Talladega: Tamer because of concussion concerns? Whats next for making the Next Gen safer? A sublime superspeedway showing for Chase Elliott

Hi, welcome to the NASCAR NBC podcast. Your host Nate Ryan here with Steve Wittart on the Monday after the NASCAR Cup series playoff race at Talladega Super Speedway where you're at the NBC Sports Charlotte studio. Stevie here about to do NASCAR America motormiles to talk about what I think you would agree was a pretty decent super speedway race if you're into really compelling moves by really

good drivers in the draft because I think what we saw Stevie is that the race came down to two best drivers I thought in the race Ryan Blaney win stage one chase L.A. it win stage two and then the duel for the win comes down to both of those guys. You know it was the same dish that's always served at Talladega just a different flavor I

mean that's how I would explain it it's not completely different it's not like all of a sudden the draft didn't matter it's you know it's still speedway racing in my opinion I thought it was a captivating race I thought that it was a difficult race for the drivers to try to navigate to figure out where to be at the right time where to make the right

moves I didn't need any more carnage we had one single correct with the seven and one multi-car wreck with the 21 but in the end I think this bingo ball approach of speedway racing is kind of morphed into this new storyline that I don't really like this whole you know I do think it is unpredictable and in our production meeting I think Brad Dordy said it

the best you know you have to be lucky to get to the finish of the race at Talladega but you shouldn't have to be lucky to win it and that that's that's a very differing thing you have to be lucky not to get caught up in somebody else's mess for 495 miles but when I watch the final five miles I want to see the guy who

performs the best who makes the best decisions who understands what he's doing and I'm I'm not completely ignorant to the fact that it's you know his decision could be good or bad by what somebody else does right but you know it's still a ripple down effect but it isn't random right what we saw in that green white checker is not randomness like you and I aren't

gonna go do it and that's really the key like it gets positioned where you and I could go do it right and I think that's unfair to the drivers that are asked to go do it I think it's not random and and what we saw were the best stock our drivers in the world proving who was the best at that style or anything 100% agree I

mean Ryan Blaney made a move to win stage one I believe around Ham one chase Elliott made a move on his teammate Kyle Larson to win stage two essentially just hung him out and cutthroat but hey he won the stage picked up the extra playoff point and then the closing laps chase Elliott certainly made the really aggressive move to get in front of Eric Jones in

the 43 to get the push he needed to win is there something about Blaney and Elliott that you think makes them good chess players well I'll add that before speeding penalty we had the six-time talent egg of winner Brad keselowski in second yeah good point off from pit road hi Ryan Blaney in second it's the same guys it's so that's yeah that's my point is is

the list is I got Hamlin Blaney Chase Brad Harvick was up there you know there are these guys so Blaney's just really good at it you know when I watch him out the window he is really efficient his blocks are reasonable not overkill he knows when it's time to give up a spot and it's really good watching him get to the end of a couple of

the stages are really like the beauty of it and Dale junior and I had this debate on win Ryan Blaney lost stage two I think it was you know and the ball no it was Hamlin Hamlin losing stage one was the debate right when Blaney beat him to the line right there was communication from Hamlin's crew chief to the spotter that said something like hey you

said he wasn't gonna get there in time obviously he did and it might have sounded accusation it didn't to me it sounded to me like something they had been working on during the week where it was like hey you and Denny need to review that because politely from pit road you were wrong it could have been for you your information wrong or Denny's choices were wrong

or the combination of your information and his decisions lost us that stage not Nana you were wrong I'm at it you it's hey in 120 laps we're gonna do it again for all the money so let's review what we're doing let's dress rehearse right which just like it's not random when you start dress rehearsing at 60 and in or what was the stage yes 60 and

120 before the final stage like it was the same guys come into the line every time a couple of moving themselves at the end of stage two really by choice Hamlin was one that kind of just bailed out that enough but it was the same player and you name the major players that were always talking about it feels like it's super speedway races Blaney Elliott Hamlin

Kislawski and now I think can we add Eric Jones to that mix over the last couple years Michael McDowell again my Mike McDowell and and Eric Jones Eric Jones in the next gen era has definitely shown up now I don't know if it's the next gen era the Dave Ellen's era they run concours can I my word concurrently there you go there's a word I'm looking

for I had to go to my math outsource name Ryan but they you know they they run together so is he good at the super speedways because he now is Dave Allen's or is he good at super speedways because he has the next gen or it's a combination but Dave Allen's and Eric Jones in that 43 car look good when we go play race and is

it as simple as that these drivers are cerebral or more calculating I mean I don't want to paint with too broad a brush but all drivers I guess have a certain level of need to tell all drivers in that field have more ability to connect their brain to their hands and their feet to their butt to make a car do an easy do they all the

weakest driver in that field Sunday is the top one tenth of one percent stock car drivers in the world right like we lose this all time we kind of lost faith we lost touching that with the Danica Eric of you know it was like where's the I'm like okay guys you know she's racing with the top one tenth of one percent of the entire work like

let's understand where she's at right take your best club pro and put them in the you know master see how he does so they're all very talented what makes those guys better than the other you know I don't think it can be figured out you know like I always say I don't know if we know every ingredient in the suit I think it's preparation gets overlooked

you know everybody wants to talk about simulators and setups and I think there are ways to prepare for the speedways preparation including your spotter preparation including your crew chief making sure he's on the same plan being there before you know every time you get there you're better Sam mayor lost hands down lost six finishers race through the triad with a move he will do better next

year like he lost it to AJ he still might have lost it but if you go back and watch the two different races the 12 goes to the outside of the nine and the cup rates and the nine makes forces him to just keep chasing across lanes which is making him point away from the start finish line the one that doesn't force the 16 to do

that is that the difference you know if he forces the 16 and I mean hit him but like just hey I'm gonna open my wheel up sooner than you and make you point to the outside of the start finish line would that be the couple feet that Sam Mayor need I don't know I thought he did great job for 19 year old kid my point is

you know you can't unlearn what he's learned he has it can't take it away doesn't matter what car is it can't take it away he has it Eric Jones he has what he learned to the spring he looked better in the fall you know so I do believe it's it's clear some of it's also they won't be there even if they say they don't they act

like they do there were some drivers it was very clear did not want to be intelligent some non-playoff drivers veterans who don't really have much to race for you noticed we're not racing this hard and I'm not judging yeah it's a long season and and that's a professional he can do whatever he wants yeah and I'm not upset about and I'm not judging it but you

know those drivers weren't in the picture by their own accord you know wasn't a bad car wasn't bad choices they just said hey I'm not doing this you guys just failed out I'm gonna get to one of those guys a little later but first I want to talk about you'd mention that the fact that it was a relatively tame taladega race and but the end of

the stages as you described I heard you described this earlier today there's a sort of this weird phenomenon where each stage has become its own race and the end of stage one the end of stage two the mad scramble between the playoff drivers and you were interested by the fact that the non-playoff drivers it's almost like they don't want to get involved in the mix of

the playoff drivers battling it out when the points are on the line where it's a track position race I mean they can get in there and kind of really upset the apple card here but they kind of almost choose not to it seems so it starts with how the races are called so the first stage had caution so throw that one away yeah the second stage

where gas and goes in the middle such a tight gas and go Tyler retic ran out of gas coming back to the the checkered at one twenty so I was asking myself why why do the non-playoff drivers just say too bad I'm gonna come take four tires because I want to flip the stage and I think it just comes down to the manufacturer help right there

still one of each manufacturer in there so if you're a Toyota we expect you to help you Toyota playoff drivers Ford and Chevy so when the Chevy's all came they all take gas only because that's what suited the playoff drivers so I think they are playing along as should being good soldiers in this in this war between three manufacturers in that I mean that's fascinating like

these races are called only to get the lap 60 take a deep breath four tires fresh drink of rottles on sixty laps more another a main come back in fresh drink of water four tires all right now another a main sixty eight lap a main so it is interesting and the drivers I think deep down you don't want to be and I mean I can use

any name you want Tyler retic Eric Jones do you want to be does Eric Jones want to walk into the bus lot or the garage at the roville after catching the bumper of Tyler retic to win a stage in Rex six playoff drivers I'd probably avoid be like you don't do that yeah and I think that's what you see it's not like they just pull out

of the way but they have the mittens on for sure they have their mittens on interesting and as we mentioned only one multi-car wreck none in the last one hundred fifty laps this comes after a week of discussions about concussions and unsafe cars and many have asked were drivers racing more conservatively because that had been the narrative all week long and I heard you and Jeff

Burton both suggest earlier today that you guys felt this is this wasn't motivated by fear and you in particular said maybe it was motivated by most being more physically responsible that the drivers drove is if they had to pay for the cars they wrecked for the first time and that they finally kind of cared about their equipment I think Burton kind of alluded to that as

well saying like this season has been so unpredictable so much has happened that maybe like discretion was the better part of valor here is that kind of what you guys are getting at that there's a kind of judgment applied here I don't ever want fear to be the driving factor to limit a driver's choices or ability like that's that's not healthy yeah shouldn't be fear right

but I am totally fine if consequences and the results do and I want to believe after all the interviews you know I had you know Danny Hamlin told us after the race overall good day just uh yeah I was able to get chased to push right there to get to the outside I thought about should I go with them and kind of force the 43 up

and I'm like you know it on the bottom I always know I've got somebody coming with help behind me I know I got make down I just you know then I'd be in the middle and it's just a risk wasn't worth going back to 15 you know if I ended up getting stuck in the middle so to me yet this is the three race season that

you have you you points race no Danny very well so I'm like watching him give this interview and I'm kind of reading between the lines he's kind of almost arguing with himself I was on the bottom I knew I needed to get the middle I want to get the middle but if I got the middle I could get taken three wide so I stayed in the

bottom like he almost just played out literally the last laugh in his head and in the Andy said I had a good point staying that's what I wanted if you watch that Taladega race out of 188 laps were too wide for I don't know the number 170 maybe 175 for the green white checkered five miles to determine the victor we are too wide for 4.6 miles

we don't see three wide until we are well off-term it doesn't come off at the white he doesn't come off turn two coming in the back stretch it literally is off turn it's not even off-term for it's kind of like all the way off-term for in the short you heading into the travels when they finally say okay now it's time to go so that that's my

theory that's not fear yeah that is hey if it doesn't work I'm only gonna lose like five points I do it off-term to and get sent in the infield I'm gonna lose 25 points I mean there's 30 cars in the lead lap I mean that that is what I think now look I do believe that when you talk all week long about concussions it probably is

way deep in the back of their mind I don't think any of those guys are driving around afraid the conversation about the cars is there let's not forget that in the after-cup qualifying when all the drivers are sitting in their motor homes Jordan Harrison took a helicopter ride out of Taladega after a fiery crash in a truck fact goodness from one I've read he's been released

from the hospital with some burns though I mean it was a real accident real scary situation helicopter ride needed to thank goodness he's back in North Carolina hopefully recovering you know back to 100% but that has to affect your psyche right nobody has to talk about it you're watching the same truck race I am and I only say that because the X-fini race was very calm

yes there was a wreck the 54 spun down the back stretch but like it doesn't seem coincidental that there was I mean the last major wreck in the next two races correct and now listen the cup race I watched 100 major wrecks it didn't happen I don't want to make it sound like these guys are riding around they're eating ice cream like the five one time

came off turned two crossed up by the nine you can see his door right so I think it is a little bit more give and take a little bit more patience maybe some better driving race cars we have drivers that have now run 20 something close to 30 races in the next gen car getting used to the steering I think it's this combination of you know

because it's not like they weren't pushing right like they were put it was just you know when you push in too wide and you get a guy crossed up there's a lane they have two lanes to work with when you're three wide you don't get to save it because you start pinballing before your talent can get the car you know you need a little bit of

real estate and maybe it's just the fun like trucks can only run too wide maybe the crew chiefs are getting the car like I'm also not saying that the setups aren't to the way where you don't want to be against the fence maybe right maybe the car and the evolution of the setups have driven it back to the bottom like we're too wide is just sort

of the maximum yeah because trucks don't ever go three wide yeah ever yeah there is never ever ever a third lane now I was thought it was because of the number of trucks and good trucks there's really no third-laning I mean there was a couple times but not many certainly a lot more drivers being patients it seemed and there was one driver in particular playoff driver

who may have been regretting that decision Joey Vagano goes in the Taladega with the points lead and he'd been talking Stevie for the last couple of weeks about how he didn't like the fact that you can ride in the back and you can finish in the top 10 he was kind of critical of drivers who have done that at Dayton and Taladega in the last couple

years he said that in the recent weeks and you know he says that that's not really how he wants to do it he feels like you should be rewarded for running up front but he makes a conscious decision this time to hang back on the last restart to avoid the big wreck he essentially gets burned by it he finishes 27th he's still above the cut line

but not nearly as far ahead of the cut line as he could be if he was in the top 15 of the top 10 if you're him and Paul Wolf is crew chief I guess how do you get past that that kind of made a plan that kind of backfire don't you after you've done it the other way for somebody times I haven't done my first

hand research my second and third hand research and a lot of the story lines were that Paul wanted to be a little more conservative because Joey has definitely gotten a lot of accidents recently and the data presented was that you need to cruise a little bit so what I do love about Joey Lugano is you know from all the sound I heard after the race he

never said well my crew chief or my team you know whether it was his choice the team's choice their choice together he took the bullet yeah which I love about Joey Lugano yeah so I haven't done my first hand research to decide how they got there right was this the team decision was a Joey Lugano decision ultimately he's the only one steering the car but what

makes him great is I think he executes a plan as well as anyone in the entire field as art at any race track short pit long pit save tire burn tire so you know it's hard for me to judge because I haven't done my first hand research on how they ended up back back there but it did seem very out of character for the 22 that's

fair and you know as we talked about me Joey Lugano is one of these drivers who's been in these big wrecks at Taladega in recent years he was very vocal after the wreck he was in I believe it was last year that essentially dented his roof after he went airborne that was part of the reason that they redesigned the next-gen car to have this very strong

center section to avoid having the indentations and those types of impacts you did a great job explaining the safety of the next-gen car in the pre-race and in a week of discussion about the rear end you kind of explain why it isn't so simple to just replace the rear end but I also thought it was interesting brag his last key of course is now a team

owner he said that rear clips are a couple of thousand dollars and that he would have no objections he doesn't think there be any great objections from team owners about replacing the Rick Hendrick after Chase L.A. it wins the race Rick Hendrick says sure and Bianchi the athletic there's been a lot of talk this week about safety and different solutions or possible solutions that could be

implemented ultimately it is going to cost money to get whatever that solution is as a team owner are you comfortable having to spend more money on this aspect of the next-gen car so that you've already invested a lot in and you're probably weren't prepared to invest more in absolutely I mean for sure you know our drivers are so important we don't want them hurt and so

if it meant buying all new clips Monday morning I'd do it I'd be happy to do it because we want them safe and feel like Alex or Kurt Bush you know that's a tough that's hard and so I'm I'm all for whatever it takes and I think the teams could fix it but if we if NASCAR wants to do it I think everybody working together we

could do it and I hurry test it and have it on the cars ASAP so in light of that I guess I'm still wondering and you can help explain this like if NASCAR finds things that work at this test that they're doing in Ohio this week on the rear end if they find things that work could they implement it for the last few races and I

know obviously the robo set but is Phoenix set is everything set at this point so can they possibly is it feasible you know I don't know I don't think that the chassis supplier perhaps has the resources or the ability even if they work 24 hours a day seven days a week to have enough for all of the teams to put their cars together to go to

Las Vegas so so this whole conversation I think this is how I see this entire conversation and it took a quote I'm gonna give Rick Alan the credit we were talking about the Rex and he goes man I was just shocked because you know the Alex Bowman hit didn't look bad and Dale Jr was like didn't look man was a huge hit and it was it

them I've crew chiefed him so I analyze Rex and the severity of the wreck by the speed in which the car goes in the angle in which the car goes in but by substantially how the car looks post wreck when a car is destroyed I was a big wreck look at the car so I fall guilty with Rick that when I watched the Bowman wreck or

the Truex wreck which he said on the radio hurts and 200 laughs later he's leading the race I think these are benign Rex because the car looks intact so if the car is intact and the driver says it hurts that's a problem that's a that in my mind is the fundamental problem now I think everybody I think Nazca would tell you the back to stiff the

drivers would tell you the back to stiff they this test that's this week isn't just like prompted from the conversations last week this is from weeks and months so I really believe this whole conversation is really this and it's whether it's safety or steering racks or fires in the rocker panel or whatever it is the car now is controlled by the industry and the parent company

and ask car I say the industry because I do believe everybody gets a little bit of vote in hand in this but in the end NASCAR so what is an acceptable design cycle what's acceptable is it acceptable that the cars have been stiff the whole year and we're 29 races in we haven't we have worked I'm not gonna say no one's working on that's in accurate

people have worked a lot but nothing has been enacted nothing has changed on the car to as a result of that work and that's because they're trying to do all their due diligence so I'm not trying to let anyone off the hook here but the real question is is a season the right design cycle is that acceptable is it 10 races is it five races like

what is the correct and acceptable design cycle for improvements and should it remain the same for all should safety be paramount my gut tells I can argue two sides I believe in NASCAR is trying to redesign the back of this car as correctly as possible to get it right where they feel they probably didn't get it right the first time because they don't want to miss

it the second time that takes a long time now the second side is if we went to Dover and broke right front uprights you know we won't go to Bristol the same uprights they would have been a change so you know I don't know what triggers there are and it's a brand new car but it's 85 or 90% correct so you know I don't know how

you trigger that thing at a race team I had to run a race team when I was controlling the car it was very simple everyone thought I worked on making it go fast no I made it work run every mile first that was my number one job so every Monday when I reviewed the last races there's something I know that would limit us for running every

mile next week to somebody break apart the one my teammates break apart that was my number one priority and then I went from there to trying to go fast right so it's so that's really it's the design cycle that's in question it's no one's intent it's no one's this and if Alex Bowman doesn't drop out if he is the same hit hurts just as bad but

the end result is not these concussion symptoms does the new cycle even change you kind of get what I mean it I am I am ties with the drivers I think they have every right to be upset that 30 weeks is too long but I don't know the correct answer though yeah and this is and now I also want to say this because then Danny said

hey the whole car needs to be redesigned I want to say this never should the car not be worked on it's like we were talking earlier your iPhone update I just got up to what is IOS something or other like someone is right there you have the box I think the next gen box is a look cool it does you know yeah yeah yeah there should

be a permanent list at all times of what's being worked on right the priority order could be set safety obviously should be paramount I think it should be safety one it should be you know making sure the most cars can run all the miles because that's what the dry you know that's what the fans come to watch so that should be one and then the quality

of the race should be right in there there's all these but there should always be a list like after we fix the back and the drivers are like thank you it's softer it's acceptable okay well what's next we don't just call a vacation yeah okay what's next well steering seems to be an issue maybe that's it or is it quality the racing is short tracks or

is it like it's it's okay this this car should be in evolution always the next gen car should never be like I told you it should be like next gen 1.01 right right and we should have the 0.1 to 0.2 to 0.3 to 0.4 small updates the fans might not even see but then if say it's after the decimal maybe it's 1.10 maybe the fans see

that one right but then at some point we're gonna go to point something and that's a major man that's the iPhone upgrade that's the option to go wild but hey but just remind all the fans have you ever updated your iPhone and be like well I don't know how this works now and I used to swipe up now I swipe down and use the thumbprint now

I man now I just stare at my phone like so so but but let's not like Danny almost alluded to it it could still be called next gen yeah what I heard there is this is a car but in five years was still gonna have an extra car I could have none of the same parts yeah it could be totally new 4.05 point 0.0 whatever but

should they then have applying what you're just saying right there which I think is brilliant analogy and insight like for 2023 should they have like a okay design cycle you know race five race 10 race 25 we're gonna have updates at each of these points I want a public ownership of the car that's what I want I know who they all are and I'm not gonna

put their names out there because I don't work for NASCAR I want NASCAR has a million responsibilities TV negotiations marketing schedule safety communications how the how they run the races cautions I mean it's it's endless right we know who the race directors are we know who the cup directors are I want the next gen car director when this guy is in charge of the car and

he's gonna be my point communication about the car he's gonna give us consistent updates about the car now we don't have to get the mud right you know there's a line like you know tell us every nut and bolt would you engage it we're changing but hey man version 2.0 we expect to test here and we're gonna put it on track here yeah yeah like that's

what I'm looking for and now I now listen that's not it when I say a guy I mean a guy who runs a department this isn't a one-man band like one two three people can't design a race car I mean you you're gonna need a lot a lot of people there are definite issues with the next gen car drivers are complaining I completely agree with them

for a entirely new race car we have been fortunate to not have many issues now the issue we do have is a very severe one it needs to be addressed but overall I would give it a pretty high passing grade at the moment it's wrap up by talking rovo and the first question I have so William Byron comes out to dig a scoring no stage points

as we see it around Monday we know he has an appeal hearing on Thursday where he could have some of his points restored from Texas do you like Hendrick motor sports his case for getting any of this points back I know it's really difficult to predict an appeal here I don't know what their case is but I don't like the points penalty at all I think

it's absolutely the wrong approach to the infraction from both tie Gibbs and William Byron when I look at points I look at your car was found to be illegal the pick guns you use were illegal the wheels you put on your car were illegal I don't care if they were an advantage disadvantage that's not the point there's parameters in which all those things are supposed to

be and yours was supposed to be operated with them and they weren't I take a completely different approach to this I look at both high Gibbs on pit road and William Byron as purely it's time for the drivers to pay a hell of a countable for their vehicles when they're on pit road or under yellow I don't want to referee drivers under green because that's called

racing and while you can still gain a loose position both on pit road and on yellow safety should be paramount and should trump all and I don't care I'll go one further at Darlington we saw Anthony now I think it was Anthony now for a day I'll hit John Hunter and even check I think I might have got sick or something like I would have find

him now would have been a much lesser fine because I don't think the any intent was there but I said hey Anthony I'm sorry but it's your responsibility to operate your vehicle in a safe manner under caution we have safety workers we had we watched a truck on fire through turn four or turn to it Paladega and all I wanted to see was the safety workers

there the only way they get there quicker is if everybody plays nice under like you got to give these people room so that's the problem I have with William Byron I don't like points because I don't associate it now 50 grand eight what I'm think I'm like 250 grand or 300 grand I mean like a major financial fine I think 25 points is gigantic five regular

season rims yeah in a three-ray schedule that's like a hundred and fifty point that penalty is gigantic but I'll also think I don't like points in general I would have find a lot of tidegibs and a lot of William Byron I then would have sent out a memo to the drivers said gentlemen we now have in car cameras in every car we have SMT on every

car please be aware that you and you alone are expected to operate your vehicle safely on pet road and operate your vehicle safely under a yellow flag condition if we choose you don't you will be penalized you would be fine it's kind of like what's the NFL find like wrong uniforms and arguing with an official it's the same idea like we have to got to control

those two man we can't let I love the intensity of racing but we gotta we gotta find and not listen I'm as guilt as everybody hey here's your pit road speed you need to do better save costs save gas under yellow like we're asking these drivers to do all these different things which are making these quote rest periods we used to have not rest periods yeah

time for NASCAR to gobble that back up a little bit and be like I don't care what your teams are asking you you the driver now if you're crew chief or your spotter do something to create this unsafe then I'm gonna find them too but I think on pit road and under yellow safety would be what the penalty was for right so Byron as of now

eleven points under the cut line Christopher Bell thirty three points under the cut line he comes into the rovo pretty much must win Alex Bowman we're still waiting here at this point if it will return but he's obviously a must win situation and then you have chase brisco and Austin syndrome currently tied at what would be the cut line so a handicap the rovo for me

last road course race of the year what do you think we'll see in the second round cutoff race I think everybody will run through the finish of stage one so if you don't qualify well you're gonna miss stage points I think everybody's gonna then pit once and run through the finish of stage two so there's gonna be no hiding and no trickery to try to get

some stage points and stage points are gonna be vital and then it's a question whether you stop two or three times you stop at lap 50 or run long into that third stage and only stop twice I say that knowing that every rovo is chaos it has nothing to do with what I just said we had Kyle Larson pit five times after an alternator we had

chase Elliott hit the wall and then win in both win yeah we have Ryan Blaney win after you know a seven-time champ Rex of one-time champ or could be a three-time champ Marcheo's junior like it's a chaos when you go to the rovo I think you have it right Bowman's a must win to be quite honest I don't even care about the points I just want

to see Bowman back in a race car yeah I think the 20 if Christopher Bell talk about highs and lows he's in a must win I have the three the big four bees out I have Bowman Bell briscoe and Byron and Byron assuming the penalty stays the way it stays all right well we can all watch NBC Sunday with this man Steve Littart thanks for joining

us on the NASCAR NBC podcast TV appreciate nice quiet week it's fun we appreciate Steve Littart for joining us on the NASCAR NBC podcast thanks to producer Aaron Feldstein and Motorsports manager Emily Conboy for coordinating Steve's appearance the NASCAR Cup series heads to the Charlotte Motorspeedway Roval this weekend coverage gets started Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern on NBC check out NBC Sports dot com slash NASCAR

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