to how it was treated to you
so when you don't feel like
that you got those moments
treated towards you in the proper way
throughout the year
you're not cutting your teammate any slack
in those moments
so I think a lot of that
can be determined
throughout the year
as to how it's going to work in the playoffs.
You can look at the team Penske
group
Ryan and Joey have racing at Phoenix
at the last race of the year
one time Ryan was in
racing Joey for a championship
and one time he was out
and the time he was out
captain said be a good wingman
understood
made sure he stood there
so no one else could really just get to the 22
and then this last year
he could have put the bumper to Joey
he didn't he tried to
go around the outside he did everything he did
but put the bumper to him and that was for the championship
that spot
wasn't going to change your championship but it was
Rector Racecar that we have to now
forget what to do. Well Rector Racecar puts you in the middle
of a shitstorm that
you didn't need to be in the middle of
and now it's
the owner, the competition director
you with 54
you're going to put the 20 in the middle of it
the 19 in the middle of it and now it's the whole company
you know now it's the shop chatter
I just
it really really really really surprised me that
that he made
the decision that he made because it's
very evident when you watch the car go straight up the
racetrack that it was intentional.
I imagine at Joe Gibbs racing they would like to handle this
right now so this is not a lingering
issue moving forward right
I mean in the meetings this week
but the damage is already done
and I mean you know I think that
the drivers and the
management team are going to have to
they're going to have to sit down and I mean you have to
have a conversation about it I've been in them
you don't have a choice
but to be in the middle of them so
you know I think it's always
it's always interesting to hear
the sound bites afterwards and
Gabe Hart stood there for a long
time and talked
very graciously to the media
Joe Gibbs spoke to the media the drivers did exactly
what they had to do
from not saying
more than they needed to say
because when you get in those moments
you better be really careful how you choose
your words because it could absolutely
blow the organization up.
The one thing that Denny said that
I caught he was like
we're trying to you know
he's like me the 2019
we're trying to win a championship
for his family
and I'm like
I don't know like but he's
a competitor like yes the
but like so what do you want
him to do you want him to always and Gabe
are kind of alluded to this a little bit
where there's a sticky situation to where
why what
Ty's trying to build his own career is he always
supposed to roll over
I think that's a I think that's an unfair
comment towards
Ty personally yeah that's what I think to
to have that
to have that expectation
so it's a
there's not a good solution
you know from from the 11th standpoint
I mean there there is not a good solution
as to as to how it
how it should go because the damage is already done
yeah don't envy anybody
involved with this whole situation
super difficult we'll have to see
what happens with all of that so one thing
I wanted to address briefly before we move on
to Kansas is Kyle Bush's
performance and also some of the
rumors that are starting to circulate about
Randall Burnett do you want
to elaborate on this well I you know I think
it's I think we've all heard that the
you know Randall Burnett could possibly be
leaving
and going to another team
rumored to you know to possibly
be Conor Zillich's crew chief
so I don't know if those rumors
are aren't true but I think we've we've
all heard them
and I think that when you look at the performance of the 8th
the last couple weeks it probably
reflects that there's that there's something
going on usually usually when those
things happen
you know they're they're handled one of two ways
either bad or good
and you know I think
I think back to my time
at RCR the best thing I ever did was
walk into Richard Childress's office
and tell him that I was leaving
it wasn't great in that
moment but it gave
the respect to him
that I'm gonna get way in front
of this this isn't easy
it's not gonna be fun while we're sitting here
but how do we build something around it to
keep the performance where where it
needs to be and we won races you know
the last year in
that position as late
as this one has come up think about
the position that that puts RCR in
if that's the truth
as to what they need to do to go find
a crew chief and change the
8 car and the way that the performance
is gone so
it doesn't feel to me like it was handled
well if that's the
way that it was gonna go because we haven't
heard much about it but it is definitely
there's too many there's too
much chatter about it for it to
not have some sort of conversation
being had I
I feel bad for
the RCR campus for
like just they seem to be
a group that
develops some talent
and then they get poached
whether it's the
Tyler retic situation or now maybe
now maybe this one with rando and I
feel bad because you like
you see there's there's steps being
taken to be good and then those people leave
and they're really good somewhere else it's like
dang like you couldn't have been good
with us and it's the combination of
a lot of things that make any organization
run well and run up front
and if that is the case I mean I think
you look at when rando was with Tyler retic
a young driver a young Tyler retic
they made speed and they won races
so if that's the case I think rando's
a very capable crew chief
I it's interesting how
that flows with Kyle Busch and
who would want to step up to that
mantle for him so
I mean do you think that they can
put it back in a position that
I mean I've asked I asked you this couple
weeks ago that can they put it back in a position
where Kyle Busch can win a race there
I'd like to say yes
because it's Kyle Busch
and Austin Dillon's one
I like Austin but Kyle Busch
is better than Austin Dillon do you think still
yeah
but the numbers don't say that but I mean
yeah
so I'd like to think if he gets the right
stuff together the right person and they're
they're get it done but
I like to think that
I'd like to think that but I mean we all want to see
Kyle Busch win I mean it's good for the sport
it's Kyle freakin Busch right
like we
there's nothing worse as much as I've
gone through moments where I hate Kyle Busch
right I've hated Kyle Busch
with a passion at moments
I've that's all come full circle
right and we're very much
able to communicate and have a
good relationship but
I just I
can imagine Kyle Busch going out
like this
right like I just it's
bad for everything it's bad for
the sport it's bad for him
it's bad for everything that
says Kyle Busch and I just
I hate to I hate to see
where it's at it's so hard because I think
a DW a lot when I was
a kid when I was a kid and it was towards
the end of his career I didn't realize
how much of a badass that Walter
was until really working
this one and seeing the stories and all the things
that guy was a yeah because I
only saw the end of it but that guy was a freaking dog
I want everyone to end
like Mark Martin ended yeah and I know
that's not realistic but Mark ended
at like 50 years old
digging for a championship
and like walked away
with his chest held high and like
almost beat knocked off Jimmy Johnson
you know what I mean that's how I like
great that's what I was that's what I always
tell people like are you happy that you got out of the car
I always tell them yep I let
a lap I let laps in the last race
that I ran I never wanted
to go out non competitive
non competitive yeah and it's just
now you got all the questions
what is it right
because Austin Dillon won
you know it just it creates more
questions that that's that you ask
I don't believe that Kyle
Bush is that bad I
have a hard time believing that so
it's it's definitely kind of
a mess when he won three races this first
time there his first season there I'm like
with Randall yeah this is
going to work and going to RCR kind of
changed what people thought of Kyle
right because Richard Childress
is a legend in the sport
has done so much for Dale Earnhardt
of myself and been a winner and
and kind of that blue collar
good old boy you know type
situation that that made Kyle look
more presentable to be cool
you know it's just you know
it faded quickly yeah
we will continue to follow that story with Randall Burnett
and where he may be going so
we are going to Kansas next weekend
two more races to go in this
round of the playoffs
what are teams up against
when it comes to Kansas Speedway
I don't know
you're not supposed to say that
I've never been there
well you know I think it's all
going to start on Saturday and it's
going to be the cars are going to
be it's going to be like super
speedway qualifying they're going to be wide open
around the top of the racetrack
and you're going to see who
has the trimmed out
to make a mistake but the hardest part
about Kansas when you're running that top
is there's a little bit of a bump that when
it hits it makes the car want to go to the right
how do you get through for qualifying
especially and in a race but how do you
get through that that first part
of the corner without having the
moment to get through there smooth
and comfortable because it's an uncomfortable
it's an uncomfortable situation
when you're going fast around
Kansas around the top so
you've got options you can run the bottom
I would never practice a lap down there
I would never run a lap on the bottom
unless you were forced to through traffic
I think everything needs to be done
middle up just to keep the momentum
up because the cars are slower
than they used to be
they were only two seconds off the track record
this last weekend so
so you said he didn't know isn't that funny
what? I don't know
we have a very eloquent
no no I was talking about Loudon
they were two seconds off the track record
so you know still any more
power?
we're going to find out
what do you think will be the teams?
I think Hendrick
it's been Hendrick and Giz
Blaney finished third
there in the spring
so he had a good run there
he's good everywhere
but do not
this is from the driver's
standpoint and practice
because you got to get up by the fence
and you got to figure out how your car
is going to be up there and the line and all the stuff
do not let that thing
get into the fence, break a toe link
we do not have enough time
to fix this car
correctly and I don't know how much
effort that they're putting into the back
this is not enough time to do all the things
to make sure we have a good weekend
if we wreck and practice or qualify
do not
do you think the 2311 cars
have the same speed they have in the past
or that wheels off the bus there
I don't think they have a choice
they need to be
top five
they need to be their best race of the year
this is why I love
this is one thing about the system that we have
right now
I'm sitting here and I can feel the pressure
it is so intense
and the fact that you can put it all
together in one race
and it changed the whole trajectory
I love that but yeah
it needs to be the best
right now, Austin, Cedric, Tyler, Wallace
are the ones below the cut
do you think they stay below after this race
I think
when you look at this race
and
you look at Bob Wallace and Tyler
they have to have the race
of the year
in order to get themselves back in position
to get to the next round
I think that
Denny Hamlin has to have
one of his best races
of the year because if he puts himself
in a position to be
close to the bubble
at the roval, he can find himself
in big trouble really quickly
he needs to be 10 up from the bubble
when he leaves Kansas to the roval
because then they can do some things
and maybe get stage points
but they are not going there expecting to win
I think that
Chase Elliott is qualifying
puts him in a position
they've got to figure out
they haven't figured it out but they've got to
figure out how to qualify better
and I know that they know that that's a problem
but it keeps them from scoring points
I think that he could put himself
in a position because he doesn't qualify well
especially if those guys
from 2311 show up this weekend
and score stage points
and all those things that go with that
Ross Chastain
typically really good at Kansas
if those guys show up and run like they typically do
at Kansas, they're going to put themselves
in a position to score stage points
and a lot of times if you don't qualify good
you ain't scoring stage points in the first stage
and the nine always shows up by the end of the race
but you've got to score stage points
if I'm the one
I want to just put a lot of pressure
points wise
on the guys in front of me
just keep that bubble gap really close
because I think it's 12 to
to Elliott and then the next person
I think 14 I think
and so
because I would go into it thinking well 2311
is going to have a shot
so one of them might win
just keep your points close
from the 11 we need to make sure we
I mean he's got a massive
I think it was
27 points but
the only reason I point that out is
you never know
he could go there and dominate the race
you never know how this week is going to go
it's going to go itself and out here
because it is Denny Hamlin
but don't forget his pit crew
this week and next week
is not the number one pit crew
that he had this past week
which they even messed up as well
a little bit
so I mean there's just
there's some
there's some problems that could be
on the 11 as you go
to pit road is what you're saying
and there's also some problems
it could also go the opposite
don't underestimate
the whole Denny Hamlin scenario
he could go there and dominate and win the race
based upon how this week goes
there's just a lot of questions
that happen in the week right now
we don't know what the meetings haven't even been had yet
a lot of question marks that have to
that have to be answered at the shop this week
only we had a camera
I would pay big money
hidden cam
I would pay big money
that's the real reality show there
I pay review that thing
that thing has got to be awesome
yeah okay so that's Kansas
that's coming up in a few days
coming up right now is Mamba's social sips
hey let's go
cool kev in the house
yeah cool kev's here
cheetah katlin's in the house
oh my god
and the closers around the world
I thought you were going to refer to yourself as slappy
slappy
welcome to slapstick
to mamba's social sips
listen
if you
scour the internet and I talked to brad
in the happy hour show at loud
this weekend I said brad
there was a video
that everyone knows about of you playing basketball
I said I'm sorry
about that however
you totally redeemed yourself when you got
on the diamond this week
he threw a pitch out at Fenway
look at what this is
he gets everyone hyped up
he's excited and I was really worried
I was nervous
I thought it was going to go into the dirt at the front of the pitchers mound
and that's the worst thing of bouncing in
listen that's a strike
it might have been crushed over the green monster
into the next county
I like the jog
the brief jog there after
I bet you do
did you ever throw a first pitch Kevin?
yeah I threw in a bunch of them
did you ever throw it?
I have I got it to the plate
it's on camera
I'll show you later
I threw a bunch of them
I threw a couple of them at Yankee stadium
I've been to Fenway
just for one game
did the Yankees lose that game?
no I don't remember
but here's what happened
you can tell there was something going on
so Gene Monaghan
Joe Girardi
good friends
and
got to develop a relationship because they're race fans
they always came to Daytona
always involved
so I go up there to throw the first pitch
I don't remember what year it was
probably 15-14
somewhere in that time frame
and I didn't really realize it
at the time that I was being set up
but I was getting set up pretty good
so they had me down
in the below
throwing the pitches
so I'm down there
and they're like just get it over the plate
there's no reason to throw it hard
just get it over the plate
that's not the problem
they're like you don't need to throw it hard
so I go out there
and I get on the mound and I'm like I'm just going to do what they told me to do
so I get up there and I just
throw it over there
big rainbow
gets it over the plate
and I come back to the dugout
hysterically
they have turned the radar gun on
and they've turned it up on the board
and it said 32 miles
and they thought that was hilarious
I thought that was pretty cold
I had a ready to throw it against the backstop
the first one that I did was
like 2001
I think it was 2001
Andy Pettit was pitching
that night and I got up there
he hands me the ball
he says whatever you do
throw it short
at bare minimum hit the backstop
but do not throw it short or they will boo you out of this place
and he hands me the ball
I remember that and they're telling me the opposite
he's telling me to throw it hard
and they're telling me to lob it over the plate
so yeah they set me up
a lot of pressure throwing out that first one
there's some pressure
mounting in the craftsman truck series
that you can catch on FS1
throughout the rest of this year
and every year because we love the truck series
Biffle is one of the
he's a dog too
but like when it comes to
when it comes to truck series racing
he is a legend
and Corey Heim over the weekend
tied the nine win club
Greg was on a beach somewhere
with a lobster of some kind
maybe this is in the Bahamas
I know Greg spends a lot of time in the Bahamas
I actually talked to him over the weekend a little bit
he's a great guy
but I thought that was pretty cool
he's just putting together
an amazing season
and another one
and it needs to finish out
how it should
now Lane Riggs though
on the short tracks
he's been starting to apply some pressure
you realize that if Corey Heim
doesn't win the championship this year
it's gonna be holy hell
it's gonna be bad
you and all your
points, arguments
are gonna be
just completely demolished
it will be but at the end of the day
it is what it is
I can't even imagine
it's Connor Zillich
and Corey Heim don't win the championship
the only
if
I won't have to hear about it
no you will
if it was like a
wholesome ordeal they get dumpstered by somebody else
but if it's like a flat tire
either way
if Corey Heim and Connor Zillich
don't win the championship
you are gonna get a complete
shit storm
it's okay
they know the system when they signed up
so it is what it is
throw up
I might be right next to you
throw it up
everyone gives SVG
a lot of crap
for the ovals
this week even the drivers
and Bubba Wallace and him
are good buddies
there was a little tech exchange
and basically
the exchange was
if you ever from Bubba to SVG
if you ever beat me in qualifying
I'm gonna retire
and SVG is like
I don't see no retirement post
and Bubba was like what are you talking about
and he brought it back up
and Bubba was like oh damn
who qualified in the top
10
did a great job
but I love that guys have that type of relationship
SVG got
he got spun out there at the end
when Keselowski hit the bottom wall
that was wild
not sure where he was going
I need to get in my glasses
Brad hit the wall down there too
that's what I'm saying
hit the bottom wall
how long can you go
closeers
805-317-4175
if you want to leave a voicemail
and harvickhappyr4 at gmail.com
for the mail bag
there you go all right time now for our last call
before we get into our picks for this week, let's take a look at the best bet of the weekend courtesy of DraftKings
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Blaney was
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I don't know where my crown is
I feel like
oh there it is it's back there
you know what I feel like happened
I feel like Tony sat over here and he
I thought he stole it because that's something he would do
last week he would definitely take it
or at least leave a note on it
well there you go that is
the crown is yours we'll bring it back for next week
okay so time to look at the burnout
for Ryan Blaney out there
in Lawn, New Hampshire
this gets a big fat zero
right well his post race celebration
that's not good
that is not good
you can't
in his defense it probably has a motor
that he has to race again
well I was wondering about that because Heim did the same thing
and so they probably
you don't bring your worst motors to the playoffs
so when you bring
when you bring all you got
you got to take care of it but
you still get a big fat zero
yeah there's nothing we can do about that
there's nothing to judge
no we judged it
it's a zero
it's not NA it's not complete
you get a
let's see what should we
participation trophy
participation trophy
hand out participation trophies
I have a funny story about that
so
Keelan's baseball team
Keelan's baseball team
when he was playing T-ball
they gave him all trophies the whole league got
participation trophies and we walked out of the park
and his mother
took the trophy and threw it straight in the trash can
before we left
the park and we got in the car and he's like mom
why'd you throw him a trophy we don't either win
or you lose son I love that
that's the problem with this country everybody
it's a trophy for everything
yeah when that comes from your mom
you know that
that didn't even come from dad that came from mom
so like I understood
right now Kevin's got the trophy
and the standings 33 up
everybody scored points this week though
3 points for Briscoe
congratulations guys I am still in last
good job
but yeah you get 10 points for picking the winner
6 for P2 through 5
so what was the finishing order this week
so let's see
we had Briscoe so who finished higher
Briscoe or Belle? Belle did
you guys only got points because
so that means you got to pick first
that means I got to pick first? yeah you got that
you were the highest finisher
um
my brain is
really like Larson but I haven't
really I thought you were gonna say
your brain is really small
I was just gonna agree
the only time he agrees
I'm gonna go William Byron
I'm gonna go William Byron
can't believe we're gonna have the same pick
I was going to
see Belle
yeah he's done well there he hasn't won
but he's had good finishes there in the past
hmm
oh Kevin might switch it up
how confident
I don't know
I think that
you took my pig
that's no problem
I'm gonna decide if I'm gonna
points race
should I let you pass me
or should I points race
it's up to you
and you pick too? Belle
you pick Belle
yep I'm out
I'm not picking either of those
I'm not sure yet
you have to make a choice
we're on a time crunch
I like to see Tyler sweat
I think that
I think that I'm going
to probably pick
the five
I knew that was coming
I think it's a make or break race for him
you know what's interesting is no one picked 2311
even though we all feel like this is a pick got to
32 out of 263
which is 12.2%
fans picked Blaney make sure you submit
your picks again you can get in on this
by scanning the QR code on the screen
to submit your picks and play along with us
we'll have to have everybody do that
alright what you got on your Thursday
show a special friend
that I happen to really like on our Fox
yeah you guys have enjoyed
having all the old timers on here
so we had Regan Smith come on this
weekend and he's to me
Regan's story is really intriguing he went
through the end of DEI
he went through the beginning of Furniture Row
and then kind of went back
to the Xfinity series at junior
motorsports and so
we kind of touched on
all those topics and then
why he decided to go do the TV thing
that he does a great job at so
it's always fun to hear
different people's stories and
I thought Regan would be fun this week
I love that pick great person
look forward to that conversation I like watching Regan run
when he has to go from the end of the pit road
all the way to the other
there's a lot of videos of Regan running
you should see all the cameras and things that we have in the booth
and they'll put them on Regan
for you running down pit road when you're in a hurry
but mostly Regan
he takes a lot of grief in the ISO
that's funny
alright guys we've covered a lot here
on episode 66 make sure you
subscribe on YouTube wherever you get your podcasts
leave five stars leave a review
send a mail bag question from Mamba here
alright we'll see everybody after Kansas
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