Watkins Glen: Kyle Larson vs. Chase Elliott, Round 2 and the aftermath; NASCAR loves racing in the rain; Kimi Raikkonen's impact; Daytona preview

Greetings. Welcome to the NASCAR NBC podcast. I'm your host Nate Ryan here talking on the Monday after the race at Watkins Glender National. We were joined by NASCAR and NBC analyst Pit reporter, driver, Jack of all trades, Parker, clickerman, and he was at Watkins Glender. And so he got back late night and up early to take the podcast and really appreciate you being here, Parker. Thanks

for joining us. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Glad to be back. I always love being on the NASCAR NBC podcast and going to the deepest topics in the sport or even just diving deeper than we would anywhere else. So looking forward to it. I always love having you and we certainly have a lot to dive into on this day after Watkins Glender National, namely because of

the final restart involving Chase Elliott and Kyle. Carson, head of Motorsports teammates, Chase Elliott has the lead, chooses the outside. Kyle Larson is on the inside and decides he's not going to let go of his position. They make contact Kyle Larson goes on wins the race. It's the second cup series victory this season for Kyle Larson and both now have come at the expense of his

teammate, Chase Elliott. The first was at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana much earlier this year in which he threw a block on Chase Elliott that didn't work out so well from the number nine car. He wrecked that time. This time he's going to be on the NASCAR NBC podcast. He didn't wreck one again at that part of it, but let's just first start with your driver,

Parker. You're a winning driver in the truck series and also race in the Xfendi series. So I'd love to get your perspective on what happened, but also I understand you were there kind of post race. So you saw what was going on as Chase and Kyle emerged from their cars. Maybe give us a little bit perspective of what you saw post race there and what you

saw in the incident. Yeah. So I would stand on pit road and I saw Chase pull up, you know, where they go two through five sort of pull up in a line. And that's where we're going to be. We interview the drivers and I was not tabbed of getting Chase. I was going to get agent Almondinger, but I was standing there and I watched Dave Burns

go to get him and you always get the driver like a little bit of time. Sometimes they're immediately like out of the car ready to talk. Sometimes they just want a minute, right? Like maybe it's have some fluids or whatever, right? And he immediately got out, you know, did that stretch or looked over looked at Kyle Larson, sell Ray and then immediately walked away and Dave

went after him and he's like, Hey, just give me a minute. Give me one minute. And he walks and he runs in a tire. I read it who I think was laughing about something and Tyler realized he was not happy and then moved on. And then he found Jeff Gordon and I just saw immediately, you know, he was like, there was a discussion happening, right? And

it looked pretty stern and pretty serious. And so I mean, they look, he dominated. He was definitely, you know, he's a fastest car all weekend. He was on the pole by a significant amount compared to his teammate, they're Kyle Larson. And in talking to the Hendrick guys, he had a real leg up on everyone through the bus stop. It was about two 10 minutes almost in

qualifying. They felt like that he was faster through that section that no one can match him there. And so he was just the class of field. And on a late race, we start got the race taken away. Right. So you can understand his frustration, just even if it wasn't his teammate diving in the teammates out of things. That's where it gets to become a discussion of,

you know, how do you race your teammate? Right. Like I think that's always a discussion. When I was at Penske, you know, there was clear directive, which was race each other's hard like you would anyone else, but absolutely do not wreck each other. Right. Like that was always the Penske directive of you can race and we're going to let you race, but you just better not

hit each other. So think about that, you know, like get to 99 99.9% but don't hit each other. And I think that's a pretty consistent thought process amongst most owners, right. Like you're not going to hold back. You have multiple drivers and teams because it gives you a better shot of winning. And it's, you know, economies of scale there. But you also don't want to hold

back their competitive fire because you've hired them because they are those competitors, right. So, you know, you know, there's going to be times unlike other sports where your teams are directly in, you know, competition with each other, which makes racing unique. And so I think the way I always viewed being a teammate was that I just would race you how you race me, right. Golden rule.

Basically, I don't, I don't see that about any, you know, I don't say that just about teammates. Just everyone. But teammates, especially like if you are a teammate that doesn't want to work with me and doesn't want to give me info and, you know, doesn't want to be an open book and sort of be teammates and you're going to race me. But if you're a teammate

that works with me and, you know, we, it's a two-way street, then, you know, that, that's an open two-way street. And I think in terms of racing etiquette, you know, it comes down to what, you know, what respect you have for each other, right. So I think in this situation, though, I kind of agreed with Kyle in that he was like, look, the outside works, but

it leaves you open for what exactly happened. And, you know, if you're chasing, you've had the clear cut dominating speed. And you know, I think that's a good thing. So you've been the best. You just got to nail that restart. And it's yours, right? Or you do it to Kyle. And he's never going to say a word because you were the, you were the first car

anyway, right? So it's your race to win. It's his to take from you. So I think that when Chase looks at all back, we'll have, you know, you'll have to sort of think about that decision of taking the outside versus, you know, being on the inside be more protective even if it's your teammate, right? I think you got to protect yourself and this is what I

think. And it's really, really exciting. So I think that's one of the reasons that I think it's hard to get out of this stage because these restarts double file, you know, really hard to pass, you know, Kyle and him were so evenly matched, times. In those last 20 labs that, you know, I think they both knew the only way Chase was losing that race is if

he got moved on a restart and he opened that door. You let me exactly want to bring up about Kyle Larsen his take was. I knew that was kind of my only opportunity. I'm not proud of it. But you being in the inside lane or the right lane. And you being the leader choosing that out, the left lane. It's literally going to be fun. It's definitely,

you know, wins out. But when it gets late in the race, it's definitely risky. And like I said, I knew that was my only opportunity to, to get by him. So, you know, I felt like our cars were pretty equal today and had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle, trying to chase him down and kind of burnt my stuff up a little bit.

But the, the restarts, you kept me in it and kept our team in it. So proud of our guys. Good to get another win here. It walkins Lynn, get some more bonus points, low end of the playoffs, which is we haven't had many of them. We have to do those this year. So, you hopefully this will build on some momentum and we can keep track of

the score points. So if the shoe was on the other foot, would you want to have a conversation with your team made if that move happened? I'm sure. Yeah, we would ultimately have a conversation. We have a competition meeting tomorrow. And yeah, I think I think if I was in his shoes, I would, I would understand the risk that I'm taking choosing left lane also. So

again, like I said, I'm not proud of it. But it's for what I felt. Like I had to do to get the win. Yeah, it's just a part of part of racing. It road courses, especially this year, it seems like. So, you know, I can't not proud of it. But we do what we had to do. He really went into it in the media center. He

said he had essentially had made his mind up in the Xfendi race a day earlier, which he won. It's extraordinary. With NASCAR.com Kyle, obviously contact with Chase there going to turn one. You know, I had the restart before and I got kind of put in a bad spot because you he had the the dominant position on me with the nose ahead. Every time I was in

the right lane yesterday in Xfendi, I was in the same spot. And I would always get pinched into the curb. And a lot of times I got passed by the time we got to turn two. So I figured it was probably going to be the last restart of the weekend. And I told myself, if I, if I had a nose ahead of him before we got

to the breaking zone, I was going to have to try my best to maintain that, not let him get a nose ahead of me. And you pinch my corner off and in my chance of winning. So I had a good restart. And I got got in there. You know, I got a lot and did what I had to do to win. So again, I'm not not

necessarily proud of it, especially with a teammate, but I feel like I had to execute that way to get the win. So Kyle, or some basically said, look, I know the outside is better for the leader. But if it comes down to the last restart and I have a nose ahead, sorry, Chase, you might be my teammate, but, but I'm not lifting and letting you pinch

me. Is is that fair? And I guess as a driver, like that's what I was so curious watching this. Like if you are the leader and you know this might be the restart, why not? Just take the inside. Yeah, I think that's, it's a question I would love to know as we get through this week, you know, maybe a little bit more to be elaborate on

by Chase, you know, that decision, right? Or as we get in next week, just be like, how you make that decision. And I think that's the decision that sticks out to me, right? It worked on the restart before. But Kyle then had the opportunity to do it. He did, which was go further in the breaking zone force you to not be able to turn in. And

at that point, I think that's the reason why I was so happy. That point, you know, he's controlled the corner suddenly, right? Like it just gave him a lot of control and put you know, vulnerable position. Whereas I know his thought process may have been like, if something happens on the inside, I've got the outside to just run off that run off and take off. But

I just don't think it puts you in a vulnerable position. And I can agree Kyle and the fact that like if I won that race that way against a teammate, I have the same opinion. Look, I'm not proud of this, but I'm here to win from the five team and, you know, my individual center guys and my, you know, for my reasons and I didn't wreck

my team. I didn't want to make it to do it. I just didn't give him all the room or, you know, everything he needed to beat me on the last restart. So Chase's take on all this is. I think fair to say amusing in his post race interview with Dave. As you mentioned, I'm just a huge congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the five team. Congratulations,

everybody, 100 Motorsports for getting another win and appreciate Kelly Bluebook for being on a car this weekend. He says this will be discussed, obviously in competition meetings in between the two of you. What would you like to say to him? Congratulations. They did a great job. So you said that they deserve it and looking forward to going to Bristol next week and then trying to get

our team. One of your first conversations was with Mr. Hendrick. Was he able to console you at all on the loss today? Just congratulated him. Like I said, always, always good to see HMS win. The boss deserves, you know, all the wins and all the great things that that go on with this company. So just proud of that and looking forward to looking forward next week.

And he also has these curious references to racing next week at Bristol, both in this pit lane interview with Dave and then again in the media centers. It's a day's done and just thinking about Bristol and what I would I needed to be to be good there. There is nothing I can do about today. Now so had an opportunity to add to that today, but didn't.

So we'll go to Bristol and try to add to it there. Chase of ChristianineKidsFence.com. Go on to Daytona next week. Do you enjoy going to Daytona knowing the speed? The 100 Motorsports cars have had on the I keep saying Bristol. We're going Daytona. My bad. Yeah, for some reason I have Bristol on my mind. I don't know. I don't know why. But. So I'm wondering what

you make of all of that was that subliminal messaging. Was it for you? Like what's going on there for Chase? And is it? Fair to say that underneath all of this brave face he was definitely seething about things. I think he was upset, you know frustrated probably. Yeah, that's natural. He's a competitor. He wants to win races. And as I said before, he was dominant, right?

Like I mean, he was the clear cut best car there all weekend. There was no touching chase Elliott in any category. So. All to add into that you also the craziness of stage one, which they fought through. I think is you know lost all this is like he might have been the fastest car. But they had to fight through rain and the craziness of stage one.

And that position to win this race, even with the fastest car. But I mean, I don't know what to make of the messaging about Bristol that sort of thing. I'll be honest. I actually was having this discussion of so in this week where we were trying to figure out where we were last week. And for like at least a solid minute, neither of us knew what

track we were at last week. And I was like this schedule is ridiculous. And none of us even know where we were. So I'm going to I'm going to lead out for the sake of entertainment. Sure. I love to think that there's like some sort of subliminal messaging to being like, Hey, Bristol's a short track. That's when I get my come up and you know, whatever

sort of thing. That sort of stuff. I don't know. I mean, that might be a stretch. But I'm also going to say that I would not be shocked if I had done the exact same thing even on the broadcast where I was like, Hey, Bristol next week. Like what are you talking about? It would be cool though. It'd be cool. If he was making subliminal references

to saying basically like a short track. And that's where we'll get him back. There definitely is. I mean, a lot of layers to it because not only is it the next short track, but it's also where Carl Arson, essentially, was helped by a chase LA last year when hard. Yeah, LA had been in the shunt with Harvick in which he ended up with a damaged car.

And then he slowed up Harvick in a way that helped Carl Arson win that race. So you could look at it and many, many layers of subliminalness. But I agree. I'll give the benefit of the doubt. It's a 36 race schedule. It's easy for everybody involved to lose track of things. I think in his case, think about this. He has not thought about Daytona. I think

that's the only time probably in the last month because they've been so well locked into playoffs. What focuses he have on Daytona at all, right? Like that's a throwaway race for them in a lot of ways. It's a chance to rack up some stage points and get out of there. Right. Don't get a playoff points. And that's it. So I would not doubt that he is

probably not thought about Daytona one out of the last month. Yeah. That's a really good point. And do you want to get to Daytona eventually here and to talk about stage one, you're right. Like we saw some incredible racing. But before we leave, Larsen and Chase, you brought up a really good point, Parker, about the rule of thumb that I've always heard from Roger Penske from

Rick Hendrick is the only rule we have for teammates is that they don't wreck each other. And our cameras caught that conversation you were talking about with when Chase L.A. got his car, he immediately went to Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon was probably saying something the effect of how does this fit in your R team rules here. So, but Kyle Larson didn't wreck Chase Elliott. So

if the context is, if the rule is, hey, the only rule we have for our teammates is don't wreck each other. Was it fair in the context that Larsen didn't wreck Chase Elliott or just Chase Elliott. Maybe the counter argument is like, well, I didn't wreck because I'm that good a driver and was able to save my car. It wasn't like he didn't put me in

position where I could have wrecked. I think it's more he didn't finish second. Right. So like I think it's more, hey, we didn't wreck, but the move he may put me in a position to fall back where he ended up. There for you end for so you and but at one point he was going to fall back to like six on that, you know, he was

getting swamped. Right. I think that's the bigger issue, right? Like you make that move. You make that pass. He slots into second has a chance back at you can't get you so on. You know, go on, whatever. I think the problem is he ended up fourth, right? And it's that's the gray area of like you didn't wreck each other. But you also didn't just pass me.

You put me in a position to lose more. than just to leave. I lost in multiple positions. And I never had a chance to get back at you. So like that adds to the frustration. I know for myself, like that would be the thing that really grinded my gears would have been like I didn't even get a chance to come back at you. You know, as

a teammate, like let's race it out. Give me a shot, but you didn't even give me a shot. So I sort of side of Kyle a bit, but in that respect, I side of chase to say, yeah, that would be really annoying and frustrating. And definitely you put it. It's it's a question. Amongst those team members to be like, Hey, is that the line? Like just

don't wreck each other? Or when I lose four positions or three positions, you know, because you did this thing. This move is that too far. Certainly a lot of good debates and a lot of good points. You're making there a lot of ethos discussions about. I'm sure it's not done. Yeah. Well, that was that certainly leads me to the next point. I mean, where do you

think things stand with these two guys? Does it matter if they don't hash it out? I mean, can they? race each other? Similarly without necessarily liking each other the rest of the way? I think you got to find some common ground as teammates. Otherwise, you're in for a really rough patch, right? Like I think I don't know many really great situations where you just don't like

your teammate. I mean, you gotta have to spend time together. Right? There's gonna be moments you're gonna listen to each other. It's just that's not fun for anyone. Right? If you generally dislike that person, it's just not good. So I think there's definitely a reason to discuss it. Right? And if they want to, you know, hash something out or. Chase, it's about, it's, you know, woke

up this morning and said, hey, you know what? I should have taken the inside. Good job, Kyle. Right? Yeah. I'll get you next time. Sort of thing. Next time I won't make that mistake. Sort of thing. Like I can see that being a case between those two as well. Certainly. If we were flying the wall in the Hendrick competition meeting today, we probably have some more

answers, but I'm. Yeah, we also found out they do that on Mondays and not Tuesdays. Mostly teams to your Tuesday. Yeah. Or Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon. Right. Right. To bet. Must be because the Saturday day. John races. That's probably why. So not only will the Larsen move, obviously, Bender discussion. There was another move in Saturday's Xfendi race that was already being discussed going into Sunday's

race. And I know that when we were in our motormouths call or today, I heard you talking about like that this was a big discussion Sunday morning, walkins climb pre-race among crew chiefs and people you were talking to. Tie Gibbs electing to send it against going to the environment for the lead that Xfendi race, which essentially handed the win to Kyle. When I watched that move,

Parker, like I see that and I think maybe I've been watching too much Indie car and F1 on road courses, but I see. Avoidable contact by tie Gibbs written all over that. That was in the bus stop, I believe, right? Yeah. Yeah. You're the driver. How did you see that move? Is that move in Larsen's move? Are they okay in today's modern NASCAR road course racing

that like this is now fair game? I don't think the two moves in my opinion are really relatable. In the fact that one, both cars spun out and one, you know, both cars got away without barely touching, right? So the bus stop one to me was interesting because of the comments tie Gibbs made afterwards, which was, you know, I had to send it in there because,

you know, I had to win this race for my team. And I was like, okay, but there was like what four or five laps left. I don't know. You've had one of the fastest cars the whole race. Like maybe discretion is better part of hour. Come out of the bus stop. You know, carousel, give him a little bumper, get back the side of him. Win that

race. Like I just think that's a little bit of a two black and white of a statement at that point in the race. And the fun part was, you mentioned the discussion on Sunday morning, going to all these different teams. And I, you know, I bounce around talking different crew chiefs and teams trying to get information for the broadcast that's coming up Sunday. And I went

to multiple haulers and they would ask my opinion on it. And one cup winning crew chief was on tight Gibbs side. He's like, hell yeah. He's like, I'm going to do it. And he's speaking right in front of his driver. I'm not going to give names. Maybe he's speaking right in front of his driver. He says, I said, well, I think, you know, I think you

went too far. I would have backed out. I would not backed out, but like on in there to where I felt like I could put myself in position to get back at him in the carousel. And he said, no, if, uh, if you don't go for that, then you're no, you no longer should be a driver is what the crew chief said to me. And I

was like, really? And he's a very analytical person. And I thought, that's pretty fascinating to me. Like there was so many laps left. I think you're thinking like it was the last, last lap. So I don't know. That part to me was interesting in that like that there was, you know, a couple of people that condoned that. Because then I went and talked to William Byron

when we were under that before the cup race. And we had a like, pry a five minute discussion about it. And I said to him, you know, what's your thoughts? He's like, look, I gave him all the room. Like, I blowed him to be there because we were raced it out. And he said the part to me that was frustrating was, he wasn't going to make

that corner. If I wasn't there, like, right, right. Which is, then, and that's where I thought the crew, I said the crew chief. I said, but he wasn't going to make that corner. What do you mean? What are you talking about? So I don't know if he was being facetious with me or whatever. The driver of that crew chief conversation never said a word about it.

So he, I don't think he was in a, in a greens. I think he was more of my side. But that's too much. Like that's, that's just going overboard. It's fun to watch. I love the entertainment. Not going to lie. Pretty awesome. See you for the broadcast side. But I think, from a pure competition standpoint, that's a move that I just think, like, hey, if he

could play that back, he probably, you know, thinks, maybe I'm just backing up a tick because I could go on here side by side or, you know, gave him a little bit of an edge to the center, cut back under him and nail him in the bumper and the car cell, move him up the track and give us. Right. Like, yeah, I view that as the

move that we've seen so often at Watkins Glen. And he could easily pull that off. And the 54 car was unbelievably fast. 18, the Joe Gibbs cars were in that X-Fan you're a little bit more, you know, like, I mean, I think that's just remarkably fast. I mean, the 18, and this is not knocking Sammy Smith or anything, but I mean, he was two tenths faster

a lap in those closing laps than a geometry in front of him. And I'm like, and Larson and, you know, well, I'm like, okay, wait a second. These cars are really good. So they had some serious steam in those cars. And I think that's why that move was probably just cool over jealous. Well, I'm glad that you kind of had the same reaction I did. And

again, maybe I'm watching too much Indie car. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like just, kind of surprised me to be able to reach to them. I can't read them in this game. I mentioned really

a lot of things, because I like what I did get behind and the times of the game all the time. Yeah. Well, I got the match. Yeah. I can't see any more stuff. I don't know. But I got a tournament that I want, I don't know. I want to know how many times I would get. Okay. Then it's just racing, hard racing, one of those deals.

But if you don't have the corner, then it seems to be overly optimistic at best. All you got to do is look at the line they run through there normally, and then where the, you know, where the 17 was and where he was, they were both all the way out of that line. Yeah. Yeah. Like you normally tighter than they were. So I just think that

was, you know, just oversell us. And it is, but I mean, Ty, Ty gives the hell, I mean, he's unbelievable. I've seen a couple things in the last couple of months that I've just been like, all right, this kid is amazing. But, you know, that was a move that was just just overdoing it. That's for avoidable contact. Don't ever want to hear that in NASCAR. Don't

want that ever. Nope. Not a thing. Yeah. Don't want to hear it. Those two words put together. Don't care. You know, that's, that's an oatmeal thing. They can keep that all themselves. And Imsa can have that all they want. But I don't want to hear it in NASCAR because it's just not the way that, you know, that's not our racing. Our racing is a self policing

form of racing where now that you've been wronged as a William Byron, you know, you can go get him back. And that's fair game. And same with the RC and chase LA. You've, you know, you've been wrong. Go get him. Like that's, that's NASCAR. And don't that should not change. That's why these cars have fenders. Yeah. So let's talk stage one, because I think you're right.

We had seen NASCAR racing in the rain before in the Cup series. Certainly seen a lot in the X-Fenity series. But the Cup series, unfortunately, are really only exposure to it. And it was last year at sort of the Americas, which was, you know, no way to, else to put it, it was a debacle, unfortunately, because the rain never stopped. In this instance, I think we

saw the optimum rain race for NASCAR where the track dried across the, the course of stage one teams has this decision to make of when you go to slicks. Chase Briscoe and Johnny Klossmire decide we're going first. And it pays off. They win this. Yeah, win the stage. And while there's all this other frantic scrambling and racing going on around it, it sounds like you really

enjoyed just watching all of it. I thought it was one of the coolest segments of a race in NASCAR history, because you had 20 different strategies going on. You know, timing wise in terms of it was really two different strategies. It was getting on slicks or going waiting for your fuel window to open. But, you know, the amount of cars doing different, pitting on different laps,

doing different things was just incredible. Plus it was really wet and raining when we started that race. And what do we see like two incidents that come up series is full. Of incredible talent to just be thrown into rain, 20 minute practice on the day before. You do a qualifying run, and then you jump in the rain the next day. With a car we've never been

on an attire. We've never been on. Wet with like and boom. There's two incidents. Maybe like that is the level of talent in the cup series. And I just thought that was so cool. You add in as it dries that, you know, Chase Briscoe and Klossmire take this gamble to be the first on slicks and it pays off. And like the bravery in that when you're

coming out of the pits on cold tires, cold slick tires on a damp racetrack like that is the hardest thing in all of motorsports as a driver. Like there was nothing that takes such a leap of faith as doing that because you are going to go corner by corner straight away, curb by curb constantly guessing for laps. It could be, you know, you might take up

two laps. You're just guessing on the grip level and where to break and just sensing and feeling that out. And then you're going to see. The second you pop a faster lap time than the leaders, every team is going to be like, and we're pit or even halfway through your lap. They're watching your sector times and seeing how you're coming out and their analytic programs are

saying pit, pit, pit, now like, you know, this the crossover has happened. I just thought that was the coolest thing in an ask our race. That's going to come straight to see it in real time. We had the chance to let it all play out because there was no caution. And it was a cool finish. Michael McDowell's team. That's one of the coolest performances of the

year. And I think it's a great thing to do. In terms of Michael goes up there, gets to the lead, loses it through this whole tire situation of chase, risk of getting on them so much earlier, then realizes that they're in such a good position because of what they, you know, when they got to those slicks, how fast they were in the wet, the wet, they

could pit, do fuel, basically, do fuel only and put themselves on the right pitch strategy against chase, LA and Cal Arsson. And if they had a faster car, which unfortunately for, you know, him in front of the motorsports, the 100 motorsports cars were just in a zip code, come to dry. They pulled off an incredible set of strategy there. So that was just, you know, if

you like strategy, bravery, great racing, awesome passing drivers and a little bit of contact. That segment right there was NASCAR 2.0 in a nutshell. It was awesome. And like you said, the drivers deserve a ton of credit because they did manage really difficult conditions with a plum, not a lot of wrecks, but give NASCAR a lot of credit too because they delayed the start of the

race about an hour. They could have started in the rain and, you know, enough drivers said, no, we don't think this is right. We've got puddling happening in the bus stop and around the course. And I've come around on this, like I didn't always understand when rain racing doesn't make sense. But after watching the Rolex 24 in 2019 or watching F1 at spa last year, like

I understand that there are times when rain racing is simply untenable just because you can race in the rain doesn't mean necessarily that you should. And NASCAR hasn't a lot of experience with that. But I think they applied the lessons of code a well. They didn't take a lot of grief. They make calls that I don't agree with at times. But this was a call that

I really agreed with where they they waited. And I think waiting paid off not only in a great stage one, but also was just the right thing to do in general. Yeah, you're right. I don't say they did a great job of that. And they looked at the radar and salt. We were all seen, which just hey, look, this rain is going to be out of

here 30 minutes to 45. You know what I mean? So it's like we can start this race 10 minutes after stops because we'll get most of water will drain off the way that track is set up. You know, Watkins Glen has really good rain engine, you know, good elevation change to get that water out. And then, you know, you had airtightens out there pretty quickly and

boom, we were ready to go racing. And it was the perfect amount of wet, right? So great decision. You know, and that whole idea of like what's two wet. I think that's been a discussion in motorsports for a long time. You know, you go back to what Monaco 1996 one was that Olivier Pannis one because of rain short and race. You got a Monaco. It was

I didn't send us big debut. Yeah, it was I like in like a low 80 something. Yeah, something or he like was amazing in the wet there in a really underfunded car. So and they had, you know, they've stopped the race earlier or something because, you know, sometimes just it's so much water. There's standing water, which becomes just a situation where you're occupying. And there's no

driving skill talent, nothing that can stop that. That's just like a it's a physics issue, which is like if the car isn't touching the ground because it's floating across water. Uh, that's the problem. So I agree with them. You know, there's we found the right amount and that's always going to be a, you know, judgment call in rain rate scene because it's just, but I think

NASCAR in the industry works really closely with the drivers and ask the right questions and look at the radar and made the right decision and it worked out to have the best first segments of a NASCAR race that I said I've ever seen. Yeah, it was great. I've always heard you know rain is the great equalizer where you always see talent showcase like you mentioned that

there and send a breakout race and F1. But sometimes as you said, the conditions doesn't matter how good a driver you are. You can't show it. So we saw that. Yeah, we saw that just in 20 laps. I mean, you had my book down, take the lead, you know, just showed, you know, he was on it in the wet. And then you had chase brisk go

take the gamble and go from being. I don't know where he was. I can't remember like 15 16 20th, maybe to be the leader. Right. So again, gamble and like nailed it. So just pretty awesome. See. It's time for our motor mouth of the race presented by eBay. Mothers is a new feature in which we talk about a notable quote. And today Parker, the quote is

from Kyle Larson. He was asked about racing with Kimmy Reichen in yesterday. Kimmy also raced around chase Elliott as well. Kyle Larson was asked, what was that like? And Kyle Larson said, yeah, it was cool. I think, you know, by the time I got to him, he was, he was kind of struggling. He looked like he was really loose in front of me. And I was

able to make, you know, quick work of him. So just really cool. It's for him to, you know, step out of his comfort zone and come play with us. You know, stock car racers and it was more than just Kimmy, you know, the international drivers race in today. It was, it was pretty cool. You know, they were all, you know, I think I passed, you know,

every one of them at some point. And, and it was fun watching them up ahead of me, you know, being really aggressive. You know, they're, there is good as a gift when it comes to, you know, heavy breaking and stuff like that. So, you know, I could watch people from trying to me, try to make a move on them. And they wouldn't be able to make

the past. So that's just their experience, you know, playing part today. And it was fun to be a spectator at points of the race. So you had the opportunity to see all these guys. You know, I'm not just Kimmy Reichen and Mike Rock and Feller. Daniel Kiviat, unfortunately, his race didn't go as long either, but there were some big names, obviously, in this race, which made

it very special. What did you see? Did you kind of agree with Kyle? Maybe not even just in the race, but over the course of the weekend, we able to see, especially Kimmy Reichen, be 20th fastest in practice without ever being in an X Gen car before. I'm sure you saw some things that impressed you. Yeah, I think Kimmy speed. I was asked this question last

weekend and I'm in the wall. Should we do on the motor sport MC YouTube page? I said, he'll practice around like 20th, 20 second, he'll qualify around 20th and he'll finish top 25 if he finishes. And he'll get to the top 10 through stages. And I think I nailed about every mark except the top 25 finish because he wrecked, but he wasn't installed. Yeah, it wasn't.

Yeah, it wasn't. It's calling. He got to the top 10 through stages and and actually made some passes in the top 10 there. He went from like 10th to 8th. He passed Chris Bussher, Christopher Bussher. He was awesome. I'm a little biased because he was like my boyhood idol. And all I wanted to be was Kimmy Reichen and growing up. So it was super cool to

see him. I've got I got to race against him in 2011 when you did the truck race. But I didn't made him back that and because it was one of those things like don't meet your heroes. This time, I didn't really meet him, but I got to interview him twice. And he was super cool both times and after the infield care center one. I gave my

thumbs up and said, good job. And he thanked me and smiled. So I was like, yeah, it's pretty cool. It was big for NASCAR just to get that attention globally with this new car, right? Which really opened this up. I think that's been highly publicized that this car being far more in line with global racing spec and sort of what we've seen in modern day racing

times. Allow the Mike Rockefeller or Kimmy Reichen to do this as opposed to the old one, which I think Kimmy alluded to this was just so out of left field of what they know. There was no chance of ever going to be in top 20 in that car. Like as we like to say, why road course ringers went away in that time period of the mid

2000s, right? It was harder to learn the nuances of stock car than to learn to drive a road course, right? Like that is what became very apparent. So this car opened that up. Global attention was awesome. I did some early research on Google trends and saw that Kimmy Reichen in searches and Watkins Glen NASCAR globally was like skyrocketing on Google last week. That was pretty cool.

There was finished live TV there the entire time that the Posse around Kimmy was insane at times. But then it was also laid back his family was there, his wife and kids. We're just chilling and you know, she's dressed the Nines just hanging out in a puddle there and Watkins Glen. And I was like, this is such a difference from Monaco GP probably, but you can

see they weren't just enjoying the experience having fun with it. And for the drivers, I talked to Larson about this. He and I hung out and saw it ran into each other at dinner Saturday night. And we had some chats about this and it was like, there's definitely a thought process that we see amongst racing fans like the best drivers of the world are in F1.

So build to inform people that that's not exactly the case. That's the best drivers that made it to form the one, right? But there's amazing race car drivers throughout the world. And especially in the NASCAR Cup series. And I think that, you know, this project 91 is not only getting these really big names to come race and NASCAR, which is super cool. And it's super cool

for guys like me and Kyle Larson who grew up watching these guys and think, you know, those are heroes. But then to also expose them and the rest of the world to the talent level that's in the series, right? And I think that's a really, really cool thing. So it's accomplishing a lot of different, you know, it's checking a lot of boxes. I think Justin Marks

gets a, you know, massive round applause for Point us off in such great fashion and providing a really well put together team and car. And, you know, the whole project 91, like fit and finish is amazing. The pit box. It says project 91 and that sort of glitzy, cromish look, the brand need to so well done. The social media is so well done. I just think

it's such a cool thing. And for Kyle and those guys like, I know that feeling where it's like for just a quick moment, you come upon, you can be right and anything you think, hey, that's that's one rule champion. That's pretty cool. All right, back to my job. You know, I know that's what there's mind is like, oh, that's, that's, that's, can be right. Can everyone

rule champion. All right, back to my job. You know, like time passed. So like, I'm guarantee that what it happened to me when he erased him in 2011. And we look at motorsports in the 70s, 80s, 90s, you know, probably 70s, 80s was the last period. And then in the 90s and early 2000s, we can very specialized. But in the 70s, the 80s, the 60s, drivers

drove everything. You know, we talked about Mario and Dredi's and AJ foights and, you know, Jim Clarks and those guys, Pernilly Jones, it just jumped around and drove all sorts of stuff. They had to. It's how they made their living. And we've gotten that we're getting back to that. And now this is like, to me, the ultimate version of like motorsports as a whole is no

longer siloed. It's under this one grouping. And it's connecting it for the fans via the drivers going and doing this sort of thing. And teams like track house providing this opportunity and NASCAR allowing them to go do this test day at the IR sort of thing to give them some seat time because the modern day rules just don't allow any seat time. Right. So it's all

the parties working together. From the teams to the drivers to, you know, the series, the sanctioned bodies to lean into this and be like, this is great for all of us in motorsports. And to meet that gets me the most excited because that has the power to to continually move the needle on something I'm very proud of. And I'm very passionate about which is that, you

know, we're all motorsports fans. You just don't know it yet. If you, if you only like one or two and, you know, hopefully this continues to move that and and show that. And, and the only other thing I'll say is that there was a joke amongst a couple of cup drivers myself that we're talking. Where they were like, you know, the only thing is I wish

it was that easy to go do an F1 race. Who's building the project 91 and. Yeah. Where's that one guy was get wolf and horn or on the phone and make this happen. I mean, geez. Surely they've got enough. Money lying around with all their budget caps. Yeah. They just have millions. They're out. Red and red. Mercedes make it happen. They won't let it and dready

and well, you know what? We want a team USA product 91 car. What about that? There you go. Hey, shit. Oh, you know, that's the type of thing where. They would say it cheapens and all this stuff. But that's the type of thing we're out of the box thinking for like a Formula One that in three, you know, I predicted in three of five years. They'll

have to be thinking about that sort of stuff. And they probably should be working on it now. Hopefully are from your lips. Well said. Great insight. That was why I asked you that question. And that was the motor mouths of the race presented by eBay Motors at eBay Motors. You can be your unpick crew with 122 million parts right at your fingertips. Get the right parts

at the right prices. eBay Motors.com. Let's ride. So and before we wrap up here with. Plainy Trucks and Daytona. Thanks for the positive reinforcement on the sponsor. I think. So a new thing for me as a. I like. I did. Thanks man. That's you brought in here. But Rick Allen read these billboards that were just like perfect. Which billboards and TV are like. For those that

don't know are like, you know, just ad reads, right. We call billboards. Yeah. And Steve. He's beside Rick. And so Rick had to do like these like last second. Like Rick read these billboards. You know, as we come back from Rick. So he doesn't perfectly just nails it. You know pro TV guy. And then we go commercial quickly and Steve goes man. Rick makes that sound

like you know he's ordering on a menu. I'm over here. I'm passionate up and cutting these things apart and stumbling through them. What I have to do. It was pretty funny. Anyway. Yeah. It's hard. That looks like. Yeah. Things and TV sometimes are well speaking of like making things look easy. I encourage people to check it out. NASCAR and NBC Twitter account. Your interviews with Kimi

Reichen in both from practice and post raise. I know that it might seem a little bit surreal for you. And you didn't want to come off as like the fanboy but both handled with a plum. And I think I saw a positive reaction to on social like where some people said, Hey, when he doesn't get the stock F1 questions, they saw they've been a little bit

more Kimi than they're used to seeing. So good work. I went with the familiar tactic that I've been using since I started this. And I'll continue to lead into for as long as I do this, which is I asked drivers about driving. What a concept. Sometimes you just asked about driving. They're right. They're willing to open up. And I as you put it, I was resisting

the urge to put on the full fanboy you know, it's charmed. But I I tried to keep professional and you know, he was super cool. So I was awesome. It was a cool moment. I got some cool photos out of this. So and I appreciate the fans. And I made it on Reddit Formula One, which is pretty cool. So that's the first for me. Yeah. This

cool. That's a sign of great respect. So we'll wrap up here and talk a little Daytona Parker. One big surprise. Come on. I walked in. Splendid. I thought was Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. Just being so average both planning about their cars on the radio. We heard a little bit of the snippiness again between Martin Truex Jr. and James Small about how the car was

handling. I think we knew Toyota was going to be a struggle on road courses. And really nobody was that good aside from Christopher Bell. But that Ryan Blaney struggled when Joe Ligano is finishing third and winning stage two. That surprised me. So both of these guys now come into Daytona. Still without a win still what top five and points and potentially in playoff grid positions depending

on how things shake out. But they have no momentum. What do you make of those two guys's plate going to Daytona Truex's never won at Daytona. Blaney obviously is the defending winner of this race and nearly won the 500. But they've got a lot of guys. You know, the list is endless. You know, bubble walless Austin Dylan Ricky Steinhaus Jr. All these guys Michael McDowell. All

these guys who could go to Daytona and win and snatch a playoff spot. You know, these two Blaney and Truex's teams to me. The analogy I've been thinking to my head since yesterday was it's like, I'm watching two heavyweight boxers at the end of like 17 rounds just totally gassed trying to knock each other out. It just felt like that's what that looked like yesterday, right?

Like it was just like there's nothing left. Neither's got it. It's just sloppy and everything they got has already been out there. Right. And I mean, it's weird because you put it like these are two teams that are on a points average points basis. I've been incredible all year. Like they're staunch great race teams. But they just haven't got that. One trophy to solidify themselves in

that position. And then and it's just funny that they're so close as well. So like, you know, these two teams are just in the same quandary a little bit. And now you mentioned you look at Daytona. Like there's got to be what 15 cars that are going to go there thinking like right. Let's just go with this thing. Like there's no reason not to. So this

race. This coming weekend is going to be wild. I think for these two. I don't know how you play it, right? And I I. Think for James Small and knowing, you know, his level of anxiousness. He's probably not going to have a great week of sleep. I think, you know, John Hathser's a little bit more laid back, but he's pretty new at this, right? Like this

is a big deal. He's put together a great race team that's excelled all year. And now just because they have one there in this position where, you know, the mark of being a team at this level in the cups series and the way the championship is designed. You know, you're about to get cut off of that. If you don't find a way to make something happen.

So I don't know. I don't know how you play these that play this race other than for those two, you know, because of the point situation, I think they have to go race on stage points, right? They have to. And then what you do in the third stage to me is interesting to pay on what the racing looks like to paint on what sort of aggressiveness

is out there. And then how you race against the McDowell's the Bushers, Stan House. Yeah. Ty Dylan. I mean, anyone because I was at Chris Bush or like there's I keep forgetting. Pretty much anybody who's outside. They have to be in the top 30. Top 30, right? Right. Top 30. So it's Brad, is he top 30 now? I think Brad is the I think the guy

who is outside the top 30 is Corey the joy. For the joy. Okay. I think I know Ty Dylan is in. Yeah. I think everybody else we've listed. I think is eligible. Yeah. Well, you had in Bob Wallace. I mean, yeah, it's just like there is it's a massive group. So it's a heck of a design for an entertainment side of things. Yeah. I just I

couldn't imagine being in the middle of it and how you play this race. So those two teams, I don't know if I have any insight and I I did Brian Blaney's interview on the post race. And I asked him, so okay, you know, how do you tackle next week? And he just said, you know, basically scored 24 more points in him or something, you know, basically

be one point ahead of him. I laughed because I was like the way he said it just maybe chuckle like, yeah, that sounds impossible. Good luck doing that. So I think I'm going to be the one point ahead of him. I don't know. I don't think they know. And it's that's a lot of pressure at this level. It means it's a huge financial difference for these

teams to be in the playoffs first. Not a lot of pressure a lot to be watching on. NASCAR NBC broadcast this Saturday from Daytona Parker always a pleasure having you on here. Really appreciate you joining the NASCAR NBC podcast. Enjoy Daytona. Appreciate it. And we should say this is one of those races. Guys, see this all the time on social media from fans out there. So

for listeners, it's on NBC, but it's also on peacock. Ah, so we can we can we can with 100% confidence say this is one of those races is on NBC network television. So you got no excuses there or if you're not watching it there, watch it on peacock because it's on both. Indie car viewers know well Indie car fans know well that you even know what

watch peacock NBC to my word is and it's a great option. It's great. It's going to be available in NASCAR fans. I'm glad you're brought up because if you couldn't tell, I was not 100% sure if this car NBC. So good pick up there. I appreciate it. It's been apparently our message is working from our boss to drill in my head. This is the case. So

I knew that one for sure. I was like, it's on those two and I know it. Thanks for being here. I appreciate thanks for having me. We appreciate Parker clickerman for joining us on the day after he put in a long day at walkins Glen International doing his always sublime pit reporting Parker then drove home to Connecticut got back sometime after midnight and still was more

than a combating and a very chipper guest on the podcast. As always, he brought some great insight that only an active NASCAR national series driver has and we are grateful for that perspective. And again, it was really cool to see Parker get the chance to interview 2007 for me the one champion, Kimmy Reichen in last weekend. You can go to the NASCAR on NBC. Twitter account

if you missed it and want to check out those interviews. Thanks to Motorsports Manager Emily Convoy for coordinating Parker's appearance on the NASCAR NBC podcast. And as Parker mentioned, it's the regular season cup series finale. This Saturday under the lights at Daytona National Speedway coverage starts at 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC and also streaming on peacock. And the post ratio also be streaming on PC. On

peacock and the NBC sports app as well, check out NBC sports.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 handle. Thanks again for listening to the NASCAR NBC podcast. Thank you.