NASCAR LIVE 3-10-26 : Ryan Preece, Rajah Caruth

[Music] From fueling NASCAR champions on the track for over 20 years to innovating 94 octane. The highest octane on the market. Performance is what Sonoco does. [Music] All Sonoco fuel at the pump meets the same top tier standards as the fuel used in NASCAR. From the track to your tank. Sonoco, the official fuel of NASCAR. The following is a production of the motor racing network, the voice of NASCAR. [Music] The motor racing network presents NASCAR Live. Down to turns 3 and 4 in the shadows of the grandstand up off of the corner. White flag goes in the air. Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, five car link lead for Blaney for the final time to 1. If Christopher Bell has anything he better pull it out now. He's hustling his car, two turns 1 and 2. Chopped for gap down to about 3 and a half car links but Ryan Blaney leads him off of turn 2. Ryan Blaney off turn 2, he's onto the back stretch. Gary comes for the final time, Blaney heads for turn 3. Bell's going to give it one more shot. He'll dot up the lowland of the racetrack. He'll sit in hard and it's turn number 3 but it's not enough. Ryan Blaney comes out of turn number 4 across this historic finish line. Ryan Blaney wins the straight top wireless 500 Fenix. We're able to get the lead there and then hold the 20 off. I don't know how many more laps I could have held them off but there was enough laps to do it. So proud of the whole group for sticking with it all day and cool to win here again just a handful of months later. NASCAR Live is brought to you by Toyota Racing. Your race, your story, be part of the action at Toyota Racing USA dot com. From the MRN studios in Concord, North Carolina, here is your host, Mike Bagley. Hello everybody, welcome to another edition of NASCAR Live here on the Motor Racing Network. Mike Bagley in the entire MRN crew here with you is we're in the middle of a little mini West Coast swing. Last week we raced at the Phoenix Raceway in Arizona. This week it's back out west this time to Nevada and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Coming up on tonight's show, we'll relive Ryan Blaney's win in the straight talk wireless 500 at Phoenix and we'll do it with a NASCAR Live backtracks. Ryan Priests of Roushman Wakeers, Lowsky Racing will also join us. We'll also sit down with Raja Karuth who is driving this year in the NASCAR O'Rally Auto Parts series for junior Motorsports and Jordan Anderson Racing. We're also going to talk to drivers about what shows they love to watch while on the road and since March's Women's History Month will pay tribute to all of the women in NASCAR. But first we get going as we always do with the checkup headlines. Kyle Rikki is here to provide us with that. Kyle? Mike after being diagnosed with vertigo, Alex Bowman missed his first NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. As Anthony Alfredo filled in the Hendrick Motorsports number 48 this past weekend at the Phoenix Raceway. The organization announced that they are requesting a medical waiver that would allow Bowman to still be eligible for NASCAR's postseason. Bowman is listed on this week's entry list for Las Vegas, even though HMS has yet to update his status for this weekend's action. In other news, Cletus McFarland will be making his NASCAR O'Rally Auto Parts Series debut at Rockingham Speedway with Richard Childress Racing. The deal includes multiple races, but McFarland must first be cleared by NASCAR to run more events after his attempt at the Rock. And Darlington Raceway announced that 2026 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees Kurt Buschen-Harry Gantt will serve as co-grand marshals for the good year 400 on Sunday March 22nd. Mike? Thank you, Kyle. Coming up, a NASCAR-Live backtracks from Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix. Warning, this product contains nicotine. nicotine is an addictive chemical underage sale prohibitive with intensity and excitement around every turn. Nothing compares to race day, just like nothing compares to the intensity and flavor of zone nicotine pouches available in the strengths of 6 and 9 milligrams. Speaking of excitement, zone will be unveiling a brand new flavor soon, so stay tuned. All I can say is intensity and flavor are about to get spiced. When zone pouches at a discount mailed right to your door, get 20% off at nicokick.com/zone when you use promo code Racing20. This is NASCAR-Live, now back to Mike Bagley. Welcome back to NASCAR-Live. Sunday's straight talk wireless 500 presented a race that was dominated by Christopher Bell and cautions. But eventually won by Ryan Blaney. Let's go back through all of the twists and turns from Sunday's race with an NASCAR-Live backtracks. God bless America. God bless our troops. And God bless St. Jude Children's Research Hospital drivers. Start your engines. Joey Logano is down on the bottom side of the racetrack Kyle Arson topside on row number 1. Chevrolet Corvette pace cars behind the wall. Here they come. Green flag goes in the air and the straight talk wireless 500 is underway. Logano has them behind him. Here's Joey Logano. Now Ryan Blaney goes to the outside. There's side by side to the lead. This time Logano to the inside. Blaney comes to the high side to see a fat pass bite working. There's three wide in front of this battle to the lead. And Blaney is going to get the advantage because Logano gets boxed in behind Custer. Here's Blaney. He'll swing wide up the corner. He'll stack it three wide with Latin traffic. And a new leader in the straight talk wireless 500. Ryan Blaney goes to the top of the leaderboard. Right at the bottom of the racetrack. Ty Dillon drifts wide trying to stay on the tail end of the lead lap. He'll be successful as the green and white checkered flag goes in the air. And Ryan Blaney picks up the stage number one win here at Phoenix Raceway. Top 10 get paid championship points. Christopher Bell will be second. Joey Logano will be third. So if we're not okay, then they were maybe 10. Yes, and we're going to be zero. There is a problem for Ryan Blaney on the pit lane. Chris Woner, what is the issue? Yeah, he's going to have to come back. Might be issue is a loose left front tire when he left the pit box. The crew thought that they didn't get it fully tied. So Jonathan Hassler taking this opportunity to bring Ryan Blaney down. Pit lane once again. He's going to park it here in the pit box. They're going to make sure he's in France. The front tire changer making sure the left front is tight. Oh, good feeling. You're going to all the way to go. Don't worry about it. We'll get it back. Christopher Bell has the back end of the car. Fish tail on him just a bit when he applies the throttle. It's going to give Logano a fender out in front. He keeps that fender out in front. And now that goes away right in the middle of the corner. Christopher Bell very aggressive down in the bottom. It turns one and two. He'll take over the lead as they head down the back stretch. The hard east caution flies over the speedway for a problem in turn four. Kurt Becker, you had a great view of this when Chase Frisco just nailed the safer barrier. Yeah, he took a sledgehammer shot there. He'd been involved in a pretty intense battle over the last couple of laps for the third position. He and Tyler Renek had been going at it. And Frisco had been working to the high side, but again, collects the safer barrier over in turn three and four. Stop at 22, Mark. Stop at 22, Mark. Stop at 22, Mark. It's all the way down at the end. Number one. Left rear tire. 22 bucks. It's all one. It's the exact number of cars that have been passed by individual drivers today. But the car of Ryan Blaney has got to be close to the top of that. After he had a loose wheel earlier in today's race on a pit stop, Todd, he's got to go to the back of the field again this time. Loose wheel again. Loose left rear. They actually caught it. He stopped. He's piece pitted back there on the back stretch part of it. Stopped in a 22 box. Did Jack it up and tightened it up. That's a tail end penalty. He'll start scratching again. Their caution is out because of Noah Gregson's problem. He's not the only one. William Byron's cut down a right front tire. He's on the pit lane. And he's not the only one. Connor Zillich's just cut down a right front tire. Zillich also on pit road. Steve Post. William Byron car. And there cannot get the Jack onto the right side. Now they finally get the right side up. The car came down the pit road and you could hear it just dragging on the asphalt into the concrete pit box. Now they get the right side tires on the car. Do not see any massaging or working on it. They're going to come around to the left side and put four tires on it. But William Byron cut tire here under caution. It was a right front tire down. Now a crew member taking a run around. They're taking a quick look at the front of the car. They're working on the front of the car just making sure there's no damage up under the car. After scraping it all the way around the speedway now. Crew members are getting around to the right side of check. That's Chevrolet over for William Byron. Michael McDowell has a right front down as well. Three Chevrolet's with right front tires down under caution number five at lap 158. Christopher Bell out of turn number four to the start finish line. Green and white checkered flag is waving Christopher Bell when stage two of the straight talk wireless 500. Ryan Blaney on the move again. He's got himself a Mustang dark horse that wants to run in Blaney as the jockey there's just letting that car go. Not even really going to the whip. Blaney is up to the number four position. How will Josh Barry and Shayce Elliott fare on this restart? We're about to find out. Green flag is back in the air. Josh Barry and the wood brothers up to the gearbox across the line. Barry heads for the apron. They all head for the apron on the across stop. Contact. Shastane. Alfredo. Austin Cinder and Crash and Collide as they all came together in the dog leg on the restart. And that immediately puts the hardy's caution back out. Huge crash and a monster hit on the outside safer barrier by Austin Cinder. Whose car is going to come to arrest in turn number one with some other cars in front of Dan Hubbard. That was a tough restart and we always talk about the transition from the flat of the apron to this racing surface proper. Anthony Alfredo also involved in that now. Alfredo is able to grab a gear. He's going to limp it back to the pits as the start. safety teams have already arrived at the Austin Cindrick machine. The window net is down. That is the good news, but Cindrick may need a moment or two before he gets out of the car. "It's a zone, three. We're going to find y'all back. We've got the on your spot for the air line now." "Right on you." "Thing on." "Thing on, bud. Thing on." "Bogged it down. 45. We're behind. We're behind. We're behind." "Rex, we're behind." "Thing on, bud. 45. We're behind. Thing on." "Thing on, bud. Thing on, bud. Thing on." his way back all the way around to Pith Road entrance. Hardy's caution number 11 flying over the strait talk wireless 500. This is a caution that several people are waiting for. This will open up pillane for using that final set of Good Year Tires. The money stopped here on lap 289. Kyle Larson hits his marks final set of sticker tires. This needs a little bit of help in the corner. So does Ryan Blaney. They're going to make a little bit of an air pressure adjustment for tires to go fuel. Make that two right side tires for Ryan Blaney's down in a way. He posts Mr. Ferbell the call is Burger King. He needs the car to be a little bit freer. There's the car right on the right side of the automobile. Well see what they do. They're going to go four tires on this one for Christopher Bell. Here's William Byron in the race of the road. Ty Gimff with the race of the road. Ryan Blaney Kyle Larson, Tyler Ruddock, William Byron good off. Looks like Christopher Bell does all in about position number 8. 10 laps to go in Phoenix. The driver that has dominated this race. Christopher Bell, he is pinned back in fourth. Side by side for the lead. Head into one. Nice run by Ryan Blaney off the turn through the dog leg. He's got a hood out in front, a door panel out in front. Blaney has the lead. He comes in too hot. He washes up the back and opens the door for Ty Gimff. Ty Gimff. He's ready to pal, he gets a fender alongside. But Blaney regroups and comes strong off the end of the backstreet. Ryan Blaney now back at the front of the field at Phoenix. Ty Gimff falls in line in second. Ryan Blaney off turn two. He's onto the backstretch. Here he comes from the final time. Blaney heads for turn three. He'll dial up the lowland of the racetrack. He'll send it hard into turn number three. But it's not enough. Ryan Blaney comes out of turn number four across this assert finish line. Ryan Blaney wins the straight talk wireless 500 at Phoenix. Let's go, baby. Right, guys. Great call, Jonathan. Good job, everybody. We're ready to first appear. Really proud of everybody. That's awesome. Yeah. Sweet. Coming up, Ryan Prius will join us. NASCAR Powerball. The chase to 1 million is on. Files, are you ready? Don't miss your chance to collect cash prizes on your way to an all-new destination where you could take home $1 million. The winner is contestants number two. I can't believe it. The official lottery game of NASCAR is back for the chain. Powerball. The chase to 1 million starts now. This is NASCAR Live. Now back to Mike Bagley. Welcome back to NASCAR Live. The straight talk wireless 500 is in the book set Phoenix Raceway. And when we look at the race report and look at finishing position number 13, it gives the name of Ryan Prius and the bodyguard Ford. However, that was an eventful, hard fought and earned 13th place finish. Ryan joins us now. Ryan, welcome back to NASCAR Live. How are we doing? Yeah, I'm doing good. And boy, you nailed it right there because the 13th, that, you know, at the beginning of the race, I would have said, boy, I'd be really disappointed with the 13th. And then when we got to stage two and stage three, just how it all transpired, yeah, my entire attitude of getting 13th changed. So did I feel like we had a better car than that? I certainly do. But, you know, with trying something and I was all for it, it just didn't work out, but I'd rather be aggressive and find out than just play the easy game. So we're, yeah, we take a 13th. We're good on the metric for qualifying at Vegas and we'll move on. I assume that thing that you tried was staying out when everybody came in to get to the end of the stage, stay on the lead lap, save a set of tires and then work your way back to the front. Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, yeah. I think that had a lot to do with it, to be honest with you. And the reason being is, you know, we went stage one without a caution, right? We didn't think tires are going to be a problem for some of these guys. And as you know, you know, we all, we're all greedy and we start pushing things. And, you know, when we started having quite a few cautions in stage two, it created the opportunity that there could be a lot of cautions and that, hey, man, we might run out of tires. So it did save us a set. We had another set laying at the end of the race. So if there was a caution with 10 to go or whatever it may have been, I felt like we would have been in really good shape, but, you know, ultimately we're able to rebound and fight our way back to 13th and still give us a decent something okay of a point today. So you talk about tires and the strategy that went along with that. This is the first time we went to Phoenix with additional horsepower and that concerted effort right there. I thought put on a great race. What did you think about it? You were right smack that in the middle of it. What were your thoughts? And I've been saying this for a while now. If you give me softer tires and you give me more horsepower, we're going to see awesome racing. Now, at Phoenix, it showed up. It really did. I thought it was, you know, a little bit more obvious than it was last year and it put on a greater show where I think the 750 is going to show up even more is when we go to Martin's ville, when we go to North Wilkesboro and we already saw it at Bowman Gray. So there's going to be places where it's going to be a lot more evident than others and a lot of that has to do with the gear that we run at some of these race tracks. So I'm, yeah, I'm anxious to see some of these other tracks and how it goes because, you know, I feel like NASCAR could has them for listening to us drivers. And I'd like to see us at some of these, you know, Phoenix or New Hampshire or some of these mile plus race tracks, not mile and a half, but mile plus seeing a little more horsepower because I think that's going to help the show at some of those places as well. Well, the next time we're going to see that, what you described is at Darlington and there's a lot of folks like in their chops at that softer tires and more horsepower at Darlington, that should put on a heck of a shell. Yeah, definitely well. You know, because Darlington, it's a, there's something about the, the Southern asphalt and how they pave these race tracks. They're very coarse. And what that does is it really just beats up the tire and, you know, Darlington's, I would consider it a mile and a half ish type of racetrack because it, it's heavily influenced on momentum. But it does race like a short track where you're heavy breaking into turns three and you're having to try and keep the car from sliding around and then trying to get back to the throttle is, is really, really difficult. So that makes it challenging. But yeah, I'm eager to see how next week goes because, you know, that's been a track that we've been pretty solid out. Jenny with Ryan Priest, after a weekend spin in Phoenix, before we start talking about Las Vegas, I want to talk about your season in general. You got four races in the books. You've had a mixed bag of finishes, but you're still hovering right around Chase territory as it were. How would you describe the first month of racing for you in 2026? I mean, they've, we've had relatively okay finishes outside the clash where we won. You know, Daytona crossing the line backwards for 25th. That was the reason why I did it. Every point matters. And then we went to Atlanta and I felt like Atlanta was a success for us finishing ninth. But then, you know, Coda, Coda, Coda went a little better for us. And ultimately, I felt like we've had moments throughout these races where we've shown that we're capable and contenders. But then we, you know, for whatever reason, we're fighting adversity throughout them. And then, you know, ultimately we come out with a, with a decent finish with whatever we were dealing with. So now I'm looking forward to going to the Las Vegas. I want to execute a great race from the driver standpoint on top of the box, you know, in the pits, pits, you know, coming down on pit road, you know, and all of us are ready to do that. And boy, are we, we're excited. - It's gonna be a lot going on this weekend in Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That track seems to have gotten a lot of character over the years, especially you get that big bump that we always talk about in turns one and two, but it's almost like there's like a little washboard series of bumps in turn three and four. What about the character of that race track these days? - Yeah, so I didn't run the old Atlanta a lot, like some of these, some of the guys had, but what I'll tell you is, is I feel like Las Vegas has turned into not quite what Atlanta was, but it's having character to the point of where, yeah, you need to be disciplined. You need to be disciplined on how you, you are getting through the bumps in turns one and two. You need to be disciplined about where you're running in turns three and four. And that makes it challenging. So I think, you know, Kansas is just one of those tracks that has turned into like a guy who can rip the fences really fast. Well, Las Vegas has turned into whoever's disciplined is gonna reap the rewards. - Well, I'll look forward to the Penns Oil 400 together. Hey, before I let you go, you and I were talking about before we went on the air here about something pretty cool you got going on tonight. You're headed to San Diego tonight. We will as an industry be headed to San Diego to race on a naval base. How cool is that to come up with something yet again, unique on the schedule for the fans to look forward to? But I would imagine that's unique for you drivers as well, being able to race on a naval base. - Yeah, that's gonna be exciting. You know, I think having the opportunity to go out there, we're gonna visit a children's hospital as well as, there's some sort of a draft that we're gonna be a part of. So I'm eager to see what that entails. But yeah, being able to race around the naval base, I mean, who can say they've done that in their lifetime? I don't know anybody that can. So honored to be able to do that. Grateful that NASCAR has found it away in initiative to work with the United States and the Navy to make this happen. And you know, what better place? I hear a lot of great things about San Diego. So I'm excited to go out there, check it all out tomorrow and then be racing there later on this year. - One of the most beautiful parts of the country and we cannot wait to get out to Southern California and San Diego. Appreciate the time, safe travels out west, all the best to you and, and start your time in California and Nevada here in the next handful of days or so. - Appreciate it, thanks, bag man. - That's right, priests, more coming up on NASCAR Live. - Every DIY project has that, oh, no moment, the missing bolt, the measured cut, the second, the third and fourth trips to the hardware store. That's where craftsmen comes in. Whether you're tackling the backyard, the bathroom, or beyond, craftsmen has the tools to help you power through and get the job done right. Because DIYing is unpredictable, but your tools shouldn't be. Head to craftsmen.com today and find the right tools for any project. Craftsmen, build on. - This is NASCAR Live, now back to Mike Bagley. Welcome back to NASCAR Live, as we know NASCAR Cup Series drivers enjoy a life on the road 75% of the year. And there are many ways to kill time while traveling. One of those ways is to binge watch and stream shows. So we took time to ask drivers what they're watching while traveling on this West Coast road trip. Here's our Kyle Ricky to take us through the results. - The NASCAR schedule means long weeks on the road, cross country flights, late nights at the track, and plenty of time spent in airports and hotels. So when drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series finally get some downtime, many turn to streaming services to catch up on their favorite shows. One show that seems to have caught on around the garage is Landman. Driver AJ Almondinger says it's one of the series he's been watching lately. - I'm not like a big streaming guy. Like I just usually stick to my sports and that's whatever's on. It's kind of what I watch. Or King of Queens reruns in 2.5 men. But there are two that now have become part of our Tarenir's lives. Landman and Tulsa King. And literally it was like one of those I was, I think, testing with Rolex or something. I was out of town and I came back and she's like, you have to catch up on Landman to wear a mat. And that's pretty much it. And then we kind of switch to Tulsa King as well. Austin Dylan is also watching Landman. But says that he's been spending time catching up on other popular series as well. - My wife and I have been watching Landman. It doesn't come out fast enough. So we really like Landman. And then I've watched for a while stranger things. So she restarted watching it. So I got caught back up into that with her. I'm much favor Yellowstone Landman. But stranger things has got to cut my eye again a little bit. And then when I was watching the show of Alex Bowman, Landman stands out for a reason. - It's just a good show. I thought season one was better than season two, but the end of season two was really good. Season two I was kind of like, I don't know. But then the ending of season two was really good. So I think it's just a good show. It's a different concept than I feel like it's been on TV before, like in any show that I've watched. And dynamic between the characters is really entertaining. Yeah, it's a good one. And I think it's a good show on the opinions when it comes to a couple of other big streaming hits. - The problem is when shows are that good, there's never a great way to end it. Game of Thrones have the same problem. It's great a show of all time. Like even breaking bad couldn't really end it. And then you got El Camino after breaking bad, which isn't that good. I hate the last season of Game of Thrones. It's so rush. And stranger things, the last two episodes are things rushed for sure. But Game of Thrones it took so long for anything to happen and then it's like, holy (beep) it's all done. - With so many options available, Austin Cindrick says he's keeping a running list of recommended shows. - I have a watch list on my phone of things other people have told me to watch. But yes, I do watch anime, Cody and I. It's very rare, especially in racing, to find people that do. So Cody and I do talk about that. He's given me some good suggestions, but the last couple that I've got on here, hot rod. I don't know what that is. Yeah, I forget who told me. I mean, this was recent. Somebody told me to watch this. But anyway, I need to write down who tells me to watch these. There's a Brian Bosworth 30 for 30, Fury, the World War II movie Brad Pitt. I guess there's a JFK documentary with Kevin Costner. This hard boiled movie that's like old Japanese movie. Anyway, the saboteurs, until Landman is good. Several enemies on here. I just keep adding. Yeah, and then I'll just delete them once I watch them. Yeah, so I've lots of go through, but it's like when you have a long flight or something like that, when we go out west, if I'm not in the middle of watching something, it's, you know, good movie find. Sometimes though, drivers just want something quick before calling it a night. Former champion, Joey Logano says, he usually looks for a short laugh before bed. Typically, about 15 minutes of TV, I'm asleep. So it doesn't take me long. And we might turn on the TV at night, unless the kids are to bed for just a minute. And we've been watching a rested development lately. I guess it's an older show, but it's hilarious. And I think the episodes are like 20 minutes, so it's perfect for us. So we're trying to go through the whole season, but it's going to take us over a year to do this, because we don't like watching much of it. But usually nothing too serious before I go to bed. I just want to, I guess, serious stuff going on all day long. I want to get a laugh in and fall asleep. Others prefer going back to the TV classics. And Tyler Redick is in that camp. And I guess if I do watch the show, I pretty much bend right through it. I'd say for me, like, the go-to one that I have that's, like, you know, timeless for me is star trek next generation. I can pretty much pick it up any episode. It's a turn watchful thing. I've think I've watched them all at least once, maybe even twice now. I don't know, but that for me is, like, my go-to. And there's seven seasons of, you know, 25 plus episodes. So there's plenty there to watch. - Fort Todd Gilloland, most of his viewing actually happens on YouTube. - I'm a big YouTube guy, so I will always have, you know, hours of downloaded of, you know, like YouTube golf matches and all that stuff. So I should probably download as many races as I do, golf matches. It might help me out, but I love watching golf and I love playing it too. So I think that helps out. So it's not as much, you know, kind of instructional stuff. It's just more than attainment of, you know, kind of one V1 guys. So Grant Horvath's big right now and in the videos I'm watching, good, good golf. Those are two probably the biggest, biggest YouTubers I watch right now. From dramas and science fiction to quick comedy and online videos, NASCAR drivers have plenty of ways to pass the time when racing stops and the travel begins. - Thank you, Kyle. - The feature was brought to you by the Powerball, NASCAR, Powerball. Chase to 1 million is on. Start your entries for the Chastawin $1 million at NASCAR Championship Weekend, the official lottery game of NASCAR, Powerball. - This is NASCAR Live. - Welcome back to NASCAR Live. The Raja Karuth is off to a solid start to the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts series season. He sits seventh in the championship standings. He'll aim to climb up those standings this weekend as he heads to a track in Las Vegas where he has experienced his first NASCAR win. Our Jason Toy sat down with Raja. Congratulations so far on what's been a very, very good start to the season, how comfortable is that seat belt? Yeah, thanks Jason. I mean, you can't ask for much more, right? Really leave the first two races with Top 10s with how chaotic this B-Wace can be. And then unfortunately getting kind of wiped out there at the end of Coda was not a good reflection of our day, but to go in and have a Top 10 this weekend and how much of a fight that was was great to receive at the end. So can't ask for much more. Obviously would love to be higher in the point standings, but we'll take it and excited to get going for the rest of the year. I really feel like there are some great opportunities with Chevrolet and both the Jordan Anderson racing in Bambamirito, all of the sport 32 and the Jerem, Hendrik Carr's 88. So yeah, I'm excited for what's to come for the rest of the year, but yeah, proud of the effort so far to start for sure. And give folks perspective here, the might be tuning in going, okay, how wise he's splitting up. Well, to get to seat time and get you in the full season, you had to split it up between two different teams and our obviously Chevrolet teams. So junior Motorsports, you talked about Jordan Anderson racing with Bambamirito in there as well. How, and we've all seen the growth and the evolution of Jordan Anderson racing and now being very competitive for weekend and week out, you know, you're up there, you know, Jeb's been up there too. It seems like the competitiveness for this team has gotten more and more of the last couple of the year. First of all, Jason, I think, yeah, Jordan says it's on a great job, a job of amassing just great individuals under his building and under his brand and you're starting to see it. Like you mentioned, with the team's performance over the last couple of years with Jeb again, their first one a couple of years ago. It's really being a good spot from the drivers and owners points by the things the last couple of years and Jeb ran great this weekend ran better than the NOS on the 32 and for us to finish, you know, NOS was good and I'm really, really good to see all of the, I don't know what the word is. I guess the ground, the ground's all of support and we're a lot of sacrifices have been made and efforts have been put forth. It's good to see the results come forth, right? Because Jordan and his whole whole family deserve that and hopefully we can have those top 10 become more of a regular basis thing and, you know, maybe maybe a win in the future for them guys. Hopefully, hopefully I can be one to get one for them, but definitely just hoping to stay consistent and keep getting those those base hits and line drives. You know, and also too, we add to what you're doing with junior motor sports, you're going to be an E88. So how hard was it to put this schedule together to make sure that every single week of this a ride layout apart schedule, you're going to be in a race car somewhere? I mean, we're still selling sponsorship. It's not, it's not easy by any means, right? Obviously, having the support of Mr. H and Miss Linda has been amazing and representing them in the end cars.com E88 has been great. And that partnership has been something that's really kept me employed and gave me an opportunity to continue to chase my dream. So I'm super thankful for that. And in that same vein, Chevrolet helped really get me started to go over here at Jordan Anderson. And really it's, well, like I said, we're still selling. We're still fighting to get the rest of the, you know, the 10 races so, I guess not now. And it's not easy from that side of things. But a lot of obviously the differences in the organizations and the resources, I mean, it really hasn't been that hard, obviously or not, obviously, but really my experience with Alpha Prime Racing over the years has helped just prepare me for both of these opportunities and say, well, my truck experience is kind of a nice combination of all that I've learned so far. And yeah, so I guess the summarize, the easy part, the hard part wasn't the, it hasn't been the competition side. The hard part has been, you know, selling the sponsors, selling the races, making sure that I had, you know, a ride and making sure that Jordan and Mr. Bummer, you know, have their funds in place to be able to put the cars out on the track and, you know, go and compete. All right. Before we talk about you a little bit, let's talk about this weekend. You guys so far this season have gone on two super speedways. You went on a road course and you ran most recently at Phoenix by the way. Congratulations on a top 10 there. Now you get to go to a mile and a half. You're heading to Las Vegas this weekend. So what's the set up going to be like? What do you anticipate as you go? And I always seems like when we go to the Las Vegas, you got extremes. You either got extreme heat, you got extreme wind or it's extremely cold. So what do you anticipate? Well, in the truck race last year, it snowed and we had a snow delay in the truck race. So hopefully we do not encounter that again because that was probably one of the single digit times in my short career that I've ever been cold while driving a race car. I literally was putting my hand on the drivetrain tunnel as we were driving because my hands were starting to get a little bit cold. But yeah, I'd love going a mile and a half. That's probably a track and driving or a style of track that fits right into my wheelhouse and so where I feel comfortable and a place I've fortunately been able to win at in the years past. And I really feel like the support that Jordan Anderson has from RCR will hopefully be a benefit this weekend with how good the two car was at Vegas last fall. And I know my strengths are are at these mile and a half. So I hope to have a good result at the end of the day and have a consistent run for sure. But definitely a little bit more confident going into this weekend just because I know these tracks are kind of a strength of mine and hopefully the cars will, you know, match that. You talked about having success there in the trucks. How important is that for you going to a mile and a half in this Xfinity car knowing the success that you've had in that truck in the past? Yeah, I don't feel like the only thing that I can really take from the truck success is really just how much it takes to put together a weekend to manage the moments whenever you're having a good day and lose the track position, right? Not damaging your vehicle and making it worse or making sure that you're putting yourself in a bad spot and not in a bad spot. Really those game manager and just big brain kind of moments, I think that's what those truck wins really taught me. Because there was a lot of times in my truck career where I had fast trucks and I screwed them up pretty, pretty bad whether it was wrecking myself blocking time of Jessica at Kansas years ago or getting a speeding penalty at Kansas to, I mean, kind of I can go on a very long tangent, but you know, those those Ls really taught me really what it takes to really win at that level and I'm going to take all those lessons, you know, onto this garage. And yeah, I'd say not really any of the driving stuff is something that I can carry over, but definitely those kind of gamesmanship and awareness type of things. Roger Caruth is here with us getting ready to wrap things up with him here off to a great start to the season full time and then the O'Reilly Auto Parts series. And when do we see you back in the 88, when's the seat changing start to happen more and more? Yeah Jason, I'll be back in the 88 for Marnasville. So it'll have a nice couple of back to back races, Marnasville and Rocket Am. And then I believe Kyle was in at Bristol and then Williams in at Kansas, I believe that's the current schedule and in between those all went to Aladega and trying to remember off time ahead. But in time, the next two weeks I'm driving the 32 for Jordan Anderson Racing and then back in the 88 for two more after that. Thank you Jason. Coming up, we'll celebrate all of the women in NASCAR. This is NASCAR Live. March is Women's History Month and here at the Motor Racing Network, we wanted to take the time to celebrate all of the women working in NASCAR. Here to help us do that is our Susie Armstrong. Women have long been a part of NASCAR and their impact across the sport continues to grow from drivers on the track to leaders behind the scenes and voices in the broadcast booth. So let's highlight several women helping to shape the future of motor sports. During the season opening general tire 200 at Daytona International Speedway, Archimenaord's Rising Star Isabella Robusto battled her way to the front. Isabella Robusto leads the way of her Daniel Die. It's a big shove by Daniel Die off of turn number two and Isabella Robusto to the point they battle for the fourth spot on back Sean Corden to the inside, fourth car in line on the bottom. This McClureland first car topside Isabella Robusto up front. She's the fifth female to ever lead in an Archimenaord series race here at Daytona to go along with Paddy Moise, Milka Duno, Mary Evdufal and Gracie Trotter. Moments like that reflect how the next generation of drivers continue to break through. For former racer and current MRN broadcaster Aaron Everhan Ham, competing in the sport meant proving she could beat anyone. You know my favorite moment in motor sports for me personally was winning a world about law sprang car race just because it's such a highly regarded type of racing nitty gritty. And as a woman it was beating the guys, you know, it's a sport where we can race against the men and be on the same platform. So having those accomplishments are certainly my proudest moments. Women are also shaping NASCAR away from the driver's seat. Kelly Earnhardt Miller, co-owner of Junior Motorsports, has helped guide one of the most successful organizations in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts series and explains how the team has been able to sustain that success. One day, Dill's like, you know, I think we should maybe try to consider Bush racing and this was in 2005. We thought that we would race in 2007. So we thought they were playing or like, you know what, we think we'll be able to do that 2007 and low and behold someone called that was representing the Navy at the time and they said, well, you know, they want to talk to you guys about racing and we said, well, you know, that'd be great, you know, we want to do this in 2007. They said, oh, no, we want to do this in 2006. And it was like August of 2005. And so again, just no plan, you know, in racing, it's hard enough to try to plan because there's just really no planning. There's so many variables, sponsorship is such a variable, you know, on the track as there's many variables involved in all. And so it's really hard to like map out a plan. And so to be here, almost 20 years later, celebrating 100 wins, without really, you know, the strategy I think that has kept us going is just to treat everybody well. And you know, big of our employees and our drivers and just, you know, focus with your head down on everything that we do. Their stories are also being told by women covering the sport each week. veteran broadcaster Shannon Spake says working on Pit Road while pregnant was an empowering moment in her career. I really feel like I was one of the first ones to be pregnant on Pit Road and show other women that they could do it as well. Afterwards, a handful of the women, they then went on to be pregnant and have their kids. And I think it just opened up the door to prove to women in this sport that you really can do it all. Beyond the spotlight, efforts are also focused on building the future of the sport. Phoenix Raceway, track president Latasha Kazi says educating young people about opportunities in motor sports is a passion of hers. With me being here, you know, my network of women are like, what are you doing there? And what is it all about? And so I get lucky enough for them to be able to come out and experience it and enjoy it. So we are doing multiple things over our race weekend really to highlight women and really to provide women the opportunity. But when it comes to young girls, I'm very passionate about helping young people just in general, especially young girls, but just kids in general really wanting to be able to provide kids the opportunity to know that there is an option for them to be in motor sports. You know, a lot of times when kids are like, oh, I want to be work for an ask car, I want to be a race car driver. Race car drivers are great, but there's so much more outside of just being a race car driver. You know, you can be part of a pit crew. You could work at a race track. I mean, there's so many things and we want to educate them about what those things are and what those positions are. And so again, I'm very passionate about that and do everything that I can to help inspire and encourage young girls and honestly just our future generation of leaders. From drivers and broadcasters to team owners and mentors, women across NASCAR continue to shape the sports future on the track in the garage and throughout the industry. Thank you, Susie. Coming up, we'll flash back to Rajah Karuth's first NASCAR win. This is NASCAR Live now back to Mike Bagley. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is next up on the calendar this weekend. And as we mentioned earlier in the show when Rajah Karuth joined us, Las Vegas is the site of his first career NASCAR win. So let's flash back to that milestone victory from the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. Tyler Ankram, his orange and blue Silverado trying to take up his much race track as he can and keep Cory Heim behind him. Ilar Ankram trying to make his Chevy as wide as possible opens up a bit of a gap, maybe a truck length and a half over Cory Heim. They cross the stripe. And again, that gap now is about three and a half truck length as it pours back to turn one and two. Yeah, Ankram, a little bit more separation this time through, but finally we'll dial up the bottom lane again and close as that gap down to a bad truck place for this race for the runner up spot. They are coming up on the slower truck of Kyle Busch. Are these two drivers battling for second? Again, in the turn number three, it's Ankram in the second spot. Cory Heim runs third. It'll be five laps to go this time by. Again, Rajah Karuth out front. His advantage is still two full seconds back to this ongoing battle for the second position. Tyler Ankram still has that spot and Cory Heim still trying to take it away. You have a Kyle Busch lap truck that mop it in there as well. Race leader Rajah Karuth also disclosing the lap traffic. He puts tie Dylan into the lap now. And it does seem like Rajah Karuth has backed off his pace just a little bit. He's got Conor Jones and Matt Mills in front of him. He will clear Karuth will Matt Mills in turn three, but Karuth seems to have backed it off the last few laps. Your right Tim Kata-Famil, the advantage was 2.2 seconds last time around. It went down to 1.8. We'll check it again. We're talking about the advantage for Rajah Karuth. It goes down to 1.7. So Karuth maybe just playing it safe or maybe it's just traffic Dylan Welch. Yeah, it's a little bit of both. I have to imagine he's trying to tip T0 through and try not to give it away too much, but Ankram definitely has closed. Ankram starting to close in just ever so slightly on Rajah Karuth. However, he's still got about 20 truck lengths to make up. And that computes to 1.7 seconds on the racetrack. We're in a long green flag run 61 consecutive green flag laps. Rajah Karuth just needs three more. He's the leader back to turn one. He goes back to the bottom, goes back to work on the road for traffic. He's got Dylan, die straight ahead of him in the 43 truck off turn number two. Karuth being very careful working around these trucks. He does have Daniel die ahead of him. In fact, die will pull over and let Karuth pass him by and turn three. Last time by the advantage now, only 1.5 seconds for Rajah Karuth. Over second place man, Tyler Ankram. They'll cross the stripe once again. We'll measure the increment and it is still 1.0. Make it 1.3 seconds. So Ankram is coming, but Karuth continues to lead. Don't look in the mirror right now if you're Rajah Karuth. Tyler Ankram starting to run him down, but does he have enough time as they round turn four? Here he comes now. Rajah Karuth looking for the white flag this time. As he comes off the corner, the starter puts the white flag in the air, a mile and a half remain between Rajah Karuth and these first career victory. He shouldn't get to any of this lap traffic ahead of his time through 1 and 2. He's got one truck separating himself from Tyler Ankram and not close enough. Rajah Karuth down the back track. Karuth down the Nellis straight away for the final time. It's about 15 truck lengths. His lead in the turn number three, Rajah Karuth comfortably works his way through the corner. What a moment this is going to be for this young man. Rajah Karuth brings it off of turn four up through the front stretch looking for the checkered flag and he takes it. Rajah Karuth wins at Las Vegas. His very first NASCAR Crasman truck series victory. It's time to head for the exits. Before we do, let's thank Ryan Priest for joining us. Also Rajah Karuth for joining us as well. I'm Mike Bagley for the rest of the MRN crew. Thank you for spending your Tuesday night with us here on the Motor Racing Network. Don't forget another installment of NASCAR Live Wide Open Drops Thursday wherever you download your podcast. Until we speak again, so long everybody. NASCAR Live is a production of the Motor Racing Network with studios in Concord, North Carolina and was brought to you by Toyota Racing. Today's broadcast was produced by Tray Downey, Pat Jaggers and Julian Council. The executive producer for MRN is Ryan Horn. Remember to visit mren.com for all the latest news and information. NASCAR Live is produced under an exclusive license with NASCAR. In use of the accounts and descriptions contained in this broadcast, must be with the express written permission of NASCAR and the Motor Racing Network.