Stacking Pennies with Corey LaJoie Apr 13, 2026

Were the Haters Right? Did We Fix NASCAR?

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Concept

Bristol

Bristol is a NASCAR race track where the cars have to race in a tight space. Because of the track’s surface and how the tires behave there, it can make racing really intense and unpredictable.

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NASCAR

NASCAR is a type of racing where cars race on tracks—mostly ovals. This podcast is talking about different NASCAR races and divisions.

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F1

F1 is the world’s biggest open-wheel racing series. The podcast is saying they’ll also cover F1 news and racing.

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Cup series

The Cup Series is NASCAR’s main, biggest league. It’s where the most high-profile races and drivers compete.

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Xfinity success

Xfinity is NASCAR’s “next step” series below the Cup level. Doing well there usually means a driver is getting ready for the biggest NASCAR races.

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three wide

“Three wide” means three cars are trying to race next to each other at the same time. It’s exciting, but it can also be dangerous if there isn’t enough space.

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PJ one on the bottom

This part is probably about how the track surface is changing and where the grip is best. The speaker is using shorthand that NASCAR fans often recognize.

Concept

rubber on the bottom

Race cars leave rubber on the track as they drive. That rubber can make certain parts of the track grip better, which changes where drivers want to race.

Concept

Downforce is the “suction” from the car’s shape that presses it down onto the track. When there’s more downforce, the tires can grip better, especially in corners. That can make races faster and sometimes closer.

Part

lug nuts

Lug nuts are the bolts that hold the wheel onto the car. If they’re not tightened correctly, the wheel can loosen. That’s why pit crews are trained to tighten them precisely.

Concept

grip

“Grip” is basically how well the tires can hold the road. If the tires have good grip, the car feels easier to control and goes faster through turns.

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caution

A “caution” is when the race slows down because something happened on track. Everyone has to drive more carefully, and teams often use that time to adjust strategy and pit.

Term

blocked

Being “blocked” means another car prevents you from getting to the line you want, often limiting passing opportunities. In NASCAR, blocking can be especially damaging when you’re trying to capitalize on a pit strategy or restart.

Term

qualify

Qualifying determines starting position, which heavily influences track position on short tracks like Bristol. The hosts connect qualifying timing to how disadvantages “compound” during the race.

Term

points

Points are how NASCAR ranks drivers over the season. Being “a couple points out” means you’re very close to making the playoffs.

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playoffs

NASCAR playoffs are the postseason format where drivers compete for the championship. The hosts discuss how close a driver is to making the playoffs, which raises the stakes for every race result.

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all-wheel drive

All-wheel drive means the car can send power to all four wheels. That usually helps it grip better on slippery roads.

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collateral damage

Collateral damage means other cars get hurt because of the main crash. In NASCAR, wrecks can spread fast when cars are packed together.

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hit a wall

Hitting the wall means the car crashed into the barrier. It’s serious because the impact can be hard on the driver, even with safety gear.

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seat time

“Seat time” means time spent driving the car in practice and races. More seat time helps drivers learn tracks, refine feedback, and build consistency—especially when they’re trying to stay competitive in NASCAR’s top series.

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18th to 32nd

That’s the part of the race where a lot of cars are bunched together and it’s a tough fight for positions. Even small mistakes can cost you spots.

Term

fueler

A fueler is the person on the pit crew who adds gas to the race car during a stop. They have to do it fast and safely so the team doesn’t lose time.

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Ryan Newman

Ryan Newman is a NASCAR race car driver. Mentioning him here is basically saying the speaker worked with a real, well-known driver while learning pit work.

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speeding penalties

During pit stops, NASCAR has a speed limit. If you go too fast, you get a penalty that usually drops you back and makes it harder to win.

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spotter

A spotter watches the race from a different angle and tells the driver what’s happening around them. That helps the driver avoid problems and make better decisions.

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pit crew

The pit crew is the group that works on the car during pit stops. If they’re fast and organized, the car can get back out quicker and stay in a better position.

Term

heat race

A heat race is like a qualifying race. It helps decide who gets into the main race and where they start.

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put them on the edge

It means driving right at the limit of what the car can grip. Faster laps happen there, but it’s also where mistakes can cause a spin or crash.

Term

edge of a tire

It means the tire is gripping as hard as it can. Right at that point, the car starts to feel like it might lose control if you push a little more.

Term

ref

A ref is the person who makes sure the game is played by the rules. They call penalties when something breaks the rules.

Term

ump

An umpire is the official who decides what counts as a strike, ball, or out. They keep the game fair by calling what they see.

Concept

supercross

Supercross is motorcycle racing on a stadium track. The course is packed with jumps and obstacles, so it’s fast and really skill-heavy.

Brand

FS1

FS1 is a TV channel that shows lots of sports, including racing. The speaker is saying they used to watch supercross on that channel.

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Cup race

NASCAR’s Cup Series is the biggest, top-tier level of NASCAR racing. The speaker is talking about getting ready to watch one of those main events.

LIVE

Hey friends, welcome to stacking pennies core of the joy here alongside Ryan Florez

We're gonna break down Bristol between the trucks O'Reilly's and cup tide Diabs getting his first career dub and we're gonna talk about

WRC we're gonna talk about F1

We're gonna talk about all sorts of things with motorsports not just NASCAR

But anything that's got wheels and a motor make some noise. We're gonna touch on it this week. Let's go ahead and stack some pennies

Let's go

Stacking them deep selling them cheap. It tastes like gasoline rubber and victory. Where's that here? Stacking pennies

All right friends, we are in it from the nonsense garage here in Concord, North Carolina

Stacking pennies here with core of the joy alongside Ryan Florez the last great Coliseum delivers like it always does

Three winners first-time winner Ty Gibbs punches his ticket

Well, he punches ticket into being a first-time winner in the Cup series

Ty has had the ceiling that we all know with the bonafide prospect that he was and in his

Xfinity success it hadn't translated to Sunday yet

But I think this opens the floodgate it because it's all confidence. It was great for Ty

Great for Zilla choose had a rough go in the O'Reilly race

Christopher Bell gets back into victory lane and there's a lot of other stuff going on every major series is is just heating up

We're getting into the time where F1's back in full force. We got a big run

For Cup and O'Reilly's formula drift started this weekend Long Beach Long Beach

That was cool to watch some major upsets there and we're getting man

It's ramping up Indy car for the Indy 500

So there's a ton of stuff to talk through but yeah, we don't want to skip out on the time

Having a beat Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney Ryan Blaney with the fastest car and that restart like you're you're worried about

Blaney and he's looking down and then Larson almost pokes it in three wide on the top

So it was such a good event and such a just a lot of great racing this weekend

I think Bristol the way it is now with the the rubber on the bottom the PJ one on the bottom and then the truck race

Didn't really get to see the migration of the top with a little bit longer races got to see that migration of the top though

Riley race was one on the top

Cup race was a photo finish. What was it point zero zero five five?

Seconds one more lap Blaney would have got it

But I think it has a lot to do with the downforce the trucks

Not only do they spray the PJ one right before practice and there's less guys committed to running inside in the truck series

But they just make so much more downforce that

You're just really just going a longer distance around the track. How was your weekend in the truck growing pains, man

It was actually the same truck again

We've turned the same truck around three weeks in a row that I ran at Bristol last year finished eighth

In the 77 Spire truck. We had the race playing in the lounge from last year qualified 20th drove to eighth

Not a lot of attrition, but this was right after qualifying like oh look at that

We qualified 19th this year with the same exact truck which like clearly

There's way more potential to be had with just a whole setup philosophy that we need to work on

It's like a little bit on the mechanical side. It's a lot of it on the body side

It's a little bit of just processes and pit crew and executing the race and it was one of those where you were up front though

One point so we had a loose wheel

Had to come back down first pit stop put a couple more lug nuts tighten it up

So we had to start in the tail the the five lug stuff is Ryan

You're you're in the midst. I went in truck race for that reason because they had a third spire truck with swars in it

And it's hard to find guys. I was like hey, you know, I'll do it. I don't want to do trucks full-time

I'll do a part-time gig just to go help out

Bono is crew chief in and and as you know, it's hard to find good guys

There's guys that are doing it their first time or there's cup guys who never practice five lugs

And I just want to go it's hard to find guys that give a crap about it because they just do it for the extra

800 to a thousand bucks they get paid to do it

Yeah, you can't take for granted that there's guys that make a living truck racing and they are putting everything they got into it

So when you get on that wall it you take the responsibility of all of those people building that truck. Yeah, it's not just an extra

Payday, I've got a very experienced group of guys not only behind the wall

But going over the wall and they were on the 25 truck when I drove to Darlington had a great night

We were probably plus seven on pit road got us in position right to the scene of the crash

So they swapped that crew off 25 to the 10 and they just they had okay day except for that

So that we were back

There was some cautions

There was one caution mostly everybody came we stayed out because track position was super important

we stayed out with Kyle Busch and

We bled to like fifth and we ran fifth the rest of the time and then

NASCAR seems to be handing out these pulling out a line on

restart penalties like they're like they're Halloween candies that was frustrating because

Trucks are hard to launch right you get a little squirrely guys spin the tires in front of you

You don't want to crash them so you just give the guy a break and you blend and continue on and they're up there

Looking at what they're looking at and they dish out a penalty. So we went to the back again

Fighting our way back up through there again. We get back to 14th, maybe and

I'd say

Spire is the gift that keeps on giving because all of the chassis work on our trucks are done by them

We get we being colleague get

Trackbar mounts from our CR or something and we supply spire to put them on our trucks

Well, sure enough the entire track bar mount on the on the chassis side ripped out of out of the truck

It was just like a okay. We have our list of punch things we need to do we can't

Do the hard stuff right yet. We have to still do the easy stuff, right? We got to get some speed in our trucks

So that was our mode par five minute conversation there

So still just in the trenches trying to try to find some trying to find some grip there

But it's it's fun like racing it's fun being in the mix man that the trucks field from

Like all the way through the field is way stronger than what the Xfinity field is through through 25th

Yeah, like with swore as we started last and we kind of parked it up 24th and just kind of stay there

You couldn't pass but it's really used to be able to back in the day with the truck

Just drive right up to the top five with a cup driver. It's not that way anymore in the O'Reilly race

We had Larson fired off the lead dominated a whole race

We ended up losing late, but Marty Lindley. It's the same thing with that. It's just there was no there was no right call

There's no right call and Marty wore that he felt really bad about it

For context if you don't watch the O'Reilly race Larson's leading dominant

They had like a 75 leper on so the tires are shot 90 90 leper on caution 25 to go

Generally generally speaking the everybody else the field is it has been chasing the 88 all day is going to do opposite of what

This guy does so yeah, so the cost comes out 30 something they go

So you think you do the math they run a couple everybody's been kind of harping on how many laps they run a caution

But you're gonna go green with 25 to go. I learned this too because I had a gripe when I talked to

The truck series guy

There is a light in the race director's booth

For TV and it's green when you can open pit or it's green when you can open pit road

That means they're back on the broadcast or is if that block or if that light is red

They have to remain closed and keep just burning laps under caution. Yeah, that's another thing. I didn't realize

That's that that makes sense because they want to show the pit stops on TV

But it does make it tough to call a race

But so Marty comes down he rolls the left front and I was like man

And I'll have a lot of laps left and he's like man

I can't if I don't come everybody's gonna come because they're just gonna do the opposite and I guarantee you a Rodney

Children's told Zillich is like do the opposite of the 88 so

In Marty's shoes he did exactly the right thing because you have Kyle Larson put them on the offense put them on

Give them four tires and let them go eat

And and he didn't quite get there. He kind of got blocked behind the 18 and it took

No, the 19 shout out Brent Cruz. Brent Cruz is driving that thing to watch

But he kind of got blocked in and ran out of laps the same thing that happened to Blaney

Yeah, the next day like it's a little bit tougher to make that call on cup day because everybody's a little bit stronger

Yeah, but John the Naster said I bring that thing down here

Let's put four tires on it and that was a hell of a race. She had somebody that stayed out on

Old tires with tie-gibs Brian Blaney with four and Kyle Larson on two and a man Bristol

During the day delivered. It's awesome in shout out Todd Gill one strong run. Yep tic-tac

Chris Lawson cruise you from the thing they needed a good run. They've been

Mired back in point so then the metric starts to compound against you start going out earlier to qualify

So it just really starts stacking the deck. No, Gregson was hammering the restarts

You went from 17th to 11th in like two corners one time just ripping the top. Yeah, that's what I mean

That's what Ross Chastain did the Raleigh herbs the first lap of the race did some some veterans

Another shout out chase briscoe

Well, he went from 35th in points like three weeks ago now

He's two points out of the playoffs or something like that. So, okay, we've been we've been bouncing around a little bit

So let's go ahead and just dive into Bristol specifically. We had three races three winners between Chris Bell Friday night

Connor Zillich in that one led by Rodney shoulders on Saturday

And then tie Gibbs Tyler Allen on the 54 monster energy camera got it done fair fail

Christian eckeys move. I didn't like it on Corey. I didn't like it as a foul

Yeah, it was it was either a gross misjudgment or and that's where like I was kind of watching it back or an accident

Like was high I'm kind of checking up to keep them out there. I don't think so

You know, it was just one of those like they kind of roughed each other up and eckeys was super aggressive all night

He fired off. I think he won the first stage. He was calling the male

Super aggressive all night long back and forth. I drove the 62 in the fence later in the after that do all you can do

Did you punch someone? Oh, yeah, I spun Luke ball one right out dude. Get it. Like why would you add to anybody?

You're gonna spin out. You know Tommy's just gonna yell. That's fine. He's on his podcast right now

I'm sure you got spun out by a hack. Yeah, but a hack spawn us out. Hey third stage

I was already frustrated

He he whistled it off in there sheared off the bottom and left the whole man's Bristol

It's bumping rubbing suns turn back down. Yeah, I know I know this if I go whistled into three and shear off the bottom

Somebody's gonna stick it in there and you don't you don't shut the door

So it's two different schools of thought, right? It's you gotta know who you're racing

Yes, I'm sure like Luke's never been in those situations and you've been cup racing

So cup guys know you're gonna stick it in there. So they they missed it. They off now. He knows he does not now

He does they learned

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Let's go places tough lesson. That was fair. No, I was out dude

I was out of there with two to go when I when I got spun out by Josh wise my first cup race

I saw it out and called him as to why he spun me he felt the reason for spinning me up. Okay, foul

Christian Ecke's right. We're hooking the one was it intentional

You can't really judge intent when you're sitting there looking at it, but it did wipe out Corey. I'm going for

$500,000 with a triple truck challenge

500,000. Yeah, you won the first if you win all three. It's 500 grand. Oh, yeah, cuz he won rocking

Rock what was the one before that one Darlington 50 grand bonus one rock and ham 150 grand bonus

If you win Bristol 500 oh buddy, I'd have been rolling around the dirt

Yeah, for sure and Corey high man. He's just so fast in those trucks

He's got good trucks. He's sitting in but the confidence he has and moves he makes are pretty incredible as well cuz

Chase briscoe. I I mean I use fast to he's fast too. All right, but

Not what Corey. I'm was Corey. I'm just makes the right moves makes the right decisions and keeps and keeps poking now

It wrecked him it wrecked his teammate Kate and honey cup and the 34

Yeah, so a lot of collateral damage from that instance

You turn somebody like that in front of the field at Bristol and it's a big large pile up. Yep

So that was foul

Chris Bell I'm happy for Christopher Bell because of because of the Hallmark Friesen talk to store freezing for a little while

I haven't been in a truck race in a decade and talk to Stu

Man Stu had a scary incident last year that really was close to taking his life hit a wall in Canada with his dirt modified

Basically hit the wall with the seat. Yeah, talk to Stu. He looks great, dude. I said dude. You look great. How's rehab? He goes, man, I

Feel better than I ever have like I want to keep doing rehab even when I'm done because guys like him racers

You know, they they haven't had that physical training. He probably learned more about his body these last six months of being hurt came back

He's lean. He looks he looks damn good and and he's super fast and that Hallmark freezing team is doing good

So shout out to them. So then we get the old Raleigh stuff. Yeah, heartbreak early 230 of 300 laps with Larson

But we talked about, you know, Marta made the call they had to make there either way

You're damned if you do damned if you don't just didn't it was such a bummer because we were all standing there

We had a new Jackman this week kind of new team all together. We did really well

And I saw him slip the tire like three to go and I just took my stuff off. Yeah, like it's over

It's over. So that was a bummer

But on the other side of that right the guy who was sitting there holding the trophy and smiling Connor zillich zillich

Could definitely couldn't have been timed out better for you know, we're seven eight races in the cup season. He has had a

Terrible start to the year. Oh, dude, so brutal third to last in points

Buried by the metric right learning all these tracks in a cup car trackhouse cars aren't where they need to be speed-wise none of them and

You go from being the guy right what he went 11 races last year to just getting

Your butt kicked each and every week his conference was down and he even said that in his victory lane interview

And that got me perked up a little bit. I'm like mmm

Let me reach out to that young fellow. Let me give him some encouragement because the cup series has a way of just stealing and your soul

You're so yeah, what did he say? I said just good job last night trust the process for Sunday racing just

Keep preparing keep doing what you need to do. He's a thanks, dude

S bleep is tough. I'm like, yeah, just figure out what pennies you can stack. Just do the details, right?

Because your cars aren't where you need to be yet, and he's I'm just trying to learn all I can back there in the dog pound

I said, bro, it's something else back there. It's where boys become men

So he is getting plenty of seat time because you're back there with guys that are also

Trying to stay in the cup series. That's where I live a decade, right?

You're in mediocre equipment just trying to keep a job trying to get a little bit of bonus money

Pit crews aren't very good. You're just out there struggling. You get in the top ten. It's easy. Yeah guys could give and take

They'll cut you a break early in the race. Sure when it pay window opens up those guys get after it

like from the drop of the rag from

18th to 32nd is a absolute

heavyweight

Ground and pound dog fight to speaking of grounding pounds

Glad to see the zillich move to going out of the the hood the roof latch other than getting out of the side after he broke

His collarbone or ground pattern. I thought you're gonna go modified shout out to cop chick cop chick again Ronnie silk

Run second up at Thompson

But hopefully that gives zillich a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel gives them a reminder

Okay, hey doing what I'm doing because just on the flip side of the coin tie gives getting his confidence

If you lose confidence the driver you can't measure it, but you can instantly tell when some I mean you work for Tony Stewart

One of the guys who when that guy was confident walking on the garage. There's nobody better another guy Tyler Reddick when he's confident

He go in the first four races of the year, right?

But when he's not you we've seen his short track program not be good

But then yesterday put himself in contention again at late in the race

He didn't win, but the question is here is Tyler's mojo over as he lost his mojo. I don't think so

No, I don't think so either now. I wonder if it's like now

It's a thing where because you read all the articles

Oh 2311 short track program other break packages and now it's like this and like in the back of their mind going somewhere

I don't know if like we are I don't know if our short track tire validates on simulation

But yeah, he was in the top five and I'm like, okay, those guys haven't lost their mojo. They're there

They're gonna go to Kansas this week and

Probably win. It's it's all confidence in how your sim correlates to reality how your driver prep is how your pit

Crews humming on all eight cylinders. It all coincides and when it's hot it's hot and momentum's a real thing

I finished fourth which he's still 62 points up. Yeah, and he's playing

He's chipping into his lead a little bit, but yeah, man

Momentum's a cruel mistress and when you win the first four races of the year

People are like, oh no, he ran fifth like yes running fifth at Bristol is really hard to do just because you set the bar higher than

Anybody's ever said it doesn't mean if you can't chin that bar bar ever again for that the course of the earth

Those guys were on a magic hot streak

We've said for years that NASCAR has had a problem with their short track package. Have we fixed it or gone in the right

We have not fixed it. We are going in the right direction

What they need to fix is the tire is too wide

So that is a monster undertaking because your uprights and your spindles and your all

Geometry is built around this tire and wheel right and each OEM Toyota Ford and Chevy spend millions dollars in tire validation

Goodyear spend tens of million dollars in tire development. So when they went to this car, I think I've went on this tangent before

They went in this car. They wanted to go from the 15 inch wheels to 18 inch wheels to make them look like a car

You see on the street single lug wheel. So it was a whole rethought

Reprocess overall process there

NASCAR Goodyear wanted to keep the same amount of tire or the air volume in the tire

So if you're gonna go bigger wheel, right, it takes air away capacity away. So they had to go wider

That's why we see handling that smaller sidewall. Yep need you take away from the sidewall

So you took what was what you're not seeing on the sidewall with an 18 inch wheel to a 15 inch wheel

You're adding you're adding it to a cross to the contact

You're adding an inch and a half of tire per corner, right?

So six inches more of rubber touching the road. That's why you never see handling come into play at Daytona

Talladega and that races the way it does because the cars they're never grip limited a speedway if they took an inch of tire away

It would really spice things up because talked about cutting like the old F1 tires where they cut grooves in them

They talked about that, but then ultimately the softer it gets the rubber essentially just fills in those

Slots, okay, and it becomes another flat surface. I think it would make your qualifying speeds

Comparable, but it would make your fall off way more because you just have obviously less rubber on the road and the cars are heavy

So if they wanted to take tire away and take some weight out of the car that would be

Progress in the quote-unquote right direction

But I do like to see the know the engine manufacturers be open to change NASCAR being open to change

Here's what I think put some more power. Here's what I love about the O'Reilly series

You have offensive tools so you can drive up behind the car in front of you and you pack air on the left rear and they get

Free and it creates a lane for you

In a cup car you have no offensive tools and you have way more defensive tools because the camera

You don't even have to look so even with the so the defensive tools are you put your car in front of the other guy

He just gets tight behind you right where in O'Reilly's car

If you try to arrow block and put your car in front of them

They can drive to your left rear and then it packs air under your car and gets you loose. Yep. Is the underbody

Causing it to not

Fill the air under there. What I don't know what it is you can get an

In inch off somebody's rear bumper can't because when you do you get tight if you're the car in front

You don't even feel any sort of sensation

Yeah, now somebody's on your door you get tight and put yourself in bad spots there

But there's no effect from the car behind you in terms of what your balance is

So if you could put tires and motor and horsepower out of it if you can get an offensive tool to where they could figure out

Okay, what?

Creates a car to get so pack air on the left rear like an O'Reilly car from what I'm gonna get that in the cup series

It would be bar none the best racing we've ever seen so what I've been told by

Arrow engineers that are way smarter than me is that when a car in the O'Reilly series

Rolls up to somebody's left rear it takes side force away because the effect of the air going around the quarter and

Off the back kind of holds the front car like tugged back right you've been one tunnel more hours than you can count

So when you take away the effect of the air going around the left side of the car

Then it takes away your side force it

Maybe marginally affects your overall rear down force, but mostly it's a side force

Effector you don't worry about side force with the cup car because they don't really have any you get me in all your down

Force underneath the car and with the outer body just your pitch of the car essentially dictates what you're bound

You're down for which is why they can run side-by-side on my own half

So what you give up what you gain what you give up in a in the ability to affect it in traffic

They are making

Positive steps, so applaud them for that thought the race this weekend was great. I think so too. I love Bristol

I want I would race there weekly if I could yeah, but firm from a fans point of view and making something an event

If it was just one weekend that ticket when I was growing up was so hard to get yeah

It was a waiting list. There's a wait list like the Savannah bananas now

Yes, and now it's it's kind of lost its luster yesterday was one of the best races cup races

I've watched in my life every time we go to a new place like Wilkes-Barre like a Rockham like Kentucky any time we go

To a new event it sells out. I got a theory on this okay

It's here people want to always go point to like the late

2000s right oh six seven eight in the same where you where you see the pitchers and everybody hit the signs or

American flag signs around and it's packed out can't even there's not a seat in the place to be had people forget that

There used to be TV blackouts even up until like the early 2010s mid late 2000s

Like if you lived within a hundred and fifty mile radius of Bristol you couldn't watch the race

Like you had to go to the race to be able to see it kind of like Indy does yes

Because everybody's on their phones everybody's watching it from their phones everybody's on the go on demand watch it wherever you want whenever you want

You can just turn it on in the car. I was watching the masters dropping my mother-in-law for that

I was watching the masters in the Cup race side-by-side sitting at softball practice

Yeah, but if you turn it into an event a special event then people want to go it's not just about TV

Yeah, so views once a year Bristol night race only time you get to see it for a couple years

And then go back to the second day

But I got a floated or I think they need to float this one around because there's nothing better than seeing like a

Nashville fairgrounds filled up for the car store race like it was this weekend

Yeah, it just feels more important if they did a baseball game in Bristol twice three times a year

It would be half capacity at this doesn't matter if the Yankees in the Red Sox are going in people want to go for the novelty of it for the

Exclusivity of it and if you just keep doing more of something because something is great

Once doesn't mean it's going to be great multiple times

Now we're not politicking against pulling a race from Bristol

But if we want to create the demand for a ticket again and see the place full

That would be one of the things we could do that brings us to pit road boats and woes and the pit bosses of the week

Man that this one goes this one's an easy one this week

And I'd talk about these guys all day if I could but the 54 team

They had they won the race obviously, but they also had the best average of the day

They all their pit stops were in the mid to low eights

Let's brag on a little bit Braxton Brandon Jack man dog Nick Macbeth the tire carry

He just came back from back surgery. I think this year last year. He was out for a little while

Ian Anderson fueler Jackson Gibbs ties cousin a buddy of mine sent me a video and

They're celebrating right and as a pit crew guy you hear the chatter right was he ever gonna win and I would I would assume that like

That's also a weight that the pit crew carries trying to get their guy over the hump you could see

Just like the elation of the pit crew particularly Ian Anderson the fueler

I've probably seen this guy a hundred times. I'm sure I'd recognize they were just you know high five and in this guy

Like just strict presses this normal average size fella. Yeah, like it's nothing

Yeah, this is Ian Anderson's a guy that just wants to just one hand pick up a 95 pound fuel tank and

Feel your stuff up. Yeah, and then rear changer Daniel Smith

He just went from the 19 to the rear the 54

There's three guys on this team in particular the 54 went out and they got Cheddar

Robert Smith Cheddar Bob

Long time car chief for Rodney Childers

He was the car chief on the 39 for me with Ryan Newman when I started changing tires

He had a big effect on my career

Taught me how to manage cup races win championships. They go out they get Cheddar

They get Braxton Brandon. He's won championships with Joey Logano and Brad keselowski one a ton of races

Braxton Brandon got taken off of the 22 car in the championship race in 2022

Subsequently just retired. He was a Penske guy. They kind of did him a little dirty. He said I'm out. I'm retiring. I'm moving

Until he was out for like six seven weeks Joe Gibbs called. So hey man. I need you back

He went back over there and then Daniel Smith

Who was at storehouse forever? He won championship of Tony Stewart in 2011 won a championship with Harvick

He had cancer beat cancer came back. So there's there's those three guys in particular

They bring stuff to a team that a stopwatch or any metric can't cover you see guys end up on teams

And they just start winning you're like some guys have all the luck. That's not the case

yeah, those are guys that can shape the culture of a race team and

They know what it takes to not only win races

But to win championships at this level and that is something that you cannot measure with a stopwatch or with any AI

Analytics system that you want

So those are the guys that I want next to me on the wall to train a young Jackson Gibbs to learn from Nick Macbeth to learn from them

right those are the guys that

Continually end up in victory lane end up on the championship stage at the end of the year and it's for a reason and

For them the strategic go out there place them with tie to pull them out of this slump

The 54 team has finished in the top five and like the last five races for a reason he's out of here

And it's culture shifting guys like Daniel Smith Braxton Brandon Cheddar Bob that move the needle on that and make everybody around them better

So shout out to them guys pit bosses

Week talking about woes here 12 crew continues to make Ryan Blaney's job on Sunday afternoon way harder than it needs to be now

Look they have zero confidence. They're gonna have zero confidence the one thing that they did this week

Yes, they lost a bunch of spots, but they kept them in the race. Yeah, they lost four or five spots

Look, it's got to get better there. We can't hide from anymore. We can't fluff it. It's got to get better

You cannot be continually 20th 25th on speed on the day, especially in the first pit stall

They did everything they had to do to win the race, right? Which is at the end of the day

That's what it's about. You didn't have loose wheels. You didn't have penalties

You didn't stick them 30th like a lot of teams did with we saw a bunch of equipment

Interference calls, which is when there's a car parked in front of you roll right front end of their pit stall

We saw a lot of speeding penalties. You bury yourself in 30th at

Bristol your day is done. You're a lap down

They didn't do that to them. They kept them in the top 10

But when you're pinned from the lead and you're going out six like there's got to be something that changes

Like when I got pulled off of that car last year, we were way better than they are right now

So for them to make a change on me last year and now they're not

Like hey, you could have just left us alone and we'd be in a better spot

So not the harp on that but like there's got to be something being talked about at this race last year

This is the race that I got replaced in last year

We were sixth overall on the day a lot of instances whether it's pit crew or driver or spotter

Sometimes they make a change just for the sake of saying they make well and that's what they told me

So that's what they told me last year. I said, well, what are we doing here?

And they said hey, we need to we just have to change something

We feel like we're the same team that we've been for the last two years

I said well the last two years we've won the championship finished second in the championship

We're having a little bit of a hiccup right now. Our jackman was going through some stuff

So I said we're going to get through this we're on the other end of it

And if you just leave us alone, we'll be back to a championship team that we've been in like nope

Now we're going to make a change

There's always some sort of house of cards games going on that somebody's seat starts to get a little warm

And they just take the heat off their seat by making somebody look I'm not saying I'm god's gift to changing tires

But there's like I said, there's a lot more that goes into changing tires

Like a daniel smith and a braxton brand and bring to a team

That getting a right front out of your hand, maybe a tenth faster or a tenth slower doesn't that that that doesn't change

The trajectory of a season people bring other stuff to race teams

That launch you way further than what a what a tenth or a half a tenth of a second can do

Positivity there's culture right and you can bring that from not only a

Pick crew to your job to your family right that that all translates of like being the guy and not just being

Good at what the measurables are and I want to see the 12th team do good. I've said it on here a bunch

I don't want everybody tweeting me every week like they did again this week about it like I want to see them succeed

I don't want them to be bad

But even Kyle arson said in his interview yesterday like yeah, but any of the best cars picker just skipped setting them back

Right, that's tough and look I've lost races. I've had tough stretches on pit road myself

But there comes a point where it's like, okay, we've given you guys enough runway

Something's got to change got to tighten it up got to tighten it up

So and then the other rows of the week like I said everybody was speeding. That's a really easy place to speed

You speed there. You have a penalty

Ruins your day. Um, so shout out to the guys that finished up front. It's always a tough blue collar day

So off of that

We got pit road boats and woes as always any bosses, but we got stackers

I'm gonna go back to my dang trash truck, man. He came up and I was like, all right

It's just like another mechanic on a team that I've you know known for the garage and passing and I'm like, I saw you at darling

Yeah, yeah, I'm trash truck guy. I said my my life's been looking up since then

I was like, what do you mean? He said just the positive has been the flowing man

I go from

You know having a couple conversations in the garage at Darlington. Now. I'm hired as underneath mechanic doing suspension for mackin alley

Boy got himself a dream job. Let's go just from listening to the podcast. Hey, I love that

You know, you listen to the podcast man dreams can come true. Who knows grab the stickers

This is also grab the stick

So it is the year of our lord 2026

We have cars that can drive themselves

From here to 10 buck to kansas. Let me see that and yet we still have a

1975

Chevy jimmy pushing off a $100,000 sprint car

And jammin at thinking gear

Can we not just for the sake of everybody watching and for the sake of me going to bed at a relatively decent hour

Put starters on sprint cars and midgets. So this guy

Who is it? Piston bender designs on instagram. Piston bender designs. He gave us a pack of he made it himself

Put starters on sprint cars. Kevin swindell. He is turning red, right?

Ready to fight you dude. You're gonna wear it on your shirt. No, I'm gonna put it right here

Make a hat out of it

Make a hat I've put starters on sprint cars and midgets for for that sake too because hey

Let's get with the times man. Doug Wolfgang is one of the baddest guys on the planet. Steve kinsor all-time american badass

I'm sure if those guys can just hit the starter button and roll. They'd probably like that. Where are you gonna put them?

They're not I don't know. I ain't got a room for it. I got so much compression

Can it blow a starter out of the bell housing? Okay, sure. Let's figure it out. I don't know

I'm not a scientist. I'm not an engineer. You guys are gonna put four to five retirees per jimmy out of a job

Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of jimmies looking for a job. That's fine. Everybody wants to go cry safety

But we saw somebody get killed on a four-wheeler. Maybe yeah, like hey

We don't want to hurt anybody. Let's get them off four-wheelers. Hey, I'm with you

But can I tell you something tell me when I go run that rumble midget don't even say that it's cool and they push it off

It's and it's it takes fucking awesome. No

Yeah

Sure, it is pretty sweet. But when you try to stop and uh, it's it's a little sketchy when when when you look at a

Sprint cart or you know

Indoor midget schedule and it says the feature is gonna roll off at seven and you roll off at 1015 because

One guy can't get a stuff fired every single heat race. That's the worst. I'm over that

Just put something in there that can start it up to where it doesn't get pushed off

And we just get with the times and if you want to support it go to my man

He's the vendors instagram this guy this guy's making some this guy's making some waves

Do you watch the masters rory made some waves went back to back man? It's I'm not a huge golf guy

I like playing golf, but I just love big moments sunday at august as the big moments. Oh, yeah

You can just feel

Through the television the pressure right you can just

The ups the downs you can watch the facial expressions and

Oh, man, remember the guy we met at the cannonball or saving the other night. It was his name jay

Had his kid there talking to those he was shout out to him. Yeah, so he's another pain sack of the week

He said something that has been living rent free in my head since he told me this

He's like he has a little bit of experience on like

Close track motorcycle racing, I guess

Yeah

And he said he loves when we get into the weeds of like how cars drive and put them on the edge and he's like

Only people that have tasted the edge of a tire know that feeling

He said when you all talk about that and on the verge of spinning out and on the verge of busting your butt and

Trying to push the edge trying to find the limit. He's like that's where

That's where I like it when you guys go there

shout out to jay because

People who have never been on the edge of any sort of racing tire don't understand that feeling those who know

No, speaking of putting it on the edge rory on 18 just duffed one off into the woods

What's he gonna do because like for a normal human like us? It's like

I'll punch out here and

But he's just like drives it right to the green from off in the woods and this they're just working

With such finer tools just like a cup driver is compared to a guy that's racing on saturday night

Look, I have the utmost respect for the guys racing on saturday night

And I think the gap between

golfer that gobs once a week to a pga guy is

Larger than a guy that races on saturday night at a high level to a cup guy, but it's not that much closer

No, there's there's a big difference. Um, but it's it's different, right?

It's a corn fairy tour guy versus rory macaroy

But the short track guys at some places in some instances can hold their own that's right

So I like that analogy, but rory man doing the reps

Over and over until your hands bleed

To know when you get to that moment. It's just another rep

I had a pit coach that used to say shout out rodney fetters

90% of this stuff's mental

The rest is in your head. Let's continue to shift gears to the moment of the week

You're gonna pick you're gonna pick the moment of the week this week fans

Not you. Where do they get to pick? Not me. Yeah, vote in the comments on the cut down

You can get to vote in the comments of this show

Whether you're listening on youtube or spotify wherever find your podcast or serics xm. Sorry. You can't vote

But maybe instagram

Hilaratus choice number one tear neville lead in the wrc

Find oh, oh, oh, oh my what neville

Is that it did he take the wrong way the co-drivers sitting there looking like no no, this isn't the right way

No, he's got austin powers back up that thing. So he's getting

He gets high sided left side misses the row. Oh, oh, oh, you're definitely not the right way when you're driving through

No, he's gonna get a tape. He's gonna get a bill for those toll lanes. So that's that's choice number one choice number two

That's a bad moment of the week. This one is a good moment of the week tie gibbs and

Ryan Blaney drag racing. She's gonna be drag race. Okay. Here's our penny promises and receipts receipts are

Called larson the way in a Bristol

We lost on saturday, but he did finish second and third so a good weekend for larson, but a full l for me

I thought tie gibbs

Was on a heater

And I thought that he was gonna be good

I'm not even called chris bell and in that one

I don't want to get off on a rabbit hole here. But like

When the 20 car has bad day, they have a real bad day like their floor is low

So they need to really work on that because you know, he stepped over the line and got into the fence

Spent on pit road and just the day unraveled

and we see that often with the 20 car they need to

Make sure that they raise their floor and turn the bad days into not at a 35th place day

Which which we've seen that happen several times out of that 20

I've taken over

pitching coach pitch

We haven't scored a run all year

The bats were flying buddy. I can tell you this one of the biggest things in my life is softball practice with my daughter

I you can aim to hit their back. Yes

If you're dialed in you can throw you can you watch where your kid swings and you're like just swing

How you have been for sure. I'll take care of the leaves. I mean Levi likes him low and inside

Right, you just know where to put him. He can he can put a bat on it, but six-year-olds swinging baseball bats is

comical

So I'll say hey, man, give me a practice swing and they'll give me a practice swing

You just poke it out there and hope the timing's right and the fellow's got the bats going

We scored a couple runs. I'm like, I feel pretty good now

It's gonna be worth my time because watching people just swing the bat at air really, you know

Really makes my saturday morning's go tough

Really test my patience

But I feel like now that I'm in it like I'm coaching these kids up want to stay in my lane

Cory's the father that you get you're like Jonathan Maryman shout out and ask are you get frustrated

Here's the things that frustrate me. I have to remind you sometimes that Levi's six. It's gonna be okay

What he does at six years old is not going to translate to him playing in the major leagues or not

If he wants to do that and he wants to dedicate the time it takes to do it

I will gladly bring him wherever he wants to go

But for the amount of time investment between practices day or two a week

You load up you get all the kids going you go this you go, you know 15 minutes early

And the kid gets two at bats and might see a grounder all day

Like the time versus quality reps is low for kids

I'm at the softball field or the baseball field six days a week right now

Seven to eight is like when the kids actually choose that they want to continue to do it right now

Most of the kids are just signed up because their parents want to do it more than they do

That's what's frustrating what I was the most frustrating thing is we compete for a living

Yes

the guys that

They're coaches and stuff that don't compete for a living and that's their outlet for competitive nature

There's a couple coaches in in our league that I have a hard time biting my tongue. Yeah, and I'm like

You can just watch one new jersey junkyard is going to come out of me here and I'll be like yo

Shut up. You can stop yelling at the 16 year old ref

Or ump like we're just here. Nobody's making any money. Yeah, where nobody wants to be here teaching my kid on the other team

Like bad disrespect. This is not how adults should act. Yeah. Stop. Yeah, my kids react to um bribes

So like yesterday harper was yes, and I said hey

We're going to Whole Foods after this pro tip if you get three of your hits in the outfield

You can get a snack at Whole Fields. Okay. Yes, she hit two

We get in the car. Hey, can I get a snack? No, I cannot reward you. We had a deal

Sorry, you can't yeah, well and she goes well mom does and I said well

Mom make sure you're with dad more me and mom are gonna have to talk about that

But like with her I've also found where like I I worked so hard with her outside like working on stuff

Like she was catching like a gator chump

Underhand all the time when we worked on catching overhand

And we've just been it was gross at first catching overhand hitting her in the face of the ball like it was bad

First game with her new with her new team

Pop fly she's playing short shot runs catch that across her body

Everybody everybody's great. This was like what the heck? I just step back. I said, it's not by accident. Yeah

It ain't my luck pro tip, bro

Kids are like a Labrador retriever. Oh, yeah

If the easiest way to get my kids to ride a bike or to learn

I keep a bag now also my guilty pleasure is albany's gummy bears

Yeah, and they and they sell them in a five pound bag jumbo, right?

I literally

Negotiate with my kids and the number of gummy bears they get to do certain tasks

If you pedal up this hill

It's a two gummy bear hill if we're at the tennis courts

And there's a couple hills to get from here to the house if you don't cry between here in the house

That's one. That's one gummy bear

Okay, right and you you hear him back there

But yeah bribery works in all in all scenarios ladies and gentlemen. All right, we got we got a busy week

Long beach one of the coolest indy car races of the year

um april 19th this weekend

Mm-hmm nascar kansas 2 p.m

A fox network fox, huh night race for the oralee race this week. I think it's a 7 p.m. Started on saturday

wrc in the canary islands where those that's what I can get into

F1 miami here in a couple weeks

They've had an entire off month because all this you know streets are hot over there in the middle east these days

They canceled the guitar

What's the other one they canceled as well? I'm a Saudi Dubai. Yeah, Dubai. They just go ahead and you know

Let's keep them let's keep them boys away from there. You can do what nascar does when we have to cancel races

Bring them to the Daytona road course. That's right. Let's go boys. Daytona road course. It is. All right guys

Let's land this bird here anything we missed this week put it in in the comments below

We'd love to cover anything any finger on the pulse of if it's moto gp you guys are interested in

I keep a little bit of a tab on that supercross

I love supercross when it was on was a fs1. Yeah, you just turned on a lot. I'd watch it every week now

I would go religiously with we did the 22 o'clock xfinity car

We'd watch we'd do the race go back to the hotel room and get dinner watch supercross get ready for the cup race the next day

That clearly shows that we are just fringe fans of supercross, but but

Do you know we need to get a supercross rider on the show?

So we have somebody and somebody for you all to pull for that makes it watching way more fun

So we need to get a friend of the show supercross rider

Comment in the comment section who we need to get on the show. All right guys

You know what we're doing? We're stacking pennies with you each and every week same time same place next week

Just keep stacking pennies doing those details right that you can control to get you where you ultimately want to go

And appreciate anytime you grab us the racetrack or out and about

If the grocery store at the cannonballers game and say you listen to this show it gives us the warm and fuzzies

Quarter the joy here on wherever facebook's the instagram's

Ryan skip floor as as well and at underscore stacking pennies

Thanks for all the tuning in we got some good momentum after a couple great guests on the last couple weeks

Peace and blessings peace and blessings keep stacking pennies guys. Goodbye

0:00

43:41

Were the Haters Right? Did We Fix NASCAR?

Bristol

NASCAR

F1

Cup series

Xfinity success

three wide

PJ one on the bottom

rubber on the bottom

downforce

lug nuts

grip

caution

blocked

qualify

points

playoffs

all-wheel drive

collateral damage

hit a wall

seat time

18th to 32nd

fueler

Ryan Newman

speeding penalties

spotter

pit crew

heat race

put them on the edge

edge of a tire

ref

ump

supercross

FS1

Cup race

About this episode

Original notes