Ep. 69 - NASCAR (Watkins Glen) + IndyCar (Indianapolis RC) Preview

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, I preview a possible wet and wild weekend at Watkins Glen with all three of NASCAR's top series; and I also preview IndyCar's kickoff to the month of May with the race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's infield road course; listen, watch, and download episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Transcript

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Hey y'all, welcome to today's episode of the Thor of the Floor Podcast. I'm your host, William Ernest, here today with uh just myself. Got a short preview episode this morning, so let's get into it. Uh, I want to touch on this. Uh Ryan Priest, he had that uh 25-point penalty from wrecking Ty Gibbs, uh, allegedly, uh, during the Texas Cup race last weekend. Uh RFK has announced that they will appeal that penalty. I'm not sure if they're gonna win that appeal, but at least they're appealing. I feel like, in my personal opinion, if Ryan Priest should be penalized, I feel like Kyle Bush should be penalized. I mean, then again, I'm not sure if his claims that his steering was broken are actually like legitimate, but I don't know. We'll we'll see how this appeal goes. Um, also the Joe Gibbs Racing Spire Motorsports lawsuit, the trial date has been set for January. So, I mean, JGR won in November, Spire wanted it in May. I guess January was the best compromise, but I mean, here we go again with trials and lawsuits, and it's like, man, we are getting sick of this. We are getting sick of all these lawsuits. And speaking of Spire, Carson Hostar, he had some tough luck on the dirt this week. He was scheduled to run Tuesday night at LaSalle Speedway, Wednesday at Spoon River Speedway, and Thursday at Lincoln Speedway as part of Illinois Speed Week. LaSalle and Lincoln got rained out, sadly. But I was on I was at Spoon River on Wednesday night, so I got lucky. I picked the right night to go to. But sadly, Hosevari spun the on the first lap of his heat race, and he didn't advance to the feature out of either his heat or his B-main, so tough deal there. But he said at some point in the future he's going to test his dirt late model. Um, so we'll see there. But he turns to Watkins Glenn now this weekend. He's running the truck race and the cup race, of course. But before we do the same, I want to talk about IndyCar. Thank goodness it's the month of May, finally, which means Indianapolis, even though we already did the Indy 500 open test last week, but I still think that the hardest part about this race is you're always thinking about the Indianapolis 500, but the Indie Road Course still pays as a championship event, and it still counts towards the end of your points. So, I mean, at least for right now, the goal has to be win the indie road course race, do well in the indie road course race, and then next Tuesday when they get back in the cars to test some more, then you can shift all your focus back to the Indy 500 um at the end of May, or I guess the second to last week of May, Memorial Day weekend, May 24th. Um, Alex Pelow, he is back to taking high command of this championship. He goes for his fifth series title, including four in a row if he pulls it off. He's won three of the five races thus far, including the most recent two coming into this weekend, and he's won three of the last four races on the indie road course, including the last two. So if you want to beat Pelow, you have to try and get in his head, which is very hard to do. Especially, you know, it's Alex Pelow for Christ's sake. But Padow Award, he's trying to do just that. He looks for his first win of the year, but he's been close. He's finished fourth or fifth in four of the first five races this year, and he finished second to Pelot on the Indie Road course last year. And I mean last year was also very interesting. There was only one caution for two laps, but there were six DNFs in the race, and all of them were due to mechanical failure, and that goes back to being too distracted by the Indy 500 testing for the Indy 500 focusing on the Indy 500, trying to make the car perfect. And yeah, it is in all due respect, it is the Indianapolis 500, but at the same time, the Indianapolis Road Course pays championship points just like every other event. And I mean that could be the differen you know, for all we know, when we get to Luganosega in September, that could be the difference between who wins the championship or not. Will it be the difference? Probably not, knowing Alex Pelovi's gonna run away with this championship. Uh, but it could be, it could be the difference between winning a championship or not. And you might not realize it now in early May, but you'll sure realize it in four months in early September when we wrap the season up. Um but yeah, just something to note there. I mean, it's just it's it's hard to not focus on the Indy 500 for like a week and focus on the indie road course, but it still pays championship points, so it's still something important. But our picks, um, I picked Scott Dixon. Evan is going with Powder Award, Haley with uh willpower, just hopefully willpower can have another good run put together. He had that third place at Arlington, but other than that, it's definitely been a struggle. Uh the transition between leaving Team Penske and going to Andredy Autosport. Stacy with Joseph Newgarden, who's kind of been pretty quiet since his win at Phoenix, uh the last time we raced on an Oval. Bernardo with Scott McLaughlin, who's also been pretty quiet ever since uh he finished second in St. Pete. It's kind of just he's been there. Penske as a whole, they're just they've been there, but like they haven't really contended all that much outside of pretty much Phoenix and the second place finish at St. Pete. And Noah with Marcus Erickson, which I mean, where is Marcus Erickson been? I mean, he is a former Indy 500 winner, but just where has he been? Like, he's not shown up at all. So we'll see, we'll see about that. Hopefully we don't have six mechanical failures, because that would be rough. I mean, you'd have teams scrambling trying to get ready for the Indy 500, even though it's not even like the same car. I mean, it's a it's a road course and a street course car versus you know the super speedway Indy 500 car. I mean, they are two completely different cars, but at the same time, remember the week after the Indy 500, we go to Detroit for another street course race, so you still have to scramble to put the car back together, even though, again, all your focus is on the Indy 500, and you really can't get too all distracted with that, even though it is the most prestigious any car race and the most one of if not the most prestigious motorsport races in the world. It's just it's very distracting. Um, but getting into Walkins Glen now, starting with the truck series, I'm just gonna go out and say it. The truck series race might be the best race of the weekend for three different factors. Um, one, Friday is the only day that's set to be dry, and there's rain in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, which prompts the reason of why you would schedule this race in May, because upstate New York is known for this kind of weather this time of year, and I mean the super muddy campgrounds with campers getting stuck, having to use cranes to get them out. I mean, that's a completely different story. But luckily, Denis Carr has already announced that Watkins Glen next year will uh return to September and be in the chase, so good for them. But with this rain, we will probably need rain tires, which is sure to be a mess. I mean, we've used rain tires before, but more often than not, it just it it still ends up being a mess, even if you would consider it to be successful. Rain tires do work, but the and two to go along with those rain tires, the new tire packs that sit in turn one and in turn five at the exit of the carousel, that just it only makes the track more constricted, more constricted in space, more tighter in space, which that all that's gonna do is just keep the cars closer together, and it's gonna basically make driving in that rain uh that's forecast damn near impossible without causing chaos, being you have like all the wake from all the rain and stuff. It's just it's not looking good. Um, and three, the truck race is just absolutely loaded with talent, top to bottom, in this field. You have Brent Cruz in the in the one tricon truck, SVG and Connor Zilich, they're running in the truck race along with all three top series races this weekend. Uh AJ Almendinger is in the 25 Ram free agent truck, Josevar is in the 77 truck, and just the list goes on and on. But there's 38 trucks entered, and only 36 will make the show. So two trucks will go home, which definitely adds to the excitement. But our picks. Um uh I'm picking Gio Rogero. He finished third at Watkins Glen last year. Uh, I hope he does better than what he ran at St. Pete, which he ran in the top 10 for much of the day then, but then he got spun and ended up 25th. Evan with uh Lane Riggs. It looked like Lane Riggs was gonna come all the way from the back to win at Texas, but it wasn't in the cards. But Lane Riggs did win at St. Pete, which was the only other time the trucks have turned right this year. Granted, that was a street course, but still. Uh Haley with Tyler Ankrum trying to get some momentum back after running good at Texas last week until that late race spin. Stacy with Ben Rhodes, which Ben Rhodes had a solid week uh last week at Texas, finishing fifth from the pole, led a bunch of laps on the stage. Uh Bernardo didn't give me a pick, so he got random wheeled um with Tyler Reefe. That that's gonna be rough. I'm gonna be I'm gonna be honest. But you know what? At the same time, it is the truck series, so for all we know, uh Tyler Reef's gonna finish in the top ten somehow. Will he? Probably not, but you know what? It is the truck series, you don't know what to expect in the truck series, and Noah with Grant Infinger. But in the O'Reilly series, um, Zilich and SVG, as we mentioned, they are in all three top series races this week, which includes the O'Reilly series race last year. And there's three things you'll remember from that race. One, Austin Hill seemingly wrecking everybody, which prompted NASCAR to add those tire packs in turn one, and particularly in turn five, exiting the carousel in the first place. Two, Zilich wrecking SVG as they're batting for the lead in turn six. Um, and three, Zilich, he did come out on top at Watkins Glen in the O'Reilly series again, uh a year after his 2024 debut, which he won that too. So, good news there. The bad news was he had that really terrible fall in victory lane. It broke his collarbone, and that caused him to miss the cup series race the next day, which SVG went on to win that. Can Zillich make it Sunday this time? I would sure hope and think so, but you really never know in NASCAR these days. But I I would think so. I would think Zillich is more careful if he ends up winning, that is. Uh, but outside of them, Sam Mayer is probably one of the most hungry to win, as he's already seen teammate Sheldon Krieg get a win, um, his with his win at Echo Park, aka Atlanta earlier this year. But Mayer himself, he's come up short multiple times, or he's had fast cars and then ended up out of the race due to like power issues and stuff. But particularly at Coda earlier this year, he ran up front for much of the day before overshooting turn 6A late in the race and feigning to finish 14th. He also finished second to Zillich last year at Watkins Glen. And Mayor, we've seen him uh he's been proven to be more than capable of winning a road course race himself, so we'll see if he can get it done. But our picks for the O'Reilly series, I picked SVG. I trust SVG a little bit more than Zillich, at least in the O'Reilly series, but we'll see. Evan with Justin Allguyer, who came so close to winning a Texas last week. Haley with Austin Hill, please don't wreck half the field this time. Although I will admit, Austin Hill has been much more quiet lately, and at the same time, it's like he's been kind of feast or famine with his results, they've been pretty up or down. Um, but none of them have been really any kind of contending speed at all. Stacy with Sammy Smith, Bernardo uh again with the Brandon Wheel with Brendan Poole, which I actually don't think that's a terrible pick, that's just me. And Noah with Brandon Jones. But in the Cup series, I mean again, you could argue that SVG and Zilich, they're the cars to beat, but Track House, at least on the cup side, you know, speaking on the cup side wise, Track House as an organization, they have been severely lacking speed lately. I mean, Spire has had more speed than Track House up to this point, but I think the car to beat is the guy who straight up beat SVG at Coda earlier this year, and that's Tyler Reddick, who's looking for a sixth win in 12 in just 12 races uh this weekend. And Redick, he's got four top tens in his five starts at the Glen, so it's not totally out of the question. The rain is definitely a concern, especially if we do commit to rain tires. But we did use them at Watkins Glen in 2022, so the concept is not entirely new, but it's still rain tires at the same time. Ken Christopher Bellwright, the bad luck ship he's been on this year, he has had a rough go at it. Um, he comes in uh this weekend after getting wrecked at Texas while leading, but he finished second at the Glen last year, so we'll see. And then there's Chris Pusher, who won here in 2024, also straight up beating SVG, finished third last year, and he's coming off of a second at Talladega and a fifth at his home track in Texas. So he's he's been pretty good lately. And Kyle Larson's win this streak, man, it is on the doorstep of a full year now, unless he can win this weekend. But he's won back-to-back here in 2022 and 2023, so it's not out of the question. But last year he finished dead last. So we'll see. But will SPG Stillage dominate? They could, they probably will, but they might not. I mean, the way track houses look, I personally am not sold on the idea. Um, and that reflects in our picks. I picked Tyler Reddick. I feel like Tyler Reddick has the more complete package um to go out and win this race. Sure, he's got four top tens and five starts, but I mean he won at Coda earlier this year, straight up beating SVG. And I mean, Reddick has been the best driver in the cup series this year, and until somebody else could go out and prove him wrong, which you could argue Chase Elliott at times has done that, he's already got two wins this year plus his uh dual win in February after winning at Texas last weekend. But even then, Reddick finished fourth last week at Texas, and I don't know. I just I feel good about Tyler Reddick. I feel better about Tyler Reddick than I do about SVG and Zilich, and really just all a track house. Uh Evan with Michael McDowell. Michael McDowell's an interesting case. He's definitely been the third car at Spire for sure. But McDowell is still definitely a capable road course racer. It's just can he put it together? I remember I think it was I think it was 2024, I believe, maybe it was 23, where McDowell he was up front and led laps, but then sadly he had an electrical issue that took him out. So and I also think of like Chicago last year, where he led a bunch of laps then, but then had a throttle cable go out, and that took him out then too. So McDowell, he's he is a talented road course racer. He won at the indie road course in 2023, but just can't can he write the ship himself. Uh Haley is trusting SVG to go out and win again, just like he did last year. I just I do think SPG can win. I just don't know if it's as clear-cut as like say last year. But we'll see. Stacy with Denny Hamlin. I mean, Hamlin is usually not that good on the road courses, but the one road course when he does have was at Watkins Glenn in 2016. So we'll see. Bernardo with Christopher Bell, we talked about him earlier. Uh, and Noah with Noah Gregson. I don't I don't love that pick, but at the same time, that's his pick, and we'll we'll see what happens. I mean, with with the rain and the possible rain tires and all that, it was just who knows what'll happen. But just, I mean, we got Watkins Glenn, Indy Rick course this weekend. Lot of lot of right turns. We're we're turning right a lot, and it could be a lot of drama, especially toward leaning towards Watkins Glenn with all that rain. But we'll find out what happens and recap it all on Monday. But that's all we got for today's shortened preview episode of the Thorle Floor Podcast. Make sure you tune in and listen and download and watch on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube. Check out the Chill Photography and Thor of the Floor Podcast Instagrams and TikToks, the photos from Spoon River Speedway Wednesday night. Uh, those will be posted soon on the photography, Instagram, and TikToks. So check those out. But that's all we got for today's episode, and we'll see y'all on Monday.