Test Episode - Audio.com

Zachary, it's a tropical island, all night on the break of dawn, we're going to Miami. Going to Miami. Thank you, my friends. Oh, let's get rid of this screen. Thank you, my friends. God bless. This podcast is sponsored by Three Doors Down. It's not my time, and I'm not going. Got my wine. Damn, you're, you are a wine drinker, huh? That's a, is that a 2012 Cabernet? Do you see my pinky? I think Steve Rolfes is a big wino, so I think, I think me and him would get along just fine. Yeah, I would say. He treats me as a guy that loves a nice steak and some, some nice red wine. He loves, he loves wine. That is for sure. Doesn't necessarily have to be with steak, but he is. Well, he drinks his expensive wine in the Delta High, High Club and the Delta Sky Club, and I'm, I'm sipping my three buck Chuck here saying, hey, Steve. He, he does drink some real expensive stuff, but I know he's got like some $25 bottle of wines that he really likes. I would love to have like a, because I, I, my wine is 20 bucks or less. That's my, that's my limit. I would love to have like a $50 bottle of wine and then like a $200 bottle of wine. So. Just see if I could taste any difference. Blind taste test. We drank some Opus One is what it's called. I've heard of that. How much is that? I don't even know. Opus One? I feel like it's like $200 a bottle. Opus One wine. Well, first price that showed up was $320. Yeah, just saw that. So it's probably like a $400 bottle of wine. I couldn't really tell a difference. Like we had like Thanksgiving. Yeah. I just, I don't drink wine really that much. And I, it, I don't know. I don't think, I honestly don't think I could could tell any difference whatsoever blind taste test wise, but tell Steve wine is allowed at the West side. So we can just bring a couple of bottles of red wine. We can just sip on that and watch some NASCAR. I will tell him because he will bring it for sure. He will bring a bottle. I don't, I don't know if he'll feel comfortable doing that, but he, he would do it. So. Well, we can drink some red together. He would. Well, it's kind of, he didn't, he does white when it's, when it's warmer out. So. So do I, but this is winter and this is fall and winter, man. This is, this is red time. Yeah. He was after golf. He drank some Pinot at the, at the old that's white, but, Oh, you're talking Pinot Grigio. Yeah. I was, I like Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir. We're very, very high scale here at the, the top of the podcast. Yeah. We should be sponsored by decoy sponsored by decoy wine. I don't even know who that is. It's just a brand. Oh, all right. You ready to get this done? Let's see if we can get this knocked out in record time. That'd be good. Trying to feel a cold coming on. So I want to get to bed. Look at that new, fancy little spreadsheet you put in there. So that's cause I did it at work versus doing it at home. So one thing I did add is the, uh, the, the true X incident. So that's fine. Again, I just didn't know if we should talk about it or not. I think we should, I think we should mention that at the end. Right before we talk about the cutout rate cutoff rates. So yeah. Okay. Um, and then we can kind of, kind of go from there. So, um, get pumped up, get ready to go. All right. You ready? Yeah. Hold on. Here's me. Pump it up. Oh, pinky up. That should be your, uh, that should be your like Twitter handles pinky up. No, no, not that. I'm not that guy. No. All right. You ready? Let's do it. Good evening. Fantasy NASCAR race fans. Welcome to the top of the pit box podcast presented by paradise executive properties.com. On this episode, we're going to talk all things homestead and look ahead to this weekend's playoff cutoff race at the Martinsville speedway. Josh, how you doing? Doing well tonight, Zach. How you doing? Doing good, man. Can't believe we, uh, it's only two more races left this season. It's kind of sad to think about. We're not going to have our, uh, weekly chats here, uh, on Tuesday nights after a couple of weeks. Yeah. It's it's felt like we've been doing this forever, but when you look back, it really hasn't been that long, but the season's gone fast. The first one we did was, was Dover. Um, so that was in back in April. So, uh, it's, it's been, it's been a long season, so we're, we're almost to the, to the end here. So, uh, before we continue, we do want to thank you for listening. If you do enjoy the show, we ask that you please share it with your friends and family so that we can continue to grow this thing. We are now less than two weeks away from our end of the year celebration at the Westside in Harlan, Iowa. We're going to be having a potluck, drink specials, giveaways. It should be a lot of fun. The race is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. We will be there a little bit before that, uh, but the race is set to start at 2 p.m. And then finally, uh, our race is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. And then finally, uh, our website atopthepitbox.com is now live. We've been working really hard, uh, to put this thing together. So please let us know what you think. Check it out. We got updated league statistics, historical statistics on there. So check it out, see if there's anything that, you know, you'd like to see that we're not currently, uh, we don't currently have on there. Uh, but just let us know what you think. Check it out atopthepitbox.com. It's also your spot for, uh, your, your standing. So if you want to, instead of checking the email, we do have the standings on there as well. So just a couple of quick announcements there. So with that out of the way, let's take a look at the NASCAR news of the week. And first up, Zach, it looks like the Custer Appeal is set to take place this week. Yeah, that's correct. So for those, uh, that remember this, this is the appeal from the Roble race where NASCAR deemed that he helped his teammate Chase Briscoe out. That appeal is going to take place, like you said, this Thursday. It's going to be interesting to see, uh, if Stewart Haas Racing wins the appeal or, or whether NASCAR, uh, wins and those, you know, the fine and the penalty stay in place. So we'll see what the outcome is. Most likely, uh, sometime Thursday afternoon. So is this the same group that reviewed the, uh, the other incident with, um, I'm blanking on it. Who is it? Byron. Byron. Yeah. The Byron, uh, penalty. Yeah. I think it's the same group. It's, it's, uh, it's three, I think it's a board panel of three and they are outside people. I think one of them was like the president of GM for a while. Uh, and then there's two more. So they've got ties to motorsports, but they also aren't actively involved in it. So it's, it's a third party arbitrator essentially. So that's kind of what, um, I guess gives it some space from NASCAR. So it's not the same people making the decisions. Do we have any idea which way they're going to go? Has there been any kind of leak or anything? I haven't seen anything about, you know, what, what they're going to argue with in regards to their defense. Uh, NASCAR has got the data, they've got the radio communications, they've got all that stuff, uh, backing their side. So, uh, again, who knows what, what they're going to argue or what they're going to say, but, uh, I've not seen anything. They've been pretty close to their best on this one. So, uh, you'll find out with, with me and the rest of us on Thursday afternoon, what, what, uh, the outcome is. So then the other piece of news from last week pertains to Bubba Wallace, who was suspended for this past weekend's race at Homestead due to his incident with Larson the week before. And we talked about NASCAR was kind of put into a difficult situation and ultimately you and I both agreed that we thought the suspension was justified and fair. What did the drivers have to say about the suspension? Yeah. So at the media session this past weekend at Homestead, a lot of the drivers were asked about their opinions of the suspension, uh, as that was still kind of a hot topic this past weekend. And pretty much every single driver that I, uh, heard or saw on social media, including Denny Hamlin, who owns 2311 racing was very supportive of NASCAR's decision and didn't disagree with it one bit. Uh, they know where NASCAR stands in regards to, you know, retaliation or certain situations such as what Bubba Wallace did to Kyle Larson. Uh, and they're glad that NASCAR has finally stepped in and decided to kind of draw the line per se, because if you think back over the last couple of years, it's kind of been, uh, you drivers decided it's up to you, uh, kind of almost like a free for all where the drivers self-pleased themselves. But this, this kind of drew a line in the sand with NASCAR stepping in. And, um, again, a lot of drivers supported them. They were glad to see NASCAR doing this and hopefully this keeps things calm moving forward over the last, you know, the next two races. I think the, the biggest thing that I've heard with, with the suspension is everybody's happy that, you know, that it happened. They're glad that, that NASCAR set this precedent. Uh, I think that there is some leeriness from some of the teams, you know, especially ones that have been around for a while, that the consistency is not going to be there. So I think they just hope that the next time something happens in this kind of situation that the same punishment is handed out. If NASCAR chooses not to do that, then we're going to be having a quite a different conversation. Yeah, you bring up a really good point there, Josh. NASCAR has not been consistent over the years with their penalties and the way they discipline or rule, uh, on things. Uh, in this case, it was kind of setting a precedent moving forward. Uh, I, I think back to the Xfinity race, uh, at one of the road course races where Noah Gregson intentionally turned a guy on the straightaway at very high speeds, caused a multi-car pileup and he did not get suspended whatsoever. And he admitted to, to doing it, right? Exactly. He came out and said that he purposely did it. Yep. And so that's where the, you know, again, that's just one example of NASCAR being inconsistent. So hopefully this sets the framework moving forward that if something like this happens, this is what, uh, Bubba Wallace was, was suspended for one race and that's going to be the penalty moving forward. It's not worse depending on how egregious it is. So now let's move to this past, this past weekend's race at Homestead. Overall, I enjoyed the race. I thought the track allowed for some good passing, kind of lived up to the hype that we set for it on last week's podcast. Three and four wide was, was entertaining. So I can see why the championship track, it was a championship track in the past. Um, for me, it was so amazing to watch these drivers drive so close to those walls at the speed that they were going. And so for me, I was just super impressed by, by that skill level. What did you think about the race? Um, I'm basically in the same camp as you. I, me personally, I thought it was a top five of the race year candidate. Uh, I was excited going into Homestead. It's one of my favorite tracks on the circuit because to me, I consider it a more of a driver's track than most of the tracks because you've got multiple lanes. As you said, the Highline's dominant. It's predominant. And, uh, it seems like there is a very, it's high risk, high reward when drivers go up there, because if they get into the wall too hard, uh, as some drivers did, it kind of ruins your day, especially with how weak these toe links are. But from an overall standpoint, I thought the race was fantastic. I love the three to four wide racing, especially on restarts, uh, that drivers could pass. We saw multiple drivers start or get put at the back of the field and then work their way up toward the front. So from an overall standpoint, again, I thought it was a fantastic race. So not a lot of storyline for this week, but let's start with, uh, Kyle Larson, who led most of the race and dominated the race and took the checkered flag. Yeah. What a dominating day for Kyle Larson. Uh, the first thing I thought of when I was watching that race was, you know, this is the Kyle Larson that we all expected this year. And it reminded me, uh, and maybe you guys as well, uh, about last year and just how dominant he was last year. Uh, he had that Highline working, he hit the wall a couple of times, but it wasn't bad enough to, you know, ruin his day. Uh, the car was tough. He was able to keep going, uh, and again, just dominated that race. We have not seen a driver dominate one of these races with this next gen car like Kyle Larson did. So, uh, it was fun to see, uh, and it was, it was good to see him get back into victory lane because he's had a pretty tough year. Yeah. That is a, an interesting point you make about the domination. Uh, yeah, I don't, I, this has to be the most dominant win of any race this year. So that's, it's pretty impressive. He has a super fast car all day. Obviously he dominated. So, um, and again, it was just so impressive to watch him drive along the wall. He was leading those last, I don't know, 30 or 40 laps. He was still running inches from the wall and one little mistake could have taken him out and ruined his day. So I know you mentioned he brushed up the wall a couple of times, but you know, nothing too, too significant and the car could handle those bumps. And so overall, I'm, I'm really happy for him. And, uh, unfortunately, that of the playoffs, it doesn't matter too much for him, but the owners get their, uh, get to advance. Well, so you bring that up and the crazy thing is, and I haven't figured like clicked on any articles or did any research to figure out how this is possible, but with that, when he has locked the number five car into the owner's championship from a point standpoint, going into Phoenix. So this could be a first time or, or a rare instance where you have a driver champion and you have an owner's champion be two different teams or two different things. So that's something to keep in mind going into Phoenix as well. But the number five car, uh, is hot and he has a chance to win the owner's championship come Phoenix. So the owner's championship, I've really never heard of that until this year. That's an every year thing, right? They always have the champion. Yep. That is where a lot of these teams get a giant portion of their, of their money, uh, is at the end of the year, their, their prize bonus pool percent where they finished in the standings. It is worth a lot of money. So typically the driver that wins the championship is on the team that wins the, the owner's championship. Typically I say that that's how it works out. Yes. I don't, I don't have a lot of knowledge with this, but I did see some stuff on Twitter and I did see some headlines saying that, uh, the number five car is racing for the owner's championship in Phoenix, even though Kyle Larson is not racing in the playoffs or is eligible for the championship from a driver standpoint. I don't know how that's possible. Uh, but again, this could be one of the first or a few times that you have two different types of champions. Interesting. There were, so as good as a day as Larson had, there were drivers that did not have a good day, specifically a couple of drivers that are still currently in the playoffs. So let's start with Chase Briscoe. Yeah. You know, he's, he's made a, he's kind of been a Cinderella story here at the playoffs. And, uh, he was having a mediocre day to start with at Homestead and with four laps to go in stage two, he got loose on the backstretch, overcorrected and slammed really hard into the wall. And that essentially ended his day. He brought it down to pit road. I think they said they had a broken control arm. I assume they have a broken toe link as well. They were going to start fixing it. There was some confusion said, go behind the wall. Cause if you have a broken control arm, you can replace it behind the wall. But then they were also confused that if you go behind the hall, then their day is done. And eventually that's what happened. They brought it behind the wall and his day was done. So, he's now in a must win position come this weekend at Martinsville. Yeah, it's been a good run for Briscoe. Uh, I think, I think he's gotten further than really anyone thought possible for him. So good, good for him, but you're, you're starting to see the difference between a top playoff team and, and where his, his team's at right now. Um, and that's not a knock on chase Briscoe, but that's just the reality of the situation. When you get down to, to four teams, that's, that's the cream of the crop and, and he's got a little ways to go to get there. But overall, I think you got to consider this a successful season for him and he can start to build on this and see what happens for next year. Yeah. If you think about it, when the playoffs started, I, I can't remember exactly, um, if we gave our picks to advance each round or not, but, uh, me personally, I did not have chase Briscoe advancing past the first round. So like you said, to get to where he's gotten to this point in the season, uh, I would think you'd have to deem this in, in overachievement per se in a very successful season. Uh, I know it's, it's going to be heartbreaking for him if he's not able to win it at Martinsville in advance of the championship, but he has nothing to hang his head about with how good this year has gone for him. Yeah. So if he's overachieving, that leads us into the next topic or the next driver and that's an underachiever Ryan Blaney. Yeah. So, uh, you look back at Homestead, Ryan Blaney, you know, he was having a pretty solid day there. And I think he was, man, he was, he was in the top three when he, when he pitted and they're going through that pit cycle. Well, he just got done pitting and he was going off pit road. He was on the access road. He was getting up to speed and all of a sudden the camera pans over and he's backwards going into the grass and NASCAR had to throw a caution flag. And you wonder, you know, what the heck happened? Did he blow a tire? Uh, did he hit something? Like, how was that even possible to wreck your car on the access road? And it sounds like he downshifted on accident. And when you downshift these cars, uh, unintentional for, for whatever reason they spin out. Uh, and that's exactly what happened to Ryan Blaney. So, uh, again, like what a year for Blaney. He's had so many self inflicted issues that have prevented him from, you know, top five finishes possibly wins. Uh, and, and the story just goes on for, for him and his situation. Yeah. We've talked about the issues by Blaney is faced this year, pretty much every week. And I don't know about you, but I don't really feel bad for him. Most of the issues that he has faced have been self inflicted. So it's not, you know, where Truex has had some, a bunch of stuff that's, you know, caused him to, to finish behind where he should be finishing. Um, but it was out of his control. This is all in his control. I mean, downshifting is kind of, kind of silly to, to a silly reason for you to, to wreck and bring out the caution. But, um, it just, just kind of feels like it, it's on him. And, and I guess I have less sympathy for him for that. Yeah. You could tell him pit road at the end of the race. He was really, really beating himself up about the mistake he made. I'm kind of on the other side. I feel bad for these guys. There's so much pressure on these guys. And I know they get paid millions of dollars. They're living a great life. They're doing what they want to do. They're having fun, but the pressure is, is just so high in these playoff races. And to make an easy, I would say it's an easy mistake because we've seen guys down shifts on accident quite a bit this year, where historically you've just have not seen it. It's because they've got this new transmission in the whole new setup in regards to the gear shift knob and all that. But I do feel bad. I feel bad for Truex. My boy Truex has had a really long year and had a lot of bad luck. Blaney has been fast all year. And again, he just seems to the first few stages he's there in the thick of things. And then stage three, something happens for him to get taken out. So, again, I feel bad. I've, I really do feel bad for him. Hopefully he can put a race together at Martinsville and maybe give him chance, give himself a chance to make the championship race at Phoenix. So, finally, let's talk about Chase Elliott and William Byron's days. Yeah. So, man, you look at, you look at their days and the first two stages, they were extremely fast. And for whatever reason, that last, you know, stage three, the last run, they pretty much fell off. It looked like they lost the handling of their cars. I know that Willie B was complaining about his car being really loose as the run went on. And unfortunately, they just weren't able to rebound and get back in the top 10 as Elliott finished 14th and Byron finished 12th. So, some pretty subpar weeks from Hendrick here over the last couple of weeks. For sure. And so, the next topic that I want to bring up is, we have mentioned before about the good racing that we saw at this track. And there really was no better example of that than the battle for second between Ross Chastain and A.J. Allmendinger. It was really exciting and fun to watch those two battle at the end of the race, that last 30-lap run or whatever it was. They were battling back and forth, passing each other, and still maintaining with Kyle Larson for the, you know, the first 10 or 15 laps of that run, which was really, really impressive. They were not cutting each other any slack. They used to be teammates in the Xfinity Series at college, so they do have a personal, you know, relationship and a history. So, I think that kind of played into things as well. But some just really hard racing. They kept it clean. They didn't, you know, door bump each other or wreck. Just a really good, clean racing situation between two drivers who are historically really, really aggressive. And I thought the best part about it was, at the end of the race, they're, you know, they're parked on Pitt Road. And the first thing A.J. Allmendinger did is, he went up to Ross Chastain and gave him a fist bump. I thought that was pretty cool. You don't see a lot of drivers doing that these days. So, overall, really cool to see those guys battling it out and to do it clean and be respectful of each other was impressive to watch. I mean, that's what we have been begging for from these races, is drivers to be able to push their car, to race other drivers and not have to get into their rear bumper or dive deep into the corners or, you know, some kind of shenanigan. Just actually go out there and see who's faster. And that's what we saw. And A.J., let's give some props to A.J. Allmendinger, who's been racing super well lately. And I wonder, and I don't know what your thoughts are, but if knowing his ride situation, you know, for next year, he's locked into that 16 car, kind of maybe put him at ease and kind of just let him go do racing. But he's typically known as a road course racer. And these last few races, he is showing that he can race on any kind of track. So, I went back and looked at his finishes since the Indy road course race, and his last six races have all been in the top 10. So, he finished 7th, 2nd, 7th, 4th, 9th and 3rd. So, really good run for A.J. Allmendinger. And, you know, I know he's kind of bounced back between the cup and Xfinity. And it's nice to see him get some success here in the cup late in the season. Yeah, like you said, he's historically been known as a road course ringer. But he's showing, like you said, that he can hold his own on basically any track with the history that, or with the results that he's had this year. So, you know, next year, think about he's going to be in the car full-time. He's going to have that much more experience under his belt, that much more practice with this new car. The sky's the limit for A.J. Allmendinger next year. And, you know, College Racing is an up-and-coming racing team, is where I would put them. They've got some good resources behind them. Haley's had a pretty decent year. You know, points-wise, it's not great. But he's been in the thick of things, you know, especially on the super speedways. They've got fast cars there, so you just never know how good they're going to be next year. But A.J. Allmendinger might be a dark horse guy to sneak into the playoffs. And I think we've talked about this before. He's like 40 years old, isn't he? Yeah, I think he is 40 to be exact. So that's kind of crazy that he's that old making this run. Yeah, and a little fun fact for you, his wife has Nebraska ties. I can't remember if she's from Nebraska or has Nebraska ties or whatever, but every now and then you'll see her wearing like a Nebraska shirt or a Nebraska hat. So I thought that was pretty cool as well. So now I have to hate A.J. Allmendinger. Thanks for ruining that. And his cat, I think his cat's name is Tickles, and it is a social media sensation. So that's your fun fact for the day. Where do you pull this stuff from? How do you know this stuff? I have so much useless information in my head, guys. You surprise me. Even after all these weeks of doing this and knowing you for as long as I have, you still somehow managed to surprise me with the things that you know. I just Googled this to confirm his name is Tickles. I don't even Google it to confirm it anymore. If you say it, it's true. He has a Twitter handle. It's called at Tickles the cat, Mr. Tickles. It's pretty wild, man. Pretty wild. Fucking cats. Okay, get back in the ass car. Uh, one final thing that I wanted to talk about was the incident on Pitt Road with your boy Martin Truex, who was one of, if not the fastest car at the race. I think he was leading the race when he went to Pitt Road. And Kyle Larson gets in the back of him and spins him. Wanted to get your thoughts on what you what you thought happened there. Yeah. So when it initially happened, I was, I was shocked. I could not believe that Truex had another, you know, circumstance situation that all hell broke loose. Out of control. So different than Blaney, you know, this is out of his control. But in this, yeah, in this case, I don't, I don't know what to believe, but Larson said, as you're going down Pitt Road, he did nothing different. You're taught to get right behind the guy. Typically you turn left or start going into your pit stall about two stalls prior to your pit stall. And as Truex and Larson both pointed out, Homestead's Pitt Road is the absolute hardest Pitt Road to get on and to see your sign or your pit because of the sun glare, especially in the late afternoon. And Truex said it was partly Larson's fault. And partly he kind of, I don't know if he lost track of where he was at, but he just didn't see a stall. And he, he saw the sign went to slam on his brakes. And that's when kind of Larson turned him right, wrong or indifferent. I don't know. I don't think anyone's really to blame there other than it was just an unfortunate accident or an unfortunate situation for Truex. And again, he was leading going into Pitt Road. He had the, him and Larson were the class of the field by far. And if Larson came out second with Truex having the clean air, I'm not sure Larson would have been able to pass him or pass him cleanly. So as a Truex fan, it just, it broke my heart seeing, seeing that happen. But luckily his Pitt crew reacted very fast because that could have been a really dangerous situation with those crew members jumping over the pit wall and possibly getting hit by that car. So again, it sums up Truex's year. It's just been a disastrous year. And a lot of things that have been out of his hands have happened. You can add that to the list again for, for Homestead. Yeah. And I kind of, so it is his fault. I, I, I'm in the camp that he missed his pit stop or pit stall and then realized it too late. Why it's unfortunate or why it could be different is if it was a different time and there wasn't as many cars on Pitt Road, he could have still made that if, if Larson's not right on his bumper. And so if there's less cars on Pitt Road, he has time to kind of get into his pit stall. So ultimately I think it is on Truex. It is unfortunate. He did have a fast car. The, the point about the, the crew getting out of the way when I saw it live, I saw the jack and I thought that was a person and I kind of like held my breath. Like what did just, what just happened? And then they showed the replay, obviously, and it was everybody safely got out of the way. And it was just the, the jack that was kind of got run over a little bit. So thankfully nobody was hurt because that would have been an awful scene, but interesting. Just another example of, of how things have gone wrong for, for Martin Truex this year. So with only one race left before the final cutoff at Martinsville, let's take a look at the current standings. So you can go ahead and do it. Yeah, let's take a look at the current standings going into Martinsville this weekend. Joey Logano is locked in with his win. Ross Chastain is plus 19. So it's, as long as he doesn't just have an early exit or mechanical issue that puts him out, he should be in points wise in advance to Phoenix. Elliot is third right now at plus 11. Byron is plus five and your cutoff driver as of today with Denny Hamlin being below the cut line by five points. Ryan Blaney below the cut line at minus 18 and Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe basically being in a must win situation with 33 points behind and 44 points behind respectfully. When you look at that Josh, who do you think get in with, with those points being pretty tight there toward the bottom of the cutoff? So obviously Logano's in, I think Chastain makes it in and I think Elliot. So it really comes down to do I think that Byron or Hamlin's going to, to get in. I know Toyotas have not been super strong at Martinsville and short tracks, but I think recently Hamlin's been the better driver, had the better car. And so even though maybe the stats say that otherwise, I think Hamlin's the fourth. What about you? I think obviously Logano's in, I think Chastain gets in. He's just got to race a base, a conservative race, just get that car to the finish line. He should be good. I don't think Elliot falls out of the playoffs with his 11 point lead. Now obviously mechanically she could ruin his day or change that scenario, but I think Elliot gets in, which leaves, you know, us having the three, first three of the same. I'm on the other camp than you. I think Willie B gets it done. He had a dominant car at Martinsville this spring. Now they are bringing a different tire to Martinsville this weekend. So that could throw a wrench into that. But I think Hendrick is just really, really good at Martinsville and I think he gets the job done. So just to recap the race, stage one winner, Larson. Stage two winner, Larson. Winner, Larson. Any guests who led the most laps back? I'm going to guess Kyle Larson. It was Kyle Larson. So for the sweep and there was a tweet that we retweeted today that said, had the entire 267 laps at Miami gone green and the final positions were based on speed alone, so a median lap time, Kyle Larson would have finished approximately two and a half miles ahead of second place. Two and a half miles. So he would have almost had the entire field two laps down, which is just wild. So obviously there's a lot of ifs in that statement, but I think that just, I saw that and it just kind of put in perspective how fast and dominant he was and is just crazy. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Yeah, that definitely is. And it's, so you look at the, look at Jeff Gluck's poll to see or gauge what the fans thought of that race. 75.4% of voters said yes, it was a good race. I personally thought it would be at least 80%, so this is a little lower than I anticipated, but I think there's a lot of fans out there that like to see chaos and like to see wrecks and you really didn't see that at Homestead, which is more my style of racing. And I think that's probably why the poll is just a little bit lower than what I anticipated. Yeah. There wasn't a, you know, when you have a driver that dominates, like, like he did kind of takes a little bit of the drama out and then the hardcore racing fans, I think were happy. But the fans that tuned in to, to see a wreck or, you know, see some drama kind of left disappointed. So, but overall pretty good, pretty good results. 75% said it was a good race. Let's move on to our picks. And unbelievable. My pick, Raph Chastain finished second. Yours was Reddick. He finished 35th. For the fourth time since we've been doing this, my driver's finished second. It's so close, but no cigar, buddy. So it's getting pretty frustrating here. I got it. I got to get one here before the end of the year. So we'll see what we can do as we pick Martinsville. So let's look at the fantasy discussion. Team average this week, 55. So pretty low for, for, you know, compared to previous weeks, we had a low of 10 points from Patrick McMeekin and Andrew Dickel. So two teams representing the Dick family there. Almost a low for the season, but so close of still very impressive 10 points. And then I guess we should talk about who had the high. Um, it was even bigger sandwich with 120 points. So not, not a great week. Uh, it is, that's embarrassing. It's, it's not good. That's, that's, and it wasn't, I think there was only three teams that were in the hundreds and that was by far the highest. It was, was not good. So when we look at the top 12 left in the playoffs, they are bigger sandwich in first up two spots, Taylor slice, who was in the lead last week, falls to number two, Adam Studer up two spots, number three, number four is Ryan Brash up two spots. Number five, Amy Weiss down one spot. Number six is Jasmine Rolfes up one spot. Number seven is crazy Dale. Number two, he moved up five spots, even bigger sandwich. We mentioned 120 points, uh, obviously fell six points down to number eight and below that cutoff Reagan Rolfes at number nine up five spots, Kenick Rolfes down two to number 10. Uh, number 12 is Don Brockman moving down two spots and then Tracy Norton, number one, friend of the show down eight in 19th spot. So overall, any, any overall thoughts Zach of the, the top 12. Uh, I'm glad to see a sandwich, take a big free free fall there. Uh, I'm not used to this. It's weird. Yeah. Who is on that team that it was that bad? Did you have Tyler Reddick? Yeah. Tyler Reddick and chase Briscoe and, um, chase Elliott and hold on. I mean, those three guys alone, I mean, that's, that's at least 70 or 80 points with those three guys. So Blaney, Blaney, Legano and Elliott. So Reddick and Briscoe had disastrous days. Blaney, obviously we talked about, didn't have a great finish. Uh, and then Elliott, you know, didn't have a great time, just mediocre from the whole team. So I'm not used to not used to this, uh, only one team in the top six, but the, the difference between first and 12th is 84 points. So down from 118. So we are getting tighter here as we move towards the end of the season, uh, looking at the bubble. So this is where it gets really interesting. Crazy Dale. Number two is four points below the cut line. Even bigger sandwich is 10 points below. Reagan Rolfes is 11. Kinnick Rolfes is 14. Don Brockman is 21 points below the cut line. And then old friend of the show, Tracy Norton, number one, 71 points, uh, below the cut line and probably is not going to advance. Um, so we have, essentially we have eight teams fighting for these last three spots, which is super exciting for this race. I wish that it was a different track, uh, but it is what it is. And, uh, it's going to be pretty exciting. Yeah, I agree. And you look at the risers this week. Hold on before we get to, before we get to the risers, I just want to, to, uh, look at the, I always want to look at a couple of these teams. So Jasmine Rolfes was 20 points below the cut line. After this week, she moved to plus four. Kinnick was 35 points below. He's now only 14 points below Don Brockman made a move. She went from 40 points below to 21 points. And then you look at, uh, crazy Dale, number two, 44 points below the cut line going into last week. Now only four points. And then lastly, Reagan Rolfes 51 points below looking, you know, like she needed a miracle now only 14 points out. So these, these standings have gotten super tight after this last week and is only going to make this, this, uh, this next race even more exciting. So just wanted to point that out and kind of call out how, how tight these standings have gotten going into the last, last race here. Yeah. I'm glad you pointed it out. That's, those are some pretty big movements, uh, with one race and with really no big wrecks or cautions. So obviously, uh, the teams that fell had to have had Briscoe, Redick, some kind of combination like that. And then teams that have gained, uh, Truex, Larson, Austin, Dylan might be on a couple of those teams, uh, Kevin Harvick. So, uh, pretty, pretty big movements with, with not a lot of chaos. So, uh, thanks for pointing that out. When you look at the risers of the week, and this is all playoff related, Patrick McMeekin went from P22 to P14. So he's trying to make a run into the money. Crazy Dale number two went from P12 to P7. Get it done, Crazy Dale. Reagan Rolfes went from P14 to P9. So pretty good movements there out of the risers this week. And when you look at the fallers, as you pointed out, friend of the show, Tracy Norton, number one fell to P19. Even bigger sandwich, love to see this, went from P2 to P8. And Steve Rolfes, number four, I hate to see this for my boy Steve, went from P13 to P18. So those are your fallers of the week. Looking at the rookies, Taylor Slice is in P2. Uncle Bob Schaefer, number one, P13. Patrick McMeekin is P14. David Bangert's in P25. And then Robert Schaefer, number two, is in P33. So that wraps up our fantasy discussion. And now we can turn our attention to this week's race at Martinsville. Yeah, it's one of my, I would say one of my favorite tracks up until they brought this new car, the next gen car out, which does not do well at short tracks. But with that being said, this weekend's race is called the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, which is located in Martinsville, Virginia. And I've got four fun track facts for you in regards to this track. Track fact number one, Martinsville Speedway was founded in 1947 by the late H. Clay Earls, which Martinsville Speedway is the only track that has hosted NASCAR Cup Series races every year since NASCAR was created in 1949. So that just shows you the history and how long this track has been on the circuit or the calendar, which I thought was pretty cool. The track fact number two, at 0.56 miles in length, the Martinsville Speedway is the shortest track on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit because of its small size, tight corners, and unique shape described most often as a paperclip. Martinsville offers some of the most exciting and close quarters racing in the sport. Now I add an asterisk there, that is historically without this, you know, in the past without this new car. So we will see if some of the changes that NASCAR made have improved racing there at Martinsville, but historically this has been a really fun race and track to watch. Track fact number three, this track has one feature that no other track on the NASCAR schedule has, and that is the straightaways are paved with asphalt and the corners are paved with concrete. This is mostly due to the harsh winters that Virginia has, as asphalt is very susceptible to wear and tear more than concrete. So what they decided to do is they want to make sure that there's no issues in the corners, so they put concrete there thinking that they can always fix the straightaway or the, you know, the two straightaways or the back straightaway and front straightaway if there's any issues to that. But that is the only track on the circuit where you have two different pavement styles on the racing surface. And your last track fact of the night, and this goes out to our boy JP, I can't, this is good, this is good. Martinsville is famous, and it is famous because of their hot dog. They have the most famous hot dog in all of NASCAR. It is a Jesse Jones southern style red dog, still the same price as it was in 1949 at two bucks a dog. Can't beat that. I mean, it's almost like Costco where they pay you to eat their hot dog. But there was a little bit of drama with this. In 2015, they decided to replace the Jesse Jones hot dog with a hot dog created by Smithfield Foods, who is a sponsor of Eric Almirola. But the decision backfired terribly. And the fans were, you know, creating some chaos and uproar, said it was the worst hot dog they've ever had. So two years later, they decided to bring the original Jesse Jones southern style red hot dog back. And I will say Martinsville is on my bucket list. And when I go there, I will eat numerous red hot dogs. So what makes it so, so good? It's what they do. So it's a red dog, which is very unique. I mean, you know, there's some red hot dogs here in Nebraska because of the corn huskers, but it's a red hot dog. They provide a warmed bun for it. And then they cover it with, I think it's some chili, as well as a vinegar-based coleslaw. So that combination makes it one of the most famous hot dogs. And if you watch the race on Sunday, the hot dog shack is literally right in the middle of, I believe, the front stretch. And you will see lines forever at this, at the hot dog stand. So you'll hear the announcers talk about it quite a bit. A lot of the drivers will have a couple hot dogs in between practices and qualifying. So it's just another thing of what makes Martinsville so unique. Part of the allure of the track is the $2 hot dog. I appreciate that they kept it the same price as 1949. So that's pretty cool. Yep. So I just pulled it up. I want to make sure this is right. So it is a red dog topped with mustard, chili, vinegar-based coleslaw, and onions. So I forgot the onions. That's a lot for two bucks. But again, Martinsville is paying you to eat their hot dogs at that price. It is too good to be true. So I threw that in there for our boy, JP, who loves hot dogs. So those are yours. The two bucks a piece, that's just asking for a bad stomach troubles later in the race. Yeah. They better have Tums and some pesto for sale alongside with it. You probably can watch the lines as they go to the hot dog stand. Eventually, they kind of just fade over to the porta-potties over there. I can't imagine it's good for you, but that's pretty cool. So what do you expect to see from this race? I know a lot of people are not very hopeful because of the race that we saw back in the spring, but what do you think we're going to see this weekend at Martinsville? I think this is going to be a wildcard type of race. This spring race was a snoozer of a race. You couldn't pass. You were stuck where you were at. NASCAR did do two days of testing at Martinsville here a couple weeks or a couple months ago. As I mentioned earlier, they are bringing a new tire compound to Martinsville to hopefully wear faster and to put more rubber down to give these cars grip as the race progresses, but with that being said, this next-gen car, for whatever reason, is abysmal at short track races, and it's unfortunate because this race has historically been a really exciting cut race going into the championship. A lot of bumping and banging. You'll see guys do stuff that they normally don't do. The first thing that comes to mind is when Logano basically took out Truex. Unfortunately, that win got him into the championship, and he didn't go on to win the championship that year, but again, historically, this race has been fantastic. A lot of drama. I'm not sure we're going to be able to see that, though, come Sunday because this car just is not suited for these short tracks for whatever reason. With that being said, I guess, what are your expectations or thoughts heading into Sunday? I have no idea. Everything I read, everybody that I listen to is not hopeful for this race. They're way smarter than me. They know more about this than I do, so I don't have any reason to go against what the overall public opinion is other than it's the last race of the playoffs of this cutoff, and I want to see a really good race. I'm hoping for no reason. I have no data to back it up. I just hope that we see a good race and it can continue. This section of races, this cutoff, these three races that we've seen or the two previous to this one have been really good and have been what we wanted to see in the playoffs, and I hope that Martinsville doesn't screw that up. I love short tracks. That's why I got it. I started following NASCAR because of the short tracks. I hate to see them be this black sheep of NASCAR tracks, so I hope that it can, for whatever reason or somehow, they can figure this out and we can have a good product on Sunday. Yeah, I hope you're right, man. NASCAR, as you pointed out, has had two really solid weeks with good, clean racing. Drivers could pass. It was fun to watch, and with this being a cutoff race to decide who makes the championship Final Four, you've got to hope that the race is good and not just an absolute snoozer like the previous race was. I mean, and you said the tires, so maybe the tires is the wild card where there's some wear down and gives them a little bit more grip and maybe that's all they need to be able to pass and make this a little bit more. I mean, it's got to be better than the spring, right? I mean, it can't get worse. So, yeah, again, we're hopeful. A lot of the things that, like you pointed out, we've read, we've watched, we've seen don't sound promising or seem promising, but let's hope that the one tire fix that they made at least improves from the spring race and hopefully gets a little bit better. But you look at the driver stats. Blaney leads the average finishing driver list with a 10.2 average finish. Hamlin is second at a 10.7. Kieslowski is third at 11.1. And then Logano and Kyle Busch are both tied for fourth at 11.7. Again, those are historical stats. This is kind of a wild card type situation with this car at this track. So, if you look at the top five from the spring race, Willie B led the most laps in one. Logano finished second. Austin Dillon finished third. Blaney finished fourth. Ross Chastain finished fifth. Chase Elliott was fast all day. He led a giant chunk of laps as well, but didn't finish in the top five. But when you look at this race, I think qualifying is absolutely critical at this track. Track position is king. You cannot get mired in the back and expect to work your way up to the front like you could in years past. So, for those of you that are in the playoffs or those of you that love Martinsville and watching the race, qualifying will be the most critical that we've seen all year this weekend at Martinsville, especially with this race being the cutoff race. But with that being said, let's jump to our picks of the race. Josh, you get to go first. Hit me. I would like to wait until qualifying is over to make my pick. Can we do that? Wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah, because honestly, I have no freaking clue. I've been going back and forth for the last couple of days. I knew that I was picking first and I knew I did pick somebody. I thought Hamlin, he's been quick lately. Toyota's not real great on the short tracks, so probably not him. Obviously, he has historically done well here. Then I was like, okay, I even got some advice from Norton, like, hey, who would you pick? He obviously went towards Blaney. I can't pick him. So then it goes to, okay, so now we've got Team Hendrick. He said Chase Elliott was fast. Blaney won the race in the spring. Byron won the race in the spring. Obviously, Hendrick has something figured out. I'm not going to pick Willie B, so that means that the pick is Chase Elliott. Allows me to root for my guy to get into the playoffs. I honestly have no idea. He'll probably finish second because that's how this goes. Well, I think he's going to finish in the 20s, so that's a great pick on your part. I'm just kidding. Who knows where they'll finish, but qualifying, if it makes you feel better, he did qualify first in the spring race. Obviously, that didn't do him any good, but he did qualify first. I think Hendrick is going to be fast. It seems like they've got Martinsville figured out. Even with this new car, Byron needs a good finish to hopefully sneak himself into the championship race at Phoenix. I'm going to go with Willie B, from the simple standpoint that Hem and Chase are the two best cars in the spring. You've got to think they've got a good notebook, and they're going to be two fast cars again this weekend. I got to hope that he can't sweep Martinsville. It's hard to win the same race twice. I just got to hope that he can't do it. Now, I will say, we made our picks. If you were going to pick a wild card, who would it be? Shoot. It'd probably be Blaney, if I had to. Yep. My wild cards are Lugano and Blaney. I think those two- Lugano, huh? I think Lugano is going to be fast. He's raced really well there in the past. Again, he took out Truex, was able to win that race, and then went on to Phoenix or Homestead. I can't remember where he won that championship at. I think it was Homestead. Nonetheless, he was up there contending for wins. I think he finished in the top 10 there this spring. Hem and Blaney typically run well at Martinsville. I would say that those two could potentially be your wild cards. Now, can you imagine if Ryan Blaney wins this race, which then knocks- assume Chastain gets in, then that knocks either Chase or Willie B out of the playoffs. How bad would you be if Chase Elliott, for some reason, has a bad day on the day that you pick him, Blaney wins and Elliott misses the Final Four championship race? We both know that would be a damn shame because Elliott's had the better season. So, I know it doesn't matter, but it would be a damn shame if Elliott misses this Final Four. I agree. I'm just saying that that is within the realm of possibility. It is a possibility. Although, history would tell me that Blaney will fuck this up somehow. What's going to happen is he's going to downshift. He's going to be leading the race, going into Turn Four, downshift on accident, spin out, but he's going to have enough momentum that he crosses the checkered flag backwards or the finish line backwards to still win the race. Is this a movie? Is this Cars 3? How bad would that be? That'd be pretty sweet. It would be entertaining. I'm sure the Good Race poll would be very excited about that. Well, we'll see. We both picked Hendrick drivers for good reason. Not a lot to go on with this short track and these cars, but we'll be watching those two drivers and see what happens this weekend. The main thing is, let's just hope that it's a good race. For this to be the cutoff race of the championship race, let's just hope it's a good race to be determined. There's a lot of movement that could happen this week in the NASCAR playoffs as well as our Fancy playoffs. I know I texted Norton saying he's not going to be able to tweet fast enough for me. Every minute, I want to know, every race, every lap that goes through, I want to know how does this impact and who's in and who's out. It's going to be a lot of fun and I can't wait. Hopefully, it's a good race and we get to talk about who will be in the championship next week. Yeah, can't wait, man. Again, I'm really excited for this weekend. I hope it's not a bad race, but nonetheless, there's going to be some excitement, whether that's fantasy drama, whether that's points drama in NASCAR. Overall, Sunday can't get here fast enough. Are you going to watch it live or are you going to tape it? I'm trying to think what I have going on this weekend. I've been able to watch the last two weeks live, so my goal is to hopefully watch it live. I might not be able to watch from the start live, but I'll be able to get to the TV fast enough where I might have to fast forward for the first hour. After that, I'll try to watch live after that just so I can follow Norton's tweets. If you two are texting, I can keep up with that and play along and hopefully root against you. I have my daughter at a basketball game at two o'clock on Sunday. I will be having the old headphones in and the phone up just so I can keep an eye on the beginning part of the race. Like you said, I don't want to miss those tweets from Norton. Typically, I have to mute that when I watch it on tape, just like you do. I want to get the full experience and get those live tweets. We'll talk next week and we'll review who's in the championship four. Sounds good, man. Can't wait. Have a good night. We'll talk to you again soon. That was pretty good. Solid. Yeah, I think, unfortunately, I think we've started to hit our stride. Yeah, right at the end. Yeah, so we just got to make sure we understand what we're doing. I think the way that we type these questions and stuff out is super helpful, just to keep it, the thoughts there. I don't stick to that full, I kind of ad lib things to it and just kind of make it more natural. It's nice, though, to have something. Yeah, it's nice to have something, though, that if sometimes I lose a thought in my head, I can just keep reading and then pick up the thought afterwards. So that's helped me out a ton, which is cool. But yeah, that was pretty good. I'm not too surprised that you picked Willie B, but. Well, again, he's got the points lead. If that was Hamlin, I still think, I still probably would have picked Willie B because of how dominant he was in the spring. You just don't have a lot of data to go off of. Exactly. You have no idea, and the Toyotas just suck. So I was so close to picking Blaney. There was a point this afternoon where I was like, OK, I'll pick Blaney. I was like, no, I can't. I just can't do that. I was hoping you would pick anyone besides Elliott, and then I was going to pick Elliott for the jinx and you had to read against him like you did last time. So, but that sucks because next week will be the championship and you'll get to pick first. Yes. I'm picking Lugano. All right, good. There you go. I don't know. I have no idea. All right, man. You're not in tomorrow, are you? Yeah, I'm in tomorrow. Oh, OK. I'll be in in the morning to get my, see how fat I've gotten over the last year and going after that. Some sip of wine, baby. It's good for the heart. Hopefully my blood pressure is low. Low calorie wine. There you go. Oh, yeah. Sweet, sweet raspberry wine. What's that guy's name? Dr. Dr. Brewer. You know, Dr. Riley and his character, like Steve Brewer or whatever the name was. The fuck are you talking about? You've never seen that. What is it? Is it a show? I don't know what this is. Hold on. Steve Brewer. JP sent this to me one time and it is just. Oh, Jesus Christ. You should google it. It's called Check It Out with Dr. Steve Brewer. But there was one that he was drinking wine and spilling it all over. I can't remember which one, but just something stupid and fun to watch. If it came from JP, I kind of understand the type of video that it will be. It's it's called. That's it for. That's it for Dr. Steve Brewer's wine. So good. So I'll look it up. I'll look it up. Sweet berry wine. That's what it is. Sweet berry wine. All right. I'll look it up. Sweet berry wine. That's some fine peanut noir, buddy. All right. Have a good night. I will see you tomorrow. Thank you, my friend. Good night. God bless.