Playoff update: Bubba Wallaces big win at Kansas, Kyle Buschs big move to RCR and a preview of Bristol Motor Speeedways first-round cutoff

Hi, welcome to the NASCAR NPC podcast, Dr. Hosney Ryan, joined by Kim Koon, who's actually making a return to the podcast, but this is the first time that we've had Kim on in sort of a guest analyst capacity. So thanks for being here, Kim. Thanks for having me. So normally we do this podcast on Mondays, but today is Wednesday, and it just felt like this was

light news week, the last 72 hours has pretty much been nonstop, and I want to start with going back to the most recent race, Kansas Speedway Sunday, Bubble All the Swins, and we were just talking before we got started, you had Bubba's Pit for us on NASCAR NBC during the course of the weekend. So I want to get a sense, Kim, I guess, of like, what

you saw from the team and him during the course of the weekend because it seemed like the general take away the big narrative from this win was how calm Bubble was in winning this race, and did you sense that? Did you see that outwardly throughout the weekend? Yeah, absolutely. From the get-go, I talked to him during the practice qualifying session, and he was very much laid

back, easy going. I talked to Booty, the morning of the race, same sort of deal, and you have to remember they're in the owners' championship, so they could have put a lot of pressure on themselves. I didn't sense that. Not only that, they could have put additional pressure because the 45-car won the Kansas race in the spring. So everything historically we've known about Bubba, and the

way he carries himself, would have pointed us in the direction of he's going to be on edge, he's going to be super nervous, he's going to be putting all this pressure on himself. I did not sense that at all. And even so, on the radio, throughout the race, there were some higher tension points, they had a loose wheel, and as he was leading at the end

of the race, they did come on the radio to try and give him updates, and he kind of told them very abruptly, they're like, I don't need updates. But, you know, earlier in the season, we saw panic and pressure, and just kind of chaos on the radio from him. So it was a departure, in my opinion, from some of the Bubba Wallace takes we've seen earlier

this season, and then in the years past. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because it's exactly where I wanted to go, because it feels like every time we've talked Bubba Wallace sitting at this desk, doing this podcast, whether it was Jeff Burton sitting in the chair you are right now, or Kyle Petty, we've talked about Nashville, where he had the Pit Crew problems there that

certainly was not his fault at all, that that race got away from him, was Pit Crew was subpar, and they made changes to that regard after that. But Michigan also, we saw Bubba kind of really beating himself up, and really almost inconsolable after that race, because he probably had the best car, the dominant car start on the pole, and couldn't close it out when Harvick won

the race in LaGano kind of got in the way of Bubba getting to the lead on that final restart. So it's interesting that you sort of saw that side, do you think that things have happened in the last month between Michigan and Kansas, where Kyle Petty, I remember him saying that Bubba's got, I think as he put a lot of things in his backpack that he's

carrying around, that he just sort of needs to lay that aside. Do you think maybe Bubba took some advice from some people and just was looser? I think he had to have, based on his demeanor in Kansas, and all the shuffling that went around, maybe that actually helped him in the sense that so much was out of his control in terms of the dynamic of the

team and everything moving around that all he really can do is race. Maybe is a little bit of the sense I got from him. Now it's easy to say it was a different Bubba because he won the race. You wonder if maybe he had made a mistake or ended up getting passed by Denny in the end, if we would have seen that same Bubba that was

just so hard on himself that we've seen when he's come so close to wins, but he won it. So we don't have to second guess that. He said you talked to Booty. Did you sense in those conversations that they knew coming in here? I mean, that team has run so well the last month and a half that I think for those on the inside, this victory

wasn't a surprise. Did you see that from Booty and talking about like the car they had? Yeah, I talked to him the morning of and he was extremely nonchalant in the sense that I didn't feel like he was showing concern on how they would run. Now I didn't get the sense from him that they thought they had a race winning car or a car that would

be as dominant that we saw, especially on the long run, but it was just a matter of, we're here to finish races. That's the first goal, that's the foremost goal. I even ask him pointedly is their pressure now that you guys are going after this owner championship and he was very laid back and answered it honestly and genuinely and said there's no more pressure on us

than there normally would be. So whether or not that's what was going on behind the eyes, that's what he was giving me, but they did know they had a good car. Bubba knew that from the get-go. When I talked to him before he hopped in the car on Sunday, he told me he's like, I feel like we are on par with where we had the car

in the spring and we finished 10th. And then knowing the notes we have from Kurt, and I know Kurt's played a big role in both Bubba and Ty's runs since he's left, or been sideline I should say. Anytime I've asked Billy Scott or Booty Barker or Ty or Bubba, like kind of wear his curtain all this, they have said he is very much still in the

team, meaning like giving them notes, offering them suggestions of stuff that they may have not thought about. So I think they had all the resources on that car in Kansas to do what we saw them do. And that's interesting because that was pretty much why they brought Kurt Bush aboard, was they thought he could still win, but certainly that veteran presence that they thought could guide.

Based on what they're telling me, we are still very much seeing that in terms of behind the scenes, if you talk to them and talk to how much Kurt is still present in right in the middle of things, despite not being behind the wheel. I'm glad you brought up the team owner title here as well, because this came up on our production call this morning on

NASCAR MBC, somebody raised the possibility of, hey, now Bubba, all this wins in the 45, and this is something I think we're gonna be talking about more. And like on one hand, I was a little bit worried when 2311 Racing made this move, because I just felt like they were setting themselves up for, okay, well now what if Ty Gibbs, who's been running well, like what

if he managed to somehow win a race and Bubba's in the 45 and he doesn't, obviously Bubba's been running better than Ty recently, but Ty's certainly been in the conversation. So I was a little bit worried on that front. So I was glad to see that Bubba was able to get this win in the 45 and do exactly what 2311 wanted them to do, but it

also raises this possibility of something happening that hasn't happened in NASCAR for 60 years. I mean, the concept of a split driver owner title, I think it's something to celebrate, especially given that 2311 Racing was literally built from scratch, essentially, that they could win a championship in year two, but I can also get, it's probably gonna take some explaining, because I think a lot of people

probably weren't cognizant of the fact that like, hey, you can have a split championship. Sure, when we just, we haven't seen that, we've seen it on the Xfinity side, the Cup side, it really hasn't gone that direction, and it's certainly plausible for this team, especially after winning Kansas, because then you look at the next round, we go Texas, Talladega, Charlotte Roveville, Circle, Talladega for Bubba Wallace,

could certainly win them in there, and then lock himself into the next round. Those races, Las Vegas, Homestead, Martinsville, I mean, Bubba to me is a guy I look at when we go to Martinsville, so it's still very much part of the conversation that this team could win the understampion chip, and when the move was first made, and I think going into the playoffs, they were

10th in the points, it was kind of, oh, we'll keep an eye on this, but it's a little bit of a non-factor, and all of a sudden, after Kansas, the conversation has completely flipped. Yeah, and I mean, they're serious, money involved there, and I mean, you were a really good point, because in Cup, the driver playoff and the team playoff has always been the same, we

just sort of take it for granted, but you're right, like in Exfinity, even going back to before the Exfinity Series playoffs began, you had Split, Kislawski, with the Exfinity Championship for Penske, but it gives car when the team undertitles. So essentially, if this has been out there before, it just needs to sort of be placed in the Cup context to explain what it means for 2311.

And it'll be unusual for Cup Series fans, I think KP did the math when we were on Baxi last week, and it was something like, we haven't seen that happen since 62 or 65. Something like way in the history books, and we do have to remember, there's a drivers championship and an owners championship, and do the best job we can do at differentiating that. I know

so much focus gets put on the drivers championship, but to your point, the owners championship is really where the money's at, and that's a big deal for a team, especially a team like 2311, who's only in their sophomore season, and wants to make big strides in the next couple of years. Yeah, I think it's also kind of cool that Bubba's driving the 23, which is Michael

Jordan's basketball number. He switches to the 45, which was Michael Jordan's baseball number. And when Jordan made that switch, he actually used the 45 for a little bit in the NBA, and then switched back to 23. He obviously didn't have near the success in the 45 that he did in the 23, but now Bubba switches from the 23 to 45, and he wins, so. And you

wonder, depending on the path that he continues to take in the 45, I don't know where, you know, if they believe in kind of voodoo, but if I hit my stride in a different number than I was in, I might be asking Denny, like, hey, what do you think about me keeping this number? Because there's a lot of superstition when it comes to sports and especially

racing. I'm very superstitious, and I suspect if I was Bubba Wallace, I would definitely say, I'm never leaving the 45 again, and I would think like MJ would understand, like, look, man, I'm not going to be back to the bulls. You wore 45, you didn't win the title, then you switched to the 23, and you made me win the next three, so I don't know, maybe

they'll do it, we'll see. So, interesting news there with Bubba, and of course, that night we learned that Kyle Busch is going to make some news, which he did on Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. We had the announcement that he is moving to Richard Childress Racing. So, I guess it wasn't a total shock, I mean, we knew this was coming down to either the

Childress colleague or 2311, but I guess it wasn't a shock that this is the move that Bush made, but I guess if you would have asked us before the season started, no one would have seen this coming. I don't think we can say it wasn't a shock because it was a shock. We were just prepared for this show. Yeah, exactly, exactly. There was scuttle butt throughout

the garage because it's so hard to keep a secret these days, but had there not been those rumblings, if we're talking at the beginning of the season, or at the beginning of the contract negotiations between he and G.A.G.R. If anybody had said Kyle Bush ends up with Richard Childress, everybody would have lost their minds, jaws on the floor. It is not anything I expected. In fact,

RCR probably, if I'm being completely honest, as much as I would like to say, oh yeah, I could have guessed that, they would have been at one of the very bottom teams on my list of where does Kyle Bush end up. When the whole thing began. You wouldn't have done that. When the whole thing began. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that many people thought it

wouldn't work out between he and G.A.G.R. And then the longer it took, I think, things started to unravel. And honestly, Kurt being out of the car, I think, put a different game in play where Gibbs saw what Ty could do earlier than maybe they expected and said, well, we know eventually he likely will move up to Cup. What does he have to offer? And he's done

a good job for never having Cup experience or next-gen experience. So I think that was another factor that didn't necessarily direct what ended up happening, but it certainly changed the course or some of the conversations that would have been had if that otherwise hadn't happened. Yeah, it certainly felt like the longer it went on, the more likely it seemed that Kyle Bush was going to leave.

And Ty Gibbs was certainly part of that equation. That it's not just that they're going to save a ton of money. Obviously, they're not going to have to pay Ty Gibbs anywhere near in the neighborhood of what they would have to be a Kyle Bush. It's fractional when you can pair those salaries, not just the fact that Ty Gibbs is relatively an experience, but also the

fact that he's family. Yeah, and he's a more of a long-term investment. Now, that's not to say we couldn't see Kyle be in the sport and be successful in the sport for another 10 years, but Ty's 19. But he's got 20 years if he really wants in the sport. And so they're setting themselves up for a much longer run than they likely would have had with

Kyle. Yeah, and I think they knew that what they saw from Ty when he went in the 45 and placed a curb bush that they saw immediately, OK, this guy's ready to run cup now. Expendient cup cars are no longer the same. If we know we're going to put him in cup eventually, and we're seeing him do this now, what's the point of keeping him in

the extended at this point? And all this to say, we don't know for sure that Ty isn't that number. But I feel like that is a safe assumption based on. I'm being rather presumptuous. We both are. I think it is a very safe assumption. I would be happy to put money on it. The odds are probably not very good because it's going to be something that

will likely happen if you were to put money on it. But I would certainly put money on it. Yeah, we have not gotten official word that Ty gives. We'll be going into the number 8 team. But I don't know if the Vegas numbers are. I would think. Probably a sure bet. Yeah, you're going to probably have to bet like $1,000. Exactly. We're going to be like

$1,000 in Vegas to be able to make that bet pay off. Another thing we haven't heard yet officially with Kyle Busch is Kyle Busch Motorsports, his truck team, which we've heard Kyle talk a lot about this being a key to where his next cup driving ride would be was that he wanted to make sure he took care of his 50 employees there at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

I thought that was somewhat interesting, Kim, because again, it seemed like so much a Kyle's decision was predicated on it. So it was a little bit of a surprise that we can get news on. I did talk to Jim Campbell of GM Racing and Laguna Sake of this past weekend. He without confirming it, he said, we want a bolster Chevy's truck program. So do you feel

like maybe there's a verbal probably commitment here and they're just waiting to get things lined up? I think there is. And there are two things that pointed me in that direction. I say what Jim Campbell said, I read his quotes to the media and him talking about bolstering their truck program. And then if you paid attention to John Hunter Nima Chex post-race interview when he won

Kansas, he was very emotional. He talked about it being a very tough week. And John Hunter's one that wears his heart in his sleeve. So who's to say what he was alluding to? But he is a Toyota driver. So that interview, for me pointed in the direction of, OK, Kyle is not re-epping with Toyota. He's going with a different manufacturer that's going to obviously affect KBM.

And KBM's going to go in a different manufacturer direction too, because that would obviously mean John Hunter couldn't be a part of the team since he's a Toyota driver. And so again, if you were reading between the lines in that interview, it was like a light bulb to me. I was like, all right, well, this is happening. But you also didn't know, does that mean they're

doing one truck? Does it mean they're doing two trucks? Once the KBM decision is made, certainly there are so many questions to be answered on what happens with that team. But Kyle has made it very clear that his intention is to continue running KBM. It just will look probably different than it has in years past. Yeah, so definitely some questions there to be answered on how

it might look in the Chevrolet Fold and what that's going to mean for John Hunter Nima Chex and some other people on that side. And of course, some questions on the Richard Childress racing side about what this means for Tyler Reddick. Richard Childress said when this announcement was made at NASCAR Hall fame with Kyle Busch, that he had told Tyler Reddick an hour before that, oh,

by the way, you're Kruci from your team, that's going to Kyle Busch next year. We're still going to run you in a cup-chartered car next year, but you're not going to have Randall Bernadis or Kruci if you're not going to be running the number eight. All that will be along to Kyle Busch. I thought this was interesting, Kim, on many levels. As did I. One is

that Tyler Reddick, I think, gave Richard Childress about 15 minutes. But I got the same sense when Richard brought up the time frame. I think it was a little bit of a dig of, I didn't give Tyler a lot of notice, but also I gave him more notice than he gave me. Before Tyler Reddick told him, hey, I'm going to the race for 2311 racing in

2024. So what did you make of that? And what do you think the future holds for Tyler Reddick next year? It's going to be an interesting season because Richard did confirm they will have three drivers. Now, with Kyle Busch moving into the eight car, I think the majority of their resources are pointing to the eight car. Does that mean Tyler is in this kind of lame

duck season where he's not going to be in the same. He's not going to have a lot of the same resources he would if he was committed to them in the future. And the same resource that Kyle is going to have now that he is in the eight car. It was really interesting to me that it was announced that Randall Bernat was going to be with

Kyle Busch just because of how much success that he and Tyler have found together in multiple series. But if that didn't happen, if Richard didn't offer that up, then does Randall ultimately end up following Tyler if they stay together? So that was something that I had questioned like why that move? Why would you split those? And I think Richard runs the risk of losing a great

crew chief if Tyler does in fact run that third car and he stays with Randall then in 2024. Does I don't know what Randall's contract looks like, but then does he hop ship to go with Tyler? That's a good point. I thought about that. Yeah, and certainly I would think Randall Bernat as much success as he's had with Tyler Reddick. If you say, hey, you get

to work with future Hall of Famer two-time champion Kyle Busch. It's kind of a no-brainer. Yeah, there's so many different factors and behind the scenes stuff that you just you don't know what actually is happening until it's announced. And then even so you kind of have some questions. Well, yeah, and one question for me still is because Richard Childress plays his card so close to the

vest all the time, he demerered many times, I think, during this announcement about what this third team would look like. He says it would be chartered, but he didn't provide a lot of details on, would they buy a charter, would they lease a charter? Do you think that there's a possibility that a buyout still could happen here? They could move Tyler Reddick to 2311 racing if

Kurt Busch isn't back next season? That's a good question. I mean, I think they would have to throw a lot of money at Richard to do that. There are still benefits to running a third car and having a driver of Tyler's caliber, even if you're not giving him the same resources as your other drivers, but having his feedback seeing what he's able to do on track,

sometimes with maybe less of those resources. And then you hate to think that there is any spite in it, but also just not giving Tyler the opportunity to leave. And hit home runs early with 2311. You don't want to think that, but from a competitor perspective, not even a spite perspective, it's keeping somebody in house an additional year before they become a competitor and likely a

competitor that's going to give your drivers a run for their money. Yeah, I agree with you. I think Richard's child is probably, and his staff probably is calculating enough to think of it that way. We're preventing Toyota from getting a start, but I also think revenge is a dish. Just serve cold. And there certainly was some lingering resentment, but about the way all of that went

down. So let's get back to some happier topics about the Kyle Busch news. And this brings us to our motor mouths of the race, presented by eBay Motors. This is where we check out a quote from the race or the race week. And this week the quote comes from Richard's childrens at the NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement with Kyle Busch. His credentials speaks well for his

self. But when I was up there with Kyle and we first started talking and we talked about championships and we talked about winning races, I looked at him in his eye and I seen that look and they'll learn how it seniors eye that he's hungry. We're going to win. I'd seen that look before. And watching Kyle, I've watched his talent for many years since he started

in the Busch series. And just how he handles the car, the car control, the way he drives a car, and take no prisoner attitude. That's the Dale Earnhardt style that I was accustomed to racing with. And I think Kyle has that modern day style of racing at Dale Earnhardt had in his time. Normally when I think about comparisons to Dale Earnhardt, I think that people would

shy away from them. Like I've never certainly- They shy very far away from him. In fact, I tried to ask NASCAR CASE in the same question yesterday when we did a Twitter spaces and he jumped as far away from it as possible. He did not want to light up the social media. With power. Not just kidding. Yeah, making any comparison. Well, yeah, I just remember when

Austin Dillon drove the three in 2014 in his rookie cup season, there was a lot of sensitivity to the Richard Childress Racing bringing back the three for the first time in Dale Earnhardt's death. When Dale Jr. gets compared to his dad, I think there's a lot of sensitivity to that. I know in Harvick first stepped into that ride after Earnhardt's death that he talked about the

weight. But it's interesting to me, Ken, because I feel like in this instance, there was none of that awkwardness. I think that Kyle Busch, if there's a driver who maybe can handle that kind of weight and shoulder it, that burden per se, I think it might be Kyle Busch. And I think that in some ways, the Earnhardt comparisons are warranted. No one's ever gonna feel Dale

Earnhardt. She is no one's gonna be the intimidatinger. But if I'm thinking of which driver, it would be closest to the modern day Dale Earnhardt. It would be, I'm from you, it would be maybe Harvick or Kyle Busch. Yeah, I think it's fair to talk about them in the same sentence. I don't know that we can compare them side by side A, because they didn't race

against each other. For that purpose alone, it's hard to say like where Kyle stacks up against Dale Sr. and they raced in different eras too. But I do think Dale Sr. was called the Intimidator for a reason. And if there's a word to describe Kyle, one of the words you would use is intimidating. He is an intimidating driver, especially if you're a younger driver in the

series. So I think it's fair to say there are things that overlap in terms of the type of driver and the type of personality they are. Now, there's still very two different people. And you're talking about a seven time champion and a two time champion, not to say that Kyle couldn't win more and doesn't have great accolades. But I do think it is fair to talk

about them in the same sentence. But nobody will ever fill Dale Sr. shoes. No one will, but I feel as if, again, if there's a driver who doesn't seem bothered by the comparisons, like I could see other drivers kind of like shying away like, oh, I don't want to be in the same conversation now. It almost feels to me like Kyle Bush kind of relishes that

like he wants that challenge. Like he wants to be like, yeah, you want to like say, I'm gonna be the guy who's gonna bring a championship back to Richard Childress Racing for the first time since 1994, I'm your guy. I can do that. I can't almost seem to embrace that. I also think it's an easier conversation to have and to put them in the same sentence

with Kyle in the eight car. Yeah. I think if Kyle was going to the three car and the comparison was being made, you would have a lot more uproar than you did. Now, there's still fans on Twitter that don't want to see this comparison made ever and want to burn it down. But it's a very different story. I think if Kyle is in the three and

we're having this conversation versus the eight for whatever back to like the superstition and just the gravity of what numbers mean to different people and different teams. Yeah, certainly numbers mean a lot to ask our fans. That was our motor routes of the race presented by eBay Motors. At eBay Motors, you can be your own pit crew. With 122 million parts right at your fingertips, get

the right parts at the right prices. eBay Motors.com, let's ride. All right, so we're going to finish up Kim talking about Bristol Motor Speedway, the first round cutoff race, Saturday night. And I believe you brought this up on the call this morning. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, two of the most successful drivers at Bristol, 11 cup series wins between them. I couldn't believe Kyle had eight

until I looked up this morning. Both of these guys could be eliminated from the playoffs for the first time ever. They're both below the cut line. Which is wild to me. The caliber of those two drivers and the fact that they sit below the elimination line is something at the beginning of the season, I don't think anybody would have guessed. Now halfway through the season, perhaps,

even so it is still shocking. Kyle though is only two points below the elimination line. And for as good as he is at Bristol, I don't see him staying there. I do think he will end up hopscotching the line and getting back in. Although a week or two ago, somebody asked me what my surprise driver out early was and I said Kyle Busch. So you never

know what's going to happen. But to think that there below the cut line is this kind of a waning of their careers. I mean, do you have that conversation? At some point, the switch is hit. I think we saw that with Jimmy Johnson where he performed, he performed, he performed, and then all of a sudden it was like something was different. He didn't win a race

in the last three seasons. He won the seventh championship in 2016. I think he won three times in 2017. And then the after his final win at Dover, it was just, that was it. He fell off the map kind of in 18. It might be a little too early to say that for at least Kyle. Maybe Kevin, I mean, because Kevin shockingly was one of the

two time winners this season and still finds himself at the bottom of the barrel. But that just shows you how close the points are, the parity we've seen this year. It's just anybody's championship, so at this point. I'm certainly not rooting against either of these guys. I don't play favorites. I try to stay objective. But at this desk, three weeks ago, I predicted Kyle Busch would

fall out in the first round. And then the napkin and the season. Yeah, well, then the NASCAR NBC Twitter account then put up all of our predictions around the show that night. Love you, Ryan DeCosta. It was totally fine that this happened. But I mean, I got to own it. I made the predictions of my championship for my first four out. And I took a lot

of grief on Twitter. Like people did not think that Kyle Busch could be a lima, but it just felt like, I don't know. Again, there's a lot going on here. It's a role of the diocese to what could happen or couldn't happen any of these races. And the wildest part to me is, and I think I said this on the call this morning is typically when

the playoffs start immediately, you see the playoff drivers rise to the top. It's like, oh, these are the playoff drivers. The cream rises to the top. They're the ones winning the races. They're the ones dominating the races. And the first two races we have not seen that. We've had two non-playoff winners when the first two races of the playoffs, which has never happened in playoff history.

So it just goes to show you how different this season is than any other season we've witnessed. I'm glad you brought that up because I was on my list. I mean, how many times have the playoffs started at Chicago land or Las Vegas? And the first practice, the top 10 speeds, are all playoff drivers. Or the first race results for the first two races, like the

top 15, like 13 of them are playoff drivers, both races, like something like that. And you're right. That's been the most surprising part of two non-playoff drivers, Grand Bubba's a little bit of an exception. But certainly, Eric Jones winning Darlington. The time of the year when everybody brings their A game, their best stuff, toughest track on the circuit, you would think those two elements would mean

that surely a playoff driver will in Darlington. Instead, it's Eric Jones winning the Southern 500. And I gotta think, I guess, do we just chalk it up to the new car that everybody's just still getting a handle on that they can't just flip a switch and turn it up a notch? I think it is the new car. I'll be interested to see, as we go deeper

into the playoffs, if this trend continues, I don't think we're done seeing new winners for the season. Now, does that mean we just maybe see one more in its Ryan Blaney to playoff driver? Is that true X? There's still so many unknowns, especially considering we've got Talladega in the mix. We've got the Charlotte Rovell, Martin'sville, who knows what can happen, Homestead. As we get closer to

Phoenix, it's something that needs to be revisited. Now that they have, after Bristol, once they get the first round behind them, does a flip switch then? And then we see playoff drivers in the upper echelon. But all signs point to that's not going to be the case. I think we definitely get to 20. I think Blaney does win at some point. And the way Truex is

running at Darlington and Kansas, it would not surprise me if he were to win. He's never won at Bristol. But he was on the pole position here a year ago. He runs well at short tracks. We'll see. The last point I want to leave you with was, again, one you brought up that I totally missed. That William Byron and Denny Hamlin can both lock in on

the first stage. Everybody's making a big deal about the point spread. Being crazy, it is. I mean, only Christopher Bell is locked in so far of the 16 drivers, and don't have a lot of separation second to 16th, especially like night to 16th. But you made the point that William Byron and Denny Hamlin both can lock in just by getting eight points in the first stage.

So both of them, they've missed one, two. Yeah. And they're through. They're both locked in. And I think that's a point that is being significantly missed. Yes, the point spread, when you get lower is so close and could be anybody in anybody out. But two drivers have the chance in that very first stage to lock it in. So they're going to be two drivers under you

watching very closely. I think I mentioned it qualifying. How well they qualify because that certainly is going to be a factor if you want to do well in the first stage, not that they don't already put so much effort into qualifying anyway, but qualifying really has a factor in where you finish the first stage, or at least it can. And I think they'll be extra aggressive,

because 500 laps at Bristol is a long time. A long time for lots of things to go wrong, for a test of the car even. It'll be very much, I think, an attrition race to some senses. So the earlier you can find yourself guaranteed into the next round the better. So I think they will be cautiously aggressive. They won't be too aggressive that they end up

taking themselves out or getting into somebody and breaking a tolling or something like that. But I think they will be cautiously aggressive to find P1 or P2 in that first stage. So they don't have to worry about stage two and then the final stage. Well, I think I also heard you say this this morning. And like, you're right. Like cautiously aggressive means you've got to watch

out for this. But there have been so many mistakes through the first two races. It's really easy to make a mistake at Bristol, not just on the track, but in the pits. I mean, we see guys speed constantly. If you speed on a green flag stop, you're done. Pretty much. And Dini is at the very top of the list in terms of drivers with penalties. She

has 30-something penalties alone on the season. And then on the flip side, I don't have the list in front of me, but there were like four drivers who have had no woes during the first two playoff races. And I'm fairly certain, like 90% certain of William Byron's on that list. It was like William Byron, Logano, Cendric, and like one other one, I think, maybe Bell. And

so that plays well in Byron's favor. But if you're looking at who might make a mistake in the first stage and not be able to lock themselves out of those two drivers, Dini Hanlin comes to mind because I would not be surprised the first time they go down pit road if there is an issue for him. Certainly going to be watching for that Saturday night. Everything

gets started at 6.30 p.m. Eastern on USA and runs all the way through the post-ratio, which is 11.30 Bristol Motor Speedway on NASCAR and NBC. On the USA Network, Kim Kuhn will be a part of our coverage as a pit reporter this weekend. And before I let you go, another USA NASCAR program that we've been watching, the Race for the Championship Docu series. I don't know

if everybody's been watching this yet, but you should be Thursday nights on USA. And you've been pretty prominently featured as one of the journalists who tell you a little bit. Yeah. You do much better jobs for that. I'm more eloquent than I am in putting it all in layman's terms and explaining NASCAR really well. What's that experience been like? What kind of feedback have you got?

It's been really fun. I've gotten good feedback from all of the producers and directors. And they like that I have an opinion. Hopefully I've not been too opinionated that I've upsetting drivers. I think I've laid it out though and explained things how a non-fan would need them explained in terms of the interviews I've done for that. But I think it's just so cool that NASCAR is

doing this and giving people an inside look. We've had tastes of it through other series or at least features before. But this is a completely different thing that hopefully will help fans and non-fans have a new level of respect for the drivers, but then also realize how tough this sport is. Just the lifestyle, how tough it is to win. So I'm excited to see how the

rest of the season plays out in it. And now as you know, we're playing, not catch up, but now it's like succinct. So we are. So they had all this footage to kind of summarize the first part of the season. And now they are literally like banging down the door. And it's like almost, it's not live, but it's like, all right, we have this footage from

this week. And that's going to air next week kind of urgency. Yeah, the first episode was the preseason and the clash at the Coliseum. Second episode was Daytona. And now it's going to run all the way through the Thursday before Phoenix. And it's going to catch up to real time in the 2022 season. So you and I, we're doing interviews this week. Yes, this week we'll

be doing more than a few more. So check that out. You say race for the championship. And check out Kim's last appearance on the podcast. If you'd like to learn more about her that three years ago, she had a great visit here on the NASCAR NBC podcast. But even better, she was able to return right before we do motormouth. So Kim, thanks for being here. I

enjoyed this. Thanks for having me. We appreciate Kim Kuhn for joining us on the NASCAR NBC podcast. Thanks to producer Aaron Feldstein and Motorsports Manager and Family Conboy for coordinating Kim's appearance. Again, you can check out Kim's work this weekend as a pit reporter on our NASCAR NBC broadcasts from Bristol Motor Speedway. As you heard, we taped this on camera just before NASCAR America motormouths, which

is on every Monday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern on Peacock. And you can see the video version of the NASCAR NBC podcast on the Motorsports and NBC YouTube channel. And please subscribe if you visit. There's lots of great bonus content, highlights, features and interviews from NASCAR, as well as IndyCar, MSA, Supercross MotoGP. That's all on the Motorsports and NBC YouTube channel. The NASCAR Cup Series

first round cutoff race, this Saturday night at Bristol, five hours of coverage starts at 6.30 p.m. Eastern Saturday on USA Network. Check out NBCSports.com slash NASCAR for detailed schedules, start times and coverage as always. If you have any NASCAR NBC podcast feedback, you can send me on Twitter at Nate Ryan is my am. Thanks again for listening to the NASCAR NBC podcast. Music