Phoenix: Joey Logano on a supremely confident championship run; what happened with Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain; whats 2023 hold for NASCAR and Next Gen Year 2

I'm your host Nate Ryan here on the Wednesday after the season finale. I'm on camera but not on camera in the traditional way. Parker Kligerman has joined me as my guest. Some but yeah, I go check out Parker Kligerman's YouTube channel for some exciting V-logging that I'm unexpectedly avoiding maybe calling it a funny yeah vlog. So normally this would be on camera before NASCAR America no

NASCAR America motormiles today. So instead Parker and I are doing this old school. I am recording solely the audio version of the NASCAR NBC podcast which I normally do as like a simulcast sort of thing but in this case it will be no on camera version just me and Parker in the studio talking it out Phoenix Raceway the season finale Parker was there I was there

Joey Ligano wins the 2022 championship and this worked out well Parker because you had Joey Ligano's pit as one of the NASCAR NBC pit reporters this past weekend and you noticed it too as well. I'm sure the swagger the confidence he had pretty much all weekend even before he won the pole position. When did you first notice it? When did you see it? I noticed it

when I talked to Paul that Wednesday before the weekend and once I got assigned I talked to Paul and I've talked I know Paul really well I was test driver for him on the Xfini program when he was at Penske with Brad when they first came in together I was the second you know like the back of driver I did all the practice and qualifiers and

Brad couldn't make it with Paul's I've known Paul really well and I did I was their test driver when they won the championship in 2012 on the 2 car no light car so I know Paul and I know how on edge he can be and when I spoke to him for 30 minutes on Wednesday it was just like when we won Vegas we went to work

on Phoenix the next day and I'm telling you Parker we are prepared and I'm going to do it. He just kept saying we are prepared and I'm just like all right he doesn't usually say that right like it just he just kept really leaning into that and then I saw Joey's comments at media day and it was like oh these guys are they've beaten everyone before

you know they've shown up and it just mentally you could tell that they were just in a different space than the others and their confidence was booming and so I just thought that continued until I interviewed Joey for qualifying and well actually I'm going to go back to practice I saw they weren't as good maybe they were they were good on the long run you could

see it but they weren't as good maybe as the 9 or the 1 and then the 12 car though was a rocket ship in practice if you remember and I thought huh they talk about being prepared doing all the stuff the 12 cars been knocked out wonder if the 12 cars you know got something different so of course it did a little bit and then on

the next day I interviewed Joey before he goes on qualifying I said well what you be satisfied with what helps you for just you win this championship and he said first I'm going to win the pole I'm like okay that's confidence what does he do he wins the pole and then I was told that they two setups between the 12 and the 22 were almost very

similar and I have to think that was a little bit of the 12 was set up in a way just trying something in practice that they saw and liked because Joey and him Paul talked about it forever after practice and I saw and so it just kept building until I was like and I think it was in most of my reports before the race and when

we did report starting the race I was like this team has mentally been the champion since you know since Tuesday and I just think I was going to say I am just hoping I would have been a little bit more of a chance and there was like a chance to go back and go back and I was like I was going to see that I was

about to get a chance to do that and I was trying to do that and I was like I was hoping to get really good I was hoping to do that and I was hoping to get a chance to do that and I was hoping to do that and I was hoping to do that and it's up there one else to take this change from them

and no one rose up I noticed it right away on media days well I was in the NBC room and asking questions of each of the four championship contenders as they came in and no disrespect to Chase Elliott Christopher Bell Ross Chastain but the demeanor the body language the way he answered the question Joey Lugano just he was in a different plane than these guys it

was it's hard to explain but just the first question we asked each of these guys was what does it mean to be here and have this opportunity to race for the championship something you normally expect a driver to answer oh it means the world you know this is what we're all building for everybody gave that answer except for Joey who's Joey's answer was it means nothing

and that was how he started the interview and like they're like five other people in the interview and everybody's like ears perked up and it's just like what's happening here and he just continued to parlay this and I don't think he was playing mind games the way we've seen Tony Stewart do with Carl Edwards in 2011 or Kevin Harvick has done it with several drivers not

just in the playoffs but just in general but he definitely took advantage of the fact I mean he said Sunday night after one that breaks in the championship that I could tell that some guys were just happy to be here and obviously there are two guys who had been making their first appearance Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain how did you I mean because you're aware of

that you're a driver you're a full time X-Madee series driver again next year you're aware of those mental games get played how do you think Joey Lugano kind of used those edges because he doesn't do it in a real over way like other guys do but clearly he took some confidence from yeah I think he just leaned into like I know exactly what to do I've

been here before I've done it I've got two of them beat on that fact and I believe I have a faster better car than the nine which they you know Penske also believe that short tracks have been a strength for them this year and that Paul mentioned that and that he and Joey were really confident about their package on the short tracks which they consider you

know Phoenix maybe is a little bit of a hybrid but they consider a short track package so I think he wasn't you put it wasn't mental games wasn't like you know ribbing of the others and like poking fun or even focusing on it was like they don't even exist right that was the other thing it was like it was just I'm so confident there is not

three others here yeah I don't even I don't know who you're talking about yeah you could put Dillard Hart David Anderson Bobby Allison there I'm still going to win the champion wouldn't matter it doesn't I guess we're here we're going to be the best we are the best team they made the pick crew change replacing their Jackman Braxton Brandon who had been with Paul since he

been in cup Braxton I know Braxton forever he Graham Stoddard was putting that position they did that right before Martin'sville they went from being athon average to having the fastest pick crew via their their numbers at Martin'sville so that was another confidence booster so they walked in there with what they felt like would be the fastest car which they proved to be besides maybe them or

the 12 but their team Penske was the fastest team at Phoenix they have the most confident driver who says he knows exactly what to do and how to drive that place in 2020 the chips have to got away another part of it right where he felt like he was the best and you got a pick crew that they feel like it's the fastest picker in a

race where the only thing Paul Wolf said to me he was worried about was the pits and the variables around that and he said this only way we lose that was in our quote the only way we lose this championship is that we screw up with the pits they felt like they had everything ready prepared and obviously they had that time and so you know Joey

called Vegas the most important race you know of the season besides Phoenix when I was having the first meetings of my team for Xfindi this week I sat down with our GM everyone I said hey look this is how I look at things blah blah and I said by the way Vegas that's the most important race in here like when we get to the playoffs and

I think that I'm telling you I know I've seen this now for the TV side multiple times what that allows these teams to do is unbelievable and put aside just the mental side of you're all prepared you're doing things think about the 20 Christopher Bell who gets through at Martinsville then Monday morning I said oh my gosh we're running for a championship there's no way they

can be as prepared in an era where the car is all the same it comes down to your people execution preparation so I just think they had to beat that way and two things to fall upon there won the pick crew change because you mentioned that Jackman had been with Paul Wolf since he'd been a cup crew chief which would have been 2011 more than 10

years yeah they've been to get it a long time it was a very emotional change for Paul yeah that seems like a really significant I wanted to say risky but to make that change with two races of the going to season when you're locked in the championship for and you don't want to disrupt that chemistry but obviously it worked Graham came from the 12 car you

know it just worked and Paul talked about a little bit after I asked him after the race we did our interview on the post ratio it was my second question was hey you know your picture was flawless they'd never made a single mistake when it counted they got you out with you need to be you know that's exactly you'd ask from Pico but you know go

into this you guys had to make a change it was a tough change he got very emotional about it you know in terms of just Braxton meant is a friend of his and so when he's had a lot of success with and won a prior championship and so but he was like you know we just gotta do it's best for the team and a change had

to be made so it's tough and you mentioned that Lagona would say so the most important race before Phoenix was that Vegas win and that is interesting to me Parker because like I get the rationale behind it I get the logic behind it we've certainly seen there been other instances where the guy wins what was then the opening round of eight race with Martinsville would win

the championship you know Lagona did it in 18 up Jimmy Johnson did it in 16 but I guess I sort of fell for the narrative that the next gen might alter this equation because teams aren't building their cars you don't have as much opportunity to maybe tailor make your card of to Phoenix but I guess it doesn't really matter in a sense because it's still just

if you can just spend that much time just on setup stuff forget about having autonomy over the entire car it still makes a difference. And even just preparation of like how you tackle the weekend right and how you you know what do you start doing symbolize you could start two three weeks ahead everyone's working on sim you know how correlates really well you can start working

on the idea one of your teammates is going to run this alternate setup idea that you can't run because they're not going to be a part of it you know like I just think those things compound where I know you can't build your own stuff right now but it's then it comes down to the tiny things right because that was running damn same lap time it's

such minute small things make huge differences yes it's different maybe and how you get an advantage but I think the advantage is the same if that makes sense you can't build the car differently anymore like you could three or four years ago you would build a trouble throw down Phoenix car you know maybe it's got some sort of weight distribution difference or something you've done different

and now yeah you can't do that but it's the small stuff that adds up to create the same gap. Exactly and that's where it makes a lot of sense to me it's it's counter to to think about it first but it kind of goes to this broad industry wide NASCAR discussion we've had in recent years about it as the cars have become more common or whatever

and they're working in smaller and smaller areas if you can find the edges in those smaller areas it's actually going to mean like a bigger advantage so the next gen in the sense maybe it does limit the areas that teams are working on to just set up suspension stuff but the stuff I'm sure that Paul Wolfe and the 22 found the other teams probably weren't going

to be able to find the time they had to prepare because nobody locked in before Martin'sville was the other thing yeah so Joey Lugano said that he was treating this like the most important race of the year Phoenix and every other driver we talked to tried to pass it off as just another race and I think this was another advantage for Lugano this media interview is

he was saying hey this is not just another race you have to treat this as if it's the biggest race of the year I know you didn't have chase Elliott Christopher Bell Ross just aim but did you see things from those drivers that indicated especially in the case of Bill and just and being in the championship round for the first time that maybe they were a

little bit overwhelmed or kind of trying to find their footing up until race day you know I I didn't particularly notice anything that stood out to me you know I look for that in practice often where I noticed you know where I want to race and the next week all the eyes are on you or it's the you know I've been in a championship fight before

where you know things search for sort of the focal point starts to point you a little bit and you know there's more tensions there's more cameras around you so and so forth and at the championship week you know I love that practice because you've never seen more cameras more reporters more people round those four cars during practice and fans lining behind but when I saw Ross

walk out you know I look for like their body language I've seen years where I can't just a couple years ago or Denny looks so stiff I was like he's beat I mean I mean Denny I mean Denny was my pick the way the championship this year he's always saying her he's always will be it's his year until it's not I mean Denny he doesn't win

one he'll go down right there of Mark Martins will the greatest drivers never win a championship but yeah so I look for all that stuff I didn't see anything that really stuck out you know and Ross looked pre-lay back the track house team has had so much attention on them I think they were used to it it was just another thing you know I didn't see

any particular practice he went P1 right off the bat I mean shows prepared for preparation show it up you know just knew how to rip a lap off right away so to go to your answer your question no I didn't see anything the one instance in which we saw championship contenders get together during this race was Ross gestain and chase Elliott and that was interesting how

both reacted to it chase replayed it it seemed like over and over again in the car he was asking his team on the radio to do anything wrong and then afterward despite many questions and much prompting he sort of refused to take a stance on it eventually said that he thought what Ross had done was unnecessary but yeah he didn't really blame him and Chastain was

very much the way Ross is all the time like I saw a gap I took it and he moved down too late sorry don't come across my nose when I'm trying to pass you on the inside that's on you how did you see that incident so I actually think the incident itself is part of 5050 just like the way that all is designed and the restarting

the dog leg and the angles I feel like what Chase was doing was what everyone had done all all three races all weekend where Ross had done was pretty normal I think particularly maybe you could say like hey when he's coming across you like that some guys would be like hey let's just lift here for a second you discretion is a better part of hour he's

just sort of plowed through it or even tried to steer left a little bit you know to avoid him hitting him but he didn't do that either he just kind of helped his ground yeah that's Ross so I could see that a little bit I think you know you you still would add contact but you probably could have had a result where the nine doesn't spin

across his nose the other thing that was interesting is how the one was there because how early it was in the restart so I think I was just doing a competition call of NASCAR every Sunday morning before the broadcast and you know that was that close call between Ty Gibbs and with Riley Herbstair where he kind of went below before the line right it was sort

of a judgment call and they admitted it is a judgment call and they admitted that because of the how that's all an angle and it's sort of awkward how that works at Phoenix where the start finish line is it's gotta be a judgment call because it can't be other places where it's sort of straight and there's a line right there and so if you go below

that line that you're obviously out of bounds because the other thing is that he's like you know because there's a shortcut you're supposed to reference off the cars in front of you and not break a plane to the left but before the start finish line but because the cars in front of you could be taking the track or one car is taking the track and one's

diving below the right after start finish line it's really tough to tell who's breaking the rule or not you know basically going left you early so those research becomes so important is harder pass at that place I think there's something there that NASCAR maybe has to look at about that this particular track because what we saw there is only gonna get worse if we don't do

something to stop it because I wonder I haven't replayed or looked at it but I wonder when the one turned out if that makes sense yeah but how did he get to the night why was he's a great restarter he's got a great restarter the next gen car though I will say this is fairly easy to put power down and get through the gears so you

don't miss it you know what I mean so I'm just like was the nine already crowding to the left and he cut even lower like there's all those questions and I have to replay it I can I mean we probably can bring it up and I could give you a better answer on this I just that was something that crossed my head of just like huh

but why was he there yeah let me look it up we're here we go I found it so chase Elliott's back and the third row Ross is in the fourth row they're both on the bottom we start the 24 William Byron's in front of the nine so the nine staying in line with the 24 okay so he Ross all right so he didn't go to after

the line yeah so no in that case is 50-15 possibly oh well he does kind of go take four it's Ross just saying of course he's going a little bit early he starts starting left a little bit before the line so that's the question and I was watching this yesterday I was thinking about it in terms of chase Elliott was saying about it and when I

went back and looked he was the highest ranked championship car at this moment I think he was running fifth and I believe like Ghana was sixth and Chastain was eighth so I wonder I don't know if chase Elliott had been this high in the standings at this point and this was the beginning of the final stage yeah he just he just they kind of played strategy

to put it in this position I wonder if he was at that point just set on I've got to do everything I can to maintain position I can't give up positions and maybe he didn't get enough of a reminder that hey Ross Chastain is behind you and he might be coming like a freight train on this restarting if he is there's still 120 laps to go

maybe don't force the issue yeah no I think that's a very valid very valid point and he just sort of reacted chase Elliott did for chase I wonder if there's you know he bleeds plays that and thinks you know I probably would just want off in the corner and fought him off through the corner you know instead of trying to block down the left but I

mean he also could have been one of those things where he didn't have the fastest car he knows he doesn't have the fastest car he's got put in this position where if he can just stay in front of them all his championship contenders maybe for some way this all works out where he's they get dirty air and can't ever get by I think that could potentially

be some of the thought process of like I've got to keep this track position which is why you make them move down to block yeah that's kind of I was thinking too all right so as I mentioned we're a few days after the race I don't want to diminish several things that occurred of course the tragedy involving Koi Gibbs and how Christopher Bell and the Joe

Gibbs racing teams Gainley race through despite that news and of course Kyle Bush's final start a lot happened in this race but we were a few days past it so I wanted to spend a little bit of this podcast looking ahead and we're gonna talk a little about 2023 and next year for next season before we get to that Parker I just want to put a

bill on Joey Ligano and winning his second championship interesting discussion on Jeff Gluck's podcast earlier this week about how many championships does Joey Ligano win Joey Ligano is 32 years old when he wins his second championship same age as Jimmy Johnson when he won his second champion oh wow which came under slightly different circumstances Jimmy Johnson won four races in a row at the end of

the 2007 season he won 10 races that year was much more dominant year and it was year two of his five year run of cup championships but as I was listening to Jeff's podcast and Jeff and I have text a little bit like I feel like Joey Ligano here is poised I mean this was year one of next gen they book end the season with victories

Ian Paul Wolf seem to really get this car they're very good at adapting I feel like I could see a couple more cup championships here in the near term for Joey Ligano what do you think yeah I don't see any reason why not I just I asked the question I was thinking about this who's good this season and who sort of rose up and how many

winners we had all that sort of thing and I thought why would that change why would that change at all next year like why would anything be different right like the car is changing a little bit you know something about modifications for safety and that sort of thing and I'm sure there will be tweaks to it here and there and other tweaks made as we try

to make the short track racing better and road courses and that sort of thing but I'm like if you were good you're only going to build on that it's not like the rule changes can be as massive as a redesign and full moon like in full moon when they go to a totally different set of regulations right it's not going to be that big so I

don't know it's a really interesting question the only thing I'd say is like when I bet on chip chip four appearances seven more yeah sure when I bet on five more chip chips because it's so hard my team and I was like you know success to us is being in the championship for chip chips yet we're going for it but it's like you can't feasibly until

you get further in the season like you were Joey was you can't start a year thing like I guess you could I guess he said he did he started the year saying you win a chip side or no what do I know I should probably I could talk to him about the mental side this because I'm getting back into it to say yeah you know what

I'm starting this year saying I mean the champion let's go so do I think all the things aligned for him to do that talent and work ethic and all that stuff yeah absolutely I think there's multiple chips and if it was any other format I would put money on it but this format's tough one to say that and we have heard that from other championship veterans

I mean I feel like I've heard Kevin Harbick Kyle Bush Danny Hamlin who have made multiple championship appearances but think between three of those guys I don't know how many championship appearances they've had championship four appearances I mean probably at least double digits and there's only three championships among them. And that speaks to the fact that yeah I think it's more of a goal to make

the championship four than to win the title and yes it was more of a Joey Logano Hey 22 and 22 and he was certainly playing off you you know confidence of coming in with a new year a new car a new year but wait you just made me remember something. There was a nice young fan who came up to me at Phoenix and said on practice

day he's like hey do you know no no shit cap about the blue key that needs me to get down again today's a minute so one is ever won the championship on the year of their car number. I think I saw that stat yeah something like that and so he's like do you think Joe Gato can break it and I turn him I said well he

was my pick so I think so and then 22 and 22 so I was like oh he did it so I was thinking of that kid on Sunday I don't know what he is or who he was but you were right kid maybe this championship was meant to be new Eric but it feels to me like if this and we know this championship race going to

stay in Phoenix next year obviously Joey and this team seem to be really good at Phoenix and he just seems to be doing well and I don't think you would want to face Joey Logano in the championship four right now. It just seems like he and his team really I mean you said it like they still feel like they should have won the title in 20

and this was championship appearance number five for them they've won two championships. They really could have three. Well I mean really they could have four if 20 and 2016 the car ledwards restart if that breaks a different way I just feel like aside from his first time in the championship four every time Joey Logano gets in the championship four he's he's gonna be there he's there

he's gonna be at top two for sure. Also I got a one person I would put in why he would be able to achieve this or why not would be Paul Wolf and that I believe Paul Wolf has been the level of a Chad Knouse or now Adam Stevens getting two chip chips in cell you know now two drivers is pretty impressive and two them. Tiley

different formats but I think Paul is one of the you know easily best crew chiefs in the sport and he has a serious drive and intensity that as long as he keeps that up and is driven and he and his driver now aligned with two championships so they can both look at each other and say hey let's go get three you know let's go get four

I think yeah that that is a powerful thing with their aligned and they could do this together and achieve those championships all the way through. He kind of masks that intensity and drive that he has been we saw that our cameras caught him right after Joey won the race and he didn't even celebrate Paul Wolf he was just sort of like had quiet smile on his

face. Well he is subdue but you got to see him when he's when he's in the mode of the working when I saw that when we were coming down towards end of stage two in the fuel situation was going on. Yes. He had his phone out he was looking as engineers hitting him on the shoulder like hey like check this out. It was wild. He has

an intensity it's just yeah it's definitely more subdued. He's a quieter person but definitely intense. If he had his phone out but that must have been when he was saying he was texting Rodney. Yeah probably it was. Hey man what do you think we're making the end here? So you mentioned something interesting there Parker about the future you said you know why would things change which

that strikes me as potentially bad news for a Martin Drex junior who didn't win this year or Kyle Busch certainly struggled now he goes to a new team Harvick one twice and had a first round flamath it was kind of young as control but he seemed to struggle a lot with the next gen card do you think it's going to be tougher for the veterans to

kind of regain their mojo and year two of next. I just don't think you're going to see anyone dominate. I think this trend of for two weeks this teams on it for two weeks this team is on it for two weeks this driver's on it like I just think that thing is going to continue because it's so tight and you you just have to look at

these lap times on a green flag run it any given track and the car in 29th sometimes if you just put it in second place it would run in second place like it's just that type and so it's just such small things are going to make massive differences there's going to be small things that teams find it for two or three weeks that really work during

that period for whatever reason and then the next team is going to find it and so on and so forth and I just don't see a reason as to why anyone one will become dominant. I don't see a reason as to why anyone will find a lasting advantage. I don't see a reason as to you know why any group would get stuck failing in any respect

other than you know obviously engine wise in terms of like what Toyota have with engine failures but yeah I think you know like Martin Drex junior we say struggle but I mean he dominated New Hampshire. Yeah that one easy if they just decide to have four or five races you could want to have like harvick one two races you know when they got hot he was

hot you saw 19 winners you almost saw 20 and I don't see any reason I that's where I what I mean by say the same is that some you might believe like oh well start to see a hierarchy develop and that's our stuff but I'm like why what are you going to find that an organization 10 spots back in the points isn't eventually going to find

or that information will circulate or how far away can a team get I don't know I just don't know why it would be why this wouldn't continue when you have so many organizations spending so much to you know figure out the same problem. So even if the powerhouses do spend the offseason developing all this stuff and they go into Fontana maybe Phoenix with a little bit

of an edge. Yep. Within a couple of weeks that edge is gone the regression of the me and like has its limits here with the powerhouse to sort of reestablish themselves. I think so and I think you know what's big nowadays it's simulation simulation how those two line up you know it's the resource is you're getting from the main factor that is one area where there

will be a bit of hierarchy where say I think it's front row with four doesn't get the the wind tunnel data right because they're not on a full four deal or something like that. So like that because everything comes to the main factor could create a hierarchy amongst those teams that would you know sort of be a glass barrier of some respect glass ceiling. But I

still struggle that because I'm like how much can that really give you like like if front row still has the best season of all time for them. So it's just like how much is that really worth and if if it's a half a tenth yes it's big but if you take that half a tenth and you have a bad pit stop and you put that car

in 28th and you take the car that was running 28th and you put them up in second what's going to make them fall back to 28th I don't know if it's only half a tenth difference to speed. And the reason that you said the teams find things in the mat last for like two weeks the reason they only last for two weeks were in the past.

Might have been four weeks or six weeks is it just because pre next gen it would be sort of like this proprietary thing like they do. They build something and it takes a while for teams to figure out how to build that and put it into their build process and get it on the cars. And now it's just like it's just short term like we're just

finding setup tricks and anybody can find. I have to believe it's that I have to I just don't understand otherwise how it's not that like how you know yes in the past you built a better truck are you built a better chassis. We're a clip design that takes months to you know implement then weeks to manufacture so and so forth you have to be thinking about

this ahead of time and how that quarter placed your sim and so on so forth and now it's just like well it's it's all the same shape and piece and parts and pieces and now we just have to figure out how to put the puzzle together differently like. And is there you know does the tire get changed that could create a whole different change you know

it's those little things that yes we'll create that but I think 100% in your spot on where you know it's no longer car design and pieces that are it's just figuring out the puzzle. And all of this now is happening pretty much in the sim world. Yes. Happening outside of the real world environment and we were having a little bit of an interesting discussion and I

think I'll bring in the podcast before we got started we were talking about this. How do we put cars on track more often like I feel like you have some good ideas here that I'll let you share. Well yeah and the context is that there's a running joke amongst many of the sport right now that I want to I've been using lately and I've been doing

two days of sim testing up and welcome with my team getting started on 2023 and trying to help me understand how these cars drive what the sim is like what they were successful with you know just sort of lining me up with that and starting to get head start. But with that the joke is we don't drive race cars anymore. Like we don't start engines we

don't end it one makes a joke like it's too expensive to in it I guess yes like you know when people say like how much more can we cut right like I think Danny Hamlin said like we can't cut anymore we don't even drive cars. We literally don't like we don't drive race cars like I was like I was trying to explain it so and imagine

in golf they're like you know whoa whoa whoa whoa. You cannot play golf today like don't you only hold in T. Yeah only hold in D. Don't you dare swing a club. If you swing that club that's illegal a bit a hundred million dollar fine. That's where we're at. We're like we're literally at this point where it's like don't you dare drive a race car with

somewhat good intentions. With good intentions and I and I get it I was a big advocate of and maybe this is careful at you wish for like why are we practicing so much I hate it wind tunnels I thought all this stuff was just crazy. What are we doing right we're all just running circles burning fuel and tires for no reason and I get that and

I get now seeing the other side where I feel like there's a little bit lost from the weekends I'm not having cup cars on track three days of a weekend I see that I feel it I feel in the atmosphere of the places and then I you know I is it just as a driver I just sometimes I want to go drive a race car you

I want to go do something with it I want to you know like what do we do it like why can't I drive the car you know like why don't you paint to be in a competitive atmosphere to drive it so you just spitballing with you here and I'm like what if we came up with like Wednesday Charlotte test sessions or in Formula One they have

young driver tests they have these runs down city streets what if we all took old cars and went and did some city exhibition things. I don't know my point being just to actually physically turn steering wheels and press gas pedals and here engines roar like I just it's so funny because it's been a great thing for the sport and I'm it's been awesome for the competitive

side and everyone knows who's listen to me for the last 10 years wants the parry that we saw wants the playing field to be equal wants the financial side of this to work and make more sense and not be this just open free for all that just you know turns into a complete resource fast I use that term sometimes my truck team where I'm like hey

don't worry about this qualifying to resource fast like you know to me like it's just like that blows my mind sometimes I just get so frustrated it's like if you just spend more money you go faster cool thank you like what are we doing so I love where we've done and we're going and where this is but it's just like okay time out wait so how

do we how do we put race cars on the racetrack for content reasons you know that's my other thing like I don't particularly care personally as a driver like I can learn a lot from a sim and drive a car and correlate it really well and I've done this long enough that don't need that time of the car to figure it out but and maybe it's

a little advantage to me being you know veteran at this point of understanding how to drive the race cars but from a content perspective I would love to be able to fill more content with the race cars like I'd love to be able to have test sessions with GoPro's again and you know cool stuff we can put on social and and maybe and maybe there's a

fun way to do that in the midweek that should cut series maybe the older cars whatever that we can create better more content like this content earlier the formula one concept of your old test cars or whatever I think it's called the one year old test car per year they do the filming thing right and Colton heard a it got a chance to drive an F1

car and really impress a lot of people that's right this year when you're a car because yeah we're just driving like you know car and I guess it's a little bit tricky with next gen but yeah I mean I don't know like I love your idea like maybe NASCAR could create some concept where they did have a one day thing Tuesdays and Wednesdays or whatever it

Charlotte motor speedway and they had a set number of cars and teams could just send drivers and a skeleton crew of team members work yeah but not in a way that would benefit I know that's like yeah like I love your idea of content too because I think it would be it would kind of solve that riddle a bit and I think drivers would be more

enthused about hey I can go out and I'll do media on the day where I can make some laps in the car right if that's the reward we all want you know the Justin marks wants you know 850 horsepower back or ever what about this what if we just took the old cup cars which have turned into it's any cars but we all know how to

build them and what to do with them and remember and like hey you know what on Wednesday we're gonna do an open test session bring a thousand horsepower do everyone Wednesday opens we're just do when like once a month cup teams get to just bring like the fastest car they can possibly build in the old car I don't know this is stupid as hell but I

everyone's like you're an idiot that will cost everyone will spend way too much money and it will be the dumbest thing ever but like what if we did that we just live streamed on YouTube and everyone had go pros and it was just fun kind of like I don't know I just think like racing I've gotten to the point where I feel like race cars should

be cartoonish like sometimes and I'm very serious about racing but sometimes I feel like it's suit overly serious race cars are cartoonish they should be extreme of everything you think of as a as a mechanical thing like it should race crazy it should sound insane it should look crazy it should look cool it should be go fast it should do all those things because like what's

the point otherwise we're just here to entertain I mean Ross Chastain's Martin's miracle that was a cartoonish drove that point home right and that was awesome it was viral moment NASCAR had all year it was absolutely massive natural rally cross they fly through the air yeah why do they jump in the air I don't know it's cool like it doesn't have any reasoning or any sort

of relation anything it's just sort of is why that's that happened it's cool why do 401 cars have a thousand horsepower and create 10 billion pounds of downforce because I go really fast it's like oh that's cool okay thanks why they look insane I don't know they look cool that way I don't know sometimes I just want to I want someone who's 10 years old to

look at the sport like I did which is like man that looks fun like that goes to the financial stuff I just feel like sometimes I'm really into it and all this budget caps all this stuff but sometimes I'm like man like that doesn't sound fun to a 10 year old kid like he should think this is the coolest thing just it's all about just going

fast it's time to get nights that's where I get to work we could probably we could do stuff that if we just allowed ourselves to take it a little bit seriously and just do cool that we're everyone get excited the drivers be excited the engineers be excited the owners are excited the sponsors excited the media rights holders are excited everyone's excited just make it fun just

don't lose sight of that purity I love that idea all right now that we've solved we saw all the first that was very that was a perfect offseason like it's like existential this is the content for coming to NASCAR NBC podcast for on November 10th I feel confident about this but I want to close on my favorite topic which of course is your racing career oh

yeah so you just came down here you said from a day with your new team you're running a full time Xfindi series season in 2023 I've barely had a chance to talk to you about it aside from congratulate you on it so I don't know a lot about it and this is my opportunity to ask you tell me what's ahead for Parker Kulgerman yeah so racing

full time Xfindi series for big machine racing big machine vodka spite course and Scott Borsheda who's the owner and founder of big machine and Patrick Donnie who's the crew chief Keith Barwell's GM this is the team that called me after a one middle high and basically said hey would you like to come do Tau Dega and I said yes and then we went really well and

Scott turn of me and said would you be interested in doing this full time and I said yes as long as we have the same goals he's like what do you mean by that it's like well you know if I do this I want to do it 110% and I want to go for a championship and he's like an awesome so we want to do and

you know we're really we're putting the resources behind it and they're full on you know our star affiliation we're right across the street from our CR it's great you know championship level equipment and you know putting the right people in place and and expanding the organization and and that sort of thing and that's already just in a couple weeks I've been a part of it I've

seen that so that's really exciting and I hope that I can be a very integral part to you know helping that that a scent in a lot of ways and I think all the parts and pieces are there and the last two days were kind of my first days of work so you know Jimmy Johnson posted he was going to work for the first time at

GM S or so I've been had to follow my first day was also the first same day and you know basically I went to the team a couple weeks ago if we got started I said hey look I want to just after Phoenix I want to jump in the sim I want to start working on what you guys had success with this past year which Nick

Sanchez finished the season in the 48 did a wonderful job that kid you know it was really on it I think he is a mazely bright future as a driver in this sport just from the little bit I saw pain attention before he car but I wanted to be able to take some of those races that they won Texas with Tyler Rettich earlier this year they

ran well of Ross Chastain you know and sort of say like hey where were you guys successful what did he with this car feel like what was the setups like that sort of thing and sort of so I could start to correlate in my mind through the offseason how they've approached racing how I approach racing what my feedback is that sort of thing so we did

two days yesterday afternoon this morning you know it was really fruitful I felt like and working my engineer Cody McKenzie a great dude and yeah I just it's so surreal because it still doesn't fully feel real I went and did my racing suits measurements with Sparko because I'm getting those again I've got Bell helmets I went over there I was like man this is so surreal

but also like so exciting and I'm so excited about the most mundane things like we're doing a lot of cool stuff for cars we're doing them just over the offseason building new cars but then just getting to go to the sim for four hours and just work on a plan of like how you get better and what we're working on towards and trying to figure out

like there's some rule changes happening okay what are those going to do to affect the cars and like it's very mundane but it's very exciting because this is stuff I just haven't gotten to do being the guy who jumps around all these different teams and does part time stuff for the last couple of years so it's an amazing experience so far and it's only two days

in and I'm very pumped you know I'm also as excited as I am I'm trying to say like very grounded to just be like this is happening it's for real but it's not just you know it's not all gonna be roses you know that there's no no no one that has 33 weekends that are perfect right and I've been given a past over the years of

being part time where I'm not racing for a championship I'm not racing for points so when I show up I'm there to win it's just for fun I say that with the intention of like hey I'd like to be doing this but you know it's a different way of racing I'm mentality whereas when you're racing for points a championship like it becomes serious at times and

you just have to be ready for that but I feel like I am more than ready I'm better than the last time I did this by order of magnitude so I'm excited and sort of giddy to sort of show that and experience it in real time I love seeing it I love hearing it you sound ready and I heard you say that that's one of my

favorite quotes I saw coming out your news conference at Martin'sville that you feel like you're a better driver now than you've ever been in your entire life 100% I was talking to Brad after the announcement at Martin'sville during qualifying yeah Kizalowski and he asked me hey how this come about and I told him the thing how it came about Reverend and I said and I turned

him and you know I just left BKR at the end of 2020 mid 2012 we had a bit of our falling out I was leaving Penske at the end of 2012 and I said you know I'm a way better driver than it was 10 years ago and he turned me he was like experience helps doesn't it I was like yeah so a little bit of a

new link there to Brad like hey man you gave up on me too early no I don't that that too much I I just thought it was funny to you know to talk to a guy who had obviously saw me very closely as who I was at that time to who I am now you know just was like hey man I realize I'm a way better

driver I was well I mean that was more than 10 years ago and next year so you went from that opportunity to 2013 you ran full time with KBM yes yes that was your last full time yeah it's because 2014 I was supposed to full time a swan but it folded after nine races and then the started since then you've just been weird in the wilderness

in the wilderness yeah no literally with the edge of obscurity at all times and definitely not you become a national media personality you become one of the best analyst pit reporters and racing in my humble opinion become a truck series winner of spreading things out to you know I feel like you know normally people do their first full season of what time was nationwide then they

do it the next year yeah I just decided to take little nine year well that's that's what I wanted to ask you about like so I mean I hear you like you've got the giddyness you got the season which I love it but this is like a full time job now I got to do it and you feel it you have it next year will mark

10 years since the last time you do this full time I mean how much has changed is so much different and there's so much the same it's so funny I was you know popping around Moore'sville again in a capacity where I feel like oh wow I'm gonna be here a lot that sort of thing I'm reaccomming friendships down here because I'm gonna get a place down

here and just like letting people know like hey I'll be here you know I'll have Tuesday nights or Wednesday night I'll be doing nothing like hey you want to hang out I don't know hey friend remember we used to Sim Race every night you want to Sim Race today I don't have anything better to do so but it's funny I'm trying to approach it where I

don't fall into old habits or old ways for sure I think that's one thing I've made really really big part for me it's like make sure to continue doing the things that made me that better driver more successful being out of this bubble I think was good for me for those years I have been out of it but also reaccomating to within it to with the

knowledge of what I've learned from being outside of it right and I think that's a really powerful thing continuing a lot of my median divers for sure you know that's one way I want to work that in now understanding my scheduling better understanding how to do that understanding the me the world you know try to incorporate those things that I don't that we don't fall behind

there as well as I try to you know take on the driving side full time and then also you know mentally I think there's a huge you have 90% of this is mental if not more and success and racing and I think for me it's making sure that I'm continuing a positive progression in the mental side that I've been on for last computers right and so

whatever I have to do there to make sure that that's happening you know it'll be very key for me so I want to take what I knew from back then and what I know not to do what I now know what to do and what I don't know and what I don't know is some of the things in the tools and the pieces in the parts

that I just haven't got to experience because I haven't been full time right and I want to be able to take those in and play catch up with those and learn them quickly while knowing the things I know that I've done better and putting away all the things I know I don't want to do or don't should pass I shouldn't go down with something you're definitely

not going to do that you do if you can say live where I live to me who I was grow up basically is the best way to put it I laughed so often when I see and I shouldn't I don't even say name names like a Noah Griggs and I probably would have been very much a similar personality at the time but I hid it all

I didn't put it all out there like he did which probably probably this was my detriment but I think that's the type where I've grown up from being that person and so I laugh when I see those things about guys like I'm like yeah I wasn't just similar you know I just probably hid it all it was like behind the scenes so I think I've just

been really focused on being who I've become and not falling back to being that kind of person so and I like I you know it's not like I'm more boring or anything I feel like I'm actually more fun I think I'm a cool person that sense but I just I think I make better decisions now I know where to put my energy my time and my

focus and you know I know what does and doesn't equal success and I think that's the the part where I just that's the confidence that I have that I just I know all that I know how to drive the race car know how to deal with all the like in silery stuff scheduling the media times you know how you schedule your life how you do all

that stuff travel everything just deal that so much better relationships friendships all those things it's the unknown part that's really exciting which is all the tools that my disposal and the idea of having a really supportive owner and sponsors and that sort of thing that want me to be me and to continue doing podcasts and that sort of stuff so it's a weird I know that

was a very deep no that was good but it's really good but it's just it feels like I hate to use a second chance because it seems so lame but it's like I've been able to press start again with the knowledge of everything you've done before which is a very unique right like people might say that all the time about there anything life whatever to business

right like now if I started with all I know now that'll be amazing I'm literally getting the chance to start with all that I know now so yeah it's wild and some of the cool things from the announcement Jimmy Johnson text me Kyle Bush text me Kevin Harvick stop me which was super cool Mark Martin hit me up it was the most amazing names and people

of the sport that reached out and you know gradually me and I just thought like wow I do not want to let them down so Dale Jarrett Kyle Teddy all the people Steve Lichart who supported me Dale Jr. you know that's the other part that like really pushes me it's not like of course the people that supported me in my early years breaks cutting him Bob

Perona those people I want to do this for them as well but they and it's all the people that I feel like I've gained the respect over the last few years that I'm like I don't not want to let them down so I'm going to do it takes to be successful I don't think I'd be a question in fact like you are going to be more

appreciative and cognizant of what an opportunity this is for you after everything you've been on this incredible journey where we didn't know if you're going to race cars anymore I'm glad you brought up Noah because I feel like even just in the last year we've seen a transition with him I mean I was really impressed by how he handled himself the night of the Xfandy Series

championship when he lost it to tie Gibbs but he definitely is a different kind of person yeah and I've thought about that a lot since last Saturday I feel like maybe some young drivers you kind of have to like grow into your own skin at the right pace but with the right timing and opportunities and it's a mix and it's there's no like my favorite movies

is Moneyball because I love the line where he's like to the scout he's like I've seen you sit those dining room tables and tell them when I know I know your son he's going to be successful yeah like that sort of thing and I'm like you can't do any sport right like you just don't know like these these are young kids I was like when I

was 19 when you went to Poltensky or you I was I just turned 19 okay yes I mean I'm barely a human like you know like there's just so much being thrown at you and so much attention and support and the financial side is is wild of what gets put behind you and you just like you see some people are you know I I'm so impressed

sometimes and I've said this before I think I was podcast of like young guys I've seen come through how they handle it knowing how I handled it and I'm like wow that's really impressive they're far more mature I ever was like you know I mean like I see that all the time and I think no it's been really interesting because he's been able to and I

think become more himself right whatever is you know what he's discovered to be himself which is this flamboyant outspoken wild child-esque personality and putting out in the public sphere and getting accepted for it that's a really tough thing to do you know that can be taken different ways it can be looked down upon by potential owners and sponsors was what we were all told you know

for years and so you just didn't go down that I don't think you had a lot of drivers who were willing to put that so that personality out there and he's been willing to do it and it's it's worked out for him so far I I think Cup will be a really hard adjustment you know that's not the thread Cup series is just there's no way

you know I've talked about but there's just it's the hardest racing series you'll ever enter your life it's by far it's not only the competition level the resources the pressure but it's just the relentless gauntlet of a schedule that you will be on that just does the second you start to struggle for air you're seldom allowed to come up right and so it's just like you

have to be on your game every way and the guys who are successful have patches of struggle and that makes them even stronger and better so then they you know they've they've struggled and come back and that's a good for you for your first starting those sorts of things and I look like on air Jones I mean man the mental fortitude to stick through that his

day of junior download was so interesting when he talked about getting like go from Gibbs and he was just like set there for 30 minutes like what do I do my life right what do I do from here and like to come all the back to winning in the Cup series that's incredible it's amazing so you can't touch our we're still going to see you on

the media side yeah yeah so I'm yeah we're I'm figured all that out I think you know it's all sort of a work in progress is WIP TBD or what I can do here but we got to figure it out I think the intention right now obviously is for me to do Sundays on the NBC portion of the season you know what that how many with

the looks like I think that's fluidity there and everyone NBC has been so supportive and awesome through this poll process over the years letting me go drive that's ledges this opportunity and what I want to figure out is sort of like what that schedule looks like you know it's doing this full time and sort of what my at the end of the day I just don't

want to ever be in a position where one I can't be 100% because one's taking away from the other something right and they would ever that whatever that month line I haven't hit that line yet I will be honest like even racing you know as much as I've done this you know I'm just here others I didn't hit that line where I felt like I was

unprepared on either side but I just want to make sure that I don't ever hit that so I'm that's where I'm hesitant to commit anything one way or the other other and to say my intentions are that but I want to be sure that I'm never in a position where I'm like ooh this is too much so that's completely understandable as you said you're navigating uncharted

waters here for the first time ten years you don't really know what you don't know at this point but I'm glad nonetheless that hopefully we'll get to still see you around definitely I'm going to see Cup races yeah and I'll be available for the NASCAR MBC podcast you know are you sure about that I'm probably going to ask you back I'm willing I'm willing to come

back I'm willing I'm willing all right I probably hold you to that I'll come to your new place here itself that appreciate thanks so much for being her Parker yeah thanks for having me we appreciate Parker Kligerman for joining us on the NASCAR NBC podcast thanks to Motorsports manager Emily Convoy for coordinating Parker's appearance and also thanks to Parker for stopping by NBC Sports Charlotte Studios

to record in person during his visit to North Carolina so that's the last episode of the NASCAR NBC podcast for 2022 as always I appreciate everyone listening and hope that you will all return again next year more to come on details about the next episode but until then I hope everyone has a great holiday season and a happy new year thanks again for listening to the

NASCAR NBC podcast