Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum

Speaker 0 00:00:00 Drivers start your engine. Speaker 2 00:00:22 What's going on f fa And welcome back this, this is Dan May Ellen joined as always by the uh, three time Fs w a NASCAR writer of the year. Matt Sells previewing the 2023 NASCAR season and taking a look at Sunday's, uh, Bush Clash. Uh, Matt, how are you doing? How's the off season for you? It's very exciting to get back talking to nascar. Speaker 3 00:00:44 It is very exciting to have NASCAR back on the docket. Um, we have successfully passed through the two months that we don't have nascar cuz obviously only January and December are the only two months that don't have it on the schedule. So I am quite happy that NASCAR is back. Uh, we get to talk racing, uh, and guys making left in occasional right turns. Um, and as befitting uh, the occasion, I am actually wearing the Ross Chastain Hall the wall shirt <laugh> that I brought, uh, which now is never gonna happen again cuz they made it, uh, illegal with the, uh, the off season. So it's very exciting to have NAS Corp back. We've got the Fs, uh, coverage coming all season. And, uh, so yeah, with this pod we figured we would preview the season, kind of preview some of the rules, changes, uh, the content we'll have for you this year and then break down the clash a little bit. Speaker 2 00:01:43 Awesome. All right, well let's just kind of dive in. Uh, I mean, do we want to talk about our schedule and what we're delivering this year or are we, because I mean I know we still have some things that are in flux. Speaker 3 00:01:56 We do have, the main thing that's in Flux is trying to figure out exactly when the podcast will come out. Obviously this week is a different kind of week, um, but we are toying with the idea of having a Saturday podcast basically right after practice and qualifying for the Cup series. Um, so that it is more informed than a midweek preview, um, or simply changing it up so that the midweek preview lasts all week and doesn't talk specifics. Um, but other than that we have, uh, playbooks coming for the Truck series, Xfinity series and Cup Series every race weekend. Um, be covered by Dan over here and I will fill in when necessary. Um, and then I'll take the cup playbooks if that wasn't clear. Um, <laugh> and then we are going back to Core plays this year as opposed to the example lineups. We felt like it was a better breakdown of the field, uh, better we think through things that way. Speaker 3 00:02:56 Typically we don't necessarily build based off lineups. We're building off of core plays, so it fits more of our style of putting together, uh, our own plays. So we're going to give that to you guys for trucks, Xfinity and Cup series every race weekend. Um, and then, you know, we'll have cup projections back. The line of generator is back again for this year. Uh, anything else? I will have betting pieces for Cup Series over on picks wise for free every race weekend. Those will be our Fridays for race weekends, um, and F1 bedding on PIs wise. But I don't believe that we will have F1 DFS this year. Um, it just Did Speaker 2 00:03:40 You like it last year? Speaker 3 00:03:41 I hated it. I mean, I watched, look, I'm still gonna watch the races. No, Speaker 2 00:03:45 I am too. I just have no interest in the DFS aspect. Speaker 3 00:03:48 The scoring was not great. It basically limited you to half the already short field. Um, timing of the races was obviously a little nuts from week to week, cuz ha like three quarters of races are in Europe, Asia, um, Speaker 2 00:04:07 And they're one by percent Speaker 3 00:04:08 And now there's two month now there's two separate month long breaks in the F1 schedule for this year because they got rid of the Chinese Grand Prix and didn't replace it with anything. So there's like a month off after the first like four races and then they take their summer break in August. So just not great, um, for coverage and consistent, um, views. So, uh, we'll still have the Discord channel. If anybody wants to ask questions, I can answer them, but there's not gonna be written content for F one D F S this year. Uh, but there will be betting picks over on picks wise. So that's what it's looking like. Um, we're cutting down on the videos and whatnot. So you'll still get the podcast, the playbook and the core plays and projections, uh, this year for nascar. All three series. Speaker 2 00:04:55 Awesome. All right, let's dig in. Um, we're gonna do a little bit of a off-season recap. Uh, I guess I'll pull up my truck notes. I'll be quick with, try to be quick with Truck and Xfinity, um, for my truck and Xfinity Playbooks, that'll be out in two weeks for Daytona. I do have a written up, lengthy article for each. I've done the truck one. I haven't done Xfinity yet. Um, but a big move obviously for the truck series is gonna be Kyle Bus Motorsports, uh, transitioning from a Toyota team to a Chevrolet team. Uh, this obviously comes because he joined Richard Childress Racing and that is a Chevy team. So by default, Kyle Busch's riser now Chevy's. So this obviously changes things up. Uh, John Hunter Neek is gone. He got bumped up to Xfinity. He is gonna be racing for Joe gis racing. It's gonna be a very good car for him. Speaker 2 00:05:44 Uh, Corey Heim was on a part-time schedule last year, but two wins, uh, and a handful of top fives. One of the better drivers in the series. He is with a new team. Uh, so really the two names that are gonna be be occupying, uh, the Kyle Busch Motorsports car trucks are going to be mostly Chase Purdy, who was with Hattori Racing Enterprises last year, did okay in that equipment. Had some good runs, <laugh>, but then the other is Jack Wood, who I don't know how he landed a Kyle Bus Motorsports truck. It's not gonna be a full-time schedule. He's gonna have to share the 51 truck with whenever Kyle Bush actually wants to get behind the wheel. Um, but Jack Wood must have a ton of sponsorship or something because he was, he was terrible. I think he was with, uh, GMs racing previously. Um, and then, uh, KBM is gonna have an as affiliation with Rev racing. Speaker 2 00:06:32 Nick Sanchez will be driving the two truck for that team. Um, David Gilliland racing or formerly known as uh, D G R Crossley, I think, uh, they are now known as Tricon Garage. Uh, Haley Deagan is no longer with the team, but, uh, Taylor Gray, Tanner Gray, Corey Heim Mines, uh, Tricon, uh, Dean Thompson comes over from East Motorsports to drive your Tri Tricon. Uh, and then William Sowak will get a few races in 2023 as well. Uh, Thor Sport is mostly the same, although Haley Deagan does get the 13 truck. It's a pretty significant upgrade in equipment for her. Uh, GMs racing looks very different. Grant Infinger returns for 2023. He'll be in the 23 truck full-time. Russia Carruth takes over the 24 that was vacated by Jack Wood and Daniel Dye is being promoted from arca. Uh, I don't think he had any wins last year, but he did. Speaker 2 00:07:29 He did get a handful of top fives. Um, that's most of the big, uh, news that we got. Uh, Tyler is now the only, uh, driver left Attor racing. Colby Howard did indicate in the off season that he had a full-time ride with a new team. I think he might have been lying cuz uh, it doesn't sound like he has a ride at all. Um, lane Riggs, uh, had some really solid runs with Hallmark Freezing racing for 2020, uh, 2022. Ran a couple races last year. Looked pretty impressive on some, uh, he said to run more races this year. Stuart Friesen did say that if he could get a full-time, uh, sponsorship, he'd go full-time in the schedule. Doesn't seem like that's come to fruition yet. And Timmy and Tyler Hill are gonna reduce Hill Motorsports to just one truck and they will split time in that ride. Speaker 2 00:08:17 And then as far as the schedule goes, uh, the truck series loses Sonoma and Knoxville, which was a dirt race. Uh, but they do get, uh, north Wilkesboro during All-Star Race weekend. Uh, and they are also adding the midway the Milwaukee mile back to the schedule, which is fantastic. Uh, so for Xfinity, I haven't done the writeup yet, so I apologize, but it's, it's just not gonna be as informed as the last one. Um, as I mentioned previously, uh, John Hunter Neek will be driving for J G R, uh, gone are AJ Oman, dinger, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gregson, three of the best drivers in the series last year. Um, Matt, I might need help with this one because I'm not as trying to pull up some kind of preview. Speaker 3 00:09:06 Um, yeah, so there's, there's quite a few changes I guess with, in terms of the top drivers, uh, going out there. Um, I will say that the number two, our Motorsports, uh, Chevy team has no driver announced for that, but that's a secondary car. It's not the number two, it's the number oh two. So be very careful. It's not the Richard Childress one. Um, but yeah, the, the, you know, it's gonna make for a very interesting DFS season because you have a lot of, um, the key guys are mm-hmm <affirmative>, not <laugh>, not back. Um, Speaker 2 00:09:53 I mean JR Motorsports is now, uh, with no Grason gone. It looks like it's gonna be a three car team full-time and they will have, excuse me, uh, I'm sure they'll have a part-time ride. I mean, Dale and our Jr's gonna run, but uh, Josh Berry is back. Justin an Algier who is a staple there, he's back as well. Sam Mayer will run a full-time, uh, car once again as well. J g Jgr is essentially just reducing two, two cars, but I imagine that they will also have a part-time car. Um, also, I can't believe I forgot this. Brandon Jones is leading, is leaving Joe gis racing to go to Junior Motorsports. He will take over Noah Garson's nine car. The truck, uh, J J G R for Xfinity will be comprised mostly of John Hunter Neek we've already discussed, uh, as well as Sammy Smith who had some decent runs last year for Xfinity. Um, AJ Alman der for call Greasing, he is now full-time at the cup level. Landon Castle, I believe was let go, uh, because he couldn't fund any funding or sponsors. Uh, but college kind of makes up with it with Chandler Smith who gets the bump up from the truck series and they will, Speaker 3 00:11:01 Um, yeah, I think Justin Haley's gonna do a part-time Xfinity schedule Speaker 2 00:11:07 Just to get more practice and everything. Speaker 3 00:11:09 I guess he's listed, if you go to Jayski, he's listed under the number 10 under landing Castle who couldn't come up. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, sponsorship. But, um, so I, I think that Castle won't be running full-time, but he'll be there part-time. Um, Speaker 2 00:11:28 I'm checking their, their team site right now just to, Speaker 3 00:11:31 And then you got Hemrick in the 11 Speaker 2 00:11:33 Daniel Hemrick? Yeah, <laugh>. Oh God, he was terrible last year. Speaker 3 00:11:35 Yeah, so you got Chandler Smith coming up in the 16. Um, so Joe Gibbs, the 19 for Joe Gibbs is gonna be split between Ryan Truex, Joe Graff and Connor Mossek. Speaker 2 00:11:48 I don't know how Joe Graff got that ride on a part-time. Speaker 3 00:11:52 I I don't either. Speaker 2 00:11:53 Apparently. I'm sure he'd love to be full-time, but even getting five races like you're Joe Graff and you're getting, you're getting five races in a Joe Grip's racing car. That's insane. Speaker 3 00:12:02 Yeah. Um, and John Hunter Nema check in the 20. Um, and then yeah, Conor Roosa is also gonna run for Sam Hunt racing as well. Speaker 2 00:12:12 Yeah, I heard he is doing about 20 races, so, Speaker 3 00:12:15 So yeah. You'll also have Tyler Reddick doing a part-time schedule there too. And Parker Chase, uh, Brett Moffett is in the 25 car. So good Speaker 2 00:12:27 For you. We did kind of skip over two big teams. Speaker 3 00:12:29 Yes. Speaker 2 00:12:30 Uh, s h r expanding to two cars this year. Cole Custer is out of the 41 Cup car. He's going back to the Xfinity series. He will be I think in the double zero I think is what they're gonna roll. Um, Custer's gonna be a massive threat almost. He is pretty, I mean as Alman Dinger Gregson and Gibbs leave and Custer comes back down, it's almost like you kind of have to pencil him in for maybe at least six wins. Speaker 3 00:12:55 Yeah, probably. Speaker 2 00:12:57 Um, uh, I believe Riley Herbst is still there in the 98. I can't see why he would go anywhere. He's got sponsorship and, and funding. Uh, but another one big one is big machine racing got their first win last year when Tyler Reddick, uh, came in at Texas. Um, Nick Sanchez had some good runs there as well. Uh, but their choice for the full-time car is actually Parker Kligerman who has gotta be one of like the good stories in NASCAR just because yes, you know, he, he won a truck race last year, a road course on a part-time team that only had like one full-time employee and then just like seven other guys that were just kind of helping out on a part-time basis. Um, but Kligerman is their guy a pretty good car. Um, I did hear that J Buford was going to run a second big machine car. I don't know if it's full-time though. I think that news literally broke as we were starting to record. Speaker 3 00:13:49 Yeah, I'm not sure it's full-time either. Um, I think it's probably select, um, select races. Um, but yes, Riley Harps is at the 98, uh, Jeffrey Earhart's in the 44 for Alpha Prime Racing. Speaker 2 00:14:07 I still think that team is better than they performed last year. Speaker 3 00:14:09 I would agree. Um, he's gonna run a full schedule. Uh, Ryan Ellis is in the 43 for Alpha Prime. So, Speaker 2 00:14:19 Uh, Sage, Karen and Stephan Parsons are also I think running part-time schedules. Speaker 3 00:14:23 Yeah, I feel like the Xfinity series this year has like way less full-time drivers in it. Um, and a lot of part-time folks. Jeb Burton is gonna be in the 27 for Jordan Anderson racing. Um, so, and I also feel like the Xfinity grid is obviously still coming together as we just got news like <laugh> 10 minutes ago. Speaker 2 00:14:51 Oh, about J Buford. Speaker 3 00:14:53 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:14:55 Um, so, you know, I, I think you know, junior Motorsports is in a very good position given who like, yes they lost for accent, but they're filling in with, they still have a very solid lineup. Uh, colleague is still pretty good there with, you know, Chandler Smith should be pretty decent in that car. Daniel Hemrick was not great last year, but hopefully can improve and getting, you know, a combination of anything Castle and Justin Haley on a part-time basis should be okay for the 10 car. Um, but it's gonna be very interesting for dfs, let's put it that way. Speaker 2 00:15:35 Um, so the Xfinity schedule is gonna continue running road courses. Uh, they run a ton of road courses. Yes. Um, they're adding Sonoma to the schedule. I think it's the first time that they're there and they're also doing the Chicago Street course. How do you think that one's gonna play out? Speaker 3 00:15:56 I dunno, I'm, I like all of the videos and simulations. I see. I don't see a whole lot of passing spots. Yeah. Like I think they're gonna have to get creative with how they pass and I'm not sure that that's, um, gonna happen. Uh, I think the first several laps of that race are gonna be pretty boring as guys try to figure out, um, how it's racing in, uh, you know, race configuration so to speak, or with a bunch of other cars on the track next to them on like practice. Um, I am not all that thrilled about it. I think there's some other layouts they could have, they could have done that would have induced a little bit more passing zones. I just don't think the straightaways are quite long enough to like toes and and stuff heading into corners. And then the corners that they do head into are pretty tight. Um, if people remember the, the, um, questions about the Miami F1 race, um, I think it's gonna play out like that where you are gonna have to get very creative with how you pass people on the Chicago Street course. Speaker 2 00:17:02 Um, road America will go back to being the standalone showcase, uh, for the Xfinity drivers. Uh, kind of a shame cause I actually didn't hate, uh, when the Cup Series got some time there as well. Um, but let's turn our attention. Thank you for helping me <laugh> struggle through the Xfinity series updates. Uh, but let's focus on Cup. What, what are the, uh, driver changes, team changes, manufacture changes, schedule changes late on us? Speaker 3 00:17:29 So the, the key, let's start with the guys who are leaving. Kurt Bush is the biggest name, uh, stepping out of the sport. He steps away from full-time. I don't know if he'll get some one-off races or if he's just gonna kind of hang out and be an advisor or what exactly his role is. I've seen some, some shots of him like at the team garage still, uh, with, with 2311, uh, helping Tyler Reddick get situated and stuff. Um, but yeah, so Tyler Reddick moves from R c r to 2311 with a chip on his shoulder after getting kicked out of the eight car. Um, in what was a very good year for him. Uh, that leads to Kyle Bush who takes over the eight car moving from J G R to Richard Childress in the eight car to team up with Austin Dillon, who's still in the three car. Um, AJ Almond Dinger moves up to full-time for colleague racing in the 16. So that's gonna be fantastic cuz he, he's just been so good. He needs a full-time ride. And the colleague machines were pretty quick last year. So putting a guy like Almond Dinger in the 16 full-time should be pretty fun to watch on a weekly basis. Speaker 2 00:18:46 I'm still kinda surprised he even agreed to come back to a full-time cup schedule. Speaker 3 00:18:51 Yeah, I mean I think look, the difference between an Xfinity schedule and a cup schedule isn't that big, right? They're running what, 30 Xfinity races roughly in a season. Something to that effect between 28 32, somewhere in there. And they're running 36 cup races, so it's not like you're getting all that much more off weekends. Um, and now that there's, you know, six or seven road courses in a cup schedule, it gives him a lot more chances to win several races a year in a cup car. Um, we saw what he did at, you know, almost winning at Kota last year before being run off the track with like four turns to go. Um, Ty Gibbs replaces Kyle Bush and no, he will not be running the 18, he'll be running the 54, so there'll be no 18 on the track year for the Cup series, which we'll take some getting used to. Um, Ty Dylan got a job with uh, spy Motorsport. He moves from petty GMs. The 42 car gets removed from that in favor of Noah Cracken, which I can't really blame. Uh, formerly petty GMs as it's now what Legends Motor sports or something. Uh, Speaker 2 00:20:08 Legacy Motor Sports Club. I actually kind like it. I think it's kind of classy. It's just legacy mc. Speaker 3 00:20:13 Yeah, I would've gone with seven. You Speaker 2 00:20:15 Don't let, I think we're indifferent about Speaker 3 00:20:16 It. I would've gone with seven time range with me. I mean you've got two of the three seven time champions owning the team. Why not go with seven time? Um, you're also in car, like, I don't know their numbers just matched. Um, but Ty Dylan moves from the 42 to the 77 of Spy Motorsports. Aspire will be a two car team this year full-time with Corey Laroy and Ty Dylan in that garage. Uh, Gregson moved up Speaker 2 00:20:46 On super speedways. Speaker 3 00:20:47 What was that? Speaker 2 00:20:49 Uh, that Spire team is gonna be pretty exciting to watch on super speedways. Speaker 3 00:20:53 Yeah, I think so too. I think I, I actually think it's a nice move for Ty Dylan, um, going from the team that clearly he was the second car into a team where he is probably uneven footing. I think that's, that's a pretty nice move for him. Uh, Gregson moves up from the Xfinity series to the 42, um, to be teammates with um, Eric Jones in the 43. Um, Ryan Priest is back, he replaces Cole Custer in the 41 car priest for him. Priest was their reserve driver all of last year. So he's had time in the simulator in these setups, uh, in the next gen car. Obviously not on track, but the simulators nowadays are pretty danged glued to the point where teams are barely doing setup changes when they get to the track. Um, and Josh Beki is gonna drive a partial schedule for the 78 live Fast team that's usually got BJ McLeod in it. Um, Jimmy Johnson joined the ownership group for Legacy Motor Sports Club, whatever it's called. It's gonna take some getting used to. And don't be surprised if I write Petty GMs in there a couple of times early in the season. Um, Speaker 2 00:22:07 Did you hear Denny Hamlin's comments on, uh, Jimmy Johnson? Speaker 3 00:22:13 I don't think I did Speaker 2 00:22:15 Actually. Um, Speaker 3 00:22:17 I heard his comments on not liking that they didn't have practice before qualifying for Daytona. Speaker 2 00:22:21 Here's what Denny said about Jimmy Johnson returning, uh, on a five race schedule. I can't believe he's just upset about it, but he said, I hate it. I hate that he's coming back just because as the guy, you know, I just put on this pedestal like he's unbeatable. He's just a super talented, like, he was like, he was the guy and I always said I hated, I hate that I raced in the Jimmy Johnson era. I was so unfortunate. Wawa like, yeah, let's feel bad for Tony Hamlin. He continues. How many championships would I have if I didn't have to race against him? I guess I don't know what the motivation is for him because he is got such a strong legacy and a strong resume. Uh, I hate tainting what I'm going to think about him if he comes in and struggles, which is the most likely scenario. I have no disagreement with him in that Johnson's likely gonna struggle in the car, especially if he's only running five races. But can you believe that he's this adamant about somebody else coming in who's not gonna compete for a championship, but like, is this just Demi being, Denny being a grumpy jerk? Speaker 3 00:23:21 It's him playing the heel. Yeah, like he's a, he's adopted this role of being the heel, um, and he's playing it to a t i I don't get it either. Like boohoo how many championships would you have had? I mean, how her Edwards would've had a championship if Jimmy Johnson didn't exist? That guy doesn't have any, I i I don't know why he's complaining about a guy coming, like that's what the Daytona 503 times and he's complaining like, is it gonna change his legacy? Okay, maybe. But like, so did his suckage in the indie car series. Like he wants to drive, like let him drive. Yeah. Like he owns a team, he can drive you own a team, you drive for another team. Like what, like what are we talking about here? Like it is just, it is just bizarre. Um, in terms of the cup schedule, a lot of it stayed the same. Speaker 3 00:24:18 I have to say. Um, there's still only one off weekend. It's gonna be Father's Day weekend, uh, which is June 19th. So we are racing from February 5th, which is the Clash. Then there's the off week for the Super Bowl. Then Daytona 500 is the 19th. We race straight through all the way through June 11th, which is Sonoma. Uh, then there's the off week and then it's, and then we get the run from June 25th all the way to November 5th, uh, straight through. Uh, that's, that's on NBC's coverage. So um, they have added the Chicago Street course, they took out Road America, which is a bummer cuz I really like Road America. Um, but aside from that, I don't really think there's really, I mean they added North Wilkesboro for the All Star race, which is great because Texas sucked. Um, unfortunately Texas still has an actual points paying race <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:25:20 Hopefully that goes away soon. Um, but yeah, I think most of it has basically stayed, stayed the same. Um, they may have switched up a little bit of the playoff rounds, um, if I remember correctly. Um, but yeah, the championship is still in Phoenix, which I would also dearly love for it to go back to Homestead, um, or rotate it if they're gonna do the rotation thing. But um, aside from that, there's not really anything else I can complain about with the schedule. Um, what about the rule changes? The rule changes, I actually like all of them. Um, so if you did not hear, they are getting rid of stage breaks at road courses, uh, for everything I think except for the standalone Xfinity and Truck um, races if I read it correctly. Um, but yeah, so no stage breaks. Um, I think you will still, well lemme put it this way, they still get stage points at the determined stage deal. Speaker 3 00:26:35 Uh, but there's no caution. So they're not gonna stop the race for the stage breaks. Um, which is nice. So that should change a little bit of strategy for dfs. They a little bit other, they're still tweaking some of the um, car setups. Like I saw them testing like a two and a half inch spoiler I think the other day. Um, there's wet tires now for several of the short tracks and road courses. Um, there's a, you know, wiper so most of it is, is technical. Um, you cannot do the hall at the wall move anymore. They, they got rid of that cuz it's a safety thing for sure. Um, no more four race suspensions if your tire falls off by the way. Um, so that's a, that's a pretty nice one if the wheel breaks free outside of Pit road, the new rule guidelines mandate a two lap penalty plus a two race suspension for two crew members. Speaker 3 00:27:36 But they get to pick which crew members. Um, and if it's on um, pit road, I don't think there's actually a, um, it's basically a, a pass through penalty under green flag conditions if it falls off on pit road. Um, so and if it, and if it occurs during a caution then it's just a tail end of the field penalty. So they've drastically produced the penalty for a wheel falling off, which is nice cuz with only one lug nut it happens way more often, it's gonna happen. Um, they have added choose rules to Super Speedways and Bristol Dirt as well. So the whole choose Cone where they get to choose where they line up on a resert, they've added that to super speedways and uh, dirt tracks and yes, super Speedways includes Atlanta. Um, so that could be pretty interesting for restarts there cuz it used to be you just lined up based on your, you know, evens and odds, but now you get to choose where you want. So I don't have any single, um, problem with any of those. Um, we still get same day qualifying and practice for the Cup series typically bef the day before the race. So it's gonna be again, an abbreviated schedule for most Speaker 2 00:28:56 Race. Uh, I want to dive into the Clash. Speaker 3 00:28:59 Uh, yeah, I don't think there's anything else we can, um, talk about for, for off season stuff. I know typically we will get through the brace breakdown the lot sooner in these podcasts. Um, it's just the first one of the year has all of the changes and stuff. Speaker 2 00:29:14 All right. Uh, the Clash at the Coliseum NASCAR goes back for another year. Uh, I think it was a nice success last Speaker 3 00:29:22 Year. Oh it was fantastic. Speaker 2 00:29:24 Um, let's go over the schedule in the format. How is it all shaking out? Like are they, they're getting practice, uh, what Saturday I believe? Speaker 3 00:29:33 Yeah, they get the coup. Yeah, they get practice on Saturday practice and qualifying are on Saturday actually. So, um, there are three groups for practice on Saturday. It starts 6:00 PM Eastern. Um, on Saturday February 4th it's gonna be on FS one for TV qualifying is at 8:30 PM Eastern also on FS one on Saturday. But the qualifying is only for like, uh, I think the front row in heat races cuz then they break you down and they do heat races, um, on Sunday starting at 5:00 PM Eastern on Fox. And those are gonna be very, very short. Like they're only gonna take like 15 minutes cuz again it's a quarter mile track built on the football field on the LA Coliseum, so doesn't take very much time to, to go turn a bunch of laps here. So they're gonna have four qualifying heat races, um, from five Eastern on Saturday to, or sorry, on Sunday. Speaker 3 00:30:36 Uh, with the last one ending about six Eastern or so. And then you have the last chance qualifying races for the guys that didn't make it through the, the, uh, qualifying heats. They get two chances to make it there, um, before the actual race gets underway at 8:00 PM Eastern on Fox. So it should be fun in primetime. It's a star studied event. Bright Lights, they've been promoting this thing like nobody's business on their, uh, NFL playoff coverage. So it should be, it should be fun. Um, it does make it a little tricky for dfs. So there will not necessarily be a full DFS writeup. I will probably have some of my favorite plays that are kind of locked in. Um, but I'll be around in Discord to answer any questions, uh, folks might have. But it is, it is a unique event in terms of dfs, um, for how they set the field and and whatnot. Speaker 2 00:31:38 Yeah, I'm only doing five lineups on DraftKings and I'm sure I'll probably make five on FanDuel. I think they, they just opened their, uh, pricing and contest as Speaker 3 00:31:47 We were starting to record. That's before we started recording this podcast on, uh, Thursday morning. Speaker 2 00:31:52 All right. Uh, you just wanna get down to Jackings and FanDuel pricing. Speaker 3 00:31:56 Yeah, let's, uh, I will start to pull those up there. Um, Speaker 2 00:32:00 That's fine. Uh, Joey Logano, uh, the, does it feel like Joey Logano really deserved the championship last year, in your opinion? Speaker 3 00:32:09 Um, Speaker 2 00:32:10 It feels like, because I remember Phoenix being such like an underwhelming race and I'm just like, eh, yeah, Logano wins, but it just, it just didn't feel like when Kyle Larson won or when Chase Elliot won, like, you know, he won a couple Speaker 3 00:32:23 Race. Well part of that is because some of the championship guys had, um, issues, right? Like Chase got wrecked out early, so he was never a factor. Um, couple other guys seemed to get stuck a little bit. Like Ross Chastain got stuck back in the pack a little bit. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> more than we thought he was going to. Um, I mean he, look, he did what he needed to do in the championship race. There's a lot of discussion as to whether or not the championship race should actually be a series of races, like three races. Um, so you extend the playoffs to 12 races and then you have cutoffs after each three, and then the championship round is four guys in three races and mm-hmm. <affirmative> and whatnot. And I, I can't say I disagree, but then what's to stop you from going back to points and that whole can of worm? So, uh, look, I don't know, he was sneaky, consistent all season. Like if you, if you look at his actual speed ratings and whatnot, he was consistently one of the better cars all season. Did he always get us the results we wanted? No, but he was reasonably consistent, which is why he was there. So I, I don't, I don't know that I have a problem with, uh, him being deemed as the champion last year. Speaker 2 00:33:50 Well, he is 10,200 for the Clash. He's the most expensive driver on DraftKings. He's the third most expensive on FanDuel at, well I guess he's tied for second most expensive on FanDuel. Um, has 12,500 over there. Realistically, you know, because this is such a unique track, it's, it's very short. It's only a quarter mile. Are we, do we just want to cont I mean Logano won the Clash last year on the same track. Are we mostly just looking at guys gonna be drive very well on these short flat tracks? Um, we don't know the qualifying order. We don't know who he, who is even gonna win the race. I mean, among this massive player poor that you look at on DraftKings and FanDuel, a lot of these guys aren't even gonna be in the race. Right? Um, um, but do we think Logan's just gonna be incredibly popular based, you know, he's coming off the championship and he won this race a year ago? Speaker 3 00:34:42 Yeah, he'll, he'll probably be pretty, pretty popular. I mean, guys who typically do well on short flat tracks, um, should be reasonably uh, popular plays. Um, you know, so that brings in Eric Marola. Chase Briscoe was a sneaky guy to look at for sure. We'll get to him in a minute. Logano having won it last year, um, obviously gonna be popular. But look, there's, there's not necessarily a guarantee that he makes it right? Like right, there's 27 drivers who are gonna advance to the main feature, but I'm not sure that any one of these guys is specifically locked in just yet. I think they still have to qualify like they normally, like they normally would, um, rather than what we've seen in the Clash in the past. Where have you won last year where you were a polls hitter last year or you have previously won the Clash? Speaker 3 00:35:43 Uh, or if that didn't get you in, you won a most popular driver award and you, you know, hadn't qualified yet, then you were in, that's how they previously set the Clash. Now I'm pretty sure that nobody's actually locked in. You actually have to physically qualify, you know, like sh showing up to a dirt race weekend and winning your, your sheets to make the a main. Um, but yeah, I mean he would be, he would be popular. Look there, there's been talked at the that the pricing is soft. Yeah, of course. It's a weird race man. Like you expected to be the hardest pricing of the season when nobody has any clue as to who's gonna actually make the race. Speaker 2 00:36:23 Like Kevin Harburg is 7,800 to Ham one's Speaker 3 00:36:27 86 <laugh>. Yeah, I mean like short it's soft but Speaker 2 00:36:34 Tricks is 73 <laugh>. It's Speaker 3 00:36:36 A weird, it's a weird race. Like yeah where's like Kyle Bush is 9,100 in a brand new car yet, like Tyler Reddick is 8,100. Like it's a, we like GIS makes an appearance and Speaker 2 00:36:51 Then Joe Gibbs car Speaker 3 00:36:53 Like Klowski is is back up to above Tru X. Like, but like Speaker 2 00:37:00 <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:37:01 Yeah, it's weird. I don it's weird pricing for sure. Again, we like the general strategy here is you just want the guys that are gonna finish highly. Cuz we're not hu we're not necessarily hunting laps. I don't think there's really enough in LAP led to make a huge difference. Like, you know, uh, Speaker 2 00:37:22 How many laps is it? One 50. Speaker 3 00:37:25 I mean Logano last year won it had 20 laps lead in 35, or sorry, 20 fastest laps in 35 laps lead went from fourth to first and won it and that was good for 60 60 k points. So, you know, there, there's a shot that you can get some decent ones but heck even Chase going from 15th to 11th and having five fastest laps. Got 'em 38 points. So the scoring's gonna be a little wonky this week too. Speaker 2 00:37:56 Yeah, so there's 105 dominator points available. Speaker 3 00:38:01 Yeah and I'm pretty sure only green flag labs count in this one, so probably keep that in mind. Keep that in mind too. But again, even like the last place dude is finishing 27, so you're still gonna get like some points from a guy. Speaker 2 00:38:25 Um, all right, so on DraftKings there are six drivers that are priced above $9,000. Um, from top to bottom it's Joey Logano, chase Elliot, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Bush at 9,100 in his debut in the eight car. Um, who would you feel best about? Just no context on this track. So probably Logano since he won. Speaker 3 00:38:48 I'm actually going Kyle Bush. Speaker 2 00:38:51 That's insane. Speaker 3 00:38:53 I mean he was very good at this track last year. Granted it was J G R car but this eight car was fast as heck for Tyler Reddick basically every week. Yeah, right. So, um, I mean what did Reddick Reddick still led? I mean Reddick led 51 laps in this eight car last year in the Clash and Speaker 2 00:39:17 He wrecked right? Speaker 3 00:39:18 Had 64 in a Jgr car. So, and he's out to prove a point this year I think. I think Kyle Bush is about to have just an ungodly year, Speaker 2 00:39:31 Uh, four drivers on DraftKings priced in the eight K range. That seems so range. This pricing is so weird. Speaker 3 00:39:38 Ross Speaker 2 00:39:39 Casting is 8,900. Denny Hamlin is 86. William Byron 84 and Tyler Reddick 81. Let's just throw Kevin Harvick into this grouping as well. He's 7,800. Speaker 2 00:39:50 Um, I mean we can probably feel pretty good about Reddick. I imagine he's gonna be a popular guy as well. Um, William Byron I feel like is is gonna be one that probably gets overlooked. Um, started this race last year, seventh finished sixth had four fastest laps, which was good for 41 points on DraftKings. And overall he had a very weird stretch where it's like he won two races, he was firmly locked into the playoffs. Uh, and then they kind of like just experimented with his car the rest of the year until the playoffs when he got hot again with just a few top tens and flirted with some top fives as well. Didn't make the championship race, but he still had some very strong performances. Um, I feel like just on name recognition and people are, I just think like of these five drivers, we, we potentially get William Byron at uh, an ownership discount. Speaker 3 00:40:40 I agree. Out of those five that you just listed, like I think Chastain or Reddick are gonna be the most popular, um, of that group. Then I think it'll be Hamlin probably then Harvick cuz it's his last year and people wanna play 'em and there's narrative there that he'll find speed again. Um, but I don't think anybody's gonna pay attention to William, William Byron, who was solid in this race last year, was very good on short tracks for much of the year last year. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and like you said, like he won two races early and they were like, okay, we're gonna go use you as a Guinea pig Speaker 2 00:41:15 <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:41:16 Okay fine. And then all of a sudden when you and I started playing him again in the playoffs and he took off, people started to pay attention to him again. But I don't, I don't think anybody's gonna pay attention to him at the Clash at this price point. And by the way, I'm FanDuel, he's like, he's not even, he's yeah, he's like, Speaker 2 00:41:39 He's 11,000. Are we talking about Byron still? Yeah, he's 11,000 on FanDuel. Speaker 3 00:41:45 Yeah, he's the eighth most expensive guy. The third most expensive um, Hendrick guy because Larson and Elliot are both tied at 13 K on FanDuel for the most expensive. Speaker 2 00:41:59 It's crazy how, and I'm kind of going off track right here, but it's crazy how the two sites view Ty Gibbs very differently cuz he's 5,300 on DraftKings but he's only 9,000, well I can't say only 9,000 on fan, but he's 9,000 on FanDuel, which is just beneath the price of the average driver on FanDuel. But like 5,300 is just such a massive discount for Joe Gibbs raising equipment. Speaker 3 00:42:23 I mean, yeah, that's, he's going to be the most played guy Speaker 2 00:42:31 Probably. Um, alright, now Speaker 3 00:42:32 Here's, now here's my question though with Ty Gibbs, are you playing like we saw what happened with the rookie with the fast rookies? Speaker 2 00:42:43 Yep. I was just about to ask you about this stupid flash. Speaker 3 00:42:45 They got cold lead like Justin Haley showed up and was fast as all get out in the C car and a got shoved out of the way in the main race. Like he wasn't anybody and he came up with a squeaky clean record. Ty Gibbs does not have a squeaky clean record <laugh> at all in the least. So not to mention Noah Grason who he's had run-ins with, is also competing for this race and in the Cup series. Yep. So are we, are you willing to take the chance on Ty Gibbs or are you going to avoid what most people would probably believe him to be a chalk play at 5,300 as a saver? Like I, I don't know how I sit on the Ty Gibbs thing knowing he could spend most of his race getting just eaten alive. Speaker 2 00:43:49 I just think that pricing is so soft. Like initially when I saw it I thought man, he's gonna be very popular at that price sec. But like we've said, the pricing is so soft across the board that I think that's the one reason I don't think he's gonna be as chalky as we think because you don't necessarily need Ty Gibbs in your lineup. Um, now when you plug him in you have about $9,000 left to spend on the remaining five drivers on DraftKings. Um, but again, we're seeing discounted price tags on drivers like Martin Drew X Jr, uh, chase Brisco's, only 71, Alex Bowman's 6,900. Nice. Um, bubble Wallace is 67, but this isn't a track that I wanna play Bubble Wallace at. Um, but Chris Buscher came on very strong last year and uh, RFK racing got better as the year progressed. Um, but there are just so much like Ryan Priest and Eric Alma are two guys in SR Equipment Sr. Had a very bad year, but that's still very good equipment. I mean em and AJ Algers 58, uh, Speaker 3 00:44:49 Austin Dill. Yeah, Eric Jones at 63 is pretty interesting given how he raced. Speaker 2 00:44:53 Yeah. And so last Speaker 3 00:44:55 Year Speaker 2 00:44:55 Do I think Ty probably has elevated ownership? Yes. I don't think it's gonna be ridiculously high though because the pricing is just so soft on DraftKings. Speaker 3 00:45:06 I mean that's true because like I just built a lineup of Briscoe, Reddick, Byron Jones, Kyle Bush and Logano and I have $800 left. Speaker 2 00:45:15 Yeah. Honestly, like leaving money on leaving a little bit of money on the table might be the way to go. Like, Speaker 3 00:45:21 Oh yeah, Speaker 2 00:45:21 It's, I'm not gonna treat this like Daytona where you can leave thousands of dollars on the table, but I think you can probably build a lineup and be different if everyone else is trying to spend every dollar in their budget leaving between, you know, 700 to maybe like $1,200 might be a contrarian way to go and you can still feel really good about your lineup. Speaker 3 00:45:40 I mean I feel pretty good about that build. Speaker 2 00:45:42 Yeah. Just like <laugh>. Sure. Speaker 3 00:45:44 I'm not saying that it's not filled with Chalky guys like Logano and Kyle Bush and Reddick, but I don't think people are gonna pay attention to Briscoe or Byron or Jones. So I, I don't know, I'm just torn. Like I know that Ty Gibbs is gonna be a huge talking point this week and really all season week every, it's Ty Gibbs. Um, but we saw rookies get bullied here last year, Speaker 2 00:46:09 But we've also on, I guess if I'm gonna play devil's advocate, <laugh>, um, we've seen Ty Gibbs not give a damn about who else is on the track with him. Do you maybe think he grows the pair that he already has, but we know it, but do you think maybe he could move other people out of the way it would rub guys the wrong way to do that in your very first uh, well not his very first Cup series race, but like first race of the year when you're officially like locked in as a full-time rookie. I mean he doesn't care who he wrecked his own teammate last year who was cruising to a win that could have qualified for the championship and he didn't care. Speaker 3 00:46:48 I mean yeah, there's that he doesn't care but like inciting a wreck only invites more wrecks. Right. So like, I don't know. I mean it's true. Ultimately Speaker 2 00:47:02 I'm with you. He's, I I think it's more likely that he gets bullied as opposed to him being the bullying. Speaker 3 00:47:11 I agree. I think it's more, more like okay kid you've, this is, you haven't earned your stripes yet here. So yeah, let Speaker 2 00:47:20 Us welcome to the show. Speaker 3 00:47:22 I mean, you know, it, it is a fair point that he had what 10 cup races last year? 12 cup races last year. Um, cuz Kurt got the concussion I guess what right before the, the playoffs if I'm not mistaken. And Ty was basically the fill in almost every one of those weeks. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, so yeah, lemme see that they should say Speaker 2 00:47:49 He had only one top 10 last year. Speaker 3 00:47:50 Yeah. I mean, but he had 15 races so it's basically a half a season in the Cup series. Um, but I think he was also under strict orders to just bring back a clean car because the car he was driving was in the, the owner's championship because Kurt had already gotten the win. Yeah. Um, or well they really put him in Bubba's and switched Bubba to the 45. Yeah. Either way I think he was just getting his feet wet and didn't really wanna start anything but I think it's full go on Ty Gibbs now this year. Um, as for the other rookie like Noah Grason, are you staying off of him too because we saw rookies get Speaker 2 00:48:37 Yeah, I'm not really interested in playing either in this race if I'm being honest. Speaker 3 00:48:41 Yeah, Speaker 2 00:48:42 I mean I could probably, I feel pretty good in the fact that I'm assuming one of them, at least one of them doesn't even qualify. Speaker 3 00:48:48 I would agree. I would say if it's one I, I don't know that Noah Gson qualifies Speaker 2 00:48:53 That is who I would say probably doesn't qualify now I still like him for Daytona and I actually Yes. Kind like the odds that he's getting at 50 to one uh, just to win outright honestly, and, and this is another I know but tight Dylan is one 50 to one on Draftking sports book to win the Daytona 500. Speaker 3 00:49:11 Uh, might sprinkle a buck on there <laugh>. Yeah, right. Like Speaker 2 00:49:17 <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:49:19 We've literally seen the 77 car win at Daytona before. So like <laugh>, like I'm pretty sure Justin Haley was driving that car when he won, when Kurt Bush inextricably pitted had. Um, but yeah, uh, so, uh, look, the key to this to, to doing well in the, in the clash is going to be to be different. Um, setting up, you know, not not going full board chalk, not trying to ride the chalk and say, well if it hits then I want a part of it. Cuz the odds of that happening are slimmer here just given the format and the setup and the, there's not all that many laps and it'll be over pretty quickly. Um, Speaker 2 00:50:06 How many drivers ultimately do make the field? Is it like Speaker 3 00:50:08 27? Speaker 2 00:50:09 27? Speaker 3 00:50:11 Yes. Speaker 2 00:50:12 So we're looking at the play the driver pool in it like a third of these guys aren't gonna make it Speaker 3 00:50:18 Right. Speaker 2 00:50:18 Yeah, I would say you probably need to leave money on the table to be really different, especially if you're gonna play large field gpp. Yes. Anything over probably like two to 3000 you really need to get different. Speaker 3 00:50:32 Yeah, sure. But it's gonna be finished position and we did see people be able to move up here. We did see some, you know, wrecks and guys not, um, finished now a lot of it was, uh, part failures that happened last year cuz it was the first race with a brand new car and nobody really knew what they were doing. Um, I don't suspect we'll see nearly as many of those this year, but I, I will assume that we will see a lot of bumping, you know, bumping here cuz a, it's a quarter mile track b these cars quite a lot of abuse and keep going generally speaking unless you break a tow link. Um, but yeah, I I you're gonna have to get different, you're gonna have to leave money on the table and you can now is it a fair bet to say that the guys that are typically top 15 every week in the cup series are gonna make the clash? Yes. That's pretty, that's a pretty decent bet to assume that those guys will make it, but you'll have to keep changing your lineup until about an hour before green flag because that's when the final lineups will be set. Speaker 2 00:51:47 Yeah. That's really only why I'm doing five lineups. I don't want to be changing like 20 to 50 lineups at one time. Speaker 3 00:51:54 Yeah. Um, and in terms of betting on this one, I'd be pretty careful. I mean there are bets you can place them. Um, if you want to bet, I would bet now before qualifying in practice it's going cuz odds will change and obviously, um, you know, the, the better value is earlier in the week. But with a race like this, be careful that you're not going like full bore on a long shot who may not even make the field. Speaker 2 00:52:23 I would also say if you're gonna bet, just wait two weeks and just bet Daytona betting super Speedway races and high variance tracks where you can chase longer odds. That is how yes you should approach, but like sure bet a little bit this week, but I'm, Speaker 3 00:52:39 But if you want to, I'm not saying you should, Speaker 2 00:52:41 I'm driving to, uh, Tennessee tomorrow just to place a few like outright bets and it's gonna be a long drive. Just, just a place just to fuel a gambling addiction, uh, <laugh>. But that's my plan. I love betting the super speedways even indie road course, which is a wonky road course that we've seen just get chaotic. But seriously, Daytona 500, I mean what you hit Michael McDowell winning a couple, uh, two years ago, right? Yeah. Speaker 3 00:53:09 I hit McDowell at 66 to one winning. Now I will say going into term four on the final lap, it did not look like he was going to win. And then Logano and Klowski had their typical, Speaker 2 00:53:20 But that's the, just the nature of super speedways right, is what makes the the long shot. So Speaker 3 00:53:24 Like I also went from winning hero dollars to winning $2,500 in DFS with that crash. So it, it worked but <laugh> you can hit, um, you can hit long shots. Um, I don't remember what, um, I don't remember what Cindrich was going off at last year. Speaker 2 00:53:48 If I had to go based on the current odds, I'd probably say because I'm looking at like Noah Gregson and I think Ty Gibbs is 40 to one to win the Daytona 500 Gregson is 50 to one on, and this is on Draftking sports book. I imagine he probably fell somewhere in that range. Speaker 3 00:54:06 Yeah, I think he was about 35 to 35 to one. I'm trying to remember if I wrote him up or not. I, I don't. Speaker 2 00:54:14 Travis Pastrana is a hundred to one to win. How is Ty Dylan one 50 to one to Speaker 3 00:54:19 Win <laugh>? I mean Travis Pastrana is not even qualified. Like he has to qualify to make it. What is jj? Cuz he has, he has to qualify to make it too. Speaker 2 00:54:26 Jimmy Johnson is 51. Speaker 3 00:54:30 Yeah, I mean, Speaker 2 00:54:31 Um, Cody Ware and BJ Mcle are 500 to one <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:54:37 Okay. You know what you want to get wonky Go David Reagan at a hundred to one <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:54:44 I actually played a lot of Reagan last year. I think he was in the 500 last year I played him and Castle. And Castle was actually really? Speaker 3 00:54:51 Huh? Or La Joy at a hundred to one La Joy was leading was was like challenging for the win at Atlanta. Yeah, before Chase, Speaker 2 00:55:03 Everyone was pulling for him, man, Speaker 3 00:55:04 Before Chase Elliot put him in the wall. Um, um, Justin Haley at 40 to one is still way too high like that. Like I would still hit like <laugh>, like all the dude does is win Super speedways. Speaker 2 00:55:20 Yeah. He went on a legendary tear in Xfinity, I Speaker 3 00:55:24 Think six straight Xfinity. Speaker 2 00:55:26 He won like four or five straight I think at one point in, in the Xfinity series. Speaker 3 00:55:30 Yeah, it just, I mean anybody can, anybody can win. If you want to favorite it 12 to one on Blaney is still pretty nice for a favorite to be honest. I mean, Denny at 12 to one having been a three time winner is also pretty nice. That's the only thing about Speedway racing is like you're gonna get favorites at way longer odds than you, you would for any other race. But, so that's the, uh, that's the clash. We'll be in Discord all weekend. I'll have probably some sort of write up I would imagine about more so strategy and, and whatnot a little bit like it's not gonna be a full playbook. There's not gonna be projections for it. Um, but I will do something just to knock the rust off the writing and get something up there. Um, but yeah, it's, you know, and then, uh, we get the Super Bowl and then we get the Super Bowl of racing with the Daytona 500 and then we're off and going folks. It's gonna be a long season. It's gonna be a fun season. Dan and I are pretty psyched about it. We feel pretty good about going back to the core plays. Uh, we have a full season worth of data with the n Next Gen car, so it's a, it should be, uh, making us feel a little better about who we're writing up from week to week. And obviously there's still volatility. It's nascar, anything can happen when you're racing at 200 miles an hour. But, uh, we're feeling pretty good about this season. Oh yeah. Speaker 2 00:56:59 All right Matt, well thank you so much for your time. Apologies for the, uh, couple of f bombs that I dropped. Uh, still a little bit rusty. Uh, but best of luck to you this week and best of luck to the FFA Nation.