Denny Hamlin Reacts to Massive Implications of Engine Penalty and Burton's Playoff Triumph

Introduction and Autographs hey guys welcome to actions detrimental I'm Denny Hamlin driver the number 11 FedEx cares We Care uh Camry this weekend Jared uh Jared's my co-host that's the only introduction you get I mean I have video of him signing many autographs this past weekend it's ridiculous it's getting out of hand like diecast it's out of hand what can I say it's you know it's you know the good thing is though Jared I'll give you PR you're not letting the fame get to you nope nope you got to stay grounded that's the opposite of what you do you never stay grounded you you you're climbing walls and taking two new heights right right yeah I heard uh I don't know I can't remember where it was it might have been Stephen A Smith or someone they're talking about something and basketball U and so and so is is good at being a a robin and it's just like not everyone's good at that like that's a skill someone's got to you got exactly right somebody's got to be piing somebody has to be pipping yep right so I I'll be the co-host and sign a few autographs if people want yeah well um this weekend uh I don't know that the last five days has been an absolute disaster on my end um when you think uh I can't get any unluckier um here we come the cloud falls over I told you I'm the black black cat of death cursed um but it'll just make it more um exciting when we have to overcome all this and and finally do win a championship this year hopefully so um lot uh it certainly Denny's Unlucky Streak and Hopes for a Championship is is not ideal not not with this three Race season about to start certainly I'm in a vulnerable spot now on in points um you know it's it's certainly going to be a challenge um you know I I how it basically happened uh those are tuning in um more than likely if you're listening to this you kind of already know uh but we were issued a L2 penalty Explanation of the L2 Penalty and Engine Inspections from Nascar um and that is kind of like the upper echelon of penalties um and this one was for an engine inspection infraction uh so Toyota uh racing development they build my engines uh for Jo Gibbs Racing and all the other Toyotas and um so they're they're kind of immersed in our team uh a lot of TRD employees kind of roaming around jgr 2311 Legacy and whatnot uh because they need to service the engines do tune them up things like that but um so what happens is you we've we've gone into a an era where we're running engines for two or three races um so uh what happens is they put seals on on the engine so they're called you know they're they're like Blue Seals that go on the engine itself um once you I guess you submit it um I'm getting a little un educated in this but it really doesn't matter in the story but once you win a race they put red seals on it so I think they take they either add red seals as marking it as this is a race-winning engine at some point it needs to be inspected or they cut the blues off and add Reds one of the two I I think they maybe just add Reds to the so it's got this engine's got seals all over it um and and you can only the only way to get them off is to cut them off and so while it's not a not unreasonable for um Toyota to cut seals off because they cut Blu ons off all the time when the engine is done with its life say after the third race it will go back to Coast Mesa where it gets rebuilt and the workers there will cut the Blue Seals off and they'll rebuild the engine and then they'll they'll they'll we'll run it another cycle right we we it's ready to run the into the season you know for a free refresh or be ready for The Following season but what happens is when you win win a race and you get these red seals put on NASCAR says okay you don't need we don't need to inspect this now we can inspect it whenever you are done racing it after its third cycle well it was only on its second cycle so we had another race to run well um that engine needed to go back to NASCAR um and it's very typical when NASCARs tear down process inspecting the race-winning car they do it at the racetrack they they say all official all good sometimes they take the car to R&D sometimes they do not um and what they do is the engine um they'll take the NASCAR R&D do a normal protocol make sure it's the right size and checking things with small gauges that we don't know anything about um but you know we haven't seen an engine penalty in in quite some time obviously uh because it is such a huge you cannot mess with the engines tires things like that they they drop the big hammer on you so no one really messes with that everyone runs basically the same stuff and um so we we win the engine we win with the engine at Bristol they put red seals on it we then go run it uh later on I believe at The Process of Sealing and Inspecting Engines Darlington um and then at that point um down the line that engine gets set aside and it's like okay well this engine needs to go back to be inspected well instead of it going back to NASCAR because it's in with its done with its engine cycle it got sent to coasta Mesa well someone there you know obviously should have known you don't cut red seals off you can cut blue ones off but not red ones off they cut the seals off and I I think it you know and rebuilt the engine and immediately Toto was like you know probably they more than likely saw all these red seals sitting on the ground or on someone's desk and they're like wait a minute why are these here what who cut these off and so that's that's what should have been said anyway and um so they notified NASCAR and and it you know in their statement they kind of they laid it all out that they um they notified NASCAR hey we made a mistake here you know what the engine sitting here what you know what do we do and so um obviously it's it's some sometimes after the uh the um this process that you know NASCARs come up with um you know the penalty and and the penalty is is that uh this is what we have it's it's uh we've got something in our rule book that's pretty black and white um if if the engine doesn't go back for inspection or whatever it's an L2 penalty and here's here's what it is so um they told me and and I found out on on Thursday and uh certainly was not a good day for me nor has the last three straight days right in it's been bad including Daytona which we'll get to but um I guess it's self-reported because this is something that's not going to get by NASCAR NASCAR is going to come searching for this engine at some point yes exactly going to present it or you're not going to yeah they'll be paperwork somewhere along the lines and they'll have a checklist of all the engines that they've inspected and somewhere in there it's Darlington will still have a circle around it and saying I need that engine and so when if you if you try to skirt around it and just send the engine well it's got no red seals on it they're they're going to say where's the red seals so it it's it would be the same penalty regardless so and this is something that everyone at Costa Mesa is aware of like it's not something where an engine got sent back to Costa Mesa and whoever you know handled it didn't know this red seal Blue Seal process they probably all know yeah I mean certainly you would think so but obviously it it slipped through the cracks somehow and and you you know things happen and certainly uh when you're um you know nobody wanted this to happen certainly within TRD um they didn't want to you know hurt the the car that they had that has the most points that you know was sitting in the best spot to win them at Championship surely they didn't want this to happen but it but it did and and so they they wanted to make sure they played by the rules and and reported it and try to see if there's any way we could you know you know Rectify it but there just wasn't you know there when you got red seals sitting on the ground it's just uh you've you've you've hurt the Integrity process of inspection so how does this now affect the remainder of the Season obviously it's the regular season Championship is out the window um but the final 10 races how does this affect that well it that's you know you can look at it and say well it's just a 10-point penalty but it it isn't look Impact of the Penalty on Denny's Points and Championship Hopes where I'm at now I'm ninth or eighth in points I was battling for the regular season uh Championship which would have paid 15 points and now at most I'm probably going to get three um just a huge swing for us it's going to be you know upwards of 16 maybe 17 points that per round that we're going to miss out on that uh and and we know that these cut lines come down to the the number always does um you know I was Within I was tied with Ross or up two on Ross going into Martinsville when he rode the wall so they're always really really close the year before that I think I made it by two points at Martinsville uh that was when Harvick kind of hooked you know I think Kyle Bush at the time um they're all it always comes down to just a few points here and there so you know we're just going to have to be exceptional and not make any mistakes at all which is very very hard because as good as we've been our result results over the last two months have just been atrocious are you more on edge now about that round of 12 which is in my mind likely where you'll see uh you know the biggest detriment of these points because it's Kansas Talladega and the Roo yeah um I need to go Inn Kansas yeah need to Concerns about Flips and Crashes in the Cup Series go in Kansas um that'll be my mindset for sure but you know if not then I'll you know I'm going to do the best I can every single week but obviously it's just a huge setback with this type of format it's just it's a killer can you appeal and try to at least get some of the points back or yeah but you you could but what are you going to appeal it's it's black and white right it doesn't matter whether the intent about the intent right I mean when it comes to Wrecking yes intent matters but not you know when when you have a rules infraction and it basically what happened was black and white in a rule book there's just nothing to there's nothing to dispute we can all talk about how injust or unfair it is to the race team but we're all one you know you can't separate engine manufacturers and and car owners and drivers like it is all wrapped into one and right you know we're going to ride and die together and I was I was thinking about this after I heard the news and was like well if that's as a Mistake by the engine manufacturer that's unfair that this um penalty you know falls on the driver and the team shoulders however if there this penalty didn't fall on the team and and Driver shoulders whoever that is like and it was like a major monetary F or something it could be worth it to to do this yeah so what would happen is the engine manufacturers would then say man it's worth us getting a sanction or a penalty or something to give our guy a unfair advantage on the racetrack right and so yeah that's that's kind of why it's written the way it is so you were talking about the seals so at no point does a engine with the red seal ever go back to Costa Mesa is what it's you're saying no no uh uh yeah no no it it shouldn't cuz NASCAR would remove the seal themselves and send it so the Red Seal should have been the red flag that hey something's up yep yeah yeah it's it's it's uh trust me I when I heard this I I asked questions because I'm like wait what you know and you know I step in I step in the conference room and you know there's obviously David Wilson Tyler Gibbs Andy Graves one end of the table me and Chris gabart walk in and it's Joe and Heather and Dave Alper and uh at that point I'm like okay this is an isolated 11 te thing what what the hell is going on why am I here uh why did this need to be in person is all the actions of the last like three weeks running through your head like what what did I do wrong what did I do what did I do yes because I could see David Wilson's iPad across from me and I saw the header and it was NASCAR penalty and I'm like Chris what' you do uh but um yeah I just I was trying to I just trying to piece it all together you know beforehand and I couldn't didn't make any sense what I said on my podcast last week what you trying to figure out like you know rethinking what what could I have said on my podcast last week yeah oh yeah yeah yeah yeah um but I just I never in a million years would imagine this because it's never happened and probably never will happen again how do you go from like what's your emotions there and then how do you come back down to try to now face it and not dwell on it you know I I it's hard not to and and you know if I'm being honest with myself I've just I I've been down the last couple days for sure i' just been in a pissy mood um not at anyone in particular just of the situation and certainly last night did nothing to fix that so I'm just going to again be in a sour mood until I get to Darlington and go there and dominate so that was Thursday Thursday what was about Friday anything uh yeah a few things but nothing I'll say on air for sure oh so there was to Friday there was there was but it nothing nothing I would air out on this podcast qualified 20th oh yeah that's stunk but that's kind of where we normally are on speed ways all right so Saturday what was about Saturday all the above just I I just um I just have to come to grips with this is a different type of Speedway racing now and um you know the ability to kind of just Denny's Frustrations and Disappointments in Recent Races make moves and and work the draft and all that stuff is just not like it used to be and I just need to be okay with I'm just need a ride in line here and if I get caught up in a wreck I get caught up in a wreck and not be surprised right and so um just in the next Genera my finish rate on super Speedways has not been good at all and nothing I've caused it's just been somebody else making silly moves and you know we uh we obviously got caught up in it it's not how it always is it's you know if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time you get caught up it's been that way for a while certainly but but uh back when we had the previous generation car you always had kind of the same cast of guys up front because they they manipulated the draft the best right they work the erir the best to get up front and then the reck would happen kind of in that seven to n range so they're on back you put yourself in the middle of that pack surely you're going to get wrecked that's about where I was at the time um I probably was hanging around I was right around 10th when I got when I when we got crashed there why were you in the pack uh the way you were like in previous super speedway races you've always liked to to get out when you feel the energy is not right and without points racing or points racing being a factor any longer after this penalty what was the reason for being in well because I was about the fifth car on the Highline uh the the the the reason that there was kind of energy going low there is because there were very few cars left in that bottom line um or at least towards the front so everyone was starting to migrate to the top and when they do that typically then everyone will go into a fuel save mode um I I was fuel saving the entire time at that point and so while saving i' found my way into the top 10 and I'm like okay we're this is a decent spot to sit here and ride and I don't think I made contact with anyone with my front bumper all day because it just wasn't wasn't time yet like it wasn't time to really start shoving our way through the field um and so I you know inadvertently not trying to I just found myself in the top Strategies and Challenges in Super Speedway Racing 10 and and was saving fuel while doing it and uh at that time that I didn't see any danger because everyone around me was just chill you heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports book but we have something a little different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel anytime just visit fanduel.com Denny to download America's number one sports book 21 and older and present in North Carolina full price of NFL Sunday Ticket will be automatically charged seasonally after free trial no refunds terms restrictions and embargos apply gambling problem call 877-718-5950 oh well I should have done this or no not really learning much um but you know more just being kind of a a fan in that moment just kind of you know I've got the couple guys I'm rooting for and then I've got others where I'm like uh you know I I don't want to see them get towards the front so um yeah I was just watching it kind of as a Fan's perspective and and obviously uh you know when I saw uh when I saw kind of the end of the race playing out were like eight of the top 11 had no win um I knew that it was going to be very very difficult to get a to get a previous race winner to win that race which you know obviously would helped 2311 in Bubba Wallace's situation but um you know it was it looked like it was inevitable when you had two non-wind cars starting on the front row usually one of them is going to win and a green white checkered situation and and that's what happened yeah big Christopher Bell fans yeah yeah I think I heard that on Bubba's radio um that uh yeah tell cell he knows what to do and so I was very Analysis of the Finish and Harrison Burton's Win actually surprised um from Cel that he didn't move up in front of the Top Line um I thought there was a moment there when I was watching where he he'd stuck behind Kyle but they act the two of them actually cleared The High Line and my my perspective is you anytime you can be the lead car of a line it doesn't matter inside or low you take it and so I thought that when he chose to stay behind the eight and not move up in front of Harrison that was a big big moment because at that point now it's going to be decided between whoever the leader is of the top versus whoever the leader is of the bottom and so um I I think that you know that was that was certainly a defining moment for sure uh but yeah I thought it was over KY bus was going to cruise to the victory until the last lap where um you know Harrison gets this huge run from Parker yeah that was surprising cuz he did not there was no a Toyota's there he wasn't pushing a Toyota like he was on his own yeah and maybe maybe just wasn't cleared by a spotter to get up or it's possible I mean it was from what I saw again I'm I'm watching on TV I'm not there live what I saw was like he's clear move up move up move H it's too late like there was a moment but it was a small moment in time how small is that moment like um I mean if I'm if I'm on that if I'm in that position the first thing I'm thinking of if I'm the second car in line on the bottom or the second car in line on the top and I clear one of the two lanes to now puts me ahead of one the moment he says clear I'm just turning whatever Direction like as soon as he says it I'm not even thinking twice and I'm just going um because that is that is the move that puts you in contention to win because not only that what happens is that when he would pull if he would have pulled out from Kyle he then would have left Kyle on an island by himself where Kyle would not have had anyone behind him taking the draft you know drafting with him so it would have parachuted Kyle's car backwards as soon as he pulled out to go beside him so it it would have been a double positive you most likely would have got a push from behind from the 21 and the eight would have been on this island where he's got to wait probably five six seconds for the next car in line to get up to him and so during that time you likely would have had position on them are you looking to clear yourself in that moment I want to compare it to like if you're driving down the highway and you see a car in a lane and you want to be in front of that car so you pass the car and then you immed look in your mirror okay am I clear am I clear am I clear and then you merge over is it similar in that situation where you're on the bottom line the the bottom Line's rolling you see you're probably going to get ahead of the top car and then once you do yes you can slide up but you don't even need the spotter to tell you clear can you clear yourself in that situation you yeah with the mirrors the the electronic mirrors that we have nowadays you certainly could um it wouldn't be unprecedented to to just go ahead and make the move yourself but again I can't emphasize like we're we're Sunday afternoon quarterbacking here right it you know I think in the moment things happen quickly it's just a matter of how fast is the game going for you and and I think that you know sometimes that's where experience really plays into a factor where you you know you know that immediately if there's an opportunity to meet to jump lines and be the front of it we have to take it to win this race before we get into Harrison Burton's win and and all the implications that come from that um before this race nasar added a shark fin or whatever they want to call it to the rear window to prevent cars from flipping and we saw more or less one and a half flips Michael McDow got sideways uh through that big wreck through turn four and then Josh Barry flipped over completely and then crushed the inside wall while on his roof yeah uh you know I I think we kind of I I kind of gave my piece on this last week where I Discussion on Flips and Safety Measures just I while I no one likes flips right I just I I don't have a giant issue with it because I just there hasn't been many major injuries come from flipping um it's you know you're you're dispersing energy when you're flipping um if you know if Josh Barry's car does not flip over he hits the ins side wall harder why because when he flips over that's that's that is is essentially slowing his car down as it's as it's turned to the side starts to flip over he he his car is slowing in speed if that car doesn't and it just streamlines into the inside wall without a flip it's going faster it hits the wall because the you've taken from point A to point B at a faster R so AR you also like trying to hit the brakes like aren you also trying to slow the momentum that's the argument you can make for for sure and it's a legitimate one we saw it when uh John Hunter neek I believe slid through the uh the infield there on the backstretch like his car it looked like it was going to get up and and then boom it just kind of stayed and he locked the brakes up so yes that is that is a valid point that hey at least your tires would be on the ground so you'd be locking up your tires and slowing down that way but I just feel like when when the car does turn sideways and catches air like that it's I feel like it slows it down a lot okay but what about if you're Josh Barry and you're flipped over and you pound the in side ball yeah I it's something I don't want to try to experience for sure and Jeff Burton brought a great point up on uh on The Telecast like you know not often are your safety belts tested in an inverted position position right like you know surely hopefully you got your belts pulled so tight that it's it's all working the same but but certainly there's more pressure going on your collar bone and shoulders when you're inverted versus being pulled down and hitting the wall normally well Josh gets out of the car and his interview was something along the lines was like oh yeah it looked it looked worse than it was which is absurd because it looked very very very very very bad I yeah I just um short of making us run 160 m per hour around the track I just don't know how you're going to keep us from these situations it just and and I there's no way if they slow us down you know more it's just going to make for harder contact and bigger wrecks I I just don't I don't agree with slowing us down to where we're going to just slow you down until these things don't flip over anymore um I I just they've been flipping over for decades man but I just feel like it's not necessarily a totally bad thing what about Michael McDow situation though where that's now he's flipped over in you know the trajectory of other cars yeah now that you know certainly is a little more dangerous because he's he is inverted while cars are coming right so um it would be easier for front bumpers and things like that to get into you know kind of his area of cockpit there um but man how do you stop that like it he was coming down the track and the 22 t- bonum there what I just don't know how you stop it like that's just physics how do you good luck stopping physics right when you have wind pushing on one side another wedge coming in from the other side that's that's what happens we race in a sport with speed I don't know it just seems it it it seems odd that this problem has now Arisen in the last two weeks and it feels like it wasn't prior well we've been on two really fast racetracks I think that that's you know we'll go you know short of Talladega we're going to go the rest of the season we're not going to be talking about this anywhere Harrison Burton wins this is a big moment for you as a team owner because now short of a win at Darlington unless Bubba makes up 21 points on Chris Implications of Harrison Burton's Win and Bubba Wallace's Playoff Chances busher he will not make which is possible which is possible yeah but short of that he will not make the NASCAR playoffs well you know I I I'm going to believe that he will um I we've seen the southern 500 for whatever reason it's it has some attrition if you look at the results there's four or five cars that were running up front that have bad days and and and it can happen to anyone I mean my last two months with the results it can happen uh so I wouldn't hold out hope against Bubba going out there and just having a great day you know if he goes out there and he can get top three in each stage I and finish in the top three I think they put a tremendous amount of pressure on others to go out there and not have a bad day all right well let's take Bubba out of this the 34th Place car and the standings is now a playoff car in two weeks pretty amazing pretty pretty amazing for sure um yeah certainly uh I mean where where we are we are we talking about kind of Harrison and the team or we talking about implications with Bubba still let's talk about Harrison and the team and then I think that'll naturally roll into Bubba and the other drivers I I think this is huge for Harrison uh I rode around in the truck with him in pre-race um and some bunch of questions about you know what are you going to do and you know what's going on what are you fighting over there um and uh you know he we we had a great conversation and it was cool to see you know after he won first of all he he won it by making great moves at the end right he he stayed in line he trusted Parker to push him there um you know I didn't kind of examine exactly what he did to get the runs quite yet uh but I'll look into it but from TV it looked like man great move fantastic move great job blocking down the front stretch like you know it it it's a game of inches right you know one if you're just a hair too late on one of these blocks next thing you know you get turned by the eight and so um I just thought he did a masterful job those last few laps of executing and and getting the win uh certainly is huge for him some great momentum for him um you know I think he needed some confidence um and certainly you hear it from his team uh his teammates and his team guys that you know this is this is the Harrison that that we've always believed in but now what about the implications for the Wood Brothers their 100th win yeah it it's great to see you know the Wood Brothers get their H hundredth um they've been stuck on that 99 for quite some time now uh gosh it's probably been 2017 I think think five years at Pocono um you know they they've been so committed to our sport right they I think they're the longest running um ownership team in our sport um you know they've they've passed the torch to John Wood who's done a great job uh continuing the legacy of the Wood Brothers Racing and um you know while you know they have such a strong alliance with Pinsky racing they still have a lot of blood in that car and and so certainly it's great to see the 21 get back to Victory Lane and this is as he mentioned mentioned in his uh post race such a huge deal financially for them over the next two years you know the revenue is in the millions and millions of more that they're going to get now than what uh that they were The Financial Implications of Making the Playoffs being you know ranked 34th I think back to that interview we had with Michael McDow last year and how he was talking about moving well making the playoffs first but then moving along in each round and the financial implications that it had that that team didn't have a Hawkeye and that if they were to finish you you know wherever in the points that they could then be able to afford a Hawkeye is making the playoffs versus not making the playoffs like how much better does this make the Wood Brothers going into next season um than they were this season without making the playoffs well I mean every think about this right is that I I think Harrison was I think he was last of the full-time drivers still points yes he still is even after the win no he's he's 16th well and points though he's still 34th yeah yeah yeah yeah I saw where he had like 260 total points he just passed guys with 600 points like now they know that the the worst they're going to be is 16th in points and so you know you basically just add up 125 Grand per position that you gain and that's that's how much of a reward they got as a team are are the Wood Brothers operating um under this uh belief that okay we're probably going to finish this year 33rd 32nd and we're gonna get this amount of money but now all of a sudden in the blink of an eye they just came up with this much money and now it's like how spend that yeah so they'll get that at the starting next year right so it doesn't happen immediately um now what will happen immediately is at the end of this year they're going to get uh I don't even think it paid anything for the point fund back in 34th it was zero dollars right I think past 25th was nothing um they're now going to get 16th at least 16th Place money which is a million dollars basically to make the playoffs in a year end point fund so that's a million bonus then the charter ranking will go up tons which I I mentioned how much per spot there about it is so it's yeah it's millions of dollars which is it's big for a team like this so do you have any issues with this with this format with this win in you're in I don't know I mean we're we're on the plane home right and everyone on the plane had an opinion of how to fix all of this stuff but it's you know it's certainly uh it's it's not ideal from the ownership standpoint right where I'm like you know damn you know Bub is 13th in points whatever it is and now there you know in one week There's an opportunity where someone 34th in points is going to be ranked ahead of him I I I find that hard to swallow but I know it's the rules right and so um it's just up to us to win right and so it seems like this win in your in format opens itself up and and it opened itself up really when NASCAR changed the well you at least got to be 30th in points right um they open that up and says well everyone right and and this has become an evolution over time with our playoffs where we had so many corporate sponsors back in the day that we had 10 drivers and we talked about this on the plane he was like it was 10 drivers it was your Elite you know if they were top 10 in points like you had to be really good right 26 races you got 26 races to get yourself in the top 10 if not you're out these Elite guys are going to go race for the championship and then you know you had some teams gripe and you had some sponsors gripe well my guy's not part of the playoffs and instead of them saying well sorry get better that's Sports um they just said okay well we'll expand it and then you know if few years later they said okay we're going to you know someone else didn't make it and they griped and then they said okay well we'll expand it to 16 and then then they change it to well you just win and you're in now so it just changed the landscape has changed so much that you The Evolution of the Playoff Format know these type of things can happen and it can be such a huge boost to a team like the Wood Brothers in the 21 where they're like listen we know where we're at and it's not good and this why we're going to make changes and um you know we're going to struggle to to get up there to Holy we just hit the lottery like literally the lottery I'm asking you this question because not not in the hitting the lottery takes luck th this took skill this took them spending money preparing cars you know you got to feeli a competitive race car right and then Harrison has to go out and do the job I'm not equating it to that but I'm equating it to it went from you know they're probably conceding that we're going to be last to all of a sudden wow we're top 16 and now we're guaranteed millions of dollars right I'm asking you that's the business side of it that I know that probably bores a lot of people but that's just the Insiders of of what's going on right and I'm asking you this because I knew what your argument was for it at 12:30 this morning and then after I listening to Jordan biani and and Jeff Gluck talk about it I feel like I come back around to well yeah it has made the sport in the racing throughout the season more enjoyable because you don't have guys getting out of the car finishing third being like well well I had a good points day because if they need to win if Chris busher needs to win at Darlington you know four months ago he's pissed off that he didn't win that race yeah no doubt and now he's on the bubble you know for not potentially not making the playoffs right I mean he's a photo finish you know way you know and and same with Kyle Bush at at at Atlanta right photo finish that either is going to make him make or not make the playoffs and and right now it's looking like not so no doubt about it it um you know there's an entertainment and there's a sport and certainly this is more entertaining for the fans uh I more speak at it from a car owner's perspective who who you know pays a lot of money to make my cars really really fast and uh have an opportunity but it's up to the drivers to go win and and certainly if you win everything takes care of itself what's more important though the 15 minutes of good feelings and everything after last night's win or a Bubba or Ross in the playoffs and one of those people that can compete in a name I'm going to stay out of that because it's an argument to be had but not by me let me ask you this then so J was saying people and ton mentioned it you'd get third but isn't the bonus points for victory enough that you're still going to have drivers like they're not going to to settle for third they're still going to try to go win absolutely so the bonus points make it worth it so you would still like even if it wasn't win or in you you I don't think you'd have that many drivers going and saying I'm good with third and get the points today like they're still going to be pissed and want to go for the win so I don't think that's a problem if you got rid of the win in your end I I don't know I mean we just this is a broken record but we we've just we've evolved into entertainment and and I and I understand that I just need to see more hard data that proves that going this way that we've gone over the last decade has has increased ratings I just I I someone has to prove that to me because certainly you know you see on social media the hardcore fans saying what what the heck you know when it comes to you know it could be the Austin Dylan thing or whatever but we all know what the rules are when the season starts so it's up to us to either go win or be so exceptionally good that you're Martin Truex right where yeah he hasn't won but he's been good enough to where he's going to get in the playoffs the oldfashioned way and that is being good enough in points so there there's multiple Avenues to do it but you know you just know at these super Speedways you can you can have these type of winners that come out of the blue and it's that's what that's what the the type of drama that has been trying to be created and they've created it let's transition to to Bubba Wallace and 2311 here for a moment uh his quote after the race um was that you got one car fighting for a regular season championship and Tyler reck and another on the bubble it's unacceptable I'll take all that weight on my shoulders I should have won multiple times and I haven't we don't deserve to be here um but we are and got to go win that's it I'm assuming when he's saying we shouldn't be here he's talking about we shouldn't be on the bubble right yeah The Importance of Maintaining Intensity you got one car at the top of the standings and another car on the bubble yeah I mean I I I understand his frustration there for for sure I mean have we had had we had the performance in the first 15 weeks like we've had the last 10 this would be a non-issue um you know which is why I always try to emphasize to my teams before the year starts that week one you have to have the same intensity in week one is the intensity that you have in week 25 when you're trying to make the playoffs that week meant no more than Darlington in the spring or Martinsville in the spring like they all matter and so um I know we you know TV and media puts a lot of emphasis on these last five races leading into the playoffs as oh my God this moment is huge all the moments the the first 25 races have been important moments um which is why you cannot be off your game for any long extended period of time or else you will pay a price for it and you'll find yourself on the bubble year and year out if you do not have sustained performance and so um I've always thought that you know while you want to shoot for being top 16 in points that's not good enough you better plan on you have to be 11th or 12th or better to feel good about making it in on points if that's what Avenue you're going to take and not win um and it's proving to be the case I think that right now you have to be 12th in points if you're going to get in um and so uh yeah it it it sucks that he's in that position but again this is 26 races that that of a sample size and so uh certainly we all wish that Michigan H didn't happen but it did it's just part of it I trust me I have two straight months of horrible finishes I'm not running horrible I'm finishing horrible that's this sport that's what this is you have to you have to run good enough when you don't get taken out or don't have a great day you have to run good enough in the other races to make up for that so that's why they're in this position is that you know for the first 15 they just didn't have it all together and they knew they were a little off but now they seem like they've got it they do they they are contenders I think they're probably been a top five Contender the last 10 weeks if you probably added up the points and all that other stuff the the the running position the speed but sometimes it's it's too little too late right it might be in this case it might not they might go out there and run top three like I said in every stage and finish and let's see where the the cards fall you say the intensity needs to be the same is it actually any different from the start of the season to the end of the season like are are are guys less intense at the start of the Season no I I I don't know that um I know that sometimes it takes certain drivers and I was I've been one of them for most of my career um really up until the last couple years where it always took me a while it always was like summer where I started to kick in right now is it because tracks got hotter and whatever there was always a theory behind that like Tony Stewart oh when it heats up Tony Stewart's in the in the summer he's going to come to the front I think that how suited you are to some tracks and the schedule does play a role and a factor but I do think that maintaining intensity for 36 weeks is very very hard it's extremely hard but it's what the elites do it's what the the elites prepare every week whether it's a good track or a bad track or a medium track it doesn't matter you prepare the same with the same intensity and you go out there and you give it your all and it's just very very hard for people to do that because you've got other going on in your life trust me I know I'm torn in 18 different places during the week but I always make sure that I give my job my A1 job it's it's due right and I and I give it my 100% I never want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to being a race car driver because that's that's the shortest Runway of of of career I've got left um but it's hard to do and it's not sometimes it's not because of effort right it's just because the the the P crew needs time to jail and the driver crew chief relationship needs time to Jael and you're building notes and things change rule changes over the off season and you don't adapt to them as well like that that's all part of it but it's the elites man bring it every single week and they overcome when goes bad on the racetrack they come back for a great finish or whatever and so I I don't it's not sour grapes on my end that the 23 teams in this spot it's just man this is I'm liking at least what I'm seeing when it comes to the performance now like this is this is good acceptable performance I hate that it's come so late in the game but and they're they're on it right now they're running well you said four years ago that this 2311 uh was a 5-year project to turn this team into a championship Contender and um Ric one week away from potentially uh grabbing a regular season Championship what does that mean as an owner while you also have this other guy fighting on the bubble yeah I mean it it it means a The Performance of the 23XI Racing Team lot it really does um I mean I'm I'm very proud of what we've built over there and and building it from scratch is not been easy um a lot of things take time although we may have you know there there's probably things on the list right now where okay here's what I here's what I want my competition Department to to work on next that project might take a year two to actually finish right um we're we're just now building our pit crew facility you know that's going to take another three months it'll be done right on time right when the season's over so like it just things take time right and so when I said it would Take 5 years to build a championship contending organization like I knew that that was a realistic number and while it seems easier to do it quicker it is not because you know I I just starting this thing from scratch really was hard because you you you don't have you know if you want to start a new Department well you got to find the talent and we're not going to just hire people just to hire them we're going to make sure that it's the right people and I think Dave Rogers and and that whole team competition Department have just done a fabulous job putting the right people in the right places to succeed um they work really really closely with Joe Gibbs Racing and particularly the 11 car um and I they're they're seeing the fruits of all the hard work they've put in and certainly would love to see them get this thing to the Finish Line next week if I can offer an anecdote uh from last night I thought it was cool now obviously it's disappointing that you were knocked out of the race but I thought it was cool to see you uh in the bus watching this race as a fan of both Tyler and Bubba and then when Bubba was in that wreck you know you're like come on where's Bubba where's Bubba where's Bubba like trying to find find Bubba in this wreck and then once you find him you know Taylor is sitting there she goes oh you know like he's hit by this car hit by this car there's no wheel there's no wheel damage there's no wheel damage that's I kept saying yeah you're like no he's good he's good he's fine he didn't hit Wheels he hit he hit body not not Wheels that's good good he's fine he's fine they're like no look at him he's ping ponging in the middle of these cars I'm like I I see that but he didn't hit the wheels that's good part of you is like this irrational fan being like oh no no he didn't just get total by I was totally Austin Payton right when you watch Do you have do you have the audio or are you just a true fan no I I actually these people they have the the big screen right outside the bus that has it's live you know what I mean so you know TV's always delayed gosh it feels like it's been more and more about 10 seconds now more than that it's it seems like a lot right there'll be crash y y'all will tell me oh there's a big crash and I'm like stop telling me that I'm watching it on TV J did that he text me a couple uh I forget which race it was I think it was when Austin Dylan W and he he's texting he's like 30 seconds ahead of us and I'm like well I go to wait to see what happens so you know what I did for the green white tricker I put the shades down in the bus and says y'all are all in this capsule with me you will you will not go out there and listen and watch it live you're going to sit here on this 10-second delay with me because I didn't want to you know yeah I guess it was you that had the Bubba's radio or somebody's radio on and you hear him saying are they crashing get low get low you know and I'm like yeah another they're in turn two and that's not right so um yeah I hate getting spoiled you know I I just want to find out at the same time as everyone else so it was uh I was I was fanboying quite a bit kind of watching these recks play out and like just oh man please please don't involve them please don't involve them when you're driving can you get a feeling that like something's about the re's going to happen even if if you're in the car or even out just watching yeah um yeah I mean you can start to just feel the intensity of the pack and so I kind of explained it in the uh when we had a had a FedEx Q&A Before the Race and you know your intuition usually is is correct most times but what happens is you know everyone just starts giving each other less room you know while the track might be four cars wide if you put us you know door to door to door we we we can run it three lanes wide pretty comfortably now what happens is is coming off the corner when someone has kind of a moment where they're like May oh I'm getting tight well instead of them lifting they're like I'm just going to use this space up here and then the middle gu's like no I I need this space and the top gu saying I need to get down there and side draft all that starts to to compress and the and the three lanes that we use becomes like two and a half lanes and we all just start taking more and giving less and that's when you can feel Rex really kind of about to happen was it good to see three wide racing this this I'm glad I'm I'm certainly glad it wasn't such a big fuel now it it was about to head that way um when we had the Cora Joy wreck we were all saving at that moment I was looking at the pace in stage three and it looked like there were definitely some that were going all out and then there were some that were definitely trying to save fuel it was going to be very very interesting had that wreck not happened the John Hunter neek one what what happens through this green flag pit cycle I think it was going to be very compelling to see who who flip-flops their track position because they saved Fuel and then who goes to the back because they ran up front um I they were a lap or two away from from it happening and and it looked like cars were fighting for the bottom which is why that wreck happened in the first place that was interesting because you I feel like a majority of the you know the Heavy Hitters were in the back half of that pack back and the the guys up front were the ones who were lower in the point standing so they were burning more fuel than the The Heavy Hitters in the back right but this wreck then took out some of the Heavy Hitters and you never got to see right that switch that flip flop yeah it it certainly did and and it also what it did is it allowed those who were running up front burning fuel it allowed them to okay they just got the the caution came out they got saved so now they can put in extra 1 second of fuel in and not lose 20 spots they might lose three or four but they're not going to lose so it actually paid to be aggressive in that third stage and just go get your track position because if you if you get lucky in the in the caution does fall like it did now bam you're you can be on equal fuel with everyone didn't lose your track position what' you make of uh lee Diffy in that that call at the Finish fantastic oh my gosh can we sign him up up for 36 of 36 races maybe can can we just make that executive decision at at NBC or NASCAR just say hey non- exclusive let him he let him do all the races he's just fantastic he knows how to match the moment um he brings just I don't know what it is it's just the great ones know how to match the moment with their voice they change The Impressive Commentary of Lee Diffey their tone they change the speed in which they're calling a race right that's why he was tabbed to do the 100 meters for in the Olympics right like because that's that's what he does and what he's really really good at so um he's just a fantastic addition I thought generally speaking NBC's production like the 3D car that they're doing they're showing you know all these you know when something goes wrong they're they've got the cad that shows all the stuff that NBC is just knocking out of the park right now le he's never like he never feels rushed even in the big moments and like if you close your eyes you can tell exactly what happened at the end of that race like it was succinctly said the names and just how he quickly pivoted from Kyle bus to Harrison it was it was perfect absolutely yep and and you know what was great about it too they let him have it they let him have the moment Steve and Jeff they didn't get in it they knew that this guy's the the play byplay let him call it right and then we will react back to what we just saw after the checker flag so that was that's a little bit of the chaos that you have I feel like at fox is like everyone's trying to call the last lap and it's it's a little messy sometimes um but man they they nailed it they nailed the Finish they I mean it had me standing up in my chair the last lap and I I didn't have a dog in the Harrison Burton Kyle Bush fight yeah I think uh I think Jeff Gluck um said it he said um Lee Diffy s he sounds like he's already seen the moment like he sounds like he's already watched the last lap so he knows what he's gonna say because it all syncs up perfectly right the Jeff your little boy's done it you know it's it listen it to me it it it touched my inner soul a little bit certainly that moment with Jeff Burton his son and seeing how excited Jeff was I know it just means so much to him and how he was able to talk after that I have no clue there's no way I would have been able to I I would have been overcome with emotion to be able to respond in that moment but uh man just so great it was cool anything else you want to add from Daytona before you turn to hopefully a happier page you have something happy no I'm wondering if if if you do I don't's ready to put this week I'm over it I'm done this this dead it's dead to me Sunday off he's working right now Jared oh okay in 10 minutes he's got a Sunday off thanks appreciate it I'm good uh track house announced the third Charter SVG will drive the 88 letting Zane Smith go man that's a tough one for Zane Smith um I'm a little closer to this situation than I probably should because I I I've not mentored Zay but I've talked to Zayn uh quite a bit through his uh through his Nascar career and kind of giv advice on different uh situations as they arise and different opportunities um but man that you know this certainly put a tough spot on zanen because uh you know he he thought he had a long-term future at track house um he forgoed other opportunities in Cup Series uh to take this opportunity with track house and then when you get let go um you've then lost out on your other opportunities and so not ideal for Zayn Smith and certainly I would uh I would back Zayn when it comes to what you know what the future might hold uh I think he's coming into his own uh I think uh you have not seen the best Zane Smith yet uh you're only starting to see now uh what he can do um I think he's had some really great finishes again they were one of the teams that me they were really bad at the beginning of the year terrible terrible and then they've turned the corner you know for whatever reason over the last 10 weeks they've turned the corner and they're starting to to get going and now Zayn's got to kind of regroup and figure out where to go with his career from here so um I think he's he's a good enough talent that he is going to get a good opportunity a winning opportunity somewhere uh I hope it's in cup yeah since Nashville he's only finished outside the top 20 twice so that's wow 8 to n races there since Nashville wow I didn't know that so so you don't necessarily think that this season and the way it went for the 71 cars necess say black eye on Zayn's young Cup Series career you know we see a lot of young guys come up they getting Trackhouse Racing's Commitment to Building a Strong Driver Pool you know cars that aren't as good as other cars really I mean it was a third wasn't it an additional team this was a new team for Spire right the third Charter like it would they didn't have three cars last year is that I think that's correct so this is a new new car new team with a at at the time mid tier team so I mean what what are your expectations right but I think he's taken it to the next level from what I've seen and you just read results that show that that he's when when you know given a little bit of experience now half a season he's already turned the corner to being twice as good as he was at the beginning of the season so what is he going to do a year from now two years from now so uh I think the ceiling's pretty high on him I I think he'll get picked up by somebody who who sees it but I mean from a track house standpoint though SVG basically guarantees you a playoff birth most likely with his road course Street course racing I I think that this you know certainly uh you know he track house brought SVG in last year is that correct last year you started kind of this long-term plan U to to try to get him um you know into cup one day and they were going to kind of see how it play played out through other series um I don't think that there's any question that you know SVG can get you in the playoffs um as long as road courses are on a schedule and that certainly we talked about the financial implications of that that that that's a factor right there's a commercial there's a there's a commercial decision to be made as well as a intellectual ual decision and um I think that they feel that this is their their best path and and there's a lot of things that go into it certainly uh sponsorship we cannot run these cars without sponsorship and so if if if SVG has a leg up on sponsorship and you're already thinking well it's 50/50 then then you're going to make a a commercial decision and and I understand that this kind of reminded me of like in football you'll see like a player get cut because they the they're drafted a hot shot player and they're gonna invest in them that kind of is what I feel like with Zay Smith is he's just the collateral that because they've got this hot shot yeah I mean eventually you're just out of seat numbers right and I think uh before letting Zen go they had five for three right you've got with still got Conor Zill sit sitting over there and you got to think that one day as long as they're able to keep him it then it's still you still have an odman out somewhere but um you know that's you know you can't fault track house on investing on their in their future right you know they they're investing that they've got this alliance with collague I think they got this alliance with Spire they got this alliance with Junior Motorsports like they're at least spending money to give these young drivers opportunities if it's not with them with someone else so um I I kind of can appreciate what they're doing to try to build up their driver pool has that always been a thing in the past where a team would invest in drivers that aren't even Racing for them directly at the cup level or are they doing something more changed over time over you know long once upon a time a billion years ago when I started uh we would just JB's racing or Hendrick Motorsports which just start a xinity team right or or what have you it's just a different world now um where it's you know it just doesn't make sense you know even the Cup teams have seen it you know running Infinity just financially is not ideal so you go to a existing team that already has the infrastructure the people and the cars and you just say okay well I'll give you x amount of dollars to run this person um and and really we've seen that that's kind of what the xinity Ser Series has morphed itself into uh is to you know it's it's drivers that are you know others are investing money in to go compete there or just get them ready for the next level it's interesting though um that this regular season format has more or less created svg's opportunity and cup next year right because exactly track house looks at this says okay we have Zay yeah because realistically I mean not to jump over you but I mean if SVG is top 25 in points next year I would be I'd be shocked I really would but he has a great chance to go win one many but he's likely just gonna go win a rad course and then find themselves 16th or rder mhm and as long as they keep multiple Road cour is in the playoffs he could I don't know he go to the top eight I don't know this is hard it takes time to learn and what you know what I can appreciate is when I watch xinity races SVG does for the most part take care of his equipment and he gets better as the race goes that's all you can really ask from him and so um I think this is really just a decision to say okay well he's going to be our best path to do what we want to accomplish in the short term and um let's see how this all pans out and can he continue to get better on the ovals and I think he will I got a review here from Gabe and they say while I'm not an at track fan I don't mean that in a bad way I think you're an awesome guy I absolutely love the podcast and can't wait for it to drop every week sounds like a common theme we'll take it yeah well I appreciate it thanks for the review Gabe uh we'll see you at a racetrack soon um I don't have anything else what about you guys make sure to rate review follow wherever you get your podcast yeah thank you guys subscribe on YouTube subscribe on YouTube subscribe please on YouTube um and we will see you guys post Darlington win