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talent. ⁓ you know, it's always hard to tell with these cars tour guys 'cause some some g some of them have a lot of money and they can outspend others. And he was in a Harvett car, so that does give him a vantage. But He does seem to be pretty talented. ⁓ he did like I said, I mean he started at St. Petersburg and did really well there. And he did well here. So I mean, shout out to Landon Lewis. Two two solid races. Ricky Allan Jr: How about your main man, Jimmy Jam? Leading some laps, running in the top five. It was good till it wasn't, Ross. Ross Tatum: Yeah, it was really fun to watch Jimmy lead. I swear in my head he led like thirty laps. It felt like he was out there forever. And I'm sitting here looking at the results and he only led two. So that that's a little disappointing. But the fact that he got up there and led some laps was really cool. ⁓ you know, it kind of makes you yearn for like a Jimmy full season in the trucks or like ten to twelve races, you know, just somewhere where he could just go and, you know. Ricky Allan Jr: Okay. Yeah, that's crazy. Right? Yeah. Ross Tatum: Be Jimmy again, ⁓ 'cause this cup car does not suit him and he is terrible as we saw Sunday in the cup car. Ricky Allan Jr: And and I think I mean, honestly, and I'm again, I go back to where we talked about Kyle Bush and his absence and it still hits me the most for the truck series for whatever reason. Maybe it's just because of the trucks were so special to him. But I'm like, man, we need that veteran guy to to come in and run with these guys. Like I that would that'd be cool if Jimmy would do it, but man, I'm I'm really hoping someone from Cup comes in to kinda be that next guy to help pass the torch a little bit. Ross Tatum: I would love that too. I mean, you just think about like the best days of the truck series is when you had like Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner, ⁓ some of these guys racing the the younger guys like ⁓ yeah, Ron Horiday was there, ⁓ racing guys that were young at the time, like Matt Crafton and people like that, you know. So ⁓ I I I miss those days of the truck series. Now we we just have a lot of younger guys. I mean, you I guess you could call like Granny and Finger and Ben Rhodes, you know, kinda like the crafty vets. Yeah, but Ricky Allan Jr: Ron Hornaday. Mm-hmm. The veterans. Yeah. Ross Tatum: same time they just don't have that same type of swagger. They don't have that cup experience really like ⁓ sk those other guys. But yeah, I would love to see Jimmy or ⁓ gosh, I can't even think of who else. But, you know, like you said, I really do feel that that void of Kyush missing in the truck series. ⁓ obviously he wouldn't have been able to race this weekend, ⁓ due to the rules, but, you know, it would have been he'd be someone that, you know, when he was like fifty or sixty years old, you could see him still making starts out there, you know. Ricky Allan Jr: Sure. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. And probably still still kicking their ass too. Right. So well

⁓ that was kind of the our first glance at ⁓ Coronado this weekend. had had my doubts and then Saturday really got me concerned, Ross. So I'm gonna just start off with this. Ross Tatum: ⁓ absolutely. I think he could probably win to his like seventy, you know. So Ricky Allan Jr: And I know people might disagree. I know there's some guys out there that will disagree, because I actually voiced my opinion in Joey Stone's chat of all people on TikTok. And Joey was actually complete the opposite argument of what I'm about to make. ⁓ all right, so before the race really even gets going, we're on lap one and one of those manholes comes loose and essentially like what? Knocks the radiator basically out out of Corey Day's car. And Ross, this was just a train wreck in my opinion. I think it opened a massive jar of worms. I know, you know, I I kind of got into a little Twitter beef here and there with different people. You know, citing different examples of stuff happening. And I I think one of them was the TV cable damaging Kyle Bush's car one time. ⁓ the common one was when that chunk of trap came up at Martinsville and ⁓ you know, ruined Jeff Gordon's day. And NASCAR didn't do anything to let ⁓ fix it. So I understand it's one of those unique situations. But this is just my opinion, and I'm interested to get yours, Ross. But my opinion on this is tough luck. I mean, and and I blame NASCAR and the situation more. Obviously, it's terrible luck. And I I have nothing against Corey Day or JRM or Hendrick or whatever. Obviously, I'm a Hendrick guy. But Do we really think that if it was anyone else other than a Hendrick or Gibbs car that they would have given a shit about that? I don't. If it's like a a a mid-team or something. So in case you missed it, the manhole came up, completely, you know, goes through his radiator. They go behind the wall, they red flag it, and they allow them to work and repair this car. It was almost a Wasn't it like a forty-five minute well first they paced forever. That was the first problem, right? They they paced for half the stage and we're like, why are we not red flagging this? And then they finally red flag it. Then we wait another 30, 40 minutes for them to allow Corey Day to fix his car under red, which is not allowed. ⁓ so they broke that rule. And then once they let him fix it, they let him he went four laps down while they were pacing, and they just let him Ross Tatum: Mm. Ricky Allan Jr: Get all four of his lab stuff. I've never seen anything like that ever, Ross. ⁓ have you seen anything remotely close to that before? Ross Tatum: I agree with you, Josh. This was the most incompetent, just weird thing I've ever seen NASCAR do in my whole time of watching NASCAR. I could not believe that we went through that whole charade. I just think about all the hype that race had. All the fans there for an ORAPS race that never show up to an ORAPS race. Just think about the crowd they had. And we literally paced forever. ⁓ Ricky Allan

Jr: It killed all the buzz, all the pre race buzz. Yep. Yeah. Ross Tatum: All the buzz. I mean, like everybody left after if you notice the stands after that that initial thing, everybody left. Like, 'cause it was just ridiculous. It w it took forever. It was like two hours of the whole ordeal. ⁓ and just letting Corey Day get back out in the track and make up his laps and Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Like what are we doing? Ross Tatum: Like tough shit, dude. I'm sorry you hit the man cover, but since when in NASCAR are we allowing this kind of stuff to happen? And if we're doing this, then why the hell couldn't we put these cup cars back out in the track at Dover a couple of months ago? You know? Why couldn't we have had like a good all star race for once, you know? ⁓ with the full field. Why couldn't we let Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney take out backup cars? ⁓ so yeah, it's frustrating because this is again, it's like this thing I've talked about before. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Right. Yep. Ross Tatum: But sometimes NASCAR just makes their lower series seem ⁓ so unserious. And this is another example of that. It's like all of a sudden the rules don't matter and we're just making up shit and it's frustrating. Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that and that was my biggest problem and to guys that maybe have the argument on the other side and I saw people commending NASCAR going, ⁓ they did the right thing. This this is, you know, awesome, you know, good on them. And I see it a little bit to an extent of it's not his fault, but again, I go back to tough shit. Like, you know, how many times have we seen people get involved in wrecks? SVG got involved in a wreck that wasn't his doing this weekend, right? Did they let SVG pull out a backup car after that happened? Like it's just part of it, man. That's that's part of racing. It's part of the risk you run. I mean, we've we've seen people hit birds, get take you know, debris on the grill. I mean, there's there's just all these different variables and elements that we can't always control. And it's just part of it, in my opinion. Like once you fire that thing up and you pull out on the track, like whatever happens, happens. And sometimes it's really unfortunate. Sometime parts of the track comes up. You know, we've seen people, you know, clut billboards at the Roval and stuff before. I mean, there's there's all kinds of things that can happen that are just freak things. And I just I really feel like they opened up a huge can of worms this weekend with that. Ross Tatum: Mm. Yeah, I mean you think about think about New Hampshire when it started raining and all four of the Gibbs cars flew into the wall and broke like that was NASCAR's fault. Why didn't they get to repair their car? Why didn't they restart with, you know, new new rides or whatever? I mean, it's just it's just incompetent. It's a very slippery slope, yeah. Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. It's a slippery slope, man. It's a really, really Yep. And I just I feel like they just open up Pandora's bots, basically. Like now every decision that's something weird, it's they're gonna point back to that moment and go, Will you let him do do it do it? And I I still stand on if if it was like a mid pack car, I don't think they would have given two shits. Like it it yeah. Right? Ross Tatum: ⁓ I think you're absolutely right. I think if Joey Gase hits that manhole cover, not a damn thing is said. I he's not allowed to be back on the track. And I guess my question is, what was the point of doing that? What wouldn't I mean, why give Corey Day his spots back? I mean, w why was this a thing? Why was this the day that you're gonna open up that box? Ricky Allan Jr: No. They're not they're not pausing that race for Joey Gase. Like I don't know. Yeah. The only thing I can think of whatsoever is he he's a California guy. Unless they had maybe a bunch of sponsor people at the race there specifically to see him or I d it just feels something was weird. You know what I mean? Like I don't know. Mm-hmm. Ross Tatum: It was very suspicious. I you know, I told you I it's like one of the NASCAR guys must have had him in all his DraftKings lineups. That's all could figure because like no other this has never happened before and it's just weird time for it to happen all of a sudden. Now all of a sudden we're alive and you know what? Next time something crazy happens due to NASCAR's doings, they're ⁓ the whoever the team is, they're gonna expect NASCAR to let them do the same thing. Just just bad decision by NASCAR. I mean, just Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Right. Right. Ross Tatum: Long line of a terrible officiating ⁓ things this weekend. It was just not a good NASCAR weekend for officiating. Ricky Allan Jr: And it and it really sucks because I I think probably week in, week out, generally Oraps is like the best racing that that they put on. So I enjoy, you know, and we've talked about the broadcast. Obviously Prime was great, but like I feel like CW's done a really good job most of the year. So it's really enjoyable to me to watch these O rap races and Ross Tatum: Mm. Ricky Allan Jr: I don't know, between the the pacing at Charlotte to get to the end of the stage with the fog and then this decision, like those are two really, really controversial calls in my opinion that NASCAR's done for the O Raps and it's it's really just it it's taken a lot of air out of the balloon for for me at least. Ross Tatum: I feel like we've had just just a run of just bad officiating for the last month or two. I mean, it's been bad. You think back to Charlotte, like you just said, ⁓ some of the decisions Sunday in the cup race were very questionable. That completely changed ⁓ yeah, that completely changed the whole race. ⁓ yeah, it's just been bad. It's ⁓ Ricky Allan Jr: ⁓ I know you'll get into that. Yep. Ross Tatum: It's disappointing because I feel like if there's one thing that NASCAR could really ⁓ control, it's they're officiating. And they

don't they're not doing a very good job of it right now. Y you could really ⁓ kill a lot of debate between a lot of these, you know, ex users and Facebook users if you would just officiate fairly. And I don't feel like they do a good job of it. I think they set themselves up for a lot of controversy that they don't need to have. Ricky Allan Jr: And and they have said in the past, you know, I think one of the reasons they are so inconsistent is they've got different people up there for different races and everything. And so I almost feel like yeah, it's like you need to at least get on the same page, right? Like, you know, I I sell solar for people who don't know and it would almost be like me and all my coworkers going in and we have a completely different pitch and completely different product. Ross Tatum: Which is crazy. Ricky Allan Jr: But we all work for the same company. It's like, you know what I mean? That's that's the best analogy I can think of. It's you need to get all all these officials kinda together and be like, hey, like we need to start being a little consistent with our calls. Like, you know, it's it's like referees and soccer matches, right? Some some let ⁓ play a little bit more than than others, but overall, like it's gotta be consistent enough that us fans and the drivers know what to expect for the most part. Ross Tatum: Well what's so hard about having the same guys week in and week out? I mean, why are we having a rotating crew of officia ⁓ of officials? I mean, just have the same guys over and over. Sounds like a great job to me. Well, I mean, what happened to the days of who was it, David Hoots that did all the races? ⁓ and then, you know that's true. I mean, already we have officials working just insane hours on the weekends because they've cut so many positions out. So yeah, I mean you're right there. They've they've cut a lot of Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, I don't know. Yep. Mm-hmm. Budget. Budget cuts. Ross Tatum: lot of what what they call it f ⁓ extra stuff. They trimmed a lot of fat, I guess is what they call it. Yeah, they trimmed a lot of fat and it's ⁓ it's affecting their officiating. ⁓ put it out, put it out, yellow. Yeah. Those were the days. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yep. Man, David Hoots was the best. Put it out. Put it out. Car on the wall. Put it out. Right. So, ⁓ I'm not a fan of this guy, but ⁓ it was cool to see this weekend. So Austin Hill goes on to win the race. ⁓ I guess before we get into that, we gotta talk about the big wreck. That that was a huge turning point in the race. ⁓ my favorite person in the world, Sam Mayer, just went nuclear and killed half the field this weekend. ⁓ Man, I I mean I don't know what to say. I mean he he misjudged it clearly. But ⁓ first and foremost, thank thank God Alfredo and and even though I don't like him, Mayor's okay. I mean did you see the N car of Mayor's empat, by the way, Ross? Do you see that video circuit? Yeah. Yeah. It was big. That that damn wall moved what'd they say, like twelve feet or something? It like eight eight or twelve feet. I it was it was big. Ross Tatum: Yeah, that was a hit. That w that was a massive hit. I mean, maybe not Christopher Bell hit, but it w it was pretty massive either way. Yeah. ⁓ gosh. I know they had to completely replace it. Like they had to take out a whole section out and ⁓ yeah. The the Nascar terrorists were out this weekend, that's for sure s between Sam Mayor and Austin Hill. I mean they Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Uh-huh. And and that was the ⁓ that was the same spot too where ⁓ Austin Hill got S VG too. It was that same same spot. Ross Tatum: Yeah. If there was something I would question about the course setup, it this might have been a week where we should have went green at the start finish line instead of ⁓ arbitrary point out of the last corner like we have been doing. ⁓ because they were just carrying so much speed through that through that thing down into turn one. I you know, I don't wanna say if there was something I would change for next year, but I would move that start finish line on the opposite side of that corner. And so we're just going down into that that hard left. But Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I mean, massive wreck. Like you said, I'm just glad everybody's okay, but ⁓ man, there were some gnarly hits this weekend in practice and and in the races. It was just ⁓ big time hits. Ricky Allan Jr: Took took out some really good cars. ⁓ Brent Cruz was another one that looked really good this weekend. He had issues. ⁓ didn't didn't finish it. For him, it started with ⁓ I guess he got debris on his car and they had you know his water temples going up and had to pit early and that kind of threw their whole strategy off and then I know they got behind and ended up getting collected or or something in one of those ruts. Did he? Okay. Yeah. Ross Tatum: I think he blew up because of that water issue. Yeah, later in the race, which can we not add water to the cars anymore? Is that like forbidden? 'Cause I remember back in the nineties, you you know, you could take a hose and you could fill the radiator back up and I know he lost a lot of water leading, but yeah, that was ⁓ that was tough, you know. Ricky Allan Jr: I don't know. Sure. Yeah. Yep. Tough tough weekend for tough weekend overall from Brent Cruz too. So we'll we'll get into that a little bit later. But anyway, what I was gonna say is, you know, ⁓ obviously I I'm not a a big Austin Hill fan at all, but ⁓ for for anything, it it was nice to see R S D R get in Venture Lane so that they could Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Ricky Allan Jr: you know, celebrate Kyle, how they did. I I thought it was a cool, cool little tribute where he was doing his burnout kind of around the eight. And ⁓ I've never seen Austin Hill that emotional before, Ross. ⁓ what'd you think of all that? Ross Tatum: Yeah, I was happy for R C R and I was obviously happy for, you know, Austin Hill getting a

road course win and getting a win for Kyle. ⁓ you know, I I would be lying to you if I didn't say it c he kinda lost me in the interview when he said that he talked to Kyle the last five laps. And I'm not saying that to be like negative or anything, but it was maybe a little much for me. ⁓ 'cause I Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Sure. ⁓ no. Ross Tatum: You know, I don't hate RCR quite like you hate RCR, but you know, I but you know, I was I was actually kinda rooting for him and you know, you had kinda set me up on that Austin Hill ten to one bet on Thursday. So I was rooting for him the last couple of laps, but Ricky Allan Jr: Ha ha What do you mean, Ross? Uh-huh. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I I don't know, he kinda lost me in that interview, but you know, the w the one point in the interv when they interviewed Richard, that's when I was like that kind of tugged up my heartstrings a little bit 'cause you could tell just how much he was hurting and and you know, you can tell that Richard and Kyle were were pretty close and Ricky Allan Jr: Hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Ross Tatum: ⁓ it always bot and I I'm not I'm just saying this, but it always bothers me because I don't know how close like Austin Hill was to Kyle Bush. They might have never ever talked, you know, so it's kinda weird when he makes statements like that 'cause I've never seen them in pictures together. obviously they knew each other, but ⁓ yeah. How how how'd you feel about that whole situation? Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, sure. Yeah. Sure, yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I'm I'm glad you said something 'cause I was thinking about bringing that up, but I didn't really know how to. So I appreciate you just kinda putting it out there. I kinda felt the same way. I mean I was happy for ⁓ but I I don't know. It it felt like a little bit of a strange comment to me. Like I I know they're all hurting and everyone grieves in different ways. So I'm I'm not gonna judge anyone on that. So ⁓ but yeah, it it it was a little bit of a off the wall comment, I guess you could put it, but ⁓ Ross Tatum: It just felt forced, I guess. And you saw the PR guy when he reached in to get hi give him the Kyle hat. The PR you could like read his lips. He was like, you know, mention Kyle, you know, and so and you know, which is understandable, completely understandable. And I'm glad he won. I'm glad they won for Richard. I'm glad they won for all of R C R. But yeah, that comment just kinda ⁓ just rubbed me a little weirdly, I guess. I don't know. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I get that. it reminds me of I remember back when I was a l a young college lad and I would work these different events and I was working I think it was called the Green Flag Experience at Martinsville and basically all my job was was to help get the drivers in the tent in the back before they came up on stage for their appearance. And it ⁓ I remember it was Austin Dylan that came up and one of the questions one of the fans had was, like, do you ever feel Dale in the car with you or something like that? And it was just it's some of those I don't know. It just kinda felt weird and like and Austin did a really good job navigating it and you know, I I don't think he got like too deep into it, but I don't know. It for whatever reason when he made that comment it it took me back to that moment. Like it was just Maybe a little much. I don't know. So Ross Tatum: Yeah, I mean I know we didn't talk about it, but I I'm kinda i ⁓ it's interesting to me that you felt the same way. I don't know, 'cause it just I don't know. Probably not the talking point for this race, but that's just I don't know what it was. Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yep. So Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, it's it's just an interesting ⁓ comment that happened. But ⁓ I do want to get your opinion on on some of the racing, you know, that that led to Austin Hill ultimately that race. So Carson Quaffle looked pretty poised to to maybe pull this thing off. You know, I I know we've been pretty hard on him on this podcast at times. ⁓ you know, it seems like he has not quite maybe lived up s To some expectations, maybe fair, maybe not, depending on you know s some of the guys that have come through there. ⁓ Taylor Gray ⁓ got a lot of hate on Twitter that I saw after about kind of knocking him out of the way. I didn't really have a problem with it, Ross. I mean, let me know if you feel differently. I'm just a a big Taylor fan, so maybe I'm biased, but I'm like I think Taylor's gotten used up every way you can and I didn't even think what he did was super egregious or anything. ⁓ to it was just kind of hard racing. ⁓ and he got he got into Carson and kind you know, kinda half spun him, ⁓ enough to kinda back him in the wall, but then Carson was able to to to fire up and keep going. But it it obviously killed his chance for the win and then I didn't have any problem at all on what Austin Hill did either. And and I'm a Austin Hill hater. I'll be the first one to tell you. ⁓ I just knew too, as soon as that twenty-one got behind him, I was like, dude, Taylor's gonna like go through the barrier now. Cause I I know Austin Hill wants to win a row course and I know he wants to win for Kyle. So I'm like just fully preparing for the worst. And it was probably the the nicest nudge you could have done. but did you have any issues with any of the racing at the end for the win? Ross Tatum: No, I I actually had no problem with it. I felt like Carson just drove the wheels off the car the first twenty laps of or the f ten, fifteen laps of that run and you could ki kinda see it coming just how much the tires meant. And Taylor was just you know, Jason Ratcliffe in the interview that they did right before that last run said, Hey, I I think Taylor's been saving his rear tires and sure enough he was and he he had, you know, ran down Carson in that last run and I didn't have a problem with it. I mean, you gotta make the move somewhere. Carson

kinda cut down too. I mean, you know, it's just racing. It's just not a big deal. But I will say, I absolutely loved whatever move that Austin Hill did. I don't it's like he nudged him and then he turned left and got lower. Like it was like the coolest road course move I've seen in a while. And I hate complimenting Austin Hill like that, but like Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It was as clean as it can get for it was almost like a bump and run on a short track type of thing, like for a row course. Yeah. Ross Tatum: Yeah, it was it was sick. I don't know what it was. It's like he got him out of the groove a little bit and then he like turned it left. And it was just yeah, it was just a smooth move. He had cleared ⁓ he cleared him by like three car links after that. And like you said, I I do hate it for Taylor Gray, 'cause I feel like he just gets ran through every week and he has some of the worst luck. And it was surprising to see some of the ex and and Twitter comments about Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Turn on your own. Yep. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ross Tatum: you know, Aust or Taylor Gray being dirty and a dirty driver and I just I've never seen that from Taylor. Ricky Allan Jr: I don't see. I I think Taylor's one of the cleanest drivers in the series. And yeah. Ross Tatum: I do too. I I I think he's more mature than a lot of the guys and I think he ra wa ⁓ races within his limits more than most of ⁓ in that series. So I was a little disappointed to see that, but you know, it is X so it's hard to take it more than a grain of salt, you know, so Ricky Allan Jr: That's true. Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ let's see, any other big stories? Anthony Alfredo ran incredible until he got Sam Mared, ⁓ you know, twelve car lengths deep into that wall. ⁓ bad day for Justin Algeyer too. He spun out a couple of times, ultim ultimately ended up ⁓ wrecked and he was out. ⁓ so poor Justin, you know, he's only got like a two hundred some point lead instead of Instead of his two fifty now, so hopefully he'll he'll recover from that. ⁓ your guy Austin Green had a good run there, Ross. So P eight for Austin Green. ⁓ Ross Tatum: Boy, Ricky, you could tell the guys that did not spend time in the simulator this weekend between Cup, Truck, and ORAPs. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ Justin Algar, you can tell, didn't spend a single minute doing more than maybe just studying the track. ⁓ he was he was slow all weekend. ⁓ you know, he I think he had fallen he had fallen back to thirtieth early in the race, I guess from spinning out, like you said. But even the broadcast barely really covered ⁓ which I was fine with. I mean, we hear about ⁓ all the time, but Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. There's a there's a big gap for a lot of guys, yeah. Right. Yeah. Ross Tatum: Yeah, it was interesting. ⁓ you know, and you saw the same thing on Sunday with Chase Elliott. ⁓ just the guys that don't spend the time in the simulator this weekend you could really tell it. Ricky Allan Jr: For sure. So ⁓ that's a perfect segue because we we got

a lot to cover. We went a little further further in those lower series than I was planning on, but that's okay. So ⁓ Ross, so many storylines ⁓ coming out of this weekend. Let's just start with with the main man himself. Let me ask you a question that you pose to me, and I'm gonna put it right back at you. Is Corey Day him? Ross Tatum: He might be, sure enough. I mean, you think about it. The guy has won his first cup race in his thirteenth cup start. And we were just talking about on Thursday. It's usually a hundred starts before you win. Much less on a road course. I mean, he's not SVG. He doesn't have a road course background. This guy just came out and granted he had some help by SVG, not, you know, wrecking out early and Connor Zilich wrecking out early. But hey, he beat one of the best. He beat Tyler Reddick w heads up. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Straight up. Ross Tatum: on a road course and that is incredible. He did an awesome job. ⁓ just man, he might have made a fan out of me. Between his comments about Caden Huddy cut a couple weeks ago, some of the stuff that he did on Sunday. I mean this dude, this dude might be for real. Yeah, he might be the next superstar. He might be the superstar we've been waiting for. Ricky Allan Jr: Right. Talk your shit. Talk your shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ so let me just start with this. Then since you just mentioned him, Tyler Reddick, that was probably one of the most ⁓ intriguing, I don't know if you call it a move, but mutual respect. ⁓ I tip my cat. Cap to Tyler Reddick ⁓ for what he did, but I don't know how I feel about it truly, Ross. ⁓ so Corey Heim worts Tyler Reddick over for gosh, felt like almost 10 laps. Finally gets an opportunity, sticks it in there, makes the pass, and then Reddick kind of I I call it a swim move where you know you're you're on one side and then you Ross Tatum: Mm-hmm. Ricky Allan Jr: Hop to the other, gets back under him and then, you know, drives in him real deep and then kinda doors him a little bit, sends Corey Heim wide. And I mean, he didn't kill the wall, but I mean he didn't brush it either. I mean, it was a pretty good lick. And Tyler just rolls out of the throttle, allows Corey to get back in front, and then he tries to chase him back down before he gets a flat tire. What do you feel about that? Because I'm I'm still a little mixed on how I feel about it. Ross Tatum: ⁓ man, I kinda hate it. Kinda hate it. I mean, this is the Cup series and we've seen what people do to win races. ⁓ Tyler's been taken out of wins before from craziness. ⁓ I didn't see Tyler roll over for when he knocked Chris Busher into the wall that time at Darlington, so I don't know. I don't like it, man. ⁓ how can your team I just think back to his team. What do you think his team guys are thinking when they just see their driver roll over like that? I mean Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And to me and and it's it's racing too. And like I know I know we're gonna get various opinions on

this of, you know, that's true gentleman racing and all those things. And I think the problem is different people have different I guess different like ⁓ monitors or or whatever you wanna call it for what they what they will be willing to do. Like I I know Mark Martin is is one of those guys that he If he couldn't pass you clean, he was not gonna pass you, right? And then you got Dale Earnhardt that says, you know, if you're in my way, I'm gonna run through you and I'm gonna win the race. Like and you got people on both sides of the fence that will support both both of those statements and I and I kinda fall in the middle. I mean, I I'm gonna do everything I can to pass you clean. Like that's my first option, but if I gotta rough you up a little bit, I mean I'm a I'm gonna do what I gotta do to win the race too, you know? And and I think there's a difference between blatantly going in and just wiping someone out, not even giving them a chance. Like I I think about Austin Dillon bat to Logano and I can't stand Logano, but you know, to me that was a chicken shit move. Like you have no shot to get ⁓ and you're just gonna run in the corner and wipe ⁓ out. ⁓ there's a difference between that and I I just chalk this up as as hard racing and Clearly it didn't damage Corey's car, so I think he could have you know, I don't know. The only thing I can think of is is if Tyler was trying to think big picture and maybe was worried about retaliation from Corey maybe from that point. I I don't know. But I I'm I'm very torn on how I feel about it. Ross Tatum: Yeah, and it turns out his you know, him hitting that that wall on the left side would have blown his tar anyway. So he wasn't gonna win anyway after that mistake. But I just don't like the idea of just rolling out of it like that. Now, I could see like staying side by side and not r ke you know, don't run him into the wall, but he just rolled over. It was super I don't know, it was just kind of a what do they say, loser mentality? No, I'm just kidding. It's not. But he's just Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah, completely. Coming from the guy that's won five races this year. Ross Tatum: Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's just ⁓ you know, I think you're right. I think he was looking at the big picture, probably didn't want them both wrecking. But, you know, as a crew guy or someone working on that pick crew, man, I would be livid if my guy just rolled over like that. Ricky Allan Jr: Right. Yep. And I mean it just goes to show too, I mean, Tyler Reddit's from California too. So I mean this this was a big race for him too. And not to mention all the ⁓ you know, he's he's been reeling lately, his he's seen his points lead dwindle and that's a whole nother topic we'll touch on, but we're we're over here going, you know How much ground is Denny Hamlin gonna lose these two weekends? And now all of a sudden he gained points on Tyler Reddick, which I think nobody was expecting this weekend. Yeah, just kind of an odd deal for sure. gosh, where where do we go next? ⁓ I guess let's I want to talk about Bubba for a second. ⁓ so so all all the twenty three eleven cars were super fast. ⁓ you know, I Ross Tatum: ⁓ gosh. Ricky Allan Jr: I couldn't tell early in the race if Bubba was that fast or if he was just going and everybody else was saving tires. ⁓ might have been a mix. I don't think we ever really saw, but ⁓ he gets up there and then I think it was probably his first pet stop. He lost a wheel and ⁓ ended up going two laps down as a penalty and it showed his end card and he's sitting there shaking his head and you're thinking, Here we go again, like Woe is me. And you know, I'll give him credit, man. I mean, Bubba's really stepped up his game on on these road courses and I know it helps when you have a really fast car, but he got a little lucky with, you know, some of the stage cautions and early cautions. He was the only one laps down. So he went two laps down, got ⁓ both back, and then obviously avoided the the big wreck, which we'll get into here in a minute. I my opinion is I think it saved him to be honest with you, 'cause I I think he would have been right in the middle of that wreck and and then it's like, I don't know, I just I can't get I don't understand this guy. He he mopes when he doesn't run well and gets repped out and then when he's fast. I mean, Bubba Wallace should be ecstatic at a second place finish. And I know people are gonna be like, ⁓ you're you're hating on him because he's a competitor, you know, he just wants to win, but you have to kind of read the room at the same time and Ross Tatum: Mm mm. Ricky Allan Jr: I don't think he was a favorite to win that race and he seems to think he was if that penalty didn't happen. Where I'm looking at it is, dude, you're lucky you didn't get swept up in something. You should be thankful. Ross Tatum: Man, there's so many Bubba things this weekend that bothered me. ⁓ yeah, the the he got lucky by I mean, it helped him being in the back of the field because like you said, he avoided everything. He got they got to they got to change their whole strategy to make it to get back up front. And obviously, great job Bubba, but the twenty three eleven cars were by far the best cars in the field. I would say they were better than the the ⁓ track house cars, honestly. Exactly. That's all you gotta do. You just gotta look and see that Riley Herbst finished top ten and ran top ten all day long. It wasn't like he just got lucky up there. So that tells you just how good those cars were. But you know, good job to Bubba. But when you get out of the car and you mope and you say that you should have won the race, I just don't get it. It doesn't make any sense. You were mano omano with all them guys at the end of the race Ricky Allan Jr: I mean Riley Herbst finished P eight. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Ross Tatum: And they pulled out ten seconds in front of you. And you know, I'm gonna rant on this real quick, but Steve Latarte and

Dell Jr., well, mostly Steve Latarte, drove me crazy those last 15 laps. Steve Latarte said, I mean, you have Corey Heim and you have Tyler Reddick battling within a second of each other that whole run. And the camera stays on bubble walls for almost the entire run. And all Steve Latarte says is, man, this man he's saving his tires for when those two burn him up. And then you see the ticker and it's going three seconds, four seconds, five seconds. ⁓ but Bubba's saving his tires. He's gonna be there at the end of the race. You know, he's just waiting for these guys to ru to run him off. Six seconds, seven seconds, eight sec and I'm just thinking, why are we glazing this dude like this? Can we not just have a can we not just watch this great battle we have up front of these two elite drivers battling for a road course win at you know the military base in this once in a lifetime event? And we're talking about Bubba Wallace saving tires for the last ten laps. And then Kyle Larson passes him and it's like, Well, is he saving tires? I mean, what are we doing? ⁓ 'cause Kyle's tires were like three or four laps older. ⁓ and then like you said, he gets out of the car and he's he's complaining and it's just like, How do we make this dude happy? Like what what's it take for Bubba Wallace to be happy in the cup series? Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. And and and I wanna and I wanna tell him like great job, man. Like you did a phenomenal job maximizing your day. And his thing was like, we're gonna have to go back and check that no, we did not have a perfectly executed day. No, you didn't, but guess what? If you did not get that penalty, you probably would be sitting in the garage with SVG because you were right there with them to begin with. So it's like sometimes we talk about where, you know those unfortunate things can actually I think you hit on it perfectly by saying it allowed them to completely redo their strategy, right? And and Denny talks about that a lot where sometimes like if you have a pit road penalty or or whatever it may be where you go to the back of the pack, it kind of opens up the playbook a little bit for you versus like if you're running up front, you can't really do those same things. I mean you can, but you're just not gonna normally take that kind of a risk. when you're already up front, but you know, you can play fuel strategy, you can get off cycle. I mean, there's so many different things you can do. And I would just, you know, be a static, man. Like I know you want to win. I know you're a competitor. But just just take take your victories when you can. I mean, you've had a dismal month. So coming back after a penalty like that for a second place finish is is a really good job. So just You know, be proud of yourself and be proud of your effort and and move on to next week. Like you don't need to mope and act like, you know, that you should have won the race. Ross Tatum: Yeah, and if you think about it, Bubba's team is Bubba's team is

one of those teams that always goes for stage points at these road course races. So the chances are is Bubba was gonna restart if he had done his normal road course thing, he was gonna be in the twenties and fifteens and twenties that last run. He wouldn't have been up t up front like that, like he like he was that race. And it's all because they completely redid their strategy, like you said. And then not to mention Bubba and Tyler and I think one other guy and Hosevar. all benefited from that caution that NASCAR pulled. So I mean he got way luckier. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. Go ahead. Go into that 'cause I know you were you were really upset about that. Ross Tatum: Okay, so I think br no, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. going down into turn one blew his engine. ⁓ I don't know if he downshifted or what, but he he was dropping oil all over the track. All over the track. ⁓ so he pulls off the track. Completely understandable. The p the pace truck or not the pace truck, but one of the safety trucks is sitting there. He's sitting there, he's about to pull out on the track because he sees the oil. So he's like, ⁓ this is gonna be a caution. You can see him getting ready to pull out. Well, evidently someone got in his ear and told him not to do it. Ricky Allan Jr: Yep. Yep. Ross Tatum: So basically, more cars went through that part of the track for maybe the next, I don't know, forty five, thirty forty five seconds to a minute, I would say. Ricky Allan Jr: And and this was just just to fully paint the picture, this was at the point where Larson and Cory Corey had just run down Larson. They they both had just pitted and other guys were on the track at this point. Ross Tatum: Mm. Yeah, so the the guys that were still on the track were Carson Hosevar, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, maybe Riley Herbst, ⁓ AJ Almendinger, I think was one of them. And so they wait forty-five seconds to a minute. They let all these guys dive down pit road, which is fine. If you want to let the pit cycle run out, that is fine. I do not care. But then NASCAR does a s a decision that I think they did for one reason only. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Sure. Yep. Ross Tatum: And that's because of Mr. Excitement, Carson Hosevar, their new wonder kid, because he was the first one on pit road. So they throw the yellow flag as soon as Carson starts his pit service. Well, why would you do that? Well, you do that because it basically freezes the f if Carson beats Larson and Corey Day to the line on pit exit, then he gets the lead. Well, sure enough, because the caution came out so early, those two guys slow down and Carson gets come out Ricky Allan Jr: Yep. Yep. Everyone has to slow down. Ross Tatum: comes off pit road first. And then I think Reddick came off fourth. ⁓ Bubba came off like fifth. ⁓ yeah and so on so forth. So basically they just gift wrapped Yeah, they gift wrapped it the lead to Carson and his special military paint scheme. And they love obviously NASCAR loves Carson. They love everything he's about because I don't know. I d you know, I'm still one of those people I just don't get the love. ⁓ so they gifted him the lead and to me it was a Ricky Allan Jr: Yep. Handed the lead to Carson, yep. Yeah. Yep. Ross Tatum: more egregious call than almost the Corey Day thing because they purposely gifted him the lead. It felt like something like they would do for Dell Junior back in the two thousands. Like it was crazy, in my opinion. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, I I agree fully. It was ⁓ I don't know, y ⁓ you just want one or the other, right? Like when you see the oil, throw the caution immediately or like let it run out the pit cycle. It just I don't understand why they waited as long as they did. And the only explanation is they wanted those guys to be able to pit. And yeah, I mean it completely killed Larson and Haim at the time 'cause it Circled Carson back in front, and then it led to, in my opinion, the best moment of the entire race where ⁓ Haim has a good restart. ⁓ I believe Reddick had gotten by yeah, Reddick restarted second, I think, actually. I think it was Yeah, so Reddit, yeah, so ⁓ Reddit took the lead from Carson and then ⁓ Ross Tatum: Reddick took the lead early, real fast. Ricky Allan Jr: I guess was it for second place, maybe? I think he was running second. ⁓ Corey Haim gets to Carson Hosevar and sends him around. And if I'm not mistaken, I'm gonna have to go back and check Ross, but I'm pretty sure I heard quite a bit of cheers when that happened when ⁓ when Carson went around. ⁓ yeah. The best part was Ross Tatum: It was for second place. Yep. Mm-hmm. I think I did too. Yeah. I cheered. I even I audibly went like, Hell yeah. I was I was pumped, dude. Ricky Allan Jr: The best part was, and I know you've had these frustrations, and I told you my frustrations a couple weeks ago, or my dad said he liked them. My dad is sitting on my couch next to me watching this race. And my dad like scowled when that happened. And I'm over here fist pumping. And he's looking at me and he's like, I don't know why you're so happy. And I was like, Don't even try, man. Like and yeah, he's he's better, man. He likes Carson. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. But ⁓ it is it is a cult, right? And so I was ecstatic when it happened and and he went around and I fist pumped and I was laughing my ass off. So that tees me up to my next question for you, Mr. Ross the boss. Is Carson Hosevar v versus Corey Haim the next big rivalry in NASCAR? Ross Tatum: It's an occult, man. It's a cult. It's BS. It feels like it. I mean, you think back to that two thousand twenty three, twenty-four, twenty-three, ⁓ Truck Series championship race at Phoenix. Carson just dumped Corey. He tried to do it twice, did it he finally did it. And then ⁓ I think Corey got him back on the exit of a corner later in the race. And you you know, you never really saw any anything play out off from that, but you know, we saw it Sunday. Ricky

Allan Jr: Twenty three. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Race car drivers are like elephants. They got long memories. Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. And we saw it and man, I would I I I think they're both gonna be really good the next ten years or longer. So I think this could be this has the potential to be like a real rivalry for once. I mean we just Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. It feel I don't know the scale if this is the appropriate scale, but it it almost feels like a Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick or a Kyle Bush, Brad Keslowski r rivalry that's in the making. Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah, I mean Corey's ⁓ mentioned multiple times he don't like Carson, so and I don't think there's many guys that like Carson, so ⁓ yes. All time tweet. ⁓ Corey's on a little bit of a heater. I don't know who his PR guy is. Maybe Corey's just this witty, but he is he's on a heater right now with the the comments. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, right. And his tweet was unbelievable today. What a what a response. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I I think it's him. I really do think it's him because he he made the comment about Caden in the post race. Like that was him talking. So this was completely on par for that. ⁓ yeah. So if I love it, man. And did you see Dale Junior's comment under it? He he put NASCAR and then he put all like the ⁓ like the ratings like going up, like emojis. So Yeah. Ross Tatum: Yeah. I didn't. What do you say? yeah, I mean I mean we need it. I mean we really do. I mean I I feel like nobody hates any each other anymore except for like John Hunter and Carson actually. I mean everybody everybody everybody in the back of the field hates Carson. Yeah. And then you know, you got Noah trying to make his little rivalries with people. ⁓ we'll get in that, I'm sure. Yeah, we shouldn't. I agree, you know. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. But who cares? Like, yeah. ⁓ my gosh. I'm not even gonna give him the time of day, honestly. ⁓ I'm not. Ugh, I can ⁓ even I that was bad. I'm gonna quote my tweet. Let's try that again. Tweet my quote. That's that's a old timer for me right there. I'm going to quote my tweet that I said. And I said that K ⁓ K Mag would rock Noah's shit if if they got into a fight. So Yeah. I was waiting for it too. Yeah. Yeah yeah. Ross Tatum: ⁓ dude, absolutely. I would and I would pay to see K Mag do it. You know. Cars ⁓ Noah just doesn't learn. I mean he's just you think about all the people he's taking swings at. I'm surprised he didn't swing at K Mag. I was waiting for it. ⁓ but I maybe he knows better. Maybe he knows better than to do that. Ricky Allan Jr: He's on area. Yeah. ⁓ man. That would have been That would have been must see TV for sure. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. ⁓ gosh. well we gotta talk about the big the big moment in this race too. And ⁓ superhero Austin Hill coming off his big O Raps first row course win. ⁓ Ross Tatum: At least he didn't have a stupid bowl cut this time. That that was one good thing. In case it did happen. Ricky Allan Jr: I guess that gave him enough confidence that he thinks he can run with all the big boys now and completely ⁓ missed his mark going into one and took Wonder Boy Connor Zilich with him into the wall. Same place that Sam Air went. Completely stuffed Connor in the wall, slowed their momentum, and SVG just runs straight in the back of it and triggers a multi-car wreck that Tates all three of those guys out of the race. massive turning point in the race. Ross Tatum: Okay, I'm gonna say something controversial. I saw I saw a replay today, and as much as I'd love to call Austin Bin Laden a terrorist and stuff, there is some evidence that SVG ran over Hill. Now, granted, Hill missed the corner, but there is some evidence that SVG ran into Hill and knocked him into Zilich and really caused that whole wreck. So he might have kinda Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Listen, I I'll give you this. ⁓ I'm not gonna fully agree on that take, but I will say this. There were points in the race that I feel like S VG was not being patient. He got into Chris Bucher, ⁓ which awes that was a awesome moment by the way. ⁓ Chris Bucher does a complete three sixty and the whole field Ross Tatum: There might be some there might be some stuff there. I don't know. SVG might have sabotaged himself. Ricky Allan Jr: manages to check up and basically let ⁓ get a gather back up and no one rets or anything. So ⁓ so I the most I'll give you on that is I feel like S V G got a little o over aggressive at times and it felt like he could I mean he's he's still just so much better than all these guys and he might not feel it. I I don't know if he was feeling pressure this weekend or what, but it it felt like a different S VG than I've seen in a lot of these races. He kept making comments about how there's more in the car and you know, it was on the driver was not getting the most out of it and how ⁓ you know, it he was a bad driver and and you know, people saying that he pretty much had this race one and he was saying it was disrespectful to his competition. Like I don't know if he was just trying to downplay it or what, but I just felt like ⁓ you know, he maybe had a lot of pressure on him coming into this weekend. Ross Tatum: I agree with you. I felt like he was a little frazzled all weekend. He just you know, you saw in the comments ⁓ during qualifying, he's like there's a zero out there and someone's gonna beat me and you know, he still cleared the field by two tenths, I believe. ⁓ so yeah, i he he Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. In group A, by the way. Yeah. Ross Tatum: In group A, he was uncharacteristically ⁓ aggressive too, which I mean he'll ⁓ you know, SVG is always aggressive on road courses, but like he was just making moves that were unnecessary. And I mean, he might have sort of caused that wreck by going through wide and kind of spooking those guys like that. I mean, honestly, I I don't know was that even allowed for him to do that anyways? I don't know. But ⁓ Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah.

Yeah. It's it's it's going back to that start finish line deal, like once once they go they they let ⁓ go. Yeah. Yep. Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah, I think we had discussed that at Watkins Glenn. You're right. You're right. But yeah, he wa he was definitely just not himself this weekend. If I if there was any way I would describe it, it was that. I mean, usually he's so patient. ⁓ you know, he really works people over. You saw when he'd lose the lead early in the race, he would immediately like get super aggressive and try to pass them back. And you know, before he'd just kind of ride and bite his time, save his tires, and then zoom by him. And ⁓ I thought there was some curious decisions by his Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Ross Tatum: his crew. ⁓ me and you discussed this, but to not take stage points when you really desperately need these points and you're trying to flip the stages and you have S V fucking G, you can make these spots up. ⁓ especially in a thirty lap run to the end at the end of the race. Like there was just bad decisions all around by track house. I mean just Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Ross Tatum: Terrible calls about Track House in general, just a uncharacteristic weekend for SVG and the whole Track House organization. Ricky Allan Jr: I think you really hit the nail on the head and you know, one one thing that I that I do agree with you on is ⁓ like the three wide move there, it just it wasn't necessary. And even though people will say yes, he did back out of it in plenty of time, who knows if that was relayed to Austin Hill, you know, and and I'm Derek Nealon's a great spotter, so I'm sure it was, but at the same time Austin's probably thinking I really need to drive it in here to to hold my ground too. So it was just I don't know, and it and it's so easy to to Monday morning quarterback this in a way, but it's just when you've got that good of a car on on all sides, right? I'm I'm talking about Austin Hill, 'cause Austin had a great car too. it just seems unnecessary to be that aggressive that early in the race. And and I know trap trap position's extremely important. ⁓ But when you have that good of a car, man, it's just like I feel like you you can be a little careful, especially if you're S VG. ⁓ and so yeah, I I think that may have spooked them and and may, you know, kinda indirectly caused him to overdrive it. And then I don't know if he just couldn't tell that they had slowed up as much 'cause I did see an angle where it's like they slowed up and then it's like you just kind of see S VG accelerate into it. Ross Tatum: Mm-hmm. Ricky Allan Jr: So I don't know if there's any way he could have missed it or, you know, if maybe he slams on brakes, he gets ass pat. Like I don't know. But yeah, you you hit the nail on the head and it just he was not himself this weekend for whatever reason. Ross Tatum: Yeah, and I think I think this week he'll be more focused. I I I I don't even want to say he wasn't focused. He was just I don't know, you could feel and this is, you know, a by product of this of this new system, and it's a great by product. But the pressure for these guys on the bubble is immense, I feel like. And I mean, it's kind of crazy to say there was maybe too much pressure for SVG, but there there might have been this weekend. Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Well and you know, I started thinking about this going into the weekend too. ⁓ he is so dominant on these road courses now that I think it is a different it's a different kind of pressure now that it's it's fully the expectation now, you know, to go win. It's it's no more like, Hey man, this is amazing, good job, you you won the race. It's like now if you don't win, it's like, man, what's wrong with you? Right. So I almost feel like knowing where he's in the points and I feel like everyone has penciled him in to win both these row courses. ⁓ yeah, it's just maybe that contributed to it. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but it it just it felt like maybe the pressure was too much this weekend. Ross Tatum: I agree completely with you. I mean, you think about the activation that Red Bull brought to the track. You think about fully sponsoring both him and Zilich. ⁓ Justin Marks was all over the place, like really showing himself off this week. It felt like it was like Trackhouse is gonna win this race. ⁓ you look at all the odds, the bets, ⁓ you know, you go into the race. W was it ⁓ minus two sixty or something? Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, dude. Did you see the line before the race started for him, by the way? Yeah. It was something it was something crazy. Like Ross Tatum: Yeah, it was it was it was crazy. ⁓ Track House to win was like minus three seventy. I mean, it was just ⁓ it's something you don't normally see and that just shows you what kind of expectation there was on S V G. And yeah, he just he struggled. Now I think I think this week we'll go right back to a normal ass kicking 'cause there's less variables, ⁓ less chaos, ⁓ s most of the time at ⁓ Sonoma. But Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yep. Ross Tatum: Yeah, it was very uncharacteristic. Ricky Allan Jr: Yep. Let's see. ⁓ great weekend for Kyle Larson and the five team, by the way. ⁓ we thought this actually might finally be his weekend. ⁓ now that is the one positive as as much and I and I love S V G so ⁓ but ⁓ as much as I love S V G, when he went out, man it just opened the whole race up at at that point and it I felt like everyone thought they could win now. If if you're anywhere near the top five, it's like, man, now the opportunities seem endless and Larson really took control of the race. I thought his car was really good. ⁓ he pulled out the to that six second lead at one point, you know, kind of in the in the stage three there. And I was like, ⁓ my gosh, this is finally gonna be it And then when I slowly started seeing Corey Haim just chip in it, I mean I remember sitting there looking at the TV, he was a little over six seconds, and then it

it it went five point eight and I was like, Huh. Hopefully that wasn't anything. And then it went five point six, five point four, under five, four and a half, and then I was like, ⁓ no. Here we go. And then all of a sudden Corey Himes on his bumper right before that last stop. So ⁓ it's coming, man. It's coming. I've I've got I've got the ⁓ belief I believe if I saw that stat correctly, I think he's gotten four top fives in the last five weeks now. So ⁓ like I've said it before, ⁓ I think one of Kyle Arson's weaknesses has been if he doesn't win the race, he he shoots himself on the foot. So I love seeing this consistency by the five team right now. So if you can't win the race, maximize your day, bring it on to next week. So I like the direction that him, Cliff Daniels, and the whole five team are are moving right now. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I do too. He's jumped up to fourth in points. He's he's doing a really good job. ⁓ just staying out of trouble. I mean, like you said, he's always had trouble, you know, staying out of trouble. And most importantly, is they got speed. ⁓ but the same thing always bites him. And it it's ever since they switched to this new road course tire and the new oval tire. It's these long runs. For whatever reason, they just do not they do not agree with the five car. ⁓ it must just be however he drives the car. I'm not really sure how that, you know, maybe he drives it looser. Ricky Allan Jr: Which is funny 'cause that that used to be one of his strong suits too. Ross Tatum: Yeah, he was always great on the long run with the old tire and then this new tire he's just I don't know. And you've seen ⁓ a couple drivers struggle with it, but he is definitely one of And ⁓ yeah, for the first, you know, seventy five percent of a run, he's lights out fast and then the last twenty five percent it just seems like the car kinda falls off. And you see it from ⁓ Byron too. William Byron's struggling with the same thing. ⁓ Chase not as much, you know, so Yeah. But now he's up to fourth. I mean he's really not that far out of third. I mean we we could be talking about if that team gets hot, I mean he's right there when this when this chase starts. Ricky Allan Jr: Well, wouldn't that be something he snatches Denny Hamlin's soul yet again? ⁓ yeah, he's he's fifty three points out of third, so and we've got a tight battle. There is two points separating fourth, fifth, and sixth right now. So that's gonna be really fun. We talked about the different battles to keep an eye on. The bubble battle for the chase. ⁓ we'll go ahead and kind of Ross Tatum: ⁓ no, God. That'd be awful. Ricky Allan Jr: Look at the points here. Any anything specifically else you wanted to cover on the race, Ross, before we kinda transition? Ross Tatum: ⁓ let me see here. Let me look at these stats. ⁓ d d d See if there's anybody jumping out. Ricky Allan Jr: Obviously C C Bell had to get out of the car due to his wrist. Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah, yeah, C Bell, he got you know, he

got replaced by Brent Cruz and I you know, I'm again I I st Steve Latar had a bad weekend. He had a really bad weekend, okay, because it was so obvious, you know, if you know anything about the next gen shifters, down is up shifting and up is down shifting. And Ricky Allan Jr: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Ross Tatum: Brent Cruz, you know, pulls it off the I don't know what corner it was. That is one thing about this road course. I couldn't tell what corner was with the whole weekend. I didn't learn the damn road course at all. If I got on iRacing right now, I'd run into every fucking wall. But Brent was clearly coming off the corner, going down the straightaway, and he downshifted. He pushed up and downshifted and blew the engine up. Yeah, and ⁓ you know, and you know, Brent didn't want to take credit for it, and it's fine. I understand he's a young guy, but Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you you can see him push forward. Yeah. Ross Tatum: Steve Latar, it's a crew chief. He knows everything about these cars. You know, he was one of the people that helped work on this car. He knows exactly what he did. Just call him out. He downshifted. It's okay, Steve. It's okay if you criticize some of these guys. ⁓ and he downshifted and blew his engine up. And I'm sh I'm surprised it doesn't happen more, you know, with these guys that transition back and forth between cup and trucks and ORAPs. Because I know if I was a driver, I'd probably blow one up every other week. So Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's the the age pattern versus the sequential shifter. So yep. Ross Tatum: Yeah, and ⁓ he didn't call him out for it. But yeah, I felt bad for Belly. You know, you go all the way out there, you run twelve laps, you can't really do what you need to do. You you know, you stay on the pit box to help out Brent Cruz and then like five laps later he blows it up. So not a great weekend for the twenty. They're still in the chase, obviously, and I think they'll be fine, but yeah, I mean they're they're hurting on points right now. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and we talked about even we were, you know, slightly concerned about Bubba. We thought the Toyota in the car was so good that, you know, we thought it was gonna make up for it, which you know, he's he's even above Bell now. So I I'm not worried about Bubba missing the chase. ⁓ William Byron has fallen to thirteenth in points, which is pretty crazy, which again I'm not worried about them making the chase though. Ryan Priest is in. S V G is out by five points heading into Sonoma this weekend. Ross Tatum: I think it's safe to say that SVG is probably done this season. I mean, obviously he'll probably do good this weekend. Ricky Allan Jr: Man, that is so crazy to say. We were just talking about after Charlotte how we felt like he was safe, as long as the road courses went to plan, right? So Ross Tatum: Yeah. But we we've seen how hit and miss those track house cars can be ⁓ on on every other track.

And shout out to you. I don't know why every Tuesday when these bets drop, why are we not just putting top four Zayn Smith? We should just do it every week. Take the chance. Shout out to you for calling out another great Zane victory or ⁓ top five finished fourth, AJ Almaninger fifth. I mean, there were some guys that pulled off some great performances. Riley Herbst, you know, doing a great job as well. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. I know, right? He made it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And guys, get in on the action. I mean we've we've not to toot our own horns too much, but we've we've done pretty good for ⁓ for some of our our weekend picks here. So we're ⁓ we're kind of rebranding it as weekend preview now because we know YouTube hates the B word. So ⁓ yeah, come join us on our weekend previews. Those will generally drop on Thursday heading into the weekend. ⁓ so yeah, that'll be fun ⁓ getting ready for where the heck are we going next? Ross Tatum: ⁓ but yeah. We're going to Sonoma, followed by Chicagoland and Atlanta. So it should be a pretty exciting couple of weekends. ⁓ I'm really looking forward to Chicagoland, I'll be honest with you. Ricky Allan Jr: That's right, duh. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. That'd be great. Ross Tatum: And Atlanta, man, one one one year we have to go all we all need to go down to Atlanta. I would love that. That would be so fun. That new Atlanta. I hated it when they came out with it, but now it is just incredible to watch. ⁓ Eric Jones had a solid day. He is now 14th in points, so that's really impressive. Brad. Woo! Brad is fallen. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. I would love to actually. That'd be fun. He did. Yep. Yep. Brad, they have they have thrown the anchor in the sea and tied his ankle to it. So yeah. Not good. Ooh, P twenty two. There okay. Ross Tatum: Yeah. And don't look now, Ross Chastain is minus forty. P twenty two but minus forty out. He's not far. This bubble battle man is really z yeah. Ricky Allan Jr: And Zayn's and Zayn Smith, man. If Zayn Smith didn't have those two weekends, man, he'd be right in the thick of it. Ross Tatum: Hey, Riley Herbst. He's only 50 out. I mean, that's that's a race. I mean, that's a race. You're talking about one of the worst drivers last year. Now, granted, I think it's safe to say that 2311 last year did not have very good cars, except for Bubba. Bubba had a good car last year. That he had a great crew chief. He had a great car. But I think it's safe to say the 2311 cars are vastly improved considering Riley Herbst is I mean, he's on the bubble. I mean, he's close. Ricky Allan Jr: That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. That would be nuts. Did did you catch that interview by the way at the end of the race with Riley Herb? So basically Trevor Bain interviewed Riley Herbs and he Cliff Note's version is is basically he's like, Man, great run, you know, you've got to be feeling good with you know, you've gotten better, but like, how's it feel to see like essentially your replacement win the race? ⁓ and it was like it was just so awkward because Ross Tatum: I did not I've kind of heard sni ⁓ tell me about it. Ricky Allan Jr: I mean, poor Riley, you know, he's he's been struggling and he did do a really good job, right? And and I think he has improved as as a driver quite a bit, but man, just Trevor Bain brought him up and then just frickin' went for the jugular, like Ross Tatum: Mm-hmm. Trevor Bane is not the best reporter. I will say that. He even his interview with ⁓ Corey at the end of the race was kinda you know, kinda poorly managed. No offense to Trevor. ⁓ gosh. Yeah, there there is some Yeah. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Hey, can't be as can't be as bad as Corey LaJoy though, so that's that's the one thing about Prime that that I'm happy about. Is he he's not part of that TNT crew though, is he? I don't think so. Yeah. Ross Tatum: No, thank the Lord. He is gone. He is gone. ⁓ Danielle Trata goes to Pit Road. She'll replace Trevor, I think. And then ⁓ the booth is staying the same. I just you know, I I don't think Prime had it. I think their coverage was great. I w I do want to say this. They're Ricky Allan Jr: Uh-huh. Okay. Yeah. Ross Tatum: ⁓ their TV coverage, like their aerial shots they were using during the cup r race was really good because it really showcased the whole airbase. I think that Fox and CW kind of struggled with that. I don't think they really showed like if you watched the CW and the Fox ⁓ broadcast, you would have just thought they were racing on like a airport runway. You know, like it just they didn't show any long shots. They didn't show the scenery. ⁓ Prime did a really good job of showing all that. So props to Prime for that. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Ross Tatum: But yeah, it just not a s just not a strong weekend for the commentators and stuff for Prime. I don't know. I just I don't know. They kinda drove me crazy this weekend. ⁓ Adam Alexander did a fantastic job as normal though. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. I mean it ⁓ yeah. He's awesome. I mean and you know, it is a tough race to call. There's a lot going on and probably hard to see a lot, but anyway. Well, I mean it was it was a great race overall. The cup race. ⁓ like I said, I completely changed my tune coming into this. I I was getting ready to just say we should never do that again, but ⁓ yeah, it was it was Ross Tatum: Mm. But is it fair to say that we shouldn't do that again? Ricky Allan Jr: No, I don't think it's it's fair 'cause I I think there is something special about just a a once in a lifetime thing and and one and done. And I think Yeah, I think NASCAR kinda gets in trouble 'cause sometimes too mo too much of a good thing's not a good thing. And I think we learned that with like the Roval. I think if they just left it at at that first year where ⁓ Jimmy Johnson and Martin Trutt spun each other at the end and Ryan Blaney came through, it would have been like a huge memorable moment and and Ross Tatum: But see, I c I agree with that. Ricky Allan Jr:

That would have been it type of thing. So yeah, I don't know. I'd I I enjoyed it, but I think I'd like to not see it again if that made sense at all. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I agree with you. I don't wanna see it at least not every year, maybe every four years or five years. I you know, move this race around, move it to ⁓ you know, Montreal for a week or you know, Road America again or who wherever. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Make it Yeah. It would be cool to have one it would be cool to have like one race a year where it I mean, even like we do in the C R L where it it moves and it's kind of like a special event race and it moves around. ⁓ Ross Tatum: I like that idea and ⁓ I d I did hear that they were talking about moving it okay. I did hear that they were talking about moving it to July fourth. And I'm gonna be honest with you as a traditionalist, ⁓ Ricky, I do not wanna see road courses on July fourth. I liked that they did a Road America, ⁓ but I did not like that it was on July fourth. ⁓ July fourth races need to be at night and they need to have some excitement, but that's just Ricky Allan Jr: Keep talking. I gotta I gotta fire my computer. Ross Tatum: my opinion on the whole situation. Ricky Allan Jr: Daytona. Ross Tatum: Daytona. Daytona, I think I think Atlanta is the July fourth race this year, I believe. ⁓ I actually might be Chicago land. I take that back. But it'll be interesting. Well, Josh, should we get into picks or is there more you want to talk about? Okay, well, in the upset of the year, Mr. Ricky Allen Jr. defeated me ⁓ with Ross Chastain, who ended up finishing seventh somehow after Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, no, let's do picks. Whoa! Yeah. Ross Tatum: D I mean did you see him run sideways into Carson Hosovar? And he still finished seventh. Yeah, and he he still finished seventh, so that was pretty good. So Mr. Ricky Allen Junior is now leading the points eight to seven. ⁓ going to Sonoma. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. I thought I thought it was gonna get I thought it was gonna get broke when that happened. Dang, we're we did you tie it up? It was seven seven? No way. Ross Tatum: It was seven seven and you you took the lead back just now. No, I'm sorry. You're right. It was ⁓ six to eight. It was six to seven. Sorry. Now it's eight to seven or eight to six. Yeah. Ricky Allan Jr: Eight to six. Well we'll get your math right one and Ross Tatum: Yeah, well g you know, I was never strong at math. ⁓ you know, I w almost had to go to the special class. But anyway, ⁓ so for my pick this weekend, I Yeah, yeah. you'll have to take Ross Chastain off of this, by the way. Ricky Allan Jr: Can you send me my chart by the way, please? Ross Tatum: ⁓ ooh. Ricky Allan Jr: about to run some ARCA at Bristol, so I just gotta make sure I'm in my session here. Ross Tatum: There you go. You run with the old men. Ricky Allan Jr: ⁓ yeah, but not the super old ones. The one that ⁓ Rob talks about me ⁓ being up on AARP members. It's it's not that league. It's ⁓

it's a forty plus league, Ross, so it's it's a little bit Ross Tatum: No. Can w can we rant on Rob Sherwood? No, I'm just kidding. I'm just joking. This man doesn't say a thing during the last ten races, probably. Me and Josh sit here or me and Ricky sit there and talk to each other all day on Discord. And then the day later, Mr. Rob Sherwood always messages and sends us something that happened in the race. ⁓ Mr. Mr. Rob. Ricky Allan Jr: Go ahead. Ha ha. We'll get ⁓ back one of these days. Ross Tatum: Get ⁓ back. I wanted to bring ⁓ back. ⁓ you know, Rob had an interesting opinion about this whole weekend that I didn't necessarily agree with. ⁓ so I would like to have Rob on to to Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yep. Yeah, maybe maybe we can ⁓ yeah, we'll we'll get him on sometime 'cause that I think that'd be a fun little debate that we could get into. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I think so too. ⁓ as for this weekend, I think I'm just gonna go with A. J. Almendinger. I'll just pl it's probably the only place I can use him, so I'll take him there. Ricky Allan Jr: Okay, okay. mm mm mm mm mm. I'm between two. And I think it would be a really good matchup. I'm gonna go Daniel Suarez. Ross Tatum: Daniel Suores. He where was he at this weekend? I I feel like I never saw him. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. ⁓ where did he finish it? Ross Tatum: ⁓ he must not finish too bad 'cause he's still eighth in points, so he must finish ahead of Hosovar. Ricky Allan Jr: Daniel Suarez. Thirteenth. Thirteenth. He's you know, Dan Daniel is gonna finish Daniel's gonna finish anywhere from seventh to fifteenth. And I feel like that's kinda where AJ I would actually give AJ a little bit of an advantage. I think AJ is gonna be kinda like that sixth to ninth category. So I think you do have an upper leg on me, Ross. ⁓ I was my other guy I was thinking about was maybe Chris Busher, 'cause I feel like ⁓ Ross Tatum: thirteenth. So yeah, just another Sorez day. Ricky Allan Jr: Chris runs really good at Sonoma as well. But I'm gonna go with Daniel Suarez. That's where he got his first cup win ever. ⁓ so I think he does have potential to be ⁓ good this weekend. So try to keep keep keep my streak rolling here. Ross Tatum: Yeah, I like that pick. Yeah. Yeah, I like that pick. ⁓ you know, it's kind of crazy looking at the points and seeing, you know, we talk about the the differences in teammates and how they stack up against each other. When you see AJ Almaninger twentieth in points almost in the cut cut line, and then you see Ty Dillon thirty first in points over two hundred points behind AJ Almaninger, that's pretty wild. That's pretty wild. You wonder Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah. Yeah. Ross Tatum: Will College put someone actually for real in that car next year? I wonder. I doubt it either. I think they take that engine deal from RCR. I think that's why Ty ends up in that car, but yeah, it's disappointing. It's it's gotta be disappointing to have a team where you're you know, you just basically tossing it to the wind. It means nothing. Yeah, you just show up. There you have no purpose, no no chance of winning, no no nothing. I mean, I just can't imagine. So yep. Ricky Allan Jr: I doubt it. Yeah. You just show up. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Well, Ross, I I feel like we could we could almost do a part two with with how many storylines came out of this race, but we we will end it here. ⁓ for now. ⁓ crazy race, man. Overall it was really exciting. Again, so many storylines coming out of this. I just think about the the host of R vs Heim. Heim really Heim time really putting himself on the map. ⁓ we got the bubble battle to pay attention to. We've got regular season battles, not to mention Denny Hamlin has cut Tyler Reddit's point lead to eight points now. So will Tyler Reddick be able to recover this weekend and extend that gap a little bit? ⁓ and not to mention, Ross, maybe we can do this heading into our weekend preview. ⁓ we got the in season tournament starting this weekend. ⁓ at Sonoma. So I think it would be fun to maybe maybe we can make our picks together and and kinda go over ⁓ for the weekend preview ⁓ as the opening segment. So ⁓ yeah, that'll be a lot of fun, a little head-to-head matchup. And Ross, I just gotta say I love that they did it by points this year. Last year they they did like a three race stretch or something to seed these players. And yeah, it was. And now they're actually doing it by points position, which is I think the way it should have been all along. Ross Tatum: ⁓ yeah, I forgot. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. That was so stupid. Ricky Allan Jr: long. So I'm excited for that. I think that's become a fun little new tradition ⁓ that that we're doing each year now. So ⁓ yeah, make your bracket, Ross, and we'll compare ⁓ on Thursday. Ross Tatum: Yeah, sounds good. And maybe I we can post them up on the screen so people can see ⁓ if I can figure out that technology. But yeah, yeah, there's so much to talk about this weekend and you know, just ran out of time. That's just how it is. But hey, that's why we have the weekend preview. So we'll ⁓ we'll ⁓ we have a lot to talk about on Thursday and hopefully no more silly season news happens, but we'll see. Ricky Allan Jr: Yeah, yeah. That'd be great. We believe in you. That's right. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So well guys, thank you so much again for tuning in. We love ⁓ coming on here and and breaking down all the race racing action and there was certainly a lot to break down from this past weekend at Coronado. ⁓ naval air or ⁓ naval base rather. So ⁓ great event overall. ⁓ it was a lot of fun and yeah, looking forward to to moving on to Sonoma. So we will see you guys on Thursday for the race preview. We'll go over our brackets, cover some off ⁓ the track action, as well as ⁓ give you all our pits for Sonoma. So stay tuned and ⁓ thank you guys again for tuning in.