Ep. 66 - 1st Time NASCAR Winners (Talladega) + NHRA (Charlotte 4-Wide) Recap

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 a wild weekend of NASCAR action at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama that saw all three winners score their first career win. We also recap NHRA 4-Wide action from zMAX Dragway in Charlotte; listen, watch, and download episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hey y'all, welcome to today's episode of the Throttle Floor Podcast. I'm your host, Will Ernest, here today with my co-host, Evan Sager. Hello, y'all. Uh, after a wild week of racing, as you can probably tell with my cowboy hat on, um, we got some news to talk about, so let's get into it. First, I want to touch on this news. Uh, Kyle Bush has a new crew chief in uh Andy Street for the rest of the 2026 season. Jim Pullman will transition into a leadership role with RCR's uh competition department. This change, it'll start this weekend at Texas after his first top ten of the season at Taliga this past weekend. More on that later. Um also Clint Boyer and Jamie McMurray, they will drive the 25 uh Ram free agent truck um for colleague racing later this year. Boyer will drive at Dover on May 15th. Remember Dover for the All-Star Weekend? It's a trucks and O'Reilly's, they run points races. It's just Cup that runs the non-points all-star race. Yeah. Yeah. And then uh Jamie McMurray, he'll drive at San Diego on June 19th. Uh, some indie car news. Catherine Legg will attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in the number 11 Chevrolet for HD Motorsports in partnership with AJ Foyt Racing, as she'll try and make her fifth career start in the Indy 500. Please don't wreck. Please don't wreck out the 500 again. Again. Um also Aaron McLaren has partnered with Jimmy Johnson and his NASCAR Cup organization, Legacy Motor Club, for the Indy 500, and the number 31 Chevrolet, driven by uh Ryan Hunter Ray, the 2014 Indy 500 winner. And speaking of the Indy 500, uh the Open Test, the I guess the yeah, the first open test um for the Indy 500, it'll be on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, live streamed on IndyCar's YouTube channel. So good for them, being that the month of May is right around the corner. Thank God, finally.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Also, something to touch on with Legacy Miller Motor Club. Dollar Tree has announced that him and Jimmy Johnson have they're gonna have their own auto line come out in the next couple months.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

I did see that, yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

He's uh and they're gonna be on every store to me, like Tire Shine, like rinse wax and auto care. Auto care, yeah. Stuff for your car, but I think it's pretty cool that NASCAR is finally getting back into the sponsorship game to have their own products again.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yes, have have their own products like in in places where people, you know, shop and do business, you know. It's like you're walking down the grocery aisles or store aisles, and then you just say boom.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Like, oh yeah, I know that driver.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

I know that Jimmy Johnson tire shan.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, it's it's been a long time since they've done something like that, and I think that's what NASCAR needs to get back into like the supermarkets, the home improvement stores. Yes. And have products based off the drivers, which is smart. And also I like how this weekend when Eric Jones ran that Dorito scheme, they're finally getting into not just the name, like the whole brand of Dollar Tree, they're actually getting to the sub brands like Kroger does, which I like Kroger does, especially.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

That's the yeah. I really like how they do that. Good good point there with the whole Dollar Tree deal. Um, NHRA will transition to the only four-wide race of the season came and went as Z Max Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Bellaggio Drag Ships did not disappoint. You had the debut in the first of four races this year for the Wright Trailers Outlaw Street Exhibition series. That was pretty awesome in its own right. Plenty of chaos. We had sprinkles of rain, uh, superchargers went and seized up, motors blew up, all of that. But once we got through all that, we saw some pretty fast runs that led to victory. Reigning top field world champion Doug Coletto secured the top field win over Sean Langdon, Tony Stewart, and Leah Pruitt in the final quad with a uh 369-2 at get this 342.98 miles an hour. That is the third fastest official run um in NHRA history, not counting Langdon's 345 mile an hour blast in preseason testing. Um, new track record, beating Brittany Force's track record from last spring of 341.59 miles an hour. Uh it's Coletta's first win of the year, third win at Charlotte, 60th career win.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

So I mean just shout out 60th career win. Golf clap for him. Coletta's putting on a really great, great career. Can't wait to see him in the Hall of Fame.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Yes, for sure. Um Ron Cap secured the funny car win as the number one qualifier over Jack Beckman, Matt Hagen, and J.R. Todd with a uh 390 with a five at 334.9 miles an hour for his second win of the year, fifth win at Charlotte, which is the most among active drivers, and get this 79th win. Yeah, if you thought 60 was big, here you go. Yeah. Um after his third straight final round appearance. So yeah, if you're keeping score at home, Ron Caps uh secured funny car race win number 999 at Phoenix, finished second to Matt Hagen at Pomona in Funny Car Race 1000, and won Funny Car Race 1001 here at Charlotte. So I mean, points points later Ron Caps just on an absolute heater right now. Two number one qualifiers, two wins, another final round appearance sprinkled in the middle, just on an absolute heater. Also, uh another surprise on a heater right now. Matt Hartford beat uh Cody Coughlin, Greg Anderson, and Matt Latino in pro stock with a 652-6 at 210.05 miles an hour, second win of the year to win in Gainesville, first at Charlotte, 10th career win. But here's the crazy thing. He's been pretty feast or famine in the first race, first four races of pro stock to start the year, okay? He won the season opener at Gainesville, which was his first win in like two and a half years. And then um at Phoenix and Pomona, he proceeds to lose in the first round. And then he goes out in Charlotte and wins again. So I mean it's just it's in the win or nothing.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Yeah, winner, winner, you're out in the first round. No in between.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

So yeah, but just great bounce back to win at Charlotte for uh Hartford's first career four-wide victory. And uh Gay Charer beat rank uh beat reigning pro stock motorcycle world champion, uh Richard Gatson, who's also his teammate. Uh Clayton Howie and Chase Van Zand with a 675-A, 199.88 miles an hour for the win in Pro Stock Motorcycle. First win of the year, fourth overall at Charlotte, third in the four-wide, and 29th career win. Just Gage Rare being so young and racking up 29 career victories is just crazy in its own right. Pro Stock Motorcycles only ran two races this year. They were off for a couple weeks, but it's good to see them back in action for sure. Um, but NHRA, they return next weekend. Finally, at least we don't have to wait three weeks for an NHRA event. But next weekend, May 1st through the 3rd, the long-awaited return of the NHRA Southern Nationals. It is not in Atlanta. Atlanta Dragway is dead. Well, okay. IHRA is trying to bring it back, but we'll see what they do. But um this time it's at South Georgia Motorsports Park. But big issue, uh, South Georgia is on fire right now. We got we got wildfires just not looking good.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

I mean as the weatherman here, looking on based on the trends, as Larry McParns would say, we gotta look at the trends. There will be some relief coming in the next few days in the south. There's gonna be a com a big ridge coming to the southeast in the next cut, I think it's what's the Monday? We come in Thursday night. So by the time they get racing on the Friday through Sunday, this should be okay. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

There might be some smoke. I mean, at the same time, one little one one set of rain systems isn't really gonna fix everything. I mean, and at the same time, I mean, for one, it's like the biggest drought that Georgia's been in in like 20 years. And for two, I mean, there there's a blaze that's located in Clinch and Eccles counties. It's near the Georgia-Florida state line. Um, but it's burned more than 46 square miles, destroyed at least 30 35 homes, but it's around 37 miles from South Georgia Motorsports Park. I did a quick uh search on Google Earth, but I mean, we'll have to see if this becomes a larger issue throughout the week. And the fire is only about 10% contained, so like it's not looking good. No, it's not. And it could it could bring up some issues. I don't know if it's gonna get to the extent of like 1998 Pepsi 400 being delayed to October, but we'll see. Yeah, we'll see. It's not looking good, so prayers, prayers out to all those, especially those that have uh tragically lost their homes. But uh enough with NHRA for now. Tylandega. Tylandega, man, just what a wild, what a wild weekend. What a what a wild and crazy weekend. I mean, in Arca, you had Giorgio, he led much of this race on the pole, trying to go for three for three in Arca starts uh to start the year, but after a few big wrecks, it looked, it really did look like, honestly, Clayton's McFarlane, he was gonna win this race. He made his way to the front, led some laps, very impressive, considering, I mean, he made his arca debut at Daytona uh last year and he wrecked out. So just the amount of you know, the short amount of time he's been able to run up front and gain a bunch of experience. He still has a lot more to go, but I mean if you if you'd have told me that, you know, Cletus makes an arca start at Daytona last year, and it's like, oh, you know, in a year and change, he's ran a truck race, hasn't has some O'Reilly's races lined up, and ran arca races, and like almost wins the arca Talladega. It's like, what?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Like I I wouldn't believe you personally.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

You you wouldn't think that coming from a YouTuber, yeah. YouTuber coming into NASCAR, you wouldn't think he would run up front and almost win Talladega, one of the unmredful races ever.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I mean, if Cletus would have stayed high, he would have probably won, or at least had a better chance of winning. I mean, he still finished second um with Gustine and third. They were just kind of just for lack of a better term, messing around. Yeah. They were they were banging doors and uh it was uh oh, I'm gonna butcher this name so bad, but I apologize. But Andy Jenkovich um came on the top side to score the win, just only leading the last lap, which happened at a two out of three races this weekend. But it's Andy's first career Arca series win, his 48th series start. And I mean, you better get used to hearing the word uh hearing the words first career win for the rest of this episode. But before that, we gotta talk about the miscues of uh Carson Quappel and Justin Algeyer in the overall series. That was pretty bad. Pretty bad. Um, I mean Quapple won stage one by five one thousandth of a second over Sammy Smith, and Algeir won stage two, but they both got blend line violations um due to aggressive blocking on the back stretch after pit stops. Leader Jesse Love had to zig and zag very dangerously. It looked like I-95. I mean, Europeans, can you cross that?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah, can you imagine I-65 in uh Indianapolis at five o'clock traffic?

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

That was not fun. That's pretty bad. That was that was a that was an experience going from four lanes merging off of I-74 and I-65 to nine lanes. I'm like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Especially, especially when it was your first time on a highway like that, you were like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

You were it it it looked like it looked like I-285 in Atlanta. That that that's what it looked like to me. But this rule really started last fall in the Cup Series race at Talladega. I mean, when exiting pit road, like you can move up, but you can't like aggressively block faster cars until you're up to race speed, you know. I mean, it's like a 30 mile an hour difference, basically. So good rule there. But leading the race, Jesse Love. He had a left front tire vibration. Uh kind of scary for me. But he was able to hold on to that tire and ended up finishing seventh. Um, also leading the race. Sam Mayer, man. What could have been? What could have been? Initially, great save. Not only saved the car, but managed to um stay in the draft. Yeah. And drafted all the way back to the front um at the end of the race, but then got turned and wrecked on the last lap off front. Just what could have been for Sam Mayer, man?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Okay, but in his def- What was Swalish doing though?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

That's a good point. What was Williamson Wallace doing?

SPEAKER_01 12:35

He was already a lap down. I mean, I get it. He's trying to help his teammate Brent Cruz. I get that. But at the same time, it's the last lap, and you're a lap down, and you have Sam Mayer trying to battle for the win. So you're competing in the way. Yeah. So I I mean I get where Swalish is coming from, but at the same time, you can't wreck Mayer for trying to go for the win.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Yeah. You can't wreck competitive cars. Yeah. You know, when you're a lap down.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

Even though I will say it is the last lap, so a lot of things happen.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

It was a racing deal, but at the same time, like, did Swallowish really need to be that aggressive being a lap down, even though he's trying to help his teammate? Like, uh It's just one of those things you're like you think. It's one of those things. It's one of those things where it's just like, well, okay, next week.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Just one of the one of those deals.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Also, Sam Mare, when you got out of the car, what were you doing? It looked like you're trying to do some b uh bunny hops.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

I don't know. It's just frustration. Anger. Adrenaline, frustration.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

It looked like you was a toddler angry.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Yeah. I'm I'm I'm gonna be honest, I would have done the exact same thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yeah, I get it, but based on how it looked, it looked just pretty kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

It it looked, it looked it looked kind of funny on TV, but I mean, you know. The adrenaline and frustration going through his head. Yeah. It makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Considering me watched it live, we're like, what is he doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Yeah. It's just one of those. It's one of those deals. You just you have to expect it when you come to Talladega. I mean, you know, when you come to Talladega, there's the more likely than not, you're not gonna finish the race. So it's just it's one of those deals. But on that last lap, there was a car that emerged and also only led one lap on the entire day, and somehow he didn't cause any like crazy chaos uh again. Like, I mean he's figuring it out. He's he's somehow figuring it out, and I mean he's had it, he's had a great week, but yes, we're talking about Corey Day. Yes, Corey Day wins his first career O'Reilly series race to Talladega. He said it himself, I didn't think my first O'Reilly's win would be at Talladega. Well, here we are. Yeah, I don't think anyone did. 22nd series start wins at Talladega. And I mean, it's it was his debut race to Talladega, nonetheless. I mean, what a what a wild story, but just what a week for Corey Day, anyways. Tuesday, he won the high limit sprint car race, the Eagle Raceway in Nebraska, so just a double parlay for Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Also, shout out Chevy for this weekend when we're getting into Cup. Yes. Chevy had a really good weekend.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Chevy, Chevy, Chevy, Chevy. Chevy basically sweeped the weekend. Actually, I think they did sweep the weekend. Yeah. Good job, Chevy. Um, but speaking on high limit sprint cars, anyways, next weekend when NASCAR's top three series when they head to Texas. The high limit sprint cars will be at the Texas dirt track. So uh something fun to watch there. But O'Reilly's uh standings and picks, uh, I still lead the points. Uh my points lead little little narrow chop. Yeah. Just just a just a four-point chop. I lead Stacy by 51 points, Haley by 146, Bernardo by 156, Evan by 163, Noah by 220. Um third through fifth in the standings. It it's gotten tighter. And you'll you'll see why in a second with our picks. I picked Jesse Love, finished seventh, led 37 laps, won the poll. It was good those 37 laps, it was good enough for leading the most laps. The tire held on. Thank goodness.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

Thankfully for you.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Yeah. Evan, you picked Austin Hill, finished 13th, really could never recover after that bad pit stop. Um, led three laps, but just I don't know, just for some reason Austin Hill's just had like uncharacteristically quiet days. Like I mean, outside of like Kansas, where Jesse Love just packed the hair on him and spun him out and swallowed him and wrecked him. But Haley, uh, if you're wondering why uh third through fifth has gotten so tight in points, uh, it's because Haley picked Sam Mayer and Bernardo picked Harrison Burton, who both ended up getting wrecked. So on the last lap, unfortunately. Yeah, tough deals there. 25th and 27th. I mean, there were there were some hard wrecks. Yeah. Uh like outside outside of Sam Mayer. There were some hard wrecks. Harrison and Jed Burton, hard, hard, nasty licks. They were on fire.

unknown 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Rick Ricky Bobby had to show up. But yeah, just tough deals there. Stacy uh picked Sammy Smith, finished fourth, um, almost won stage one, missed out by five one thousandth of a second, but almost won stage one, led six laps. That's why she narrowed up my points like just a little bit. And Noah with Brandon Jones finished eighth. Well, just I don't even know what to describe Brandon Jones as. It's just like he was just there. Yeah. He was there, he survived. Here's here's your here's your eighth place finish, here's your check. Literally, here's your top ten, go home, focus on Texas. Yes, that that's pretty much um how it was. But getting into Cup and just but before we before we get to the exciting finish that we'll talk about in a few minutes. I mean, even with that, the first part of this race was very boring. Yes. Boring. Boring, boring, boring.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Even with the shorter stages, they still can help the fuel saving.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

But at the same time, it's a very hard and delicate balance between, you know, do you want fuel saving or do you want gridlock?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

It's a very hard and delicate balance.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Considering at one point SVG in the pack was running 24% throttle.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah, that's not a good look.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

That's not good. But it's it's kind of like a pick your poison situation at this point. I mean, you know, I I've thought about this over the last like day or so, but I mean, could you run four equal stages?

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I really I run it, honestly, run it like Charlotte.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Yeah, I was gonna say yeah, like four equal stages. I mean it'd be it'd be 47 laps each. Yeah. And the last two stages in the race um on Sunday, they were 45 laps, so basically, basically, yeah, pretty much just the same. But you'd have to worry about gridlock for the whole race since nobody would have to hold any throttle back, and when everybody's running at full throttle, it's almost impossible to make a third or fourth lane of cars, so you're kind of just gridlocked. But I mean, you could also just get rid of stage cautions at super speedways, because you'd have some guys saving for stage points, some guys running full throttle, some guys trying to short pit to get track position, because like you'd still have like the pit cycles. I don't know. I mean I don't really know what's the fix at these super speed races, but at the same time, super speedway racing is not the worst product that NASCAR has to offer. There are a lot worse uh options. Short tracks. Short tracks.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Short tracks are awful right now.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

Oh man, short tracks are awful. Road courses road courses are kinda it it depends on the road course. Yes. Depends on the road course, depends on the day.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Dakota can be good, can be crazy, triple overtime. Yes. Um complete domination.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Sonoma. Also, side note, this is the first race that Tyler Rick ran the poll and didn't win the race.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

That is a good that is a good point. But at the I mean, at the same time, he was running up in top ten for much of the day, even with his car getting banged up. And, you know, he got damage from the big wreck, he he hit the wall with like 27 to go and somehow didn't lose the draft. And you want to know where he finished in this race? I think it was like eighth or something like that. 14th. It's not 14th. Still managed a 14th place finish, despite all of that, which is equally oppressive in its own right when you talk about Talladega. Yeah, considering how big the asset was. 26 cars. I mean, I thought it was like 30, but 26 cars involved in that race.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

The huge one.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah. The huge one. Everybody. Yeah. But Ryan Priest winning stage one. Shout out Ryan Priest and really NASCAR in general. No cars flipping in Talladega. I mean, that's just a testament. You're pretty close up on Bubba Wallace. Yeah, I was gonna say, Bubba, Bubba had his rear tires lifting on the ground, but he didn't he didn't totally flip over. But it it takes a lot of work to try and get the car to settle down and stay on the ground. But we know the air manages to find a way to flip these cars or lift them off the ground.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Travis uh Carson Quappel.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, Carson Coppel at Kansas. Yeah, but stage two, I mean, like you mentioned, the not not even just the big one, the mega one. I mean, just you know, I've seen a lot saying, oh, it's Bubba's fault, it's Jazz Dan's fault. No. It it's a chain reaction, it's towel negative. Yeah. You had like 17 cars hit each other, and just it's it's an accordion effect, and then just the the issue is is Toyota can't take the pushes. Okay. When Toyota came out with the new body, it made the nose flatter so that they can they can like they can give pushes really well. They can't take the pushes. No. That's the issue. They can't, they can't, they're not they aren't able to take the pushes. And that that's what piled up twenty six cars down in turn three tile they did, but just a a chain reaction deal. It wasn't really anybody's fault. I mean, if you want to put Blame on somebody, put it on Toyota's new body for not being able to take any pushes. But yeah. Chastan goes on to win stage two, even though most people are like, wait, didn't he just cause the big wreck to wet?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yeah. Also, Ty Gibbs blows a tire.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Yeah, Ty Gibbs took a hard looking tire.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Ty Gibbs a hard look into the outside wall, man. Just he had damage from the Big Wreck and kept going thinking it was fine. And I don't know, he must have been dreaming too much about Pinburg, just blows a tire. Takes out like a dial in the process. For sure. Um, yeah, just smashed the big, big hit in the wall. But in stage three, it really just kind of turned into a gridlock race. You couldn't make a third lane even if you wanted to try. But you had a battle over the last like 40 laps between two cars. One, you had the Jack Lynx car of Chris Busher trying to score a win for Jack Links in the Jack Links 500 Taladega. And then Carson Hosabar and the Chili's and Timodente scheme. Please make that scheme permanent, please. Ride the Dente. Yeah, but just when the chips were down, when when everything was on the line, Hosovar was able to step up and and take that. And yeah, Carson Hosabar. First career cup series victory at Taladega in his 91st series start. You want to know um what what was the last time that somebody scored a victory in their 91st start? It was Greg Biffle in 2005.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Oh yeah, that is true, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yes, Greg Biffle in 2005. So, in a way, Hosomar did it for Biff. Yes. Do it for Biff. Do it for Biff. Um, Chris Busher finished second. Uh Alex Bowman, great run. Third start since back from injury, missing time due to the vertigo. Finished his third. It's his first top five since finishing runner-up at Richmond last August. Yeah. It's been a long time coming for Alex Bowman. Chase Elliott finished in fourth. Another solid day. Somehow kept that uh prime scheme intact. Um, at first, I originally thought that last year's prime scheme was better, but that the the the new one this year has definitely grown on me, and it also helps that prime is like so close. We're almost done with Fox coverage. Thank goodness. And then uh Zane Smith completes the top five. I knew I should have kept Zane Smith in my fantasy lineup. Yeah, because I swapped him out for Bubba, and we all know what happened there. Yeah. Bubba went bye-bye. But goodbye. Yeah. Also, shout out Kyle Bush for finishing 10th after an uncontrolled tire penalty. It's his first top 10 of the year, as we mentioned at the uh top of the show. He's got a new crew chief for next week, so we'll see how that goes. It's Texas. It's Texas. It's also Texas. Texas might be like the most unpredictably chaotic mile and a half that we go to. It's like, how do you predict Texas?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Don't spin out enough of three and four.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Don't spin out in three and four. That that's basically it. But three things, three, three big takeaways that I want to mention, at least in terms of like the end of that Towel Digger race. First, uh, Haley, I'm so jealous you got to watch that race in person, and also one of the greatest celebrations of all time. I mean, that might be the greatest celebr post-race celebration we've seen since Edwards' backflip and Alan Quick's Paul's victory lap.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

I'm just glad he didn't get a concussion when he hit the wall because he looked like you bobblehead in that wall.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah. I mean, just that was kind of dumb. Hosovar could have had a million things go wrong. But see, like, he he got on he got on the windowsill and like he was trying to drop the clutch, but he couldn't reach it like because he's like six he's like 6'4, but like he couldn't get to it. So what he had to do was he had to take the steering wheel off. Like, after he refired it, because he initially stalled it, but he took the steering wheel off, and that's why it was drifting off to the left. So he had to get in position, put the steering wheel back on, and miss the inside wall by probably only a few feet, something like that. Um, but then yeah, he he really did ride the dente. I mean he he he hit the he hit the outside wall. Um and he didn't he didn't realize it at the time. I w I watched his stream earlier today. He didn't realize at the time, but like his hand was on the roof rail, and so when he hit the wall, he like sliced his hand on the roof rail. Oh. So yeah. I mean it's all healed up now, he's fine, but just man, just the way I mean, uh post-race was pretty scary. I mean, Hosovar, I think he's taking the he's taken the number one spot for insurance risk. I mean besides besides Connor Zilich. I don't know. I mean if if that was Connor Zilich trying to do that, he he would have fallen out of the car.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Broken his other collarbone?

SPEAKER_00 26:38

He would have fallen out of the car, broke his collarbone again, and probably gotten ran over by the car. But I mean, I think I think Hosovar is uh the new number one for insurance risk. I mean, if if only we had uh a spa uh a sponsor and a company that could save you 15% more on car insurance.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Or you can go to progressive.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Yeah, but like 15% more on car insurance, car insurance. It's also a certain company that used to sponsor the spring tolerator race. Used to be a premier premier partner for NASCAR. Used to be uh Lizard. Yeah, uh Gecko per se. Um Icko. Yes, but if you couldn't tell. But yeah, just that was probably one of the greatest posters celebrations of all time. And I was stuck watching it on the couch, sadly. But at least at least Haley was there watching it. Also, uh happy one year anniversary, Haley. I love you. Um, I hope you love the cowboy hat. It is a it is a pain wearing these headphones.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

He's riding the dente, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yes, I'm riding the dente, hose of our wrote the dente, we're all riding the dente. But second, Hosovar is he he's NASCAR's next star. I think I think we can officially say that. And we've we've been looking for, you know, when can NASCAR get its next true superstar to take us to new heights, or I guess like try and get back to older heights in a way. But I guess you could also throw in Cletus there too. But I mean, after Cletus's second place finish in the Arca race and Hostbar's winning cup and the celebration afterwards, I mean NASCAR has like all the momentum in the world right now. It's just can they keep it? Yeah, we're going to Texas and we're going to Texas. That's not good. Yeah. If we're going to Charlotte, I'm even different. Charlotte, we're looking good. If we're going to Charlotte for the All-Star race and the 600, which is what it should be, we'd be in a really good spot. But no. No, we're going to Texas, which I mean is kind of appropriate with the cowboy hat. But at the same time, if you know Texas, especially in recent years with the with the with the next gen, the Gen 7 car, uh, don't get loose in three and four. Otherwise you'll get hurt. Yeah, but um, also uh shout out uh newly appointed NASCAR CEO, Steve O'Donnell, uh major W. He did not ban Hosovar's celebration. So I mean, if Hosevar goes out and wins at Texas next weekend, which guess what? That is not the most crazy statement. No, it's not. It's really not. He scored his first career poll there. Spire has been good on the intermediates, and I mean, I mean, Hosovar himself is all the number.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

If that's the bill, he gets a cowboy hat at the end of the race.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

Exactly. You I mean, he already he already has the cowboy hat and pair it with some six shooters. Yes. I mean, it's just is it a matchmade heaven? Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. He's also running uh the the 77 truck in Friday night's truck race, and it is the Intimidente and the truck. Yeah. Some good timing. So can Josevar go uh two out of three? I mean it's not crazy. We'll see. It's totally not crazy, but um just and and third, I mean, what a poll last week um uh for me picking Josevar to win. Just just just rule the clip. But our standings and picks, um, I have a clean 500 points um in the standings. I lead Stacy by 87 points, Haley by 143, Bernardo by 147, uh, you Evan by 199, and Noah by 250. Just just 250 points, 250 back. It's whatever. Um, as I mentioned, I pick Hosovar for the win. Uh unlike the other two races, Hosovar did not lead one lap being the last lap. He led 19 laps. He was up front towards the end of this race. Um, Evan, you picked Austin Cindrick. Shout out Austin Cindrick.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Got literally got knocked around like a pinball in the in the in the Mega One in stage two. Was a lap down, got his lap back, finished eighth. So great comeback for you. Um and outside of us, uh, everybody else finished 31st or worse. Yes. Um Haley DNF'd with Blaney in the big reg finished 37th. Stacy picked Bubba, who initially got turned around the big reg finished 36th. Uh Bernardo with Brad Keslowski. Interesting. I want I want to shout out Brad here. You might not think it's that big of a difference, like, you know, finishing 31st and still running like 22 laps down instead of like 70 some, like for the guys that ended up out of the wreck. But I mean, you know, Brad getting back on track, you know, that's an extra like seven or eight spots that he gained. Yeah. And in the era of the chase, that's seven or eight positions, you know, that's that's extra points there. So I mean, for all we know, in you know, Daytona in August, that could matter. Yes. Will it? Probably not, but could it? Yeah, yeah, it could. And, you know, if it if it does matter, we'll we'll bookmark this and come back to it. And I mean, that's just it's it's the chase era. I mean, you you get all the points you can. There's no winning you're in, there's no security blanket that you get. You know, Hosovar's not going to the playoffs. I mean, Hosebar is eighth in the standings right now, but he he doesn't get no auto ticket into the playoffs. The only auto ticket right now is Tyler Reddick. Yeah. Tyler Reddick is the only auto ticket. That that's about it.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Unless he finished dead last every single day.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Unless he finished dead last from here on out. But I mean, just Tyler Reddick, what a start, what a start. Five wins in the first ten races in of the season. Just just a crazy start. Can he keep it going? We'll see. Um and Noah with Joey Logano, 39th. Another DNF, another casualty of the of the huge one. Just Joey Logano, man. I mean, just it is an even year, but the playoffs are dead. Yeah. And we're back in the chase, and I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

It's not 2024. We can magically win with the mystery feel you had in Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah. Um, just I is it fair to say Logano's washed? I think I think I think it's fair to say. And at the same time, we're only 10 races in, but like but it's not looking good. To be fair, though, Penske, like, sure, I guess it was in the playoff elimination era, but at the same time, Penskey in recent years, they've come on late. So, of course, you know, to come on late and go win a championship, you have to make the chase first. But we come to Texas next week, where it's been officially one year since Joey Logano won a race. He won Texas last year for his only win last year. And uh I don't think Logano's winning, but it is also Texas. So, I mean, for all we know, we could have the other 30-some cars all wreck in turn four and Logano wins.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

There's a mystery substance on the track. 2022 um uh summer Daytona.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Yeah. I was gonna I was I was about to say like 30 cars ended up in the wall in turn four at Texas due to a mystery substance. That's more of an Austin Dillon thing, and then you bring up summer 2022 Daytona. So but yeah, wild weekend at Taladang and Charlotte. Some would only say it gets crazier, as we've mentioned already. All three top NASCAR series head to Texas, and that's not even counting the high limit sprint cars, but um, yeah, an NHRA, the long awaited return to the Southern Nationals, hopefully it doesn't catch on fire. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

That would be kind of cool though.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Yeah, but like it's kind of a safety issue, so like not good. Um, yeah, but we'll preview it all on Friday. We'll give you uh uh fire update. Uh Weatherman Evan's gonna turn into uh Smokey Evan fire fire danger update.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Smokey the bear.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Yeah, Smokey the Bear, Evan the Bear, giving us a fire danger update. Um, but that's all we got for today's episode of the Throttle Floor Podcast. Make sure you uh tune in and listen and download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, um check out the Chill Photography and Throttle Floor Podcast, Instagram, and TikTok accounts, and uh that's all we got for today's episode. Wild Weekend um from Taladay and Charlotte. Will it get crazier? Probably. It'll probably find a way somehow. Um will South Georgia burn to the ground? I sure hope not. Yeah. Because I I I would like to see the return of the Southern Nationals, please. And I would not like um Haley's home state of Georgia and eventually my home state of Georgia to completely just burn down. So, yeah, but that's all we got, and we'll see y'all on Friday. I'm gonna y'all.