The Backstretch Podcast Season 3, Episode 28: Wild and Wacky week, Bubba Wallace stops by

[Music] walked up to me and he's like it's not that deep never has been he like have a good day just walked off you're like damn I'm sure they're like oh boy wait now what are we going to do here uh let's face it the concerns of this new car keep popping up do you try to win do you play conservative and not be torn up if you go to win and you get torn up and the other guy plays conservative you've basically given away a race you know you never know when you're just going to have an off weekend I've kind of gotten the ability to have the platform that uh I want and and it is my platform and I can speak to wherever I feel like talking about we're in the mix and it makes a lot more fun when you're in the mix than you are just you know struggling and and trying to figure out what direction it goes it's tough it's tough and sorry for being bouncy the roads here it's like if you have you know the all you can eat buffet every single day of the week people are going to get tired of it right so if it's a special thing I think people get more excited for it by Bo raise your hand up so she can see it there you go interesting even as a company I think it was you know very head scratching why at the beginning we all four of us just went instantly straight to the back we just really struggled well welcome on to the backstretch I'm news5 Heather Williams and what a week it's been it kind of feels like the news is coming faster than you can almost keep up with it we are now in the high school football season here in Northeast Tennessee in Bristol so we recorded our segment with Chris carrier on the backstretch here on Wednesday and stuff has happened even since we talked to Chris first of all you have the news that Austin Dylan lost his appeal and he will now go to a final appeal to try to get credit for his win back as far as going into the playoffs and you may think that was a big deal but the bombshell actually came on Thursday when NASCAR announced that they would be taking away all the credit for Denny Hamlin to win at Bristol also taking away 75 driers points finding the crew chief $100,000 because of a mistake made by Toyota this is wild to me basically the kind of this down the simplest terms I really wish I had Chris here because he'd be much better at explaining this than I am you can use an engine they want you to use them at least twice so if you win with an engine the first time you run it out you can't they don't take it from you usually they take it they don't take it from you the first time you have to run the second time and they'll take it and you check it make sure nothing you not cheating up all that kind of stuff so hlin won the first time out with this engine at Bristol this particular engine they deconstructed it before NASCAR got a chance to check it and so Nas they self-reported it and now NASCAR is like no you can't do that actually it was much bigger it's more like a smack in the face but I'm not going to do that to myself uh and as a result he's pretty much out of the regular season Championship race it was really getting interesting between him and and K L head and Chase Elliott and of course Tyler reck who's leading the regular season points right now but pretty much losing those 75 points and the playoff points Hamlin has zero shot of winning in regular season Championship which is probably pretty disappointing for him you know when you're trying to win a championship having the bonus point for winning the regular season is really nice it helps you if you have a bad race Advance through the playoffs so Hamlin lost those points now he's pretty much I guess got to go out and win the last two to to have a chance to win the regular season Championship so big big news we'll try to talk with Chris a little bit about that more next week along with whatever the final decision is with with Austin Dylan which I don't think there'll be much change so a little less worried about getting to that one but uh fascinating to me because we're taking away playoff eligibility right Denny Hamlin's still in the playoffs because he has other wins that count towards the playoffs but they basically gave him the same punishment they gave Austin they took away that Bristol win does not count for towards the playoffs so really interesting twist that NASCAR's kind of put on these uh quote unquote punishments because uh the playoffs are what matters I mean that's the biggest thing to all these drivers and taking that away uh that should get driver's attention for sure all right speaking of the playoffs Our Guest this we I'm pretty excited because we haven't had him on in a couple of years we have Bubba Wallace Bubba is trying to get in the playoffs he's going to the track that I think everybody considers to be his best track Daytona this week although Bubba has lowkey gotten really good at a lot of tracks these days if you haven't been paying attention he's got a nice string of top 10 finishes uh going on for himself right now so we're talked to Bubba about Daytona what makes him so good there the pressure of trying to get into the playoffs you know he's one point out technically right now of the playoffs if they were to start today but of course we know they're not so really really gonna be interesting to talk to bub and kind of P I said I'm also G to talk about ask him about fatherhood uh he's very close to having his first child with his wife Amanda and what he kind of father Bubba feels like he's going to be all right so let's keep going joining us now is our crew chief Chris carer who is also the crew chief for the number 75 food country truck in the crft truck series Chris Tyler Ric picked up his second win of the Season at Michigan has now taken over the points lead finished the top 10 listen to this 10 of the last 11 races the guy is on fire right now so has he quietly made himself the favorite for the championship uh how can you argue against that you know and and uh he's had a solid season you know this guy this guy is just a little gas Masher you know I mean that's that's way only way and I'll be honest with you Heather you know he's he is one of my favorite drivers favorite people because he's always on the posit postive side of things he he obviously appreciates the opportunity that he has and that he has had leading up to his cup career he he's made the best of those opportunities um you know he never complains he never gripes he never you know runs that Yap about stuff when things when he does when he makes mistake when he does things wrong he owns it he T he takes blame for it and Carries us on his shoulders um he he's just to me uh he's an easy guy to pull for and you know drivers like that that that rubs off on their team their team likes to work for them which at this point in the season when everybody's kind of tired it's been a lot of races and they're still they they're facing the hardest part of the season and you're in those playoffs and you need to get you need something to make a difference you know the driver's going to make a difference that team's going to step up and they're going to work the late hours they're going to give the extra 10% effort they're going to cross all the te's and Dot all the eyes that's it's it's infectuous you know and when you're on the other side of that and you know team members everybody's human they get tired of of listening to a a black cloud all the time and and Tyler reic is just a ray of sunshine and uh man he put on a great performance at Michigan he and the team they they did everything they did all the stuff right he executed at the end of the race when he had you know a couple restarts when there was opportunities for him to make a mistake you know as as sometimes it does but um they did everything right he did did everything right he won the race yes I think you're right I think he probably right now is the hottest thing going and would be the favorite going into the championship push here in a couple weeks before we talk about that a little bit more Cory Le Joy went for a wild rid flipping several times how much was the concern that his car went Airborne so easily and what do we know about why it took off like that well the only reason that that I can give you on the on the technical side of that is these cars are built with basically a solid what I call underpinning the bottom side of the car it's like a Formula One car there's things on the top there's things on the bottom that suck it to the ground as it's going forward as it going straight or maybe a little bit sideways but when it went off and an angle like that that air rush underneath that car you know it's pushing up on a basically a flat board and you know you've seen a lot down through the years you've seen a lot of Formula One cars do the same thing um I to answer your question it's a concern if it was me it would be a big concern uh I'm sure they're looking into this I'm sure they're like oh boy we now what are we going to do here uh let's face it the concerns of this new car keep popping up they little things that keep you know drivers getting hurt and and all the stuff Wheels Flying off and so on and so forth here's something else and I don't know it's uh the the the teams the drivers will keep pushing forward they they will not look back they'll keep pushing forward they'll keep going I think NASCAR will look at some of this stuff and say okay what can we do they'll they'll resort to uh doing Arrow testing and some way shape or form to find out okay what what can we do what kind of widgets gadgets can we come up with what kind of things can we fix along that line after the after they took the car and evaluated it they're now mandating a right rear side window air deflector apparently they already have them on the left side now they have them on the right side too what does that do well I I'm assuming that it's going to be some something along the same lines as the package underneath the cars that supp when the car turns sideways backwards sideways it tries to keep that air from rushing under the car and lifting it up so I'm assuming this is another step in the same direction um I didn't know that till you just told me so you know breaking news right here with Heather Williams just keep tuned you'll find more I learn something every time I come down here but you know it's it's good is this going to be a a huge change I don't know and and I would say nobody really knows until it until it gets tested on the racetrack now we were at a really fast racetrack at Michigan this past weekend really lot of fast speeds a lot of air moving around he came up on a car at an odd angle turned quickly uh he said in his interview that he kind of misjudged a little bit kind of turned quickly okay is that circumstances it's never going to happen again no that will happen again and we're going to go to some more fast racetracks including Daytona this week so scary moment for him of course the the the the most important thing is that he's okay he came out basically unscathed uh but it it it raises some eyebrows and you know at the the lucky end of this that okay now we see something a potential problem we can we can try to fix it and yeah a car got tore up but a person didn't so we we're really kind of fortunate on this so we'll see what they do going forward see if this little change makes makes a a an impact on those type of situations again hopefully it will and we won't see those guys going up in the air and coming down like that that's scary situation scary situation so uh kind of ugly so we hope hopefully this will you know maybe that'll be the end of it yeah you never want to see those guys go Airborne for sure so with two races left in the regular season there is a battle for the final four playoff spots I mean this is as incredible as it's been in some time when you look at the guys that are still on the outside are those just barely on the inside of the cut off who needs a really good run or win at Daytona well I'm I'm going to say you know one is Kyle bus you know everybody keeps waiting for him to like all of a sudden surge forward make his lunge to the front now he ran good at Michigan and he was in a good spot he' come home with what top top five six finish he was there he was competitive he was more competitive than he's been in a while so is is this the start of the turnaround to put him to where he can be comfortable enough to where he can hey I can go win a race I think three4 of the field is going to be capable at least having a chance of winning the race at Daytona K Kyle bus has got to have a good chance now that those those cars the Richard children's cars have a great history at Super Speedway racing and Daytona Kyle Bush is still you can't tell me the guy can't drive as good there's something going on there that he hasn't been comfortable with but now it's down to this is the nitty-gritty time I think he's the guy you got to watch I think he's the guy you got to watch he'll put himself in position he'll run a smart race he wins the race he's in the playoffs with probably his Worst season ever as a driver and then once he gets in who knows what can happen I mean this guy's capable of a lot of things once he gets once he gets his harness on and once he gets his eyes looking forward and he gets the confidence is what's going on around him uh we've seen some other guys with these cars that all of a sudden start running better you know zaye Smith is stared running better for one thing and and zay's not got the career that Kyle bus has got so I think that's a guy that's my guy I'm going to be watching U Saturday night at at at Daytona and I'm going to be watching and looking and seeing he he might punch his way in this week but you know he again three4 of the field have a chance to win and that means that those all those guys that's up and down those four or five spots man they got to be sweating bullets oh for sure you know would you want to be Ros chest or bubble Wallace either one of those on the on the plus one minus one on the cut line no they're the ones that's going to have they're the ones that will have the most pressure going into that race because they're well what do you do do you do you try to win do you play conservative and not be torn up if you go to win and you get torn up and the other guy plays conservative you've basically given away a race I mean I think personally if it it was me and now I'm not in that spot and I'm just thank goodness for all of us I'm not in the driver's spot but anyway I I would run I would run the race that I'm used to running at those places I would do what I'm what I'm familiar with you know because if you change your game plan up um you know I know a head a great head football coach has always said I'm going to play my game we're going to do the offense we're going to run our game like we we're going to approach it just like we always do that gives us the best chance to win because we're familiar with it I think that's what they do now do they do they emphasize don't make mistakes on Pit Road don't speed come down Pit Road don't don't spin out coming to Pit Road don't run into anybody still that's that's that's easy to say and hard to do right so I think if you go in the mindset of saying you know what I'm just going to go race here just like I do every time I come to one of these Speedway Races Bubba's got a pretty good record Speedway he's a good Speedway racer and he's going to have a fast car yeah he's going to have a fast car they'll have fast cars there and he's got a good teammate that just won a race so that team that company is on a roll and they're going to want to get both their cars in the playoffs and this is a this is a good chance for Bubba maybe to win or to have a top five finish or a top 10 finish that's probably going to probably going to sit him looking pretty going in and if he runs like he normally does at a Speedway and does does the normal things and what he's familiar with I think he's got a I think he's got a really good chance of coming out with a good day and a good spot in those those uh point standings I still got Todd Gillan in as my Dark Horse but I think he has to get it done this weekend I don't think that he can get it done it darling but he I mean Todd Gillan is another that team could could win I mean they have a good track record at Speedway racing and Todd Gillan is one of those guys that's coming forward coming forward getting better and better every month maybe not every race he doesn't show up but every month he shows Improvement and everybody's standing back looking this young kid is here he's here to stay he's going to run good he's going to eventually be a winner it might be Saturday night and he punches his ticket into the playoffs a lot of action he make me look smart if he does that I've been C you're already smart but lot lot to watch for this Saturday night got a lot of lot of uh good stories are going to happen some good some bad for different people but it's going to be some exciting stuff so what's the key to survival I don't even want to say winning it's survival at Daytona I'm not sure I've never figured it out myself if I if I had I'd probably be run hendrik Motorsports or something but uh I I think it's I I I I think it's just stay to your game plan don't push yourself in positions that you know that that don't that don't smell right when you're out there that like uh wait a minute this guy's moving around a lot these guys are really knocking the crap out of each other we're halfway through the race that you know there something's going to happen here that's when you kind of look for a hole but again it it's man it's the decisions are that thin right that their razor thin and there everybody's on a a t you know what everybody's in the same boat I've seen guys run at the back of the pack all night long just waiting it gets 10 laps to go they go up through there pow they end up on the record and they still finish 30 seconds right so I don't think there is a solid consistent uh written in stone uh recipe for saying okay I'm just going to go finish 10th yeah there there's not one so uh some guys will do that they'll ride in the back and ride in the back back and riding the back and I tell you that that the teams and the the crew chief and even the driver hates it they just get so frustrated I want to go and then they get so ramped up when it's 20 to go or something like that they just go like a like a bat out of you knowwhere and po usually so um I think just go run your race do what you know do what you know you can do let your car let your car do the work let your driver make good decisions everybody go into it just don't put pressure on one another don't think just go and and I I think that's the best recipe myself we'll see I I'm I'm interested to watch these guys that are in that position it's going to be pretty exciting and it's even it's it's still a pretty long race yeah so anyway we'll see thanks for the time for joining us Bubba really appreciate it um I guess we'll just get right to the big question how are you feeling you got two chances to uh to solidify your place in the playoffs going to a track that a lot of people would probably consider maybe one of your best tracks yeah for sure I mean the vibe obviously a little bit tarnished from last weekend's result but uh the goal hasn't changed we know uh you know coming out a two week break we had four good opportunities we're batting 50% right now uh Richmond was really good Michigan not so good so we got two more chances to make up some ground uh you know being where we're at right now is stressful but it's it's a spot we 've been in before and uh you know one thing about our group is that even even myself uh the the talks of we're one point out or you know we're right there on the on the cut line however you want it sounds more stressful than we think it is so we we know if we go out and execute do the things that we're supposed to do then the cards will fall into place how they're supposed to so uh I I've order I've gotten I've learned to just focus on the things that you can control more and more I've know I've said that in the past and I still get pissed off and whatnot about stuff that's out of my control but there's it's just a a waste of space a waste of time and uh so yeah it's a new week new opportunity excited to be here in Daytona uh did a little fishing this morning with Columbia uh it's good to have them back on the car this weekend and we always seem to run really well when Columbia's on the car so we'll just focus on the good things and see what happens well when you talk about the good things I mean you have to feel good about the fact that when you've had those you know 50% of the runs what they weren't happy with they weren't things that you guys did I mean you were caught up in someone else's mess and I mean you guys are running really well and obviously your teammates running really well that's got to at least give you a little bit of confidence going into Daytona know yeah no doubt uh you know I think our team both 23 and 45 are firing on all cylinders right now uh you know Michigan really really stings because we knew we were capable of winning that race uh you know if all went according to plan 23 would have been hard to beat and so on one hand you want to be pissed off frustrated you didn't complete that but on the other hand it's hey that's what you asked for you want to show up and be competitive I've had plenty of days where you show up and you had no chance you just riding around uh but to show up to be competitive uh to keep the competitive is Flowing uh that's that's all we can ask for you mentioned you know being less concerned about you know uh being really upset after races and kind of growing up and maturing in that sense how much is that it's just I mean you're kind of living the big boy life right now right you you recently got married and um you're got a baby coming like really soon how much of that has uh has maybe changed your attitude and your your outlook towards things yeah all the above uh suround yourself for the right people um you know letting letting them kind of be frustrated for you you know it's funny after the race uh my wife and I were driving back to the to the airport and I looked over at her and I was like are you okay she's like just devastated I'm like I didn't say anything else I was just like all right you know uh so uh it's you know going through I I could talk to you guys at Pocono that kind penalty was you know me I would talk to Harvick uh best thing you know that's happened because it just gave me a whole different perspective on how to go about life and enjoy the little moments and one of the one of the coolest and best things was HR herck walked up to me on the grid at Pocono for the race he looked at me he said it's never been that deep I just it is Sydney turn your mic off you got me yeah I got you okay uh hamr walked up to me and he's like it's not that deep never has been he was like have a good day and just walked off and you're like damn just those few words were powerful so uh so what I'm telling you it ain't that deep um how much of that though is just I mean I get it right I'm you you and I when we walk through the garage area we're two of the few people that that look like this how much of that is just learning to like because I feel at 50 I struggle with this a little bit learning to let some of that go like people are going to think of you what they think of you but it's still hard to let it go it is I mean right I've I've always you know wanted to uh you know fight for you know I got to prove myself right you know why did Bubba Wallace do this well what one the one thing that I've struggle with is people don't focus on the what what started the problems they only focus on what what's finished it right I've always been on the finishing end and uh and so I've accepted that that that's always going to be how it's played uh you know going back to getting wrecked getting wiped out of Chicago just finished it right oh it looked really bad so uh but I think that the point gets across I have to go through you know whatever you want to call it but the point gets across to other people that I'm not afraid to finish it um and so but I've always felt like I had to speak up and and and say what's on mind and you know when I'm when I'm in a bad spot or whatever uh and now I've just let that go I've been off social media now for good for for good uh for the last last month and a half for month now and it's been great um I'm just curious like this this season it seems like I mean I I see the difference in like all of this that you talk about how much of it is that maybe contributed to the success on the track I mean I know you're kind of fighting for a for a playoff spot but you mentioned you don't really have many days where you show up and you're not a contender now you might get caught in someone's mess but when you show up every weekend and you're a contender how much is letting all that go improved your On Track Performance oh a lot you know I think Denny's Denny said it a while back on his on his podcast or where I seen it at but you know he's like hey we're top 10 driver top 10 team you know what's inside top 10 is is is one so if you keep finishing top 10 and you put your name in the Hat then eventually hopefully you think it'll get pulled um so all we can do is continue to show up I I really look at you know going into Talladega we were eighth or ninth in points and obviously got in that crash and then got wiped out the following week at at do and we ' been fighting ever since so those two those two races put us to where we're at right now uh and so to show up and have the speed let's say road courses you know I can it's not right for me to say anymore like count us out at road fores because I don't know what I'm doing I show up with the confidence that I have in Kansas when I show up the rad forces now and so I think that's just big and all contributes to just the people uh the effort they put in to help me and uh make it all work and so it's it's fun right now it's frustrating at times but I think when you're trying to be as successful as you can be it's it's never going to be fun all the time well I do want to end with something fun um how much are you looking forward to fatherhood I mean this is coming soon uh you know are you ready are you looking forward to it what's kind of the feeling about that I'm told that I'll never be ready uh and you know for me it's it's it's different because uh you know it takes a lot for me to get excited uh people think you know driving for MJ is one of the coolest things to me it's just another team owner it's just another opportunity right I'm appreciative of it I don't want people to take these words which some people already will that I don't appreciate the opportunity but I 100% do um but this goes back to your question like Amanda's like are are you even excited and I'm like I will be when Little Man shows up like right now like I don't want to not that I don't want to I just I'm not getting I'm not excited like I'm just I love watching her grow and go through all the the Motions of pregnancy uh she's she's been she's been really good for the last five months six months and uh we've just been enjoying it and every just just about every day we always say holy cow we're pregnant and it's it's going to be wild so I think I think reality is going to hit when when little man is is here for my final thought this week I want to go back to the punishments leveled on Austin Dylan and Danny Hamlin and something I kind of alluded to in the intro which was making it hurt punishments that make it hurt Nascar has long kind of been searching for that sweet spot where it really hurts for drivers uh when you punish them I think they might have found it this sport I mean yes money is Big to these drivers obviously but they have a lot of money and money is going to charity so it hurts but um it probably doesn't hurt as much as it hurts for you and I to to find the drivers points don't matter unless you are running for the championship um they I mean they do but they don't you just have to get to Phoenix you know so if you lose points here and there but you've got wins you can get into the playoffs points don't matter a ton but playoff eligibility getting into the playoffs Denny Hamlin said on his podcast when they were talking about Austin Dylan's punishment the difference between 32nd and 16th is over a million dollars so it is worth it for him to take a $100,000 fine and you know 25 driver points or 75 driver point or whatever the punishment may be if he gets to keep that place in the playoffs he's got a Net game there right you know anyone can do simple math and find out that there are still you know $900,000 in the pocket for from a $100,000 fine seems worth it but if you take away that playoff spot using that win for a position in the playoffs whether it's for a technical violation like they Le leveled on Denny hlin or contact violation like they leveled on Austin Dylan now you're really talking about something that hurts the drivers because making that playoffs and winning that Championship that is the most important thing to most drivers so I really think NASCAR made have finally hit on a sweet spot that all drivers will take pretty seriously when it comes to violations we'll see I mean I always feel like the drivers and teams are always looking for that edge that that point where they can just get to where they'll get in trouble with NASCAR without actually getting in C with NASCAR and sometimes when you're looking for that edge you fall over the side of it so I punishments and things are going to happen but now it hurts so maybe you don't push quite as hard as you had in the past to find that edge guess we'll see but definitely an interesting concept thanks for joining us on the backstretch we'll see you next week