Let The Teams Decide? Denny's Not So Sure

- I knew what the call was, the call was to stay, but then if you heard my radio, I says, "I hear you, but be ready just in case." 'Cause I knew this could be an opportunity where I, I get the advantage. - The following is a production of "Dirty Mo Media." - I believe that I've been a competitive youth for 20 years. - I've got some old men, a few more to catch. - Opinions from tonight's podcast, "Strictly by Us," you're gonna hear it from my point of view. - I'm a fighter. - No, you are not. - This spoils the victory for Jared Allen. - He's got better luck than Rick and Drake to win. - I know, you do. - Two trophies missing from your collection, a championship and the most popular driver. Someone told me that their drinking game is gonna stay for sure. - Yeah. - And I've already said it. - Hey guys, welcome to "Action's Determinal." After race 25, this weekend, loud new Hampshire. - Hampshire, I guess. - Is it, why do people at North not say their Rs? - Their accents. - I don't know. - I know, but in, so why do Boston people not say their Rs? So because I wonder this, like in the schooling system, they go through the alphabet, right? - British influence. - Okay. - During the 18th century upper class speakers in London made dropping our fashionable and sign of high status. - I got it, okay. - Okay, I dig that. - So now, but now they sound like idiots. (laughing) - God, they do right off the bat. It's just, it's a thing, it's their culture. I was genuinely Curtis, curious about it. You can just come off the top rope. Did you say they sound like idiots? - They do. - Wow, you're really building your fan base. - How do you say? Have you checked your Twitter mentioned the recent top in Connecticut for almost eight years? I've had to hear too much. - Okay. - But genuinely, in school, do they teach him about the R or not? Or is it just, you know, that's one of the words we skip past. Like, does it, can you, can you teach that? Can you teach accents? Well, okay, why in the south are we not teaching kids to pronounce other syllables? Like, I don't know. I don't know, but the listeners are just like dying right now. Okay. School teacher, y'all at me in my mentions, like, do you teach the R up there or not? And if you do, do you say hates? - You really don't have to use it. - You know what I mean? Here, do Northeast schools teach ours? (laughing) - All right, well, we had a day in Loudon. I told Jared before the race, I actually was looking forward to the wet. I just was like, you know what, if there's any race, like, it's not a freebie race, but like, it's a, you got a good cushion. Like, if you're ever gonna like work on trying to get better at it, like, this would be the one. And I actually thought I was okay in the wet. I really was. I was passing cars and I felt like I found something that was good for me. Now, I didn't get past the first lap 'cause Tyler Reddit stepped on his little weey. But what's going on there? - I don't know, I asked him after the race. He's like, ah, sorry about that, you know, just, thanks for not cleaning me out. I was like, you ever thought about just like, easing into it? You're the leader. You're not chasing anyone. Like, so, I was joking around with him, but good rebound by, you know, his team and our team, but overall just, yeah, he's spun. So, I saw it happening, right? And I had a couple of options. One was slow down and I thought that he was gonna leave enough room between the wall and himself as he's spinning. Like, I'm looking at his trajectory where he's at. Oh, he's not gonna be all the way up against wall, so I'll go around the outside. I don't wanna turn left because I know surely there's someone, you know, because there was two distinct lanes. One at the, on the very bottom on the apron when it was wet. And then there was one right above the newer pavement in the corners. So, there's two distinct lanes and I'm thinking, you know what, if I just blindly turn left here, I'm likely I could get, you know, door somebody, spin myself out, get damaged. Like, there's nothing wrong and when Rex happened, I just slowing down, slowing down. And I, something that I hope Mr. Zillich listen to in this. Like, you're not gaining, when you see a car backing into the wall, caution's coming up like right then. You will gain nothing by just staying in your lane and slowing down. And so, it's the lost art form of missing Rex it truly is. And everyone I think feels like they gotta, oh, we gotta get through there, you just, you know, let's daiseth under this thing. And it's just not, not ideal. So, I, yes, I got caught in it because there was not enough room there. But initially, I thought that I didn't have contact, but obviously I saw a video that clearly looks like right at the very end, I stopped right on his bumper, on his quarter panel there. So, by the rule that's in it. And so, we were justified to go to the back there. So, you're only saying this is justified because you touched. Right, make contact, yeah. That's, that's the intent of the law, is that you could slow down for the wreck, but if like, if you get like someone comes up, just, you're in it. That's what they're, that's kind of what they're, how they explained it to us, how it works. So, I'm watching your onboard here. You just like can't stop any faster. It's wet, Jared. I mean, sure, I can hit the brakes harder. You ever hit the brakes hard in the ice? Yeah, you slide. You slide. So, I just want to be controlled with it. It did look like you were like, stopped and then you, well, I was trying to keep my, again, I'm trying to keep pace car speed, just in case, he leaves a room for me to go around between the wall and him, then I'll get my spot back. But if I come to a stop, I think that, it gives them a reason to say, you're in the wreck, even if you don't make contact. Which it appears, that's what happened in 17. So, I mean, you qualify fourth and then on lap five, I know. Right, I'm thinking like, come on, man, come on. And like, it was such a good opportunity for me to get reps up front in the wet, you know, instead of back there where, I mean, it's just, guys, you wouldn't believe it back there. 30th in the wet, it's not fun. Not fun at all. And so, but listen, we got to the low 20s by the time that caution came out. So, we were doing okay. Let's backtrack to the decision to go with wet tires. You go out there, then host of artists, host of our things, and then bring you in. Like, which part, what the host for? The spinning before the race starts. Yeah, I mean, he's just, he's trying to test the grip level of the track, and we were all doing it. You know, you can kind of feel like, okay, where's the slick? Where's it not? What was interesting with him, though, is that he passed the pace car. So, that's one of the things that, I don't know, I don't think you're ever supposed to pass the pace car unless they tell you to. So, he was trying to test the grip level on the exit of turn four by accelerating fast. And he, yeah, he's just, he spun out. Now, others have spun out. I think I'll bush it at last year, two years ago at New Hampshire. Remember, there was, there was quite a few wrecks like spins while the caution was out. So, it's not hard to do, but the fashion and what you did, it was unique in like passing the pace car in. So, yeah, I don't know, it just, I think there was a short circuit there. Watching Joe, he's on board of him just gassing up, passing the pace car and then spinning out. Like all of the above is like, what? Yeah, what are you doing? Is that like a strategy if you're a driver who isn't too excited to race in the rain? Is that like a strategy to send NASCAR message? I go, this is too wet. Uh, I don't know. It'd be pretty smart if they did, but I'm not gonna give that much credit. This is checkers, not chess. (laughing) What they need to do, though, and correct me if I'm wrong, like, let the teams decide when they're gonna pit and change the dry tires. Yeah, I mean, they should, yes. They probably sh*t. should have just let that green flag sequence play out, right? Eventually, well, like, there would have needed to be green flag pit stops, right? Right about when they were throwing that caution. Green flag pit stops were about to start. There was guys with right, front's burned off, right, rear's burned off. The track was starting to dry. I mean, I had my own reservations. Listen, for me personally, it was best because I was like, I would not have felt comfortable and total dries out there on that racetrack. And they used that caution to buy them some time to let that bottom groove dry a little bit. And so when we went back racing, we saw no more racing. So, I don't know, it's hard for me to just, I mean, I hate being on the bandwagon here. You know, I don't mind disagreeing, but I just didn't see anything that was wrong. - Are you guys not professional drivers? - Yes. - Then figure it out. - All right, I hear you, I hear you. It's not what we do, though. - Sure. - Okay, okay, all right, here's another scenario. Pit lane was wet, like genuinely, really, really wet. - Okay. - So we come in and we just slide right into a crew member and take his legs out, drive better. That's the biggest worry that NASCAR has. - No question. - Yeah. - You slide, you pinch a guy up against the back of another car, it's from front of me. Come on, man, what did you miss Travis? - Well, I miss SVG, I had to lean, all of a sudden he has to go in there and now everything's bundled back up. - You're saying it's unfair to SVG? - I want to see you guys compete. I want to see crew chiefs have to make decision. Am I going to keep my driver out on the wet tires? Am I going to bring them in and roll the dice? Are you professional sports rehanging out orange slices and Capri sons? I want competition cautions. - I agree that the coming down pit road and wet conditions that are uncertain is potentially dangerous. The question is, can you-- - I guess other series does it though, right? - Can you decrease the pit road speed on the fly? - No, 'cause you practice that pre-race with your-- - But I will say this, we do have new dashes that would allow you to run a page for wet conditions. - Oh, so you could prep that beforehand? - Yes, you could. You could, to reduce it by half or something? I don't know. - That would have been interesting. Had the foresight to set that beforehand and then your first pit stop, you decreased the speed to 20, 25 miles an hour, whatever you want, to then lower the risk of cleaning out a crew guy and-- - Yeah, I see what you're saying. - Yeah, I don't know. I'm either way on this, truthfully, I swear. I mean, I understand from the on track perspective, let it play out, whoever decides to go to select early, maybe they get a reward, maybe they don't, whoever stays on wet, it's longer. It's good for the short term, bad for long term, like I get it, that's certainly would be compelling. I just, again, I think if pit roads dry, I think they do let this thing go. But yeah, they're trying to get the racing back going as quick as possible. Sorry, sorry. - I mean, it's okay that you're wrong. - Okay. - Speaking of, I saw one fan with that t-shirt, I haven't seen it very much, but it's, I'm always, I'm always right. The Denny Hamlin, I'm always right, t-shirt, remember that quote? - I didn't know. Kyle Larson said that. I never said that. You never said, he said you were always right. - Kyle, you never said you were always right. - Kyle, you never said it was always right. - No, that's not true. It was after the Pocono thing and he was like, all the buddies know, Denny's always right. - It was that. It wasn't, I never, I never would say that. - Anyway, it was cool to see you on a t-shirt that I hadn't seen in a while. - So, Ari, that takes us to SVG. He had a seven second lead. - I think so. - Sheesh. What makes, you know, what makes one guy better on these wets than slicks? - A lot of it's just confidence in the grip level. Like over time, like if the track stayed fully wet, SVG wouldn't have that big of a gap. But listen, we're all novices in this. I mean, he's been doing it in the rain for a while. So, I think that it would close, but the conditions are constantly changing. He now can see the dry better than everyone else and he's finding it. And so, it's just during those adverse conditions, someone like him with lots of experience, just knows where the grip level's at. While we're all trying, you know, while we spend 10, 15 laps, feeling it out and it's like, no, this guy's hauling ass and he's got to figure it out already. - Where did he finish stage one, Travis? Do you know? - Oh, checked. - He had a bad pit stop. I know that. I don't think he finished stage one great. - Ninth. - Ninth? So, he potentially missed on nine points. If that was like a competitive stop, he comes down, regains the lead, is out by five seconds or whatever. - Yeah. - When's the stage? - Potentially, potentially. But even, I mean, again, remember when they threw that caution, the track was, we had one lane of dry. So, if you didn't notice, his car did not appear to be very good in the dry. - I know, that's why, yeah. - JGR and I have really enjoyed bobs on the car this year. 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It looked like, you know, the 77 one was trying to clear himself to, to what, and I heard him saying his interview trying to cover at the bottom. So, he had two cars, evidently he was three wide. He then is almost clear, but wants to pull down in front of those two guys so then covers the, no one gets back to his inside again, entering turn one. The problem with that is you must make sure that you're clear before you, you can do that. You've got all the momentum on the outside. It was awful early in the straightaway to be pulling down, like he still had time to clear and then pull down before the corner. And so, I think, you know, acknowledged that he spun himself out. He, yeah, I mean, he, I think he acknowledged he spun himself out, but then he also was jerking around with Connor during the race. Like, if you know you're at fault, why are you screwing with the guy that you turn your nose across? That's what I didn't get. And that's where it's like, all you have to do is say, my bad and do it's going with your race. And, but then it's like, he still finds a way to, like, great trauma. So, is he doesn't believe, yeah, does he not believe that? Or is he, is he saying one thing and doing another, well, clearly, say one thing and do that? What point does he acknowledge that he spun himself at the end of the race? At the end of the race. So, he's jerking off with Connor before he acknowledges that he spun himself. So, maybe he in the moment, he still thought, well, then why is it someone of the team saying, does anyone do that? Does any spotter actually tell you you're wrong when you're wrong? Um, I mean, I felt like if I asked my spotter, was I clear there, if he would have said no, I trust him? But you know, I feel like the majority of guys are not yeah is every time we hear these communications are always like just backing up their Their driver even though they're doing anything wrong. Yeah, yeah, I get it Yeah, it just I don't know it just was not a Not a very good CH day that's for sure Just not not not the best work Did he fall in the points at all he didn't fall in the points Like how do you how do you not look is no everybody just kind of held serve everybody was very mediocre. Yeah around them Okay All right, I mean he has given up a lot of points in the last handful of weeks He's got about a month or so. Yeah, because none of these guys that are right above him in points So they haven't been stellar either, you know, he was up there at seven eighth and he's falling a bit Yeah The best thing has come out of that camp in a month has been his girls tutorial on makeup and racing after brickyard. He was fifth For real, it was good Man, that's a tough that's tough slide, but everyone goes through that I guess, but these are just like mental things that are Just definitely avoidable for sure and you'll need to avoid them for for 10 weeks No question about that What's next, would you make of Big Jim's son Man, I don't know it's it's it's it looks even worse when you hear his spot are just barking at him go low Again, I just there's very you'll get caught in very few wrecks if you just hit the brakes and hold the line you're in That's that's my advice and and so I Understand it was a little bit he had a little bit of a blind moment where the three car I believe was in front of him and Like so he you see the smoke right? I mean and to me I don't have to see the wreck to trust that a caution is coming out So when I see the smoke it's no different in super speedway, okay? this weekend Right before the cars turn around backwards and get sideways when we are wrecking there's gonna be smoke It's you should lift when you see the smoke that's how you avoid you don't actually have to physically see a Car spun right in front of your hood pins for you to say oh, okay, there's a wreck I'm gonna slow down the minute you see smoke trust me or there's about to be a wreck and It's this is your way to avoid it. It's just slow down and Connor just Didn't slow down enough and then got caught similar to how I did like in this position of Oh, I can't turn left now and now I'm out of control because once he gets up to the like fourth lane, so I try to count the amount of lanes The third lane is kind of the new pavement there and there's a fourth lane that's not and then there's a fifth lane all the way by the wall Well, the the Riley's car is sitting in the fifth lane up against the wall Once he gets to the fourth lane, he's he's got all over his tires and he's chasing his car now He's out of control because he's going too fast and he's in the marbles and he just drives right into it arcabrakes I mean there's not much you can say or do to justify it. It's just that's just Yeah, sometimes you learn the hard way and these are if there's any year to have life lessons I mean, he's got nothing to gain this year, right? Right. Just this is chalk this up as one of those lessons that's gonna make you better in the long run I'm just watching his Onboard hearing. Yeah, it's just not good He's following Austin through the corner and then and that's why I I Know that the narrative really got caught up with Connor early in the year of like a bad luck bad luck a lot of those wrecks he was in was avoidable and he just didn't avoid him or he put himself in a spot that he shouldn't have and so I don't know there's just this is this is the lessons you learn when you're really really young and coming to the cup series at this age It's you know, it's not like he's got a ton of oval NASCAR racing experience and these are some of the growing pains that you're gonna have to go through and the great news for Rick Hendrick Because he's gonna give him years to sit in track house The development paid all the money and he's gonna get the best of them Also, is this just the the growing pains of the dog pound like in the Xfinity he's not racing in the dog pound true True they're fighting for every spot right and that maybe they're thinking up When that smoke when others lift I'm going through it We might as well say maybe I don't know it could be a thought We might as well sit now since you mentioned it zillage to HMS after next year Yeah, you make of The move um, I mean, I think it's the best career move for Connor, right? I mean, it's you're talking about one of the top three to four organizations in the sport And you're clearly struggling where you're at I don't I don't put all of his struggles on track house. I think that again, we just talked about I think he's responsible for at least half of the struggles Just due to inexperience But I think it's it's a it's a great By-low opportunity for Hendrick and they took advantage. No question about it Someone comment there on Twitter when we go when they go low we go high Connor's Do we have a um a little beef burying with you and Blaney No now It coincidental back-to-back weeks coincidental He's frustrated because his pit crew put him back where we were at um And he feels like he doesn't have any time to screw around so anybody that's you know my my question to to Ryan would be Oh, I I'm you know a car-linked in front Sure, I'm running the lane that you would prefer to run in but like just go to a different lane You know, there's a whole another there's like four lanes to track to the outside like Just just go just go around um But he his strength was in the very bottom lane where nobody else was at It's it's where I was able to to be pretty good on some restarts and He just wanted to get me out of it out of the way as quick as possible because I think he understood the urgency of of getting Back to the front and the restarts is when he was gonna make the most hey and You know, he wasn't going to win the race Until that caution came out where he took two tires and I knew I knew the whole time. I'm like 12 is taken to or staying out they That's just that's their their way and they have enough speed that they can be at a tire deficit and still win the race now Okay, you you probably want to ask well, why didn't you take two? Is that a question you have at some point yes, okay? Well because I'm three cars behind Blaney look at all the other cars is took two Who held their ground Nobody Nobody so I know that I'm gonna restart in the second row with two tires four tires on my ass and then below me I'm gonna get shocked immediately If I'm controlling the race up front absolutely if I know I'm going on the front row Absolutely put me on two. Let's go. I'm confident in that I'm not confident in taking two when I'm the tail end of the two two tires It's just not enough. I am absolutely confident If I restart that race was 60 to go on two tires and fourth I finished worse than seventh Got got me yeah, I'm okay track him where the 12 new He was going to restart likely on the front row With his two tires and his car was strong enough and again my car wasn't as strong as is either So he knew his car was strong enough. You give him track position. He's like I'm going I'm gonna go from having A rocket ship to a pretty damn good car with track position So that's the winning formula and I saw that win coming from The minute he lost his track position All it took was that one yellow to all right others. I know the y'all are taking four I'm not no way. I got to get it back And when you're that strong you can do it at a tire deficit We can all agree though that you need to take some sort of tires right two four you got to take tires. Oh god Yes, yeah, can't just be a few only stuff. No, no And we just weren't strong enough to do that like if we were really really good Like I get it like take the chance on it but We Cheers! That's a race where when you're average like we were and you have to go to the rear at the beginning you have a pit stop where my pit crew is eating ice cream that's what I'm referring to it's that you can't you can't you can't do only it's that's you're going to finish seventh and that's what happened. Can we talk about code words? What the hell? How do you know? How do you guys come up with these and what? I choked the easy down turn your mind down before we take it away. I choked at Richmond about code words and I think you guys might need my help. The code words were heard loud and clear and I guess it was from my it's only up for me to well I guess the pit crew needs to understand them but I knew what the call was the call was to stay but then if you heard my radio I says I hear you but be ready just in case. This could be an opportunity where I I get the advantage I wanted to be the first guy that built pills down there I'm going to drag some with me which we did unfortunately the cars we dragged with us for the ones that went that passed us on pit lane because we weren't ready. It was just me and Gail got it he understood it the spotter knew it because like we're coming we're coming Gail knew it because he called me into the pit box but the pit crew yeah they they they weren't ready but I mean damn tribe they've had a like a hundred pit stops I feel like I'm going to give them a buy on this one. You did you did them wrong in the in the Jenny bros. What did you do how to give to them wrong somebody get a message to the crew this was a race lock it up they're lucky DH built this massive lead come on man we built the massive lead it's not just it's not just me I agree but they I've got like a really good pick route let's just I just don't know how they like how it happens. Obviously they think we're staying because they think we're staying how many times have I audible out of Chris Gail's call very little very little if at all so it probably caught them off guard when I showed up in their pit box and by the way it looked like it to I look at my in car and parked in there and one I think it was Dylan I think he was just kind of looking off somewhere and it was like oh there's a car here. It was they they were definitely surprised to see me sitting there yeah and and like how often do we put way back in turn for not often right like if I was pitted towards the end of turn one they would have seen me coming down pit road for like 20 seconds yeah you're in like the fourth pistol I know it just was all it's it's fine. What would AP say we're fine and I get that but you just want us to be in form right now I don't want to be limping in to the chase and listen I I'm not concerned I'm not concerned but yes we've not led to many laps here lately we've not had great stages we've not qualified like ourselves lately take this weekend you know we've had we had a few. Few subpar weekends but look at our results still like it's still good even when we're not great so like let's just keep executing doing we have to do to get the day we need and again this this was never part of the strong part of the schedule for me we we know this yeah it was mid summer and it's the chase right and so let's make hey we're where we need to make this. Okay in these final 10 and you know did did you ever think we were going to take the lead at after Sonoma in San Diego like come on man like we're on house money for short. We got to just be grateful let's be grateful. All right pit crew I'm sorry there you need that yeah we need that and Gale I'm sorry because I was critical of the two verse four so I'll take that back to. Thank you thank you I understood why listen I know my team loves to put me on four tires they they love a four tire stop but. At no time I just knew when we lost the track position when we came in and we weren't ready that set us back those six or seven spots I now is at the tail end of the guys that we're going to take to. That was just not a good spot for me to be in. Can we just take a second though and talk about how these. Code words are you know you come up you come up with them like I got to put her in last week switch and stay out let's not get involved in other stuff I got. No it has nothing to do how does enchiladas mean stay out. It said Mexican food you need everything and and slots of everything said Mexican fuel each week is just a theme yes has no rhyme or reason of. Like cowboys wouldn't be like we're going to be. Rebels here and. Stay out like there's no connection to the word to the actual action. It's just themes okay well here's my requested Gale since Daytona doesn't want it to be theme I want the themes to be. Board games how about this shoot about here's what I'll yes here's what I'm going to do from. I'll try to do this each week okay I am going to. Text you all my code words in our group chat so you know before the race what each one is. Because there's a there's a there's a graph says okay. Tundra okay that's Toyota cars. Right side you know what I mean and by the way it gets mixed up every week a. Tundra might be stay out the next week you know it's a we constantly mix it up but this week since listen we we're racing for the victory. I think we allowed Jared to pick some code words and I think board games is a good one. All right I want you I just want to hear one time on the radio the call is the call is chess and. You stay out you know I don't know I'm gonna get you with Gale and I want you to come up with our code words for this weekend okay okay. Done done. All right speaking of this weekend I mean we get to I it's a feat going to be kicked up draft oh yeah oh yeah me too me too. Well no what do you mean no you're still racing for when I I am but let me ask you this. I think this weekend has a I'm not trying to over sell don't dirty mo media trying to use this clip for God's sakes. I think this weekend has potential to be absolute fucking chaos. Then he and me might use that clip. Just from the words the here what I'm getting in the data I'm seeing on this new package I think the cars could be far more out of control when they're trying to push each other. Which could cause smoke and when they're smoke there's a wreck go high. Go the opposite of the wherever car is going could the other way. Do you feel so so I think listen I have had many many date so before we had next gym super speedway racing. I used to not care about stages and I would just ride and ride and then I would they would be big old wrecks I'd miss them and then I'd go race and we go win. Do you want me to go all out. And fight to stay up front and all that or do you want me to just get it to the end and then try to win it. Get it to the end try to win it really see my fans I get I catch a lot of. But flack about man for 70% of this race but you're putting around in the back and trying to miss rate wrecks and like yeah but I think that's the best strategy for me and I think especially this week. It could be a good strategy because I do think the ability to go from the back to the front will be easier than years past. And points don't matter for you and points don't matter stages don't matter. It's going to matter to three cars right well it's going to matter to all the other guys that are trying to position themselves in the top 16 as well so. Maybe there's I'm telling you you always see in these super speedway races. Three to four laps to go in the end of a state there I mean the bump start getting heavy and I think that someone's going to get I think lots of someone's is going to get caught off guard by how unstable these cars are when they're getting. Yeah. Is there also just anything to you not wanting to put yourself in a wreck and it's not fun for me to hang in the back. So like, should I just say get in just like if I wreck on lap three, who gets it? I mean, kind of. Yeah. I don't know, I need to see, honestly, you'll know, within lap five, you'll see me. I mean, they're gonna stay where I'm at, where I qualify, or you'll see me pull the apron, go to the back. If I think if it is absolutely gonna be a wreck fest, you're gonna see me pull left down the back stretch, go to the back, and then hang out. Okay, so can you put a, we're not getting practice in this, this weekend, it's just qualifying. That's gonna be, I mean, I, I, I, I'm not a practice proponent, but I, this is one where, ugh, I would not mind NASCAR saying, you know what, let's just 20 minutes guys. All we need to do is just get out there with three or four cars, get close to each other to figure out what we got. But I think sometime that element is a pride, I think it's twofold, like if you're trying to grow the sport, like, hey, there's, there's some story lines that can come from practice, you now get sound bites from the drivers, what'd you think? Like, or is it just the total surprise of race day, nobody knows, you better tune in. So can you give the, the listeners a sign that if the 11 car drops to the back on lap 10, that means the changes that were made to the car are improving the racing, because now it's just a little more chaotic. Will you know? Yeah, I'll know early. You'll definitely know early that what kind of stability, so somebody's gonna miss the setup too. I'm telling you, setup is gonna matter, someone's gonna miss it, and they're gonna be out of freaking control. So, that's what I think, I, I, it's my feeling. So do you? They tone a two, always is a handling, more of a handling race than they tone a one is anyway. Just from the tempers, temperature standpoint. So if you drop to the back on lap 10, that means that I think it's gonna be chaos, it does not feel stable in here. Exactly right, exactly right. Our, is the team able to focus on Darlington, kind of like you would at the end of the old format with you guys not really caring about this race in terms of sim and folk, you not, you not doing any of that stuff? Yeah, hopefully, yeah, yeah, we, and, and like my record of Darlington is really, really good. It's elite, but it feels like, loudened over the last few years, right? It's just like, we're friends top 10. Just not, we've just not been great, and I want to be great at that track, because I love Darlington. I want to be great there. So I'll go to work on that. Yeah, Darlington feels like just looking at it now with this points reset, it feels like the most important race of the, of the chase. It's not. It's not, but a poor result there could really change the way anyone feels about it. It will change your feeling. It ain't gonna change anything other than your mental and your feeling. Yes. Absolutely. I mean, with a 14 point lead, you know, and football, yeah, I was like, what are you talking about? In football terms, I want to feel like, okay, you got it, we got to touch down to give here. Well, I want the backups in. Yeah. We want to, you're not playing with a, yeah, I think, yeah, it's not going to work that way. Everyone steps up in the, in the chase, we know that everyone's going to. Let's look at the, the chase point standings here. One through four is pretty much locked up, right? Pretty much. Yeah, I would say so. But there's a lot of movement there between five and nine, five and ten, five and eleven. No, movement between five and eight, five and eight, five and eight. And then there's movement, there's movement between nine and eleven. chicken chicken. And then 12th is horrible. 12th through 14. Yeah. So like you see, you know, few spots that can change hands here and there. Um, Bubba could go up to 12th. Yeah, he could go up to 12th. Byron is backslid. Man, hard to believe. Byron's not going to be much better than and loved their 12th. They're going to be missing some crew members to start the chase. Yeah. And chat up to the 23 team, by the way, they were really good this weekend. Uh, good in practice. Obviously not good. Um, good in, uh, in qualifying. And by the way, man, I need to get with the PR team over there. Bubba needs to stop doing media after qualifying. Go in there before qualifying. Why? Cause he qualifies poorly. Yeah. And then just, yeah, it's just sour after that. And like, I need to tell them no more post qualifying PR. Please, please go before. What'd you make of them trying to chase down Ryan and then looks like he just locked up? I mean, he's trying to, trying to get there. I mean, you know, he's he's at a little bit of a tired vantage there. But, yeah, they were the fastest Toyota on the weekend in practice. They were really good. Had a good, strong run there. Didn't qualify great. But I don't know how they got up front. My guess is they just worked their way up front. Um, he's typically good in the wet conditions. I don't know if he game spots there. I just, I've had a time to kind of look at, you know, I'll see in an hour when I had had there and, yeah, debrief, but, um, but they had the speed, right? And, and I saw them battling the 21 who I thought the 21 was very good this weekend. Like they were back and forth with him. So he clearly had good speed and, um, you know, I hear him talk about the, you know, how bad the car is driving and stuff. That's, I mean, that's New Hampshire. There is no good driving cars at New Hampshire that are remotely fast. So that's just the racetrack, the characteristics of the racetrack. Um, so it's, uh, yeah, great run. They needed it too to kind of, you know, that obviously locked them into the chase, but, uh, beyond that, just now they put themselves in a spot where they can claw the way back, maybe to the top 12. You mentioned the 21, that boy, he got the most aggressive driver of the day, I think. Who? Josh Ferry. Yeah, was he got the lose? That's an e-basis said, like, you know, I don't want to drive this aggressive, but I got to do what I do. Yeah. And he's wanting to take advantage of the few weeks that he's going to have a shot to win it. And it's on these short flat tracks that, that they're, they've been elite. So he knows that this is, this is the chance right here and right now. Yeah, that was a hell of a battle there for, for two laps where he moved Bubba up a lane and then they go in to turn one and Josh and dove real low. Yeah, he's trying to avoid the, the bump back. Yeah. Just go real low. Uh, but then you get a, I was obviously a horrible run on the exit, which, you lost two spots then. Yeah. Um, back to these, these points here. Yep. Um, the, well, how important is it do you think for these guys between five and eight to, to be someone who finishes fifth versus to be someone who finishes eighth? Like we know what, what is that about 20 points? Yeah, it's a 20 point difference. Five, I mean, it's 20 points over 10 weeks. He, he just never know. I mean, we, we see right now with Ryan Priest, how much there's 25 points that he got penalized matter, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. I mean, out. Talk about a kick in the nuts. He'd be six points out. Yes. What a kick in the nuts. So do we think SVG holds on? I do. I do. Because it depends on the stages. Um, it depends on what happens in the stages. If priests can get, let's try to be realistic. I know he can get 20, but like, let's say he gets 10 stage points and SVG gets none. He's now 21 back. That's 21 spots. He's got to be ahead of SVG. It's, it's just a tough, that's a, it's tough. You know what I mean? On an unpredictable track. You, I think you're really counting on SVG getting in a wreck and you not. And that's a hard thing to kind of bank on. Yeah. It's a tough strategy. But all he can do, if you're Ryan Priest, is do the best you can. And wherever he, whatever that SVG does, he does. And he's just going to have to live with that result. But put, put your best foot forward and give it your best off effort. Try your best, you know, settle legitimate goals. Say, you know what? I need 45. I need 45 points this week. And then if I do that, that forces him then to run somewhere in the top. Finish the race. Yeah. Top 20, two or three. Like, that's, that's doable. We can do that. You know, it's really nice. Not going to have to deal with if this person wins the race. They're in. Amen. I know it. Yeah, that'd be tough. But it's, it's a good point. That's why it's a good points format. I don't like the resets. Good Lord. Holy ****. Look at a 10th place is going to gain 300 and some points on me. Fuck me. I could've set out the rest of the year and finished out 10 points. Damn it. - Yeah, you locked up the one seat. How does that feel? - Awesome. Where's my trophy? - Doesn't exist. - That's just bull. I'm adamant, that's a cost-cutting measure. - It's also just the most denny-hillon thing ever. - God dang it, man, come on. I know, what the heck? - Everyone's knows this is the regular season. I just want something. We got a graphic on their social channels, that's cool. It feels good, I mean, listen. If you would ask me in February, you'd be already being the number one seeker into the chase after the all season I've had and what Phoenix was last year, I would have said, wow, that's a pretty strong rebound, right? So, we'll take it. - You mentioned that this kind of is the area where you knew it was gonna be your quote-unquote down part. When you go through this period where you haven't won, is it easy to just kind of like, where are you at? Are you just ready to go? Like, you're just chomping at the bit to like, really ramp it up and go. - I'm a little tired. I'm definitely a little tired. But this is, there's always a set, like, I guarantee after Daytona, you get your second win. It's like, you know, when you're on your 20th beer, you start, you're like, you're getting, but then you power through and then you get the 30. - It's not until he was at 63 that we were like, I think you start. - I know how you feel 'cause I think I'm gonna take about 12 days off. My body is-- - Did you really do another 40 this weekend? - I probably 40. - Probably 40? - I didn't keep track and, yeah, my body's-- - How's your cancels? - I had no cancels this weekend, but I'll send in like, my throat, like my tonsils feel swollen, like, I'm just like-- - You're doing a number to your body, but-- - Yeah, so-- - You know this is permanent damage. - No, it's not. (laughing) But, you know, I've got, I think it's 12 days 'til a high state, so I'm gonna, just we're gonna take this week and then next week off, and then we'll, so Darlington's, when we rank back up. - I understand you're tiredness, Danny. I'm the same way. - I'm tired. I truly am, but I never sleep when you're dead. Like, I know there's only so much time left. I gotta get it done now. - No, no, sleep in December on that yacht in Italy. Man, that'd feel good. - What? - It would. - Come on, we've got Darlington Bristol, Kansas, Vegas, Charlotte, Oval. - Yeah, me. - Yeah, me. (laughing) - Hey, Tribe, I gotta have your back on something. - You were right with Dale Junior, this past week. Dale Junior's saying that he don't really think about when his drivers are up. You should have text Kelly Ernard says, "Do you know when your driver's up?" 'Cause I guarantee she'd say, "Hell, yeah, I do." - Thank you, I felt like I was talking like, what is he talking about? - As an owner, you don't really think about that. Is he, he was kidding. - Oh no. - He had to be kidding. - Come on, man. - For real. - I thought I was talking crazy pills. - You were definitely right. Definitely right on that one. So I just gotta publicly have your back on that one. - Thank you. - Yeah. - It's a great place to end. - I bet you Kelly knows. - Yeah. (laughing) - She's playing on Dale, what are you doing here? (laughing) - That's all I got, boys, y'all got anything? - No, no, anything off, any off track news? Any, do you recover from the fish you lost? - Yeah, I mean, I need to kind of fully explain that. This is where people go. Click. I didn't have my thumb in his mouth, by the way. I drug him in. I mean, this is a big fish. And I saw, once I got him right to the edge, and I start leaning over it that the hook is like, when I say it's hanging on by a thread, it's a thread. And I reached out, he shakes. And as he shakes, I have my thumb touches him. He shakes, he's gone. So it wasn't like, oh, I had him by the mouth and he got off. Like, I touched him, but that was about it. But it made up for it because I got, you know, I appreciate, by the way, Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops, JP, and Son, thank you so much. We all took the boys to Big Cedar Lodge and Branson, it was so awesome, such a cool experience. Anybody out there that loves golfing, loves the outdoors, definitely go there. The experience was second and on. That was one that we were really looking forward to on our golf guys. We went out there, did a two day golf trip, our couple of other buddies, they stayed for a third day, they liked it so much. So it was a awesome experience. And so I got to see the cannons go off there in the Ozarks, just man, it's good for families, good for the buddies. They got something for everyone. So thanks to Johnny and his whole family and Bass Pro for that. So thank you. But they let me fish in their private ponds. There was, and they trust me, they had all their employees questioning me being there. Like, sir, you're not allowed to fit. Sir, it's okay, it's okay, I spoke with someone. So everyone was definitely guarded of their fishing out there in the private ponds, but it was fun. Yeah, all the fish looked massive. They were big. Yeah, I think that that's it. Let's kick the feed up this week. Daytona. I got to go down the floor to early, got a little sponsor summit for 2311. And then, yeah, we'll have some fun this week in trap. Wouldn't it be cool to get like a such an unexpected victory like Daytona? Me too. Maybe awesome. Travis, do you have a whoop? I don't. Could you imagine how much he's in the red? Denny Bro David here says he has a whoop and wants to start Denny Bro's team to share a whoop scores, which would be cool, especially if Travis was in it. Travis, can we buy you one? Would you wear it? Yeah, you would. Yeah. All right, okay, I'm down. All right, we'll see you all next week.