Could Talladega Decide the Whole Championship?

This episode of Action's Determinal is brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, one of the fastest growing furniture stores in the country. It's almost Labor Day weekend, and you can get ready and style with our great JGR partner. Bob's Discount Furniture has everything you need to make the most of the end of summer. Top-rated furniture, low prices, flexible financing, and fast shipping. All part of why Bob's is celebrating 35 years in business. Check out your local Bob store or visit MyBobbs.com. As you can see, we have another JGR partner here to help with our show today, Chase Briscoe. Later in the episode, Denny will be joining us and trust me, it'll be worth it. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. What's up? Not much. Yeah, excited to do this. I'm a listener of the show every week. This will. You've done door bumper clear? Yeah, this is awesome. I did all of them. This is the last one on the Bingo card. So yeah, I've done DBC, I've done Dale Junior, and then yeah, now I'm doing this one. So yeah, I finally knocked out, I guess, the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR podcast. But you're without. I'm without my partner here. Noah's normally doing these with me. So I feel kind of weird, truthfully. I don't know what to do or what to talk about. Normally, he kind of steers the ship. Yeah, Noah's like I just react. Noah's a good guy to just riff off of because you just never know what he's going to say. And the problem is it just goes so off the rails so quickly that you have no idea. You can be talking about racing and military school and then candy and yeah, it just goes off the rails really, really quickly. But it is fun to do podcasts with him because yeah, you just react and can talk about whatever. Did you first. This is just this question. Did you first meet him at SHR? Or is like your relationship go back a little further? Because it feels like you guys are good boys forever. Our relationship started. I'd never heard of Noah knew anything about him and Daytona Truck Race 2017 was our first time ever racing on the track. And I've wrecked him lap one at Daytona, like absolutely destroyed him. It was my first ever NASCAR race and I had to watch Daytona and Talladegan, like you push people, right? And we come out of the tri-oval take lap two and I just pushed him thinking that's what we do and I've wrecked him and caused the big one, like first life in my NASCAR career. Then we go to Martin'sville for the second race of the season. I wrecked him again there. I got underneath them and got loose and wrecked him and he came down there and was cussing me out and he was like that's two and two weeks. Like next time you're getting punched in the eye and was yelling at me and all this stuff. And so then we didn't talk for like two or three years. And we raced against each other a little bit at Xfinity and you know, we'd always be kind of racing for the win. So naturally like there was a little bit of back and forth like just as far as like hey, you know, how's your car or whatever. But yeah, then when he came to Stewart Haas, that was the first time I had ever really talked to him. And we just kind of hit it off. I had a buddy that I grew up with and no ever reminds me so much of hanging out with him. So it's just been a lot of fun. Me and no have really hit it off. I would say since that Stewart Haas year and yeah, just hung out ever since. Wow. Yeah, I feel like everyone's got a buddy at some point in their life that no reminds them of. Chase, you're actually you are in a photo. You're I think the first person you've had on the show that's in a photo on the set. Oh yeah, yeah. What is that one? Yeah, so I was Indianapolis. I don't know. It was my rookie year said 21. I think yeah, everybody thinks still that I I wrecked Denny on purpose that day. And I would take a lot of texture right now on the show just to verify it. But yeah, so that day Indianapolis, obviously, my home race, it's rookie year. It's the road course. And I started I think on the front row, let some laps. Then we had break issues. And so yeah, we like short pitted at the very end, hoping to catch a caution. And we somehow caught one. So then I found myself on the front row after being like 34th. And we had a restart. I remember it was Denny and I caution comes back out. And I remember under that caution, I was like, all right, I'm probably going to get ran wide and turn one. And so I was looking at the grass. And I'm like, if I get pushed out there, I'm just going to go wide open. As soon as I get there and try to cut back in front of everybody. So yeah, go down into one. And obviously I get ran wide, but like we both kind of missed the corner. And there was no way I was getting back on the racetrack. So I just gas the thing. Go wide open across the grass and come out. I remember looking in my mirror, I'm like, okay, I'm five car links ahead of the field now. This is not going to go over well. So I lifted, let Denny get back in front of me. And I forget what the corners are. It's like, I think it was 8, 9, 10. It was like these quick little like S's. And in Xfinity the year before and even in Cup that year, I would murder the field through there. Like that was my best part of the racetrack. And I would like carry partial throttle. And I would just run straight across them and almost run through the grass and just make it one straight away. And so I go into turn 8 behind Denny and I'm like on his bumper, right? Well, I was going to go turn off right into turn 10. I think turn 10 was the right hander after those. So I'm like on him just because I was so much faster through there. Well, he goes to turn left to like set up for that next one right when I was shooting right to try to pass him. And I mean, I smoking in the right rear right as we turn off. And so I reckon that he spends out or whatever. And so I remember coming in and then they're telling me right after that happened, you got a penalty. So I pull off and I come in and Tony's like, man, I'm proud of you for standing your ground. I'm thinking the back of my mind. I didn't reckon my purpose, but yeah, buddy. Yeah, you got it. Yeah. And so then, yeah, it was like a two week thing. They were Denny and I remember we had to go sit with NASCAR, J Fabian. I remember stop does and you know, was talking to us about how because I think Denny was mad at the time. He thought that I knew I had a penalty. I didn't know I have a penalty in the first place. But yeah, if you guys have a live detector, I'll come back on the show and gladly take it in person because everybody, even like now on weekends, I'll have people around and man, we remember when you wreck Denny, thanks for doing that. And I'm like, all right. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. I didn't do it on purpose but that works. But yeah, the perception of it was not great, but that's what that picture is from. I just remember my PR girl. I was standing there doing the interview and she was freaking out. She's like, he's coming. He's coming down here. And then I was like, yeah, my first altercation in NASCAR. And I think that's the only one I've had since. Yeah, I remember as it was it was funny because it's, you know, Indy's a long pit road. Oh, it's so long. Yeah. So you were down towards the front for whatever reason, Denny was dead last. And I think, well, he would have been back there too. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know why we would have been so separated. I just remember all the all the crew guys were walking with them. I was like, you're like, this is going to be a huge, huge fight. It was not that whatever. Yeah, we came down there and he was just like, what were you thinking? And like he was saying, he's like, you knew you had a penalty. And I'm like, I had no idea that I had a penalty. And even if I had a penalty, like, yeah, I don't, what you did, I even told him when we met with NASCAR, I was like, Denny, I was never mad at you in the first place because if I was rolls reverse, like I would have done the exact same thing. I would have just pushed you wide there. That was what you did at Indy going into turn one on starts. So yeah, if I didn't know it was coming, I wouldn't have had a plan to cut through the grass anyways. So, yeah, that was just kind of the research word Indy. They were super chaotic into one and you'd always get pushed wide. And so yeah, I didn't think he did anything wrong in the first place. Yeah, I remember that I'm watching the replay here now. And I remember the optics were just like that on TV. Yeah, on TV, it's at the bottom here. Penalty. Yes. Chase Briscoe. And, you know, I remember NASCAR when they set us down, they like went back and played all of our audio because they said penalty, but that was on channel two. So like, I never hear any of that. Yeah. And so, when they went back and played it all, I don't, I never, we never talked about it since, but I think Denny knew that after I didn't even know I had a penalty. Yeah, yeah. Man, I was really hoping that we were going to have a race winning trophy on this table this morning. Yeah, I thought I thought it was going to happen, which is crazy to think of Richmond. It's like my worst track in the world. Yeah, I just, yeah, great car. Obviously, start up front, let a lot of laps. And, um, yeah, the whole night was odd because it was kind of me, Vagano, and even Denny there, that wander on. He came flying up through there, but it seemed like everybody's car would just go through transitions. Like, there was that one run where my car wasn't very good. And that's when Denny was, was really strong, but then Joey was like unbelievable that run. I don't know how far of a lead he got to, but I couldn't even see him. And then, you know, I got the lead and Joey kind of fell off and I drove to I think a three or four second lead. And then, you know, we would just keep swapping runs like where I would be really good and he would be really good. And, um, yeah, for me, I just lost breaks at the end. I think it was around 60 or 70 to go. Um, you know, I had a three second lead and I just lost breaks and started getting really, really loose and it allowed Joey to, you know, eat up that three second lead. And he passes me. We both pit. I come out right behind him. And even that last run, I thought I was better than him. But, you know, if I could have just had even a half second lead when we pitted, I probably win the race. But, yeah, giving up a three second lead with 60 to go for, um, green flag pit stops. It just cost you. So we had Joey Lugano getting out of the right time, of course. In an even year. Yeah, even year. It's crazy. I saw a staff the other day in six weeks. He's went from 20th and points to eighth. Yeah. I was as mind blowing. So I know they're with this whole new chase format. They're, you know, the, the, how they've run it, whatever the AI that you have to be in the top six to win. That's what they say. But it's really not. It's really, I mean, I feel like you can be anywhere. I mean, top 10 even. I mean, look at Joey. I think, uh, yeah. So he scored 73 points. I scored 52. I finished second and third in the stages. I think he finished first and third in the stages. But yeah, he scored 19 more points than me. So yeah, if you're, I think the difference in fifth and tenth and points, uh, when the chase starts is 25 points. I mean, that's a race. You're right back there. Yeah. Same. So yeah, I think if the chase is going to come down to, if you can win, call it three of the races and you just average, you know, no DNFs, I don't see how you could get beat. Um, you know, and it's different like, you know, Denny's in a little bit different position because he will start with more points. But yeah, I think if you, like if a guy goes on a 2011 run like Tony Stewart and wins five of the ten rate, like he's winning the championship as long as he doesn't DNF the other five. So how the format is now, I think it's perfect because it's still rewards winning. You know, those 15 extra points just makes such a huge difference. You can eat up such a big gap really quickly, but you also have to be consistent. Um, so yeah, I think NASCAR honestly is kind of nailed it with this format. Um, I'm excited to see how it actually races once the chase starts and kind of how that reseeding works. But yeah, even for us internally, we've all talked about gotta be top five or six and points. But I, I feel like yeah, you can be, you could be 16th if you can go win five races. Now, the odds of that happening are probably pretty slim. But I do think that if you get hot at the right time, you can still do it. Did you realize at the beginning of the season that like how much those 15 bonus points really are worth because it feels like it fans and people weren't really talking about it until all of a sudden. You're like, Oh, wow, like that's the big difference. It's, I would say I did not realize how big it was and it really doesn't make as big of a difference unless you, uh, you know, if you don't get stage points, it kind of evens it out, right? Like if you had no stage points, you're not going to score that many points. You're still going to score quite a bit, but it's when you can stack stage points. You know, if you finish top two or three in both stages and win the race, I mean, that's a 75 point day potentially. So yeah, it just makes a massive difference because that's, you know, 15 points that nobody else can even get, right? So that's where the huge difference maker is. So I've really enjoyed how much winning makes a difference. And, um, yeah, you can still, if you DNF and don't run good, you can still lose positions. I mean, look at Tyler that nobody thought that anybody would ever even touch him. And now he's fourth and points. I think only 100 above me. So yeah, it's, um, a really good format, I think as a race fan, I'm really nervous for Darlington because everything that we know about the standings and who's been good this year could completely be turned on its head in that first race, right? 100%. Yeah, especially the Southern 500. I mean, we've seen that race the last couple of years where it's just turned into chaos for a lot of the like, you know, chase field or playoff field. So yeah. And then, you know, Darlington is one of those places like Richmond where one on timely caution and now you're trapped to lap down or two laps down. And your whole race has changed just because a caution came out at an untimely, at an untimely time. So, um, yeah, Darlington's going to be an interesting one. Um, I mean, all the chase races are going to be interesting for the right reasons, right? But Darlington is one where when we get through Darlington, you could have a guy that's 10th and points say go and dominate the race and have a 75 76 point day. Now, they're third or fourth and points and it's all irrelevant what the seeding was. So yeah, it's going to be pretty interesting. I think as we get going going back to Richmond. How does that work when the team you race for his is historically so good at the racetrack? Yeah. But you're saying it's been one of your worst. I've never finished top 10 there ever and anything. I think Xfinity had maybe finished one time in the top 10. But I remember even at SHR, I went two laps down in a Stewardhoss Xfinity Cart Richmond like legit does two laps down. I'm so bad. So yeah, it is unique when you can go to a track where, you know, a team is good. And that's been, you know, the good thing I think for me about being at JGRs, the tracks that I've historically been really bad at and just don't, you know, feel good at is Richmond, Loudon and Sonoma. And those are all three tracks that, you know, JGR and specifically in 19 cars been great at and Sonoma's been arguably one of my best tracks at Joe Gibbs racing now. You know, Richmond this year was really, really good and we go to Loudon this week. But I think it definitely makes a difference, you know, Christopher, I remember when I came to JGR, I was asking him about Richmond. He's like, your car's still going to drive like crap. It's just going to go faster. And, you know, Richmond is one of those tracks where if your car is just not good, you're not going to go fast. And JGR cars are obviously really good. But it is crazy even, you know, leading 170 something laps like my car did not drive good. Because I can't imagine how bad the other guys cars were driving too. But yeah, it's just, you know, when you can go to a place where, you know, a team runs typically good at your car. This does do things better. It turns better. It has more grip and it makes a huge difference behind the wheel. You know, Harvick, you always tell him you can't drive a slow car fast and it is the truth. So did you get better there this year? Yeah, definitely. I definitely got better. You know, James and our engineering group on the 19, they do a really good job. You know, whether it's a track, a struggle out or even a track where I'm normally pretty good at, you know, they do just an amazing job of like, this is the things that we're going to focus on this week from a driving technique standpoint. And so I'll go into the same and I'll just try to replicate that and kind of make that become second nature because, you know, I obviously when I get in, I have a natural thing that I want to do right. But sometimes that's not what's best for the car or even the setup. So yeah, I'll just go in there and, you know, hammer out four or five hours of just trying to make how they want me to drive second nature. And, you know, when I get in a racing situation, my normal tendency still kind of come out. But then they can always remind me on the radio, hey, you know, go back to doing this and, you know, typically it's just so much better for the tires and all these things. So it's been a huge difference maker for my career at least coming over and you just get into work with James Small and our entire engineering group. Like I said, they do an amazing job, making my life way easier. I'm tired on they mentioned that James Small kind of challenges you. Like, how is that relationship been and grown as now year two? Uh, yeah, James definitely, you know, keeps me honest. And yeah, it's, you know, kind of the perfect pairing, I think for myself, just because I am so polar opposite than James. Like the most wound up like just fiery on the chip 24/7 guy. And I'm not that guy at all. Uh, I'm pretty laid back 24/7. And so we kind of even each other out, you know, I can, you know, when he gets wound up, I can kind of be that calming factor a little bit, I think, and kind of just reset the mood. Um, but also I do need kind of poked and proud of the long at times. So, yeah, James has been really, really good for me. There's nobody I know in the sport that works harder than James does. I mean, that guy will be up till four or five in the morning, running sim, waking up at seven in the morning, doing it again. So it's a great thing to have, you know, that guy in your corner and, and yeah, our relationship, I would say, you know, truthfully, we don't have a lot of relationship outside of the working side. Um, but that's okay. It just works for us. And, you know, there's this trust and this confidence between each other that, you know, he knows that I'm putting in the work behind the scenes and knows that, uh, you know, and I know that he's doing the same. Did you have a guest this week on the good race pool? Uh, my guest was 62. I feel like I was going to be close. It was 64 last time I looked at 65.2 right now. Um, I'm going to get beat. I think Jordan gets 64. Wait, is the pole still open? Yeah, go vote. No, no, no, no, it's closed. Damn it. Damn it. Yeah. I screwed up. I voted yes. And I, I needed the no vote. I mean, not that it would have mattered now. But I think you need like some consultants to help you out though. It is hard. I will say it's extremely hard because the TV highly dictates the viewers like experience, right? And so there would be times where I get out of the car, um, you know, Wilkesborough is one of them. I'm like, man, that was the best short track race we've ever had. You could pass. You could run wherever. And, uh, I think I texted luck right after I forget what my guess was. I was like 83. Like that was by far the best short track race we've ever had. And he's like, all the race was terrible. Like I think it'll be in the 30s or 40s. I'm like, how we could actually pass on. So it is hard. I will say it's been easier for me to guess whenever I'm in the mix for the win just because, you know, you typically have a little bit better understanding of kind of how the race is at the end when you don't know what the ending looks like. It's really hard to guess. But yeah, the good race pole is really hard when you're in the car driving. I thought that I was going to wear them out this year because I'd done it in the past two times. I'd basically hit the number on the percent. And I've been so far off this year. There was a couple of times I think I missed by 30 points. So I've not been very good. Do you believe when Denny wins it drops? Do you have to adjust 100% yeah. Like if chase Elliott wins, you learn which guys make a difference in the good race pole. So like Joey was a tough one because he can kind of swing either way right? Like he hadn't been winning for a while. So some people like that. Um, but overall I would say Joey still brought it down a little bit. But yeah, if Denny wins, it's always down. If chase Elliott wins, it's always up. And even at the beginning of the year with Reddick, like I just slowly would keep creeping it down a couple percent because people were getting tired of seeing Tyler wins. So yeah, definitely makes a difference who's winning the races. So you guessed 62, but as a driver, like how do you think this race was? Because you could pass. There was tire wear. Yeah, it was hard. I would say this is one of the hardest ones for me to guess because I think I literally ran first or second the entire night. Like normally, even when you finish good, like there's points where you go back in the field and kind of can carve your way back up through. But this one was honestly one of the hardest ones I thought because I was, I was on an island for a lot of the race. And like lap traffic, I didn't think ever got really, really interesting. And then just any track you go to where there's that many different tire strategies, it's hard to kind of know how the race. The lap traffic wasn't interesting. I didn't I didn't think they'd ever help people up or anything. - Yeah, like, the life traffic was hard because everybody was always on different tires. Like sometimes, you know, the field would do the wave around. So then they're on way older tires. So then when you get to them, they finally pit. And then they come out and they're three seconds faster than you. So like you never really got into like this heavy, thick, lap traffic where everybody was on around the same tire, just with how the race kind played out. But I don't know. I feel like Richmond was one of the harder ones to guess just because there was so many different strategies. That the, I don't know, it's just hard because Bristol, you have that same thing where tires were, you know, a massive advantage, it's advantage and people loved it. But Richmond doesn't have that same feel to it. I don't feel like for whatever reason. So I don't know. I've always thought that Richmond is a hard one to have a read on how the race played out. Like even at the end, me and Joey were super, super close. But I never like got there. Like I never hit him or did anything. So like to finish, yeah, the finish was close, but we weren't ever side by side. Like it was almost this cat mouse game, but I don't know, it was just, it was an interesting race. I thought from that standpoint, did you have a shot there at the end to get around him? There was a moment there with like, I wanna say four or five to go, I made a little run. I started widening up my corner and kind of started entering high and trying to turn down low and get a good run down the straightaway. And I made a lot of ground doing that. And I got Joey kind of baited in. That was my whole thing. I just wanted to bait him to go to the top to kind of cover it. And then I was gonna try to get inside of him. I knew if I could get inside of him, you know, my four drive would kind of pay off. And I baited him one time to it. And I got probably three quarters of a carling back. I just couldn't quite get there. My brakes kind of started going long at the end again. I started getting really loose. And it just cost me my ability to kind of close that gap up. And he just did a really good job. I mean, he's won a ton of races. And obviously it rich, but he knows what to do and how to manage his stuff. But I thought there was a moment there. I was gonna get there. And with two to go, I think we caught Eric Jones. And truthfully, how he kind of got by Eric killed me. So he got by Eric into one. And then Eric ran kind of beside me on exit. And that was the difference maker. Once that happened, I think that was two to go. And I lost three or four carlings at that time. I knew that my chance of when it was over. - Do you agree with Ty and that if these backup cameras, we're taking out of the car that race me, we get significantly better or does that matter? - I don't think it rich, but it would make really any difference. But I mean, certainly when we go to Las Vegas or Charlotte, any of the mile and a half, I mean, really a lot of even the short tracks. You know, it would definitely probably make the racing a little bit better just because, I mean, a lot of the time, like when we were mile and a half race. I mean, even when I won Chicago earlier this year, I, going into turn three, what won me the race was, the rear view mirror, you know, or the camera mirror. Just because I was just watching Christopher and wherever he went, I was going to go and take his air. Because the air is such a massive advantage in this car. That as long as you can block that guy and directly get your car in front of him, they normally have no shot of passing you. Unless they just really back the corner up and turn underneath you, but the backup, or not the backup camera, the TV camera, definitely makes it easier. You know, we're in the past. When you had that, you know, actual mirror, you could still do it, but your view of it was just very distorted and you didn't really know depth perception. You really couldn't see him. Like you could see the tip top of their car. All you would see is the roof. So like you're watching it and you can still see what they do, but it wasn't near as easy. We're now, how mine is, it's right here. So I can be driving and it's like out of my peripheral and I can see you if a car makes a quick move. So it makes it definitely way easier. It would be weird now to honestly to race without it. Like I went around a rally race this year and I felt completely blind. Like it's not scared, but just, you're like, man, where are guys at? Because you do get very used to it, but I don't know if they will ever get rid of it, but it probably would make the mountain half racing a little bit better. But we would crash definitely a lot more, I feel like. Well, that'd be good, right? Pins on if you like watching crashes. I don't know if I'm driving it. I wouldn't crash anymore, but yeah, probably wouldn't make it a little bit more exciting. You are most laps lead at Richmond and top 10. How much of that is also, I think last year, you were just trying to figure out this Toyota car. Like do you feel now that like you're 100% comfortable with this car, are you still learning some things about Toyota versus your other past years? - I don't feel like I'm learning now as much as I am. I'm just like fine-tuning things. Like I still go to the racetrack and you know, even this past weekend and you know, going to New Hampshire this year, like I'm gonna be very much, well, New Hampshire, I'm still gonna be learning. But outside of that, I feel like that's the only track where I have like these massive learning curves to still gain. But now, yeah, like when we go to Vegas or Charlotte or wherever, like I just feel like I'm fine-tuning. Like when I get in the car on Saturday for practice, I know how it's gonna drive now. I know what to expect. I know the tendencies it's gonna have. So yeah, I feel really, really good about where we're at. As a team, you know, myself as a driver, I know I still have a lot I can be doing better, you know, just as far as managing races and you know, the more experience you get up front, the better you get. That's where Dini and like Joey and all these guys that have always ran up front for multiple years, they're so good at managing the race and understanding when to go, when not to go. Dini, I feel like is truthfully the best at it. Like being teammates with Dini, I feel like has made me way better at just running races when I'm up front because he does such a good job of managing his car and knowing where it needs to be. And truthfully, it's made me a way better driver. You know, I'm not just saying it 'cause I'm on a show, but it's made me a way better driver being teammates with him because he is so good at that. This might be a dumb question, but is there Travis asked, like, you know, now that you're driving a Toyota whatever, is there much of a difference between like the Toyota the Ford, the Chevy on track versus like what goes on behind the scenes being in the Toyota camp preparing for a race versus like there's a lot. I mean, every manufacturer, right, it's a different company, each one. So every company has its own way of doing things, its own people internally. So, you know, obviously there's different people when I came over here, but even the process, I would say, of how they do things. You know, a lot of us all have the same, you know, tools in a sense like each manufacturer has its own simulator. And a lot of them, I think all of them run off the same program, but once you have that program, it's how you use that program and the, you know, the modeling and things behind it. And, you know, I would definitely say there's big differences in that, but also a lot of similarities at the same time. Like, there's some things that the Ford one does that, you know, Toyota doesn't have. And there's also some things that Toyota has that Ford didn't have. So, you know, they kind of equalize out in some ways. But yeah, I would say from just how the cars drive even, you know, they obviously are different bodies, they're different engines. So, I remember going to, you know, Bowman Gray, the first race and I was like, holy smokes, like the engine, how it drives and like, how it follows your foot was totally different than what I was used to on the Ford side. And yeah, there's definitely a lot of learning to do those first couple of months just because it is vastly different. And, and truthfully, when I came over here, I thought it would be the exact same. Like, they're all, I mean, they all run basically the same lap time, every single lap, but how they get there is totally different. So yeah, there's been a lot of things that I've had to kind of relearn over the first year and a half. It was nice seeing Bob's on the 11 car this weekend for the cookout 400. Bob says, everything you need to make race day and the recovery after a win. That's right, whether you're getting race day ready or just trying to make it through a busy week, having the right mattress can make all the difference. - I needed a good mattress after this past week and unfortunately, I don't, I need to go to Bob's and get one because me and my back is killing me, sleeping on whatever I had was not good. And that's where our friends at Bob's, discount furniture come in. Bob's has been helping people sleep better for 35 years and the customer review speak for themselves. 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And Ronnie told, he told Brook, he's like your daddy's gonna finish, finish second, you know what? A lute into that, he's gonna finish behind Denny. But, and then yeah. - Yeah, Brook's a mean mug, didn't he? - But he did call it. - Brook's was not, I don't think, thrilled or impressed by any, but Ronnie called it though. He did call it and I was gonna finish second. Just to the wrong guy, I guess. - You guys are getting after it. When I saw Travis, his clicker was at 37. I don't know what the final count was. - It's right there on the table. - 65? - So you doubled it, that's impressive. - Well, that was, that was the goal, right? One beer for every, for every one of Denny's career wins. - Yeah, that was the plan, so I didn't have a number. I brought the little clicker as just like, you know, have fun and then somebody threw out a number. I think Alex said 65, just threw it out there. I'm like, all right. And then I was like, oh, well, that number would make sense. Denny's got six points, I go, the plan is, I will have my 65th beer and he gets the checkered. So what was the time, what was the time period for 65 years? - We'll call it Thursday at 6 p.m. to midnight of Saturday. - It's a pretty good run. Pretty, pretty impressive run. - It's insane. - I've never even had alcohol before. I've never had a sip. - Really? - Yeah, I've never had a sip alcohol before. - Wow. - Yeah, I can't relate, obviously. But I've been around people. Obviously they drink a lot. And I feel like it's pretty impressive run. I mean, that's gotta be not rookie numbers. - No, it's 60. - Is this real? - Yeah, for real. I've never had alcohol before. - Wow. - You just went way up in my drive rankings. 'Cause I feel like I relate. - Early, you haven't either? - Well, I have, but it's not really my thing. - Sure, you had what? - Zero. - You had one beer this weekend? - No. - No, I hate, I really dislike beer. - What's funny, though, is on Sunday morning we woke up 'cause we stayed the night there. I think Jared was feeling just as bad as me because of like, he just had to like a sleep and work and all day, like a sleep will get you. - I think I was probably mentally in a better shape than he was. - Yeah, maybe, probably. You're used to that though, it feels like. - Like I was up at 6.30 every morning. - Yeah, Travis is out. - Had you not went to bed though? - No, yeah, I went to bed at, called one or two. - That's pretty impressive then, I feel like. I mean, yeah, those are still rookie numbers though. We had this guy that used to help on our sprint car. His name was Jim Bob and he dated some chick one time that drank 72 beers in one day. - No way. - So we called her out. - She came to the track one time and we called her 72 all day. But yeah, that's like, rookie numbers, compared to. - Yeah, true. - Your numbers are rookie compared to Jim Bob's old girl. - I'm combing us on that number. - I mean, it all just depends on what you're doing. - She was like, maybe 87 pounds too. - But there's no way. - I'm telling you. - He said he came home one time and there was 72 cans of beer in the house. - We did the math, 65 drinks equates to 48 pounds. - That's impressive, really. - Back to the race. So Denny had a couple slow pit stops and one of them was 'cause the jack couldn't get under the car so they maybe had a flat tire or something. - Yeah. - What's that feeling like when you're sitting there in your pit box and you know that it's gone long? - It is the worst feeling in the world. I mean, that's worse. There's way worse things in the world. But in a race, it is one of the worst things you can have happen just because pit road is the easiest place to gain or lose spots, right? And passing is so hard everywhere we go. And so when you have a bad pit stop, you know, a lot of the time you've done all this work to get to the position that you're in, whether that's the lead or top five or whatever. And so for me, I'll have the right side go up. You know, normally the right side always comes up quick. You know, that's very rare that they mess that up. But then you know, sometimes there's slow on the right or the right front and you're just like, man, there's one spot, two spot, three spot. Like it happens so fast, especially with how, you know, close pit road is now from a speed standpoint. So then, you know, anytime you feel that, it is like just a total let down. Because you know that your day just got way harder, your night got way harder, you know, for us, we got really, really lucky on our group. We had a bad pit stop the first one, but the whole front half of the field had one. Like I think we did it probably a 10 second pit stop, which normally you're gonna lose four to five, six spots and we came out a second still. And so the whole group around has all had bad pit stops. But yeah, if you have a 12 or 13 second pit stop in the cup series today, I mean, you're gonna go, you could be from in the lead and you're gonna come out probably 15 to 20. Like it is just a total, or not career, under a day ender. And then if you do that under green, obviously, you're just giving up that amount of time on the racetrack as well. - Are you, like is any of that in the back of your mind when you're coming into pit or is just so much going on here and I think about it? I mean, thinking as far as why, like, they didn't screw this up. Oh yeah, every time. Yeah, I mean, like this past week, I knew that I was in the mixed win. So every time I came down pit road, it was like, I would feel the right side go up. I obviously, I can hear the guns going and getting the nut off and going back on. So literally, it's like a checklist. Like I would be like, all right, right side went up good. Check, right side tires would come off. I would hear him come on good. I would hear the nut draw up and they'd drop. I'm like, okay, we got through the right side. That's good. Then you pulled the left up, left front would go on, left through, and I could hear it, right? And I'm just checking the box every single time. And that's a great feeling when all that's happened and earlier that quick, it's when you have to stall for a little bit to check one of those boxes. That's when you know you're in trouble. But yeah, I mean, every time I come down pit road, I have all the trust in the world and those guys, but you're still like, man, this is the part of the race where they're going to either win you the race or lose you the race. So it's a stressful time. Every time you come down pit road, or it's sometimes just keep you in the race. - Yeah, sometimes, yeah, there's times where I've even came over the radio in the past, and been like, we don't need a killer pit stop. Like just keep me in the ball game here. 'Cause you know your car is gonna be really good, maybe on the long run or you know, if you can just stay in third or fourth at the time, like your car's better than the guys in front of you. So yeah, a lot of it is just hitting singles and doubles. You don't always need the home run of the Grand Slam. Now that's great whenever you come in, seven, then somehow come out in second or third, it completely changes your race. But yeah, a lot of the time, especially once the chase starts, it's all just being consistent, don't lose any spots. You know, or just don't have, we call them those big blow-ups stops, where you lose five plus positions. That's where it really just changes your day really, really quickly. - Let's take a look at the bottom of these stands. Talk about the top of it. - Yeah. - But the bottom there, do you think anyone goes out, comes in with two to go, or is it pretty locked up? - I mean, I wouldn't say it's locked up. I mean, I think Prius, especially going to New Hampshire, is gonna be really, really good. I mean, that's his backyard, right? So, you know, 50 points, I don't think is, you know, he's not, I don't think he's gonna get 50 points on SVG this week, but if he can cut it to 20, right? Going to super speed away, anything can happen. So I think you just have to try to be within 20 of that cut line. If you're below it, now if you're above it, obviously you wanna be as big of a gap as you can get, but yeah, I don't think that SVG is safe at 50 points, just knowing that you're going with, you know, Prius below the cut line, even Kaisalowski Bradz, been really, really good at New Hampshire and just short tracks in general. And then you know, at a super speedway Bradz gonna be in the mix. So yeah, I think Eric has to have an amazing week in this week to stay in it. But yeah, SVG just needs to go and do what we were talking about with the pit stops. Like just go hit single and double. If you go run top 10, top 15, then you put yourself in a really good spot going into, you know, Daytona, where anything can happen. And same for Cinderick, I think he's only, you know, 54 above the cut line or something like that. So yeah, just needs to, you know, go there and just have a clean solid day. Like don't do anything to shoot yourself in the foot because if you do that, that's where it gets really scary or really quickly. And then, you know, the cut line there at the bottom is really tight, but the battle from 5th to like 10th is really really tight too. It's crazy how tight it is. And that can be the difference maker. And you potentially winning the championship at the end of the year. So yeah, it's a lot of really good point battles. You know, even that battle for a second and second through fourth is still pretty tight as well. Yeah, it's you, you're at five. Chase Elliott is at six tied with Bell at seven, Larsen, Lagano, and then a busher. Yeah, I mean, really from, I mean, you're, you're a ways above. I'm 70, called above hosts of our. But yeah, but that mix there, yeah, yeah, is really close. I feel like for Bell, if growing a new handshirt, that's Bell's playground. I know, I know. If I'm rooting for Denny to win the championship, that's you and you and Bell are the two guys, I think I'm most scared of. Yeah, I'll be honest. I don't want to see you do really well. Like, yeah, thanks. I think you guys are like the threats. Like, there's certain drivers that just don't scare me and you're on the scared list. Yeah, I mean, look, I feel like our group on the 19 has been phenomenal here lately. Like, I feel like we are definitely in championship form. Just got to, I mean, I think that's the hard part. Like, for me, looking at my, you know, runway to the championship, you know, even if I can finish fifth right now in points, I think Denny would start with 50 more points than me. And like the thought of trying to gain 50 points on Denny is just extremely hard to do. You know, he just doesn't have bad days, typically. He'll, his bad day is a eighth to 10th place. And so it's just hard to gain 50 points, you know, 'cause Denny, Denny's not gonna have four bad days in the chase. Like, he might have one of those days where he runs eight to 10th, but on that day, you have to, you know, win the race and get it a lot of points. But, you know, we were talking earlier about those 15 points and how much they can really chew up some of that distance. But Denny's also gonna win races in the chase. So it's gonna match itself and even itself out. So it just makes it really, really hard, you know, because it is who's at the top. You know, Denny is probably the most consistent guy in the field as far as his average finish. So him having that 50 point lead to start, it makes it really, really hard to catch him, especially no road courses. Makes it hard to gain on Denny. But then I think Talladega is where the difference maker and where the chase is gonna end up is gonna happen. I mean, that's where you could lose those huge chunks right away. Yeah, Denny right now is the only driver without a DNF. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If I said that drive is, you'd be all over my (beep) Oh yeah. All right, jinx in it. Yeah. Yeah, my wife jinxed me this weekend. She, I guess, texted our motorhome driver and said, "Make sure Brooks is down there." Oh no. I'm like, "Why would you do that?" Oh, you could do that. Cannot do it it happens time and time again if you start putting shoes on and getting dressed to go to victory The name of five to go something's gonna happen. You cannot do it and Brooks is gonna be ready. He's gonna be ready either way Yeah, he was he was gonna be dialed in ready to go and you got if I do when it doesn't take that long to get out to the front Stretch like I'm gonna be you're at time. Yeah, who who does he get his Personality from I don't know. I mean I have a personality, but I don't really show it a whole lot But he uh, yeah, he's pretty wide open. Uh, it's funny Do all that stuff, but then he was supposed to say the prayer Friday night for the truck racing is like daddy I'm too shy. I can't do that. I'm like you're not shy, dude. You talked to literally anybody and everybody But yeah, I don't know Marissa Merza is pretty outgoing too, but not near to the extent of Brooks like he will Talk to anybody and we'll do anything like he's gritty in across the interest age He's hyping up the crowd every time we go out and do stuff. Yeah, it's uh, I don't know where he got it from I was honestly, I guess like that when I was little like I was Kind of the class clown type like I would like dress up to go to ball games and do stuff like that And then I don't know what happened. I just completely changed But I definitely had a little bit of that when I was a kid like I was a showman in a sense a showman Yeah, I was a showman like I was all about you know hyping the crowd up and doing stuff to try to look cool and Yeah, just changes. I got older I guess. I mean, that's that's exactly what Brooks is hyping up the crowded Indy Yeah, that was hilarious. Yeah, that's he's all about it. He is He's in love with mascot. So we watch a lot of mascot videos. I guess that's where he learns it from like who's like his He loves blue the Colts mascot. Okay. Yeah, so the blue dance and everything else. He's all about that Yeah, he's he's in love with mascots like we he was freaking out at Richmond because shaky the cookout milkshake was there And then like Aaron's the lucky dog or whatever I mean, I'm talking losing his mind anytime he sees a mascot And then like we're getting down. He's like dad. It's just a guy in there. I know it's just a guy Why you freak it out over it? He's like, oh, he'll like him. He's cool. Like okay. That's fine. You have big mascot fan Are you you have other superstitions or is it just like things like No, I'm not really superstitious, but that thing. I've just seen it too many times where when you start trying to get ready for victory lane It it always happens like it just completely ruins it I Guess that's the only one where I'm like just don't do it because it always comes back to bite you, but yeah, I don't really have any superstitions like I've heard I mean, I changed where I was sitting sitting sitting On Saturday night because I was like right now that you're doing it's not working. Yeah, it's not in a good spot We got to switch it up. Yeah, I don't I mean like I've heard some drivers talk about how like they have to to go through a certain like Routine before they get in the car and all this stuff and like there's times I might put my one glove on first and This week I forgot to put my ear buds on before I put my helmet on I had to take my helmet back off like I don't do anything Routine or very superstitious. What was the moon on Saturday? Do you think it was a waxing crescent that had me gripped up? Maybe that was the difference maker. I had not ran at Richmond under a waxing crescent. So that definitely Could have been the difference. Are you like into astrology more now because in order to know that's waxing crescent You have to look up the moon phase. Well, I have a I do have an app Not for the moon phase, but for the tides of the water Uh-huh, and so it tells you what the moon phase is on that so I do see it But then this weekend the only way I even knew is a waxing crescent is I opened up X and there was just countless people You know tagging me hey, it's a waxing crescent this weekend and really every weekend I have a couple people that will be like hey, it's a waning gibbous or waxing crescent this week So I always am pretty doubted in on the moon phase anymore But yeah, the the tide app is what gets me doubt in on it the the SHR I don't know It's an SHR thing. Yeah, it's definitely started SHR. We just we learned We were looking at trends and when we noticed that speeds were whipped up at certain weekends and and even if it was at the same track year over year There had to be a reason and that's where it came out of yeah, I mean there were times at the SHR where you guys really needed to find find something like I mean, I was just need a moon phase Yeah, that was our secret there's times. Yeah, we were we would have it circled on the calendar night race and moon phase Back to the chase. You're in kind of a spot where like fourth is probably out of reach. Yeah, I don't think I can get to fourth unless I win this week Do you guys start to? Play games with the kind of you pit with depending on who's around to just like Protect or you just not worry about anything on with that right now for us Really, I would say it started I guess Two weeks ago me and James talked about how like we just need to treat this as a 14 or 15 week chase Because at the time like I mean even now we're only 20 points above sixth like that is a massive difference Even though it's only five points like those five points. We've seen it come down to one point I don't know how many times so we just said look let's treat these next 14 weeks as a 14-week chase be is The best championship level that we can be So yeah, I don't think for us our approach changes at all You know, we just have to go to the racetrack and Try to put up the most points every single weekend and you know, we were doing that at week one even So doesn't really change a whole lot. You just you had to be really smart about your decisions where week three You know, you can make a bad decision and you don't feel like it affects you as much We're now you have a bad race and you just really see the difference You know in the point so yeah for us. I think or not even for us more so myself I'm just trying to be more conscious of that you know What is that risk versus reward that makes sense for me to sometimes? Okay, this might be a really risky move is it really worth one point if I can you know, wreck myself in the process or whatever So just trying to be smarter about that because then when the chase starts you you definitely have to take that into consideration Especially given the format that we're racing in now As your team run any numbers to where it's like when you get to the chase a an average of 40 points a race is gonna We had that early on in the season of how to get to fifth and I'm sure that we're gonna have that once the chase starts We're kind of have an understanding of okay, you know, this is the points that we need to strive for You know, it's definitely gonna be over 40 when the chase starts you're gonna have to that to average over 40 points to win the championship I think so yeah, I'm sure I'll find out that number in a couple weeks, but yeah right now I have no idea. I would just assume that it's gonna be 45 to 50 somewhere in there for us. It's gonna be a little bit more. Just cuz we have to Yeah, yeah, but at any average is 40 ill win the championship for sure, which is cool So if you all you ask is if you and Bell and Gibbs if on a restart and stuff just helped any out a little bit Travis what I get paid to try to win races you can try But I'm just saying on the restart. So let's let's do a little better and work together tell Danny He's the get his restarts better. It's not my fault Yeah, the amount of drive how many how many drivers this weekend draft did you try to Just one Vince just one. Yeah, well, they said the exact same thing. I also get paid to yeah, try to win Try to run win. It's my job. What else you got on the the sheet Travis? I know we're trying to wait for wait for Danny to call in here Well, he's currently fishing. So I don't know if he's gonna call it your boy Van Dan. No, he's a Missouri. Oh, yeah, he's that oh he's a Johnny. Yeah, Morse is place. I don't know if Johnny's there, but that's That Joker. Have you been there? Yeah, it's unbelievable unbelievable. Yeah, he'll catch a lot Have you got through it? Do you know? Well, they're they're golfing out there. Okay, so they're top of the rock. I'm assuming yeah I think so call hit the hit the call button big see here. So I just call him. Yeah, call him. He's not fishing if he's out there. He's catching So the they I mean, I assume it's a best pro thing they they got the biggest and baddest fish in there, right? It's just it's great fishing like they have everything that you need to go good like the habitats right like the the program is right A lot of thought a big fish, but just you're gonna catch stuff like that's the good thing when you go there It's not hard fishing like you go to late Norman here. It's it's hard fishing We're there like you're gonna catch stuff like you know it going into it What do you make of Dendi's new hobby? It's out of nowhere. I feel like he's he's always here with that in the backyard. Yeah, I've never been into it I feel like yeah, it uh Yeah, I don't know he's all about it. I will say that. I mean, I fish almost every single weekend and normally we've end up at the same spots Like more often than not. I feel like did he go in Iowa at the little retention pond. Yeah, yeah That's a little little spot. You just got three, but they're all tiny, you know, we got a five there last year really Nice. Yeah right outside the tunnel. Yeah, right there at the little culvert pipe. Wow. Yeah, that's impressive Chicago is good. I found a little spot in Chicago. That was really good. Okay, I think we caught probably 25 and like two hours is pretty good. I need to come hang out with film fishing content. Yeah, it's not 25 in two hours We don't normally catch big big ones. We had a place in a Outside of Atlanta, they had the potential to be great. The guy had shocked the pond like let's say back in March He said there was seven over 14 pounds But that place when they got one fish, it was rough, but the potential was there. They went, there was a YouTube video, but Denian Charlie went to some lake in Texas recently. Oh yeah, like fork I think. No, not that one. They went there earlier in the year. There was this other one that's, they did it with Chris Elden, there's this whole YouTube video on it. But anyway, Charlie caught his, his goal for the year was to catch a ten pounder or above ten. Ten's huge. I wonder how to ten pounder. Yeah, he got an 11.6. I think it would. Yeah, like what's Denian's PV right now? I don't know. Maybe six or seven? That could be very wrong, but I don't think it's about ten. I don't know if it's about five. If he's out there, there's a chance he beats it for sure. Chase, why don't you, why don't you face time and see if he answers? Okay. Well, my audio would be hooked up. We'll make it work. I don't even know if I have Denian's number if I'm being honest. What? I'm just kidding. I didn't have it till I think this year. Do you have it? Do you guys not just have every driver's number? No, I don't have every driver's number. Aren't you in like group text with? Yeah, that's on WhatsApp. So you don't have their phone number. It's just their name. What's up? 'Cause SVG. I don't. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe. Being on pickup for me either. What if it's like a hard hitting racing question? You know, like, you're really relying on him to. I bet I don't have half the field's number. Now I'm curious, what's your driver's you don't have? Well, we can go through him. Who's the most. Yeah, who's like the most new at where they got you. That's why I don't know. Let's see. What about the Hendrik guys? Oh, Hendrik guys. I don't know if I have Bowman's current number. Let's see. Actually, I probably have more than half the field now. I don't. Yeah, I don't know. I bet I have more than half now, but there for the longest time, I definitely did not have more than half the field. Like, I just got swore as is this year after the Dover race. Normally you get them after you get in a contact with somebody. That's when you reach out and you're like, "Hey, can you send me this guy's number?" Oh, you a text or call guy. I always try to call, but then if they don't pick up all texts. And be like, "Hey, that had this happened. If you want to talk about it, give me a call. I'll try to call and go out and voicemail." Yeah, I'm a call guy. Are you low-key hoping that they don't pick up so you can send a thousand percent? Oh, one thousand percent. You can send them to the text, yeah. I want to send a thousand percent. Are you. I want to talk on the phone. Yeah, exactly. Terrible. Are you gunshy to put a text in the group chat, Tagilin said that he put his first message in there. Yeah, it is nerve wracking when you're not like one of the guys. Yeah, so I always am like super timid to send something in there. And then if you get like a thumbs up or a heart, you're like, "Oh, yeah." Yeah. Did it? That was worth it. My favorite driver text is actually Cowbush. This was like the most Cowbush thing ever. So he wrecked me at, let's see where it was. It would have been Indianapolis, the roadcorsuries. And this is how the text message started, "Hey Chase, this is KB-1-8. Just got your number." KB-1-8, I was like, "That's so sick." Like, of course, who KB is, you don't have to add the 1-8, but yeah, that was like the alternate Cowbush text, "Hey Chase, this KB-1-8, just got your number." I feel like that wasn't a nickname that people were really referring to. Yeah, nobody really referring this KB-1-8. That was a good one now. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. All right. Anything else? I guess Denny's too busy. Oh, he's FaceTime here right now, there we go. Travis says to FaceTime his phone, by the way. Denny got us. Yeah. What's going on? FaceTime is where I go. Are you catching anything? This pond's going on the blue hill and they said there's one big bass here. He's just going for it. That's a pond problem, not a fishing. I'm going to throw Chase under the bus real quick. He says it's tough to have street cred when you're fishing in a polo like that. That is true. I will give you that. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That's how you know you're trying to do the game. That is true. I don't know. You suck. That's a bad beat right there. Charlie's officially better than you at fishing. So you had your thumb in his mouth. Well, I mean, I hate to be that guy. But if you had your thumb in his mouth and didn't get it, like that's on you. Like you got to just grab that thing. So tight. Charlie's going to love this. He's not there. He's going to love this. Charlie's texting right now about the show. And I'm like, wait till you see this video. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like if he didn't get his thumb in his mouth, then it just broke off. That doesn't count. But the fact that your hands were on the fish. He didn't get a picture with it. That's your fault. I love the guy in the background. I saw it. I saw it. That's a damn pounder for sure. Oh, obviously. I just turn to the knife in there. Yeah. Big thanks to Bob's discount furniture for bringing you this episode of actions detrimental. I'm still not sure what you're going to do this Labor Day. Why not head over to our JGR partner, Bob's discount furniture for their 35th anniversary celebration. See what it means to do things the Bob's way. No gimmicks, no phony sales, just great furniture at every day, low prices. So while a lot has changed since they went into business in 1991, Bob's has been helping customers love their homes for over three decades. Head over to your local Bob's or shop online at mybobbs.com to score tons of winning styles at every day, low prices, ship fast. Fast delivery, winning styles for 35 years, shop the Bob's way. [BLANK_AUDIO]