Tension at Stewart-Haas Racing | Dale Jr. Makes TV Move Official | Wild NASCAR Charter Rumors

things are awkward inside the walls of Stuart hos racing I think it says a lot about the team's likely [Music] future how's it going y'all my name is Eric welcome to out of the groove we've got a great show in store for you today dayart Jr news some teammate drama Power Rankings but first we have to talk about today's sponsor prolube oil specializes in high- performing oil additives greases and lubricants that are made to outlast and outperform traditional lubricants using their very own friction reducing technology with prolube a little goes a long way get the most out of your vehicles and Equipment save money on gas and oil changes prevent premature wear and tear reduce equipment downtime and increase productivity so you can get back to business shop prol Lubes extreme lubricants at prolube oil.com you can also click the link down in the description below and be sure to use code Groove g r o o v for 20% off your order be sure to check them out take advantage of that deal huge thank you to prolube for sponsoring this episode of out of the groove let's start things off with Dale nhart Jr today both Amazon and TNT Sports confirmed that Dale Jr will join their respective broadcast booths in 2025 remember beginning next year Fox will broadcast the first 12 points paying races as well as the All-Star Race and The Clash then Amazon Prime will get the next five Cup Series races Dale Jr will be part of that broadcast Booth with TNT and Max getting the next five races Dale Jr will be a part of those broadcasts as well NBC has the rights for the Final 14 Cup Series races so 12 5 54 I think that adds up to 36 this has been reported on for quite some time but now Dale Junior's move is confirmed he won't be with NBC the second half of this season that will take some getting used to we also know Lee DIY will be replacing Rick Allen on Sundays at some point later this year there's going to be a lot of adjustments here in the fall but looking ahead to next season dor Hart Jr will be in the booth for the five Amazon races and the five TNT Max races if I may make one request I need Alan bestwick in a broadcast Booth once again calling Nascar Cup Series races make it happen Amazon I know you guys got Deep Pockets and TNT y'all are about to lose the NBA right most likely how about take that extra money and throw it at Alan bestwick get him over there whatever it takes I need it bestwick nhart commanding a NASCAR broadcast Booth oh that would be perfect hasht content let's make it happen anyway moving on let's talk about some drama inside the walls of steuart hos racing this all started Saturday at Kansas Speedway just after Cup Series qualifying when reporter Toby Christie posted this thread he said Noah Gregson said on Tuesday that he Chase Brisco and Josh Barry have started studying data and techniques in order to improve their speed Gregson says the offer is up for anyone who wants to join the study session the three Steward hos drivers in the study group will all start from 17th or better with two of them making it to the final round of qualifying Ryan priest the one not part of the study group will start 32nd on Sunday at Kansas huh very very interesting and what's more interesting is apparently this post that thread was the the first Ryan priest had ever heard about his teammates little secret study group priest responded publicly saying study group that I wasn't aware of shrugging emoji that is awkward there's a SpongeBob Meme for every situation I swear the timing of this was super interesting as well because this all was posted Saturday afternoon after I'd spoken to chase Brisco in the media center Brisco told me that all the Stewart hos drivers were collaborating better than they ever had have as far as the cup side goes this is by far the most of the teams have ever gotten along you know the drivers you know all work together really really well um just the camaraderie in the building it's just been way different and I think a lot of that is just all of us are relatively young and in experience and you know we were all at the shop a lot more than probably what it was when there was you know a lot of other guys there just were at different points of our career where we're all kind of hungry and not as busy as what a Harvick or somebody like that would be so it makes it a little easier for us all be at the race shop but I know from a driver standpoint from a teammate side of things this is the best I've ever had I guess he meant to say everyone but Ryan priest is working well together man super super awkward now that all went down on Saturday yesterday Monday Ryan priest was on SiriusXM NASCAR radio and said that he will now be a part of these secret Stewart h house study sessions I'm I'm a driver that's actually at sewer hos racing pretty much every day of the week and I was there at 700 a.m. today so uh I I had no idea that they um or or whoever was was starting those and uh obviously I found out found that out when I saw that tweet so I was a little frustrated at the time because I feel like I'm always trying to outwork everybody in all aspects so um yeah needless to say I found out they Tuesdays after our meeting and and I'll be there tomorrow I mean I guess I'm happy they hope worked it all out but that has to be an awkward first meeting right hey welcome Ryan sorry about last week I guess your invitation must have got lost in the mail maybe we didn't have the right address I literally work in the same building as you but but okay see what I mean ah it's a little little weird a little awkward I don't know maybe I'm reading too much into this I don't think I am I do feel for him because he's a talented race car driver and as he said in that serious clip I think he's a hard worker he is trying to outwork his competition it's what he's done for much of his career it's what's worked for him that's what's gotten him to the Nascar Cup Series Why Stop Now it's a great habit he's developed keep it going I I feel bad for Ryan priest because with all the rumors swirling it certainly seems like he's the odd man out like at year end when Stuart hos inevitably sells at least one of their Charters Ryan priest will get the boot it's just process of elimination priest does not have full sponsorship on that car while Chase Brisco is currently holding on to a playoff spot has good support from Mahindra High Point Josh Barry has the blessing of Rodney Childers also seems to have a different sponsor on the car every week Overstock jumped on this year same with Noah Gregson he's got three straight top 10 finishes might be the best of the Stewart hos stable and he too has had a different sponsor on that car every single week it just feels like priest is the odd man out think about what happened at Dover he was pissed some avoidable mistake ruined their race before it ever got started he did not need that last place finish but he got it because of a simple oversight back at the steuart hos shop it sounds like I think priest is getting the short end of the stick he doesn't deserve it but it's just the tough nature of this business just yesterday Bob pacis of fox reported that Stuart hos has sent out information on what it would take to purchase one of their Charters out to potential buyers this backs up previous reports that steuart hos is open to selling up to two of their four Charters which means this team will likely downsize next year it just feels like Ryan priest is unfortunately the odd man out speaking of that Bob pakus report he mentions track house 2311 Legacy motor club as the most interested potential buyers he also mentions front row Motorsports finally someone else mentions front row I've been talking about them for a couple weeks now I've heard some rumors some Rumblings that front row could expand to a three car team there's also an interesting rumor out there this week that front row and Stuart h could like merge somehow like maybe Jean hos sells his half of Stuart hos or maybe Tony Stewart cashes out sells his half and the remaining half fuses with front row to form a new fourar Ford team I don't know if that's legit but I have heard some rumors some Rumblings that connect Cole kuster to a front row Motorsports seat so maybe that could have something to do with this new rumor there's rumors everywhere I'm just glad to hear someone else saying front row because when I heard about front row Motorsports potentially buying a charter a few weeks or a couple months ago I wasn't so sure at first it was something I was keeping an eye on but this latest report from Bob pacis now has me believing what I'd previously heard who knows what's going to happen to Michael McDow or Todd gilland I think the team really likes Todd and Todd has shown some flashes this year and last year Michael McDow meanwhile I think there are a number of teams that would be interested in his services so maybe the 34 seat opens up and that could be a place for kuster or someone else I don't know something to keep an eye on for sure but silly season is circling Stuart hos racing right now I'm not sure exactly what to believe I am confident now though that Ryan priest is fourth string on that team if they downsize he'll be the first to go I think you can book it the real question is what happens to chase Brisco Josh Barry Noah Gregson Chase Brisco is more of a Ford driver so if Stuart hos were to split from Ford Brisco may need a new ride but if Stuart hos stays with Ford I'm sure they'd like to keep Brisco if they've sold two of their Charters they'd have to pick likely between Barry or Gregson who would you pick who brings the most sponsorship Gregson right now is showing the most potential the highest ceiling H my head hurts leave a comment down below so many possible paths at this point what do you think is most likely trying to make sense of silly season in the early stages especially is a struggle it's much easier to make sense of my weekly Power Rankings where I rank the top 10 fastest overall drivers and cars in the Nascar Cup Series right now let's get to it before we get started I've got a few honorable mentions Noah greggson three straight top 10 finishes he's got a lot of ground to make up if he's going to point his way into the playoffs tough to overcome that 35-point penalty Christopher Bell after three or four just terrible weekends he qualified first finished six good stuff from Bell Ty Gibbs he's still top 10 in points but only has one top 10 finish in his last six races that's not great and rash Chastain he led laps look pretty good at Kansas but he has zero top 10 finishes his last six races so he's out of the top 10 let's start with my actual number 10 welcome back Kyle Bush he's been Dynamite on Saturdays he's qualified fifth first and fourth the last 3 weeks he's got three top 10s the last four races the execution is still a little iffy sometimes at Dover the team did not get that car full of fuel they got bailed out by a caution then at Kansas Kyle bus spins out with five laps to go but was able to recover thanks to a dynamic final restart we got a glimpse of prime scary Kyle Bush during that overtime restart kfb is still in there sometimes you just have to look a little closer need to clean some of the mistakes up but I like the recent results Kyle bus at number 10 maybe this is an overreaction but I'm going to move Chris Bush into the nine spot I just feel like he needs a hug after what went down Sunday night busher had a really strong march with a bunch of top 10 finishes cooled off in April 2nd to begin the month of May also won a stage keep in mind this is now three straight second place finishes for RFK Brad keslowski the previous two weeks maybe this team is starting to figure things out Chris busher at number nine in the number eight spot I've got Ryan blay he is still the only Ford consistent consistently leading laps but recently at least he has not been consistently getting good finishes only one top 10 finish the last four races I know he got wrecked at Texas but Talladega one of his best tracks he was a no-show finished 20th I don't really trust Ford and I really don't trust team Pensky right now shoot Joey Lano a two-time champion is 18 points outside of the playoffs right now not to mention Pensky got all that indie car drama going on I don't know the Vibes are just off the Vibes are off blay at eight it was close between blay and Alex Bowman but hey I'll give Bowman the seven spot he's got three straight top 10 finishes six top 10 the past eight races and he got crashed early at Texas we never really saw what he had there may have been a contender the 48 does not have blazing fast speed but it is consistent speed the big bad number that stands out to me is only six laps LED all season long I can trust Bowman to run fifth to 10th every single week but I don't expect him to win winning is still weeks away in my opinion I'll put Tyler reck in the six spot this week he was really fast in practice on Saturday led me to believe he'd be one of the favorites on Sunday but he was a non-factor most of the day the most recent Kansas Speedway winner finished 20th and only earned a few stage points I know he got to the wall here and there a few times during the race that may have impacted the handling maybe the car was just bad shoot his teammate Bubba Wallace didn't Fair much better overall it was a disappointing weekend for 2311 racing but Tyler reck is still fifth in points and tied for the most top 10 in the Series this year with seven in the number five spot this week I have Chase Elliott another strong top five finish third he's been so darn consistent only Kyle Larson has more top fives than Chase Elliott so far this season and I mentioned consistency through the first 12 races this year Chase Elliott's worst finish is 19th that's why he's top five in the regular season standings and top five in my power rankings dropping to number four this week and this might be a season low for this guy William Byron it's been a rough couple of weeks for Byron I know he got caught up in a crash at do but Kansas this weekend was weird he was really fast in practice but hit the wall during qualifying started 36th but then drove his way up to around 12 13th Place in the opening stage but then plateaued I don't think he ever broke into the top 10 once another week where William Byron earns zero stage points he still has zero stage wins for the year he's got those three race wins for sure but he does not seem to be as consistently quick as Kyle Larson and I might even argue Chase Elliot at this point William Byron has dropped now to seventh in the regular season standings I've got him fourth in my power rankings I think that's fair moving up one spot into the three hole this week is Martin Truex Jr I mentioned Chase Elliot being consistent TRX is the same way his worst finish all year is 18 his average finish is 8.9 woo he's been top two in the regular season standings for nine consecutive weeks a win is coming it could have been Richmond but a late race caution pit cycle restart he lost that one it could have been Kansas if this race stays green Trux was charging hard I don't know what Hamlin had left in the tank Chris gabart thought he was going to run out of gas if they'd stayed green so Trix easily could have won Kansas if Bush doesn't spin out every single week Trux is top three top four maybe top five he's not always the fastest car but odds are eventually one of these races will break his favorite he will get that win he's second in the regular season standings TRX I think he's third on the power rankings I think that's a well-deserved spot no change in the top two spots for me this week I've still got Denny Hamlin at two led the most laps at Kansas won a stage finished top five on his podcast this week hamling the sort of second guest his Lane Choice there for that overtime restart that's where he lost Larsson got the jump split him three wide and Hamlin was hosed Hamlin has those three wins so again despite being I think fourth in the regular season standings if the playoffs began today he would be the two seed Hamlin at two which means Kyle Larson once again is at number one when I put Larson in the one spot two or three weeks ago a lot of y'all called me out said whoa Larsson what about William Byron safe to say I have been 100% accurate the past few weeks KY Larson wins another race race second of the Year adds a bunch more stage points pads his regular season points lead Kyle Larson is clearly the guy to beat every single week in the Nascar Cup Series that's my top 10 feel pretty good about it again like eight through like you know 13th or 14th real close lot of honorable mentions this week anyone could break into my top 10 it seems any given week but there you go that's who I've settled on for my post Kansas Power Rankings can't wait for Darlington this weekend the track too tough to T could separate some of these drivers a bit I'm excited for that one but let me know down in the comments below if you agree disagree love to see the the comments on this video every single week but that is going to do it y'all thanks for tuning in leave a like on this video If you enjoyed subscribe if you're new to the channel we talk NASCAR every single day on out of the groove you can always count on us and a huge thank you to my very generous patreon supporters throwback week is here love seeing all the paint schemes unveiled almost every single day we'll talk about that more later this week have a wonderful rest of your Tuesday folks I will see you again soon [Music]

Channel: Eric Estepp

Views: 65,902

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Id: zjZMupPukC0

Length: 17min 47sec (1067 seconds)

Published: Tue May 07 2024