Is NASCAR Evolving In The Right Direction?

Is NASCAR Evolving In The Right Direction? The guys discuss the current state of NASCAR and discuss it's history and advertising.

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Transcript

Transcript

Announcer Tim

You're listening to the Get Out N Drive podcast fueled by AMD with your hosts, John Custom Car Nerd Meyer and Jason Old Car Guy Carr. We'll be bringing you gearheads everything you never wanted to know about cars and why they should be on the road and not in your garage. Are you ready to Get Out N Drive?

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Jason Carr
 John, welcome back to another great episode of Get Out N Drive, fueled by AMD. You know who I am. You know who this is?

John Meyer

I remember who I am.

Jason Carr

It's a battle every day.

John Meyer

Instead of just kind of jumping in, somebody should just wave the green flag, anything.

Jason Carr

Yeah.

John Meyer

I mean, I got to know when to boogity, boogity, boogity.

Jason Carr

If you guys are lucky enough to have witnessed the Daytona 500 this year, 2026, there's some controversy. And there was some, in my opinion, there was some great racing. But we're going to talk a little bit about NASCAR in this episode, John, and we're going to kind of go back to pre what it is today that people have been complaining about for the last 15 years or so. We're going to go back to like Dale Earnhardt times and kind of work our way through what NASCAR is today and where some of those changes have gone. And, you know, where do we see NASCAR going in the future? But.

John Meyer

Electric.

Jason Carr

I know that you were a NASCAR fan back in the 90s.

John Meyer

Very much so. I was always watching from the 90s to, I think, Dale's death. So, I don't know why, but I think all the air kind of went out of my sails after that.

Jason Carr

Well, and I think that a lot of people feel the same way. Like I, when I was, when I first started watching, coincidentally was right around the time that Richard Petty had stopped racing. And about the time that, you know, Jeff Gordon kind of came on the scene that nobody really knew who this kid was. I became a Jeff Gordon fan. And yeah, I'm going to get heckled for that because we all know he was a little bit of a crybaby.

John Meyer

Probably by me.

Jason Carr

Maybe so. But when, when, when NASCAR was actually running what we would call stock cars, you know back in the 80s you had your Pontiac Grand Prix and your Buick Regals and your Chevy Monte Carlo's Ford had their what were they racing back then Thunderbirds and Mercury.

John Meyer

They were all now you have to figure out are you talking chrome bumper cars?

Jason Carr

Yeah. Yeah, like that's cuz.

John Meyer

Because if my opinion chrome bumper cars Chevrolet stopped in excuse me GM stopped all the GM stuff stopped uh let me see Chrome bumper cars would have been 82 yeah because after that they got rubber bumper covers you know and the Grand National stuff and uh Aero cars and I think between 84 and the epitome my opinion the epitome of G Body NASCAR 1987 Aero Grand Prix.

Jason Carr

Grand Prix. Aero.

John Meyer

Man. So I mean, that's my pinnacle of it. There's a lot of 50, a lot of 60s and 70s cars that I like, a lot of Jimmy Johnson cars, stuff like that. Kale Yarborough, but chrome bumpered NASCAR is like the epitome of my opinion NASCAR.

Jason Carr

Raw, raw NASCAR is how I would look.

John Meyer

Oh, right, yeah. And yeah, pull up with an open trailer and run what you've run.

Jason Carr

Yep. Jump in and join the Get Out N Drive podcast, What Drives Youth Initiative by supporting these organizations that support the next generation in the automotive industry.

John Meyer

Operative Talent is committed to inspiring and empowering the next generation of automotive professionals.

Jason Carr

Learn more at operativetalent.com. The RPM Foundation safeguards the critical skills necessary to restore and preserve collector vehicles by supporting hands-on training and engaging the next generation of craftsmen and women. Learn more at rpm.foundation. Yeah. And your pit crew consisted of how many people you could fit in the car hauler that you were hauling your race car with.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

Right. You showed up, you had four tires on the car.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

You had four spare tires on your trailer. Yeah. Like we're going back to what movie was that? Six pack. Okay.

John Meyer

Well, six pack and Kenny Rogers is fantastic because it's just nothing but bad news bears.

Jason Carr

Yep.

John Meyer

NASCAR.

Jason Carr

Right.

John Meyer

You know, and that's the epitome is that. And, you know, fastest chicken in the south, the chicken's pit special. That's 1984.

Jason Carr

Yep. And like NASCAR has evolved so much from that. And I guess where I was going with that was talking about the, you know, the chrome bumper NASCARs and stock. I use stock loosely because they were still stock-ish cars.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

And when they moved away from that generation of car, they moved into all basically tin panels, manmade panels where you had a fiberglass nose of the car you were driving and maybe a fiberglass tail-ish, right?

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah.

Jason Carr

And back when they transitioned from the chrome bumper up to the next generation of car, into the 90s, the only prerequisite for a stock car, air quotes, was that the floor pan had to be made basically out of a stamped sheet from the main.

Speaker 3

Okay.

Jason Carr

So, if you were running a G body, a Monte Carlo, Regal or Grand Prix, then you had, that was your base, that was your floor.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

And then they built around that.

John Meyer

And you built around it. And that's the end, excuse me, that to me, It's not hard line the sand, but that's the beginning of the end of NASCAR for me. And when you went to front wheel drive base cars in 1988, I saw the writing on the wall.

Jason Carr

Yeah, because you're stepping away from the grassroots of NASCAR, which was literally stock cars that were modified to go fast. Safety became a thing. So, you know, roll cages and you know, impact bumpers in behind all that thin sheet metal and, you know, safety harnesses and belts and all this stuff. And like we look today, I mean, I'm jump, I'm gonna jump ahead to modern times very, very quickly. The safety that's in these cars today is bar none. Like there, there's, there's, you can take an impact head on into a wall and the guy's dropping his window net. and climbing himself out of the car long before the AMR safety crew even gets there.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

Now, rewind to the Daytona 500 25 years ago when Dale Sr. passed away. He took a right hook, incidentally, by Kenny Schrader, hit the turn four wall at the time for a split second or two. Nobody thought anything of it.

John Meyer

They expected him to climb out. I mean, he went down the back stretch, upside down, backwards, sideways at Talladega. And he goes straightened his jacket out and got out.

Jason Carr

And remember the time Michael Waltrip hit the barrier at, I forget what track it was, Bristol, I think the gate was open. He hit it during qualifying, ripped his car literally in half.

John Meyer

Bristol or Darlington? I can't remember.

Jason Carr

Yeah, it was Darlington. Anyways, he literally undid his straps and sat up out of the seat, and he was out of the car.

John Meyer

Yeah, you could see him.

Jason Carr

Safety certainly has come a long way. But back then, like I said, you had grassroots racers. You had guys that not necessarily were coming out of go-karts and legends cars and bandoleros. They didn't have that stuff back then. And they're jumping there. Most of them were in their early to mid-20s before they even had a break. That's why you saw the Bobby Allison's racing well into their 50s. You know, Richard Petty racing for as long as he did. Dale Earnhardt was 51, I believe, when he died. Yes. I'm 50 now. Right. Right. And when I go back, I look at that. I, I see Dale Earnhardt as a much older person than I am. Obviously time passes, but, um, he was, he was nearing the end of his career, uh, statistically. Yeah. But he was still there. He was still contending for wins.

John Meyer

I mean, Cale Yarborough, he looked like he was a freaking old timer.

Jason Carr

Yeah. There's, there's so many names. Um, that we can go back and look at from all the years past of people who raced well into their fifties. And now it seems like if you're getting close to 50, you're an old timer, right? Yes. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick just retired there a few years back and were in their forties. Why? Because they started racing in the series at a very young age. Kevin Harvick taking over from Dale, Dale Earnhardt when, when Dale died, literally that very next weekend.

John Meyer

Yes.

Jason Carr

So, when we, when we think back to NASCAR, John, what's like, what is the, what comes to mind? Like what, for someone who was watching it up until that point, I've been watching it kind of at, at that point and still, like what comes to mind when you hear the term NASCAR, what's the first thing that you think of?

John Meyer

I don't know how to answer that question because are you talking NASCAR in general as a commercialized sport? Or are you talking about evolution of NASCAR or I mean, there's a broad spectrum of stuff.

Jason Carr

I just want to see where your mind goes. When I say NASCAR, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

John Meyer

Advertising.

Jason Carr

Right.

John Meyer

Period.

Jason Carr

It's a rolling bill.

John Meyer

Correct. Because I I'm sure somebody out there is going to correct me, but April or June of 1977 was the first time it was on Wild World of Sports, national television, prime time. And that brought hillbillies pulling up, making a left into America's living room. And along with that came advertising for everything. Because prior to that, people are like, well, what's NASCAR? And only the diehard southern, and I'm going to keep saying hillbillies because that's where they came from, the diehard southern states, southern US states, you know, old-timer hillbilly stuff, before that, the world Did not have NASCAR in their living room.

Jason Carr

No.

John Meyer

That's my opinion. Evolution of NASCAR came from that point in time and had, in my opinion, had a heyday for 10 years because from 77 to 87 was the pinnacle because it became a promotional powerhouse.

Jason Carr

I'm on board with what you're saying, but I don't disagree with pinnacle because I believe that once NASCAR got in front, it wasn't until NASCAR got in front of everybody who wanted to watch it on TV every Sunday, because back then it was all over the place.

John Meyer

Oh, very much. Whether it was, it was in its infancy of advertising, but yeah.

Jason Carr

But it was, it was on ESPN. It was on TNN. It was on a few CBS races were done. So, you couldn't catch every race. And it wasn't until it became mainstream on things like, TNN or Fox CBS whatever they were doing, and they were getting every you were getting every weekend every race.

John Meyer

But what you're saying is post 1984 you know is 1984 and afterwards because cable and CNN and all that stuff they didn't pick up that no immediately they waited in the background see what was going to happen promotionally promotional money wise.

Jason Carr

Because they weren't and they.

John Meyer

They were not making money until they finally decided it's absolutely incredible. And it's stupid, but I think Stroker Ace movie really, really, really helped NASCAR in 84.

Jason Carr

Yeah, and then later on in 87 or 9, I can't remember, Days of Thunder.

John Meyer

That would have been longer than that. I thought it was 90, 91, but anyway, go ahead.

Jason Carr

Still. You start going, we talked about it earlier.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

Kenny Rogers, Six Pack and Stroker Ace and then Days of Thunder and all these movies started coming out. Some of them were actual, I don't want to say mockeries, but more of a mockumentary story of what they were doing. So, it was meant to be funny. It was meant to be whatever. When Days of Thunder came along, it was almost the seriousness of what racing was with some humor mixed in.

John Meyer

Oh, it did, it did. I mean, they took the evolution and the seriousness of Top Gun, and it was Top Gun on wheels. Same show, same people, same everything. And it was just brought to the theaters. And it was that grandiose, it put you in the driver's seat. And you could see all that. And it was amazing.

Jason Carr

And if you guys- For the time. And if you guys follow us on Instagram, you'll know that on the weekend we posted about the death of Robert Duvall, who played the character Harry Hyde in Days of Thunder, 95 years old, great actor, plenty of credits to his name. In my opinion, of course, my neck- Oh.

John Meyer

Yeah, from The Godfather.

Jason Carr

Days of Thunder was one of his best just because I'm a NASCAR guy. But yeah, yeah, huge credits, huge credits. And that movie, again, helped put NASCAR on the map for people who either may have been on the fence or maybe they were just Tom Cruise fans wanting to see the latest movie. Sure. And now all of a sudden they liked the movie. I want to see more of that.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

Becomes a fan.

John Meyer

Well, sure. You know, so everybody was NASCAR fans. And they became even more with the Jeff Gordon documentary, which is called The Legend of Ricky Bobby, Talladega Knights.

Jason Carr

That wasn't Jeff Gordon.

John Meyer

Oh, it wasn't.

Jason Carr

No. He was in the movie. He was in the movie.

John Meyer

I thought the whole thing was a mockumentary about Jeff Gordon.

Jason Carr

I think it was a mockumentary about everything NASCAR.

John Meyer

Oh, see, I missed that part.

Jason Carr

Yeah, no, I mean, Jeff Gordon, I think Dale Jr., those guys were all, because they had small little bit parts in that movie.

John Meyer

I thought that's who he was trying to play. Me, me, me, me, me. I thought she was playing Jeff Gordon.

Jason Carr

You're just saying that because you know I'm a Jeff Gordon fan.

John Meyer

Maybe.

Jason Carr

You're hurting my feelings. My one feeling, Johnny, you heard it.

John Meyer

Dilly gaffe.

Jason Carr

That's where Hollywood played their part in NASCAR was helping bring that around. The heyday of NASCAR was Late nineties into the two thousands, probably 2005 to 10 maybe was kind of that pinnacle because it was so accessible.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

The tracks were packed every race.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

Um, sponsorships were plastered everywhere. You recognize a racer on the track by the color of the car, by the decals. Not so much always the number. You knew what the number was.

Speaker 3

Sure.

Jason Carr

When you saw that orange car go by, you knew that was a Home Depot, Tony Stewart car.

John Meyer

He sold the windshield.

Jason Carr

Right? But that's what it was. It was all about advertising. And that brings us to the next point of sponsoring.

John Meyer

So, you're going right up to interest, right up to second Gen. cars. Or the evolution cars, the next Gen. cars.

Jason Carr

Yeah, and I think that by this time, we're probably even into the third Gen. if we're talking like into the late 90s and 2000s.

John Meyer

Okay.

Jason Carr

But as we look at the whole sponsorship side of things, sponsorships came and for the most part, they stayed for the whole season. Why? Because it was less expensive to be a part of NASCAR in those days.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

Right. To be a primary sponsor for DuPont to be plastered on Jeff Gordon's car, Lowe's to be plastered on Jimmy Johnson's car, Bud on Dale Jr., GM Goodwrench. Like those guys paid big money to help these guys travel and get to where they needed to go because their branding was everywhere. And it affected more people back then. There's a reason why people drink Bud beer because their NASCAR driver drank it. There's a reason why I shop at Lowe's versus Home Depot or the other way around. There's a reason why I get my gas at this gas station or buy this oil or buy that product or whatever. Because it was implanted in our brains as one of the only sports alive everywhere that you saw so much branding. Right. You go to the track. The track had a brand name in some cases, right? You go to a race. The race was named after a brand.

John Meyer

Are we even going to get off on, uh, Joe Camel and Winston?

Jason Carr

Yep.

John Meyer

I mean.

Jason Carr

Political correctness played a part in why.

John Meyer

That was a big deal in the nineties.

Jason Carr

Yep. Yep. Uh, political correctness played a part in why, uh, Winston is not the Winston Cup anymore.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

Because it promoted tobacco. And although they play, they still play a big part, they said, we need to get away from this. That was part, in my opinion, that was part of some of those first stepping stones of the decline.

John Meyer

Do you, and I didn't really follow it a ton. Do you think marketing, US government or NASCAR were the ones that promoted getting rid of Winston?

Jason Carr

Yes.

John Meyer

There you go. See, you know my answers.

Jason Carr

Right. There was, they were, there was too much pressure from all those parts.

John Meyer

Well, a cartoon trying to sell somebody's cigarettes.

Jason Carr

Joe Camel.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

Right. And the other problem was, is they didn't want kids wearing t-shirts promoting smoking.

John Meyer

Well, that's why they wouldn't have Hot Wheels that had alcohol on them.

Jason Carr

Yep. And here we are today where there's a few energy drinks, beers, Soda pop, that's all advertising in NASCAR still. Like, are they going to get to a point where they say, oh, you can't advertise something that's not healthy?

John Meyer

Well, there you go. Where does the bubble wrap stop?

Jason Carr

Yeah, we're speaking of evolution in advertising and sponsorship. NASCAR, in my opinion, was forced away from the Winston Cup, the Winston brand of their primary league. The Cup Series was the Winston Cup. They were kind of forced away from that. And well, how about this, John? When cellular phones were becoming some of the biggest things on the market and everybody was getting cell phones, let's get Nextel on board. Nextel became a sponsor of the Cup Series for a few short years, which then turned into the Sprint Cup.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

Later, the Monster Energy Cup Series, and now they don't even have a named sponsor. It's just the Cup Series.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

So, did we get away from that under pressure? Or was it all about the almighty dollar?

John Meyer

It had to have been about the almighty dollar. This is a touchy subject. I mean, we may have to call our buddy AJ Ware.

Jason Carr

Yep.

John Meyer

He was promotions director for Petty Petty GMS Petty GMS for a long time. Yeah, and I Don't know he's got a lot of opinions on the subject.

Jason Carr

Yeah, and in hopes that he would be able to speak freely I wonder if he if he would be interested in coming back and talk to talking to us now but as we as Again, we're talking about the evolution and sponsorships, how NASCARs, they were completely recognizable, right? Every once in a while, you would have a different sponsor on a big name for one race.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

Maybe two, maybe a third one somewhere along the way. But it was always, you knew that car, you knew who was driving that car, your whole branding, your whole merchandise sales, everything was around that Budweiser car, number eight, Dale Jr.

John Meyer

And you have to understand that it is, let me see, curated rivalry like wrestling, because the Rainbow car was always racing against orange car against the black car against the red car and I didn't name a driver yep and you know what's what.

Jason Carr

Exactly what you were talking about.

John Meyer

And um that is created rivalry uh by promotions and if you root for Hulk Hogan you know you're wearing yellow you root for this other guy, you know, in wrestling, you're wearing different colors. Same thing goes for NASCAR, and it's all soap opera, marketing, money driven, promotions, rivalry.

Jason Carr

And back then, you could ask anybody who was a NASCAR fan who drives the number two car? Depending on the era.

Speaker 3

Sure, sure.

Jason Carr

Right, you're gonna say, Rusty Wallace.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

Or Kurt Busch. If we're talking about this late 90s, early 2000s.

John Meyer

But I know what sponsor was primarily on that car.

Jason Carr

Miller Lite.

John Meyer

Miller Lite, period.

Jason Carr

Period. Right? And we go and we say, who was the primary sponsor of the number 20 car? We knew what it was.

John Meyer

Shoot, why did I say Jeff? I was looking at you. That's terrible. That's terrible.

Jason Carr

That's blasphemy.

John Meyer

Wow.

Jason Carr

But we all know it was Tony Stewart.

John Meyer

Yeah, everybody, except for my brain right now.

Jason Carr

Yeah, and we know it was the Home Depot car. But today, those two car numbers are still around. You might be able to tell me the sponsor might, but can you tell me the driver?

John Meyer

I think one of them is Leah Pruitt's husband.

Jason Carr

Well, not now. I get where you're going with that. But my point is, is that if I ask somebody today in NASCAR, who drives the number two car?

John Meyer

No, no one would know.

Jason Carr

Right? Who drives the 20 car?

John Meyer

Nobody knows that.

Jason Carr

And nobody even knows who the sponsor is of the 20. Right? Because it changes every frigging week.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

I mean, I know that the number 20 is driven by Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing.

John Meyer

I don't know who that is.

Jason Carr

Same car, that car owner that owned Tony Stewart's car.

Speaker 3

Okay.

Jason Carr

Home Depot car. But it's a cross between DeWalt, Dollar General, Wrigley's, XI batteries. When all these used to be a specific sponsor on a completely different car at some point or another. But now they're chopping it up. And that number 20 car is sponsored by one of those four or five that I just labeled. Every other, like every race, every race is a different one.

John Meyer

Wow.

Jason Carr

But is that marketing genius? Oh, I've got to have Christopher Bell's number 20 Home Depot car, or I've got to have the Interstate Batteries car, or I've got to have the Dollar General car. You're selling four or five t-shirts versus one.

John Meyer

And diecast.

Jason Carr

Die casts, shirts, hats.

John Meyer

Oh my God, hats, everything.

Jason Carr

Socks, underwear, you name it. If you're in NASCAR, they will put a logo, a brand and a number, literally on anything.

John Meyer

Yeah, buy your Exide batteries, diapers.

Jason Carr

Right.

John Meyer

That's like when in the 90s, I used a lot of Jeff Gordon Kleenex tissues. They were, they were branded. Oh.

Jason Carr

You're an ***. I'll have you know, we used crying towels.

John Meyer

Oh, okay. I see. Trying to save the planet.

Jason Carr

Trying to save the planet.

John Meyer

Trying to recycle it one rainbow at a time.

Jason Carr

Yeah, we just throw them in the wash.

John Meyer

Nice. Good job.

Jason Carr

Yeah. So that's, that's the big thing is that the car has evolved. The racing, uh, sponsorship has evolved. What about the drivers? It seems as though drivers do not stay with a team for a really, like for an extended period of time.

John Meyer

Yeah. Long contract.

Jason Carr

Yeah. Tony Stewart, long contract with Home Depot before he went out on his own. Jeff Gordon only had one team and one major sponsor for his whole career. Right. Right. Uh, Dale Earnhardt drove for Richard Childress.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

For the longest time. And I can go through several different names of back then of people who had long-term contracts that from year to year, you weren't sitting there thinking, oh, well, who's going to be driving that car next year? And the names changed. I left NASCAR for about seven or eight years. And when I came back, I'm like, who are these people? I don't know these kids.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

And they were literally 18 years old coming up through the truck series, Arca. It's now the O'Reilly Auto Parts series, the middle series. And they're coming out of nowhere.

Speaker 3

Well, sure.

Jason Carr

Like they did. Nobody knew who Jeff Gordon was when he first come on the scene.

John Meyer

While he was driving a dirt car.

Jason Carr

Right. So, the names, they're getting switched around, so much so that even sometimes their car numbers are staying with the same team, but their car numbers are changing.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

So again, is that merchandise? You know, I just bought that number two car, now he's driving the number three. I don't know, or whatever. So, so many things have changed compared to what they were, 25, You know, let's say 15 to 25 years ago compared to what it is today. Today, they're all racing the same car.

John Meyer

Yeah, they have they have no ability to be creative or race the rule book. No, because I know they had templates. That's super cool. But Everybody has the same car. This is IROC all over again.

Jason Carr

Yeah. I mean, yeah, it might have Chevrolet or Ford or Toyota.

John Meyer

But it's the same bar of soap.

Jason Carr

As a NASCAR fan, I get where they were going with that. I like the aspect of the car is so much more safe.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

I like the fact that the car is bigger than they used to be. I like the fact that, uh, even from last year to this year with this new Gen. 7 car, is the car has more flaps on it than ever before.

John Meyer

To slow it down when it's not going forward.

Jason Carr

Well, exactly. Because what was happening is now the complete underbelly of these cars is got panels on them. They're flat. Even the exhaust is covered.

John Meyer

Right, everything.

Jason Carr

So, if air gets underneath that car, what happens?

John Meyer

Up in the air, up and over.

Jason Carr

So, this year, they implemented a couple of new flaps on the A-pillars.

Speaker 3

Okay.

Jason Carr

So that if you get caught in the wind going backwards, the A-pillars pop out like this, like the gills on one of those lizards, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3

Sure, sure, sure.

Jason Carr

And the same thing in the back, underneath what would be the center of your diffuser has a little trap door. If the top flaps on the roof come up, they're pulling a cable. which releases a flap like this.

John Meyer

Makes everything open.

Jason Carr

Well, so that it catches air on the ground instead of.

John Meyer

Being- Keeps it on the track.

Jason Carr

Yeah.

John Meyer

I mean, I've seen several pictures, video, I can't remember what it was last year or whatever. There was a Camaro on the back stretch, and it was standing up on the back wheels, 180 miles an hour, halfway down the back stretch.

Jason Carr

Yep.

John Meyer

That's an amazing video.

Jason Carr

That was that was the number 60 car, I believe. Ryan Preece last year.

John Meyer

Yes.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Jason Carr

Yep. And he was like just he was off the ground.

John Meyer

Oh, he was he was flying.

Jason Carr

And that wasn't even.

John Meyer

With a tiny little touch.

Jason Carr

Yep. And he again, he survived it.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

So, the cars of today are safe. I do like that aspect. I like that we're not losing drivers to racing accidents anymore and they're modular. Yeah.

John Meyer

You know, I do I do like that.

Jason Carr

But and again, I'm not even I'm not even sad that they're all the same car because then it puts the ability in the in the driver's hands.

John Meyer

Okay.

Jason Carr

If you're driving the same car that I'm driving, there shouldn't be any advantage.

John Meyer

Except for the driver.

Jason Carr

Now it's down to skill. How do you handle yourself in traffic? How do you handle your shifting, your breaking points?

John Meyer

Well, they already did that. They already did that long, long, long ago with IROC.

Jason Carr

Sure.

John Meyer

Everybody got the same car.

Jason Carr

Yep. But here we are.

John Meyer

I don't know. I don't know. I have to ask, because I didn't really watch the whole race. I watched the two or three laps that matter this past Sunday.

Jason Carr

That's all the controversy was anyway.

John Meyer

Right. One lap, you have to lead one lap. But do you think, and I know it's controversy, do you think they got everybody together and said, Matt this ***** and make people watch? Because it's and I'm and I'm being a *******. I'm sorry. It's too safe. You pull up and turn left. Everybody's got the same tires. Everybody's got the same everything. There's no variables. And how sleepy is it that you pull up and turn left 500 times, you know, and how do you keep everybody involved? But this Sunday, oh, my God, they wrecked the whole the whole field.

Jason Carr

Well, we talk about the cars being the same. So, everybody is basically given the same car.

John Meyer

Sure.

Jason Carr

So, you can still set them up differently as far as how the suspension responds. You can still set up your brake bias. You can still set up your air pressures, stuff like that. But yes, for the most part, they are all the same. One thing that was a little bit of a controversy was the fact that for, I think that, I think the math on that is 160 laps. Yeah. Two and a half miles, 165 miles. Right. So basically for 150 laps, they were just running around, and they were being cautious and not much was happening every once in a while. Somebody would get a little bit loose and.

John Meyer

Don't wreck the car.

Jason Carr

Yeah, exactly. It's a multi-million dollar sport for everybody involved. The drivers are getting paid big bucks. The sponsors are paying big bucks. These teams have huge overheads with staffing and equipment and haulers and everything.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

For them to go and play bumper cars at 195 miles an hour in a car that probably costs a million bucks or more. To me, that's a little bit ridiculous. They've given them the ability to bump draft hard. I'm not against bump drafting, but what I'm against is you see them coming up and it's just a, it's a smash and the car just slingshots ahead of you.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

And although the cars are safe, there is a fine line there too, it's so safe, I can now use that chrome horn.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

Aggressively to bump draft and push that guy in front of me because if I push him, he's going to be dragging me behind them. And the bump drafting was probably some of the most aggressive yesterday in that race that I have ever seen.

John Meyer

I saw a lot. I saw a lot of shake and bake.

Jason Carr

Yep, exactly.

John Meyer

I did. I saw it. I saw so much of it.

Jason Carr

Yep. And there was so much of that going on that A slight miscalculation was catastrophe.

John Meyer

Well, sure. You run into the car in front of you, you hang high, get out in the wind, and the rest of the pack is crashed.

Jason Carr

Yeah.

John Meyer

I mean, that was the last lap and a half.

Jason Carr

And Tyler Reddick, the winner of the Daytona 500, 2026.

John Meyer

Who was like, who was like fourth or eighth to begin?

Jason Carr

No, he was back there even further.

John Meyer

He was way back there. I didn't even count. But yeah.

Jason Carr

If it, you guys all know, you know how this race ended. If you listen to us, you've watched the race. But a lap and a half coming out of turn four, there's a little mishap and a bunch of cars scramble, get crashed, and they're self-cleaning down to the bottom of the track. And they take the white flag. Those who, those of you who know, once the white flag is out, the next flag, whether it's a caution or the checker flag ends the race. So, for starters, I'm giving kudos to NASCAR for allowing everybody to continue to race back to the checker.

John Meyer

I thought they were going to go to yellow.

Jason Carr

I thought they were too, but that whole meth was self-cleaning it.

John Meyer

Now I understand.

Jason Carr

Off the back stretch or off of the turn four?

John Meyer

And they weren't going to come through it again.

Jason Carr

Right. So, NASCAR is looking at that and they're also looking up here and they're saying, okay, well, they've got, they've got a whole lap. They got two and a half miles. If they, if they're coming up on some wreckage, we'll throw the flag.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

That's where the controversy begins. I give them kudos for, for holding out and not giving a caution.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

And as a Jeff Gordon fan, I transitioned into a Chase Elliott fan who took over for Jeff Gordon.

Speaker 3

Sure.

Jason Carr

And once that wreck was wrecking back there, guess who was out front? Chase Elliott.

John Meyer

Chase Elliott. I mean, it would have been different if they would have gone to yellow and then they would have had a scramble start.

Jason Carr

Well, if they'd have gone to yellow, they had already taken... No, they didn't at that point. If they had gone, if they just flagged the yellow, it would have been a green, white checker. Two more laps.

John Meyer

Green, white checker.

Jason Carr

Yep. Anybody's game?

John Meyer

Yeah. Everybody starts even. And in my eyes, it had been like a scramble start. You get what you get.

Jason Carr

Yeah.

John Meyer

Mat it and go.

Jason Carr

And then NASCAR didn't wave the flag for that first wreck. They're coming into the tri oval to catch that white flag.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

And cars are wrecking, or sorry, to catch the checkered flag, cars are waving again. Well, they're just going everywhere.

John Meyer

It and from what I saw, and maybe my numbers are wrong, I think position four or five got together and that took out the middle. And then it was it was ridiculous.

Jason Carr

And then Ruddock just kind of boops down, avoids the wreck.

John Meyer

Yeah, he stayed on the apron, he stayed at the bottom, and he just stayed in it. He could see the line.

Jason Carr

So, there's a lot of controversy over those last couple of laps, but to some degree, that's what makes NASCAR is the unknown, is not knowing that the one guy who led every lap from the green flag to the checker wins the race, those are boring races, I will admit.

John Meyer

Right. And that was my biggest question to you was, do you think backstage, everybody said, let's make this one fun?

Jason Carr

See, I think NASCAR does a little bit of, you know, make it entertaining, bring people back.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Jason Carr

You know, I forget what year it is, but we're probably back into the 2000s. The term boys have at it came about. Oh, yeah. Which meant if you got to get up there and rub a little bit to get by, do it because it creates controversy, creates villains.

Speaker 3

Yes.

Jason Carr

It creates animosity between fans. And we want to see that's what creates fans is the controversy.

Speaker 3

So, I mean, I certainly, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

Jason Carr

I'm sorry. Like I say, do I think that yesterday's race created some new fans? Well, I think if you were on the fence about Tyler Reddick, you're probably a pretty, pretty hot to trot now, knowing that he's just won that. If you're a Denny Hamlin fan who got wrecked, caught up in that wreck, who was on his way leading, like we're talking about a guy here who missed out on championship last year, lost his father a few months ago. There's a there's a hard luck story there with Denny Hamlin. Bubba Wallace, right? Bubba Wallace, something like 40 laps. He was a favorite to win that race.

John Meyer

But there's the I'll get them next time attitude and then butts in the seats to see if it happens.

Jason Carr

That's right. So, do I think NASCAR has weight on a race outcome? Again, a lot of people will argue that they do. But you can't control what happens on the track.

John Meyer

No, but yesterday was the most exciting race that I've seen in, I don't know, five years or more.

Jason Carr

I think if we go back to the lawsuit that NASCAR went through, the antitrust lawsuit from last year, Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin's team, 2311. and Front Row Motorsports were suing NASCAR because of, they didn't think that the funds, the purses were being distributed properly, the TV ratings and the way that those were distributed, not the ratings, the TV money coming in.

Speaker 3

Sure.

Jason Carr

And so, they wouldn't sign the charter. They felt like they were pressured to sign the charter, as did a lot of NASCAR teams, but they just signed, anyways, they fought it. Some will say that they won. There was no winning and losing because it was settled before the judge made a call. But I believe that the teams won by being able to get more money out of NASCAR to help keep things going. I believe the fans won because now you've got more opportunity for the teams to do better. And the networks is the only place that I've got a bone of contention with is because if you don't have a package that gives you every NASCAR race on one channel, like we do here in Canada.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

You've got to chase your channels from Fox to NBC to the CW to Prime, all over the place, costing the fans more money to go find their NASCAR.

Speaker 3

Wow.

Jason Carr

But I think it's a step in the right direction. Um, I think. This year will tell a lot. They changed the playoff format. They no longer call it the playoffs. They're back to a 10 race chase where it's all points based, just like it was for the Winston Cup. But they've changed a few things there. Meaning if you get into the chase, then your points kind of do reset.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

But I think this year, 2026 will be the year to be said of what is NASCAR doing to help make things better. We talked about it before we went live. Um, Cletus McFarland, most people don't know who he is, but if you do, he's a big YouTuber.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

That does a lot of stupid **** on YouTube, but he's got like a 4 million people following him.

Speaker 3

Right.

Jason Carr

Um, he's huge in drag racing. And with some help from folks like Greg Biffle, God rest his soul, who helped Cletus get into NASCAR, Cletus raced in the ARCA series. He's this year in the truck series. Granted, he only raced like what, four, five, six laps in the trucks before he wrecked himself.

John Meyer

Yeah, he was cutting the law in there for a little bit.

Jason Carr

But people like Cletus, I think are what's gonna bring a lot of these younger fans back into the sport.

John Meyer

Right.

Jason Carr

And NASCAR recognizes that to say, we're going to get Cletus into NASCAR. We're going to give him all the in-car cameras that we can so that his fans can see him. And if his fans weren't NASCAR fans before, maybe they will be now because he's racing in NASCAR. And Cletus's ultimate goal is to race in the Daytona 500 one day. Granted, you just can't do that.

John Meyer

Well, you see all the stuff that Cletus does, you know, owning Freedom Factory and driving in NASCAR Super Truck and Truck Series and all that stuff. Imagine being wealthy and choosing to play golf.

Jason Carr

Yep.

John Meyer

And not do what he's doing.

Jason Carr

Yeah.

John Meyer

People got to be busted up here.

Jason Carr

Well, he's certainly doing something right. That's awesome. His channel has a huge following. He's bringing that following to NASCAR for those who aren't already NASCAR fans. That is good for the sport of NASCAR.

John Meyer

Yeah.

Jason Carr

So, kudos not just to Cletus and his fan base, but to NASCAR. If you guys don't follow Cletus, what rock are you living under? Go back and watch some of his racing. He does a lot of big Crown Vic stuff. John, you and I caught a Crown Vic race in India there last year.

John Meyer

Yeah, we did. It was awesome.

Jason Carr

It was excellent. Tony Stewart raced in that race. And who'd have thought a bunch of slowpoke Crown Vics racing around IRP would be fun. It was hilarious. It was a blast.

John Meyer

Who'd have thought in the middle of summer, at a tiny little racetrack, Indianapolis Raceway Park, that secretly Tony Stewart would be out there in a busted *** police car driving in circles. If you told me that was happening, I wouldn't believe you.

Jason Carr

Yeah. So, I think there was an episode that Cletus put out where they took four Crown Vex to Daytona. and raced them on the track and hinted around at doing a special event of Crown Vics on the Daytona International Speedway.

John Meyer

Wow.

Jason Carr

And having a Cletus event there, that would be big for NASCAR.

John Meyer

I've got a name for a race if they do it in Indy. It's the Crown Vic Yard.

Jason Carr

Yeah, instead of the Brickyard.

John Meyer

Yes. Make sure Get Out N Drive gets the money from Cletus when we talk to him that I named Crown Vic Yard.

Jason Carr

Crown Vic Yard 400.

John Meyer

Yes. I'll e-mail him when I get off of here.

Jason Carr

I think, John, I think we were all over the place with this episode. But the long and short of it is that I believe that NASCAR had its heyday. I believe that they took a dip. Uh, things went way, way by the wayside for a long time. COVID certainly didn't help when fans couldn't physically go to the races. Right. But now that we're outside of that, we're inside of a new chase playoff style format. We've got these, in my opinion, we got these great new cars, these safe cars. Mm-hmm. and a shitload of talent. Oh, yeah.

John Meyer

I think we're on the uptick, man.

Jason Carr

I believe so. So, if you guys aren't NASCAR fans and you're tuning in to us to listen to what we have to say, give it a chance. Check it out. Some really good upcoming races are happening. Road courses. For those of you who think just turning left is stupid, well, they've got a bunch of road courses. And to celebrate the US's 250th birthday this year, they're going to be racing at Naval Base Coronado. in what is it, San Diego?

John Meyer

I think it's San Diego.

Jason Carr

Yep. And so, they'll be doing a road course race on the naval base. How freaking cool is that? And if I know this, I think all three series are going to be racing there.

John Meyer

Wow.

Jason Carr

So big to do, big celebration for USA 250 or whatever they're calling it. Yeah. But NASCAR, I do believe, is taking a step in the right direction finally. As a lifelong NASCAR fan, I can't wait to see what 2026 has to offer. Any final thoughts that we may or may not have covered?

John Meyer

I think I'm good. I'm definitely one who has fallen off of NASCAR fan popularity. I may tune in a little bit.

Jason Carr

Well, and I think that's what NASCAR is hoping for, is that our generation, the Gen. X and whatever generation it was after us, I forget what they're called, but Gen. Y, maybe they'll start getting back into it again and seeing what NASCAR has to offer. They play their cards right. They could be big again. They could be, you know, the biggest motorsport out there. I had fun talking about it, John. I know there's a lot of information in there that we handed out. There's gonna be people in the comments of this video or wherever they can get ahold of us talking. I'll do a few promo bumps too on Instagram and Facebook so that you guys can get in those comments and tell us what you think of the 500 this year and what you think of NASCAR, the direction that it's going, where it came from. And if you have any future ideas for episodes of the Get It and Drive podcast, Go to our website, it's on the screen, GetOutNDrive.com, scroll all the way to the bottom of the list or hotline, and look, just tell us what you feel, and we'll see what we can do to make an episode out of that. Also, don't forget, National Get Out N Drive Day is happening on October 4th, 2026, first Sunday in October. Make sure you head over to the website and register. We wanna get these stickers out early so that we're not fumbling at the very end like we ran out last year. Hopefully we can make it happen, make it bigger with the help of AMD who jumped on board again for sponsorship for the episode or for the podcast this year. And they'll be helping us out with everything that they do over there.

John Meyer

I can't wait, man.

Jason Carr

Looking forward to Dale. Do it for Dale.

John Meyer

Do it for Dale.

Jason Carr

Be like Biff and do it for Dale, I guess is how we will end that. So, thanks guys for tuning in. We'll see you guys on the next episode. The Get Out N Drive podcast is always looking to support the next generation in the auto industry and hobby through our What Drives Youth initiative.

John Meyer

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Jason Carr

If you are a younger enthusiast working on a build using AMD parts, we want to hear from you. If chosen, you and your build will be featured in an upcoming What Drive's youth segment on the Get Out N Drive podcast. Visit GetOutNDrive.com to let us know about your build or tag us in your build posts on social media. Visit autometaldirect.com and use the code G-O-N-D for a 10% discount exclusively for our listeners for a limited time. AMD. Built for enthusiasts, buy enthusiasts.

Announcer Tim

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