Was Denny Hamlin “A11 In” at Chicagoland?

What SVG said though, I would be more pissed about if I was to know. SVG is low-key, really funny. He just grunts. Arvo Cabo is to say, "Oh, I'll try to talk to him, but he just mumbles." But the way SVG wears it, he just grunts. The following is a production of "Dirty Mo Media." I believe that I've been a competitor for 20 years. Opinions from tonight's podcast, "Strictly Bias," you're gonna hear it from my point of view. I'm a fighter. You know you are now. 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. (upbeat music) Hey guys, welcome to "Action's Determinal." After Chicago land, race 19 of the regular season, I know they don't want us to call it the regular season, but it is, what would you call it? Well, it's not playoffs anymore, so it's not regular season. But do they not reward a regular season championship? I'm just saying like PR, I don't know if they want us to call it regular season, but I think everyone still does. Yeah. Well, before we start, I finally have Travis's gift. Yes. All the Denny Bros. necklace. The chain. The chain. I know you're not on camera Travis, but do you want to don it for the episode? I'll wear it. Sick. This was given to us by a fan at a Bob's discount furniture, by the way. Autograph signing. Looks good on you. A little more that way. There you go. Travis, where are we at with getting the sticker on your car? Well, I asked Jared, and I never got a response about it. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no. I said, "It's not what happened." You said, "Where Friday?" I don't think you said that. I think you did. You asked me if I was available. I said, "Yes." What else do y'all need then? Right here on 12.59 on, I believe Thursday. Jared. Is that where tomorrow? A.M. P.M. Well, you did say when and where tomorrow. I didn't see that. All right. Y'all need to work this out. That was in the middle of a bunch of sim texts. Anyway. Denny's driveway. We need the sticker from Charlie. Charlie, I don't, you don't have it, right? No, I don't have it. I don't have it, so I gotta get that from here. So I will pay it off, but are we worried that putting it on my car could give the bad luck that it has brought the 45? It's been not good. So maybe we just leave it. Maybe we just suspend the suspension. We just push it down the road. OK. All right. OK. Do we need to reverse and choose everything? Those, y'all don't know what's going on. What was it if you said if we won three in a row, you would put it to any rows. Sticker, like a name sticker on your car. Yeah. OK. Well, you can't win them all, I guess. Although I thought I was, I just think that I had a role in us not winning, you think? Yeah. Just not my best, not my best work. It wasn't like a focus or anything like that. Just too nonchalant, right? And if you let someone just stay close in the game, stay close, stay close, then you end up getting beat. And we definitely got beat. How are you, at what point in the race? You know, I'm not saying stay close on the racetrack. I'm saying, you know what I mean? You sports, people know what I mean. You let someone stay close enough and they get you in the end. At what point in the race did you lose that focus? I said I didn't lose focus. I just, I didn't have a sense of urgency until the third stage. Yeah. And so, you know, we had some not great restarts where I was like, OK, don't worry about me going through wide. I'm just going to go ahead and push here. Yes. Like, we're normally, I would just take the run, go through wide. Right. There was that restart where you were like, just tell the 23, I'm going to push him. And then you lost three four spots. And then I did the same thing with the 24. Like, I had to run on him and I'm like, nah, that just push him. It's fine. So I just think why? I felt that strongly about our car after 20 laps or so. I don't know. I really don't know. And, you know, you got to give credit also to the guys that I was racing with. They made their cars better. No question about it. In the first stage, I thought that we had a lot of room to gain on our car. Still, still was very fast. But I don't know. I just thought that it would be easier to go up there and get the lead when I really push and get the lead, need to get the lead. So it just took all that for granted. So, yeah, that's not not not great for sure. And then in the third stage, you know, that was me pushing it. And we didn't have a winning car the first run of the third stage. We were about third or so. It seemed like the 24 and the 19 had really good short run speed. And they would fall off really, really hard. And after that, it seemed like me in the 20 would then start to drive to the front. Well, we were both battling the car so much, me in the 20 that we kept battling each other, trying to be the next good guy to go challenge the leaders. And then all through that sequence on that run, we ended up, I'm not sure how many seconds we were back, probably about three. Maybe a little less. Maybe a little less because we were running in them. Before the last pit stop, before the last Greenfly pit stop, I thought maybe it was like two, wasn't two, two and a half, three, no, three to three to four, whoa, four, maybe not four. I thought we closed the gap quite a bit at the end of that run. And then we needed an adjustment. We ended up losing 1.9 seconds on that cycle. It's just pit stop that ends and outs and all the stuff, 1.9. And on top of that, we stayed out and ran four extra laps or something like that. And that's another one, two, three, four seconds, five seconds. So the task was, okay, nine seconds back, can you drive all, can you get all the way back with 40 laps to go or 30, something laps to go? Just, I don't know, I didn't think it was going to be enough time, but we did gain. We got within those two and a half seconds, and I'm like, it was eight to go, yeah. And I got to two and a half seconds and I'm sitting there and I'm like, trying to figure out, can I, am I going to get there, run it, continuing to run the pace I'm running? And I thought it was going to be really close. I thought I was going to get there right at the white. But it's interesting. I thought I was definitely going to get to the 21st and he got there with a couple laps to go. So, who knows, I think passing would have been tough, given my balance. But we almost got there. Just, I pushed it. I tried to say, all right, well, I need another 10th per lap. So let me go all up to the wall and turn one or two, little did I know. Somebody was up there and so there was nothing but dust and so as soon as I got there, off into the wall went. So, I was very, I was so nervous getting off of that wall because I'm thinking, please don't have a broke toe link. Please, you know, it just, it really, that scared me and then turns out it actually made my car better. Like the last few laps, I was able to rip pretty good. You closed it back down. Yeah. It didn't repass, buy her in and yeah, we closed it back down to three seconds. We were, with eight to go, we were after hitting the wall five and a half, five point two, something like that. Closed it back down to three and a half, which is at the checkered. So, yeah, it's just that it bent the right rear toe link more than likely out. And so it actually freed up my balance pretty nicely. There's last few laps. But, didn't matter. I already made the mistake of hitting the wall. Do you feel like you gave one away on yesterday? Well, you got to give credit to the 19 and 20. They were formidable and very fast. especially in the short run, they had great speed and the 20 had good long run speed. So he had a decent mix of both. 54 had good short run speed. So it was, no, I don't think so. I think that I think it was a very winnable race, but it wasn't one that was given to anyone. - Yeah, it feels like just throughout the day, whether it was untimely cautious 'cause you were a long run car or restarts that it was, it was just always two steps back, one step forward, two steps back, one step forward. And you never were able to get back on the front foot. Even that, I don't know, the last caution flag cycle, where you pitted and then red it blew up, right? Then you probably are gonna take the lead, if that stays. - Yeah, but green. - But now you gotta restart forth behind your competition. - Right. - And you never get, you never got the front row after you lost it. - Yeah. - Yeah. And a lot of that, it's just no sense of urgency for me. And so that's where that just, sometimes you're too patient and I just, I'll let that race just get too deep into, into the race to really say, okay, I gotta, I need to push here. - Yeah, that's why at once you were behind your three teammates, it was like, oh man, this is gonna be tough to overcome. 'Cause they're, yeah, significantly better now. It's a third stage. - Yep. - They're not that much worse than you either, worse at all. - You're normally, you know, you've said, you're the most competitive person. Is this a lesson learned that you'd rather have now than in the chase about your demeanor and a race? - Yes. Yes. You know, generally speaking, I'm always just trying to figure out with X amount of time left on the clock and then ask our how many hit laps are to go. Where's my track position and can I win from here? And I thought in my head, in the third stage, third or fourth, to start the third stage, no problem. And I just, that's just taken way too for granted that, you know, you're gonna have the gap and I'm basing off of the first stage where it was like, you know, my gap of speed to the next best was just, you know, I thought significant, especially at the end of the first run. So, you know, everyone, they're just, they're gonna work on the cars, they're gonna get better. And then it turned into night. Night changed everything. That really sucked the field close together and speed. And so in the daytime, I still think we're fine. Everything's fine, but yeah, I even said it on the radio. But I just think in the, in the nighttime, the field tightens up, it always does. And just lots of things came together there that I just didn't foresee. Did you perceive anyone to be your competition, like at any point in the race, would be like, okay, I'm racing this guy for the win? Well, I thought, so it was interesting with Larsen because even when he was in the lead, to me, it didn't look strong. Like it looked like he was hanging on the whole time. You know, he couldn't pull away and I could see his balance. I was like, wow, you know, he's really, he's making up for a lot here. And then when I race around the 24, it was like, yeah, he's got some good short runs to be, but he really loses the balance late. But yeah, when I was around the 19 and we were both catching, I think at the time William, that was when I said, all right, and I said, if you can't get there, then let me go, right? But he was able to get there at the end of the second stage and so I understand him not doing that. And so I thought the 19, it was a parent at that time that he was very good. Again, he had a car that would fall off pretty big at the very tail end of a run, but then he would pit. So he was very good for most of the run and then the 20 was, you know, I felt like it is good or close to as good as what we were in the very long run. So I knew, yeah, I knew that when those guys were up front that it was going to be a tough task, which is why, you know, I tried the best I could in the third stage, but it's just one enough. Before we move on to our next topic, here's a trailer of Dirty Mo Media's newest show, This Cowboy Life. - Hey, this is Drillman Tiffany Davis. - Drillman Davis hopes to come very soon. - Most people know me from the dirt. Eight seconds at a time. So there's a lot more to life than the rides. - We've never really stopped to tell our story. That changes June 24th. This Cowboy Life is our new podcast on Dirty Mo Media. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and come see what This Cowboy Life is all about. (dramatic music) - Well, a big picture here. Fortunately for you, the 45 had an unfortunate day. So you're able to make up or not make up, but add 40 plus points to this regular season championship race. - Yeah, I mean, they're, you know, that's, that was, so when we talk about luck and racing, sometimes it gets used over, well, it doesn't sometimes. A lot of time to get overused to a blanket statement of you having a bad day. And sometimes when you have, you know, you get caught up in a first lap wreck, not if you're doing, sometimes that's luck, but sometimes when it happens back in 30th, it's like, yeah, but that's where things typically happen. So this was definitely bad luck. You know, for Tyler Riddick, I obviously something punctured the radiator. All kinds of fluid was going out and they went laps down. So definitely on a string of bad luck there. I don't know how good his car was. It didn't appear that it was great when I was around it, but I think we were at different tire. Well, I know at the, there was one stage where he started right behind me and then he was behind me in the short run, but then the long run it seemed. So I thought maybe Bubba probably had the best, the best 2311 car, but who knows? I mean, great, great finish for all those guys. Six, nine, 10th, for all those guys, certainly you would imagine the 45 would have been up in the top 10 as well. Is that now the primary focus with handful of races ago? Just win this regular season championship? I'd like to win one more race before we get into the playoffs. Just I thought Chicago land was going to be the best chance of that. What if it's Indy? Indy would be next, then Richmond, then New Hampshire, then North Worksboro, then Iowa, then Atlanta, then Daytona. Are you saying you want this win because of the staining to make you feel comfortable? Are you just saying because you just want a win? No, I just want a win. I just, that's seven races without winning. Add the two that we now three in a row that we haven't won. So that's 10 races, that's a dry spell. The three in a row you haven't won. Were any of, were two of those on the table? They still count. Well, it's still, I mean, it's still, does that, is that effect that you're demeanor? No, no. Because I know where we're at. I feel good about where we're at, obviously. But you know, you just, you want a win and that's, that's always been my main goal. It's just to win as many races as I possibly can. So not winning doesn't affect momentum. That's not a thing. Not if you can also win the regular season. You know what I mean? Right, yeah. Yeah, because whether you win the next six races or not, you win the race. You're not getting any added benefit as long as you win the regular season, right? It's that point. That's right. You're going to, the winner of the regular season will start with 2100 points, whether he has 10 wins or one. Yeah. Well, an action pack day in stage one. Were you aware of any of this in the car? Not really. Not till I got out and logged on. Which one you want to talk about first? I guess puts up the top of the sheet here. Zane Smith first car snooze bar. Do we know what prompted that? This one seems a little more murkier. Like we don't have a space in what kind of way? Like we don't have like air quotes murkier. I'm saying because like we have San Diego and Pocano with like it's more, yeah, happens, you know, recently with Austin Hone SvG. I know that's why I'm saying can somebody go back and look in, you know, look in time at somewhere in this race where those two were racing near each other? That's my question. There's gotta be. other evidence out there somewhere, or was there another race where these two guys got together? I don't recall either, but it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It's also hard to keep track of the run-ins. It's just, I just, I find it, I find it very pointed, very deliberate that like, if you look at it from, there was an in-car camera of somebody running on the high side and those two running low, and you can see Zane drive in there, very deep to get to his back bumper. Now, I don't know, again, I don't know what prompted it, but you would think that there was something that clearly upset Zane before that moment. Buddy, Zane, if you're going to wreck somebody. Yeah, you don't want to wreck yourself for certain, so that was, that was certainly unfortunate. Did that, did that just cram, loses day for, yeah, damage and sh*t damage, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's not ideal, but it looks like, I don't see him in the top 20, I must have got a host of ours day too, but all the spire cars were bad. Yeah, none of them really had a great day. No pass setups though. I digress. All right, so yeah, I'm torn on these wrecks, right? Because do I think that it's cool that someone goes and just wipes someone out? No, but I'm also a, I am a very firm, firm fan of self-policing, and I think that that has to be a thing that's worth, because if you can't punch someone in the face without getting a fine, and you, you know, they, they always keep you separated, you know, securities in there, you got the teams getting involved. If you can't handle it off the racetrack, which I, I'm, I'm not really in favor of that, which, because there are other people, you got to let people self-police on the racetrack, and this is how you self-police is that you let someone know you f*** with me, and you're going to get it. You're going to get it. And so just think about that before you f*** with me, or you put me, or you wreck me, or you run into me. So this is what NASCAR racing has been for quite some time, is a self-policing sport, and it just got a no-weird spot over the last like five to six to seven years, where then we start talking about, well, these are deliberate wrecks. These are intentional wrecks, and we have to penalize that. So like, and I, and then there's the other half of me, the other birdie that's like, yeah, that's an intentional wreck. The other one should be, you shouldn't be able to do that. That's, that's wrong. So I don't know which one I like. I don't know if I like the self-policing birdie, or I like the, that's an intentional wreck. It's like a very passive-aggressive way to settle your beef on the racetrack, because you can't say, like, oh, yeah, I, that's payback, right? No, you have to say, oh, sorry, Austin Hills people are nice people. Sorry, that happened. Yes, you know, yes. And so I just think both these incidences are the same. I don't see how they're much different. SVGs looked far more aggressive. When he thought that Brian Perice committed murder to Thai Gibbs, I don't know, I mean, this was a, what's above murder? Premeditated? Yeah, premeditated. That's a harsher sentence. Yeah, you were planning this. If you're not dying in the murder, you're dying in the premeditated burn. You're getting the death penalty. So I don't know. They're one in the same, but SVGs looked bad. I said last week, right? The data shows intent. The data would argue that SVG went into the corner with no intent to slow up. It's not like there was a hole there. I don't know. I think you're, if you're SVG, you're putting yourself, you're putting an ask on a really, really tough position given the comps of what have happened in these situations before. But if this is like over the line and you're going to, you know, fine or deduct points from whoever, then like, can you guys even police yourselves at all? No, that's the, that's the negative, right? If you get a penalty of any sort, it's like, well, then how am I supposed to get this person back? How am I supposed to, you know what I mean? It just gives free reign to let people do whatever they want with no repercussions. So I don't, and I don't know what Austin Hill did. I know that they Austin Hill got up the racetrack in Polkano and SVG was part of that memory. He got up the racetrack, squeezed. It was three-wide. He was driving like they were two-wide, you know, crunched those guys into the wall. And so was that what SVG was, you know, getting payback for quote-unquote? I don't know. Is it because Austin Hill caused the wreck that was in San Diego, that wiped out Connor and SVG? Like, we don't know. But all we know is that data typically doesn't lie. It usually tells intent. You know, you use your eyeballs to look at the replay, then you use the data to look at intent. And you would draw the pretty much the same conclusion, no matter what. I mean, what's wrong with dumping a guy if you felt like he deserved to be dumped? Well, it depends on who you're asking. I've been asking a fellow driver in the field. Yeah, I mean, it's a valid point. It's what ask a reason is, right? Because now it's like, if it is okay, right, that, you know, what it would be a clear wreck, then I think Austin Hill just screams his ass. Next chance he gets. That's what I think happens. And then SVG pays the price that way. Yeah, the problem is that at that point now Austin Hill is also going to pay a price. Like if Austin Hill clearly retaliates next week or in the near future, then there's going to be like, okay, Nascar is going to have to stop this. Well, that's what usually happens. That's how it used to happen is a wreck, a payback, maybe another wreck. And then they sit you down and say, we're done with this. Right. You got your, you got your, your shop. You got to stop now. Yeah, you know, so that's how it used to work. I mean, now I've been, I've sat in many of those meetings where it was like, you, you give, you give the other team their shot. You know, that viral clip of the manager, you got to give us our shot because he took a swipe at the basement when he was stealing. And he's like, you took your shot. You had your shot right there. So I just, I don't know, you got to, you got to give these guys eye for an eye, I guess. I guess I'm on the side that self-policing is what needs to happen. And these two fellas felt like they needed to self-police. Now, it doesn't mean that it's over. It doesn't mean that Austin Hill or Carson Hosevar is not pissed at those two. And maybe they decide, well, I don't think the score is level. You know, and then we see what happens from there, but that's what makes this exciting. So I think I'm in the boat. You've convinced me that we got to just let this go and let them work it out. And if they want to keep wrecking each other, then the team's, somebody will get involved. Hey, everybody, it's Dylan Hart Jr. And there is no better way to support Danny Hamlin than wearing actions, detrimental gear at the racetrack. You can also flip him the bird or head on over to shop.dirtymomedia.com to see what we have. At least for your sake and the other race winner's sake that they've done this now in stage one. So they're not doing it with tend to go, you know, it's like, let's just get this out of the way. 40 laps in. Yeah. I mean, Conflict sells now SVG's saving grace might be he didn't say anything on the radio. It'll be I'll be curious to see on NASCAR handles because that's what really did presen. Yeah, that's that's that's dumb though, right? We all agree. It's dumb, but that's like you can't rhyme priests barely. And I mean barely to 54. If he hit the 54, it's still inconclusive to me, but he said what he said and he clearly put him in a spot where he wrecked. So this, I mean, he turned his ass around hard. I mean, hard, what SVG said though, I would be more pissed about if I'm Austin and SVG is low-key, really funny. I mean, really funny in the sense of you just grunts. Oh, man. And he know what? I don't even know what he means, but it's funny. It's funny. I mean, I get what he's trying to say, er, what he is saying, but like his vocabular is really good, his vocab is good. If someone from, you know, our vocabular was to say, "Oh, I'll try to talk to him, but he just mumbles." But the way SVG words is, he just grunts. Because I'm watching this interview with no sound. And he just, he, he, he, he doesn't like say it as a punchline. He just like says it and walks away. It's like, it's a normal thing. And that's the way he talks. That's the delivery. I've talked enough of SVG. No, that, that, that's how casual he is with no matter what. So, oh, he's so funny. God, he's funny. You know who the will probably be getting to find no matter what is Austin Hill. Yeah. Yeah, you, that's, that's one where NASCAR definitely doesn't, you know, they don't screw around too much with contact under yellow and, like that. So, I don't know. I mean, that's just dumb. But that's also now probably the ending of this. That's the end. Because if Austin Hill gets a $25, $50,000 fine on Tuesday, he's not going to go turn around on Sunday and dump SVG again. He's not going to double down. I don't think. It also depends on what the punishment maybe. Yeah, because you can't take points, like points don't matter. Right. They matter to SVG though. And that's, that's where I think SVG, like, if this is about Pocano, like, you can't go back and change that. Those points are lost. You finished where you finished, you know, the, the weekend wasn't great anyway. But now you've got a guy that you're clearly you race around weekend, week out, like out to get you like, he didn't have to wreck you. He can just knock you out of the groove a few times. And like points matter to you, SVG. So this, it's just not in my opinion, smart to be picking this or escalating. He didn't pick the fight. He escalated the fight with Austin Hill. And your plus 30 was seven to go. I don't, I don't, I just, I think it's a bad strategy. Bad strategy. Yeah, it's crazy. That was he actually lengthened his, his gap, his gap to the good. That's because absolutely nobody around the cut wants to just finish 15. They don't every week. It's just who can just stay on the racetrack. It's, it's amazing. That's why I told you nobody wants it. Eric Jones is running the most solid. Although, man, I don't know, Austin Cindrick was in the mix yesterday. Like when I say in the mix, like, you know, back after the top 10, he was, he was the best forward for a while until Blaine, Blaine, he caught that caution, right? Yes. That was the caution that saved him. Yeah. Lugano was out to launch somehow. He finished what, how do you finish 12th? Was he part of the group that caught that caution? I don't know. I mean, I just, I was watching him in practice, his, his car and that thing was just all over the place, just out of control and slow and they qualified bad. But grinder, man, Lugano's a grinder 12th. That's, that's pretty amazing considering where they were to start the weekend. Yeah. I mean, he was like what, third off the stage and driver interest. He's just started outside top 30, right? Yeah. Um, so we had a two racks. I mean, what else, what do you think about just the racing itself at Chicago Langston? That's what all people, I thought the racing was good. I mean, think about this, how long was that last run? It was 70, 80 laps, something like that. And it still came down to the white flag of, and, and I wish I would have not hit the wall because it would have been three of us battling for the lead, you know, the comers and goers of a run. But in the end, it still closed up to be a last lap battle between Bell and Briscoe. So, um, I thought the racing was good. Uh, you know, the bump in turn three and four definitely makes it hard to move around at that track. But you could like, if you needed, if you really pushed it, you could break even run in the top, you know, where, so if the car was in front of you, you choose either to run behind him. That's the most conservative way of doing it and know that, okay, I'm going to lose a little ground this corner. Or you could, you know what, I'm going to take a risk. I'm going to go up top and then break even with them. And then, you know, you're now closer in to turn one to a, you know, where the passing zone essentially is. So it was, uh, it was a very, it was a good race in my opinion. Um, it came down to the end. You could move around and turns one and two. It was crazy. We didn't move around more in turns three and four than what we did. Um, the, the tire there was pretty good. It, it unfortunately really started to fall off right as people pitted. You know, the, just the way the stages worked out when you have 80 lap stages and you only force people to run, you know, the full take a fuel would take you between 60 and 70 laps. But the stages being 80 means you only had to go 40 and 40. So it, the last 20 laps of that, those runs would really, really be, you want to see some comers and goers. It would, a lot would be happening. But just the where, where these stages are lining up on these big tracks, we're not seeing the fall off that we would normally that the tire actually has in it, but you just never see it because you, you're not forced to run the fuel tank out. Is the bump in three and four were caught, Larsen? Yeah. I was right behind them. That was close because I couldn't figure out. All right. What are you going to do? Are you going to spend, you're going to end up coming low or go high and he just kind of hung in the middle, trying to hang on to it. But yeah, it, I watched them and when he hit it, it just, it looked like his car was low, you know, obviously low, hit the bump and it just wants it gets out of control. And if you're free at all, which it, you know, he typically runs his cars free. But he just, he went in there, pitched it in. He'd looked like neutral on entry, hit the bump and it just, that just what upset the rear of the race car. And he spun out quite inconvenient that the majority of his damage comes from needing to drive a lap with no, oh, when he, but got pulled out of the grass and I saw, you know, he was down there, right, right there trying to keep up with the pace car or stay in front of it to stay to laps down. I mean, yeah, he was driving with no tires to say it was. I mean, you knew at that point, it was like, oh my God, he is going to have the worst day. Like you almost at that point, just want to say, I wish they would have never pulled me out of the grass because the damage he did to the underside of the car by having to drive it, he had to drive it. It just does so much damage that it, it just ruins your day. Your, your car is, you know, half speed. You know, he actually, I was surprised to see was only two laps down. Like the fact that he was able to run, he wasn't running competitive speeds, but like within the ballpark, given that he probably had no underside of his race car, like was pretty, pretty impressive. They played the sound of it and it was just, oh, just as a driver, you just, you just know it's over. It's, there's nothing you can do about it, it's just, it's over. What's the penalty if he was to just enter pit road through the exit? They don't want you driving the wrong way down pit road. I know, but what's the penalty? I don't know. Is it worse than tearing up the underside of your car? Yeah, but still, that distance just from the end of pit road to wherever he's pitted. I'm telling you, it all, all the damage happens pretty soon, pretty soon. Yeah, unfortunate for him. I thought he was the biggest competitor, but yeah, they were good. They were good. Back to Chicago, do you want to return to Chicago, Lan? Yes, of course. But, I want them to. to work on their infrastructure. - What stood out to you? What stood out to you? - Sorry, the infrastructure. Like the track itself or the fan experience stuff. - Yeah, I mean, not being able to get it in the racetrack. I get it that it rained, but it rains in that area. We've been in that area at that time. Remember, like it rains and it rains a lot. So, you know, just, you got to regrade your surfaces or pave it or put gravel down or something. But, you know, when I saw, you know, parking lot, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and K were all closed. - It was like half of it. - It's like, man, I, you know, I took a video of like the car graveyard of the people that had to leave their car there from Saturday and it's just like telling you that's, man, it's, it's a tough part about NASCAR tracks. It's usually in the middle of nowhere and there's two lane roads running to them. And so traffic's bad anyway. And then when you can't park in the main parking lots, it, it's just, I guess I saw an aerial of someone in the stands and there's hell of a line coming in, look like field of dreams. (laughing) They're, they're coming into the racetrack. The cars are on the rac, you know, we're getting ready to go green. So, just the fan experience, man, just that, you just, it's gotta be top notch. At all times, all racetracks. You know, I'm, as I'm leaving the racetrack, I'm seeing people walk back to their cars and it is, I mean, we are 1.5 miles away from the racetrack and they're still walking. And it's just like, how do you get, how do you get the people back from that? Like they know that, okay, I'm gonna get to enjoy this sport that I love, but I'm gonna have to go through absolute hell to do it. I just, it's, that's hard, that's a big ask. You might get them to do it once, but yeah, it's, it'll be tough. - Fields of dreams. - It was, you know what the field of dreams is? - That's the field of dreams. Look at the final scene of field of dreams. - I know. - The people coming in. - Just your references out of left field sometimes are hilarious. So yeah, it's just that and then, you know, there was people saying there wasn't food options in the infield and like you could tell the infield, they cut the grass, they put some new paint on some things but it still was old, you know? And so, and again, if they just said we're only raising here one year and we just don't give a sh*t about the rest of the stuff which I don't think they said that. You know, they did what they needed to do to put on a race, which they did. And if you look at the race track, pit road, all those things, you'd say, yeah, it's just like every other race that we've got, it's everything's great but it's, I'm more into the what fans, nowadays, especially sports fans expect a lot when it comes to what's the experience? That's parking, that's traffic, that's all the above, right? Because I know as a person, when I, if I were to go to a football game or a baseball game, like, I'm gonna consider a whole experience, like, oh sh*t, I don't want to sit in two and a half hours of traffic to go watch a baseball game. Like, it's just not worth it to me. I'll watch it on TV, coverage is great. - Yeah, you think about like all these other sports, they're constantly getting new stadiums or at least renovations. - All the time. - Fans have high standards and whether you like it or not. That's what, and there's more options now than ever for fans to go take in a sporting event. So if you're not giving them the best, they're gonna, oh, let's go, you wanna go see a baseball game? You wanna go to the race. Go to the baseball game. It's got a great ballpark, internet's great, jumbo tronds, food, everything. - Yep. - Yeah, and their food comes to you by the way, right? I mean, you wanna dog in the middle of the sixth inning, it, the guy's gonna holler at you right there. So, yeah, just, it's just those things. And it's not something that is, you know, I think the track did a great job. Whatever they did with their promotions, you know, got it nearly sold out if they did. - It did sell it out. - They did sell it out. That was the announcement. - That was the announcement. Okay. I just think it has long-term effects, right? It's not gonna happen. It ain't gonna hurt you now. It's gonna hurt you later. And so I'm sure Ben and his team are looking at all the things that they obviously could improve weekend, week out, but I'm just, man, spend in fan experience. And spend an infrastructure to get them in there and the parking and make it quick and not have, you know, 12 person shuttles from the, from the parking lot to, you gotta have 50 person shuttles and like just all those things, you know? - Does NASCAR need to commit to this track or the street course? Like, they need to make a commitment on what's gonna be the Chicago market. - Oh, I have no idea. - I mean, why can't you have two? I don't know. We just see that when you go to one race, usually the attendance spikes, you know? All these other tracks, we cut down to one and put out a race interest. - Yeah, but I would venture to say that the audience is vastly different. If I looked around in Chicago, I would have said, those are our avid fans. Those are our avid fans that watch us weekend, week out. When I went to Chicago, I said, ain't none of these people been to a NASCAR race before? - That's possible. - The tweet up was, die hard fans. - On sale. - Oh, he did? Okay, that tracks then. That's possible. I think Jordan and Jeff, or maybe it's just Jordan, say there's room in the schedule for all these, but I feel like the schedule is tight as it is right now. Is you're going to Chicago twice, you're gonna keep this on the schedule and go back to the street course. Well, then where's that California date? Right? Are you gonna go back to San Diego? You're gonna do something else in California? - We can't race around. - Even though there's 38. I can't race around those Amazon warehouses that they built. - You could? - Yeah, I could. - It could be a prime race. - Yeah. (laughing) - That'd be good. Yeah. I thought, you know, it was a good weekend overall. I mean, listen, there was a ton of rain. I mean, by the way, I'm not gonna get you. There was a fish in spot right outside Chicago that you just needed to throw a line in the water and you basically catch one. And I knew before the rain, so I went out there on Friday or Saturday. - No, it was Friday. I went out there. So whatever rain they had before the Saturday. - You took Jordan out Saturday morning. - Okay. So it was Saturday, like it was wet. When I say wet, my golf cart barely got through the parking lot. And it was, you know, it didn't, where I was driving, it didn't look like there was any problem, but it was tons of water. So even before the storms happened Saturday afternoon that dumped a (beep) ton more, it was, they had, they were gonna have issues. So that's just, that's an infrastructure problem. And hopefully they get it all worked out because I certainly would love to return to that racetrack. I know our avid fans that were there, certainly, you know, loved it. - Good fishing. - Great. - Great. - Bracket challenge. You went chalk last week. - How do I do? - Chalk more or less prevailed. - You missed one. - You got everything wrong? - The only one I missed one. - Yeah, which one? - Todd Father. - Todd did not. - You didn't account. - No, host of art did not beat Todd. - Yeah, you did not account for host of art getting wrecked. - Right. - Okay. - All right, well that's not bad. Wow, that was a lot of. - It seemed like there would be more. That was the round of 16, right? - Yep. - Two, four, six, eight. - Where's the rest of them? - Oh, I see, I see, I see. You got it on the here. - Okay, so now it's on, right? - Now we got Bowman vs. Gillland. - I took Byron over Larson. - Check your, now I believe you. - S, B, Blaney, S, V, G, okay. All right, so let's start at the top. Bowman vs. Gillland. Where are we at, Atlanta? Ooh, this is close. This is close. Bowman's been strong. Bowman, you know, I'm just trying to think every time I'm around there. Give me Bowman on this one. - Briscoe, Elliott, 32 seed. I'm saying he's gonna make it to the final four. Right, this is the final eight. - Yeah. - Yeah. - That's, he's on the tie-dillon run. - That's no, he's not. I know, I know, it's not the same. same. I know it's not the same. All right, Brisco versus Elliott. Give me Chase Elliott, hometown cooking. Okay, me versus Bell. Is this the thing we're like, you can't bet against yourself? I mean, you can, but if I better not, I get it. Bell's strong. Bell is pretty strong there, but for podcast purposes, I'll save myself. But I, I y'all know what I'm saying. You're listening. Yeah. Have you ever had a good run at Atlanta in this next Shenera? I have. Yeah. Yes. First couple of times. And then last year, I had a decent run. I've just, I've gotten crashed dude every time. Yeah, I'm not, yeah, I'm not saying you aren't good at Atlanta, just like, it feels like we're always caught up in forever. Or I've caused a crash. Or like, I've caused crashes here too. A couple of years ago, you just said you're going to stroll on in 20th because there's a playoff race, right? Yeah, and I ended up getting crashed. Yeah. Anyway, all right, finished sixth in that last February. All right, so I'm going Bowman, Elliott, me, Byron Blaney. This one is tough. They're both going to be up front. Byron Blaney. Man, it seems like Blaney's had, he's really strong on these tracks, but he does get crashed a lot. It depends on what his picker does too. Not really. Give me. Give me Blaney. Give me Blaney. Blaney, me, Elliott, Bowman. Final answer. Blaney's been really strong in Atlanta. Really strong. Yep. Yep. Wow. Finishing. Yeah, it's been aside from getting in a wreck last February, February or sorry, summer race, 2025. He's on a top 10, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven out of eight races, finishing the top 10, and start in the top 10. So this is just a four-week end. Could be. Could be. All right. What do you all see? I'll go out. We got Atlanta coming up. You want to talk about the Xfinery race here at Chicago and before we move on? Brandon Jones, winner on Saturday night. Heck of a job, Brandon. I heard him or I heard the announcers say that they had a discussion with Brandon and he said that, yeah, it's just over the last. Something about, I've been giving and I almost start taking more in these races and he took the win and just did an amazing job on those green white checkers and it was a shame. I saw the first green white checker, well, the only green white checker that happened. The race was shaping up between him and Chase Elliott. Really, really good right before that caution. So I was like bummed. I'm like, damn, now it's going to come down to a little shoot-out. But I mean, he took it to him. I mean, he just did a great job. Obviously had a very fast car. I thought him and Taylor Gray and Chase Elliott seemed to be the kind of the class of the field. Connor, whatever happened to him. He was fast in the first stage, got in traffic. Well, they had fuel issues after the first stage. Was a fuel issues or Rodney not filled up? Well, that's what I think they even came back and said wasn't filled up. I think the announcers said, I think they just should have been able to go longer than what he did. But I don't know. This is what's going on with Connor, right? As he gets in the traffic, it's like there's just something that happens and then he's had a few spins and he had some flat tires. One of the flat tires was kind of, I think it was because he spun, right? Or he got in the wall, then it went flat. So those were kind of self-inducing things. He's just got to just take a breath. And find a way to just keep the thing straight and on the racetrack because the traffic seems to be the issue with him right now. Because we're out for on. He was fast. There was nobody even close. But to finish just Brandon Jones, you got to give him his flowers on help. I think Grady's doing and certainly, over the last few years, it just seems like he's more part of the picture when it comes to winning these races. Now these are the bread and butter type tracks. It seems like the mile and a half is where JGR's strong point is. And it seems like it's his strong point, Kansas. He was definitely the fastest car there. But it was great to see him and Sam and that whole team get the job done. And a green white checker beating a cup guy straight up in a green white checkered. Next week, we had to Atlanta got not practice, just qualifying 430 on true TV and then race Sundays another night race 6 p.m. on TNT. Pre-race at 6 p.m. Cup race starts at 7 p.m. Eastern on TNT. Night race. Another night race. Which that time of year, it'll be pretty hot. So and I'll be doing the CW booth for the over alleys race on Saturday night. So that'd be fun. I got a review here from Austin Schultz. I started rooting for Denny after he won the bud shootout as a rookie 20 years later. He's my favorite athlete of all time. Would have never dreamed he'd become a top 10 driver of all time. It's been incredible to cheer him on every Sunday since then and looking forward to the last couple of years. The podcast is great too. I've learned more on this pod than any other NASCAR pod and has only made me cheer more on Sundays. So shout out Austin Schultz. Thanks Austin. Appreciate that. And thanks everyone that came to the the Toyota fan experience for my little Q&A there. Tons of tons of Denny bros out there. Tons of Denny bros. And they're making their own gear, making their own gear and some Denny ladies. Some some Denny ladies out there. So if there's Denny bros or those well, she asked she said, can I even even though I'm not a bro. Can I be a Denny bro? I said, I think so. The headband. You know what I'm saying, right? Yes. Okay. All right. Well, we'll see you guys after next week. Let's keep this run going. Check out dirtymo media on Instagram, Facebook, X and TikTok.