Throttle to the Floor Podcast

Ep. 64 - Reddick Wins Again in Kansas (NASCAR) + Palou Drives Away in Long Beach (IndyCar)

• William Earnest • Season 1 • Episode 64

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0:00 | 37:15

About the Podcast: The Throttle to the Floor Podcast is a motorsports podcast where me (William Earnest) and Evan Sager co-host and sit down with guests each week to talk about what is happening in the world of NASCAR, IndyCar, and NHRA plus we take frequent looks at other racing under the motorsports umbrella.

About the Episode: On this episode of the Throttle to the Floor Podcast, me and my co-host Evan Sager recap another NASCAR Cup Series victory by Tyler Reddick as well as the rest of the NASCAR action from Kansas Speedway. We also recap IndyCar action from the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach that saw Alex Palou claim another win and take back the series points lead; listen, watch, and download episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

SPEAKER_01

Hey y'all, welcome to today's episode of the Thor of War podcast. I'm your host, Will Ernest here today with my co-host Evan Sagan.

SPEAKER_02

Hello, y'all.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, we got uh lots of other news first, so we're gonna uh jump into that. Uh first Imsa was at Long Beach along with IndyCar this weekend, Acura. They managed to win at Long Beach for the first time since 2009, despite being the title sponsor.

SPEAKER_00

It's a miracle. It's a miracle.

SPEAKER_01

It really is a miracle in that in that gorgeous uh Acura paint scheme of the 76 sponsorship. I saw I saw the edit for it uh the other day and I reposted it on TikTok. Apparently it was good luck, I guess.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's pretty pretty pretty nice.

unknown

Pretty pretty nice.

SPEAKER_01

Pretty nice paint scheme. Um getting into lots of NHRA news. First NHRA, they have a new limit at uh 11,000 RPM for Ford and Dodge and Pro Stock uh starting this weekend at the Charlotte Four Wide Nationals to try and increase parity the 11,000 RPM. It's 500 RPM more than what uh Chevrolet teams get. Trying to stop Greg Anderson and Dallas Glenn from winning everything. We'll see if it works. Um, also, there's new concrete at Bristol Dragway. I'm excited for this. Is there's concrete from the starting line all the way out to the 1-8th mile. So when NHRA comes into town into June, that's gonna be very interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

For sure. Um and uh there's some changes at Sean Reed racing this weekend. Eda's Ederson will jump in the car for her first start of the year at Charlotte this weekend with new partner Global Skew. Last month I got the chance to talk to Sean Reed himself about the changes of splitting his top field ride with Ida for this year. So if you want to check that episode out, it will be linked in the description of this video. Free promo. Free promo, yes. Um, some hall of fame news. Uh, first, the class of 2027 for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America was announced, and familiar names on that list. NASCAR's Dale Renhart Jr. on that list, Robert Yates on that list, um, NHRA-wise. You got Ron Caps and Angelus Sampi, so great for them. Uh, they will be inducted next March in Daytona Beach, Florida, along with others in that class. And also, Anna Tray's Tim Wilkerson will be inducted into the Illinois Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, Illinois this July. So good for him as well. Lots of Hall of Fame. Lots of Hall of Fame stuff. Uh meanwhile, uh NASCAR's 2027 class for the Hall of Fame, that voting's been open. So uh get your fan rewards points. I got my fan rewards points, and get your fan rewards points. But uh it was also announced that there's some new Formula One regulations for uh coming up for the Miami Grand Prix, uh, not this weekend, but the following weekend, to control uh energy management and make the cars safer, particularly after Oliver Barriman's crash in Japan last month. We will have more on those changes in Friday's episode. We got lots to talk about here. Um and then in the NASCAR world, Chicagoland Speedway, it's finally back. Yes. It's finally back. Um, you know, it'll have cup cars uh for the first time since 2019 on it this July. But first uh Goodyear tire test this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Cup cars will run both days, and O'Reilly's series will also run, but just on Tuesday. The Cup series will have Kyle Larson for Chevy, Denny Hammond for Toyota, and Brian Melaney for Ford, while O'Reilly's will have Justin Algayer for Chevy and Brandon Jones for Toyota. It kind of sucks. We can't go to the Chicago the entire test, but it's gonna be interesting to see how much that seven years has caused wear to that track. And I mean, imagine, I mean, intermediate racing has already been pretty good, and Chicagoland was one of the only good tracks with the 550 package. Yes. Imagine the Gen 7 intermediate package, imagine tire wear. I mean could I mean this this is this is this is a big if, but could Chicagoland manage to be um the new version of old Atlanta that we've been missing?

SPEAKER_00

I think it's a stretch, but I mean it could happen, but also yeah, I think the 550 package that I don't know how it's gonna change with the 750 package, or not 750 package, but the new new generation car. Yeah, the new car, and I just don't know how it's gonna run. Honestly, I have a feeling it's gonna be kind of like a Kansas style, but a little more tire fall off.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, Chicago's always kind of raced like Kansas, but Chicago land's of course a slight bit different. The back stretch isn't even straight, it's got that little itty bitty curve in it. Yes, but I think it is going to race kind of similar to Kansas, just more tire fall-off like you said, um, especially with all the wear on it. I mean, I don't know. Then them us us Midwest winters, we have brutal Midwest winters.

SPEAKER_00

And consider that track really hasn't been like up up kept to NASCAR policy until this year, so I really don't know what they're gonna do with say like the Grand Chance.

SPEAKER_01

I know they've tried to make some improvements since they announced they're bringing it back, but I mean they'll make improvements to get it ready, but it's not as ready and as upkeeped as it could be, obviously, and that's just natural when you don't have it on the schedule for seven years, you know.

SPEAKER_00

So also bring back Kentucky. There's a compelling argument from Kentucky.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I mean, as as a longtime True X fan, uh obviously my my my heart's telling me just bring back Kentucky, but at the same time, it's like using using using my head, it's like Kentucky's not coming back. They're already trying to zone it, and it's like uh like I mean I I guess to be fair to to kind of support your argument, Chicagoland had its own zoning, if you remember back then and look at it now, Chicagoland's coming back, but I just I don't see it for Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00

But hey, you never know.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no. Kentucky, prove me wrong, please.

SPEAKER_00

We said the same thing about Chicago Land.

SPEAKER_01

If if Kentucky, if you know, if we revisit this in five years and Kentucky somehow back on the schedule, please, please fix your traffic. Yes. Please fix your traffic. Please. Also, let's uh let's talk about Daniel Dye. You know, whatever opinions you have about him, I mean you can say whatever you want, but he had an impressive second place finish in the Arc race at Kansas last weekend, and now he's been announced to run four cup series races for Live Fast Motorsports, starting with this weekend at Talladega. He'll also run at Pocono in June, Daytona in August, and then Tallodega again in October. These are Daniel Dye's first four career cup starts, so his cup debut will come this weekend at Talladega.

SPEAKER_00

Money talks.

SPEAKER_01

Money talks, I guess. I mean, but being that Dive will run at Talladega, we now have a 41 car feel for the race. That's right. One car will go home.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

Which is the first time since I believe Chicago's reacts year. Or it was either 24 or 25. I don't remember. I think it was 25. 24. I think it was 24. One of those two. But you I mean you have the 36 starters, but then you got uh Daniel Dive for Live Fast, Chad Finchman for Garage 66, Casey Mears for Beer Motorsports, Jesse Love in the third car for Richard Tildus Racing, and JJ Haley, who was announced uh today to run in the NY Racing car. So great to see there. Uh assuming the weather crop rates. Early reports just suggesting otherwise with rain all weekend. That's probably why Haley's not gonna be able to let go on Saturday. Because you're just telling me it's gonna rain all weekend. So I mean we could have Arco Rallies in Cup all on to Monday, but uh Yeah, that would be something.

SPEAKER_00

You'd be racing into the dark at that point if you're doing all three.

SPEAKER_01

Taladega ain't got lights. Taladega needs lights. Please, please give Taladega lights.

SPEAKER_00

But a lot of times the tracks can push to Monday and they need to have intolerant lights on that track. They really think you think about it. Yes. Like Daytona has it. Why can't Taladega?

SPEAKER_01

Please put please give Taladega lights. But I mean, we'll have we'll have more on those weather reports on Friday from uh partial meteorologist Evan over here.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe, maybe. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01

We'll see. But back on track, uh Indy Car up first, Feelest Rose Quest, he led much of this race from the poll. Then Alex Pelot took control late due to some fast pit work, some bad pit road work by uh Will Power. He was penalized late on the last set of pit stops by hitting one of Kyogre Collett's crew members. Thank God he's okay.

SPEAKER_00

Tempted murder over here on Will Power.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, I don't want to say that far, but I mean to be fair, pit road in motorsports, it's dangerous. Yes. But then again, at the same time, you're not really supposed to hit other creatures' feet. You're really not supposed to not supposed to do that. Not not really supposed to do that.

SPEAKER_00

That's a big no-no.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, just Alex Pillow, man. He goes on to win at Long Beach. It's the third win of the year, and that's all in the first five races of the year. I mean, at first we were thinking, okay, you know, it's not quite the same Alex Pillow dominance as last year, but I mean, now that we're five races in, it's like whatever.

SPEAKER_00

It's it's getting to the point of him nominating again for a second year in a row.

SPEAKER_01

So I mean, I don't think he's gonna win eight uh eight of the 17 races like he did last year. Of course, this year there's 18 races because you had in DC. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, you never know.

SPEAKER_01

I I don't I don't see it, but we said the same thing about Tyler Reddick. Maybe. Yeah, more on Tyler Reddick later. But since the start of the 2025 season, in in those 22 races, Pelow has managed to win 11 of them, which is just insane, but it's his first win at Long Beach. So despite having 22 wins in 103 starts, it's his first win at Long Beach, which is almost equally insane in itself, which is kind of sick and cruel to say. But yeah, uh Rosenquist ends up second from the poll, Scott Dixon in third, Kyle Kirkwin in fourth, and uh Pat O'Ward in fifth. Pillow now takes the championship lead back after a few weeks of not having it after his uh wreck at Phoenix, after previously having it for years and years consecutively. Um he now leads by 17 points over Kirkwin and by 63 over David Meluca, heading into I got the month of May. Yes. Which of course means Indianapolis. IndyCar first will race on Saturday, May 9th at the Indianapolis Road Course, before, of course, the Indy 500 at the end of May, but before even that, there's an open test for the Indianapolis 500 scheduled for April 28th and April 29th. So exciting news there. Our standings uh for IndyCar after Long Beach, I lead Bernardo by 129, Evan by 136, Stacy by 160, Haley by 187, Noah by 206. Shocker. I did not win in IndyCar for once. I know. What a shocker. I picked Kyle Kirkwood. He finished fourth. He ran good, but he didn't win. Evan, you you you you almost beat me. You picked Father Ward and finished fifth. So great run for you. You're you're trying to take second away from Bernard's indie car standard.

SPEAKER_00

I'm trying to get back on track after my early season woes in all motorsports.

SPEAKER_01

All series. Yeah, but particularly cup. You're trying to defend your championship.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I'm trying to regain my title, but it's it's coming close.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, you had I mean you had a great run in in Cup, so yeah. Uh more on that as well. Yes. Uh later. Uh Haley with Joseph Newgarden finished 14th, led five laps, also got the fastest lap there. Stacy uh with willpower. Willpower was running good. And then just more willpower. Well was that Andretti. Yes. Finished his 19th after that late race penalty. Um Bernardo with Santina Ferrucci and Noah with Louie Foster finished 18th and 16th respectively. Just very quiet days. But it is what it is. Um Kansas. Kansas, Kansas, Kansas. There was there was a lot, there was a lot of things that happened to Kansas. We're gonna start with Arca. Um, Jack Wood took control until a bad pit stop early. For a second, it looked like his crew members were gonna have a fight right there on pit red.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I was watching the replay of that. I'm like, that's a little crazy, even for Arca. Yeah. Arca breaks, more like Arca fights.

SPEAKER_01

Arca Fist? Arca Fist, yeah. Arca fisticuffs? I don't know. Something, something. And then uh Gio Rogero took control for Joe Gibbs Racing. So Clayton's McFarlane, man, blew an engine while running tenth, but he's able to save the car after pretty much drifting that thing in turns one and two. And it's like you blew an engine, which sucks, but then he starts drifting it one and two, and it's like you are not drifting the CT5 Blackwing.

SPEAKER_00

Hey, you're not he's had a lot of practice in drifting, so I'll give him credit.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I guess that's how he saved the car, so I guess uh we'll we'll give him that. But Giro Rogero ends up going on to win this race. He's two for two in arca races that he's ran this year. Uh by winning over Daniel Dye, who we mentioned at the top of the show, finished second. I want to give a shout out to the female drivers, and I also apologize if I butcher any of these names as Laney Bruce finished best, Jade Evidentium finished seventh, and Destiny Spurlock finished 10th in a great archer debut, and an even greater save as she got dumped by Gia Rogero with three to go, but managed to save it. But that setup over time and the run of the checkers, I mean, Gia Rogero, what are you doing? Yeah, you have a three to go, just make a pass. Don't punt. I kind of should have I couldn't. That wasn't even a dump. That was just a punt. That was a punt Larry. That was like that reminds me of like uh Dale Earnhardt Lap 2, 1992, Hooters 500 right there. Just get out of my way, I guess. But I mean, you want to talk about actual excitement, leave it to the O'Reilly series. Lap two, okay. So Josh Balicki, he initially got turned around. We were thinking, oh, he's gonna save it. And then he gets spun around. It's just like, oh, and then the CW cameras, they pan around just in time to catch Pulseter, Carson Wappel upside down and barrel rolling on the back stretch. Um, due to William Byron in the 88 Junior Motorsports car getting loose, clipping him at the exit of turn two. Byron, what are we doing? For one, it's a teammate.

SPEAKER_00

For two, it is lap two. What are we doing? Yeah, you should everyone should have seen me and Will's reaction to that latest ride. Yeah, we we should have.

SPEAKER_01

Everybody should definitely have seen our reaction. No, I can see.

SPEAKER_00

All you see is the cutback like, what in the world? What are we doing?

SPEAKER_01

Why are we flipping? I don't know, but I feel bad for Parker Retzeloff. Yeah. Just Viking Motorsports in general. Yeah. More on them in a second. But I don't know why teammates or alliances were racing so hard early. But I mean, believe it or not, that was not the last example of that in this race. Austin Hill and Jesse Love, they get together in turn four due to love. I mean, love came down off of turn four and was just packing the air. He was packing the air down on Austin Hill, which got him tight, and he clipped the apron and spun him around before Williamson Wallace just ends up piling in. Bad, bad timing there. Um, ends up ending both of their days. Uh, definitely some uncomfortable team meetings. Yes. They they were those were definitely held today, that's for sure. Um, Viking Motors Prince. Anthony Alfredo has a right front tire failure and suspension failure. Uh, as you mentioned, Parker Retzlaffy ran into Carson Wappa on that lap two flip. So both of those Viking cars were completely destroyed Saturday night in Kansas. Kind of like uh all the hail destroying all of our vehicles this past week here in the Midwest. If you if you know, you know, with all the severe weather.

SPEAKER_00

Beastman getting pounded and pounded last week.

SPEAKER_01

For sure. Um, Brandon Jones sweeps the stages by winning stages stage one and stage two. More on him in a second with his unfortunate issues. But uh Corey Day and Sammy Smith, they get together to start a stage three. They are not teammates, but you know what? It's Hendrick and Junior Motorsports, it's close enough. It's an alliance, close enough. Uncomfortable Chevrolet team meeting. Yes. Close enough, I guess. What is it, what why? Like, what are we doing? It's like it reminds me of like Toyota, like Toyota Talladega from a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, when they're all running that single line trying to kick up Toyota.

SPEAKER_01

Yesterday yesterday. I mean, they still ended up winning. But more on that um later. Sheldon Creed drove to the front after starting all the way in the rear due to pre-race inspection failures. Not sure where Shell and Creed had all that speed, but he took the lead in stage three. Uh, then, as we mentioned, the heartbreaker, Brandon Jones. Why? Yeah, uncontrolled tire in the final pit stop. The worst part is it wasn't even close. Yeah, we watched it. It was a very uncontrolled tire. We watched it live. It was like It was bad. I was like, it was very bad. And the worst part is NASCAR took forever to call that. And I just had the false reality of like, oh, please don't call it. And then they called it.

SPEAKER_00

I'm like, there's no shot they don't call that. Haley saw on the on the actual live cameras. It was way on that pit box. It was like pit road.

SPEAKER_01

It was like a couple feet outside of that pit box. I'm surprised that crew member did not get in trouble for that. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't as bad as that one time the tire ended up in the infield grass at Atlanta that one time.

SPEAKER_00

Or Hayley Deegan's pit crew.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but then uh Corey Day has his own tire go down late as he has to pit. Uh tough deal that Corey Day already had damage, and yet his car was like one of the fastest on track. And he was driving for it. Before he had that tire, he was gonna get up there. He was flying through the field. Yeah. He was flying through the field, even with like pieces of bare bond tape on the right front. I was asleep for part of the race. We don't talk to you. I took a nap. Not sure why you were asleep, but you apparently you got bored because there weren't any more flips, I guess. I was you were just waiting for Talladega the following week, weren't you? I was I was watching the cup race. More than that to come. Enough of that. But Taylor Gray ends up winning this race. He held he holds off Sheldon Creed for just his second career win after his win at Marzell last fall. Creed ends up second, which wins him the $100,000 Dash for Cash bonus. Justin Augar ends up third. Jesse Levin fourth. Brent Cruz, his first start on a track over 1.25 miles, ends up fifth.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Shout out Brent Cruz. Shout out Brent Cruz. He's got that out Eric Alamarola 19 JGR card intermediate speed.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. In the Young Life. Speaking of Young Life, the other day I saw Young Life. Actually, what Young Life is. I was like, oh my god, that's a NASCAR sponsor. Wow. It's in Wilton Iowa if anyone wants anyone wants to know.

SPEAKER_01

Wow, you like opened your eyes for once.

SPEAKER_00

Hey.

SPEAKER_01

You're practically falling asleep, which apparently a lot of people were during the cup race. But uh more on why I disagree with that later in a second. But first, O'Reilly standings. I lead uh Stacy by 55 points, Haley by 124, Bernardo by 135, Evan by 150, Noah by 206. For those keeping track at home, Noah is last in IndyCar and O'Reilly standings, both by exactly 206 points. Yes. He's also last in cup points by 204 points. Spoiler alert. Um I picked Brandon Jones in this race. Not really sure how he finished eighth. It's because there's so many cars that were a lap down when he had that uncontrolled tire, but he still drove through the field and made up like five seconds to pass like another four positions. Um leads the most laps in this race. So somehow I end up like uh stretching my points lead just barely, yeah, despite the issues. And I mean Brandon Jones would have finished top five had the had the uncontrolled, had the tire been controlled.

SPEAKER_00

If if the car yeah, if the race was run during the day, he definitely would have had a shot to win. But as soon as it turned nightfall, he started falling off hard.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, as soon as it turned night, his car turned from like the dominant winning car to like a third place car. Yeah. His car was still good, it's just Taylor Gray's car was better.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then the uncontrolled tire. Um, Evan, you picked Sam Mair, finished ninth. He was very quiet all day. Very quiet. Just stayed in the top. Besides avoiding a bunch of wrecks. Yeah. He avoided like three wrecks.

SPEAKER_00

Besides that, I mean, he just kind of stayed quiet the other day. Didn't really hear much.

SPEAKER_01

For once, he didn't have power issues. Yes. Haas factory team, good good race. I mean, finished second with Creed, ninth with Sam Merritt, good race. Um, Haley with Jesse Love finished fourth. Let a lap. Why did you pack all the air onto Austin Hill? Noah is not very happy about that. Who ended up 34th with a DNF? Noah's not very happy about it. Yeah, Noah's and sad. Yeah. I guarantee you RCR had a very uncomfortable team meeting today. Especially being that on the cup side, you had Kyle Bush finish 33rd.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god. So RCR. RCR as a whole needs help a lot. They need help. I I don't know what they need. They just need something.

SPEAKER_01

I I don't know what yet. Yeah, they need something. Meanwhile, the shout out Cleitous McFarland running in RCR again, this time at Nashville Super Speedway on May 30th, um, in the O'Reilly's car. We'll we'll see what he does. Yes. I'm sad because that's my graduation weekend, so I can't go. But yeah, we'll see what Cletus does. Hopefully he doesn't blow an engine in turn. Um, Stacy with Justin Algar finished third. Surprisingly, didn't lead any laps. And I mean, Algar had a fast car, but he just couldn't get up to the front. Yeah, he didn't he didn't have anything for Brandon Jones and didn't have anything for Taylor Gray and didn't have anything for Sheldon Creed. So, I mean, third third for Allgar is just a solid day. And then Bernardo with Corey Day, 26 laps led in twelfth, despite the wreck and Despite the tires, Corey Day continues to impress. It's like no matter what.

SPEAKER_00

It's like Yeah, Corey Day is growing on me. I mean, in my opinion, Corey Day has grown on me a lot more than I thought he would, that's for sure. I'm starting to like him as a driver.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, sure, uh him getting tangled up with Sammy Smith, it wasn't great, but it wasn't as egregious as some of his other incidents.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, some of his previous arguments, so to say to speak.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. The talent is still there, and he's definitely cleaned up his act a lot more than like Coda, for example. Yes, not bad. Yeah. Um, anyways, uh in the cup race, uh, this man apparently fell asleep. Not really sure why, because I mean, yeah, Tyler Reddick led from the poll. He did not dominate this race. Nobody did. Let's be honest, really nobody did. And I'll say this: look, this race was not super exciting. It's not like uh you had 17 million passes in this race, but it's not like one driver led 220 laps like Larson did last year to win. I mean, there were multiple cars in contention that win this race at different points. Sure, Denny Hamlin led a race high 131 laps, but it looked like at points Larson had the best car. It looked like Bell or Chase Elliott could contend, but this was not the most boring race in the world. I would argue last year was more boring than the other thing. Yeah, last year was more Larson dominate from start to finish, and I was there in person. But I feel like we've been too accustomed to Kansas having like wild and crazy moments. And I mean, to be fair, we had the Carson Quappel flip yesterday from the O'Reilly's race, and we had the really crazy overtime in the Zane Smith sideways wall ride flip thingy um the last time that the cup cars were at Kansas in the fall. I mean, you know, Evan, you you brought up a good point the other day with the fact that there's been three flips at Kansas now in the past six years.

SPEAKER_00

And a couple smaller, somewhat flips. William Byron 2018, Priest in 2020, uh Eric Almarola in 2017 when he broke his back.

SPEAKER_01

Almost almost flips are just like big crashes, wild injuries.

SPEAKER_00

I mean Eric Jones 2017.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. 20 2017. Especially Almarola when he broke his back in that spring race. I remember who won that race. I was also missed. First race in my lifetime.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

That was a crazy race in itself. But I feel like we're just too accustomed to craziness at Kansas. But I mean, I will say I do think that struggling to pass on the bottom at Kansas for much of the weekend isn't great. But the car is fine, the tires are fine, and like it's not like there was much rubber on the track to begin with.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because it got rained out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because Fridays on track, the activities were washed out by rain. But this race wasn't bad. It wasn't like crazy good, but it was just it was a very natural race uh until that Cody Wear spin with two laps ago to set up the time. Shalom. Cody Ware, I would like to have a word with you. I mean, if your tires are cording after 40 laps and you run 60 to 65 laps, of course the tires gonna blow. Just a tough deal being two to go, and you know You're already laps down. Why you're already six laps down? It's like why push it that hard? Yeah, literally. Why push it that hard to try and I don't want to say manipulate the race because he had no intention of manipulating the race intentionally, at least in my opinion. I mean, I get where Rick Ware's coming from, you know, just try and finish the race and get on the Tallega, you know.

SPEAKER_00

Save a set of tires.

SPEAKER_01

I give a set save a set of tires, save money, you know. It's a it's a business.

SPEAKER_00

The Cup series is expensive, but at the same time, you're already knowing you're recording after 40 laps.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And that wreck could have been so much worse because he spun right in front of Hamlin. So that wreck could have been it could have wiped them both out. Yeah, that could have been a lot worse than what was. Yeah, just just a tough deal for Hamlin fans. Tough, tough deal for them. But and over time, it looked like Kyle Larson was gonna run with it after Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, they made contact. Bell ended up spinning on pit road. I think he broke a toe link or something coming to the light. No caution.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, NASCAR NASCAR, no caution. Let's not start these inconsistent calls again.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's it's whatever. But somehow Reddick had the momentum, was able to drive underneath Larson on the last slap to score the victory. Tyler Reddick. Five wins on the year. His second one in Kansas, his 13th career win. Larson comes up in second. Chase Briscoe third. Chase Briscoe, very, very, very quiet day. Ran fast. Didn't really do anything other than run fast. Finish third. Hamlin ends up fourth. Bubba Wallace in fifth. My NASCAR fantasy did very well, except for Bell spinning.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, except for when Bell decided, you know, except for Bell track.

SPEAKER_01

Except for Bell spinning. And the worst part is I had Bubba Wallace in my garage. So I sort of swap them, I guess. Yeah. But Reddick now has four polls on the year, and all four of those races have resulted in victories.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and just a side note, it's supposed to rain on qualifying days.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's supposed to rain like all week in Italy, guys. So the chances of qualifying being rained out are like probably like a solid 80% right now. And if qualifying gets rained out, we know who's winning the poll. Yeah. Mr. Tyler Reddick. Um his debut primary sponsorship for Rockstar. If the trend continues. If the trend continues, we're in trouble. Yeah, so the trend continues. We're we're about to be talking, you know, next week with Tyler Reddick winning six of the ten races and going three for three on Super Speedways to start the year. Yeah, that's I mean, like at that point, at that point it's like we're gonna get the ten full hats on. At that point, at that point, is that like the DEI in the 2000s?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, literally. We need to get some ten full hats on and have this discussion. You know, I wouldn't say that far, but it's getting to a point.

SPEAKER_01

I I have I have patience. I mean I have I have patience.

SPEAKER_00

I mean if you think about six race six ones and ten races, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Especially the next gen era when all the cars are supposed to be easier.

SPEAKER_01

In the next gen era when all the cars are supposed to be equal, but then again, I mean, look at NHRA Pro Stock with Craig Anderson and Dallas Clinton, you're winning everything. So, I mean, cream rises to the top, I guess. It's just is it a coincidence that it's right after a lawsuit? Victory? Sure.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and the people on Facebook are starting to question it.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, Reddick is passing inspections, so unless inspections being fudged and we don't know about it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, 2011's secretly paying off the pick secretly paying off the officials.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Can you imagine that bombshell? Oh my god. That would be crazy.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. I d I don't think I don't think we're at that point yet, but I mean It's getting close. Reddick now has five wins in the first nine races. That's only happened four other times in NASCAR history, and the first time since Dalen Hart senior in 1987. It's been almost 40 years since that happened. And in a next-gen car win, the cars are supposed to be equal.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, there's there's some questionable, questionable things.

SPEAKER_01

Sure. Um, Toyota has Toyota themselves, they have seven of the first nine wins.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Toyota's been on a roll this year. Toyota really has, which hasn't been seen since Chevy did it in 2007. There's only been six DNFs in the last five races, which is the fewest in a five-race span in Cup Series history. And uh also in 2026 so far, there's only been 54 cautions, which is the fewest at this point, since 48 cautions in 2012. Damn. 2012 feels like a million years ago. Well, I was only five years old at the time. That's a good point.

SPEAKER_00

I really don't know much about 2012.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't know what NASCAR was. I mean, I barely knew anything. I knew what a Hot Wheel was. Close enough, I guess. But man, Tyler Reddick, he just keeps finding ways to win. He finds new ways to win. I mean, Daytona, sure, Daytona was quite a bit of luck, but the five the 500s always luck. The 500s always like, okay, you have enough skill to put yourself in the right position, and then it's just luck on you know, on the premises of survival on those last few laps. Atlanta, he came back from that right front fender missing to win that race. That's how good his card was. Coda was just domination from start to finish. Darlington, he dominated much of that race on the pole, had the cool suit failure, had the alternator issue, still overcame those to win that race. And then Kansas, you know, he had the pole, but he only led 10 laps in this race. And, you know, and then he had a second. Hamlin definitely would have won the race had Cody Ware not spun. But, you know, Reddick Reddick was able to take advantage of the opportunity. I mean, overtime rules are overtime rules, so that's just how it is. I mean, it it can't be bad as the overtime line.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god, that was that was a time.

SPEAKER_01

That was that was pretty bad. That was a time updated um cup standings. I lead uh Stacy by 33 points. That's right. I took the points lead. You'll see why in a second. Uh Haley leads by or nope. Nope, Haley does not lead. Excuse me. It's late. Haley's 90 points behind me for the lead. Um Bernardo's 102 back. Evan, you're 168 back. So you shot, you're you're making you're making progress. After my early season lows, I'm taking the taking the small wins. After two sub-30th place finishes in the first two weeks. Yeah, we don't talk about that. You're making progress. Um and Noah 204 points back. So no, Noah's just in a big hole in just about everything, except for the truck series.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

That that's about it. But our uh cut picks, I picked Larson who ends up second. Should have should have won this race. I I I don't know how I mean he had clean track, he had the clean air, he probably had like he had like six car links on Redick coming to the white, and even though he had the top groove, he just I don't know. Redick somehow had that momentum on the bottom. Kind of reminds me of how somehow Redick had all that momentum um coming to the finish of the 500. Yeah. Um but Evan, the reason why you were able to chop some of that points like that, you picked Jenny Hamlin, all reliable. Finished fourth, led the most laps, 131 laps on the day.

SPEAKER_00

I will say pretty good day. Uh he should have won the race because goddamn Cody Ware, but we still that's I digress.

SPEAKER_01

Hey, it was better, it was better than the Nashville 24. Yes. That was that was pretty bad. Um Haley would chase Briscoe, uh, quiet day in third. Uh Stacy, the reason why she lost the points lead, um, as we were hinting at earlier, is because she picked Ryan Blaney. Ryan Blaney, you know, all throughout this year, he's had good cars, it's just his pit crew has been god-awful. Yes. Well, his pit crew was god-awful today, and it also didn't help that Blaney had contact with A.J. Almondinger early and spun him around on pit road. But the only difference was Ryan Blaney was not able to come back and um get up towards the front. So Blaney ends up 24 as a lap down. Ugh.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, constantly general, though.

SPEAKER_01

Ford. Why? Ford's been awful this year. Ford Ford has been awful. I mean, besides Chevy should have more than one win. Chevy should have probably two three wins. Yeah. But Ford? Ford.

SPEAKER_00

Ford's been off the ball all year this year.

SPEAKER_01

Ford has one win, and that's Blaney at Phoenix, and Blaney came back from two loose wheels. Yeah. And he should not have won that race. That should have been Bell that won that race, which would have meant another win for Toyota. Yes. Imagine that. Another win for Toyota. Um, Bernardo with Austin with Austin Dillon in 16th. Somehow Austin Dillon finished 16th in this race. Not really sure how. Not sure how RCR, at least one of their drivers, had a good day.

SPEAKER_00

Other one was just Austin.

SPEAKER_01

Where did Kyle Bush go? It's like he didn't show up. Then again, uh, you want to know who else who else didn't show up? Trackhouse. Yeah. Trackhouse is what happened. I don't know. What has happened to Track House? I mean, like, SVG, uh, Zilich, and Ross Chastane, they all finished like outside of the top 25. Like, then none of them showed up. None. Yeah, I don't know what happened. I mean, last fall it was SVG's first top ten on an oval. And, you know, the year before that, in the fall race in 24, Chastane won the race. Yeah. Why?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I don't know if they brought the wrong setup. I maybe they're thinking of Talladega next week. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Maybe they put the Talladega setup on the Kansas cart. I don't know. Yeah, literally. Something. They they were they were they were slow all weekend. And it's a shame, especially for Chassane and the Bush Apple card. That scheme was f amazing. That that scheme was the best thing Trackhouse did always. Yes, true, very true. Quite literally. And uh no Chase Elliott in eighth. You would think that four tires on the overtime restart would work once again just like it did last fall. It it did not work.

SPEAKER_00

It did not. It did nothing.

SPEAKER_01

Nothing. I don't know. The tire wear wasn't as much as it was. Last year, yeah. So tough deal there. But wild weekend in Kansas and in Long Beach. And it's only gonna get crazier. Oh lord. Here we go. Talladega. Yeah, NASCAR runs it Talladega this weekend plus NHRA with their only four four wide race of the season with the four wide nationals from Z Max, Dragway, and Charlotte. We'll be here on Friday to talk all about it. But uh that's all we got for today's episode of the Throttle Four Podcast. Make sure you tune in, download, listen, watch on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, check out the chill for chill photography and Throttle Floor Podcasts, Instagrams, and TikToks. This guy wants me to put more of his Mustang pictures on my photography socials. So we'll we'll see if I do that. Be on the lookout for those pictures. Be on the lookout for those. But um that's all we got for today's episode of the Thor of the Floor Podcast. And we'll see y'all on Friday to talk crazy things. Crazy Talvega things. How good night? Crazy rain. Rain in the forecast. Yes, rain in the forecast.

SPEAKER_00

We might be seeing y'all Tuesday. Meteorologist Evans. We might be seeing y'all Tuesday or next Friday.

SPEAKER_01

The recap episode might be Tuesday. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00

It might be a long weird week next week.

SPEAKER_01

Who knows? We'll we'll see y'all sometime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Have a good night, y'all.