Martinsville Review, Phoenix Championship Preview, and More | Chasing The Cup S1:E35

In this episode of Chasing the Cup, the host reviews the races from Martinsville, including Christopher Bell's win and Ross Chastain's impressive move to secure a spot in the championship four. The Xfinity race had plenty of action and controversy, with Ty Gibbs winning after dumping Brandon Jones. There were also fights between Austin Hill, Miatt Snyder, and Jeb Burton and Rajah Karuth. The host previews the championship weekend at Phoenix, with Chandler Smith as their pick for the Truck Series, Noah Gregson for the Xfinity Series, and Chase Elliott for the Cup Series. The host also provides news updates, including Brad Keselowski's disqualification, Alex Bowman's return, and the launch of Chase Elliott's Chicken Tenders. Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Chasing the Cup. I am your host Will Englund and in this episode I am going to be reviewing the races from Martinsville. I'll also go over the news and I'm going to preview the championship weekend at Phoenix. But first, let's take a look at the results from Martinsville. Christopher Bell in the clutch wins his way into the championship four and he's followed by Kyle Larson in second, Ryan Blaney in third, Ross Chastain makes a very crazy move in the final corner to make up enough spots to take the final transfer spot, Danny Hamlin finishes fifth, Joey Logano finishes sixth, William Byron finishes seventh, Bubba Wallace finishes eighth, Chase Briscoe finishes ninth, and Chase Elliott rounds out the top ten. And so, what a race. So for the most part during that race, it was better than the spring but it got spread out at times, probably because the drivers did not want to be super aggressive. And of course because they had some fresh tires, the drivers weren't going to lay that much rubber down. But whatever they did to fix the racing when they had that test not too long ago, it fixed for the most part what was wrong with the track. And it produced some great racing toward the end as well as in the first stage. And man, we gotta talk about that finish. So Ross Chastain was down by a few points below the cut line during that restart after he had passed Hamlin on pit road. And of course, Danny Hamlin's pit crew chokes at a crucial point during the race and for the most part, it looked like it wasn't going to hurt him until that last lap. And so on the final lap, it looked like it was going to be all hopeless for Ross Chastain until he decided on the back straightaway that he needed to do something. And so, he wallrided. He did the video game move at high speed and it worked. And he was able to make up all the positions and pass Hamlin to make it in. Oh my god, what a move. That is the first time I've ever seen that. That is just crazy. He just sent it on the wall. That was crazy. I still can't believe it. And it's been well over 12 hours since the end of the race. Jeez, that was crazy. And of course, with that move, that puts Chastain in and Hamlin is out. And I'll talk more about the Cup Series Final Four in a little bit. But overall, the racing was pretty good. It is a lot better than it was in the spring. And man, that finish was incredible. And we're going to talk about that finish for years to come. Next for Xfinity, Ty Gibbs gets the win controversially. And he's followed by Sheldon Creed in second. Riley Herbst in third. Noah Dixon in fourth. Justin Allgaier in fifth. Sam Mayer in sixth. Nicholas Sanchez in seventh. Daniel Hemrick in eighth. Austin Hill in ninth. And Blaine Perkins rounds out the top ten. And the racing was excellent for the Xfinity race. It was that classic beaten, banged, short track action. Plenty of passing going on. A lot more than the Cup race. It was just excellent. It was just the best race of the weekend. The Xfinity series always puts on a great show at Martinsville. And of course, it wouldn't be Martinsville without controversy and fights. So let's talk about first the Ty Gibbs incident. So basically on the final restarts, Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs were trading blows. One would bump the other on every restart in turns one and two and three and four. Until Ty Gibbs had enough and he straight up dumped Brandon Jones in turn one on the final lap and the caution came out and the race was over. And on the front stretch silver bringing, he gets booed to oblivion. And Ty Gibbs doesn't care that he dumped him. And then afterwards, he is of all to say this on series XM roll the clip. How do you feel about all this and you know, what's inside of you on it, you know? Yeah, for sure. I always go back to the same verse that, you know, Jesus was hated first and among all the people. So, you know, that's a part of it. I feel like, you know, just, you know, silencing out the crowd for like, that's what you have to do as a professional athlete. And I feel like some of the best people, you know, are going to get booed. And that's part of life. And I mean, you can't let other people's opinions and thoughts drive your actions and, you know, make you feel bad or anything. It's just part of life. And as you heard, did he just compare himself to Jesus? Seriously? Jesus wasn't a spoiled brat like you. Although he was the son of a God, he didn't grow up with a rich family where his grandfather was a team owner or was rich. Jesus grew up with a poor family paying taxes to the Romans. He did far worse than you. So don't compare yourself to Jesus. Come on, that's not being a real Christian, Ty. I'm not sure if you're going to college, Ty, but if you go to like one of those Christian clubs like Crew, which is a club that I'm part of, I bet you you're not going to be the most popular guy there. And it's clear that Ty Gibbs is driving over his head and doing stuff like this and not having a care in the world. This is why the fans don't like him or Kyle Busch, because it's stuff like that. We got to talk about that fight between Austin Hill and Myatt Snyder. NBC didn't really pick it up until after the post race. But what a blow Austin Hill had on Myatt Snyder. He just went, BAM! What a punch. That's crazy. I know if I'm angry, I'm not going to confront Austin Hill. Man, what a punch. But basically what happened there is that Austin Hill got turned around by the 31 in turn three and they had a heated conversation and then it went to blows. And also Jeb Burton and Rajah Karuth were not happy with each other. Not sure what happened on the track, but they were not very happy with each other. So typical Martinsville, people mad at each other, people dumping people. It's just good old Martinsville. But overall, a solid Martinsville weekend, an excellent Xfinity race, and a good cup race to boot with both having iconic moments that we'll talk about for years to come. And so with that out of the way, let's get to the news. After the race, Brad Keselowski was disqualified due to not meeting the minimum weight requirements. So I'm not sure if there'll be any more fines to come, but Keselowski has been DQ'd. So that relegates him to a last place finish. NASCAR will be reviewing the post-race Martinsville fight between Austin Hill and Miatt Snyder. Alex Bowman, after missing the past few weeks, will make his triumphant return at Phoenix this weekend after missing a lot of races. Hooters and Chase Elliott have launched a virtual restaurant called Chase Elliott's Chicken Tenders. And you can probably guess what they serve from the name. In a family season bomb that dropped on Saturday, Parker Kligerman will be joining Big Machine Racing full time for the 2023 Xfinity Series season. So Parker Kligerman will once again have a chance to run for an Xfinity tile. So his time with the 75 team has really revived his career. I'm excited what he can do in that 48 next year. Next an update on the Texas Motor Speedway reconfiguration. Currently, SMI is looking at some options using iRacing to test which configuration they're going to use. And this pretty much confirms that the track is going to get a repave. So we will see what they choose. The 2023 Busch Clash will be run under the lights at the LA Memorial Coliseum. Austin Hill will be running 6 races for Beard Motorsports in 2023 to replace Noah Gregson who will be moving up full time next year. Jeb Burton will be leaving our motorsports at the conclusion of this season. Veteran Crew Chief Keith Rodden will be joining Richard Childress Racing as Crew Chief for Austin Dillon next year. Kaz Grala will be competing for Sam Hunt Racing at Phoenix. The National Motorsports Appeals Panel has upheld Colt Custer's penalty and signed with NASCAR. Which means that the suspensions and the fines still stand. And some news that was confirmed last week, David Gilburn Racing has partnered with Toyota Racing Development and will be rebranded as Tricom Garage. And of course, the drivers will be Tanner Gray in the 15, Taylor Gray in the 17, Corey Heim in the 11, along with a number 1 that will run part time. The All-Star Race weekend has added some more events including dates from the Cars late model tour as well as concerts. But the artists at the concerts are still being finalized. Daniel Dye will be competing full time in the NASCAR Crestman Chuck Series for GMS Racing in 2023. Next is the Homestead TV Ratings. NBC got a 1.42 rating and 2.311 million viewers. Luke Lambert will be returning to the Cup Series to Crew Chief for Noah Gregson in the 42 in 2023. And finally, Tony Stort was supposed to be the Grand Marshal at Homestead but backed out because it was a scheduling issue all because Tony was going to do NHRA. And so that's it for this week's news. Now it's time to meet your Championship 4 drivers and preview the Championship weekend. Your Championship 4 for Cup is Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, and Chase Elliott. Your Championship 4 for the Xfinity Series is Noah Gregson, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry, and Justin Allgaier. And finally, your Truck Series Championship 4 is Ty Majewski, Zane Smith, Ben Rhodes, and Chandler Smith. So let's preview this weekend's races at Phoenix. Starting off with the trucks, we have the Lucas Oil 150. The race will be 150 laps and 150 miles. And the race will be on November 4th at 10pm Eastern Time. So it's going to be a late night for the trucks. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Chandler Smith for the win and for the title. Chandler Smith won this race last year and he's been pretty good at Phoenix and I think he will win the title and get the victory at Phoenix. Next is the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship and the race will be 200 laps and 200 miles. And the race will be on November 5th at 6pm Eastern Time. And so for my pick, I'm going to go with Noah Gregson for the win and for the title. Noah Gregson has been very good at Phoenix and was close to getting the title last year. But I think this time, I think he'll get the victory and get the title and he'll do it at Phoenix. And finally, the last race preview of the year. It is the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. The race will be 312 laps and 312 miles. And the race will be on November 6th at 3pm Eastern Time. And so let's take a look at the weather for the cup race. On Sunday, it will be warmer with sunshine and patchy clouds with a high of 80 degrees. Winds will be northeast at 5 mph and a 1% chance of rain. So it will be nice and sunny for the championship race. And it's going to be tough out of the four drivers in my opinion because I could see all four of these drivers winning the title. But I'm going to go with the favorite, I'm going to go with Chase Elliott for the win and for the title. Of course, he is the 2020 Cup Series champion and although he has fallen off a cliff during the playoffs I think because this is one of his best tracks, I think his team will help him get back to the top and help him win the championship by winning at Phoenix. And so that's it for the championship weekend special. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe for more. And if you're going out to Phoenix this weekend, I hope you have a good time. And if you're not, have a good time wherever you are. And I'll see you next week for the Chasing the Cup Season 1 Finale.