Texas: Tough times with tire durability; William Byron vs. Denny Hamlin and a missed call for NASCAR; Tyler Reddicks inspiring ties that bind

the race and this is going to be one people were talking about for a long time. Yes, and I want to go and start with something you said when we came back from a break on USA on lap 257 was 78 laps to go. You came back with Brad Dirty from a break and you said it's hardly as crutchies. It's hardly as drivers. They get paid

to run as hard as they can. That's right and it's hard on NASCAR at this point. What kind of call do I make? Where are the tires at? When does safety take the priority? Do we have to run the whole race? We're past halfway Parker. So I didn't realize it then but you were serious. Yes, at this point we had had that hour long red flag

for lightning. We had had this situation with tires being the crop up and you were basically saying you felt as if the right call for NASCAR at that point was maybe just stopping the race. Stop. I still feel that I feel that way today. Yeah. And and I say that and I say that and let me let me put it in the context is so we

go back to Daytona and we have a pop up shower that just surprises everybody although you could see it coming from 70 miles away and we wreck a bunch of cars. So NASCAR airs on the side of safety and I applaud them for it. There was rain in the area. There were a few sprinkles on the racetrack. So we put them under caution. We keep them

under caution. And then there's lightning in the area plus rain and you can see the rain you and we stop. Now we stop because of light. We stop because of rain. We stop because of lightning which is a safety issue. We start the race and every 35 laps are so. We pop a tire and put a guy on the wall and a car that we've already

heard from so many drivers that they feel like the impacts are harder than they've ever experienced in their whole career. We've got a driver that's setting out and car bush. We got a driver who left. To the infield care center on a stretcher and Cody wearer. So we've already have there's some there's some flags here saying hey you know we might look might need to look

at this. So we're just going to send our guys out there and say let's let them go. Yeah it's roulette 35 laps. Let's see what number. Whoa there's a number four. Whoa there's a number 19. You know what I mean whoa here's a number 47. And that's the way it seems. That's safety you know it's that stupid saying we say it all the time safety never

takes a holiday. Why did we have to continue? What was the point of continuing? You know we stop races past halfway because of torrential rain and because of things. We stop races because of lightning in the area and if lightning stays in the air we're not going to start it again. You know and everybody instantly says do we have lights? Do we have lights? Yeah we

have lights. I'm good with lights. I'm good with running at two or three in the morning. I'm not good with popping a tire. Every 35 laps. I'm not good with this car going into the wall. So you know I stand behind it. I was dead serious about it. I'm dead serious about it today. If you're going to talk to talk then walk the wall. And you

know I think sometimes they skip. And that's car will skip instead of walk in the wall. They just we're going to skip right by that one. And they skipped right by one yesterday. Yeah. And you know and we were out of tires and we were out of tires which you know godly man how can you run a spade. We're going to go to the sport where

it's 20 some odd million dollars a year to run a car and a charter is up to 20 or 25 if we believe what's out there right now. But you know what we're going to help you guys save money. We're only going to limit your tires. You know what I mean we're going to limit how many tires you can have. Tires are like less than 2000.

We're going to limit that. We got you. We got your back on that one. Which is just astonine. Honestly that for me that that's just done a quake and I've said that forever. I've seen that shouldn't go in the same same senate you know what I mean it's it's an oxymoron. Kind of like what you're saying that safety also should be paramount. Paramount always should be

paramount. You should make every call. Every call should be made from a safety standpoint. And I don't think that we should have continued. I just don't think that. Because at this point I'm looking back at the box score and this was right after the Kevin Harvick yellow. Yes. He had become the second leader. Second driver to crash while leading had happened to chase a little earlier

it would happen to Martin Truex Jr. He was a lot of players. And I've heard drivers Danny Hamlin be in the most vocal slam good year. And that's undeserved. You shouldn't slam good year. I think they're part of this issue. So let's put their 33 and a third percent in. Now let's put NASCAR's 30% in. And I think that's a lot of the things that I've

done. 33 and a third percent in. Because we don't practice anymore. We don't do a lot of this stuff. So maybe these issues would have shown up. I don't believe they would have. I don't honestly do not believe they could have practiced for two days in 95 degree heat. And I don't believe this issue would have shown up. I think the cooler temperatures. These guys running

lap times that were within four tents three tents of qualifying speeds. Once they came back you know you're you're just hammering it man. It's just sticking with this tire and it's your hammering it. And like I said earlier you know if the coffee machine says don't touch hot and you touch it. That's not the coffee machine's problem. If good year says we recommend 40 pounds and

you want to run 20. That's not good year's problem. You got to take some of that liability too. Because you've taken a product that was designed for one thing. And you're trying to make it do something else. And you think you can make it better. And it does make it better. I'm not saying it doesn't make it better. But if it's if it's makes it better

for a short period of time. And then you have catastrophic failure. Then that's a gamble you choose to take. Good year didn't choose to take that. So don't blame good year. You know you can't blame good year for that. You got to go back to your crew chief. You got to go back to where you're at. So I think everybody's got a little piece of the

blame on what went on down there. And for a change I don't believe the track has any any anything in this. I mean they just run it. You know I mean they put their stuff down. They put the resin down. Everybody run through it all day Saturday. Everybody do it. Did they're thing? Nobody complained. And even and I heard a couple of guys say well you

know the resin. The resin when it cooled off. You know that the speeds picked up. They quit running in a resin. They went to the bottom of the race track. Where it wasn't there. It's like the resin needs temperature. It needs something to make it work. So they went to a different place. So that's got nothing to do with it. I think the tracks maybe the

only one that that doesn't have any blame here. Yeah. I mean it seemed like what you heard most guys talking about was because of the hour long delay for the weather. The track cooled down. It was not a lot of speeds picked up and that was what created the loads on the tire that maybe teams weren't anticipating because they thought it was running in really hot

temperatures. Exactly. The loads wouldn't be as high. The speeds might be lower. So I want to move on to the tire discussion eventually. But before we leave the idea of shortening the race because I think it is worth discussing. You were talking about doing it with 78 to go which would be roughly I guess a little bit more than a hundred miles to go and a

500 mile race. It's a playoff race playing devil's advocate. People might say well can you have the integrity be compromised if you shorten a race? I feel as if even though it's a 500 mile race and you're coming up a little bit short to your point. I mean at that stage of the race that that juncture I feel like we would sort of like play that

enough to reach a good place. So here's the thing. And once again we lose sight. I think and I completely understand what you're asking. Yeah. Okay. And the direction you're going in I understand that. But I'm going to throw the safety chip into the power. And that Trump said which Trump said. Trump's everything. I don't care what fans think. I don't care about your integrity. I

don't care about anything. What that what I did was I just protected 33 drivers that were out there. That's what I just did. Okay. I just had their best interest in heart. Their life, their livelihood. I just said okay we're stopping because I'm not I'm not going to put a driver in danger. I'm not going to put a pit crewman in danger ever. They've said that

we're not putting anybody in danger. I'm ending it right here. So I don't care. I honestly don't care. And I will say this whole heartedly. What a fan thinks. What the media thinks. What anybody thinks when it comes to safety. Safety should always be the top priority. So you know I think when you when you looked at it. If you would have stopped it at that

one point. You know when it looked like that's the direction we were going in. You know you had a couple of guys that would have come out and still had their cars. And would have had decent finishes. But it's not it wouldn't have shaken up. I don't believe it would have changed a lot of where we were at. You know. These guys that already had their

issues. Meaning you know chase and some of those guys. And these guys were all running in the top 10 or 15. And that's kind of where they all finished up in the top 10 or 15. Yeah. And at that point. Oddly enough. I mean when Harvey crashed your ex junior was in the lead. So you still would have had like a non playoff non playoff. Again

not that that should factor. Yeah. But at all. Yeah. It did really change that. I mean you're right. Like the safety chip is paramount. And I just want to re emphasize this that it's not just about the tires in this situation. This is a little bit of a referendum on where the car is. That's right. It is. The car is. And a place where you don't

want to put these guys. That's right. That's right. Where they're running in the wall at high speed. Yeah. Yeah. You do not want these guys. You want these cars to stay off the wall at all cost. Because we we've seen curts. We saw Cody wears yesterday. We've heard these drivers. Danny didn't run at Darlington because of the accident at Daytona. Right. Because his body was still

sore a week later. A week later. He was still so beat up. He didn't want to chance it and get in another car. So this is not what we've heard from drivers last year, year before year before that. You know they'd they'd race on Saturday and get in a wreck. They'd race on Sunday. They'd race on Sunday. Get in a wreck. Be back on Friday and

a truck and an and an Xfinity car and whatever. But it's it's a little we're hearing a different narrative coming out of the driver camp. Yeah. About this car. And NASCAR has said. Yeah. There there. There may be some issues. We're working on them. You know we're working and I applaud NASCAR for continuing to look at it and continue to work at it. And you know

the driver council with Jeff Burton and those guys they are moving the ball. It's very small movements right now. But it's movement. And this was an opportunity. I felt like for NASCAR for people to step up and say, Hey, they do believe this. They they you know we do believe there's something here. We're going to stop this. And we missed an opportunity. Yeah. I mean you're

right. The narrative is different. Harvick was tweeting about today that he was still feeling sore. He was doing like extra treatment on his body day. We heard Alex Bowman say that after yesterday's crash that it looked innocuous. But it's like the hardest crash he'd ever been in. This is a guy who once crashed a sprint car and was in intensive care for weeks. Yeah. I think

NASCAR and definitely needs to be mindful of what drivers are saying. The tires Rick mast tweeted that the Texas race reminded him of the tire war days. That was nearly 30 years ago. That was good year versus Hoosier. As Rick mast said, those were not a lot of fun. And you were in a hundred percent agreement as you're quote tweeted Rick mast about that. Why was

this race reminiscent of the tire war days? Because you just waited for somebody to blow a tire. You just waited for somebody to bounce off the wall and and be hauled off on a stretcher. You were just waiting. You know what I mean? And and you know it was it was just a game of it. I know it sounds crazy. And people think that race car

drivers have that thrill seeker put it all on the line. That's do a boys man. You know that you know swatched buckling thing. Whatever you want to call it. But they don't it's a calculated risk. You know you you think about it. You you know who works on your cars. You know a lot of things. What we didn't know during that time was how hard you

could run this tire. How far you could run this tire. What this tire was going to do. So it was truly there were races that were truly that you had to strap in that car and put on your helmet and say, well, let's go for a round of roulette right here. And then something would happen and they would reset and we'd say, okay, who's next? And

and that's a bad place to be. That is a bad place. Ward Burton hit harder more times than anybody I've ever seen. I mean he was just he would run that thing man. And and Rick I mean a lot of a lot of us did. You know we were a good year guy. We I never came off the good years. One race I ran Hoosiers because

they wouldn't let the good years run at Polkano. I think it was. That's the only race I ever ever ran the others. But it was not there. There's areas we need competition in this sport. And there's areas we don't fuel is one of the ones you don't. It never needs to be a question that you've got better fuel than I've got or vice versa. Entires are

the same thing. That needs to be. It's the same asphalt for everybody. It needs to be the same tire for everybody. So that that's taken out of that equation. And you know whether if we're going to run good years. We're going to run good years. If we're going to run Hoosiers. Fine. If we're going to run continental or firestone or whatever it may be. I'm good

with any of them. But just pick one. It was not a good time in this sport. It was not a good look for the sport. Yeah. I did see some comments. Somebody who I respect a lot and who's opinion I value. But the little bit of the younger set. Younger than you and I certainly tweeted last night. Maybe tire competition is worth exploring again. Because like

you said, I mean obviously last night good year takes a lot of heat. They're taking a lot of heat from drivers. And I'm not going to completely absolve them entirely. But tire competitions especially in stock car racing do have this checkered history series injuries fatalities. I mean that's generally what happened. It happens when you push the envelope with tires in terms of trying to make something

that's a faster product that's not as durable. It is okay. It is the team's job to push the envelope with the equipment they're given. It's not the manufacturer's job to have a finger on the scales on that. And to say, well this week we're going to Daytona Daytona is a big race man. So we at X tire company we're going to do the X tire company.

We're not going to tell the teams but we're going to do this. And it's a better tire for X number of laps. But then it just it's catastrophic failure. So you can't have that. And that's what we had with the with the last tire war here. When we had Hoosier and we had good year going at it. It was not again. It is amazing to me

that no no one got hurt worse than what they did get hurt. If we had had a concussion protocols during that period of time. Honestly there had been a lot of guys. That missed a lot of races. And that's how simple it is. And you can just go back and check the files man. Because they'd have been a lot of guys that missed races. When we

talk about tire management Kyle. What should be the expectation for. And you know we saw Rodney Children's tweet today about this. You know you alluded we heard a ham on talk about this last night. We've seen Kevin Harvick come on on this elite drivers and teams in the Cup series. They're always looking for you know the optimized setup. They're always looking for what is going to

make us the fastest. And if they discover. That as Rodney Children's talked about this morning that there might be free speed in an area where we can. Yeah we can push the limits on tire pressure. A set up adjustment. They're going to look for that. But is there a fine line between being rewarded for kind of conserving your equipment. But also not being randomly eliminated. Because

the equipment that you're being given doesn't measure up to the standards that elite drivers and teams expect. Yeah. They're probably is. Yeah. You know and listen to simple answer is yesterday is is like okay. We just tell them all to slow down. Right. Right. You know. I mean okay. I hear you. I hear you. And that is that is the that's to narrow it down. That

is a very simplistic answer. That encompasses the solution. And it does. Because I believe if they had gone from running. If they had stopped running those 29 20s and 29 15s and 30s and gone back to running 29 90s and 30 flats. You probably wouldn't have this issue. Because you're not loading the tire the way it was. Yeah. You're not doing that. At the same time.

At the same time. It is your job to optimize every piece that's given you. That's your job as a crew chief. That's your job as a as a team. Now. If I'm going to look at it that way. And I'm going to look at it the way Rodney and those guys look at it. Then I've got to be responsible. For the failure. I have to take

that burden. I have to shoulder it. Okay. If I'm going to run. If I'm going to cheat the system and run lighter frame rails and all. If you could do that. Again. And there was times when people did that. You know, in light roll bars and stuff. And my driver gets hurt. That's back on me. It's not on NASCAR. So if I'm going to look for

that free speed. And a tire. Did I know when it has a failure is going to send my driver. And my car into the wall at 170 or 80 miles an hour. Shoulder that. Shoulder that and step up and and take it. You know, put on your big boy pants. Take it. But don't when it happens point. That's good. Your fault. That's good. Your fault. They

should have known we were going to do that. No. That's not good. Your fault. Right. I will defend. Good year all day long for that. You know, I will. That's not their job. You know, I mean, it's not. It's not. They give you what they consider. The optimum tire. The range of tire pressures that are going to work. That's why they go test. That's why they

run their models. Just like you run your models with your simulation. They do. They do the same stuff. And they say, here are the parameters. If you go outside those parameters, that's not their fault. I am sorry. That is not their fault. I don't know what world we live in where you can blame them. And I do know it's this world. But because everybody's blaming everything.

But do you understand what I'm saying? I know what you said. So. So if I if I am a crew chief and Rodney's one of the smartest guys in the garage and understands that. He is if it's a Rodney children. If it's Rudy, if it's Alan, whoever it may be. You know, and I'm not I'm not pitching. I'm just saying, if I make crew chief and

I make that call, I have to shoulder that. I have to shoulder that when my driver sets out for six months. That's only I can't put that back on good year. I can't put that back on NASCAR. That's got to be back on me. So I think I think some of that is, you know, it I understand the mentality. But at some point in time, you

have to look at tire management for in the in the old days. So I think that was here's a set of tires. If I just run them as hard as I can run them, they're going to be worn out in 20 laps. All right. My job is to make them last 30 as a driver. My job is to make them last 40 as a driver. This

is not tire management. Okay. This is tire optimization. Right. Okay. And there is a difference between that. Okay. This is not about tire management. Tire management again is making that tire last longer. And the last part of the run be the fastest car on the race track. Not the first part of the run. So I look at it at that way as they are just trying

to optimize what they have found as a loophole. But along with that loophole, there is catastrophic failure. That's sort of why I wanted to get out was that the consequences are kind of what is an issue here. Because Tyler Redick says, Hey, we knew the tire wear was going to be a problem. We know it's a practice and we were a little bit more conservative. He

and Randall Bernepo said, Look, if we're going to give it a little bit speed to make the tires live, we're going to do that. It would just it would be nice, I guess, if Tyler Redick can be rewarded for making that choice. But at the same time, a team that might have pushed it on air pressure is like the consequence isn't, Hey, your tire pops and

you go in the wall. It's Hey, your tire just gives up a lot more. Goes a lot slower over the course of a run. But it doesn't fail. Yeah. And that's what you would, that's what you would hope. Okay. Now the problem with that is. And seriously, the problem with that is is good year brings a tire that they feel will do everything that you just

talked about. And the drivers crucify them in the press because they didn't grip the racetrack. You know, it drops off too much. There's too much drop off. There's two and a half second drop off in this tire. And God forbid, they actually have to drive the car because it doesn't stick and it doesn't drive the way it is. It should be. So to come with an

ultra safe tire to save the crew chiefs and to save the teams from themselves. Good year is going to get crucified. And they will. We've seen a before man. We have seen it a million times before. You know, so I think you have to go. Good year has been a protector of this sport. And I'm, I know I sound like I'm singing good years, praises and

everything. But don't you think, listen, you know, when I won that race at Dover on concrete, good year had tire issues all day long on Saturday. And you know what they did? Hey, boys, we're not running those tires. It's not safe. It's not safe. Everybody send home and send in this compound. And that Sunday morning, they brought in a different kind of tire, a different compound

tire. And we ran a race. We had to practice that morning and ran a race. And that was good year raising their hand. That was good year saying, this is wrong. So was it the perfect tire for that race that we ran on that Sunday? Probably wasn't. They just said, this is going to be a hard tire. We know it's going to last. And that's what

we had to make work. So what NASCAR has asked Good year to do is we're going to take this new car to this track, build me the optimal. The perfect tire. Could your attempts that if NASCAR said we're going to take this car and go to this race track, give me a tire that will survive 10 pounds of air. Okay. A hundred and forty degree track

temperature. All right. And it's not going to wear out. And good year will say, okay, here's one. You know what I mean? And we'll do that. But that's not what good then NASCAR asked for. NASCAR won't you want that speed? You want that driver's say, man, if you want to drive it, it feels good when I get down here, man, you just go back to the

gas and all that. You don't want the bad side of it. You know what I mean? But there's got to be a, there's got to be a negative to have that type of tire. Or there's going to be a negative. I won't say there's got to be there's going to be a negative on drop off on maybe no tire wear. And listen, maybe we go back

to four sets of tires and no tire wear. If you want to, if we're going to limit it, you know what I mean? But at the same time, I think you're just going to get crucified. You know, and now we're back to perception as reality. And that's what is happening in the good year today. It's perception is they brought a bad tire. When in reality, they

didn't bring a bad tire. The tire was used, it was used the wrong way. And I want to say this before we go, before we, we keep hammering this is this. There were what? How many cars start to race? 38, 36, 36, 36 cars start to race. Even though we're talking about a large percentage of seven or eight, you know what I mean? When you talk

about, you know, Christopher Bell twice, four and true X in those guys, there are a lot of guys didn't have issues. Yeah. A lot of guys didn't have issues. A lot of guys that ran fast didn't have issues. Well, not just Reddit, but Ryan Blaney said it too that they looked at the tire wear after practice and said, we got to back it off. That's right.

So a lot of guys looked at it. So you can't blame that. You got to give those guys kudos for saying, hey, yeah, we see the problem. You mean, did these guys not see it? Are were these guys just willing to ignore it? You know, and again, I think I'll go back whether and and I'll defend Rodney Children's on this is I think they were in

the former group. Meaning they had backed off. They weren't that close. But when the speeds picked up to qualify in laps, then then they they were just close enough that they went over that line. Right. On how how much they punished the tire. And that's where you ended up with guys having tire. Failed every 35 laps. But meanwhile, I'll just say that we'll put a period

on this by saying this. I think redic, legano, Blaney, I think they all went the last run on 63 laps on their tires. So there's something to be said for that. All right, moving on to the next controversy. William Byron versus Danny. Yes. Someone. So Danny Hamlin squeezes Byron into the wall. I see my Cam one felt he had done it accidentally that they didn't make

contact Byron felt very aggrieved. He hits Danny Hamlin under the next caution when Martin Tricks Jr. had spun out from the lead Byron and tells Parker Kligerman. Yeah, I mean, he ran me out of room and bit the toe link and it's where lucky we finished. So got in me to, yeah, obviously, spin him out over there. But I'm obviously, you know, pissed off and just

not going to get run like that. We've always run so well. Erase so well together. So I don't I don't know what it was all about. I mean, the 19 took his air away and he ran out of race track. So we chose to run me out of race track completely. And again, like, look, it's not like it was just like, like, I mean, I thought

we were going to be done. So you ran into him off purpose off turn four. I don't know. I, I mean, obviously, yeah, I went to go show my Displosion. I didn't mean to, you know, hit him and spin him out. There's a ton of guys that do this and, um, and go do something like that. I see it all the time. So, um, yeah, I'm

just not going to get run like that. And, um, yeah, there's really no reason. I mean, we're running second and third, I think. And, um, you know, had a shot to win. And, um, killed our car for sure. So, um, that was a bummer. You talked to him about it? Uh, yeah, I guess so. We'll probably talk. I mean, look like we've never had issues. So

I don't, I didn't really get it. But I'm not just going to be like, oh, don't normally have issues with this guy. I'm not going to be mad about it. So it was, uh, yeah, it was uncalled for and, um, feel like we handled it. Denty tells Kim Koon. I guess we can just break each other into caution. I tried to break him back, but, um,

I'm going to say, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I'm going to go, uh, I don't think we touched. Uh, I got a look, but I don't think we touched, but obviously, uh, he's

sent us through the infield on other caution. He said he likely needs to talk to you, but you guys haven't had any prior incidents. What's that conversation going to be like? I mean, you know, I, I, I keep hearing these guys, but, you know, I just, I'll just add it to the list of, uh, guys when I get a chance, they're going to get it. Gonna

get it later in the playoffs. There's just something that carries over to next year. It all just works itself out. We'll be racing each other at some point and he'll lose a lot of spots because these, you know, racing me. So it's just, uh, it's, this is hard racing. Obviously, um, I'm fine with hard racing, but recommend me undercautions. Obviously, uh, not what we were, uh,

uh, bargain for. Let's work our way through this. I guess starting with, because NASCAR didn't act here because they said that they did have eyes on William Byron spinning, Denny Hamlin under caution. Should Byron have been penalized? First of all, if NASCAR were to see it, do you feel like NASCAR missed a call there that they should have penalized William Byron for what happened? That is

a great question because I'm going to say if you spend somebody under caution, the answer is yes. You should be penalized because I'm going to go back, throw my safety chip back in because you have safety workers on the track. When the whole point of a caution is stop, slow down. We've got some eye in trouble. We got to send somebody out there. Okay. I think

drivers forget that too. I think a lot of people forget that. That's, that's, the caution means slow down, man. We got to get somebody needs help. So I think you should be penalized. There should be ramifications for running into somebody under caution. Now, I don't know. I've not seen the ratings for yesterday's race. Nor by yet. But let's just say, let's just say a million and

a half people watch the race. So you're telling me a million and a half people saw it and the people and the NASCAR standing in their little suite up there didn't see it because we talked about it forever. Throughout that caution. That whole caution lapse long. Yeah, we talked about it. Yeah. You know, which was eight or 10 minutes. Yeah. So saw, I can't believe they

missed it. I don't, I don't buy that. Okay. I don't believe honestly when you see his end car camera, when you see, when I see his end car camera, I believe he meant to run up there and in the words of the great Delan Hart senior, Radalist cage, Byron, to buy her in the end. You're okay. Bumping and say, don't appreciate dude. Yeah. I think he

called him just right as they come through that little travel right there and just sending him out in the grass. As one car we talk about him, we talk about these cars not lining up and not not being able to push all the time. You know what I mean? And being in the wrong place. If you watch Denny's car as as they come through there, it

moves to a certain. He hits him in a wrong place and sends him around right wrong and different. Only two people know. Oh, I'm not sure. Only one person knows William Byron. He's the only one that knows. Okay. So we can, we can talk about, but it did sending him out through the grass. So if I'm going to penalize Byron, I got a penalty now. Okay.

To come back on a Tuesday. No. I'm not going to penalizing. That's got to be back on me as as the official. It's like watching an NFL game on Monday morning as an official and saying, I missed that call. You just missed it. I can't go back and take that holding call totally changes the game. You let the game go. And you missed the call. That's

back on you. So I think NASCAR has to take responsibility for that and say, miss the call. We're not going to let it happen again. We'll put more eyes on TV cameras or on monitors, whatever we'll do the best we can. Just as NASCAR had again had rain at Daytona. And yesterday just stopped and said, we're not going to let it rain on this race track.

They learn from their mistake. Okay. Learn from this. If you truly missed this call, then you're going to be like, you can't call it. Making a call on a Tuesday is worse than the comments they said. We didn't see it. Yeah. It doesn't feel right to me to retry out to finish him. I think they might. But I agree with you. And it also, it also

feels wrong to me. And the guy who really got hurt here was Denny. Yeah. Denny went from being third sector or third or whatever to be in way back in the pack and had to work as a way all the way back through traffic and got up to finish 10th. But you know, potentially could have won the race. It doesn't address that at all. I don't

want to put you on the spot K.P. But no, that's fine. I mean, most of the time, I'm going to be in the race track. I'm going to be in the race track. I'm going to be in the race track. I'm going to be in the race track. I'm going to be in the race track. I still told Nascar officials, namely Scott Mauer, said. When we

were in the tower, we were paying more attention to the actual cause of the caution up there and dispatching our equipment. The way Environmental Day Hamlin thing, we had no eyes on. We saw Denny go through the grass, and by the time we got to a replay that showed the incident well enough to do anything to it, we'd gone back to green, but I'm not sure

that that issue is completely resolved as of yet. So we'll be looking at that when we get back to work. But as I said, as we said, they had eight laps under yellow to sort this out. What do you think is going on in the scoring time? No idea. No idea. And I've never been privy to set an erase and see how hectic it gets. I

know it gets hectic. Listen, it's like mission control. You're trying to land a man on the moon, and you've got 40 of them on the moon. I know it's incredibly hectic. I give them that. But you've got, you've put all these officials on Pit Road, you've put cameras on Pit Road, you know when there's equipment outside the box, you know when somebody's over the wall that

much too quick, you've got all those replays, you've got all that. How could you not have this? How can you not have this? This is actually on the racing surface. You know what I mean? I mean, it's the actual thing. Actually, there and they have an incur video. Yeah. You've got all this stuff. You've got so many, so many different things. So I don't, I felt

like, and I said it before we started is, and I hate to say it, but this is how I feel is they were better off not to say anything. Just say we missed it. That's it. If that's what you want to say. But the explanation, it's like you can sit there and be quiet and have people think you don't know what you're talking about or you

can start talking and remove all doubt. And they started talking and they removed all of them. They pulled out that they don't know what they're talking about. Yeah, you know, I mean, it was just one of those things where it's like they should not sit any, I would not sit anything, I believe. Step away from all that Lord Byron, this felt a little bit out of

character for young William. Yes. And it took me back to when he got wrecked at Darlington, you know, bumped out of the lead by Joey. It almost seemed as if he was trying to send a message not just to Denny, but maybe he did everybody like, hey, I'm tired of getting pushed around here. Even though, again, like I don't think he and Denny really made contact.

It almost felt as if he was kind of over identifying what was happening. Would you make a with. So here's what I made. Here's what I took from it. I think it made me, I think what happened. Honestly, made me look at Darlington a little bit different. Huh. Because I didn't think that what he and Joey did, he, he getting into joy and taking the lead.

I didn't think that was a big deal. I just thought it was racing. Byron, William gets hit and he's kind of calm when the race is a win. So yesterday, he's racing. And he doesn't get touched. But really what happened was 300 yards before they get to the end of the corner. It's when the wreck started. Okay. Because Danny gasped up, powered up, and they just

started to drift that way, drift that way. Then Denny realized they were too far out. And you can see the fire come out of Denny's tailpipes as he gets off. As he checks up. Denny checks up and turns, but it's too late. That started way back over there. Yeah. You know, I mean, people look right here, but that's not where it, that's not where it started.

It started way back over there. What Byron was mad about there was he felt like Denny drove him up there. And he probably felt like he did it on purpose. You know what I mean? Whether Denny did or not, I don't know, only Denny knows that side of the story. But that's what he felt like. And he felt like I don't appreciate the way you raised

me. Darlington, I go back. And he was like, yeah, I raised you wrong. I'm guilty. So I'm not going to say anything. You know what I mean? And that's what I took from it a little bit was to say maybe he did take some responsibility for what I'm doing. What went on in his quiet way, what he's saying here is, I, you know, he, he, God,

this kid so much reminds me of Jeff Gordon. Yeah. And a lot of ways where poking, poking, poking, he does nothing. And then you poke him one time. And it's like, oh my gosh. It's the incredible hope. You know what I mean? I mean, so many, so many similarities on how he does things. And the way he reacted to this really surprised me. When I heard

he's interviewed, it really, it's really surprised me too because that though, well, William, man, that's pretty good there. But I think, I think it was, it's a broader message to say, I deserve to be here too, man. I deserve to be here. I deserve to be racing. I deserve to be where I'm at. We had fought our way back. And he felt like, and he said

it. That took us out of the win. That, that took the win away from us because it messed up our car just enough that it took the win. And I can't argue that because he had a fast car all day long. It's a great Jeff Gordon comparison all the way down the car number. I didn't thought about it. Yeah, it's time for our motor mouths of

the race presented by eBay Motors. And this is what we talk about a quote from the race weekend. And this quote comes from the race winner who I did promise we get to eventually Tyler Reddick, who now is one twice since announcing his impending departure in 2024 for 2311 racing. And now is one once since RCR announced that Kyle Bush will take his number eight team

next season for a church oldest racing. So Tyler Reddick was asked after the race, you know, how things are going with the number eight crew. And Tyler said, I love my team. I've never been as close as I am with this group as I have been with with anyone else. And, you know, it's a type of bond and, and, and, and, and a group and the

friendship that we have that will outlive our 10 year together as a driver and as a team, you know, we're already joking around about, you know, and years down the road when, when I'm running somewhere else, we'll probably still be doing the same things we're doing now. We'll probably still be spending, spending time together hanging out doing that sort of thing. That's just who we are.

So yeah, we're making the most of this for sure. You know, it is unfortunate that things do have to come to an end. And as it turned out, you know, it's coming to a close a little bit sooner than we all initially thought when, when I made my announcements. But it's the direction that that RCR needs to take for, for their long term goals. And I

understand that. But they're a great team and they're going to have a lot of fun and they're they're getting a really good driver. If I could go through the list and pick a driver, that's the guy. So for, for my team and those guys, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I

can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't care about a lot. I'm really glad they're going to have him. So in my question, cold is that normally we see situations like this employed. Yeah, for whatever reason, the number 18. I mean, yeah, they're out of the playoffs. They made the playoffs. And now they've been eliminated

from convention. But they're still win or race here. They won a race after Tyler. They said there, I will take this. I will break this down into a couple different areas. I do believe that he believes in them and they believe in him. And they have from the first time he set his little rear end in that car. Round over that group just believed in and

tolerated. They just believed in what he could do. You know, when children's tapped him on the shoulder and said, come on, children's believed in him. So he went to an organization that they believed, you know, and they believe they could do something. And they've done something. And they've got better and better and better and better. And you don't just because I'm going somewhere else, or you're

going somewhere else. That means we can't be friends and can't that you don't believe in me. Now the hierarchy, I mean, in Richard, I'm sure there's some harsh feelings there from the standpoint of business. But that doesn't the business side did not change Richard's children's belief that Tyler Reddit could drive a race car. Just didn't, you know what I mean? It didn't change any of his

crew members. So haven't said that. I like what Tyler had to say. I like what he complemented Kyle Bush and what he has to say there. This is the predicament that this team and RCR finds themselves in is they have to continue to perform to sell sponsorship and the show Kyle Bush that this is a good team. That this is a team he can come to

and win races. That this is a team that if he believes he can win championships, they believe in him too. So they can't just fall off the face of the earth. They can't just quit given Tyler Reddit stuff. They got to continue. You know that you're you're down that you've reached that point of no return with six races to go. You know what I mean? I

mean, it's only six races you get you and you say it's only six races. You got to keep winning races. Oh man, that's what we've been trying to do all year. You know, but you're at that place where they can't back away from that. They have to. So it doesn't surprise me that RCR. It doesn't surprise me in Tyler Reddit. It doesn't surprise me. And anybody

that works on that car and any of those people that do anything at RCR because they're racers. All those guys are, you know, and they've not been up to to where their standards always were in recent years. I've said that and I'll stand by that. But at the same time, they're still racers man. And they still go to the racetrack and want to win. So that

good on Tyler Reddit for for what he had to say there. That was that was a good. Yeah. That was good stuff. I think it tells you a lot about why the kids believes in them. Why they've continued to have success. That was our motor miles of the race presented by eBay Motors at eBay Motors. You can be your own pit crew with one heart and

22 million parts right at your fingertips. Get the right parts at the right prices eBay Motors dot com. Let's ride. So we're about to ride on out of here so you can do NASCAR American motor miles. But before we do, Taladega up now. Next. So as if Texas isn't crazy enough, there is still no one locked into the third round. No one locked in the next

round. We have our fourth consecutive race in the playoffs without having playoff points from a win. Game by the win and restart it with the non-playoff driver. We're winning. Now we have Tyler Reddit win. He's eliminated for contention. So what strikes you about these playoffs and that no one is really seizing it by the throat. No one is locked in going to the most terrifying track

now on the circuit. This is the piece that surprised me. And I said it yesterday. I said a couple. Things that it's like a couple of years ago, we had the big three. Yeah. Okay. We're sitting here. We are sitting here with six races ago. And a few years ago, we had the big three. And now we sit here and the question is, who's it going

to be? So it went from the big three to who's it going to be? And it's like, that's fascinating. This short a period of time in this sport at this level. Nobody has has taken it. Joy Logano has been as good as anybody else. Christopher Bell was until this last weekend. You know, with with his finish, but they're still not they're not dominating performances. This is

just like a sea of mediocracy. Yeah, you know, I mean, I mean, and I and I hate to say that. It's a truth. These are the best that we have. Yeah. But nobody seems to want to rise or catch the wave and ride it all the way to Phoenix. You know, nobody. Nobody has done it yet. And and and it's not that they're not trying. That's

the fascinating part to me. It's not that they're not trying. They just can't get their head above water. They just they just can't get going. We did the thing yesterday. On who's the next four out and everybody except for me everybody pick both both track out drivers. Just ain't your man. Yeah, everybody picked chestaches. It's where yesterday they gain more points per organization. Then any other

organization. Any other word just ain't moved to second. You know, and and and this and I think Daniel's six or seven. They're eight. The right. He's above the cut line. So you look at it and you think, okay, how did that happen? How did all the pundits say you're out? And then they do this. You know what I mean? It's back to me and Alex Bowman.

But at the same time it's like, that's what fascinates me. And now we have to go to Talladega and the Rover in this round. And you know, and that's why I picked some I picked Danny Hamlin to be out. You know, I picked the 12 car of of Ryan Blaney to be out because they've not grabbed this opportunity by the throat yet. What makes you think

they're going to do it at these two places. And and listen, I'm hoping they do because I think Danny and has had one of the best seasons, you know, and and the big picture of of the year. I think he's had one of the best seasons. But you can't make mistakes. You can't do things and you can't have things like yesterday happen. Make another driver mad.

And then he sends you to the back. And that's the way it is. So I am fascinated. I also and if Talladega prints it, please just send me my my percentage because I said that Talladega should have the have a t shirt made that says. The original wild card. I mean, 69 because that's what they've been since 69 and they first went there and had tire

issues. It's been a wild card race. So many first time winners. So many things have happened there. So and that's what should scare these guys. That's what should scare these guys that are in the playoffs. Go in there. Is anything can happen on any lap. You could lead this thing all the way to the final lap. Eric Jones coming out of turn four and finishes 9th

10th 11th 12th. We've seen it so many times that the guy leading or running in the second just barely finishes in the top 15th or 15 or 16. So it's a it's a fascinating place. It's going to be a crazy weekend. No one is safe from Joey Lugano. 30 points above the cut line to Alex Bowman in 12 30 points below the cut line. Anybody could

fall out. But I like Ross just 18 points above in second. And he won the most recent race at Talladega. And don't forget this man hasn't been championed before. Yes. Which is why we love having him on the NASCAR NBC podcast. Thanks for being here man. Thank you man. Appreciate it. We appreciate Kyle Petty for rejoicing. Thank you for joining us on the NASCAR NBC podcast.

Thanks to producer Aaron Feldstein and motor sports manager Emily Conboy for coordinating KP's appearance. The NASCAR Cup series heads to Talladega super speedway this weekend. Coverage gets started Sunday at 1 PM Eastern on NBC. Check out NBC sports.com slash NASCAR for detailed schedules, start times and coverage as always. And every Thursday at 10 PM Eastern on you. And if you have any NASCAR NBC podcast feedback

you can send me on Twitter. And if you have any NASCAR NBC podcast feedback you can send me on Twitter. At Nate Ryan is my handle. Thanks again for listening to the NASCAR NBC podcast. And I'll see you again soon.