The regular season is
officially behind us. The playoffs are about to start. So I want to talk a little bit
about the teams who made it. Do we feel the right
teams made the cut? Because I personally feel
Bubba Wallace should be there. It's unfortunate kind of how
what you guys just explained. I think when you look at
the you know, look at all this with the emphasis
that is put on winning. I mean, these guys
all went out to win. And when you look at at Ty
Gibbs and Martin Truex, who had the most
points, I mean, they they put together the best 26
races from a point standpoint. And I think, you know, looking
at the cars that are running good right now, you know,
that are better than some of those cars that made
it, they didn't win. Right and, you know, as
much as we talk about points and today we're just going
to talk about the system. And if you don't
win, you put yourself in a vulnerable position
to not make the playoffs. I've been on both sides of that. And and that's what, you
know, Chris buescher, he knew it at the
first Darlington he knew how important
winning that race was at Darlington that day. And he knew leaving there that
he was missing an opportunity. You go back and you
look at Kyle Busch, started at the Daytona 500,
had an opportunity in position to win, gets taken out. We go to Vegas, pit crew just
fumbles all over the place three times and he's out. And you know, there's we could
go and name 4 or 5 other guys that that probably were
in position to to do that. You look at Martin
Truex, you know he hung on by the by
the skin of his teeth and but think about
how many races he was in contention to
win Ty Gibbs same thing. But instead, you
know, now you're now you're in the position
that you're in almost missing. So we're seeing the points now. Obviously, the reset
and the biggest thing that catches my eye
is how tight it already is. Yeah, I mean, it is
exciting because that's what we want to see, right? Yeah I mean, that's
what we want. I mean, and so. So let's, let's look at this. Right Larson is 35 up and then
was reddick reddick is 23 up and he won the
regular season points. Right that's why when I said
what I said on the show, I think last week about we
got 15 points for that, right? He got 15 points. 12 and I said on
the show last week, I wouldn't mind if that
if you got round by rounds because everyone was like,
well, a lot of people on social are like, well, 15 points. That's so much. Does that look
like so much to you on that on that we got Atlanta
round one like that can be gone in an instant so you're not
promised the next round just because you win
that and this just shows how close these guys are
and how great the racing is. And when you look
at those points and you look at Kyle Larson's
total, he missed a whole race. Right, right. But it also shows how
fast and dominant they've been in a lot of places this
year throughout the 26 races throughout the regular season. So those 35 points are
sure he got you know, he got he got the 12 points
for for the regular season championship payout,
you know, for points. But think about how many stages
he won, how many laps he led, how many races he won that
that also has that body of work in in these in these point
standings that that reflect not only your regular
season standings but how your car has been in
all these stages and the points that you've accumulated
throughout the year. So it's a very
interesting system. But I think when you look at the
points and how tight they are, this is a different this is a
different start to the playoff. It's never been like
this, never been never. The points have been like this. They haven't ever
gone to Atlanta at 3:00 in the afternoon. Yeah, it's going
to be 80 degrees and you're going to be super
speedway racing knowing that you got to hold that thing
down as that pedal down as much as you can to go fast. And, you know, I think we're
going to see a wild card race like we haven't seen before. And this is not your
talladega or Daytona that we're going different. You got to have so
maneuverability. Let's talk about the complexion
of this round a minute because you just referenced
it Atlanta's first. Then we go to Watkins
glen, then Bristol, three very different racetracks. So what what do you
think we're going to see just from this first crop? My approach has
always been this. Let's go to the first
one and see how we are. OK see, when you go out
of the when you get done with the first race and
I think going to Atlanta, I think you have
to be aggressive. You've got to you've got to
put yourself in a position to where you have
track position, race at the front of the pack. If you have that opportunity,
if your car is crap and it's not handling good
or you have something wrong, then you got to go into a
little bit of defense mode and and be smart about who you're
around, what you're doing. OK, we're slow. So let's concentrate
on handling. Let's concentrate on whatever we
need to be from a track position standpoint. If our car is too slow and
we've got too much downforce in the car because that's
really the trick at Atlanta and I don't think you want to
get too far ahead of yourself. OK you know, for from
having an ultimatum plan, because I think it changes. I think you have to be able to
adapt to what happens one week and go to the next week to
to know how you need to race. You know, we heard we heard
busher talk about, well, you got to you got to know. We don't care about
anything but winning. Well, that's fine. But there are multiple
ways to to survive these these first round of playoffs. And I think the second
round and the third round are a little bit different
from what you need to do. But this first round you can
survive off of off of just being smart. I have a couple questions I
want to pose to you guys now that we're at the
start of the playoffs. First one being
who do you believe will be the teams that
are eliminated first? I saved it on my phone. OK Yeah are you ready? Kevin can go first. This is coming.
Yeah yeah. Are you ready? Yeah, go ahead. You go first. Do you need to
look at the points? Just want to know. You went away.
You know. Went away?
Do you know? Yeah yeah, go ahead. Well, I think. I think Harrison Burton's out. Yeah, I think that,
you know, they did a fabulous job of getting
themselves in position, but. You still have this this Atlanta
factor that that goes with this. Right we saw a three wide
finish with Kyle Busch was in that in that finish. Right that that changed
Daniel Suarez's season. So I think that I think that
I think that it's Suarez out Harrison Burton's out. I think you're going
to have a surprise. I think Alex bowman is out and. N/A Who else? I'm going to Austin. Cindric Burton. Briscoe, Suarez. As much as I want Briscoe to
continue the momentum, and he. He may well do that, but
those are probably mine. I think, yeah, I think I got. Hb unless he wins at
Atlanta, which you fords have been so fast at Atlanta,
they almost have sat on the pole every time we go there
with this configuration, I think Daniel Suarez
the 99 just hasn't really had the speed, but maybe
since they're the only car in, they'll get some help boost
and he's good on a road course you know looking at it I
think cindric they make a lot of mistakes the
two does like like take away the speed
part the execution of not getting penalties. Daytona yeah, they just end
up having a lot of mistakes. So I think that might bite
them and MTJ man, like, no, you're not going to do it
well either him or Ty yeah. You think you think it's
going to be him or ty? Yeah, because like,
they have a struggle with finishing the races
where they're running. It seems like he's pretty
good at some of these tracks. Yeah, he's good.
He's good at him. Like like I wouldn't put
it past him to win one, but like, if I'm just looking
at from what the year has been, they're in position in position. Something happens to
the end, like backing your way into the playoffs. That's not great. Yeah, Ty did a great job all
day, but he got in a wreck too. Like those things
happen to them a lot. You can't do it. I want Martin to advance. I know. And I think that a lot of
this is going to come down to what happens at Atlanta. OK for for those two guys. I think a lot of this for
Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex, a lot of a lot of this is going
to come down to whether they finish Atlanta or not. OK so big premium
on the Atlanta race is what is going to
have to be aggressive. Yeah, Atlanta and not make
a mistake on lap three looking at this real quick too. Sorry it's OK if you if other
than outside of like Hamlin and then I'd put the 14 in
this too because the 14 has nothing to lose. So I feel like they're just
going to throw everything at it. But those other guys
have been fast enough to win week in and
week out so they can race a little bit differently. OK so that's the negative side. Now, who is our early
championship pick? Because this is the I'm
sticking to my guns. Denny Hamlin that's right. We already knew
yours, he called it. And where were we at
that you said that? I just. I don't know. Driver 11 OK. Driver 11 I'm driver five
I feel like they have we're going back to back
championships, baby. We ain't seen it. OK, so we have three
different picks. All right, so you're going 11. I'm going. Kyle Larson and
you're going the 12. OK, there you have it. That's you want you guys want to
elaborate at all on your picks or that's I just think
that there's you know, I think when when
Denny looks at the way that they've run this year, the
way that they ran at Phoenix, he's got to know that
he's running out of shots. And I think when when he sees
that regular season trophy sitting in in the
shop at at at 2311, I just got to believe that
there's some sort of motivation there at and I think when when
he and gabehart look at at all the things that they have
accomplished and been together and can do, I just I think that
that experience of of being able to have been there before,
I just think that eventually it's got to happen. Yeah I would say for Kyle
Larson and company they're are ones that have been
there before and been able to get it done there. Leading in a bunch of
categories right now. Lots of momentum going
into the postseason. It's just hard to
count out Kyle Larson, you know, he's going to
do whatever it takes. Along with his crew chief, the
pit crew was on fire yesterday, I might add. So I don't know. I'm going tell us
going tell us why you guys have a 12 is going to win. I'm super excited to hear you
have a lot of good reasoning, both of you, as to why. I mean, here's is kind
of like, well, he just has to win because he has to
win because he's been there or whatever. Yours makes sense
because I mean, Larson has won a championship
already, at least. But listen, what have
you done for me lately? And lately the 12
has been there. And he did it. He won the championship last
the last time when they went to Phoenix, the last two years
in the championship round, he finished. He either he finished
second in both times, right? It's like, man, he's
got you said it. You just said it. What has he done for me lately? What are you, a championship? Yeah, but what has he
done for you lately? The season over. That's old news. It's old news. Well, that's how we
got to this point. We're getting started. We're getting started
by wrecking on lap five. Well, no tricks
wrecked on lap five. We just happened.
Either way, you're in it. We just happen to be there. It's all about the
old Mo at this point, if I've got to have them. They've been fast. They've been really fast. I'm worried about anyone. I am worried about Kyle
Larson in the five. Yeah, the five
has been dominant. No, I am worried if I'm the. That's who I think
you're racing against. I see.
I see. I think the 12 is going
to win, but that's who I feel like there, you know. And the other thing is, I
thought at moments outside of this this whole
conversation, at moments that 24 car I know moments. Had moments where
he had the speed. Yeah, but I'm telling you. Somebody like that,
like, you know, that hasn't had that
momentum like William Byron has had going into the playoffs. Somebody who hasn't had it
has a bad run at Atlanta. It'll be lights out. I cannot wait for it. It'll be lights out for for
somebody like for for somebody like that. N/A