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40:04
Term
NASCAR team
In NASCAR, a “team” is the whole racing outfit—car, drivers, mechanics, and the people who manage the effort. It’s more than just one car; it’s an entire organization competing in races.
Term
GT3
GT3 is a type of race category for cars that are based on real production models. Teams modify them for racing, but the rules try to keep different cars fairly matched.
Place
Nurburgring
The Nürburgring is a legendary race track in Germany. It’s known for being very challenging, so doing well there is a big deal for both drivers and cars.
Brand
Trackhouse
Trackhouse is a NASCAR team. The hosts are talking about the possibility of someone becoming part owner of that team.
Term
charter
A NASCAR charter is basically a guaranteed entry spot in the races. It’s a valuable “ticket” to compete, and it can cost a lot more than simply investing in a team.
Brand
Ford
They’re talking about Ford as a car company that supports racing. The point is that Ford’s involvement in NASCAR affects which teams and drivers get attention.
Brand
Red Bull
Red Bull is referenced as the team Max Verstappen drives for, and the host is implying that manufacturer and team relationships matter when drivers consider other series. In motorsport, a driver’s current team can influence sponsorships, testing, and cross-series opportunities.
Topic
O'Reilly series
They’re saying Ford has no entries in a NASCAR series that’s branded as the O’Reilly series. That’s used to show Ford’s involvement is shrinking.
Topic
Truck Series
They’re talking about NASCAR’s truck racing series. The point is Ford is still showing up there even if it’s pulling back in other NASCAR categories.
Term
spec engine
A “spec engine” is an engine everyone has to use that’s basically the same. It keeps teams from gaining an advantage just by building a better engine.
Term
body only
“Body only” means the trucks look like the real models, but the important mechanical parts are shared or standardized. So it’s more about the look than brand-specific engineering.
Term
Cup series
The Cup Series is NASCAR’s main racing league. The cars look like regular models, but they’re built and tuned specifically for oval tracks.
Term
WEC
WEC is a world championship for endurance racing—cars race for a long time. Teams have to balance speed with not breaking and managing tires and fuel.
Term
Formula One
Formula One is the top level of open-wheel racing. The cars are custom-built race machines, and strategy matters a lot during the race.
Term
IMSA
IMSA is the International Motor Sports Association, which runs major North American sports-car racing. It’s known for multi-class endurance and sprint events, where manufacturers choose programs based on competition and marketing goals.
Term
hypercar
In modern top-level endurance racing, a “hypercar” is a high-performance class of race car designed for events like the WEC’s top category. These cars are built to meet specific technical regulations while delivering prototype-level speed.
Place
Spa
Spa-Francorchamps (often shortened to “Spa”) is a famous Formula One circuit in Belgium. It’s known for big elevation changes and high-speed corners, making it a major benchmark for car balance and driver skill.
Term
points lead
A points lead means one driver is ahead of others in the season standings. If the lead is big, they can sometimes drive more carefully; if it’s small, they may need to push harder.
Term
driver's championship
The driver's championship is the season-long title awarded to the driver who accumulates the most points across races. In Formula 1-style racing, it’s distinct from the constructors’ championship, which is based on team points.
LIVE
The stream is live.
What does that mean?
The stream is live, everybody.
Welcome into another edition of The Pit Strait.
This is an abbreviated Fast 6 Final 3 version of The Pit Strait.
I'm Kyle Benjamin.
He's Alex Ginz, our IndyCar content director.
And then Michael Finley, who does all things,
Formula One for Frontstretch.com.
We may have a couple other guests and the random cast
of characters.
We keep around on the open-wheel side of things
over here at Frontstretch later this evening.
But for now, hey, just the three of us.
So one, we were talking before we came on the show,
a couple of things to wrap up from whatever IndyCar race
we had at Mid-Ohio, which a bit of a snoozer.
Apologies to Aero McLaren.
I sun your demise a little too early this season.
1-2, Pato gets his first win.
Christian Lungard finds out he's unemployed and runs P2.
And Alex Palau leads exactly zero laps.
It's just the second time that's happened this season.
He didn't lead any at Phoenix.
And prior to that, didn't lead any at Detroit in 2025
when he crashed out, which begs the question,
which we have asked multiple times on this show already.
It's Palau's championship to lose.
But this is now like three straight races
where the 10 team has been a non-factor.
What do they have to do to turn it around to Nashville?
God knows, man.
Nobody runs up to an oval and goes,
Alex Palau and the number 10 team are going to dominate the show
and take home the trophy with zero resistance or whatever.
But after how many years of this kind of dominance,
nobody in the IndyCar community, I think,
is going to wave their hand and dismiss that team.
So they could leave Nashville with a fifth place finish
and still be in a great spot for the championship,
heading into Portland, where Palau is very strong,
two new treks in Markham and in DC,
the Milwaukee mile, the double header,
and Laguna Seca, where Palau has won before.
I don't see the hope.
I think if you're a Christian Lungard at this point,
I mean, who wouldn't that be something?
Finds out he's being replaced by Scott Dixon
and or Felix Rosenquist.
I'm sure who's taken that car at the moment.
And then goes on to win the championship.
Without any futures not secured,
there are certainly rumors as to where he might end up.
But silly seasons gone quiet since the news came out
around mid-Ohio that Dixon and Rosenquist
were taking the place of Christian Lungard and Nolan Siegel.
Siegel, not so much a surprise.
His woes have been well-documented,
but I think you've got to give Christian Lungard a bit.
He's 65 points back.
That's one race, maybe two.
If Palau continues to have trouble
and Lungard continues his terror.
You know, Malukas is only 66.
Anybody in the top four, I think,
is a contender at this point.
Isn't it crazy, though, Kyle,
that there's a driver that's,
I mean, again, we should have hats made at this point
respect the ass kicking.
There's a driver that has back-to-back top five finishes
where he avoided trouble in both races,
and we're calling it having problems.
That's true.
That does put it in perspective a little bit.
You think, oh, my gosh, he didn't win.
He wasn't on the podium.
What's wrong with the 10 team?
Sorry.
I was going to say, there are victims of circumstances,
more or less, in a lot of these instances,
getting caught out during ill-timed yellows
and having to emergency service and this, that, and the other.
It's not like he's not running well.
They just didn't get the brakes.
So, you know, he was strong at Nashville last year.
He led 11 laps, you know, started up front.
He and Paddle Award had that phenomenal duel
for the first, you know, couple laps of the race side by side.
Award takes over.
It was, again, his race to lose, and he, you know,
he fenced it there towards the end,
and New Guard ends up leaving the last 60 laps to win.
So, I think heading into this weekend, a couple things to note.
It is, it's 8.25, and I'm in East Tennessee,
so I'm two hours from Sparta where the track is.
It is still 95 degrees here.
It is hotter than stink in Tennessee at the moment.
Now, the geography from where we are and where Nashville is,
you know, you've got the mountains, you've got time zone change, all that.
But it has also rained here just about every day for the last two weeks.
I think you're going to get, have one of two things happen this weekend.
It's either going to be a washout, or it's going to be a million degrees.
I hope it is the latter.
It's a, it's a mid-evening race, following the World Cup.
They've got alternate tires, and it's going to be really, really hot,
so that track is going to be really, really slick.
Mm-hmm.
On top of that, they have lengthened the race.
300 laps now.
I wish our good buddy, Christa Hardy, was here because he'd be able to tell us,
you know, Rain Man style how those pit windows break down.
But you've got, you know, you've got two sets of tires.
What teams are going to try to stretch?
I don't think you can go necessarily, necessarily.
I don't think you can double-stint tires.
I think anytime you come into the pits, you're changing tires.
I'm not even sure tires would last a full fuel run.
That concrete service has had another, you know, harsh southern winter to weather.
It's been hot here in the summertime, so I'm looking forward to it.
I think it's going to be awesome.
Got to imagine, too, this is going to be, like, probably the highest-weighted IndyCo
race besides the 500 in many years.
You know, the World Cup, you know, being in that finale.
I mean, you know, like, it's been a massive boon for IndyCo, and this would be the
highest-weighted game they've, you know, they followed up on, so forth.
I'm curious to see how that plays out and how many folks stick around after, you know,
after the trophy presentation and all that.
I mean, you're going to have a significant viewership drop from the time the final
whistle blows to the time they transition.
But, you know, the networks have been doing this for years following the Super Bowl.
They'll stack a primetime show right after, you know, the game so that that audience kind
of sticks around.
I mean, you know, this is going to date me incredibly, but I got hooked on Grey's Anatomy
because ABC stuck it right after, you know, one of the years the Patriots won the Super Bowl.
And we just kept watching.
I was like, hey, this actually, this show's not bad.
And away we go.
Well, and you figure, too, like, of all of the sports properties,
it's this in the U.F.L. where Fox has its ownership taken.
So they want the Indicator numbers to go up now.
And I imagine, too, if Spain wins and, you know, Palo qualifies well, I mean, that could
be a big boon for Spanish fans.
It could be.
There are plenty of executives at Fox who, you know, who have a better pulse on this than
the three of us do, for sure.
But I'd have to imagine that the overlap of Spanish soccer fans and Spanish Indicator fans
is the, you know, the edge of the Venn diagram circle.
Got to pull it in because that's a big thing, too, with Formula One real quick is Spanish
speaking fans in general have been a huge boon for Formula One for years.
Like, Chico Puez, you'd stall here, you know, like,
I mean, if Fox can capitalize on that and maybe bring that in, you know, you never know.
I wonder, I wonder what a Spanish fan who watches the final and then, you know,
they leave their TV on and walk to the kitchen to make a snack or whatever.
And they come back and they see driver intros and they see a Spanish flag.
They see one Spanish flag in that.
I wonder what that does to them.
I wonder how much that peaks their interest.
Yeah, well, you know, the broadcast team at Fox and our, you know, our esteemed
fearless leader, Tom Bowles, who's heavily involved over there and is in the booth on
race days, providing stats to Hinch and T-Bell and that other guy who, you know, ruffles some
feathers. Now, then Will Buxton, you know, I'm sure they're going to be prepared
to make that segue. You know, we don't have Augustine Canapina in the field anymore.
So if Argentina wins, you know, there's no direct tie in.
But I'm sure they're going to shout out and emphasize if Spain wins, like, hey,
you've got a Spanish champion in this race, stick around.
You know, I'd be shocked if those conversations haven't already happened.
Curious to see the numbers though at the end of the day.
We're pretending Metzzi is not going to win.
Well, I was thinking, you know, if Argentina wins, it's not going to matter because a bunch
of people are going to turn off their TVs in a fit of rage.
Well, I mean, they're not going to hate it.
Well, we need Franco Colopin to over here ASAP.
Put him on the plane.
Get him, you know, get him, get him in, get him here.
Get him, you know, do do what you can to bridge the gap.
You know, IndyCar is looking for their starting.
It seems to chip away at NASCAR a little bit.
You know, they've had higher ratings in recent weeks compared to the Cup Series.
Now, last week, you know, is an outlier given the rain delay for the NASCAR race.
But there's some momentum.
You don't, you know, you don't want to fumble it.
And I think the neat thing is, is that you're we're transitioning directly from the World Cup finale
to cars leaving pit road is what I last saw is that they're not even there's going to be
like zero pre-race.
It's it's a good thing.
Here's we're signing off the air.
Hey, welcome to Nashville.
Cars are rolling.
Let's drop the rag.
It doesn't give people a transition to to melt.
Yeah.
Because again, you're if you just watched a 20 minute trophy presentation
in, you know, from Atlanta, you're not sticking around for a 30 minute pre-race show.
Sure.
Your view, you've checked out, you've changed the channel.
And so that's going to hurt.
But, you know, we'll see, you know, again, looking forward to the race.
Can't wait to see how it unfolds.
You know, IndyCar's under the lights are always awesome.
You know, and a lot of extra elements.
Longer race, alternate tires back again this year.
You know, what's the 10 team going to do?
What's the nine team do?
You know, Dixon is a lame duck.
How's that unfold?
Lungard, lame duck.
He's not necessarily strong on ovals.
But their program is good on ovals.
You know, and and Penske might grab their
first win of the season, second one of the season
in Newgarden.
And we know Malukas is fast here.
So was, so was Scotty back once.
Yeah.
He's won.
Has he won twice this year?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Phoenix and Gateway.
The oval king is back.
The oval.
Yeah.
The oval king is back and back on his home turf.
But Malukas was crazy strong here last year.
He was until he got unceremoniously taken out.
He got Louis fostered.
Tom, we'll see.
It's going to be great.
And on that note, let's talk Formula One.
Yeah.
Michael, what do you, what do you got for us?
And there's, you know, there's always, there's drama around Max for stopping again.
Well, I mean, well, I mean, there was some serious drama today when
Calla Pinto showed up on a message.
You'll see.
And over the land, but over the land was like, that's cool, man.
But yeah, as far as Max goes.
Yeah.
He, so last week we had kind of some controversy on X, the everything app when
there was some womos being flown around that maybe he's going to McLeon.
Maybe he's not really sounds like there's at least an awful being made right now.
Uh, so essentially, well, Stappen has a clause in his contract reportedly,
where at the summer break, if he's not in the top two and points, he can exercise it and
jump to somebody else.
And supposedly he's going to jump to McLeon.
Now the thing is, uh, if he, so he mathematically could still be in the top two right now.
Just because I have the points all done.
So even if, even if he has a deal, they can't say anything probably until after hungry next week.
I remember this coming up last year.
And, and I think even the year before that it's like clockwork every June, July.
Oh, Max is leaving Max is going somewhere else.
You know, a couple of years ago, it was because of the Christian order debacle.
And last year it was because they were slow.
And yeah, you know, you wonder how much of it is just, you know, Max,
I think is savvy enough to manipulate the media just for grins and giggles, like just to do it.
I wouldn't be shocked if that was some of it.
He's like, you know, I'm going to send these, I'm going to send these yahoo's on a wild goose chase.
The big difference between this and the other years is that his WaySams and their GP is coming
over them clown to believe they'll be the team principal in soccer, 2028.
If not, he's going to be a higher up there on the clown.
And with GP gone, there's really nobody left in that wet book call.
Really?
If they go, Horner's gone, Malko's gone, Nui's gone.
Wheatley's gone.
Yeah, Wheatley's gone.
Hannah's still there, but I'm so still jump eventually.
Pierre, I don't know how to pronounce his name.
Blake, what?
I mean, he's there, but like the call is on any good.
It's just, it's really just, I mean, the only real life of it,
Red Bull that's still there is Rocky, who wants the, he's Vettel's FOMO engineer.
He wants the junior team.
So he's not even involved or staffed anymore.
So what is Max, really getting out of the relationship now besides loyalty to an energy joint?
He's getting, he's getting probably the 100 million.
Well, he's getting the certainty that he's driving for a team that is,
in Paris' own words, kind of built around him.
Yeah.
And that's the one, that's the thing that confuses me about all this is Max Verstappen
goes to McLaren, replaces Oskar Piastri ostensibly and then becomes the number one driver.
No way it's that clean.
Well, and keep in mind too, like if Red Bull wants Ford to put a banana on the engine,
Ford will put a banana on the engine.
You know, like they can do, Ford will do whatever, whatever Red Bull wants.
McLaren is still a customer team with Mercedes.
So like there is a degree, even though apparently they have more control over the engine than most
customer teams, they still ultimately buy their engines from Mercedes.
You know, there is a big difference, you know.
McLaren can also point out and say, you know, we went from having the wolves calling the grid
to the best calling the grid in what, two years time?
Yeah, give or take.
Yeah.
They were nowhere at the start of 23.
Yeah.
And like they started off, I mean, they're not last and legs.
I mean, they're actually pretty good if you put away the reliability issues.
Yeah.
So we do have a quote, some quotes from Max and Alex, do you have your script?
Oh, God in the heavens.
Little improv.
Little improv tonight.
We're going to do a little improv tonight.
Because we've been doing a lot of, oh, where you going?
It's on the computer screen.
He's got, he's, you know, he's got a costume up.
We're doing a little vaudeville here.
We're, you know, we're going to make it.
We're going to do it.
The things I do for this company are just unbelievable.
That is true.
That applies across the board.
So Max, there's been a lot of speculation about your future lately.
Is there any update for us?
Is there anything new to report?
No.
Oh, and Alex muted himself.
Oh, no.
Thank God I'm done.
Yes.
The question was so bad.
They cut his mic.
How convenient.
Yeah.
What do you make of the speculation?
Nothing?
Do you have a date in mind?
No, there's nothing to say.
I don't want to say yes and no.
This and that about my future.
I said already many times that there was something new.
I would say it myself.
Now I was just looking to the future,
trying to fix the tone issue, blah, blah.
You know, it just kind of trails off after that.
But yeah, Max is not really playing into it.
But he's also usually when these go on,
he comes out at the next race and is just like, no, I'm with Wickel.
Good.
Let's stop it.
Yeah.
This time he's not as mental, which tells me something.
I mean, ultimately, again, like I said, I mean,
money probably isn't as big an object anymore for him,
because he's already, I mean, he's probably half a billionaire already.
It's really just about winning races with your buddies,
I think is the name of the game with him.
Or, you know, he'll go start a GT3 team.
Yeah.
Oh, he could go.
He could go buy a NASCAR team.
Like seriously, like he could drop 300,000 tomorrow on a NASCAR team easily.
Like that's how much money he's gotten from went full of the last six years.
Like it's really insane.
What do you think about it?
If there's a NASCAR team for sale for 300 grand, I'll buy it.
Yeah, I think we could all pool our.
Oh, that's 300 million.
Oh, my goodness.
There you go.
But, you know, that's an interesting prospect.
We know Max is a race fan.
You know, he loves to drive, which is why he's doing the GT3 stuff
and running the Nurburgring and all that fun.
Things you get to do when you are one of the best drivers in the world.
You know, personally, I think we need to see him head to head with Kyle Larson,
so we can just put that debate.
Just sleep once and for all.
But, you know, there's a world because of Max's relationship with Red Bull
and because of Red Bull's inroads in NASCAR with Trackhouse
that there's an opportunity for him to become a part owner of Trackhouse.
Oh, you mean, yeah, maybe.
I mean, you know, he doesn't have to buy a charter.
He can just write Justin Marks a nice check.
The biggest, the biggest issue right now because Max, like.
You gotta remember that, you know, Checo and so as for, I mean, not close,
close, but like, you know, and not only that, but, well, I mean,
there's actually two things I'm sorry.
The first is Ford because Ford is going to want a hand
and whatever Max does that they have a footprint in, you know,
like if he goes to NASCAR while he's driving for Red Bull,
he's going to, they're going to want him to be in a fold.
And the other issue too is Daniel Swartz does not have a great relationship
with Trackhouse right now.
And it's important because Swartz's wife is sisters with,
will stamp in significant other.
And that's why, like, you know, there was, you know, he's,
he follows NASCAR much more closely than you might think.
And it's mainly because of Swartz.
So it's like, I don't know if he'd even be that interested in Trackhouse
because I'm so Swaz is probably vented at him like a little bit.
So Max Verstappen is buying a steak in Spire.
You heard it here first.
Ford wants it's Rickway racing.
Yeah, well, you know, we had the conversation here a few weeks ago
that Ford's presence in NASCAR is being greatly reduced.
They have zero cars in the O'Reilly series.
You know, they've got, they got F 150s in the truck series,
which is a body only there.
All those trucks are on spec engines and they've got a handful of,
of cars in the cup series.
It seems like all of Ford's motorsports baskets are in WEC
and in Formula one right now and, you know,
ancillary off road and rally and things like that.
But they, you know, they haven't committed to running their new hypercar in IMSA.
So you kind of makes you wonder what the,
what the Ford NASCAR relationship is at the moment.
I don't know.
We'll see.
There's like the, the ins and outs and palace entry of Formula one
are always fascinating.
There is a race.
However, this weekend, Formula one schedule goes back to, to spa.
The last time we see spa on the schedule for a bit,
because it is going to run, which I,
after next year will be, after next year then the rotation starts.
Next year, which is wild.
Spa has been a mainstay of Formula one for 70 years.
And, and the really stupid thing is like,
the reason why spa status on the calendar has been in flux recently,
a lot of it was because of Xanvo coming in,
because Xanvo is not too far away from spa.
Well, Xanvo, it's off the calendar after this year too.
August will be its last race.
So it's like, I mean, what are we doing?
Like, it's just really stupid that like,
and I mean, I know it's a money thing.
It's always a money thing.
But like, it's just ridiculous that spa is off this calendar.
But yet we're going to have these, you know,
like a tall on a MotoGP track is.
Wait a minute, wait minute.
And there will be no Qatar slander in this chat.
Oh yeah, that's right.
We might, we might get beheaded.
I'm sorry.
No, there won't be any of that.
There's not going to be a race in Qatar that the rate at this.
Oh yeah.
And the geopolitical things are happening.
It's strange though, because.
Okay, Miami.
Miami has like a 15 year contract, right?
Yeah.
Why are we wasting, and not only that,
but Miami's whole like slot in the schedules taken by Vegas
for being like the sewy ways.
Like, nobody cares about Miami now.
If you do like something ridiculous, it's happening in Vegas.
What is the, what is the relationship
thinly with, with spa and the F1 calendar?
Now, how much does the measuring being added play into it?
Because it's going to go into rotation with Barcelona.
And what's so baffling to me about this,
and I know that it's all money.
And we've talked to ad nauseam about that.
These Barcelona and spa are not tracks that F1 has kind of outgrown.
Like you, it's certainly outgrown.
Monaco, Monaco cannot accommodate a modern F1 car.
You could say something similar about Imola.
I would argue really that Zandvoort needs to be in that,
in that bucket too, but I mean, another street circuit
that nobody asked for in a country that already hosts
a pretty respectable Grand Prix.
How, what percentage of the blame for this does the measuring hold?
I mean, well, it's not necessarily the mad wing.
It's mad Duit because mad Duit put up a lot of money,
essentially to buy that slot on calendar.
More than what spa and its local and country government could offer.
So it's like, it's just kind of, it really is all about money
and all honesty.
And to be fair to those Middle East races,
they do pay a premium, supposedly.
Like they spend a lot of money there.
Like, but still, like spa has been on the F1 calendar forever.
I mean, I think it's only been off like what twice
in the last 50 years.
Zolder hosted for a certain stretch of time
and there was another track that did, but...
Well, and those, those are ways, I think in the,
there's a year in the early 2000s where it didn't happen
because Bolney was big mad about tobacco companies
not being able to advertise though, but like...
It's an institution.
Yeah.
It's a crown jewel.
And the driver, the drivers all love it.
Like, I mean, it doesn't put on a great race recently.
But I mean, that's also kind of the fault of the calls more
than anything.
It's a very long track with a lot of high speeds,
a lot of history.
I mean, it's Belgium being off the calendar is akin to
Mid-Ohio being off the IndyCar calendar
or Darlington not being on the NASCAR calendar.
It's one of those things that you just, it's hard to,
you know, it's hard to fathom.
We'll see.
We'll enjoy it while we have it.
And, you know, when they, when they kick off practice
in about 12 hours, less 11, 11 hours, practice,
FP1 as it's 730 Eastern Friday morning,
Kimmy Antonelli resumes his championship lead defense
slowly starting to come unglued a little bit.
I'm blaming Kim.
Yes, he stole, he stole his towel at Monaco and he's,
he's, he's, he's driven like he's got two left feet ever since.
I would like to point out that, that since she and Sir Lewis
unfollowed each other on Instagram,
he has a victory and multiple potions.
Lewis, Lewis unfollowed?
Yeah, they were, they were kind of an item.
And then he, they parted ways.
Lewis Hamilton unfollowed Kim Kardashian on Instagram.
I believe so.
Lewis just posted like photos of him hanging out with Kim and the kids.
He's only following five accounts and she's not one of them.
Is Wasco one of them?
No.
Oh my goodness, he's not following Wasco either.
And who is dead, I think.
All right, hang on guys.
I'm, I'm putting on my high school drama cat.
I'm going to figure this out.
We are deep into it.
Anyway, let's talk.
Well, Alex does his, his best investigative reporting.
Let's, you know, talk about the race.
And we've had a couple of races now where, you know,
Kimmy Antonelli has had, okay, it's a small sample size,
but he won 12345 in a row,
finished P2 to start the season.
It was P3 in Austria, not on the podium in Great Britain,
not on the podium in Barcelona.
You know, again, conversation.
It's, it's his championship to lose.
Are we going to see Oscar Piastri, part two with Antonelli,
or is he good enough?
And is that team good enough to carry any unforced errors?
You know, I'm starting to subscribe to the titanium deoxide theory
because like last year Kimmy was terrible at races
and countries that banned titanium deoxide,
which included this European swing,
but he was great when it was allowed,
like in the America and stuff like that.
So yeah, it's, what?
Yeah, it's true.
It's a meme.
It's true.
What, what part does titanium dioxide play
into Kimmy Antonelli's success?
It's a food additive.
Is it like he's eating food with it
and it's enhancing his performance?
Yes, I think that might be it.
Well, I mean, that's the only reason
why he's so bad at the European races.
It's, it's really bizarre.
Like I wasn't expecting him to fall off like this.
Now, I will say he did win the poll at Silverstone.
He did have a good race though.
You know, the cold won't.
I mean, he can't really control that.
You know, if the cold likes, that's the other problem.
That's true.
They didn't have that tire, the wheel cover thing
binding up the steering.
That was, that was a new one for me.
Seeing that.
Yeah, that's honestly, that's honestly been
his biggest problem because I think he's had,
I think all of his problems really have been mechanical,
not really like so much mistakes or anything.
Yeah, I mean, he, I mean, I think he could,
I still think he could get back into this.
He still has time.
He's still got a decent points lead.
The big thing is he's beating George.
So George, they're not going to stop favoring George.
So I do think he probably wist that his points lead,
if his points lead was at like 75 or something,
maybe they'd start protecting him.
But I think at this point, Mercedes should be more
concerned about Fowley and Lewis.
Yeah, he's got, he's 25 up on, 25 up on George and 32 up on Lewis.
That's nothing for Lewis.
And he's driving like, he's crazy.
Hey, maybe, maybe Kim gave him the towel and that's the secret.
Could be, could be.
You know, you kind of wait for it.
You want to make sure Ferrari doesn't,
you know, again, step on the rake strategy wise.
And there have been a couple of times this year
where they look like they, they may have thrown it away.
But they, you know, they've had a resurgence that, you know,
Lewis is good at spa.
That track could suit the Ferrari.
You know, again, I think it's, it's Mercedes and Antonelli's
driver's championship to, to give away at this point.
And, you know, we'll have a better measure of it a little bit,
I think tomorrow morning.
So have your, grab your breakfast, have your coffee,
sit down and watch FP1.
Yeah.
I know that Alonzo was saying in the thing that his main concern on Sunday,
his main goal is to be home in time for the Volcker.
So that tells me what, what Aston's thinking this weekend.
They are asked just for those who you keep in score at home,
Fernando Alonzo was 18th in points with one.
And his teammate Lance Stroll, DFL.
Yep.
Yep.
And I mean, at one point also came only because Checa Puez didn't understand
how do we start the call multiple times at Monaco.
That's basically it.
So where is, where does Alonzo live?
Like what's his, what's his escape vector to get?
Monaco.
So he's got to go from, from Belgium to Monaco.
He's got to fly 100 miles.
I mean, he might do a Joan yet.
So the way Stoltz at nine o'clock all time,
the Wolkup Stoltz four, no, five hours after that,
six hours after that.
Yeah.
So, I mean, he could do a Joanima check and just retire on the full slap.
Well, my boots are gone.
And yeah, then just give them the gen go.
Okay.
It's, it's, it's 1100 kilometers from, from the track to Monaco.
So, you know, you can drive it in 11 hours.
Yeah.
But I'm sure the private jet gets you there quick.
That is something too.
If Max leaves Red Bull, I mean Alonzo is right though.
You know, like, and he would jump, he would jump now.
I mean, yeah.
I mean, who else would they put in that Red Bull now?
Well, I don't, I don't see him tapping Fernando Alonzo, but I could be wrong.
I just think that they're not going to put Lean back on the call.
Lin Bled probably needs another year because he's only 18.
And they're not going to just put Zolop in the call immediately.
So, you know, you don't think Christian Lundar,
you don't think they'd fall back on Yuki?
I have a feeling.
Nolan Siegel, come on down.
If Max, like, hadn't had the stomach flu that's going around here, the diarrhea,
I have a feeling that they would not put Yuki in the call.
Oh, come on.
They would put, they would move Limbled up.
And on that note,
it's time to wrap it up for the season.
Plenty of racing this weekend.
Alex, you're not going to Nashville.
We've got another cast of characters there.
Yes.
Including Wyatt Watson, who stood us up tonight.
Wyatt committed to being here, didn't show up, didn't respond to our messages.
Wyatt's going to be on the ground, along with a couple other dudes.
For all your NASCAR coverage on frontstretch.com and our YouTube channel and social medias,
we don't, you know, generally speaking, send anyone to F1 races because that's wildly expensive
and, you know, we don't have a private jet.
But you can catch all your, you know, your Formula One dudes and don'ts in drama and all
source of stuff.
Again, frontstretch.com and on our social media channel.
So fellas, before we sign off, anything else?
Final thoughts?
Kim has also is not following Lewis on Instagram.
I can confirm.
Oh man, oh, and I mean, to be fair, in millennial terms, that means it's bad,
but they're both not millennials, I don't think.
There, Lewis is in the elder millennial territory at 40.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd say they, I'd say they both are.
He played PS1.
Yeah, he's a millennial.
Kim Kardashian was born in 1980.
That's like right, right.
That's right at the end.
That's Gen X.
Oh, that thing got under my skin.
Anyway, how the hell have we talked more about Kim Goddassian than like 95% of the
Indie call field?
Well, the fact that we've done that tonight means we don't have to do it again.
Who is Joseph New Golden?
I don't know who that is.
We mentioned he's going to an oval.
He's going to an oval.
He's a favorite to win.
You know, it's his home track and it's going to be hot in Tennessee.
So, you know, we'll see what Captain America and with Homelander can do.
If New Gardens Homelander, what does that make David Malukas?
Is he Carl Urban's character?
I have no idea.
Or is he, he?
He's the deep.
He's the deep.
He's absolutely the deep.
But the deep was awful.
He was a terrible person.
Malukas is goofy.
Yeah, exactly.
Malukas is the, uh, is the Carson host of R of Indie card.
Just the, the person, the personality, the fun, loving, goofy guy who's doing his own thing,
you know, balls to the wall 100% of the time.
He just doesn't, you know, hip check dudes out of the way.
That was a trade.
I think.
What?
Yeah.
No, he's Jack.
He's Jack Quaid.
Oh, you see, I don't know anything about the fun.
Yeah.
Done by Walter.
That's a terrible ending.
I haven't, I haven't watched the last, I haven't watched the last two seasons.
Anyway, we digress.
We have, we have gone off the rails.
And good night.
That's it.
That's all we got.
We'll be back sometime in the future.
What's after Nashville?
I don't think it week off.
I don't think F1 has the week off.
No, we got hungry.
Hungry got hungry ring.
And Indy car goes to Indy cars off and then Indy car heads to Portland in a couple.
Then you got like a six ways, six or five ways.
Yeah.
And then basically Indy car races every week, every weekend between August 9th and September 6th.
So not only are they in Portland way too early, but the season ends before the NFL starts.
And that friends is a whole separate topic for another time because it is a crime against racing
that Indy car doesn't run any later in the year.
So on that happy note, so long fellas, the pleasure as always.
And race fans, we will talk to you next time.
Have a good one.
Free practice.
11, 10 and a half hours.
Set your clocks.
See y'all.
Good night.
About this episode
After a quick Mid-Ohio IndyCar wrap, the hosts zoom in on championship momentum and what Nashville could change—especially with Alex Palau’s dominance framing “It’s Palau’s championship to lose.” They connect driver/roster chatter, ill-timed cautions, and brake trouble to how races swing. The Nashville oval discussion turns practical: extreme heat, slick grip, alternate tires, and a longer 300-lap format shape pit timing. They also compare IndyCar TV momentum to NASCAR and touch on broader motorsport scheduling talk.
Original notes
The FIFA World Cup final may be the biggest pre-race show in IndyCar history.
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