Sheldon Creed finally breaks through with a big win at Atlanta after 15 runner-up finishes, sharing the emotional relief and celebration with hosts Corey LaJoie and Ryan Flores. The conversation covers the thrilling Atlanta truck race, NASCAR dynamics including Kyle Busch and hostilities on track, and reflections on the recent Olympic hockey excitement. Sheldon opens up about his close-knit racing friendships, the challenges of his career, and the joy of victory. The episode blends racing insights with personal stories, making it a lively and heartfelt discussion.
After 137 starts and 15 runner-up finishes, the breakthrough win hits different. On this episode of Stacking Pennies, Corey and Skip sit down with Sheldon to talk about the mental grind of almost winning, the pressure of being on the Cup radar, and what it feels like when you start to wonder if your career is slipping away.
Plus:
How he won Atlanta
Dirt racing vs pavement mentality
USA Hockey’s Olympic statement
Active aero and the future of NASCAR
Pit Boss of the Week
COTA predictions
If you’re new here, this is Stacking Pennies. From inside the world of all things racing.
Leave a review if you’re riding with us this season.
"...so like he gives him a high five and does like a double burnout. I didn't see that."
A burnout is when a driver spins the car's wheels really fast without moving forward, making smoke from the tires. Drivers sometimes do this to celebrate.
A burnout is a driving maneuver where the driver spins the wheels while keeping the car stationary, creating smoke from the tires. It's often used to celebrate victories in racing.
"Shifting gears from the truck race. Why don't we just go ahead and own the second half of the doubleheader."
A truck race is a type of car race where drivers compete using pickup trucks instead of regular cars. It's like a special kind of race with trucks going fast around a track.
A truck race refers to a motorsport event featuring pickup trucks, often part of series like the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. These races are similar to stock car racing but use modified pickup trucks.
""Truck series champ, right? So you're not unfamiliar with success,""
A Truck Series Champion is someone who wins a racing competition where they drive pickup trucks. It means they are very good at racing in that series.
A Truck Series Champion refers to the winner of a professional racing series featuring pickup trucks, such as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. This title signifies a high level of success in motorsports within that category.
Bowman Gray is a race track where cars race in competitions. It's a place where drivers compete in fast cars on a short oval track.
Bowman Gray Stadium is a famous short track located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, known for its NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour races and other motorsports events.
""I don't want a 6-finity, the O'Reilly Auto Parts series... You keep calling an X-finity, they will.""
The Xfinity Series is a kind of car race where drivers race special cars that look like regular cars but are built for racing. It's a step below the biggest NASCAR races.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR, considered the second-tier series below the top-level NASCAR Cup Series. It features cars that are similar to those in the Cup Series but with some differences in specifications and rules.
""you know, Supercross, when the kids race to KTMs?""
Supercross is a type of motorcycle race where riders race on dirt tracks with big jumps and turns, usually inside big arenas. It's a fun and exciting sport where racers try to be the fastest.
Supercross is an off-road motorcycle racing sport held on artificially made dirt tracks consisting of steep jumps and obstacles, often inside stadiums. It is a popular motorsport especially in the United States and involves highly skilled riders competing on motocross bikes.
KTM is a company that makes motorcycles, especially ones used for racing on dirt tracks and off-road. They are very popular in motorcycle racing.
KTM is an Austrian motorcycle manufacturer known for producing high-performance off-road and motocross bikes. They are a dominant brand in Supercross and motocross racing.
"...and then the trucks, the off-road trucks, like Robbie Gordon stuff..."
Off-road trucks are strong vehicles made to drive on bumpy and rough ground, like dirt or rocks.
Off-road trucks are specially modified or purpose-built vehicles designed to handle rough terrain, dirt tracks, and obstacles in racing or recreational use.
"...It's, you guys at Long Beach, where you guys are racing those, those things. Where we at Long Beach"
Long Beach racing means car races that happen on the roads in Long Beach city, where drivers race around a special track made from city streets.
Long Beach racing refers to motorsport events held on the streets of Long Beach, California, known for hosting various racing series including IndyCar and off-road truck races.
"The hardest race car to drive is a dirt midget, by far."
A dirt midget is a tiny race car that races on dirt tracks. They are very fast and tricky to control, so driving one is really hard.
A dirt midget is a type of small, lightweight race car designed specifically for dirt track racing. These cars are known for their high power-to-weight ratio and challenging handling characteristics, making them difficult to drive.
"Well, he did the chili bowl this year too. How's that?"
The Chili Bowl is a big, important race where small dirt race cars compete indoors. Many great drivers come to race there.
The Chili Bowl is a famous annual indoor midget car racing event held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It attracts top drivers from various racing disciplines and is considered one of the most prestigious dirt midget races.
"Meanwhile, you got somebody trying to throw you a slider."
A slider is when a driver makes the car slide sideways on purpose while turning. This helps them go faster on dirt tracks.
A slider is a racing maneuver where a driver intentionally oversteers the car to slide sideways through a corner, often used in dirt track racing to maintain speed and control.
""But you won your B main and you made it to the, to the A in your pre-LM night.""
In some races, drivers compete in smaller races called B mains to earn a spot in the big final race, called the A main. Winning the B main means you get to race in the big event.
In racing, a B main is a qualifying race that gives drivers a chance to advance to the A main, which is the main event or final race. Winning the B main usually means the driver has secured a spot in the A main.
"Nick Drake for context, Kane and he runs a bunch of midgets"
Midgets are tiny race cars that go really fast on small tracks. They're popular in certain types of car racing.
Midgets are a class of small, high-powered race cars used primarily on short oval tracks, known for their agility and speed in tight racing conditions.
""And I think that's why Larson and Chris Bell and these guys run sprint cars and now you see Ty Gibbs and yourself dabble with these midgets cause like stuff happens in a hurry. You're trying to train that muscle.""
Sprint cars are special race cars that go really fast on small dirt or paved tracks. They are built to be light and powerful so they can turn quickly and race close to other cars.
Sprint cars are high-powered race cars designed primarily for short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. They are known for their lightweight design and powerful engines, making them very fast and agile in close-quarters racing.
"and like indoor dirt carting is something that Kyron has up here, which is super. Yeah."
The Ssangyong Kyron is a type of SUV, which is a bigger car that can handle rough roads and outdoor fun. People like it because it’s good for activities like dirt karting or driving in places where the road isn’t smooth.
The Ssangyong Kyron is a mid-size SUV produced by the South Korean manufacturer Ssangyong Motor. Known for its rugged design and off-road capabilities, it is often discussed in contexts involving outdoor activities or rough terrain driving. Its mention alongside indoor dirt carting suggests its suitability for adventurous or sporty environments.
""You ever do the Baja 1000? I have a couple of times. How's that dude? And it's awesome.""
The Baja 1000 is a very long and tough off-road race in Mexico. People race special trucks and bikes on rough dirt roads for many hours.
The Baja 1000 is a famous off-road race held annually on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. It is known for its challenging terrain and long distance, attracting professional and amateur racers alike.
""...but it is a full trophy truck with a cab on it. Like you just take like a normal cab off a truck, put it on a trophy truck," "
A trophy truck is a special kind of truck made for racing on rough dirt roads. It's built strong and fast to handle bumps and jumps.
A trophy truck is a purpose-built off-road racing vehicle designed for high speed and durability over rough terrain. They typically have custom chassis and suspension and are used in races like the Baja 1000.
""is it like, so we've been looking at some WRC clips. Do you call them like one through sixes like they do?""
WRC is a big car race where drivers race on dirt, snow, and pavement in special rally cars.
WRC stands for World Rally Championship, a top-level international rally racing series featuring highly modified production cars racing on various terrains.
"Another development, shifting gears at F1, Formula One."
Formula One is a type of car racing with very fast cars that race on tracks all over the world. It's the top level of racing and uses special cars built just for this sport.
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of international single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the FIA. It features the fastest circuit-racing cars and is known for its advanced technology and global racing calendar.
"So they're getting rid of the DRS, the drag reduction system in replace of with this new aerodynamic kit, active arrow, which is where the rear wing does essentially the same thing as it did with DRS."
DRS is a special flap on the back wing of an F1 car that opens up to make the car go faster in a straight line, helping drivers pass each other during races.
DRS is a system used in Formula One to reduce aerodynamic drag by opening a flap on the rear wing, allowing cars to increase straight-line speed and facilitate overtaking. It is typically activated under specific conditions, such as being within one second of the car ahead.
"active arrow, which is where the rear wing does essentially the same thing as it did with DRS. Opens up, right, to reduce drag."
The rear wing is a big flat part at the back of a race car that helps push the car down onto the track so it can go faster around corners without sliding.
The rear wing is an aerodynamic component on race cars designed to generate downforce, improving grip and stability at high speeds. It can also be adjusted or opened in systems like DRS to reduce drag and increase top speed.
"They also does the front wing as well. It's cool to see in the preseason testing all the different variations, these rear wings,"
The front wing is a part at the front of an F1 car that helps push the car down and guide the air around it so it can turn better and go faster.
The front wing is an aerodynamic device at the front of a Formula One car that generates downforce and directs airflow to improve handling and overall aerodynamic efficiency.
"So same thought, right, straight line speed, more of a slipstream draft. They want variance between top speed and mid speed."
Slipstream draft happens when a car drives close behind another car and gets pushed along by the air, making it easier to go faster and pass the other car.
Slipstream draft is an aerodynamic effect where a car following closely behind another experiences reduced air resistance, allowing it to gain speed and potentially overtake more easily.
"I think the most practical thing for some sort of like a horsepower boost in addition to what's like stock with the race car hits"
Horsepower tells you how strong a car's engine is and how fast it can go. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster and accelerate quicker.
Horsepower is a unit of measurement for engine power, indicating the rate at which work is done by the engine. It is a key metric for assessing a car's performance and acceleration capabilities.
"They made that space to potentially accommodate some lithium ion batteries for a hybrid motor on the transaxle."
Lithium ion batteries store electricity to power electric parts of a car. They are light and can hold a lot of power.
Lithium ion batteries are rechargeable batteries commonly used in electric and hybrid vehicles due to their high energy density and lightweight properties.
"So the X-track transaxle has a place where they can put an electric motor for some sort of hybrid technology"
A transaxle is a part that helps send power from the engine to the wheels so the car can move. It combines two parts into one to save space.
A transaxle is a combined transmission and axle assembly that transfers power from the engine to the wheels. It is commonly used in rear- or mid-engine cars to save space and improve weight distribution.
"so it's not adding 125 pounds to the car like the Indy cars do."
Indy cars are very fast race cars that use special technology like electric motors to go even faster, but this can make the car heavier.
Indy cars are open-wheel race cars used in the IndyCar Series, known for their high speeds and advanced technology including hybrid systems that add weight but boost performance.
Select text to request an explanation
Hey, friends, happy Monday here.
Coral of the Joy alongside Ryan Flores joined in studio in the Nonsense Garage by none other than Sheldon Creed, big dub from Atlanta,
getting that monkey off his back at Atlanta.
It's cool to see one of the good guys after 15 runner-up finishes, he punches his ticket and gets a dub.
So we're going to sit down and talk to him for a bit and break down the electric race that was Atlanta.
Probably the most exciting race track on the schedule.
All that and more this week on Stag & Pennies.
Stag & MD selling them cheap.
That tastes like gasoline, rubber and victory.
Where's that here Stag & Pennies?
All right, let's roll, guys.
Hope you're having a fantastic day. Hope your weekend was awesome.
Coral of the Joy here alongside Ryan Flores.
We were talking yesterday morning for the cup race, right?
And you pitted Raj's car, we'll talk about that in a minute.
That thing was a rocket ship, but you were like, dude, this Sunday off is amazing.
Yeah, that was the first time that I was telling Maycroft on the way in here.
That's the first time I haven't been on a cup team in like 19 years, at least a part of one.
And I was like, man, this is pretty sweet.
Even, let's just go right into this.
Got to wake up 8 a.m. with a coffee and watch the boys from the United States.
It was so electric.
46 years to the day. It's the first time.
I didn't realize that this was the first time we have won a gold since then.
Dude, the Hollabuck, the goalie.
It was such an American greedy performance because like they just got outplayed the whole game.
Yeah.
There's like double the shots on goal.
Yeah, every time I watched, all the red guys were right around the goal.
They just did whatever they had to do to win.
And then for Jack Hughes to get his teeth knocked out by stick and come back and score the game winner.
24 years old, dude, it was so electric.
The three on three overtime was sick, too.
This three on three overtime is gnarly.
Yeah, because like there's a lot more action.
There's less clutter and guys were flying all over.
That was for what?
Watching it reminded me of like watching or listening to like the MRN radio call.
Oh, yeah.
Because it's just so much action going on.
There's nothing like the Olympics.
Like I would wake up at like six in the morning and I turn on like cross-country curling.
Cross-country skiing.
And I don't know a thing about a cross-country skiing, but 90 seconds in.
I'm yelling at TV because Spain put their skis on in the wrong box.
Now all of a sudden I'm going to invest it and I'm a pro.
I know exactly what's going on.
Like I'm listening to the.
It's got to be how people feel listening to the MRN or watching NASCAR broadcast.
Like you hear the rule and you're like, yeah, they're cheating.
I have no clue what they're doing.
But I knew that the American was in fourth place.
And if this guy got a penalty, then we meddled and I'm like all into it.
There's nothing better than the Olympics.
There's nothing better because you these people are working for their whole life,
but particularly from the last four years ago until this window for the one chance.
You see that they see for glory.
Sydney Crosby had the best reaction, but they hand them the stuffed animal.
No, I didn't see.
Oh my God.
It's like these guys train forever.
Sydney Crosby is probably the all time greatest Olympian hockey player for Canada.
Yeah.
And they lose.
So there was a lot of play got injured in the semi-final game.
He didn't play in the finals.
He didn't play in the finals, but they lose and they're handing out.
Like they get their silvers and then whoever the Olympic guru is comes through
and like shakes their hand and gives them a stuffed animal.
What?
No.
They did it to every like it's I guess it's a thing, but it's like the last
thing you want after losing in dramatic fashion is a stuffed animal.
And then he just looked at it.
He did like a.
But I was like, man, that's like maybe give that in a gift bag.
I don't know if it's symbolic.
Like it's a tough look like your grab and go back on the way out.
Look, here it is.
Here's a video of it.
That's like a here's your here's your stuffed animal.
Look at they all look at it.
Like what's that?
Dude.
Yeah.
And that's could you not have left this left this in my Olympic village like
they don't even I don't think that Canadian TV even carries the Olympics
except for the hockey.
That's all they had.
No, dude.
They went big big.
I don't think that's that's their world.
Where did I got into curling?
They were getting caught with their finger and I'll have to keep
your finger on the past.
There's a curling place here.
Have you been the one of Charlotte?
No, I want to try it, dude.
It's curling.
Yes.
You should do that.
We should.
Stag campaigns on location.
But yeah, like who knows like I don't know anything about
curling.
Then all of a sudden I'm wake up pissed off because Canada left
their finger on the little rock too long.
Like that's that's the Olympics.
It's electric.
And I can't wait.
I think Carissa went in and tried to buy tickets like she got
in like the queue for L.A.
Dude, that'd be sick.
And then Salt Lake.
We got some connections there for Salt Lake when it comes around
here in a couple of years.
They build the bobsled here in Morso.
They need some work.
I think they need some work.
I got a carbon shop.
We dial them right in.
They need they need a little work.
We're getting beat.
What?
All right.
So then the Olympics aside.
That's all the USA athletes who got a dub and took home the
goal this week.
We had breadic on last week.
So two time winner.
Well, so we swap for, I mean, on a heater right now.
Something about not having a right front fender of the
2311 car.
They about won the Daytona 500.
That was a right front or a left front in 23 and a half.
There's a right front.
I think I think he didn't have a left front last one.
Anyway, you said that I didn't recall.
But the clearly there is some sort of drag advantage.
Well, we're just not a hit, right?
Like he wasn't substantially faster than everybody else,
but it didn't like hurt it when it when it's when it's rolling
for you.
It's going for you.
I mean, that's that's where the 45 team is right now.
They that thing.
Dude, when the 11 had the old pop pop pop outside fans wrecked
the 45 piled it in there.
It's knocked the hood off of it.
It's crazy what you can the hitch you can take that
completely destroy your car.
It looked like nothing.
And then the ones that you can take and it's like,
everything's still straight.
Take the fender off it.
Keep going.
Right.
You know, you bend a little toe link doesn't have a scratch
on the decal and it's undriveable.
And then now, you know, the 45 car missing right from fender
pulls the belts tight, puts some tires on the thing
and then just drove it back to the front.
But it was such a good job to we got to give.
We got to give flowers with her due to Atlanta and
SMI.
Holy cow.
That's an electric race to watch.
The truck race was awesome.
Watch we were watching it in the truck in the hauler
because it was it was a crammed a Saturday.
The truck got pushed back and then they had like the
clock in the bottom corner.
Like two minutes till the white flag.
So that was exciting.
And that had always been the thing for 20 was the cutoff.
Yeah.
And they're talking about like there's still 25 to go.
I said, no, no, no, like you're watching the whole
thing like, no, there is it's 417.
There's like six to go.
Why are we not talking about this?
Yeah.
So couldn't quite hear it because we were at the
track, but watching it was and then people will just
cycle like Ricky.
Ricky had a shot.
Yeah.
So far the NASCAR world.
I'm not sure that Kyle Busch a huge fan of us.
We're a huge fan of him, but the NASCAR world is
better with Kyle Busch winning races.
So I like Kyle winning.
Sure.
You know, I don't care, but I was it was
different to see host of our and him working
together and then like host of our always says a keen
way to steal spotlight.
So like he gives him a high five and does like a double
burnout.
I didn't see that.
Oh, it's hilarious, dude.
After the races.
Yeah.
So like he Kyle started doing his burnout and host of
our pulled up to start finish line like drove up
and like gave him a high five in the window and
then like ripped a little burnout to that's corny.
It was, but it was funny because it's like one
fire one two.
Yeah.
No, but they also hate each other.
Like, yeah.
Kyle hates host of our.
So like some like them enough on Saturday.
Get a push.
Yeah.
That's super aggressive in the cup race.
Pay it off for him.
Hey, like Kledis said last week chaos.
Kledis Kledis said it best.
Host of our told me this is a Kledis quote.
If you cause the wreck usually not in it.
Not wrong.
That's a great quote.
It works six percent of time every time.
A lot of it.
A lot of it.
Shifting gears from the truck race.
Why don't we just go ahead and own the second half
of the doubleheader.
Please welcome to the Nonsense garage.
Come on in here, buddy.
Oh, he's got to get a couple happy profan's here.
How many bullets?
How many taking Sheldon?
How rough on four?
He's going for ibuprofen.
Let's go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's fine.
Just a liver.
Yeah.
It cleanses itself, dude.
Little lemon knob.
Get ready to wash her down.
Please welcome to Nonsense garage, ladies and gentlemen.
NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts winner Sheldon Creed.
Hey, let's get them dialed in here.
Watch this.
You want an earpiece or not?
You don't have to wear it behind you if you want it.
There is another piece if you want it.
Pull that thing up, man.
We're ripping right into it.
May I?
Congratulations.
Thank you.
I told Corey I said, man, I got to sit with Sheldon on the plane
and he's like a bro.
So if we have him in here and we sit here for long enough,
we'll burn up all the good stuff.
So we got to sit him straight down.
Straight down.
Straight down.
How was it?
So you told me, we were on the, so we waited on you guys.
We flew together and you sat next to me on the plane,
but you're like, there's already people at my house.
It's going off.
Oh yeah.
How was it when you got home?
Awesome.
Yeah.
As good as you'd hope.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Of life.
Who's your, like who's your pack you hang out with?
Anybody, like anybody in racing?
I mean, yeah.
Like, obviously Nick Drake right here.
He's probably one of my best friends.
I don't know, Jared.
Guy named Mikey.
Yeah.
How many Coors lights?
All of them.
All of them.
Every single one.
Drake Stateville, North Carolina right out of Coors lights.
Best hangover I ever did have.
Did you get a little hair of the dog next day?
Keep it going or you kind of tapered her down?
Yeah.
We shut it down around 4.30 on Saturday.
Okay.
And then I,
It'll be Sunday morning, right?
Yeah.
Sunday morning.
And then I re-fired it off about one yesterday.
Well, you had a cup race.
Got to get a cup race.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got to watch, you know.
And the boy,
we were just talking,
the boys won the hockey game too.
So that was.
You won against Canada.
That's how awesome is that.
The best.
Yeah.
And the women on like Thursday, they won.
Yeah.
Sure.
Shout out the women too.
It was,
So we both have kids talk about our kids a lot on here.
I said, hey buddy,
the kids are coming in the morning.
No matter how late you stay,
you said,
you said,
I think about 8.30.
Little man.
Oh yeah.
I nailed it.
Yeah.
About 8.45,
9.
You got a little shut up.
Yeah.
How much of relief was it?
Like was it was,
you know,
literally a historic run of runner-ups.
15.
Not too many.
Too many.
Too many.
Yeah.
I don't know.
It seemed like,
and I don't really,
like,
I don't want to say I'm indifferent because I,
I know the majority of guys.
So when it's rare that I really get fired up to see
somebody win,
and I got fired up to see them.
They did?
Yeah.
Kelly and I both, right?
Kelly,
friends of your wife through,
you know,
MRO and seeing our kids play together.
So that was a feel-gooder for sure.
But also just watching your,
your interview on the SART finish line after the race,
it's like,
it felt like the monkey got off your back a little bit.
It's like,
okay,
now you can like forget,
okay,
you're not the runner-up anymore.
Now you're in the cool kids' club of getting a dunk,
right?
Yeah.
So was it more of a relief?
Was it elation?
Was all of it?
Yeah.
All of it.
Yeah.
I mean,
you know, right?
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves just to perform
and be good.
And it's obviously really hard.
It's really hard.
Yeah.
To win.
So,
yeah,
finally,
137 starts.
Yeah,
it's 37.38.
137 in one.
But who's counting?
Who's counting?
Truck series champ, right?
So you're not unfamiliar with success,
but in the lull and the hardships and all this stuff,
like,
it's easy to lose self-confidence in that.
So how do you just like keep pressing
and keep trusting the process,
knowing that what you're doing is ultimately going to get you
what you want to do?
I mean,
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking,
you know,
it's going to come to an end
and I'm going to go get a normal job,
go run equipment,
man.
I got a funny story right quick.
I don't want to cut you off.
Do something.
Yeah,
I don't know.
So,
we're at Bowman Gray,
right?
For the clash,
I got the chance to drive Brad's car,
which was awesome.
I saw I was working with Bowen's and the simulator
and doing all this stuff.
And we miss qualifying
and of course,
it's going to be tight,
right?
It's a quarter mile track.
We miss qualifying
in about like 200s or something,
right?
Qualified 20 seconds,
took 20.
So we're in the lounge after
and I'm like frustrated,
like thinking about where you can get literally
a foot and a half over the course of the lap.
And Bowen's is,
he's like,
man,
if we just got that little bit,
you know,
200s,
I said,
buddy,
that's been the story of my career.
That's the difference in Brad.
That's why Brad has a plane
and lives on the lake
and that's why I have to get a job
after I'm done driving race cars.
Like that's the difference.
It's like,
that's how freaking small
the gains and losses are.
But you said something
in your interview
that like kind of like
got my attention a little bit.
It's like,
what was the,
what did you say?
Something like it might turn
my career around.
Oh, I said,
I don't,
I don't think,
you know,
one win will revive my career,
but maybe a few will.
What do you think,
what's revive mean
or what's revive look like?
I mean,
I,
you know,
coming from trucks to,
I don't want a 6-finity,
the O'Reilly Auto Parts series.
Hang on.
I don't want to keep
sidetracking this.
Do you get,
is there any like,
you know,
fastest 6-finity mobile?
Is there another,
is there another?
Yeah,
they haven't hit us with one yet.
You keep calling an X-finity,
they will.
Maybe,
maybe keep.
It's harsh.
But,
yeah,
I feel like when I was winning truck races,
obviously won the truck championship,
I felt like I was
maybe on a cup radar,
maybe.
And,
yeah,
not winning over the last four years,
I feel like I went from
maybe being on the list to
not even on it.
And,
yeah,
I feel like maybe
winning a few
might,
might give me back on it or,
maybe,
I'll,
I'll buy myself a few years,
at least to run
what we're doing now.
It,
it was interesting to me,
because you've thanked,
you could tell how much of the weight
you carried of it,
and I don't want to harp on it,
but you thanked all the teams
you'd been with.
You're like,
just thankful to like,
RCR and everybody that I've been with,
like,
it's been such a long road.
And you said,
we all have this dream
when we get into racing
that we're going to be
Jimmy Johnson
or Jeff Gordon, right?
But you said like,
this is not how I saw
my career going
after winning a truck championship.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Not at all.
But,
like,
you haven't had a bad career.
Like,
you've won,
you haven't won,
but you've run
second 15 times.
You've run well
and put your team
in good positions.
But that,
like,
it's such a weird sport
because you're only measured
on that win.
And then like,
now did you,
do you feel like
you got to a place
where like,
when you chase it,
it runs.
Racing that first win
and it just kept getting away.
And now that you got it,
do you feel
like that relief
will spark to get more?
I do.
And, you know,
growing up,
racing,
the first one's always
the hardest, right?
It's always the hardest.
And once you get
that first one,
they just seem
to flow a little easier.
We talk,
you know,
we had Tyler Redick on
last week.
We had Ricky on,
did you finish second last week?
Ricky said no.
Ricky finished second.
Then you watered her up this week.
Yeah.
I don't know if that's the way,
but we talked to
most of the time,
people of our audience
and listen to this show,
hear from the people
where everything's going right.
Right?
It's like,
they have what myself
and every race car driver
had aspired to go do.
And we couldn't
like are in the process
yourself,
trying to get there.
And that struggle
is hard to even articulate
because,
and we even have
a little conversation
in the morning of like,
there,
you think that
what you do
and what you're working towards
because you think every day,
every minute about it.
And how do you even
gauge
like what success is?
Because
if you're anything like me,
I felt like I wasn't
successful at all
relative to what
I had hoped to be.
Yeah.
But then to zoom back out
and be like,
no,
pretty damn good driving race cars.
How do you balance that?
Yeah, I don't.
I mean,
same as you, right?
Like we all gauge yourself
off of winning.
If you're not winning,
it doesn't matter
if you're in a second.
I could just,
I don't know.
You're,
that's not successful,
I guess.
When you're
very competitive,
right?
And we're,
we're measured off wins, right?
That's kind of how you
move on, right?
Yeah.
I think we all want
the Conrad Zillich story
right now, right?
Obviously comes in Xfinity
and did awesome.
And,
and now he's racing cut.
So,
yeah,
I don't know,
not successful until you're
winning, I guess.
And that's weird to say
because like,
it can legitimately
bog your entire
life down
because you feel
inadequate.
100%.
Yeah.
Yeah,
it ruins,
ruins every day.
You're like,
you're like less present
at home,
but every,
in every aspect,
you're just thinking about
that.
To zoom out a little bit,
because
we've talked a lot
and I know a little bit
about your story
and where you're from,
but like we talked about,
a lot of people might not.
So you're from El Cajon,
same place with Jimmy Johnson?
Is that where he's from?
Yeah, he's County.
But you were,
he's telling me,
you know,
Supercross,
when the kids race
to KTMs?
Oh yeah.
He did that.
He's got a picture
with Jamie Little,
damn it,
runs second in that too.
Really?
Yeah,
I believe it or not.
Yeah,
he put it on BMX bikes,
and then
Same dude.
How old are you?
28.
Hey,
you ever watch Rad?
The movie?
You ever watch the BMX movie,
Rad?
I'm going to change your
freaking life, dude.
I probably have.
That's how I,
that's,
I named my kid crew,
because
He's a little bit
decade younger than you too.
No,
but dude,
it's a cult classic.
If you were a BMX kid.
Yeah,
I mean,
yeah,
we're going to send you
DVD,
go get a DVD player.
It's a movie of all time,
but,
like,
and then you had success
and BMX motocross,
and then
the trucks,
the off-road trucks,
like
Robbie Gordon stuff,
Mayhem,
you crushed that.
Dude,
there's a,
there's a YouTube video
that I just,
it stumbles upon my,
well,
their text message or feeds
every year.
It's,
you guys at Long Beach,
where you guys are racing
those,
those things.
Where we at Long Beach
or in Australia?
Australia.
These fabricated jumps in the middle of the racetrack,
right?
And,
and you're driving these
Pro 2 trucks,
essentially, right?
Is what they were.
Yeah,
they're smaller than the Pro 2,
but.
Sadium trucks.
Yeah.
On a street course,
hiking the outside,
inside tires up like
four feet.
Yeah.
It's a,
I can't turn away.
I can't stop watching.
Did you ever get to drive
one over here?
No.
They're awesome.
Yeah.
They do nothing good.
Yeah.
But everyone's driving
they.
They don't turn.
Yeah.
Don't have a lot of rear grip.
Like,
they don't drive good.
It's like a infinity car.
Everyone's,
how's it?
So it's awesome.
Everybody bowling balls
into the corner too.
It's like,
it's like,
it's like,
it looked like going
and racing rental cars
with your friends.
Like they don't wheel hop.
They just lock the tires up.
Yeah.
How much,
like how,
how was that to race that?
Like going,
all the different things you raced,
right?
Like what was the most
challenging or prepared you?
Well,
after the race and I said,
man,
that looked like a ton of fun.
And you go,
oh,
it's not like Atlanta.
Yeah.
It's not much fun.
I don't know if,
I mean the speedways just
aren't my favorite,
right?
Like,
do you consider Atlanta
a speedway?
I do a cooler version of it.
Yeah.
It's like they're
working in class
so like handling is going
to be an issue where
we're right at the beginning
of it.
Yeah.
Or maybe practice
going to have to come back
or it's electric.
Maybe they don't need to bring practice back actually
because it kind of makes it a fun little game.
Like you want to qualify well
or do you want it to race well?
Do we want to put tires on or do we not?
Yeah, yeah, maybe it's going to be,
it's getting fun, which is cool.
But yeah, I don't know.
It's just more challenging, I would say.
Then putting a jump in the middle of Adelaide
and launching over it?
No, that was easy.
But to answer your question,
we talked about this on the plane there today.
The hardest race car to drive is a dirt midget, by far.
What about?
Like you were trying not to crash.
Well, he did the chili bowl this year too.
How's that?
Awesome.
How far did you go?
Let's see.
I mean, the goal was just to make my pre-LMA.
And keep the rubber side down.
Yeah, did all that.
Oh, nice.
Did a few wheelies.
Okay.
But like you're trying,
like we were laughing about on the plane there tonight.
You're trying not to spin out on entry.
You're trying not to bike when you get to the grip.
And then you're trying not to do a wheelie all at the same time.
Meanwhile, you got somebody trying to throw you a slider.
Yeah.
And don't get past.
And like down the straightaway,
you're like, you have to be against like the dirt
that builds on the wall.
For traction?
Yeah, I'm like, you can just crash yourself.
Yeah.
Doing that.
And it's, yeah, it's awesome.
Like it's fun, but you're also like not breathing
because you're just trying to crash it.
Well, and you sit, like for the viewers at home,
it's like you're sitting in a chair
and you push the pedals down.
You don't push them like your car.
So when you hit something wrong
and you like, say you hit the cushion wrong,
your foot bounces off the gas.
It's like.
Yeah.
They are not comfortable.
You're just like a school bus.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you won your B main and you made it to the,
to the A in your pre-LM night.
And pretty good.
He told me, he said, Jay Drake, Nick Drake's dad,
Nick Drake for context, Kane and he runs a bunch of midgets
and he has, they have a business.
He won the Chile Bowl in 01, I think.
Jay did.
Yeah.
And Nick, Nick works.
The reason Sheldon said, you know, right here,
Nick works behind the joy seating.
They have a family run business,
laser cutters, water jets, racers to the core.
But he said that Jay, Drake was like, that was good,
but we need to work on this and this and this.
And Sheldon goes, buddy,
I'm just trying not to flip over.
Like, yeah, we were in the trailer after
and he was like, that's, I was going to be all right.
We're a couple more things to work on.
So 10 floor Jay, I said,
I'm just trying not to crash your race car.
That's,
Baby steps here.
I think people generally when they're watching a race,
they don't know how your mind has to acclimate
to the speed, right?
And Atlanta feels fast.
The sensation feels fast cause you're pollen ass,
but even your perception of how fast you're going,
that's like a muscle you can train, right?
And I think that's why Larson and Chris Bell
and these guys run sprint cars and now you see Ty Gibbs
and yourself dabble with these midgets
cause like stuff happens in a hurry.
You're trying to train that muscle.
Have you had a big shunt in that thing yet?
Not going to win.
Like a crash?
Yeah.
I've flipped my micro a couple of times.
Pretty good.
Yeah.
It knocks their out of you.
I try to keep it, you know,
all four tires on the ground.
Yeah.
So we've been dabbling into looking at all different forms
of motor sports and Corey and I have just been doing it,
but I think that you're a perfect guy to look at this one.
Can you find something to look for that clip of him?
Where, if they were to put in a YouTube, that trophy truck?
It would have been a Gold Coast, Australia.
Okay.
So we, but we jump into a bunch of different things
and like indoor dirt carting is something
that Kyron has up here, which is super.
Yeah.
What do you got there Kyron?
Because it's super, but it's super relevant
cause that's where, oh, this is different.
This is lawn mowers.
No.
Oh boy.
This is awesome.
It looks like it's a horse staple.
But they, cause this is where Tyler Reddick comes from.
Did you ever do any of that in California?
That's more Northern California, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like you're talking about like the outlaw cars.
The outlaw cars red below.
Oh.
There's nothing more fun than that.
I don't know why the wheels are on the ground.
I tried to convince, and I'm sure a lot of people did,
try to convince Ricky to turn his horse stable
into like an indoor go-kart thing.
It would have been the perfect spot.
And then there's always going to be somebody
that really goes for a ride questions
while they're doing it.
How do you get, like did you do much
oval dirt racing?
Like how do you get from trophy trucks
and supercross to NASCAR?
I mean, I dabbled in some dirt,
oval stuff when I was younger.
Like dwarf cars, never raced a sprint car,
but drove it, raced lightning sprints quite a bit.
What's a lightning sprint?
It's like a midget.
It's, I mean, people take midgets and turn them into them,
but it runs a 1,000 street bike motor.
Wing or knowing?
Mostly wing.
But yeah, a really fun race car to drive.
Like I was 12, 13 racing.
So what sparked NASCAR interest in you?
Was it coming out here driving Robbie Gordon stuff and?
No, I don't know.
From when I was little, I wanted to like try it at least.
And then I was, yeah, racing off-road.
And I went and drove a pro late model at New Samerna,
hated it.
Yeah? Really?
Like was miserable.
Was it boring too?
Oh yeah.
I did it at, you guys remember Tim Russell?
Yeah, 30 car.
Right? 36.
36, OK.
I raced his car down there for like speed weeks or whatever.
And like you're going from like racing to stadium trucks
and pro-trues that are, yeah.
And I was riding dirt bikes every day, like.
What are the stadium, what are the pro-trucks?
1,000 horsepower?
Yeah, 900.
So you go to a 350 horsepower pro-late model?
All right.
Yeah, it was miserable.
Just put a little commentary on this.
It's literally like 10 guys robbed a bank.
Yeah.
That's what it is.
So this is, OK.
Oh, this is where Brody had a big shunt right there.
Yeah, right there.
Oh my goodness.
And you're leading here.
How do you even see where you're going?
With the front of the car up there?
Point shoot.
Yeah, you kind of have an idea.
I don't know where you're going right there.
You're literally looking at the catch friends
like I think I'm close.
Launching, do you lift to try to get the weight transfer?
You're just on the mat.
Yeah, like that one, we could hit wide open.
But you'll see this next one right here after the chicane.
And let's also put a couple.
You have to lift.
Oh my god, dude, what?
Or else like, yeah, you'll land on the front bumper
if you don't.
If you don't give it a little pop to get the nose up.
Yeah, you're going to like set the nose a little bit.
Which one's you?
The red one.
Let's go.
That was probably one of the coolest sponsors
I've ever had was Traxxas.
Yeah, that's cool.
RC car, it was awesome.
For you to say, to watch this and then you
to say that Atlanta was crazy, really,
it's a different type of crazy.
It is.
But Atlanta, you can't control what
others are doing around you, you know?
This is nuts.
Who's behind you?
Do you remember?
Matt Brabham.
He's an Australian guy.
You got against a lot of cool guys in that series.
He was actually really good.
And then he ran like right after this,
he finally got a good opportunity
to run IndyCar for a year.
Does it hurt when you land?
And he could be really good, I think, that kid.
What's he do now?
Keep up with him.
I think he grips around like he races jet skis for fun.
There's so much racing.
Just, I think he just, yeah.
So that was sick.
What was also sick is the last lap at Atlanta.
So I don't think we have any b-roll to talk over.
But you come off two and run a third, right?
So walk us through that.
You got the 21 who hasn't lost, doesn't
seem to lose Atlanta race since it got reconfigured.
Ross and yourself off a two, right?
There's a big bump.
So were you guys playing the game
but trying to back up into one to get the run down
the back?
What was going through your mind?
See the white knowing how's this thing going to play out?
Yeah, I definitely didn't drag.
Because I remember down the front stretch,
my run wasn't as good as I wanted it to be.
And then we kind of rolled through one and two.
And I was like, here we go again.
I just set myself up to run second or third again, right?
And then Ross did a really good job.
He like parked it off a two.
And like, you're just going to turn left on him
because then that the 21 easy win if I turn left on Ross.
So I was like, I'm just going to push him.
I'm going to run lane two no matter what into three.
And see what happens.
Run second probably.
And then like when I see him turn down the hill,
I was like, yep, this is kind of going how I see it.
And then he hits them in the left rear and turns them.
And I'm like, no way.
Like I've watched this play out so many times
where like I'm pushing that guy till like people crash.
And then they win.
And I'm like, how does that happen?
Like, how does that work?
And then yet, obviously.
The C's part of.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was like, no way.
Like, finally I started screaming on the radio.
Like, it was awesome.
When Ross is involved, dude, it's never over.
No, he's a wild card.
But dude, shout out to Austin Hill.
Not totally destroying the field.
It's kind of impressive.
That was great save.
It was.
He came over to the house on Saturday.
And like we joke with each other, right?
Obviously we've had our past.
And I said, you want to know the best part?
Now you are drinking buddies.
Yeah.
Well, we were like, we were good friends before then.
And then, obviously, like.
It's hard.
Well, there's a teammate stuff.
Yeah.
The teammates stuff.
Martinsville.
Kids are the same age.
And you know, wives are friends.
So the dynamics that were weird was,
then some happened in Martinsville
when you guys were teammates racing for the championship.
Is that what it was?
Yeah, we were racing for a final four spot.
And wrecked each other?
Didn't wreck each other, but ran into each other.
Bumpers were involved.
Yes.
But that's, you know, it is just racing at that point.
And you move on, like you said, you have kids.
But he came, I didn't want to divert your story.
Oh, yeah.
He came over to the show.
He came over.
And I said, you want to know the best part
about my first win?
He goes, what's that?
I go, came at your expense.
Let's go.
We were just joking with each other.
So maybe we should play the rival thing more, maybe,
for the fans.
I'd say they worked for Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon.
Yeah.
You know, like, because that's what they were,
they were, you know, cussing each other on Sunday,
then they'd be counting money together on Monday morning.
That's pretty good.
Dude, the O'Reilly series electric right now, though,
I think it's the way the cars are built,
the way you guys can race, the way
that you can manipulate the air in front of you.
The viewership is way up for a reason.
I had a conversation on the way here with my uncle.
And he was like, I don't love, because he was asking me who's
driving the 88.
And I said, you know, I got the cup guys for 10 races.
And Rajah, who's your third in points.
Rajah second in points.
Austin Hill, he did really good the other night.
Rajah crushing it.
I was sitting there.
Dale Jr. was actually in our box.
And he put it on the, he like rolled up and went,
like, rip the fence and pass a couple guys.
And Dale was like, he's going to do it.
Like, he was excited.
It was like watching it on the couch.
He's easy to pull for, man.
But yeah, he works hard.
He's just a good kid.
Great kid.
He had a ton of people there too.
He had one of the cornerbacks from DC,
from the commanders was there, like hanging out in the box.
Everybody was super excited.
But like the O'Reilly series is electric right now.
And I've seen that shift the last couple of years.
Do you feel that when you go on Saturdays?
I mean, yeah.
And it's just hard, right?
Like, I think my first year was 22.
And you could miss it and run 10th.
Like you miss it right now.
You run 15th to 20th.
And then there's 24, like good race cars
with alliances and whatnot.
So yeah, I think that.
I think you got kids like Raja coming from trucks.
You got Al Guy, right?
He's like our veteran of art.
Yeah, he's like-
The gray beard?
He's like uncle for all of us.
He's like a nice uncle though.
Yeah, he is.
But then he's really hard to race sometimes.
Yeah.
But he races you, how you race him though.
So the question my uncle asked me was,
like when cup guys come down
or do you like it without having them there?
I mean, both.
Yeah.
I think it's a good mix right now.
That my opinion, I think it's a good mix
that they can run 10 to 12,
but they're not just completely flooding the field.
And when we had that 22 Xfinity car, it was great.
We'd win.
It'd be us or the 54 with Kyle Busch every week.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I honestly didn't know that was Ross.
And then I like seen the Watermelon scheme
and I'm like, oh, that's Ross.
Then you see him just bisoning up.
Like when he first got the lead,
he got really far out a few times
and I'm like, I love this.
Like I want him leading more than I want the 21 leading,
but then that last caution, he figured it out quick
and like he stopped getting way out
and then it made it way harder.
We're like, that's Ross and so good.
It's like, he doesn't care.
Like he'll lift, he'll do whatever he has to do
to keep you within like a car length.
Yeah.
Guys like him, guys who seem to have the most success
on Sunday now, put people in positions
where they have to choose to wreck or lift a Larson,
you know, a host of our,
he'll just put these guys in bad spots.
Like you're either going to lift
or we're all both going to wreck.
Well, speaking of Larson yesterday,
and we're going to talk, we were going to talk about this,
but since you're here, I want to,
and you're a competitor,
I want to like pick your brain on this
because the points are different.
And you see Larson like, you could tell yesterday,
you could feel it through the TV.
Like when five to go on the stage, it would ramp up
and everybody'd start getting more aggressive.
Like you could feel it, but it's like,
hey, we're going to gain four points here,
but we're going to lose 25 when we wreck this thing.
Like Larson's going to look back at that
and be like, man, I hate that.
Yeah, it matters.
I gave up those points.
Much more.
I didn't even think about that till after the fact.
But nobody's, it doesn't seem like anybody's brain
has shifted the points racing yet.
So have you guys talked about that with the new format?
Yeah, definitely.
So we minimize the lows?
I think we're kind of seeing it too.
Like I probably didn't think about it all that much.
And then like after last week,
we finished 24th at Daytona or whatever,
you're looking at points and you're like,
that's race one, right?
And then like they're not winning.
It pays so much, right?
But I could go around 35th the next three weeks
and like it's going to hurt.
Like I'm going to be, I'll be back out, right?
Tyler Redick has 40 points out of the field.
Max points you can get for a race of 60?
No, 75.
Okay, okay, change now, 75.
But still that's half a race ahead of the, ahead of second.
I mean, I entered their night 20th in points
and I'm tied for a third right now, which is crazy.
So I mean, that's what I think though,
if we talk about Larson in particular in this instance,
like over the course of the season,
like right now your Larson's account,
if you just would have like this withdrawal account
of like leaving points on the table
relative to where you run versus where you finish,
whoever's going to have the account
with the least amount of points left on the table
is going to be a championship contender, right?
Like Larson already has now 25 points
he left on the table from this week, right?
And you have to go get those back
just to get to neutral where you would have been.
So I think that that is a completely different game
you're playing.
It's like he probably wouldn't have went
the old four lanes sweep,
like he's trying to get off the highway
about to miss an exit.
That's what it looked like it happened.
Did you see the in-car camera?
I watched it back.
No, I just heard his radio.
He was like, so I didn't know where it was through
and he's like, we weren't through.
Dude, they had an awesome in-car camera facing him.
And his tent, he had like a light tent shield
that was just bright enough to where you could see
his eyes go to the spot mirror
and it had like the field of vision of the camera.
You could see the 45's nose in there.
So you could see his eyes,
as soon as he saw the 45 was clear,
the field of vision, he couldn't see the 97 way down there.
So he looks twice and just rips it left
and then like, smash, smash, smash.
But that was a pretty cool.
Did you like them here?
Or like the camera?
The review camera.
I think that it makes passing considerably harder.
So because you can-
But you can follow him?
Well, with the Xfinity car or trucks,
you have to, your eyes have to travel literally
from where you're looking and where you're going up top.
For context, the cup cars have a camera
that's like your reverse camera in your car.
And you can put it wherever you want.
Trucks and Xfinity still have a mirror,
like the mirror that's in your car.
Like you guys can put it like here, right?
A lot of guys put it left side.
No, so you're literally-
So you can just-
Wind shield down, wind shield down.
So you're just like somebody's fading high,
you just look down and like in the middle corner,
you can check it four or five times.
But in the Xfinity car, you're not gonna go,
I mean, you can, but it's uncomfortable.
In the Xfinity car, since we're low down force,
you're not turning twice in the corner.
Like where the cup car, you can kind of,
like a truck as well.
The Xfinity car, like you go to like undo the wheel
and then out wheel again, like-
Yeah, correct.
You're just causing yourself problems, yeah.
Oh man, well-
I've always, and there was this,
there was this, there was-
They're correcting us in the backgrounds.
It's O'Reilly.
We're sorry that we're calling it Xfinity.
Something I always, they would laugh at me with
because when you go into Sim, right,
you have like an open mic headset.
Yep.
We had always occasionally asked people,
like what is your self dialogue
if you had a hot mic during a race?
Like are you a quiet guy?
Like for me, if I miss a corner of the Sim,
I'm just like, damn it, dummy.
And then like all the engineers are in the back,
like laughing because you forget they listen,
so I have to like flip that thing up
and call myself bad words.
If you had a hot mic in your race car,
like are you a chat, like Parker Kligerman,
they did a live mic for him one time last year
two years ago and he was like, yeah, let's go.
You know, he was like that type of guy.
Oh no.
Are you that type?
I would say I'm quiet, but yeah, I like,
I call myself bad words sometimes
if I miss the bottom or idiot,
like why do you, or I yell at others.
Yeah.
Like I don't like key up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But if you had an open mic.
I would do that, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
We're gonna give Blaney a fake button
so he'd stop hitting the real button for a while.
Hey man, it's a fake button to make it feel better.
Yeah, sometimes you gotta hit that thing and let it out.
So we put it out that you're gonna be on here
and had a couple of people send some questions.
Vegas Jeff 33 says, give us a Robbie Gordon story.
I have so many.
What's your favorite one that you can tell
for the radio listeners?
I literally have some, I'll think of a couple here, but.
Robbie Gordon is a hustler man.
Robbie has done a lot of cool stuff.
He teaches a lot of what not to do.
Yeah.
It's really good.
By example?
Yes, but I think probably one of my favorites was Australia.
Like they're, I would say their traffic laws
are a lot stricter or more strict in Australia.
Are they left side?
Right side, normal.
They're right-siders.
Okay.
Yeah.
Like right side drive.
The opposite side of America.
Yeah, correct, yeah.
And we were down there.
We would do like we go to like a bar, right?
With a truck and like get people to know
that they're racing, right?
Well, Robbie being Robbie,
like we're always doing donuts or doing something.
So he does donuts in the middle of the road
in the street.
They were like, we're gonna arrest them.
They impounded the race car
and like we couldn't get it out.
They got it out the next morning finally
and like race.
Some favors, yeah.
Oh yeah.
Whose truck was it?
Was it his that he was gonna drive?
It was his stadium truck, but I forget all the details.
This was, I don't know, 10 years ago now.
It's crazy that it's been a long actually.
Flash.
But yeah, that was a good one.
In that moment, you're like,
and we're gonna have to cancel this, dude.
I think this guy's getting arrested.
Yeah, it was, yeah.
We were like, oh, they're serious.
They did not think this was cool.
They did not think this was gonna be burned out.
It was cool.
I've had countless, man.
It's like, when you get in that
where it's all like fun and games,
then you realize like, oh, they're really pissed off, you know?
Yeah, and then Robbie,
like if you've seen him or talked to him,
he's like, never serious,
especially like in that situation,
like he was probably laughing at the cop
and then being like, do what you have to do.
Next thing you know, he's in handcuffs.
Did he call you?
Did he, how many?
He did call me, yeah, he did.
What was your, what was like,
should you get any texts or calls
that like were super cool?
Yeah, I mean, my grandpa has supported it for a long time
and I was really good on Saturday.
Didn't cry.
Yesterday when I woke up,
I like got in the shower and whatever
and I was sitting on the couch with the kids
and like I was just watching like the end of the raceback.
I had like started tearing up.
Then my wife's laughing at me
and she's like tearing up.
And my kids are so young.
They don't get it.
My grandpa literally called me.
During it.
While I was like tearing up
and then he's like talking.
I couldn't talk.
I just started crying again.
So my wife's like talking for me
and yeah, that was pretty cool.
So your wife came me, Phil Parsons door.
So she's been in racing forever.
Phil obviously on the broadcast for ARCA
and been around forever owned race teams.
So she knows about racing
but she said that,
because I was bummed for you
because I was like, are the kids here?
And you're like, no, they're not here
but you said Kami was a mess on the phone.
And yeah, yeah.
So my whole family works around the sport, right?
So my sister-in-law was there,
ran to victory lane
and then she had her on FaceTime.
And like, so that was cool right
when I got to victory lane with the car.
She's like balling and I kept,
I did a good job Saturday night.
I didn't cry.
Kept together.
Yeah, but yesterday, a couple of times.
Love it.
That's how much it means, man.
Yeah.
I'm super stoked.
So we do three questions.
I'm super stoked to hear his answers.
Cause I don't, I mean, there hasn't been,
people has driven as many cars as you have.
Pace car boys real quick,
said how many, how many Coors Lats
did you put down after you win?
All of them.
We cover that on the show.
Yeah, I don't, I've got Coors light for months.
So like everybody brought cases.
People just brought it, you know, 24 packs.
I mean, they cost was over there last night
when the cut plane landed and I don't even know.
There's six cases still that are not opened.
Well, hopefully those get consumed
over the next couple of weeks.
I mean, she catches some dubs.
Yeah. I mean, usually I'm not a,
I'm not a weak beer guy.
So, you know, Sundays, I'll have a couple usually,
but it'll take some time.
So our three questions are number one.
If you had to pick one type of car
and one race track to race at the rest of your life,
what do you pick?
I would pick the O'Reilly car at,
hmm, probably Darlington or Homestead.
Over everything you've ever driven.
Did you do like Baja and all that?
No, yeah, no, you're right.
I didn't even think about this.
It's everything.
You ever run the Baja?
Probably a chubby truck.
You ever do the Baja 1000?
I have a couple of times.
How's that dude?
And it's awesome.
I would say the funnest part is pre-running.
So like, for those that don't know like much about off-road
or you have like a pre-runner,
but it is a full trophy truck with a cab on it.
Like you just take like a normal cab off a truck,
put it on a trophy truck,
all leather interior radios.
Like you're driving-
Got a king ranch with 36 inches of travel.
Yeah, I mean, these are,
we're talking like,
these things cost six and a quarter probably.
Really?
I mean, it's a race car that's luxury sports car inside.
Got air conditioning.
AC, heat, radio.
The works.
And then you can go rip it through the bumps at 120.
So you get to pre-run.
And yeah, you go down there for like two weeks,
like you're just doing like your sections
where you're gonna race.
And you and your co-pilot just like,
hey, this is a,
is it like, so we've been looking at some WRC clips.
Do you call them like one through sixes like they do?
No.
Yeah, like they call them like L4 and two, R5.
So they're calling like gear numbers, I think,
or like speed.
Yeah.
Yeah, one's the slowest, sixth fastest.
It's similar to that, but no.
Like I did it with my grandpa every time,
because it's even cooler.
That's awesome.
So like, he got to do it.
The food's awesome.
You're right against the water, like a lot.
Just don't drink the water, I made that mistake.
Yeah, yeah, I guess stay away.
That's okay.
Don't the locals try to sabotage?
Is that real?
I've heard that.
They like dig holes and stuff.
Yeah, it's not as bad anymore, I would say.
But they like it, right?
Because like there's five or six races
down there a year with score.
So it brings a lot of money to their communities.
They want you to keep coming back.
Yeah, right.
And it's like a holiday, like the Baja 1000,
it starts on a Friday.
There's no school on Friday.
Or at least on Thursday.
There's no school, like.
Go watch a truck.
Holiday, yeah.
And like, they're just out there all day and all night.
So is that more fun, or is the short course,
like Craydon, is it Craydon?
What's that?
Craydon.
Craydon, is that more fun?
Or is it just so different that you can't compare?
I mean, they're similar-ish.
Not really, I don't know.
Those ones.
They're both awesome though.
Those short courses, I feel bad
for whoever has to mount the body
because there's never a body left.
No, blown right off.
On the truck.
It's just the.
You just start making carbon bodies.
I got you covered, bro.
It's a business, man.
You had to sling a carbon.
So we've thrown a lot at you,
but one car or one track now
you've been able to think about that.
I think I would still pick Trophy Truck.
Trophy Truck in Mexico.
Love it.
Love it.
Yeah.
Question number two.
What's your most embarrassed
and embarrassing moment at the racetrack?
Embarrassing?
Oh, I got one.
Yes.
Homestead 2019, 2021.
Somewhere in there when I was running trucks full time.
They were like, all right, just be alert.
We might pit, but we're not gonna decide till late.
All right.
We're like off of four or coming off of four.
And I'm like.
Way too late.
Didn't hear anything.
And I'm like, we're not gonna pit.
We're gonna stay.
And then like last minute, pit, pit, pit, right?
So I just like hung a left.
Hit the bucket.
Drove it into the sand barrier.
Oh, gosh.
Knocked the nose off.
Yeah, they couldn't see me.
They're like, what happened?
And I'm like, I'm an idiot.
I just drove it into the barrels.
Come down, pit road, the front ends all tore up.
Best to drove all day after that.
Cause I was like sideways and it like killed it.
So then it like made it tight.
Obviously I was slow after that, but.
We drove good.
Drove better.
Drove better.
And question number three.
If you, if I had like, you know, Madden Black,
the movie Madden Black with Will Smith.
You recall, we got, I got a prefaced question.
Oh, he's young.
You're youngster.
That's another good movie.
There was three of them,
there was like ghosts or whatever,
but they had this pen and they can like click it
and they zap all your memories
from like what you just remembered.
So if I had that pen and I clicked it
and we're erased every single one of your racing memories
and you only got to keep one.
What do you keep?
I don't know.
Probably X Games gold medal or.
You're an X Games gold medal?
Yeah, in the stadium truck.
Let's go.
Okay.
2015 or 16?
I got silver and then I got gold the next year.
Sick.
That was, that was cool.
I would say that or the truck championship.
Yeah.
Saturday night was pretty cool too,
but probably a truck championship.
Yeah.
I'm excited for your first victory lane with the kids.
Yes.
Like I'm pumped.
I'm pumped for you for that.
I feel like you are.
It's a game changer.
I don't love your crew chief, Jonathan Tony, man.
I love just scanning.
Oh, JT is your crew chief?
Oh man, he was the engineer when we won the championship
with Tony Stewart.
JT's been around a long time.
He's so funny.
I literally, when him and Cole were on an X-Ternity,
I would just literally scan them just to hear JT talk.
If you, if you guys listen or more, right?
Between him and Andy Houston, my spotter.
Like.
They don't get no more country.
It's just more, it's just straight, hickory,
North Carolina.
And I'll like, we are always like teasing each other
on the radio and stuff.
And I'll just be like, crying, laughing,
just at their voices.
What do you think, Andy?
What do you think we should do here?
Well, I feel like JT and yourself and that whole
double O team are going to be tough this year.
And I'm glad to see you get over the hump,
get that first double Atlanta.
I know you got some stuff going on today.
So I'm going to let you go.
Ladies and gentlemen, please help me think.
Sheldon Creed.
Good luck with that hangover, buddy.
Take it easy on the adverse.
That's the one I ever did have.
That's right.
I learned it, buddy.
Congratulations again and we're coming up right after this.
Oh man, that was a good conversation.
One of the good guys.
Oh, one of the great guys.
He was a little, he said, he said,
man, my brain is not working 100% today.
I mean, he came down here and house a couple
of Abbey Profan guys.
You earned that, but yeah.
So we film at nine o'clock, 930 on Mondays.
And he's like, maybe do this a little earlier next time,
boys.
Yeah.
Well, hey, Gladdy made the trip over here
to the Nonsense Garage.
We got a couple in case you missed it.
Now this is, this news to me,
I watched the entire Xfinny Race,
but I did not see this.
So first up.
I thought we were doing pit balls to the week.
Are we doing?
We're doing pit balls to the week.
Oh, okay.
We're going pit crew stuff first.
We got to fit this in.
So we got, I don't know if you missed this,
but this is the whoa of the week right here.
Which was also super kind of badass at the end of it.
The guy on the 54, did you see him get hit?
In the Xfinny Race?
Yeah.
No.
Oh my God.
There you go.
The tire, the right front tire got rolled back to the wall.
And they didn't catch it.
And it bounced off the carrier, goes and grabs it.
Taylor Gregg gives him no grace.
So I got to go here.
Somebody's gonna ask, well, whose fault was that?
Oh, the guy catching the tire originally.
On the wall side.
On the wall side.
But you can't run over your guy.
Well, that's where I wonder, like where are his eyes?
Are his eyes on the gas man in the spot mirror?
No.
That guy's literally in the middle of your windshield.
That's your guy.
You need him.
You can't run him over.
Jesus.
I've been in the situation.
Who is that?
Do you know who that is?
I don't know him.
I've never met him.
Soar.
That's what his name is.
His interview was absolutely electric.
He goes, I said, are you okay?
And he's like, yeah, I'm fine.
I'm just glad the car's okay.
I'm just glad I didn't hurt the car.
What a dude.
That's a boss.
I saw like all the memes like NASCAR chasms,
like yeah, these guys get hit 10 feet in the air,
land on their head and they're like,
I'm just glad the car's all right.
We're still in the fight.
Finger hanging off.
But.
I'm Art.
Cars Tora.
Cars Tora.
But that, I think it saved them a penalty.
I'm not exactly positive.
I didn't see the penalty sheet,
but it got it back halfway across the wall
and controlled it.
So, it's a good move, dude.
That was a full blown, I mean,
that was controlled.
That was controlled chaos is what that was.
That was a thug move.
I tell you what, I was hitting five lugs again this week.
It was like one of the first race back where it did four.
And I forgot, I went, hit one, two, three, four.
The fourth nut stayed in my socket.
I hit the fifth stud with the nut in my socket,
came out and then it sat.
It like flipped out and sat on the center
like the hub cone and the nut and I like flick it off.
I was like, oh, I don't miss that at all
on the five lug nut days.
How fast are those things spinning?
Those?
Like what's your socket speed?
I mean, they're like 10,000 RPM.
But before we skip over it, the pit bosses a week,
it has to be the 45 guys, right?
They damage repair, they do everything right.
And you know, they went to race in a row,
Brian Deal crushed it last week.
They tone up, they do everything I gotta do.
That's the gas man.
Brian deals the gas man.
It's a team that's close to my heart.
You know, Wade Moore is the tire carrier.
He was my carrier for a long time
and Hunter Massling, the front changer,
he was almost out of the sport.
So he was like, they're back up,
just doing five nut stuff.
Their tire changer on the 45 got hurt,
Hunter came in to fill in, absolutely crushed it
the last part of last year.
And now they tone up 500 champion,
points leaders, two races in a row,
they've won and he's been doing great.
So it just goes to show you just keep working, right?
And it always comes back around for the good guys.
So it was exciting for Hunter
and that whole team brand of banks,
everybody that's on it,
pit boss of the week, congrats to those guys,
points leaders by 40 points.
Hell of a start to the year for that 45 team and MJ.
Great race.
Z and MJ just fired up to be freezing his butt off
at Atlanta, who to thunk it?
I love that everybody's pulling the rope
in the same direction.
NASCAR is, hell yeah, I'm so back right now, baby.
They got a hell of a hell of an idea.
And now, you know, like you're not questioning like,
oh, it's MJ versus NASCAR, none of that.
It's all over.
So it's just so refreshing to see what wasn't refreshing
was the 41 team at the end of the race.
Did you see what Sam Mayer did?
Well, that's why we put it in there
in case you missed it because I missed it.
Let's run the clip here.
So Sam Mayer pulls up to congratulate Sheldon Creed.
I wish we asked Sheldon about it when he was here.
So, hey man, good job.
All right, I'm gonna hook a left.
I'm just gonna drive through the grass here, no big deal.
No way, what?
Blows the nose off of the race car,
splitter bar and everything.
And his car chief, Craig Smokestead,
was on the plane with us.
And I was like, how was that the load?
He's like, buddy, that was terrible.
Cause like the road crew guys at this point are like,
all right, cars good.
One of the worst parts, everybody sees these cars wreck,
but you never see the road crew having
to get them back in the trailer.
And it's like a chore to get these cars,
like the road crew mechanics that work on these things
and bring them to the track,
the car chief, tire guy, all the road crew,
they have to take that wreck piece of shit,
cut it up, put it on casters
and somehow load it in the trailer
to get it back to the shop.
And it's like, you're good,
you're ready to celebrate with your team.
You're like, oh no, we gotta go cut this car apart
to get it in the trailer here.
Well, we were, we were watching the cup race yesterday
and the 54 had a big, had a big shot, right?
Right front stuff, stuffed up into the valve cover.
And they had things on the, on the hook
and they're chugging it back to the, to the truck.
And they had a shot of him like,
ooh, that's gonna be hard to get in the truck.
And Kelly was like, what do you mean?
I'm like, they gotta like cut everything off of it
to put casters on it.
They have like two more hours of work
to just be able to get it rolled in the truck.
Yeah.
And then getting it on the lift gate sketchy
when it's on casters,
cause like the chocks hold the car.
Yeah.
But like anybody that's raced like a short track
or like a street stock or anything
that's wrecked one bed.
And you're like, oh no,
I don't know how to get this thing on the trailer.
I don't know what we're gonna do.
Like it comes at you quick.
People forget about that.
We've had to load some up backwards before.
I mean, we, when you, when you have real big chunks,
you get, we, when we built that late model
a couple of years, I mean this was 15 years ago,
left her hub broke at Rockingham.
We had to borrow the flat bed from the racetrack
to get it home.
Yeah.
Not a good day when you can't even take it back
in your own trailer.
Need your, need your wrecker here.
Yeah, I need to borrow the flat bed.
Another development, shifting gears at F1, Formula One.
So they're getting rid of the DRS, the drag reduction system
in replace of with this new aerodynamic kit,
active arrow, which is where the rear wing does
essentially the same thing as it did with DRS.
Opens up, right, to reduce drag.
They also does the front wing as well.
It's cool to see in the preseason testing
all the different variations, these rear wings,
the Ferrari wing literally does like a 180,
which that doesn't seem to me, I'm not an engineer,
but I don't know what it means, but like
that doesn't seem the most efficient way to do that,
but they're a lot smarter than I am.
I just wanna see them give Lewis Hamilton
something to contend with, man.
Why?
If they got rid of DRS, why are they doing this?
So same thought, right, straight line speed,
more of a slipstream draft.
They want variance between top speed and mid speed.
Do you, does it open every straightaway
or is it like DRS where you have to be within a second?
DRS drones, no, everybody can have it
within the certain ranges, certain straightaways, right,
that are designated DRS system, or active aero system.
It's not a button.
I love the internet, they had a video of the meat,
like it was like a rotisserie hook and meat.
That's what it looks like.
But yeah, that...
Which brings up the question, should or could NASCAR
have some sort of active aero bits?
They have talked about it.
Well, you used to with the windows,
look at Kevin Harvick's rear window back in the day.
Everybody had a little bit of something
where there was deck lid deflection, or yes.
It's just a little bit more redneck.
Back in the day, there was a lot of juice with softening your...
I mean, that's what you built, you built rear windows.
Rear windows, deck lids, quarter panel.
You would soften up the braces
so it would concave and pack the spooler over there.
And the teams that, you know,
there have been many drivers' careers
that have been made off of some shenanigans.
They hit on it for six months
before they get their hands slapped.
It's team sport.
It's team sport.
So there have been active aero...
Remember, even you can relatively recently,
16, 17, 18, when they were cutting the braces
in front of the rear tires
in the first stop of the day that we're here,
they would just yank the rocker panels and get them.
Oh yeah.
Literally wicked out.
Now, that is, wasn't cheating, quote unquote.
It was...
Just going faster.
Just going faster.
But your car would drive so much different
after you did that.
That's like the active aero stuff is so sketchy
because what if it breaks, right?
That's just one more thing to break in the middle of the race.
The way we were doing it was more redneck aero.
That's right.
Get all your heels.
Hell yeah aero.
Who cares if the rear tire carries hands bleeding
because he just got, it hung on a 1032 bolt.
Just don't want to mess the car up.
Just want to make sure the car's all right.
Fingers messed up, car's okay.
So what else we got here?
I think the most practical thing
for some sort of like a horsepower boost
in addition to what's like stock
with the race car hits
is when NASCAR is on the car,
the right side floorboard is wide open.
You could essentially sit there and ride.
They made that space
to potentially accommodate some lithium ion batteries
for a hybrid motor on the transaxle.
So the X-track transaxle has a place
where they can put an electric motor
for some sort of hybrid technology
to add say 7,500 horsepower push up a button.
But I think as that tech needs to develop a little bit
so it's not adding 125 pounds to the car
like the Indy cars do.
What about, I could care less about lithium batteries
but what I do care about talking about X-track,
how about Tyler Reddick's reverse burn?
Oh my God.
What in the hell?
That was bad ass.
What?
I didn't know.
X-track people were probably losing their mind.
Oh, they're losing their mind.
That was so cool.
Well, because the reverse gear is super light
because you only use reverse
like to back out of your garage.
Back up in the pit stall
after you blow through it,
I saw a lot of that yesterday.
Not to crank a bunch of front brake into it
and just roast them down reverse.
I mean, that's a 9.9 burn.
I've never seen that before.
That was killer.
Yeah, it was unbelievable.
Shout out Tyler Reddick.
Just keep winning every week.
He's gonna run out of ways to do burnout.
So he just went backwards.
For sure.
How about SVG yesterday, real quick?
So we're going to Coda.
Is anybody gonna be to SVG?
So SVG or Coda seems like a race track
that he doesn't have a complete grip on the field.
So I felt that...
Where do you run fourth, fifth, sixth last year?
Last year, I felt there.
They, new team, figuring it out first time all together.
They didn't hit their balance.
Until Mexico, halfway through Mexico,
they figured out their balance exactly what they needed.
Yeah.
I've put the field on watch,
but I also, Zillich...
Tyler Reddick could realistically win three in a row.
Tyler Reddick could win three in a row.
Zillich has been,
he won the pole there, his first ever truck race,
did very well, so.
He needs a good one,
because he is P-last in points right now
off of his first two weeks.
Zillich is?
Yeah.
Damn it.
But yesterday, speaking of SVG,
he was in the grass backwards like four times,
and he put up on Instagram of AI version
of him on a lawn mower with the 97 car behind him.
So he got in front of it,
but dude, shout out.
Best oval finish ever, P6.
SVG could be a problem this year, man.
Telling you.
He was a problem last year.
He's gonna be a problem this year.
Steve Dorn, SVG, the 97 team.
Josh Williams, he's a spotter for the 88 as well.
They got a great team around him.
Yeah, so excited for them.
I believe he's right at the cut line.
Granted, we are 22 races away from playoffs,
and it's all jumbled up right now,
but if he just keeps stringing these together,
man, he has the ability and the team underneath of him
to be legit.
That's what I liked yesterday though.
In closing, when the five team crashed,
I was like, oh, that has championship implications.
That's a big deal.
Where before you'd be like, yeah, load this thing up,
let's go.
Right, we'll get them next week.
We know we're gonna win Vegas in two weeks,
so just, who cares?
Yeah, and then I was texting them with one of my buddies.
I'm gonna ask a real dumb question.
They points reset, right?
They reset, but it's a multiplier
depending on where you finish too.
So yeah, they reset for the top 16,
but it's X amount for first,
then it goes down each position.
So you wanna be, it's harder to get points and move on.
You have to string good races together.
It's gonna be interesting to see
how the racing changes throughout the year.
Who do you like this week?
I like SPG this week.
Okay, I'm gonna, Chris Bell is in the mix as well.
The last race last year between the 45 and the 20
just sliding around, the 21 last year.
It's Chris Bell one.
It is funny to hear the post-race interviews
between Bubba Wallace and Carson both.
They were like, oh, we're going to Coda this week.
Don't worry about to me, but pray for me, Bubba said.
Yeah.
You know, it's a worn out.
Short course.
I think it might, I probably should have my research
a little bit.
I think they've repaved a lot of areas of Coda.
Short course, which is electric to watch.
It's hard to bet against SVG,
but I'd like to see Connor have a great day.
I think, I legitimately think Tyler Redick
can go three in a row.
Yep.
Well, you got Tyler Redick, I got SVG.
Tell us who you got in the comments
and we'll see you next week.
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Give us a like, give us a subscription.
We're going to try to keep putting out
some cool content for you guys.
And, you know, as always, you know what we're doing.
We're stacking pennies.
Do the small details in your life
to get you ultimately where you want to go.
Follow me out, Core of the Joy,
where are they going to find you at Skip Floors?
Oh, at Skip Floors.
I just crusted the 10,000 mark this week.
So thanks to all the penny stackers.
That's good stuff, buddy.
Carbon shops coming along,
painted prompain, Wade floors look good.
Shout out Jonathan Davis integrity floors.
That thing looks smoking pennies in the floors.
Well, do you see the video with Carl?
He was here this week.
He was like, hey, man, let's do a video for your Instagram.
I said, okay, what do you want to do, Carl?
I'm gonna stack pennies.
Great.
He hit the, he came over to the house
for dinner that night.
He hit the zipline of the tree house.
How'd it go?
Oh, it was awesome.
Love that.
Yeah, it was awesome.
Literally just grabbed it and just no questions asked.
Hit it.
So it's cool hanging out then.
It's cool hanging out with you guys each and every week.
Thank you for whether you're listening to us
on SiriusXM or YouTube or wherever you find your podcast,
we will continue to keep telling you how it is
and keep having great guests on
and telling you about the sport we love the most,
which is not only NASCAR, but motor sports.
Y'all have a great day, man.
Keep on keeping on, as Joe Dirt says.
Quarter the joy, long side of Ryan Florez.
Have a fantastic week.
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