Well, it was nice while it lasted.
I thought we had finally broken the Shane Van Gisbergen spell when someone else won on a road course last week, only for him to absolutely mop the floor with us Sunday at Sonoma.
Sure, Chase Briscoe tried to make things interesting at the end, but come on … we all knew SVG was winning that race. You could’ve put Jeff Gordon in the field and SVG still would’ve dominated Sears Point.
Side note: Remember when it used to be called “Sears Point?” Simpler times. Back when we were a proper country. Oh well. Sad.
Speaking of Jeff, SVG’s latest win puts him one shy of Gordon for most road courses in NASCAR history. Gordon currently leads with nine. I assume Shane will get there before Halloween.
Anyway, that’s enough film breakdown. I’m not here to talk SVG all day. Lord knows y’all don’t want that. What else should we discuss?
How about Noah Gragson saying he was about to pummel Kevin Magnussen last week, only to be told he’d basically be canned if he did? Wait till you hear this soundbite.
I’ve also got Denny Hamlin vs. Carson Hocevar, SVG vs. F1 and the “s—boxes,” and Hooters Gianna continues her comeback tour in wine country.
Summer is heating up, and so is Gianna. Good to have her back.
Four tires, enough fuel to get us to from Sears Point to Chicago, and maybe a belt for SVG so he can properly use it on the rest of the garage … Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the ‘Another Aussie ‘Whippin’ edition — is LIVE!
Before we go forward, let’s quickly go back …
Look, we didn’t get a great race yesterday. I’ll just be honest with you. I’m nothing if not a man of integrity. I’m not gonna sit here and try to make lemonade when all Sunday gave me was a couple limes.
(No CLUE if that analogy works, but I just sort of typed it out by accident and I’ve decided to stick with it).
So, before we dive into Sonoma, I’d like to first continue our discussion from last week. For those who missed class, Noah Gragson and F1 driver Kevin Magnussen got into it after the Naval Base race, with Gragson berating the European with what I would imagine was some of the most vulgar language he’d ever heard on a race track.
This is America, baby!
“What’s your f—ing problem?” Gragson said … over, and over, and over, and OVER again after Kevin wrecked him.
“Get out of my face,” he calmly said back.
Magnussen also had the balls to mock NASCAR in a separate interview, basically turning up his Danish know at us.
“I’ve watched NASCAR before, so I know that’s how you guys play it,” he said.
P–s off, Kevin. You attack one of us, you attack all of us. I will be damned if we get lectured by the Europeans on our own soil.
Not on my watch. Not on the eve of our 250th birthday. Kick rocks!
Anyway, we all caught up now? Good! Now, let’s check in with Noah to see what really happened during that post-race interaction:
SVG is right, but also, read the room
“You’re in our our ball field and our ballpark, and to come in here on lap 3 and be jamming it up the inside and running into guys and driving into their doors, it’s it’s frustrating,” Gragson started before really saying the quiet part out loud.
“You see it a lot with guys in the past … I think they see how much rougher and how much more contact there is (in NASCAR). F1, they kind of have a zero-touching policy. So, I really wanted to go fight and I was about to to throw a punch and I got told right before I got over there that there would be be long-term consequences with my job if that was the case.”
Yes! Any time we can start our work week by dumping on F1, I’m taking it. It’s the best. Noah’s right, by the way. I know folks don’t love him as a NASCAR driver for multiple reasons — mainly that he just hasn’t been very good in the Cup Series — but he’s right.
These Europeans come over and stick their noses up at us an act like they come from some holier-than-thou form of racing. Hogwash. Don’t come over here and wreck a series regular. That’s a step too far.
Could you imagine, just for a second, if Kevin had wrecked the late Kyle Busch? Kyle despised F1. He hated it. He dumped on it all the time.
God, I miss him.
Anyway, I know I said we’d be done with him, but … let’s get SVG’s thoughts on it:
Hocevar, Hamlin & Hooters Gianna, oh my!
“Our sport is really awesome because you don’t know who is going to win, whereas you watch F1 and there’s three guys who are going to win.”
I mean, yes, SVG is correct here. Absolutely no argument from me, obviously. I just crapped on F1 for 500 words. Clearly I agree.
That being said … SVG has won eight (!!!) road course races the past three years. Eight. He won five times last season and has won seven of the last nine races on a road/street course.
It’s SVG’s world on a road course, and we’re all just a bunch of “sh-tboxes” living in it!
Amazing. Yeah, I might be coming around on SVG after yesterday. He’s annoyed me for a while, mainly because he’s just completely ruined road racing, but Lordy, he’s speaking my language right now.
First he craps on F1, and then he calls lap cars a bunch of “s—boxes” after absolutely embarrassing the rest of the field? He’s turning into an American quite nicely!
OK, couple quickies on the way out. First? Did Carson Hocevar add another victim to his list yesterday?
Yeah, I’m gonna give Carson a heavy pass here. Everyone is up in arms about this today and quick to blame Hocevar, but that’s just a product of road racing. I’ve seen that a million times. As DW would say, “it’s just one of them racin’ deals.”
Everyone is bottled up and turning left and right and left again. People are pushing and shoving and knocking the hell out of bumpers. Sometimes, you just get caught in the middle. That’s life at a road course.
Denny … thoughts?
Let’s ask him ONE MORE TIME if he’s p—ed, guys. He only told you 47 times that he hasn’t watched it yet and he’ll need to do that before placing blame. But, yeah, let’s ask just one more time to see if we can get Denny Hamlin pissed.
Lordy.
“I haven’t seen it, Jeff. I know you want a reaction, but I haven’t seen it. When I see it, I’ll react to it.”
In other words: Tune into the podcast this week!
OK, that’s it for today — and this week. Not the greatest race in the world, but we did out best. A quick PSA on the way out …
We’ve got three straight night races coming up, starting this week at Chicago. The fellas will head to Atlanta after, followed by North Wilkesboro. Green flags for all three are set for after 6 p.m.
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No more Sunday afternoon naps for a while!
Take us home, Gianna Blaney. Good to have you back.