Tyler Reddick DOMINATES Darlington Despite Early Issues: Can Anyone Catch 23XI? Plus, Martinsville Preview
Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX
Tyler Reddick DOMINATES Darlington Despite Early Issues: Can Anyone Catch 23XI? Plus, Martinsville Preview
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Concept
Darlington
Darlington is a famous NASCAR race track. It’s known for being tough to race at, so teams have to set up the car carefully.
Concept
Too Tough to Tame
“Too Tough to Tame” is Darlington’s nickname. It basically means the track is really hard to master.
Concept
Martinsville
Martinsville is another NASCAR track, but it’s a short one. Short tracks usually mean more braking and closer racing, so setup matters a lot.
Concept
Victory Lane
“Victory Lane” means the winner’s area after the race. If you’re in Victory Lane, you won.
Concept
rear grip
Rear grip is how much traction the back tires have. If the rear grip is low, the car can feel like it wants to slide or rotate more than you want in the turns.
Concept
pit stop
A pit stop is when the car pulls into the pits for service. If something goes wrong, a good pit stop can help the driver get back on track quickly.
Part
battery
The battery provides the electricity the car needs to run. If it fails—especially if it blows—it can stop the car from working and end the race.
Concept
mulligans
In racing talk, “mulligans” are like do-overs—extra chances to recover from mistakes or bad luck without major consequences. The speaker is saying the points system doesn’t give teams unlimited chances to bounce back.
Term
rear tires hooked up
“Rear tires hooked up” means the car has strong traction—its rear tires can grip the track well enough to accelerate without slipping. That typically improves corner exit speed and helps cars stay stable under throttle.
Concept
short tracks
Short tracks are smaller NASCAR tracks. They’re harder because you have to brake and turn more often, and you deal with other cars more closely.
Term
qualifying
Qualifying is the session that sets where the cars start the race. Starting up front matters because it helps you avoid traffic and gives you a better chance to run your preferred strategy.
Concept
traffic
Traffic means you’re dealing with other cars on track all around you. It can make the car harder to drive and harder to pass, especially if your setup isn’t great in those conditions.
Concept
Pit Road
Pit Road is where the cars pull in during the race to get serviced. If a team’s pit stops are slow or sloppy, they lose positions and it’s harder to win.
Concept
setups
A setup is how the race team adjusts the car to make it handle the way they want. Even small changes can make the car feel better or worse during a run.
Concept
RFK
RFK is a NASCAR racing team. The point here is that their drivers and crew talk openly and work together so they can make the cars better and race smarter.
Company
team Penske
Team Penske is a major NASCAR team. Here they’re saying Penske had mixed results—some cars were strong, but another car wasn’t.
Concept
second half of those runs
As the tires wear and the race progresses, the car can start handling differently. The “second half” is when teams really have to manage that change to stay fast.
Company
Hendrick cars
Hendrick is a big NASCAR team. They’re saying the Hendrick cars weren’t all performing the same way—some were better than others.
Concept
standout pit crews
Some pit crews are just faster and more organized than others. When the crew is on point, the driver loses less time and can stay near the front.
Concept
track position that they need to be able to win these races
They’re saying you can have a fast car, but if you keep losing time in the pits, you won’t be in the right spot to win. Winning often comes down to staying near the front.
Term
kept the car in one piece
“Kept the car in one piece” means the car didn’t get wrecked or break down. In NASCAR, that’s crucial because damage can end your race quickly.
Term
pucker factor
The “pucker factor” is racing slang for how tense or scary a situation feels—usually when the car is unstable or the driver isn’t sure what’s wrong. It’s a way to describe rising driver stress as handling gets unpredictable.
Term
wheel loose on the left rear
If the left-rear wheel is loose, it doesn’t stay aligned the way it should. That can make the car feel unstable and can lead to a wreck.
Concept
NASCAR seat
A “NASCAR seat” is basically a spot to drive a NASCAR race car for a team. The comment is saying this driver should already have been given that opportunity.
Concept
late model stocks
“Late model stocks” are race cars used in a common short-track racing category. They’re built for racing, and the goal is to compete on smaller tracks where local drivers can prove themselves.
Term
burnouts
A burnout is when the car spins its tires on purpose, usually to make smoke and heat the tires. People do it for fun and to get tires ready.
Term
donuts
Donuts are when the car turns in circles and keeps the tires spinning. It’s usually done for show, not for racing speed.
Concept
shoey
A shoey is when someone drinks from a shoe as a celebration. It’s a goofy motorsports tradition people do after winning.
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A lot of these guys that are struggling are guys that don't spend any time in the simulator.
Where'd you say Redick was today? He's at the Sim. He was like beep beep coming through.
Y'all need to move because today is my day. How is it possible that one car would be that far
off from everybody else? Oh, it's easy. It is so easy. You're telling me that drinking beer out
of your racing shoe is different than eating a booger. Yeah, for sure.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR and Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick. She's
Caitlin Binsey. Mama Smith. Hey, that's just it. I am sleepy. I haven't noticed that you're
grumpy today. Not yet. It's still early. We're just beginning. Hey, that will not happen. Welcome
to another edition of Harvick's happy hour. We have plenty to talk about leaving Darlington,
the track known as Too Tough to Tame. I know you got a lot of good sips on board and we will
also preview Martinsville, which is the short track coming up. Where can they find us on socials?
Harvick happy hour. That's wrong. Harvick happy pod. I was just seeing if you had any of my colors.
He already warned that he could be grumpy. He just got to poke the barrel over. You've
got to say one phrase. Harvick happy pod. Good job. I didn't even look at the notes. Sometimes
you got to catch it off the rebound and slam it back through. That is also the YouTube page as
well. Make sure you subscribe on there. Okay, so Kevin, last week we talked about all of the
unknowns going into this race. Did you think it played out how you thought it was going to in
Darlington? Well, we know that Tyler Redick has been really good at Darlington in the past,
not able to get to Victory Lane, but man, they just, he stomped them. And if he doesn't go to
the back, this turns into a snooze fest for first. And, you know, I think that they just,
they nailed the setup with the new package. You know, as far as the cars being able to be driven
well, I think that all the drivers were struggling with rear grip. And I think that for the 45 and
even the 23, I thought the 23 car was really good above a wall as he had a bad pit stop there and
got in the back and then got crashed. But Tyler Redick, from the time they dropped the green
flag in practice, he was the car to beat. And they just, they got the balance of the race car
right. They got all the things out of the way with the cool suit and changing the battery. Got
that out of the way early and he was able to drive back to the front. So I think that overall,
I thought that the race was better to watch. I thought that the drivers liked driving the
cars, which is important to be able to have those guys be challenged inside the race car. So,
you know, I think that the, the first go at it was, was a success at, at Darlington. Obviously,
we've, we've run it at, at Phoenix with the more horsepower, less downforce package. But
Darlington, everybody had Darlington circled because it was going to be, it's just difficult,
no matter what package, arrow wise, you have underneath the car. And this package just took
so much grip away from, from the race cars. So it's a good show.
It was a good show. Kevin referenced all the issues for Tyler Redick between the voltage,
the cool suit, a battery change. I gotta imagine that he feels even prouder of this win in terms
of what they were able to overcome as a unit. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I mean, obviously that 45
was as fast as Xfinity internet. Oh my. They were all, they were all in the mail though. And I
think that their group, they just are in their process of how they bring their setups together,
whatever Tyler's doing in the same, what Billy Scott and that group is doing on the car. They
really love their process right now. Cause obviously it keeps working. So they're just building
speed. Well, here's the thing. They have the fastest cars and the most confidence. And when
you have those two things together, that's, that's a dangerous combination because when you have
scenarios where the car breaks and things aren't going your way, it's like, no big deal. You pull
in the pits, they fix it. And it's like, I'm going to drive right back to the front. And that's,
that's how this works. And the other thing that they're doing, they're not fumbling away
opportunities while they have the fastest car. The field will catch up to them in some way,
shape or form. But right now, 2311 Toyota in general has had the fastest cars consistently all
year. They do this thing. It's interesting with the Toyota group, maybe 2311 specifically,
Kevin referenced it on the broadcast a lot, like they have had the most break issues, right? So
not that that was a big thing in this race, but like the little issues that you don't really see
anyone having, they seem to find a way to have them. And in the past, they usually came up in
situations that took them out of the wind. I remember one time when I was with Randy Goss,
Randy Goss with our crew chief, and we had Kyle Arson driving and we wanted to go to a smaller
battery because it was lighter and it was more powerful. Well, our two of our teammates, the
battery blew up in the car. And Randy's shook that thing out as fast as you guys said, absolutely
not. We're going to go back to what we know. And sometimes that's the situation. So in that
situation, that scenario with the battery, it could have ruined their day completely. Yeah,
it melts down. There's no getting that back in and getting the car back on track. So for them to
make that adjustment, make the change and then Tyler to fight, it was hot out. It was hot.
It was, if it wasn't 90, it was damn close. It's all over it. So for him to battle that and then
battle that car with no, maybe I don't need all this stuff after all. He probably needs to talk
to Ricky Stenhouse a little bit. Ricky will tell all those boys you don't need it anyway.
Funny. Yeah. Michael Jordan, obviously very complimentary of Tyler Reddick being head in
the game, staying calm through all of that stuff. So we've been talking on this show over the last
couple of years about would we ever see a team having those maybe double digit dominance and
wins? He already has four. It's very early in the year. How many do you think he maybe could get?
Well, I think that the early momentum is going to keep rolling for a bit here.
But I do think that the rest of the field is going to catch up at some point. But that's the
interesting part about this point system, right? You don't get all those mulligans to win and get
yourself in. So we see the Chevrolets and the Fords be kind of hit or miss. On those weeks
where they're not running good, they're losing points. And I still am a pretty firm that you've
got to be in that top six to win this championship when the points reset. So right now Tyler Reddick
has put himself in a fairly good position to be one of those six cars. And I think from second
on back, the points races is pretty tight. But when you see the mistakes that are being made
and the finishes not being taken advantage of for guys that are running good and having
catastrophic failure at the end of stages or at the end of the race, like we saw with Kyle Larson
this week again, it adds up. And you might make the top 16, but you're not winning this championship
if you're not in those top six. The complexion of the points very interesting right now. How
many wins do you think Reddick might get? Oh, I don't know. It's because it's an interesting
situation. If we were in the old point system, I would say it could get upwards to like eight
pretty easily because he can be as aggressive as he wants to, but he can't be as aggressive as he
wants to because all those points. No, well, not as these 95 points up. He's 95 points up,
but you could lose points really quickly. I mean, we talked about it before the show,
so I think a max day, like a maximum top to bottom was like 70 is what we kind of talked about. So
that's a lie. He's 95 up. That's great, but you don't want to lose any of it. You know what I mean?
And I think if he can just keep the applying pressure and I think that's important and maybe
more so what they should keep doing, keeping the fast cars of the racetrack, but keep making
everyone else have to chase you. Just if you can stay just a little bit in front of them
and make them make the mistakes there, that gap is just going to keep growing. And then with like
four races ago, they can just hail Mary and probably be fine. Yeah. Well, I think, I think
they can keep being aggressive with, with where they're at right now. And I think that
when you, when you look at where they are, you know, in, in with such a huge lead, it gives them
the ability to take chances. But the thing that I like about where Redick and his team are,
think back to Vegas, right? Like they were fourth to eighth place car and that's where they finished.
And when you have the points, that's where you need to be conservative and take those finishes
of if you're running eighth, finish eighth and, and maximize the day because you just don't want
to be the guy that's running eighth and finishes 25th. So that's, that's where they need to be
conservative and not trying to be a hero. But on the days when you have the car that's capable
winning like they did this weekend, you got to try to still take advantage of that. His aggression
was, it was fun to watch him come back through the field. Like he was not worried about what other
guys had go on. He was like, Beep, Beep coming through. Y'all need to move because today is my
day. Let's show that move that he had on Ty Gibbs there towards the tail end of the race, because
I think you guys, yeah, that was one of the biggest moves of the race, but just speaks to your comments
about his aggression. Like he goes into turn three, clears them by what, three car lengths. And
there was not even a shot for Ty to get back under him and turn back and puts it up next to the wall
perfectly to, to exit the corner. And that's the thing that comes with confidence as, as you're
going through these races week after week after week, you just have that ability to perform it at
an elite level because of the fact that you don't think you can do anything wrong. So until that
momentum stops and they have some sort of issue or situation to stop the momentum, that train's
going to keep rolling. Let me ask you, Kevin, is this the package that we just ran at Darlington?
Is it the same as what we had at Kota and the same as Phoenix? And it's the same as what's
going to be at Martinsville? That's right. Okay, do you think that they learned something about
Ford Drive? Because in Kota, we talked about how down the straightaway, no matter what SVG did
in the corner, 45 was gone. And it seemed like a lot of that was happening this weekend too,
they just kept their rear tires hooked up. Do you think they found some Ford Drive
within this package or do you think it's all separated? It looks to me like they have a lot
of horsepower too, you know, with the new package and the way that that car would run down the
straightaway at Kota. But, you know, the other thing that, that to me, it actually came out of
the Denny Hamlin conversation. And I asked him about Tyler Reddick. And I said, Hey, you know,
it just seems like Tyler's more mature, wants to be the leader of the team. He says, Man,
you're pretty observant. He's like, that is exactly the case. Tyler had to step up and be
an elite driver. And he mentioned to me that if they can figure out how to run and win on
short tracks, then they're a championship contender. But Denny said himself that he didn't
believe, he believed that they were championship quality, but until they can figure the short track
piece of it out, that's when they're going to, if they figure that part out, Denny's words,
not mine, that they're going to be really dangerous because that's been their weak point.
We'll be talking short tracks later in the show. And that interview with Kevin and Denny Hamlin
will be available on Thursday also. So Tyler Reddick and company has a lot of confidence.
So too, does it seem like Brad Kizlowski after this weekend picked up a lot of points
with the stage wins? What do you think has aided in their progress the most?
He qualified good. Yes, he did. He's been in the trunk every week and in qualifying. And if you
don't qualify in the front of these races, you don't get to make adjustments leading the pack,
running in the front of the pack. Your car handles difference and different in the middle of the pack,
in the back of the pack, which is where they've been starting. And it takes them all day to get
to the front of the pack. This week he started up front, one of his best racetracks, RFK has run
good there in the past. And both he and Chris Buscher were really fast race cars. I think that
Brad took advantage of Tyler having to go to the back of the field to make his pit stop for
all the battery issues and things that he had going on. But Brad was fast. And you know, I think
that the key for the six car is qualifying. They have to qualify in the front or they don't have
the opportunities to show what they have speed wise, but they also don't know what they have
from a car standpoint because they're just battling for their life all day. And the Fords are
notoriously worse in traffic than the other two brands. So the Ford's qualifying up front is
more key than the other two brands in my opinion, both very important to get that track position
in the front. But it seems like the Ford struggles a little bit more in traffic.
Brad Kosowski with his best qualifying effort so far of the year. It seemed like another area that
was a little bit dicey for them was Pit Road for the six. Do you think they're going to have to kind
of clean that area up a bit if they're really going to contend for a win? Everyone has to,
right? You can't pit road. There's guys on pit road are getting so good. And there's a couple
teams that are just smoking some pit stops. And I was talking to Durell Edwards, who's a Jackman
on the 20. And this week, he typically use like typically at Darlington, it's a good place for us
to get into a rhythm because there's a lot of pit stops and to bust off some really fast times.
But the way the setups were the droop of the rear of the cars was different so that the tires
were coming out of the wheel while slower. And so that was going to affect their rhythm a little
bit. So that could have been part of the reason why some of the guys had problems. But Brad Kosowski
is highly motivated obviously right now. I don't know if it's because he broke his leg and then
everyone's like, well, you should just retire. Well, he is walking around with the cane still.
He's pimping. I mean, he's got it going on. Amazon, he said. Yeah, the cane is working for him. So
when he when his leg fully heals, he might just need to keep it because obviously it's some
some speed in the cane. I talked to actually talked to priests before the race and I was like,
man, the way you guys operate at RFK, it seems like you guys are all on the same page. Yes.
And you're all working together. He's like, you mean we're not we don't care. He's like, we
all want to win. But if the 17 or the six wins, I'm happy for the company. And I'm not so sure
every company has that. No, it's very evident with the with the three of them at RFK,
with the things that they do off the racetrack, how they interact with each other at the racetrack.
It's very noticeable. And I think that makes a huge difference in the progression of the race
cars. When you can have proper conversation during the week about an honest conversation about,
you know, what was your car doing? And each teammate be able to talk openly about that and
believe what the other guy is saying. And I think right now they have that confidence in each other,
all three of them to be able to, to believe in each other. And I think that that is, it is a
very healthy organization right now as far as the camaraderie between the group.
One team that didn't look particularly healthy yesterday was team Penske, tail of two teams.
You have Ryan Blaney and Austin Cendrick, both earning top five performances, Ryan overcoming
quite a few things, but then Joey Logano was nowhere to be seen. How is it possible that
one car would be that far off from everybody else? Oh, it's easy. It is so easy. And especially in a
situation where you have a new rules package at a place that is so tough. I know this is the third
race that we've run with those rules, but Darlington is just such a beast as far as the racetrack
itself and trying to get the car to drive right. And you have to do so many things that are different
than all the other racetracks in order to get the car to stay underneath you. So 22 bunch missed it
bad. And, you know, you see Austin Cendrick up there in the top 10. And, you know, obviously Blaney
has been the Ford to beat on a weekly basis, but for the most part, the Roush Fenway group
carried the banner for Ford this weekend as far as the performance side of it goes.
Pure speed for sure. Definitely. I can promise you, Joey Logano was going to be the first one
in the shop today because he could not be happy with the way that that car ran. There's a lot of,
it seemed like there was a lot of drivers that were complaining about how the race cars were
handling, which is shocking, right? Shocking. But like almost at a high level of concern,
like we missed it so bad. And I think that gets compounded when you have 2311 having
sweeping the front row. And then even Riley Herps, who ran well, I'm probably second in
his practice, he qualified well, ran like 12th all day before getting wrecked. I mean, people
would tell me over the weekend that Riley should be fired. He has no business being in the car.
And then he goes with the hardest racetrack on schedule and is running in the top 15. I mean,
you know, even before the race, we heard Ross Chastain talk about, you know, how he just,
they can't figure out what they need to do on the second half of those runs with the
track house cars and SVG, you know, finished 14th again this weekend, figuring it out. And,
you know, you've got the Hendrick cars that are kind of all over the place. And so it's a,
you know, it's a, it's a challenge to get this gen seven car right. And a lot of times when you
try something different, that is, you know, out of bounds from what your teammates try.
Everybody's got different driving styles and some guys, it just doesn't, doesn't fit well.
Ryan Blaney has to be encouraged because he typically does not run that well at Darlington.
He only had one top five performance prior to the weekend and he was able to overcome issues on
pit road once again, but he was very vocal on the radio saying, we have got to clean this up.
We got to be better than that. Yeah. And they, they're, I think you guys, this is that,
the stop where again, they have pit stop one, then they pull down into another
teammates pit stall and they have to tighten up a wheel. I think you guys mentioned on the
broadcast, they're like 33rd ranking on pit road. Like you can't win a championship like that. And
I think Ryan and that group, they, they're doing a good job keeping their heads together and still
trudging through it and battling back through, but like it shouldn't be that hard for them to
have a car that fast to where they think they could win the race. And it was all day to get back
to third. Cause if he could have been up there, you never know if he could have made a couple
adjustments and with, um, with Jonathan Hassler and been right in the mix. Yeah.
And you have some standout pit crews. I mean, the 20 has been the, the standout pit crew,
17 group has, has done a good job. 54 has, has done a good job. So you've got some,
you've got five to seven of those groups that, that stand out on pit road. And then you have
some concerns. I mean, I've been concerned with the, with the Pinsky pit stops really from,
from the beginning of the year. And Ryan Blaney is obviously stick out the most because of the
trouble that they've had and how it holds them back from keeping themselves with the track
position that they need to be able to, to win these races. But it always seems like it times out
that way. You've got these bad ass fast cars and, and all of a sudden the pit crew timing is,
is a little bit off. And then you get the pit crew right. And then the cars don't have the same
golf game. You get off the T box. You can put great. You can't get down through the fairway
in the trees. Well, Ryan Blaney very eloquently reminding his team to do better. I thought he
handled that pretty well. Do you think he's passed a, I think he's passed the major meltdowns
you think for the most part, like he's a dad now. Yeah, you know, the mustache must be bringing
some wisdom and a little bit more calmness to it. Well, he's definitely got fast cars. And,
and I would imagine that if it continues to happen, he's going to become
more frustrated with the situation than he has been over the last two weeks. But they, they
definitely have to clean that up in order to put themselves in a position to compete with cars that
are faster, right? Like you never know what would have happened if he could have kept himself up
there all day, got control of the race. What was that car going to be like in, in clean air compared
to BK and, and, and Redick. So I mean, Redick had the dominant car. You saw the pit stop on the,
on the 23 car, put him back in the field. And that's, that's the thing that happens when you
make the mistakes on pit road, but we've seen it over and over and over again. You want the, these
pit stops are so fast, you're right on the verge of, of a disaster all the time. So we saw a lot
of mistakes this week and we'll continue to see those as, as we go through the season. Someone who
didn't really make mistakes was the hurricane. Oh, Carson Hosebar with a top five performance,
the lead Chevrolet too, which I think might be the most interesting part of that whole story.
Yes. Byer was the first two Chevrolets. You had Daniel Suarez had a great weekend again, just
consistent, right there, qualified, good, ran inside the top 10 pretty much the whole day and,
and finished there. So, um, Hosebar knocked, uh, two toe links off the thing and practice and
qualifying. So he had to start at the rear of the race and put himself in a position late in the
race with a, with a tire strategy methodically worked himself forward throughout the whole weekend.
But he's exciting. He's fast. He's exciting. Fun to watch. And, you know, at a place like
Darlington kept the car in one piece all day and was able to, to give himself, um, and, and
Chevrolet, the best finish there at the end. Do you think he wins this year?
I think he's got the speed to win. I think it's just a matter of, of getting over that hump,
right? Like just, we talk about it with Ty Gibbs and, and just getting that first one is, is so
difficult just knowing what's going to happen when your team's in that position to have to make that
last pit stop or you got to make that last restart. I mean, at the Daytona 500, he had
as good a chance to win that race as anybody. Yeah.
What have you seen out of host afar? Cool car by the way this weekend.
Great, great scheme by Chili's in that group. That was on point. Uh, man,
holds for was a dog. He's just a dog. Like watching him drive on Friday in the truck race,
it was just like, this guy has no quit and has no regard for anybody else but himself and his team.
And he's going to do whatever he thinks he has to do to win a race. And I think if he,
getting over that hump is the next time he's in a real position in the cup series to win a race,
like you got to get it. Like, and I think he's going to, as he's been able to grind out finishes
and start maybe a little further back, middle of the day and then make his way to the front
towards the end. I think those are things are going to help them the most. And then you look
over at the seven, someone who I think, you know, Daniel Suarez, someone who I think a lot of people
had written off because he's now with his like, yeah, seventh team, it feels like, um, no, all
it needed, he needs to be around the right people, the right group of people that are pulling in the
same direction. And I think, uh, we take for granted what that looks like and what that could
be because we look at it from the outside looking at you like, Oh, well Ross is doing great. Svg's
doing a good job. Well, Daniel must just suck. Well, maybe not. Maybe that just it wasn't working
out. And now it's working out where he's at now. And that refresh for that seven group is big for
them too. Cause it wasn't working out who was driving and what you thought was kind of a lateral
move to Spire has actually been a massive step up for him from a performance standpoint. And
that's the part of not, not knowing, not knowing what you're stepping into, what the chemistry
is going to be like, what the progression of the team is. And obviously Spire has made their cars
better. The seven and 77 have run consistently better. I think the 71 is going to have to pick
up the pace in order to keep up with those two guys because it's, you know, they're, they're
performing well at this point. And, you know, I think that is, that is the reverse effect of
what you see. That's the other, the other side of the story. You got two guys that have improved and
McDowell hasn't taken that step up with, with, with the seven and 77.
And it's really hard to, it's really hard to have three cars at the, at the tier of which
Spire is, it's hard to have three cars up in that top 10. I mean, the top 10 is getting really
crowded. The top 15 is really crowded. There's week to week, there's about 20 cars that if you
like, yeah, he won, I wouldn't be shocked. Ross Juste and I think going into the weekend was
20th in points. He could win any, any given weekend. It's talent wise, talent wise.
Not the driver. I don't know that, I mean, his cars are not winning cars right now,
his driving ability and work ethic. He could, in the right situation, I agree with you.
Sounds like he was very candid with you about the cars being off as well in that pre race
interview. I was just listening. I didn't interview him.
Oh, okay. Just listening. So someone who didn't finish in the top 10 was Denny Hamlin,
an incident between him and Eric Jones in stage one. Bubba Wallace also part of the melee. What
did you see happening here? Well, listening to Denny's explanation on the radio, he had blocked
him. The 43 had blocked him and going into turn three, he had kind of looked left and the 43 moved
to block and Denny was already committed to dive into the corner and probably try to do a slide
job because with the momentum that he had, he hit him pretty hard. He hit him pretty hard and
ultimately it got Denny into the fence and Bubba Wallace hit the back end of Denny's car and tore
his car up and hit the fence as well. So kind of a chain reaction right there, but Eric Jones
came back to finish 10th. That's pretty impressive. I mean, that's his best track. Eric Jones has done
a really good job at Darlington throughout the years, winning races and being competitive every
time that he shows up there. So Denny, and then he had a loose left rear wheel that he had to battle
there at the end of the second stage as he was trying to nurse that car home to be able to not
have to pit and go a lap down, which they did. And, you know, I think that ultimately that was
just one of those timing errors that, that got the 43 spun out and 11 and 23 tore up.
It's going to be a concerning feeling for a driver with a wheel like that.
It's very interesting when that left rear doesn't get tight and get on the dials correctly and then
it, but that lock keeps the wheel on, but it slides back and forth and it feels like the
old track bar movement is moving. They used to have, but when you're used to that car driving
straight all day and not having any movement to it at all, all of a sudden it's like, whoa,
what was that? And then you go down the straightaway and it goes the other way. So you come up
off the corner and the car's got, got that, that yaw to the right. And then you go back down
straightaway and it goes the other way. It's a, it's a weird feeling when that car is, is, is meant
to be straight up. Are you saying the pucker factor gets ratcheted up a little bit? Well,
you don't know what's wrong. And we heard him talking about thinking that, that he had a flat
tire, but ultimately it was the wheel loose on the left rear. So Denny Hamlin probably not having
the day he wanted to have. What about Kyle Arson? Because he ended up finishing 32nd. He was running
11th when he hit the wall with seven to go. These are the concerns you've expressed with him.
Well, first off, this is a racetrack that we expect Kyle Arson to contend for the win
and be dominant. So I think that tells you where they're at with their cars right now and, and,
knowing that they have some work to do to get the balance and speed out of their cars that they
need, we didn't see, we saw them up in the front at Vegas, kind of in the, in the mix, in the top
five for sure, but never that dominant speed like, like we've seen out of, out of the Toyotas
so far. I mean, we've seen dominant speed out of those cars at times. And we have not seen that
at Vegas or Darlington, which I would consider two of Kyle Arson's best tracks. So
really interesting scenario. And I think for him wrecking from 11th, those are the things that
you can't do. You can't do that in this point system. You have, if you have an 11th place car,
you got to finish 11th. Otherwise you're just throwing dirt on yourself and making, making
things worse. His average finish has really declined in the spring Darlington race. His last four
races were 20th, 34th, 37th, and 32nd. Yeah. And a lot of those other ones, he was hauling ass.
Oh, like he was, but just doesn't have finishes. He just hasn't been able to finish the spring
race at Darlington. I think, you know, obviously we just talked about it. That was the question
going into this year. Like, will he, if they're not, you know, running really well,
is he going to push it a little bit too far and get himself in a situation where they're
losing a lot of points? Your answer is yes. And the answer is so far, yes. Now it's surprising
because he's still, I think he's still 10th in points. So, but I wouldn't, you know, if I'm him,
I'm like, okay, like I need to settle down a little bit. We need to get our cars faster
and keep up in the points because I can't put us behind in points just because I want to go get
one more spot that one more spot isn't worth doing what you did Darlington and finishing 30
seconds. Well, and the crutch has always been, we have cars fast enough to keep winning. Right.
Right now they don't have the cars aren't to that spot yet to be able to put themselves in
position to win multiple races. And they're going to get there. It's just, it's, they're not there
right now. And when you're in that position, you just take what you can get. And if you're
going to run 11th, finish 11th, because if you can run 11th, then you just nitpick it all day to
just grind away. And, you know, the 54 did it this weekend. Hosefar did it this weekend. There were
several of those guys that just grounded out and put themselves in a position to get a decent
finish and get out of there. So you, but when you're running, running 11th, you have to finish 11th.
It's the old school, it's the old school version of racing, man. You just, you don't have any
mulligans. You can't get it all back next week. No, you can't, you can lose it. There's no, no
winning in. No, no, Scott. More orthodox version of racing and going after a title. Good job on
the driver's only broadcast by the way, Kevin. Yeah, we had a good time up there and we kind of
split it up this year. Everybody's like, well, what do you want to do? I said, well, I want to
make sure that Joey and Ryan have to live under the pain of play by play. I want them to have to
do reads. I want them to take it into the break, out of the break. And so we split it all up and,
you know, I think it came across, you know, as fun, which I thought we had had a good time up
there and we had a great race. That was just a great race to call. The ending was phenomenal
with everything that Heim was able to do and kind of catch Chastain off guard right there
in the last two corners. So when you have a good race to call, it makes things a lot easier.
I ran into Madison Stenhouse on Pit Road. I thought Ricky did really good. And I was like,
damn Ricky, Ricky did a good job. She was, yeah, I didn't know he could use that many big words
in a row like that. He might have had the longest Pit Road report of mankind known to mankind.
You know what it was? Well, he just kept it right here. It was like he was just
sitting on the couch and that's what made it so long. The thing about drivers only
is who knew Austin, Austin Cinderick had a personality since he started doing the
Pit Road reporting. We've all learned that Austin Cinderick is a pretty funny dude.
He is. And that's really what drivers only is all about is learning about who these drivers are
and how they talk and what they say. And, and, you know, I think that one of the interesting
parts was host of our talking about drivers only after, after qualifying. He's like,
yeah, I'm sure somebody's going to stir, try to stir up some shit on Pit Road. So we had,
we had Cinderick and Stenhouse down there to interview host of ours. So it was definitely
a little bit awkward. My favorite, my favorite part was you guys were asking because Cinderick
had been in the booth or in indoors. He had AC and he was warm and everything was fine.
And the prior races, now he's back on Pit Road and you guys asked him, what happened,
Cinderick, you had the mode. He's like, yeah, let's show business.
Well, good job guys. It was entertaining to watch.
Okay, we are headed to Martinsville Speedway, short track coming up next for everybody. You've
obviously won there in the past. What makes it so mentally and physically exhausting racing at
Martinsville? I'm not real sure how I won, but somehow we won. It was not my favorite race track.
It was never, never, it was never one that I said, man, I'm so excited to go to Martinsville
this weekend. It was always like, yeah, we're going to Martinsville this weekend.
My favorite thing about watching Kevin go to Martinsville when I was a kid is I always knew
he was going to get pissed off and run through somebody. Oh dear. Yeah, that was always something
you could bet on. For sure. Yeah. And to the very last day, it was definitely a place that
frustrated me, but I think it frustrates a lot of them, right? Yeah. And, you know, I think with,
with the power, I mean, we still have another race track with more power, less rear downforce.
What's the drive off the corner look like? That's, that's really at Phoenix and all these places
that we've gone to. And everybody knows that. And I think everybody saw that going to Darlington.
Guys missed the balance of the race car. Back still blew off, blew the back tires off, but
now they got the front to where they didn't turn on the entry to the corner. So who can hit that
balance, right? Keep the rear tires on the race car and still get it to turn through the middle
of the corners. So it'll be interesting to hear what everybody thinks about the power at a place
like Martinsville with all the gear and everything in it to be able to, to do what they do. But
I'm looking for the, I'm looking for the Hendrick cars. You know, I think they got to show up,
they got to show up at, at Martinsville to be able to, to, it's not that they've ran bad.
Right. It's just that they haven't been great like we expect them to be. And that's the expectation
that we put on those cars. But I really feel like anybody could hit it. Like we saw this weekend
with, with Redick Brad Kosolowski hit it at, at Darlington. And I think you could see,
you know, somebody hit it like BK did last weekend at Darlington. So I still expect it to be
Gibbs versus Hendrick. Yeah. It's, I mean, if you can get the car rotated earlier in the corner
and then use that power and have that straight line drive, that's really what everyone's going
to be looking for. And if you didn't have any of that at Darlington, you're probably a little
nervous about how you're going to find that at Martinsville because it's just magnified.
You know, Kevin talks about the, our expectation of Hendrick. Well,
heavy is the head that the crown sits upon. And they are the ones that always are dominant and
always on the front and always one of these championships and all this stuff. They have
not been behind in a while. Right. Even when we made the switch over, they still were one of the,
one of the front teams when the switch happened with the new one from one generation to Carter
another. They're not even behind. They're just not, it's not great. They're just like for our
expectations. So it'll be interesting to see what they show up. Cause this is a track where
they've written literally one, one, two, three. Yeah. So we expect that. And I just wonder,
you know, we've heard so much talk about, you know, the, the F one team and everything that,
that Chevrolet has going on for Ford, Ford's same way, right? Like with, with their F one program.
And, but Chevy and Cadillac have designed the, the, the F one program from top to bottom.
Where are the resources allocated right now while you're trying to make your F one program go?
I know Hendrick has a lot of resources within, but we know the manufacturer controls the keys to
so many things right now with the, the simulation and, and all the things that, that happen.
How deep are those resources to help their teams get to where they need to be early in the season?
I mean, what, I mean, one of the things, it's funny to bring that up as, as you're talking
and I was thinking about this, like the, one of the things for Penske that really was a benefit
to them was with the, the other cars that they have with the underbody, they were able to lean on
other people within the organization to get their cup cars kind of up to where they needed to be
with the new arrow package will now Spire has TWG that they work with. And they might be getting
some of that technology, some of that help too. And that might be helping them while
Hendrick to your point, it may not be getting all the same attention to the resources now that the
GM and the Cadillac, you know what I mean? Think about this. You know, we talk about,
we talk about some of these guys that have been struggling. We talk about a lot of these guys
that are struggling are guys that don't spend any time in the simulator. How are you going to fix it
fellas? Right. And you had no base before because you didn't spend time in the simulator before.
Tell me how you're going to fix your car. If you don't go to the simulator, it is not going to
happen. And that's the problem when people get out of the routine of going to the simulator,
because everything's going good. And they start skipping steps in the process. But we hear so
many of these guys talk about not going to the simulator. Well, now you're in a bind. And that's
the only resource that you have to be able to test things during the week. And it's hard to get
that baby fired back up. Only when it's going bad. So if you don't do those things when it's
going good, when it's going bad, you know, the resources that you have are limited to practice
is not enough to get that ship turned around. Is that just a complacency thing? Or why would
you not tap into a resource that you have available to you? Well, I think a lot of guys get frustrated
in the simulator to be able to go in there week after week after week. But being in there week
after week allows things to be developed around you and helps the engineers fix their system
to get, especially when you're in a new scenario where you have new arrow packages,
you have new different tires at a lot of these racetracks. And if you're not in there scaling
those tires and you're just leaving it to the Sim guys to be able to do that. In my opinion,
it's going to take you longer to catch up. Yeah, Tom Brady was still throwing after practice with
his wide receivers and working on routes and he's to go. So think about how many of those guys
talk about not going to the simulator. It's a lot. Yeah. It's a bunch of them. It's a good point.
So we know Hendrick is feeling the heat. Who else are you time out? Where'd you say,
Redick was today? He's at the simulant. Oh, yeah. That's why he can't do his interview. Yeah, he's
yeah, he's he's got he's got my case. I got you. That's one four out of the first six races is
in the simulator in the lab working on his stuff. Yeah. Yeah. He could be a champion made
I was just going to ask what other teams do you feel like are feeling a little bit of the
heat entering the weekend right now? I mean, there's no there's no hiding from the eight car
and the Kyle Bush and those guys and everything that they're going through.
You know, with with him in the last year of his contract and the pressure
for those cars to run better. So, you know, I think that that, you know, we definitely got to
we got to see some improvement pretty quick out of the out of the eight. I think that the
track house cars are are feeling some heat to be able to get themselves in position when
you hear your lead lead drivers start talking about the deficits of your car.
You know, I think that Joey Legano's got to be sound in the alarm. I know he qualified on the
pole at Phoenix, but you know, it was Blaney winning the race and Joey does a great job of
keeping his track position and qualifying and doing all those things, but they got lap three
times at Darlington. So, you know, there's, there's definitely a lot of different things
happening within the whole NASCAR world right now as far as who needs work, who doesn't. And
then we've had so many different arrow packages, different styles of race tracks that you're all
over the place as to what do we approach first? Where are we? Where are we off the most?
It's hard to know. It's hard to know where you're really lacking the most when the schedule is
as complex as it is right now, which is a great thing as a fan and for us to look at and talk
about, but as a competitor, you're like, I wish I had four mile and a half's in a row. So I could
work on just this for a minute and get into a rhythm because you had a super speedway Daytona,
you had a super speed one steroids, but it's high doubt for it. It's not the same super
speedway at Echo Park. We went to a road course with no grip whatsoever at it. And now we went
to the hardest track on her schedule at Darlington. Oh, by the way, we're going to go to Martinsville
where everyone's going to be mad because then you're going to take a week off and go to Bristol
and then take a week off. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. It's going to make it very
interesting as we head to the paper clip this weekend. And now it is your turn to take over.
What do you know, Caitlin? What? No, he's not taking over. We're just going to let him do a
segment. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're taking over now. Ladies and gentlemen, it's your favorite
part of the show. Mambas, social sips, shout out to everyone in Darlington that came out.
It was awesome. We had the Ram rides. Oh man, the Ram rides, the Ram thrill rides were full of
effect. So if you didn't make it to Darlington for it, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to pay
attention when we show up next. Okay, let's start with the word of the week. Kevin did a great
job with this one. It wasn't hard. I mean, it's a layup, but it meant something to the people.
Okay, let's run the clip. RFK is having a great day here in South Kakalaki.
Tell you who is not. And that is Bubba Wallace. He got into the wall and turned to a couple laps
ago and is kind of nursing that car around now. He's now dropped a lap down.
This is a little South Kakalaki. No one reacted. It's wild. Well, when I, when I don't fumble through
it with whatever the word was the week before, what was it? Don't ask me. I was just checking.
I'm moving on. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That was a tough one. South Kakalaki was kind of a relief. Yeah,
it's kind of fun. I bet it was. I didn't stress that about that. No, you didn't have to. I didn't
even write it down. That Vegas one, probably everything will feel like a layup now. No,
we'll get them fired back up. You know what I mean? We're getting fired back up.
So we are going, we are going to Martinsville, big race and Brad Perez, who's a garage
favorite, a grinder, just a guy trying to figure it out, put on social media that he
had an opportunity to run the arc race. I think this was in Phoenix that got covered.
And he's still looking for some help from Martinsville and Charlotte, Darlington, Kansas.
Well, somebody answered the call and it was a one, Bubba Wallace. I like Martinsville. I'm in
for 15 K. It's pretty awesome. And helps helps out Brad. Another competitor do that. Some of
this people that our garage is really good about that. Like I've had help from Kevin,
from Tony, from Ricky Statenhouse, Carl Larson, Bubba Blaney, like AJ Almond Dinger, a bunch,
like there's our garage understands how hard it is to race. And the people that are doing it
at a high level, they appreciate, I feel like the grit and grind of somebody.
We went through a situation like this one time with Morgan Shepard. And I'm like, man,
it would be so cool to see Morgan Shepard run good. So I had the KHI guys go get his car
a couple of weeks in a row and bring it and bring it to the shop and go through it and
work on it. And that's, that's definitely not something that hasn't happened in this sport
before. So good on Bubba for, for helping Brad out. Yeah. So good luck to be as a good run.
Yeah. Something else, someone that I really am looking forward to is this next guy that we're
going to talk about. We actually have a little video and then I'll, I'll mention his name,
but let's run the video first.
What do you guys think about me pulling? Tell me how Lee never got a real shot.
Tell me how this guy doesn't have a NASCAR seat already.
You can. Four national titles and he's still waiting. Absolutely awesome.
Listen, this guy, we didn't see it. Lee Pulliam, Virginia zone, one of the, one of the best
short track racers to ever strap in a late model. I'm so excited to see Lee get this
opportunity with Jerem. Yeah. And I think that Lee quit before he should have.
You know, I think that he won the racist weekend in South Boston. They're opener
for the late model stocks at, at South Boston Speedway. But Lee is a genuinely good person.
Has been a big part of, of short track racing in this area for a long time. And, and I think he,
he, I don't know, I think he went through a part of his life where he was like, you know,
I need to make a living. And I've got, I've got a family. I need to just work on the cars and give
up on the driving piece of it. And, and that all got reignited. And, and now you see him in the
late model stock again, you're going to see him in the JRM car. What a great opportunity for,
for somebody who probably deserved it before this. Yeah. And now he's going to get, you know,
that, that opportunity to go out and, and show it. The accolades speak for themselves. They're
listed right there. You're, you know, for him, you, you grew up at Langley Hampton. So you know
of Lee obviously very well. Like, what's that mean to that, that area up there?
I think it's huge obviously for the Virginia short track community. It's kind of the same
when Josh Berry went over and had all of his success too in the cup series, you know, it just,
it means a lot. And it just reinvigorates that whole program and what people are trying to do.
Yeah. It's like him and like Bubba Paul, like those two guys hope that they can make this happen.
You know, when those two guys get opportunities, it just gets everyone's attention.
Bubba made, made the most of his at Richmond. He did it. He did a great job. So it'll be fun to
watch. Looking forward to that. Um, you know, we love burnouts and donuts here.
Donuts. Absolutely. Listen to what we love that most. And William Byron tried his best.
He got to go over to the, he got to go over to the, the Canes, the Hurricanes, our, our local North
Carolina hockey team. They gave him the Zamboni, which I don't think they knew he was going to do
this. He just started blowing donuts on the ice with his Zamboni. William's been busy lately
with all kinds of different activities. They've noticed. DAP, DAP pays. Well, that's his only
burnout practice he's had this year. Shots fired. Oh, not firing shots. So those are just facts.
Okay. Did you see it? But I like it. Yeah. I like it. I like this burnout. Did you see,
did you see him? Cause they do the horn. They do like the side. He was getting after it. Did you
see him do it in his video? I didn't even think that was him at first. I think he's going to need,
he might need to get the doctor. Because he had that thing ripping. He's a huge Canes fan though.
Big time. He got to do their draft pick. Yeah. That's so cool. I mean, he's a, he's a local
Charlotte North Carolina kid. So he grew up with Panthers and Hurricanes. So he, he's still following
his roots on his, on his sports teams for sure. For sure. And one, one little extra thing. We've,
we've started, we're now three weeks straight into NASCAR Sundays that we've been doing a
watch party. We've been doing watch parties in Charlotte. He has his own beach party. We have
about 30 people have been showing up. It's been good. It started Daytona. We've been doing it
the last three weeks for sure. Straight and this weekend we're taking it to Hoppin, which is in
Southend. Hoppin is a nice little brewery. We're taking over there for the last stage
on Mamba's dime, open bar. I told him maybe I'll have to collect my girlfriends and come up there
and see you. I feel like you would be happy about that. Yeah. Come in. I would be happy about that.
You have some very nice friends that can come by. No, but, but it's going to be great. So anybody
that's in Charlotte that wants to come and watch some race and we're going to start at
corner pub in uptown and then we're going to hop in. Oh, so this is a, this is a moving party.
It's an organized event. It's almost like a little bar call. Have you already gone to the bars and
tried to make all this happen? Yeah. We already got it locked in. Okay. Do you have specific drinks
or anything that, that you bring to these bars? Like Michael Walter, Michael Walter beer or whatever
they, whatever they call it, bushlight, anything NASCAR specific? I don't know.
Do you have any suggestions, Kev? Do you think? No, I'm just asking. Oh, no, no, we haven't got
that far. I think you need to serve your own like drink that's named after you. Okay. Mamba moonshine.
Yeah. Mamba's moonshine. Mamba's moonshine. Okay. We're moving on. I think I can see this
getting on a shirt. Guys, if you want to leave a voicemail, 805-317-4175, mail bag questions,
harvickhappyour4 at gmail.com and I'll see you on Sunday. Sunday was party. All right,
time now guys for our last call and we have to grade the burnout, which I think
wasn't received quite like some of this might be our first F might be our first F for the
Darlington lack thereof kind of burnout situation on first things first. He gives the cowboy is a
great every every week. And this is an F grade, I think. I'm not sure what happened there. He's
been doing some good ones. Yeah. He's done some great burnouts, but this one was not great. Maybe
he was just so hot. He wanted to get out of there. Maybe. Well, I mean, he drove around for a long
time. I'm going to tell you what though, he probably was really hot and a little dehydrated
because when he got out, he was ready to do a little celebrating. Cause did you see the shoey
he made up for it with the shoey? The shoey was just, I mean, would you do that Kevin?
I wonder what prompted this? Oh, if I won, I would do. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,
shout out Daniel Ricardo on this. You know what I mean? I don't think I would do this.
Really? No, I don't think so. I do have a line and I think it's right about, I mean,
it is your own foot. I don't care. I don't need that. I mean, you probably ate a booger before
or something. You're telling me that drinking beer out of your racing shoe is different than
eating a booger? Yeah, for sure. So you eat boogers? No, but we're all kids wanting to get it.
It's a hard no, I guess. No, I don't think so. No, there's no scenario. I'm not going to say
there's no scenario whatsoever. So if you were racing and you want to race, you would not do a
shoey. I don't think I want to do a shoey after winning a race. So you'd rather not race? No,
that's the only way you could race if you did a shoe. Oh, then absolutely. Okay, I'll do the
shoey. You'll do a shoey to do the race. There you go. You got some late models still, right?
Kevin, I'll do this. You let me drive one of your cars. I'll do a shoe. I'll do a shoey out
of your shoe. Oh, wow. To drive one of your cars. Wow. There you go. This just got even more
interesting. Oh, see, that shoe, he's not so bad now, is it? Not now. It's starting to get intriguing.
I just want to compromise. I mean, drink beer out of whatever. I mean, listen,
do we have to talk to Delaney about this or can you make this happen on your own?
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. He's probably not even really up to either one of us.
Where's Josh Jones at? Get him on the line, guys. Okay, time now to take a look at the
point standings where Mamba and I are now tied. No, we're tied for what? You guys totally screwed
me on. We're tied for the lead because there's zero points awarded for Kevin and I for picking
Chase Briscoe, which seemed like it was going to actually get us some points until it was going to
be fine until the last bit. Last little bit. And then Mamba, you picked up six for picking Ryan
Blaney. So now it's a very tight points battle though. I must say. But I am in last. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, you are. But you have a chance to redeem yourself in a few days. So
I'd like to protest. Okay, go ahead. I'd like to protest the committee. I'd like to protest the
fact that you guys abandoned my pick and didn't even ask me. Okay. What my pick was for whatever
week it was. Okay. When did you know that you weren't going to be here? Probably beginning of
the year. Right. And you didn't even submit in my pick. We didn't know until the Friday before.
So I think that that is erroneous and all accounts. It's fine. It's fine. Denied. I'm going to catch
up. Yeah. You all do you want to go first today? Yeah. Yes. I'm going to take Denny Hamlin. There
you go. He's taken Denny Hamlin. It's a good bet on the short track. I'm going with William Byron.
Three wins he's had there. I think I'm going to pass you this week. Go ahead. Do you think,
do you think so? So you don't, you're not confident in the Hendrick Marsville situation?
I mean, I'm kind of a, I'm kind of a bandwagon guy sitting on this side of the mic. So
two wins. I'm not picking you. Yeah. You have been, I mean, you have been leading the bandwagon
for the 11 for a while. I, if this was the fall race, I would go with the 12 because it just seems
like 12 is great in the fall race. I don't know why. Usually this is Hendrick. I would normally
probably go with like a chase or Byron, but I'm going with Bubba Wallace. Oh, I thought you might
say that. It is time for Bubba to get that dub. He's been running well. He just had,
just had the birth of his baby girl. No more pressure. No more pressure. Everything's good.
We're running fast. I love how he just announced it on Thursday or Friday or whatever day it was
Saturday during his interview. I had no idea. Did you? I'm, I like to think that I'm one of his
best friends and I had no idea. There you go. But then I did get a picture after and baby is so
cute. I just wanted to keep it a private moment. Yeah. Yeah. That was over at that point. Yeah.
Well, we'll see how he fares and these picks do. And speaking of Denny Hamlin, you will have an
interview with him on Thursday. Yeah. We had a great interview. Got to sit down with Denny and
just kind of pick his brain about everything. His success at Las Vegas, his 2311 team and
everything that, that he had going on his life, retirement. And we went fishing. That's cool.
We did. He's a big fisherman now. Did you catch anything? No, I didn't. Nobody caught anything.
Oh, I did. I did cast my, my line one time. My worm went that way and my hook went that way.
Okay. So that's pretty much the story of my fishing career. Yeah. When it comes to basketball,
Kevin's more on the hunting side of that. No, fishing side. I don't really like to fish. No,
no, it's boring. He's never, he's never caught anything. That's why. No, I used to go fishing
with my friends all the time and they would catch like 10 fish and I would catch one.
See, he's really caught nothing. No, I caught a seven foot marlin once. There you go.
Well, we look forward to Kevin's interview with Denny and also your interview with Tyler Reddick
will come out on Tuesday. So forward to that. All right. He's busy. He's in the sim. Make sure
you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Check us out at Harvick Happy Pod. We'll see all of you
after Martinsville.
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About this episode
Darlington delivered a rare kind of dominance as Tyler Reddick and 23XI swept the front, then overcame early setbacks tied to cool suit/voltage and a battery change to win. Kevin Harvick and guests break down why the new package made rear grip the key struggle, how Toyota’s process and confidence keep them aggressive without wasting opportunities, and why the points system still demands top-six consistency. They also dissect Ford’s traffic woes, RFK’s momentum via qualifying, and Penske’s pit/handling frustrations. The show pivots to a Martinsville preview—short-track balance, horsepower, and simulator prep—plus social shoutouts and driver-only fun.
Original notes
Tyler Reddick’s dominant NASCAR Cup Series win at Darlington Raceway despite major in-race issues, Ryan Blaney battling through pit road mistakes, Joey Logano’s continued struggles, and a chaotic race filled with strategy, penalties, and contact headline a dramatic weekend in NASCAR. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down Reddick’s fourth win of the season and massive points lead, RFK Racing’s strong performance led by Brad Keselowski, Blaney and Team Penske’s ongoing pit road issues, Carson Hocevar’s impressive top-five run, and several key incidents that shaped the race before previewing the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway and reacting to the latest stories in Mamba’s Social Sips.
0:00 - Intro
1:35 - Darlington Weekend Recap
31:31 - Martinsville Preview
40:00 - Mamba’s Social Sips
48:08 - Last Call
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