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William Byron Advances to the Championship 4! Martinsville Recap & NASCAR Playoff Debate Heats Up
William Byron Advances to the Championship 4! Martinsville Recap & NASCAR Playoff Debate Heats Up
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About this episode
The podcast dives deep into the Martinsville playoff race recap, highlighting William Byron's impressive performance and advancement to the Championship 4. Hosts Kevin Harvick and Caitlin Benzzi discuss the intense competition, tire strategies, and mechanical challenges faced by contenders like Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. They debate the fairness and impact of NASCAR's playoff format, emphasizing the need for changes to reward season-long performance. The episode also previews the upcoming Phoenix finale, exploring the mental and physical pressures drivers face during championship week, and ends with friendly banter and race predictions.
Topics:
martinsville playoff race recap
william byron performance
nascar playoff format debate
tire strategy and race dynamics
mechanical issues impact
championship mental preparation
phoenix finale preview
driver and team strategies
race predictions
nascar playoff pressure
Kevin Harvick, Kaitlyn Vincie, and Mamba Smith break down an unforgettable weekend at Martinsville Speedway, where William Byron’s thrilling victory clinched his spot in the Championship 4. The crew dissects Byron’s pass on Ryan Blaney, the engine issues for Joe Gibbs Racing, and what it all means heading into the title race in Phoenix. They preview the Championship 4 battle between Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Kyle Larson, discussing the pressure, momentum, and what’s truly at stake for each contender. Then, things get lively as the team debates whether NASCAR should overhaul its playoff format following another wild postseason. Mamba delivers the week’s best social moments in Social Sips, and the show wraps up with burnout grades for Byron and Championship predictions in Last Call.
LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR PHOENIX: https://forms.gle/VRyHMpj8cGTBsWCK8
0:00 - Intro
1:42 - Martinsville Recap
29:51 - Playoff Standings Debate
40:25 - Championship 4 Preview
49:30 - Mamba’s Social Sips
53:47 - Last Call!
57:07 - Submit Picks For Phoenix
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- Intro
- Martinsville Recap
- Playoff Standings Debate
- Championship 4 Preview
- Mamba’s Social Sips
- Last Call!
- Submit Picks For Phoenix
Select text to request an explanation
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For this day.
All four of them can win the championship.
They had nothing but Phoenix to focus on, and they were a bag of a**.
I don't want to be a sport.
I want to be a racing series.
I believe in what I'm saying.
We all kind of believe the same thing.
There just needs to be a change.
I think the best thing for NASCAR is if Denny Hamlin wins the championship, and Jim
Franz has to hand in the trophy.
Welcome to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox.
I'm Kevin Harvick.
She's Caitlin Benzzi, and the Chief Hype officer.
Chief Hype.
He's got it on his jacket today.
Very nice.
Gold.
Gold.
Yeah, this is my championship edition jacket.
So you're going to wear that this weekend at driver intros?
Yeah.
It has a big championship filter on the back.
Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mamba had that text fired off to me, and Kevin, like, immediately.
Oh, yeah.
What text was that?
The shack one?
Yeah.
Well, it's good news, bad news, that I picked with you to be on defense.
Bad news is my guy got eliminated.
Your guy did get eliminated.
Yeah.
Listen, man.
That's not the Kevin Harvick way.
Kevin Harvick is an offensive race car driver in person.
You play defense.
That's not your style, bud.
That's not what you do.
I got off.
Stick to what you do.
I got off my game.
You did.
I got off my game.
That's what happens when you get scared.
Oh, well, good job.
Outta you.
You got lucky.
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe the pole was luck.
Maybe the 305 laps lead was luck.
Maybe the fastest lap was luck.
But winning the race wasn't luck.
I didn't say they got lucky.
Oh, okay.
I said you had the brains to get lucky enough to pick them.
He's trying to differentiate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
As you can see.
How was your weekend in Martinsville?
It was cold.
It was cold.
It was freezing.
And I didn't.
And like, so I did practice and qualifying.
And so I didn't really think about it.
Good job.
Yeah.
Hey, thanks.
It was okay.
Okay.
Average.
That's baby steps.
Usually it's below average.
So we're getting up there.
And I didn't really think about it.
Usually I have like an undershirt because the shirts that we have, I sweat through
that thing because it's hot usually.
And it was cold.
I'm like, oh, be fine.
And then it got too cold.
And I'm like, we're going to have to go about here up.
Yeah.
You guys don't mind above the chest.
Just, you know, shoulders up on this shot.
Please.
Button.
Top button.
Oh, always.
The top button.
He had his shirt button and his chain hanging out.
Yeah.
Nice.
I wasn't in Martinsville.
I went up to the mountains with my kids.
I know I saw that.
You have fun?
Yeah, it was good.
Somebody asked me those.
Was it cold there?
No, it wasn't actually.
Really?
No, it wasn't.
I took them to a Halloween fest.
And this woman stopped me.
She's like, are you Beth Dutton?
I'm like, no, this is just what I look like.
I'm not dressed up in costume.
If you're going to be compared to somebody, I mean, I don't know who that is, but it
sounds like it's a good call.
What?
You didn't watch Yellowstone?
No, I don't watch that.
Oh, my heavens.
Oh, that, are you kidding me?
Actually, I understand.
Now I know the reference.
And that's a good one.
Yeah.
I've never watched a show, but I know who that is.
But yeah.
So it was interesting.
It was fun.
How was your weekend?
We went to Bakersfield, California.
We went and raced the super late models out there this weekend at Kern.
How'd they go?
It went good.
Yeah.
It was a badass race.
The groove spread out three lanes and I was running the top and Keelan showed up out
of nowhere.
And then Jace Hanson from Colorado, he was racing for the super late model championship
in the Carsture West and he wound up, we wound up with a hell of a race there
at the end and it came to the white.
Hanson was below him.
I was in the third lane.
They got together off the corner and I ran down and it's the turn three on Jace's bumper.
Keelan spun out.
It was wild.
He got loose and kind of bounced off his door.
As he tried to correct it, it kind of came back this way and he said it was pointed
to the wall.
So he just locked it, locked it left and instead of coming back up the racetrack.
So it was awesome.
The one to race.
Yeah.
Jace Hanson.
He won by that much.
Yeah.
So it was cool.
He was in full defense, but he needed to lead the most laps.
He came in like six points behind, but he's a good dude and everybody, everybody
raced hard.
I'm just glad that you finally finished one, you know, with a good finish.
Yeah.
I had the best car at the end.
I just, those guys were so Keelan's super aggressive and he made me uncomfortable a few
times with just how he would come up off the corner and I'm like, I'm not
wrecking both cars right here.
And Jace was in defense mode because of the fact that he obviously wanted to win the
race, didn't know where everybody else was needed to win the race.
So he was in defensive mode.
So I'm the old guy back here, like, I'm not sure that that's like, I'm not sure
adding up the dollar amount for the two cars, but the thing that a lot of those guys don't
understand about that high groove and I'm going so much faster than they are.
And I know that the spotters, some of them are like, not going to say anything.
You can wreck quick in those instances.
So I was pretty cautious around them progressive banking.
It is not, but nobody's ever run that high.
And it is a solid three lanes up the racetrack right now.
So it was, we got out afterwards and everybody's like, Oh my God, we didn't even realize
there was a lane up there.
I'm like, that's because nobody's ever tried.
Yeah.
Well, now the new story.
Okay.
Well, that's good.
I'm glad you had a good weekend out there in Bakersfield.
Welcome in to episode 76.
If you guys can believe that we are down to the wire final race of the year.
Did you get everything you desired out of that elimination race in Martinsville?
I thought it was really good, you know, all, all eight of those guys for the most part
at some point were in contention to have a shot to, to run up front.
I think that really bell, I guess I shouldn't say eight.
I should say six, six of those guys because you could tell Hamlin was
somewhat cautious around bell and his teammates and championship guys.
I think that Briscoe probably never really, I mean, he was, he was there, but yeah.
And so, but the other six guys, I mean, they showed up and, and kind of threw it all out
there as, as we saw at the end with the, with the final pass and then they had the
final restart.
And, and so it was, it was a, it was a very entertaining race.
I thought that the, the left side tire or change worked.
I think that, you know, you've seen that at, at Loudon and it didn't really do
what it did at Martinsville, but Martinsville is not Loudon.
And that's what we talk about on here all the time.
I mean, you know, it's, it's almost like we need to have different tire
combinations for more racetracks like we used to.
It's not as efficient as it needs to be for a good year, but I'm tired of
hearing about the word efficiency.
Anyway, I want the racing to be as good as it can.
And I'm here to critique it and throw costs out the window.
They can figure out, they can, they can figure out, they can figure out
the costs. And, and so, you know, I think that, I think that the, the
left side tire did a great job in creating the falloff that we needed
with the tire wear and everything, everything that we saw.
So I thought it was a good weekend.
There you go.
Yeah.
I mean, look, the, the 24 and William Byron and Rudy Frugal and that
whole group, they had had a horrendous round and not by their own
doing, right?
Like it's just, it's just how sports works.
That's just how it works.
You can do everything right sometimes and it's still not good enough.
That's right.
But what it did was it put their backs against the wall and they
kind of knew that going into Vegas.
I think Kim Koon had an interview with or talked to Rudy and Rudy was
like, we looked at after Vegas, we happened to Vegas.
We were like, Martinsville is our championship because Talladega,
whatever can happen is never happen, but they went into leaving Vegas.
Like we got to put all our ducks, our eggs in that basket at
Martinsville and look, it was, they did.
And so did everybody else.
And that's what made it great because you absolutely had to do it.
Like, and they raced great.
They raced respectful and hard.
And it wasn't like a, a hail melon move.
Like even though that move at Martinsville is great, but the one at
Roval, I don't love that.
Like it's an exciting highlight moment.
You got to do it though.
You got to do it.
And so, I don't know.
I just think that this, that is the best form of racing that
we've had all totality.
We had two guys racing for one point.
So there was strategy in what they were doing, but they had to push.
Yeah.
And then they got back in the pack and it was like, man, if someone
wrecks in front of them, they're cooked.
The key to take out of these, these moments for me, for the competitors,
like when I look at William Byron, for instance, and his team and you
look at the level that they were able to perform at and how they did it,
how they prepared in the shop, the emotion, all the things that come with
that, how do you do it every week?
That's really what will separate one of these guys when they figure out
how to be able, how to be able to compete like that on a weekly basis
and not just have to ramp it up when it's time, right?
And that's when you see, you know, the Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano,
those guys can do it all year.
Now you got to have the car to perform with it, but it's also
how do you solve the problems faster by carrying that intensity level
on a weekly basis to get the lows to last
less amount of time.
Yeah.
And so that one of these guys is going to figure that out.
You know, I think that you can have bad luck and you can have slow cars,
but how do you, that intensity level is what carries those slumps
and is what pushes you out of those.
It's exhausting.
And you could see it on William Byron's face when he got out of the car.
You could see the amount of emotion and just fatigue that goes along with that.
And it happens on the same guy to the team guys as well.
But when you can figure out how to perform like that and not
fatigue yourself and have to deal with that mentally better on a weekly basis,
that's when one of these guys is going to break out and do the things
that a Denny Hamlin has done.
That's where you go from.
OK, now that's how you go from a three win season to six, seven.
That's right.
Like that's how that happens.
We I think it's very hard with this generation of racing to have
an eight win season or nine win season.
I thought that, but I don't think so.
You don't think so.
You think it won't be that difficult?
Our sport has evolved back into what it was a little bit the dominant teams.
Right. And I think that it's easier to not have it happen
because it is so hard.
I think it's harder to make it happen and it's more work.
I think we a lot of people talk about the drivers and they talk about,
you know, they don't do this or they don't do that.
The workload that it takes to be good that is on the engineers
and the crew chief and the driver is at an all time high in the amount
of time that it takes during the week and on the weekend with the studying
the simulator, all the things that go with it, all time high in preparation
in what it takes to be able to perform and get the most out of it
because the details are so small.
And it takes so many of them to gain an advantage that the workload is way up.
And, you know, that commitment, the younger guys are going to have,
you know, an easier time in doing that because a lot of them don't have a wife.
Some of them don't have a wife.
Some of them don't have kids and they don't have the the total
circle of life to navigate.
I mean, there's always going to be certain things
that you have to navigate in that circle of life.
But the problem solving piece of it is a is a massive piece of the puzzle
to go along with the workload that it will increase when when you're out in a lull.
William talked a lot about just the resiliency, of course, of the team.
You know, watching them, what they did on Sunday,
winning the both stages, going all out for the win.
How do you think he has made a statement
to the other guys in the championship for?
Or I was a little concerned there when he was behind the 12 car.
And, you know, I felt like he needed to be more aggressive.
During at the end of the race, while at the end of the race,
while he was on his back bumper, I felt like he needed to be more aggressive
at that time. And I think he realized it because when he got the next opportunity,
he took it. And I think that he when he made that pass three wide on the bottom,
going around Ty Dillon there, I think he realized that if he waited around
in those moments, you can't wait, you can't say, well, I'm going to I'm
just going to ride right here. And, you know, I want to wait till it's
10 to go. That's not how it works.
And when the 12 started to drive away from him,
I know Rudy said, hey, you know, take care of your tires right here.
But I felt like that he needed to do that.
I think that he realized that when he got the next opportunity,
he better make it happen like he did right here.
Yeah, I think it's ironic that it was a 10 that cost that was involved
with costing him a lot of points at Vegas.
And then it was a 10 here at Martin's Road.
Kind of was just mind his own business, but was a part of it for this pass.
I thought that the pass was just hard racing.
And obviously, Ryan said that same thing.
I mean, two guys going after it, that's what we want to see.
I would never I would hope that no one would be like mad about how that pass
was made, that short track racing and that there was cooth and race craft to it.
And, you know, you got to you got to give
Ryan and that 12 group, Jonathan Hasler and team pass because the 22 had moments, too.
But they brought a piece that could win the race.
And they were in position to win the race and they did everything right now.
I will say it wasn't as indominate when the race form as it was last year.
No, no, but that's what the other guys getting better, too.
Yeah. And I just, you know, I think that some of that some of that
Penske magic, you know, from the speed and kind of fizzled out
compared to the competition this year, as far as where Gibbs and
Hendrick have been, Hendrick has made a great evolution
through the playoffs to get themselves back in contention with whatever they,
you know, started at St. Louis and the things that that have progressed since
then, since then, the speed has gotten better.
So they, you know, they got to Martinsville, which is historically
a great racetrack for them.
But compared to the 12, I felt like
they've kind of leveled that playing field as far as the progression
through the playoffs compared from last year to this year.
But the 12 still brought a car capable of winning
just not as dominant as it was last year.
I think Jesse Saunders, a car chief for Kyle Larson told me,
I think it was maybe at New Hampshire, because we were talking about
they felt like they after Gateway, they did that test.
They felt like they really found some things that were going to help them.
It didn't show.
You saw it a little bit at Gateway.
I think you saw it more like a Martinsville, like after that,
more time to work on it and keep going down to the direction.
And obviously it worked because the nine was fast.
So fast at the beginning of that race.
The 24 obviously won the race.
Like they brought cars that were one of those guys
were going to win one way or another.
Although the must win guys were super competitive in the beginning.
All the teams are in must win situations right up there in the front.
Yeah. And when I was watching the race at the beginning,
I really I was like, man, this nine car is really good.
And to me, I was worried because when you have a car
that's that good at Martinsville at the beginning of the race,
usually it's not as good at the end.
It gets cold. Yeah, it just changes so much.
And, you know, the progression of the race track
and whose car is really good at the end of the race is typically not not the same.
Byron was good from start to finish.
The 12 was good from start to finish.
But that's hard to do at that track.
And 22 kind of he wasn't as good at the end as he as he was
at the beginning of the race.
So I think the five when he realized how much he was better than the 20
20 didn't really ever show up at the front of the pack.
He kind of got to like seven. Yeah, six, seven, six, seven.
Yeah, six, seven. Yeah.
But he kind of he kind of kind of stayed in that in that
fifth to seventh part of part of the
well, let's say fifth to 10th part of part of the pack.
And I think that the five knew that if they didn't do anything wrong,
they were going to stay in front of him.
So he was he didn't really need to be aggressive at any point
because of the amount of stage points and things that he was gathering.
Exactly. He needed to.
Yeah.
Did you hear Larson say six, seven on the radio last week?
Last week, last week.
Hilarious because then like there was a pause and then Cliff comes on
and say, what was that?
You said we didn't really catch what you were saying.
Ty gives us the same thing because the six and the seven were in line,
I guess, a couple of times with each other.
So the spotter's like, all right, six, six in line with seven.
Yeah, six, seven.
But it's like it's so stupid.
It's so dumb, but it's like now it's like stuck in your head.
What does it mean?
No one knows what it means.
I just googled it over the weekend because my good daughter was saying.
Were you more confused?
No, it just kind of means like right on, like cool.
Like I think that's all it means is like, yeah.
Yeah. Now it's just annoying.
And now it's just annoying.
I get so tired of hearing it at my house.
I am very tired of hearing it at mine as well.
I don't hear it that much.
Yeah. So Kyle Larson advances by seven points.
I heard him say that he doesn't think the fact that he's won a
championship in the past and gone through this experience before really
will be an advantage to him.
You think that's true?
That's interesting.
I don't think so.
I think that
there's a lot to navigate as far as the week and the weekend and things
that are going to be annoying.
You're going to have more people around you.
And I think that it really is all in how you you got to have
a plan if you're going to do it well.
I think if you just go in there wing it,
I don't think you're going to get the most out of it.
I think you got to have a structured plan.
I think when you look at the Hendrick organization,
I think that they're going to keep Byron in line and help him manage his time
because that's what they do as a company anyway.
I think that the pressure of the weekend is high.
But I think that the biggest thing in navigating the weekend is all the
things that are not in your normal routine.
I think that's the hardest part.
Because it's really it is what it is, right?
Like you're not trying to get there anymore.
You're already there.
I feel like there's only one way out and you got to you got to probably
have to focus on winning the race if you're going to win the championship.
So I think it's that part.
The racing part is actually easier to navigate than the rest of it.
But I think that the the whole week and everything that comes with it
is is harder.
I don't I mean he says that and maybe I don't I don't know how it
wouldn't help you.
You know what I mean?
I just don't it's not going to hurt him.
He's not going to hurt you.
Like I don't maybe in his mindset is just like, well, it's just another race.
And that's a very Karl Larson thing to say feel and approach it.
So but like I can you will approach the race that way as just another race.
Byron though, like I even I texted him and I texted Ben Proctor.
Honestly, my boy was was a party at and Ben was like, brother,
we got to build another rocket ship.
Like they're locked in today.
I mean, we're recording on Monday.
There is no they're happy, but they're laser focused.
And I think they've been here before and felt like they should have won
a championship already and they I feel like they have a lot of confidence
after what and you can't you don't have a lot of time, right?
Like you've been preparing the Phoenix car already, but it has to leave
on Tuesday. Yeah, it's got to leave on Tuesday.
So you have a short week because you have to go out west.
So from a team standpoint, it's the it's one of those weeks
where you don't have time to mess around with the party or anything
like that, because you got to be back at the shop and get the thing
put in the trailer.
So it's it's an interesting dynamic when you go to that championship
race with with everything that they make you do and all the people
that show up that typically aren't at the race check that wants your time
as far as appearances and things like that.
And partners that aren't normally like that's right off your one
office like your associate partners that maybe aren't ever a primary
but are part of the team and getting it all going.
Now they're there to support you.
And you might never this might be one of like two times.
And for for me, I had a family.
So we would always just run a house so that you could get away from everything.
But you had everybody in one spot because being able to sit down at night
and have dinner at the table at the counter, not have to go to a restaurant,
not have to go see a bunch of race fans, even though we love you.
But, you know, you just you want to get you want to get away
from all that to get your mind off of it.
And for me, I always enjoyed that that part of being able to have certain people.
You had your core group people.
I always had, you know, my my good friends and family at the house
and being able to just do something that got your mind off of it was important.
Yeah, I you talk about the pressure part.
And I'm kind of circling back.
But like when they were on when that last restart, when that last pit stop,
the money stop, I I was on the edge of my seat because my I was too.
I'm like, who's going to screw up?
I'm like, this is high level sports.
Like this, if you are a competitor, there is nothing more that you want
than to see the whole for every piece of the team had to work.
Because also I needed my crew chief to give me a qualifying like air pressure
or whatever slight adjustment so I can have that much more.
And Rudy did something because the launch that he got off of to Ryan
was like it was over after that.
So I think it goes back to even qualifying, right?
When you look at getting the pole, that's really what put them in position
to to take advantage of that that first pit stall, the whole race.
They lose a spot always.
I don't think and but, you know, you're three thousands of a second,
two thousands of a second, whatever that was from losing the pole to tie gives.
And that that weekend and that's what we talk about.
It's every lap, every every lap that you're on the racetrack matters,
whether it's the first lap of practice or the last lap of the race.
And that one lap, getting that pole, put them in a position to take advantage
of they didn't make any mistakes on it, but you just never know,
pulling out of your pit stall, whatever can happen.
And so qualifying really set the tone of control in the weekend for the 24.
You guys were just talking about pit road, not actually many mistakes
from the pit crews yesterday.
There was only one little thing with Chase Elliott,
which wasn't hugely detrimental to their day either.
But I was kind of surprised that we didn't see more
miscues and missteps on pit road a little bit.
Yeah. And even with the, you know, the Chase Elliott pit stop
with the tire rolling away, like it like it did, it was it only costing
three or four spots.
It was and this is what we talk about all the time is just don't have
something catastrophic happen.
And that's just unlucky.
Like the way when he said it, it kind of did a wobble and it went around that way.
I mean, he didn't set it right, obviously.
But like it could have rolled a different way.
And also he's down in the corner, right?
Is he down like closer to turn one?
So the pit road, you can kind of see it.
Well, he's closer to turn four or turn three.
Turn three, you can see there's a little bit of like banking on pit road.
And from watching on TV, you wouldn't know that.
But when you guys know, when you walk on there,
oh, there's actually a lot more banking here than you think.
And so it kind of took the tire, but he saved it
and it kept them from having a catastrophic situation.
And, you know, I think when you look at the look at the pit stops
and the high level that those pit crew guys are at,
those are the moments that that the guys that hadn't done it before
will realize and say, OK, in their coaches, their crew chiefs,
all their competition directors, those are the moments that they need to
recognize and understand from those individuals of how do we get this
out of them all year?
Because that's the mental preparation and the focus that you need
on a weekly basis, tough to do, though.
I promise you that everybody saw that
and they'll talk about it in their pit crew meetings or whatever they have
and practice, but hey, in these situations, that saved us.
Yeah, we have that at Phoenix, like this three or four spots
versus not the whole and not the whole not the whole field.
I know we touched on him a little bit, but I want to go back to Christopher Bell
because he said after the race, the consistent theme was just going backwards.
It just it was surprising to see that out of that group,
given their past history at the racetrack.
I'm just surprised that they missed it the way they did.
Yeah, I think Ty Gibbs qualified outside the front row,
but for the most part, they all kind of ran.
Race pace wasn't great.
Yeah, I mean, Denny was was up there.
Ty was up there.
The race pace was at best fifth to 10th for those two cars.
I felt like that they were going to Denny was probably going to finish
someone there, Ty could could run right in there.
That's where Christopher Bell was chase.
I mean, they were all kind of in that same area as far as performance
and didn't have that top five speed that we're typically used to seeing
out of them at Martinsville.
So definitely, definitely a little bit surprising.
You know, from that standpoint, I think that the more surprising part
was all the engine problems.
I was just going to get there, you know, and we've been talking
about this with the 11 car, just with the the mechanical problems
that they've had and, you know, I think that that was probably
the worst way that you could go into the into the championship race.
Back to back.
Yeah, with back to back mechanical issues.
And I think when you look at the the momentum from the 24 compared
to the 11, just on total opposite ends of the spectrum.
Now, will Denny refocus and be ready himself?
But I don't think we've ever questioned that.
And you heard Denny mention it after the race.
They asked him directly.
They said, are you worried about the mechanical issues?
And he didn't say, he didn't say no.
He said, there's nothing I can do about it.
And, you know, he he definitely didn't back them, you know,
from from what he thought about it being ready.
They're going to they're going to he his quote was, I believe,
we're going to be fast.
We know we're going to have the speed.
And I think that definitely to me says we might have some
questions about the reliability of everything that's been
happening because it's it's been there's been a lot of it.
Been quite a few hours late.
What is that like for a driver?
When you have that kind of thought lingering in your mind
going into a championship race?
Well, it never happens in a year where you're running slow.
I can tell you that you don't really care because you're a restart anyway.
But it never happens.
Not all those gremlins and problems and questions
about mechanical stuff never happen when you're running like shit.
When you're running 25, you never blow an engine.
You can't blow the damn thing up.
There are many days when you're back there running 30th
and you're like, I'm trying like, I wish this thing would blow up.
Yeah, but it'll only blow up when you're running in the top five
or, you know, top 10 or whatever it is.
And you have a day that you can you can be competitive.
But yeah, and all those engines blew up at this at the same time
or whatever the whatever the problem was happened at the at a very similar time.
So but yeah, I mean, back to to Bell, you know,
I think that Bell never really, you know, he never really showed
any signs of of making a lot of progress with this car
to be able to to run in that top five.
So and ultimately, you know, it cost him an opportunity to win.
He needed to get points and they didn't score any in the first stage.
Yeah, they they weren't they just weren't fast enough to know that's really what it was.
I was very surprised to see that personally.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's the thing is like everybody everybody's better.
So if everyone's better and maybe you miss it by a little bit,
like that little bit is a lot when you have eight competitors
that are bringing the good stuff.
And then you have a couple outside of the outside of the playoffs
that are still coming in and coming to compete.
Like Ross Justine was up on that mix.
He was competing hard.
So with Danny, I was interested to see how he was going to run the race.
And he was in the mix.
He was I think he was right where he wanted to be.
Yeah, like he was in a position to where, like, if I need a push,
I can fend off one of the Penske guys
that I think ultimately he doesn't want in Phoenix.
But it was it was setting up to be very, very interesting from that standpoint.
And then he blew up and now now it's like, you know, his only goal.
I mean, obviously, they didn't want the engine failure and the, you know,
the kind of the downer to go into into Phoenix.
But his only goal was to have no enemies when he left Martinsville.
He did that. Yeah.
I mean, that was that's really you just want to be able to get to Phoenix
and just race the other three guys for the for the championship.
He didn't make any. He didn't make any more.
It was really interesting at the end of the race, too,
when they were getting to the lap traffic,
like the first eight of them were Chevrolets.
So it was it was like I was watching.
And they definitely raced to Byron a lot different than they raced Blaney.
There's a couple of forwards in there.
Yeah, there's a couple of forwards in there.
And I'm like, they're it was interesting.
Bushier got out of the way.
They were careful with what they were doing.
And yeah, this is interesting.
Yeah, I think Ryan even made a comment on the radio about it.
Did he? I think.
Well, I mean, it was pretty obvious that they and they didn't do anything wrong.
They just did what was right, you know, for their for their manufacturer.
He made a comment earlier about not having any patience for guys
because he he caught up with like Suarez or something.
I was like, like, see, like he was like at that point in the race.
He was like on a mission.
So, but yeah, it was everyone knows they were like six, eight, six or seven.
OK, so I went right around that.
Sorry, I went right back to it.
William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson are your competitors in the Cup series.
Xpinny series.
We've got Justin Allgaier, Carson Quaple, Jesse Love, Connor Zillich and trucks.
It's Corey Haim, Time of Jesky, Tyler Anchorham and Caden Honeycut.
So what I think is interesting in all three series, you have one former
champion and everyone else could potentially be a first time.
Here's what I think is interesting.
When you look at Corey Haim's stats compared to everybody else,
if he doesn't win this championship, it's going to be a nuclear meltdown.
If they don't change the points the correct way at the end of the year,
because it shouldn't even be a question who the champion is in trucks.
Right.
Shouldn't be a question of who the champion is in Xfinity.
So if if Connor Zillich and Corey Haim don't win these championships,
it's exactly why we don't need the system we have.
As it is right now, it's embarrassing.
So do you. So let me ask you this, who, what were the four again?
So if Tyler Anchorham wins the truck series championship,
what a slap in the face that is to the to the series.
OK, so do you do you if the change the right change?
Do you have an opinion on what that right changes?
The right change is to make as many points matter as possible
for as long as possible.
So what does that mean?
I don't know what's right.
OK, I don't know what's right.
And, you know, I think that my opinion doesn't really matter.
That's not true.
That's not true at all.
Listen, let me finish.
My opinion doesn't really matter to the committee
because it's been not really it doesn't really.
Well, I mean, I've been on one meeting and maybe two.
And it's just it's it's not going to be made by the masses
as far as how the point system is is going to be laid out.
OK, so so I think that my biggest thing is
if we're going to have a playoffs,
you better make the points matter as much as possible
or these people are going to eat you up and, you know,
having the biggest sample size that you can in those playoffs
for the points, you better you better have that.
Because if one of those if those two guys don't win the championship,
it's an embarrassment.
He's just saying nothing.
What do you think? What do I think? Yeah.
Corey Heim has a hundred more points to the next guy.
He is gangster.
That he is.
Look, he's at a phenomenal freaking season.
And so I mean, why you should lose because that's how I mean,
that's how it is.
Like, we're like, should he lose or should he not lose?
But that's what it is right now.
You know, I mean, like, that's the point system.
So, like, if he loses, I'll be devastated for him.
But I'd be devastated for him if he had eight wins
and lost a full season's championship too.
You know what I mean? Because he's still the best,
but he still didn't win.
And someone with one win, maybe one, like that sucks.
But like that's sports.
Yeah.
Like, I know why everyone's mad.
I get it. I don't know.
But I can tell you if Tyler Anchor wins the championship
and Corey Heim doesn't, it's embarrassing to the series.
There's going to be unhappy folks.
I know, I'm going to ask this,
and I know that everyone's going to hate it,
but I'm going to ask it anyway.
When a low seed team beats a high seed team
in any other sport, is it embarrassing?
We shouldn't even call it playoffs
because we're not playing anything.
Okay, that's, that's, that's semantics.
If we called it the chase, no one would care.
Like, if it was still the chase, no one would care.
But do you, so like in every other form of sports,
it's a form of sport,
when an underdog beats a titan,
everyone is so freaking excited.
Like, that's what this country was built on.
Yeah, but you got to remember in sports,
they don't play each other every week.
Yeah, okay.
When you don't, I mean, you're, you're racing against,
you're all, you all have an even chance
against each other every week
to gain as many points as possible.
I think that the sample size of, of what we have
is much different than, than other sports.
And I think that you, you have good teams
and you have bad teams,
but I just don't understand how you crown a champion
that isn't even, may not even win a race.
Did he win?
I don't know, he may have won one race, but.
He did win a race.
Okay.
One of them hadn't won.
Well, Koopal hasn't won.
Ty Majeski has not won yet.
Ty Majeski has not won.
Yes.
So.
But you shouldn't lose to him anyway.
You shouldn't, but something stupid
can take you out of it.
That's why there has to be a much bigger sample size.
Okay, fair.
You don't like the one race determining it, right?
No, I'm fine with the one race going away.
Like, honestly, I'm fine with it changing.
I'm just saying, I think the conversation is interesting
because when you, let's take a game,
sport that is seven game series and finals.
If my best player blows their ACL,
that's like blowing a tire.
I'm cooked.
But you know what?
That sucked.
And it is what it is.
I think we need to get over this thing of like,
well, it's,
But to determine their champion, they have seven games.
Okay.
So let's just take your playoff argument
about other sports and comparing it to other sports.
Well, that's just that, that's just that one.
Other sports.
Super Bowl is one game.
Yeah, true.
But I mean, baseball, basketball has multiple games.
NCAA is one game for all of them.
Yeah.
And think about how much garbage that the NCAA goes with
every time that they put people into the playoffs.
But they keep adding playoff spots
because it's generating revenue and people love it.
Well, we added playoff spots too,
when certain drivers didn't get into the playoffs,
we made the playoff field bigger.
So that we, what I'm saying is,
it's not going to be even for everybody.
And if we, we have tried to make everything
as fair as possible for everybody
and the same teams have risen back to the top.
It's never going to be fair for everybody.
I don't want to see everybody win.
And I don't want to see,
I don't want to see Tyler Anchor
and beat Corey Heim for the championship.
I think we can all agree the playoffs format
is intriguing and interesting,
but there needs to be a change made
to put a higher premium on points
and not have one race determine the whole thing.
I'm fine with not being one race to determine the whole thing.
Like if it's the last four, last three,
I don't care what it is.
I'm just saying the post-season mentality
and what that does for competitive nature.
What has it done though?
You, what is it?
I mean, it's changed the way that you do as a competitor,
but has it increased the ratings at the end of the year?
They talked about how big this ratings increase
was going to buzz because we're going to have this game seventh
moment hasn't done anything for the TV ratings
or popularity of the sport.
Okay, fair.
Nothing.
Okay, fair.
But we've had some of our lowest TV ratings ever
because of the in the playoffs.
At the same time though,
you got to look at what's going on in the sports world
and at a whole.
You know, what's up is football and say football is up.
NFL football is up and Major League Baseball is all up.
And right now in the playoffs,
we end up going against four major sports
because hockey is back too.
Like so our casual fans that watch multiple sports.
But they all show up when you put them on NBC instead of ASA
or USA.
Yeah, ASA.
Is that ASA?
We're going way more grand than that.
Yeah, there's multiple, there's multiple,
there are more TVs on that channel.
So it like, that number gets kind of,
we've made multiple mistakes with-
I'm not saying we haven't.
The TV deal is bad when it's not on the proper networks.
And I mean, when you put,
when you put Talladega back on NBC,
the TV ratings are great.
It should be on the main,
our racing should be on everyone's main channel.
Yeah.
Like whatever your biggest, that's what we deserve.
That's what we should be at.
But I will tell you that the playoffs
have not done anything.
The one race game seven championship moment
has done absolutely zero to make it more exciting.
There you have it.
All you got to do is look at the viewership numbers.
More people don't watch that last race
because they're racing for a championship
than they did when they had normal points.
Look, again, I'm fine with that part going out.
I don't want to see the post season go out.
The cup piece of it, they're all pretty equal.
They've all had pretty good years,
but the other two are pretty lopsided.
And if one of those, if Corey Heim or Connor Zillich
don't win the championship,
it's an embarrassment to the whole season.
It's going to suck, but get it done.
Yeah.
Listen, that's what this is.
You got to get it done.
I don't feel bad if you don't.
I do.
I feel bad because they've raced all year.
They raced all year to put themselves in that position
and have dominated their series
and could not be the champion.
I don't like that some dumb variable
could prevent you from winning
a championship in the final race.
That's a tough pill to swallow.
But that is sports.
We're racing.
We're racing.
It's not a sport?
No.
It says motor sports in the...
It says motor sports.
Motor racing.
All right, we got to move on to Phoenix.
I don't want to be a sport.
I want to be a racing series.
You knew better than to stir this up today.
You knew what he was going to say.
I knew what he was going to say,
but like I understand it
and I get yelled at about it all the time.
But like...
You do, man.
I ain't backing down from it because...
I got to hand it to you.
You don't.
Because I believe in what I'm saying.
So if you don't believe in what you're saying,
I think we all kind of believe the same thing.
There just needs to be a change.
Something needs to change to make it more...
What's old is new again, sure seems to me.
That's the new slogan, isn't it?
Well, it's not the slogan,
but they said they want to return to their traditional roots.
That's the new marketing campaign.
You can't make it fair for everybody.
It's not going to be fair for everybody.
I mean, life is unfair, people.
Trying to appease everybody will never work.
But if we didn't change anything,
you don't get 2311 in Trackhouse and Legacy,
and Front Row probably is gone.
Those owners have legitimately said that they're here
because of the changes that have been made.
I'm not saying you don't need to progress and evolve,
but you don't need to...
We didn't need to evolve the way that we have.
I hear you, but the problem is a lot of our fan base
gets so mad because we don't admit
that there are good things that are going on.
Like there are a lot of positive...
We only talk about so much of the negative
that it just keeps this cycle of this whole thing suck.
Well, there is a lot of positives,
but most of them are cleaning up messes.
Well, sometimes you got to break some eggs, man,
to make an omelette, you know what I mean?
Well, I don't know how to transition off the omelette.
We heard you, nine years of bring back the snack wrap
and you've won.
But maybe you should have asked for more.
Say hello to the hot honey snack wrap.
Now you've really won.
Go to McDonald's and get it while you can.
But we are going to Phoenix
and we will crown a champion in all three series.
Kevin, you kind of started talking about it a little bit,
just what this week is like for the driver,
some of the mind games they play with each other,
the way the interactions are with the other teams
in the garage and stanchioning off your area.
Like, what is it like?
It's very intense.
It is intense.
And I think that's one reason Kyle Larson said
what he said just because of the fact
that he's the only one that's been there
and won that championship.
And just to make the other guys think that,
oh, maybe it is different, right?
But the biggest thing is don't read Twitter
or whatever it's called, X.
Don't read the comments.
Don't buy into all the garbage that goes with
everybody's opinion, just do your own thing.
And I think that if you can,
for wind, Byron, it's easy.
Just do exactly what you did at Martinsville.
So whatever you did at Martinsville
and got your decisions and performance
and all those things to be at that level
and the things that went with that, that goes first.
And then you manage everything else
and you've got to understand
and it's going to be a little bit different.
But I always felt like once you finally got to the race,
it was almost a relief because of all the work
that you put in with everything during the week
and the appearances and dinners
and all the things that you have to do.
I mean, it's just you got to be prepared
for an abnormal week.
Would you ever say to your team and your group,
like, no, I'm not going to commit
to all these different things.
Like I need this a little more simplified.
It's not an option.
You had to do it all.
Yeah, and it's just, it's not an option.
And I think that you have to,
you also have to realize that it's a special moment.
By the end of the moment,
do the extra work, shake the extra hands,
do the extra appearances and all those things.
It just has to be planned appropriately
so that you can still eat lunch
and you can still eat breakfast.
And you can still, you know,
have the right amount of sleep and do all those things.
You can do everything that you need to do.
It's just, it's a different schedule.
It's a different, it's a different routine than normal.
I was gonna say, I just remember covering your career
and it would start that media day in Phoenix.
And like the four of you would be sitting up there
and he always looked so like calm and normal.
And some of the others you could tell
were a little out of their element.
But I always thought it was interesting to watch
how the four presented themselves
that very first media function.
Yeah, you can tell who's nervous pretty quick.
Yeah, you weren't.
Who's comfortable being up,
who's uncomfortable being up there
and being a part of all that.
And a lot of it, you know,
a lot of them get frustrated with, you know,
having to do more than they normally do
because they've never done it before, right?
That's the biggest thing for the Chase briskos
and, you know, Byron and Hamlin and Larson
have been at some pretty high level stuff,
but it's gonna be interesting.
I mean, I'm kind of interested to see
how briskos gonna end up,
cause he's always so like in practice,
we'll be like, hey man, your car looks pretty good.
He's like, yeah, I don't know how qualified it's gonna go.
I'll probably qualify six pole.
You know what I mean?
He's very nonchalant.
So I'll be interested to see him in that,
in that situation, in that environment.
Williams been there, you know,
Denny and Kyle have been there.
So he's been there and lost.
Yeah, they've all been there and lost.
Yeah.
The other two of them have been there and lost.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The only one has been there.
So they've been there.
I mean, Briscoe will be there the first time,
but they've been there and lost.
So they need to learn why they lost last time, right?
Like it's not just we didn't get the car right.
There's more that goes into it than that.
There's just this, the mental preparation
of having everything organized
and making the right decisions during the week.
There's just a lot of things,
but you're not gonna have more pressure
than you had at Martinsville for the 24, right?
Like you just, you're not gonna have more pressure
than that do or die moment.
So that's why that momentum and that experience
for those guys is so important leading into the next week
because they don't have a week in between
to have a motor failure or something to detour
that momentum that they have.
They're going right into the championship race.
And I've done it both ways.
And there was nothing better than winning
the next to last race leading in.
There's not more momentum.
Yeah, there's something about it
that you look across the garage
and like these, we have the momentum.
They're all looking at us because we just won.
So, cause it's like, you know, it flips in a week.
Like you feel like you got it.
Like, and if you win, you feel like you got it.
If, you know, the 11 blew up, the 19 blew up.
I don't think it's gonna hinder their race car,
but you just have a little extra pepper in yourself.
And you're like, we feel like we have something over them.
But you have that question.
I have that question.
If you're 11 and 19, you have that question.
Is my car gonna make it?
Is my engine gonna blow up?
And you can't not drive any different.
You gotta go get it.
And it just, it will take away from the conversation
during this week of what the 24 conversation is.
We made all the right decisions.
We had all good pit stops.
Our car didn't fall apart.
Our engine didn't blow up.
We won the race.
And that is just much different than,
they're two different things.
Now, can they, can Denny Hamlin and Chase Brisco refocus
and it motivate them and they win a championship?
All four of them can win the championship.
They all have the power to go out
and kick everybody's ass on that particular week.
Who do you think's the guy then?
Who do you give the advantage to?
In my opinion, in my opinion, he big bell.
I mean, obviously that is.
Now that we know who officially has made it,
I'm just curious if you believe
any of them has an advantage.
Yeah, well, you know, the first three,
when you look at the stats,
the first three on speed are in there.
Brisco's the outlier.
He was seven, three eighth on speed for the whole year.
So you have three of the four
that have been the fastest cars
on the speed ranking all year.
And Brisco's been the fastest over the last like,
yeah, maybe half.
Yeah, I just, I just looked at the whole year,
you know, for the sample size.
And I think that, you know, when you look at
the speed in the playoffs has leaned towards the Gibbs cars.
I think that, you know, it just,
Denny Hamlin has been the guy that's consistently been,
had a chance to be the dominant car.
24 was the dominant car this weekend
and has the momentum, you know,
leading into the championship race.
And I just don't think you can undervalue that
from a momentum standpoint.
So, you know, I think that, I think it's,
any of the four could win,
but I think 24-11 is where I'm kind of leaning at this point.
24-11, there you go.
You agree?
I picked the 24 at the beginning, you know?
I mean, I think the last time William was here
kind of backed, they kind of backed their way into it.
It's different when you go and take it.
Yeah.
And I think he finished third or fourth.
He was right behind the Penske cars,
not right behind on track,
but he was like the next car behind on track.
So he's got to feel good going into it,
that they're going to have speed
and that they're going to know what they have to do.
I just feel like he's got it.
But Brisco is, I'm worried about Brisco.
Wild card.
I'm worried about Brisco.
He's won here before with Stuart Haas.
He's been fast as hell throughout the playoffs.
Up until this week, a bone engine,
they had a fifth place average finish.
Like that one.
That whole team has won a championship with Martin,
pretty much the whole group.
That group is scary.
Was part of Martin's championship years.
So yeah, watch Brisco just come in there
and put on the dash.
He literally, all four of them can do it.
And freaking Larson and Cliff
are like one of the best duos
that we've seen since Rodney and Kevin.
Like it's just like,
they all have something special to them.
And who's gonna-
That's a good way to put it.
Like each one has, you can make a case for everybody.
100%.
It's going to be interesting.
It's just like going to Martinsville, right?
Like you just kind of circle the Gibbs cars
and say they're going to be good at Martinsville.
You kind of circle the Hendrick cars
and say they're going to be good at Martinsville.
But they didn't,
the Gibbs cars didn't really have the capability
of winning Martinsville.
And the Hendrick cars dominated Martinsville.
So, you know, you just,
there's so many elements and pieces of the puzzle
that could just be off that much
or a change that you make to say,
all right, this has been better at St. Louis.
We're going to go to Phoenix and it not work.
Yeah.
And you're stuck with it.
That's what you got.
Yeah.
Sometimes too, you know, like when you look at it,
when people are looking at like a math problem
or a word problem, you're staring at it.
Overanalyze it.
You're staring at it for too long.
That kind of happened with AJ and Colleague.
Like they won a couple of years ago.
In Xfini, they won Vegas.
Early.
Early.
Locked it.
They had nothing but Phoenix to focus on.
And they were a bag of ass.
Yeah.
Like they missed it.
And they had all the time.
So sometimes too much time can be a detriment
because you're like, oh no, we should just do this
because that'll, and it doesn't.
And you're like, shit.
Yeah.
It's going to be very intriguing.
We hope everyone will watch on ASA Live.
It'll be there.
ASA Live.
It's just beginning.
Is it a championship race on USA?
No, it's on USA.
Scared me.
Sorry.
It's like, oh God.
Oh God.
It's on USA.
All right, guys.
Guess what?
It's your turn.
Oh.
Yeah.
It's already there.
I'm sorry.
Been so locked in to yelling at Kevin.
You didn't yell at me.
It was a very good debate.
It was a friendly debate.
Hey y'all.
Welcome to your favorite segment of the show.
And that is not from me.
That is from the people at Martin'sville.
The closers from Martin'sville
wanted me to make sure that you knew.
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mamba's social sips.
All right, we got, we're gonna,
we haven't done much carting.
We haven't ever since Keelan has left the carting.
We haven't talked about carting much.
But Joey Logano has a little
go-kart track right around his shop.
Apparently his sister can wheel too.
Let's check out this clip right here.
So, this is the beginning of it.
I'm like, because I've seen Joey run this car a bunch.
Mm-hmm.
But I was like, why is he, why are they filming this?
Then bam!
It's like, oh, wait a minute.
Long hair.
Blonde.
Danielle, his sister,
who is like a world-renowned figure skater
and teaches hockey players how to power skate
down in like Southpaw Charlotte.
She's ripping.
She was.
Are you sure that's her?
I was very impressed.
Kevin, I'm told that that was her.
That the video says it's her.
I don't know.
But you think that's too good?
It's your segment.
It's your segment.
I just saw, I'm just bringing social media
to the people.
I love it.
I hope it was her.
I think, yeah.
Could Delana ever rip up like that?
No.
No.
No.
Delana, she had a late model race
and she spun out three times.
And every time she couldn't reach the switches
so I had to go on the track and start the car.
And then she had, we drove her legend car one time
and that was pretty much the extent
of her racing career.
It's okay.
You'll have that sometimes.
Yeah.
That's the way it goes.
You know what there's no doubt about talent
behind race cars is the guys that run V8 Supercar?
Yeah.
They are wild.
It is so cool.
And over, I think it was last week,
I couldn't tell you, don't ask me where it was,
but watch the s's that these guys.
So the first car, second car, cool.
Third car?
I don't know.
Fourth car.
It's a full on send moment.
I know that that must have hurt
when he hit that turtle.
Whatever they call it over there.
That's impressive.
Full send moment.
That was, that's a unique section of corners.
There was another one that they came out of the s's
and then there was like a one way to get all their cool
pictures where there's just two of them
and they're up on their side like that.
Those cars, it's interesting
because they're obviously very much like a sports car.
They're more sports car than our cars,
but I do like a lot of the features
that they have in them.
Our cars have become more sports car.
Yeah, no.
Yeah, but not like that.
They're not quite like that.
They can't jump like that.
By the way, Tyler, our producer said he thinks
you're losing your voice from that debate.
I am.
I was hot.
I was on it.
We need your voice to hang on for a few months here.
No, honestly, because we don't play anything.
We don't play anything,
so we can't call it playoffs.
This is a way of life.
Play?
No, this is a way of life.
This is a way of life.
Yeah.
This is a way of life.
If we call it the chase, no one would care.
We don't want to be like football.
We don't want to be like baseball.
We don't want to be like hockey.
You don't want to make money like they do?
We're our own thing.
No, I want to be NASCAR, badass racing,
just like they're going to promote again.
Hell yeah.
I want us to make as much money as they do.
We're not here to play.
Huh?
We're not here to play.
We're here to work, race.
We're here to work and race.
We're not here to play.
We're here to race.
All right.
We should make that the slogan of the done committee.
There you go.
We're not here to play.
We're here to race.
Yeah?
We're here to work and race.
Okay, lock it in.
There you go.
Put it on a T-shirt.
I better trademark that before somebody steals it.
Put it on a T-shirt, hang it in the louvre,
and maybe it'll get stolen.
Thank you guys.
That was Mom with Social Sips for this week.
Leave a voicemail if you want.
805-317-4175, and as always, the mailbag.
Harvick, happy hour four at gmail.com.
All right, very good.
Okay, guys.
Time now for our last call here on episode 70.
What did I say, six?
Yep, 76.
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Okay, so before, what?
Are we betting?
Betting, we're getting ready to.
Before we get into our picks for this week,
let's take a look at the best bet of the weekend,
courtesy of DraftKings.
Yes, so this week we had William Byron at plus 285.
So you could have made a little money off of William.
That was probably a pretty good bet this week
as far as guys that could actually win the race.
So plus 285 for William Byron,
you could have made some money
if you had a bet like Mamba.
Take the checker flag with DraftKings Sportsbook,
download the DraftKings Sportsbook app
and use code Harvick.
That's code Harvick for new customers
to get $300 in bonus bets when you bet just five bucks
and win your first bet.
Only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.
There you have it.
You know Hugh, Hugh damn right.
This is the last time
you get to wear the crown for the year.
That's right.
No, it's not because I'm gonna win the championship
and walk into the studio and have it on all Jolot.
All right guys, burnout for Byron.
I hear you were impressed.
I was impressed.
I honestly, I felt like just from a pure smoke
in the tires burnout standpoint
that this might be the best burnout of the year
as far as smoke and the longevity of it.
But there's nothing to go with it.
Like we didn't high five anybody.
We didn't drag the tail against the wall.
So I think I put that right behind
Chase Elliott SVG, then Byron.
Okay, third.
That's the top three.
I think that just because his burnout was so good
we have to put it in the top three.
It's also at Martinsville, tight quarters.
Absolutely.
He never stopped.
When it came out of the donut
he started having a burnout down this.
High marks for the longevity.
High marks.
And look at all the smoke right there.
Yeah, that's cool.
And it is a patriotic scheme.
That's kind of cool.
And I think that when he got out of that car
man, you could see that just the relief,
the fatigue, the stress,
everything that just piled up all into that last race.
You only get that with playoff moments.
Good for him.
Good for that whole group.
If you had a great year and you could get to the last race
and celebrate your championship, you'd have it too.
These two, I cannot keep them on the tracks here today.
Okay, point standings.
Oh God.
Let's take a look.
Kevin's at 58, Mamba 53.
Obviously both of you picked Byron.
So you collected some.
I collected a few for Christopher Bell.
Yeah, 14% of the fans picked William Byron this week.
So.
That's a good, they listened.
I still can win.
It's my understanding if Larson wins the whole thing
because I'll get 50 points.
I can't imagine.
I think I'd feel like if I lose at this point,
I guess our points are close enough.
Are you like Corey Hyman?
I'm Tyler Anchorman.
Is that what you mean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like, yeah.
And you're just kind of, you were way behind too.
At this point, I feel like my body of work sucks
because I could lose.
I know how these guys that should win
the championship lose.
You know what's crazy?
You know what's crazy is you would have lost,
you would already be over.
If you weren't so scared and went with my pick.
Oh, I had a strategy.
Yeah, it didn't work.
It worked great.
How?
Cause now you've gained nothing on me.
Yeah, but your pick is out, you're...
Yeah, but now I still get a pick for the last race.
And as long as you don't win the championship,
I mean, good show.
What do you mean you get a pick for the last race?
I get to pick a winner.
You get to pick a winner?
Yes, go ahead.
Hang on, hang on.
Tyler, roll the tape.
Roll the tape.
I got something for you guys.
Hang on one second.
There you go.
I think America will agree with me
when I say we need a race winning pick for Phoenix
and you have your champ pick.
What do you mean?
What do you mean?
Cause you don't have to win the race
to win the championship.
Yeah, but that's not going to happen.
We're just making champ picks, I bet, for that one.
That's not going to happen.
I'm just saying.
What did he say?
Well, I guess you and I sort of indicated
we didn't want to do that.
You indicated that this exact situation is what you did.
Okay, so I'm taking bell.
There you go.
Is that who I'm taking?
No, no, you don't have...
Is that what you're saying?
No, I'm saying you don't get a pick.
What do you mean I don't get a pick?
That's what you guys said.
I said we would never say that.
We just watched it.
I think there's confusion here.
I think there is some confusion.
You can make a pick.
Yes.
Bomba, I get what you're saying.
Go ahead, Kevin.
No, we need a referee. Make your selection.
What's the rules, referee?
You're making a race pick
because your championship pick is out,
so that doesn't work anymore,
but you believe we'll win the race.
Okay?
Okay.
So I have to go first.
Because my champs, my pick's out.
Yeah, well, like, I'm sticking with Larson.
You're sticking with Byron.
You're the only one that has a different pick
because you don't have a championship.
Okay, well, I'm going to take Hamlin.
Okay, there you go. I like this.
All right, we'll have to see how it all goes down on Sunday.
There you go.
Ladies and gentlemen.
And I'm still excited.
Now, let's think about this.
I want everybody to think about this.
Everything that we have going on,
regardless of our picks,
or at this point,
if Denny Hamlin wins the championship,
who's going to hand in the trophy from NASCAR?
Jim France.
You think?
Bro, you have to.
You know why?
Because at some point,
somebody has to be the bigger person.
Yeah.
At some point, they have admitted that it's gotten personal.
And if Jim does that, I think that's like...
So if Denny Hamlin wins the championship
and Jim France hands him the trophy,
does that mean that,
does that soften the stance
and everybody needs to get along
and settle this thing before it goes to court?
Because I sure hope that's what happened.
So do I.
I think the best thing for NASCAR
that could happen right now
is that Denny Hamlin wins the championship
and Jim France has to hand in the trophy.
We're going to have to see.
I think the thing is you're respecting the driver
and the athlete of what they've done on track
and separating the two things.
And that's why I think that that should happen.
If he did it.
That'd be the right way to do it.
That's what I would do.
Because you can still dislike him and everything
and what's going on over here.
But the driver of the 11 and the 11 team
deserve to have the top of the top of this sport
give you the trophy.
Yep.
Okay.
Well, Kevin, Thursday episode,
you got Burt Meyers excited for that?
Got Burt Meyers.
Yeah, we've been trying to mix it up.
And I think that is just such an...
He's been such an integral part of Bowman Gray,
the short track system and just a good dude.
So it was a fun conversation.
I listened in.
You don't want to miss it.
Okay, guys, this has been fun.
One more race to go
and we will see everybody here on Harvard Capyar
after Phoenix.
Go Byron.
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