Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Marty Snyder, NBC Sports, Amazon Turner Studio host Pitt Reporter.
He's a long time fixture in the NASCAR world, and
he's back with us ahead of his trip to Richmond
this weekend. Marty Snyder, I appreciate you, buddy.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
How are things kV. What's happening and not ahead of
the trip? I'm here watching car Roll out on Pitt
Road and we're getting ready to go on True TV
for qualifying here in about thirty minutes. Okay, come on
a little bit early with you.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, I love it all right.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So in my head you were coming on early so
that you could travel.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
But you're there.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
That's even better.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So yeah, I know, we go on the air in
thirty minutes for qualifying.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Love it.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I appreciate you. So let's talk real quick about what
we saw on Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Again.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're you're a big football fan. We need your Panthers
opinions every week too. Preseason game number one in the
books behind US Texans this week? What did you think
about the first one?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I thought the first one was good. I mean, I
was pretty happy with the one drive. I Like most
Panthers fans, I'm excited to see what they can do
this weekend. You know, kind of what has me excited
from the week of Panthers World KB is just the
reports you know out of Houston that you know, it
looked like a very even, you know, scrimmage the other day,
you know, and practice it looked like a very very
(01:06):
even practice, and Panthers were kind of in the in
the ball game with the Texans, so I think, you know,
that's obviously a team that's going to contend for a
playoff spot. So that has me kind of excited. But again,
I'm tempering everything. I keep telling everyone. I walked through
the drive area this morning. A lot of Panthers saw
here in the cup drives this morning, and I keep
telling everyone tempering everything. Man, don't go over, don't don't
(01:26):
go double digits win double digit wins. Yeah, let's kind
of temper everything.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Okay, all right, if you say so. I think the
most important point you made right there, though, was the
good reports coming out of joint practice yesterday that they
went down to Houston and carried a lot of that
over and last thing on this Marty, I am trying
to really temper my expectations and excitement because we've been
burned so many times the last several years. But the
reports about how Bryce looks, and I've seen a lot
of it myself having been at most of the practices.
(01:52):
I mean, that's the biggest piece, right, And if you've
got the quarterback, you feel like you got a chance.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, the word that keeps coming out as command, right,
just in total control of that offense. And then listen,
if it's for real and if you know Canalis's offense
can be as good as it seems like it can be,
this could be the sign of just some incredible things
to come. And so yeah, I'm super fired up for
(02:17):
what's to come in a few weeks when they got
to Jacksonville.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
All right, let's go back to the Glenn last week
then and talk about Shane van Ginzberg and doing it again,
dominating his fourth consecutive Road Course Cup Series win. He
led thirty eight of the ninety laps, clenched the checkered
flag by what eleven plus seconds over Christopher Bell, one
of the largest margins in Watkins Glenn history. Smoke and
(02:41):
I talked about the Jeff Gordon record earlier this week
and how it's tough to really stack him up next
to each other, but you also kind of have to
what did you think about his performance? But also this
ridiculous dominance on the road courses.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, I think it's getting crazy at this point.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
And you know, the one thing about the.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Whole Jeff Gordon era at the Chase Elliot era and
all of that is they had such car advantage over
everybody else and SCD doesn't have that. I mean, these
cars are all the same. I mean you'll see it,
you know, coming up in a little bit on through
TV and practice and qualifying here from Richmond. They'll all
run the same speed and that's what they you know,
they run a little bit more varied speed at a
road course like Watkins Glenn. But I mean, just what
(03:18):
he's doing with a similar car to everybody else is
truly just incredible. And I tell you what's getting kind
of lost in all this. You know, now he has
twenty two playoff points, so he'll start the playoffs with
twenty two points. I'm telling you that's enough to get
them through round one. Round one does not have a
road course. Round two does have a road course. If
(03:39):
they just do things very calmly in round one of
the playoffs, I think this is a team that can
advance and then with the row will being the last
race in the second round, this is a team that
could legitimately advance to the third round of the playoffs
and have a shot to maybe run for the championship board.
Now I think that would be very hard, but I
(04:00):
think even if they get at around one, it would
be a big thing for this race team. How far
they've advanced. You know, she's got a long way to
go on the ovals, but clearly his road course dominance
is here, and I honestly can tell you I don't
know how currently Cup teams stop it because he is
I don't think we've seen him run as hard as
he can run yet, but he is still just dominating
(04:23):
these races and to your point, winning by eleven seconds
well real quick.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Not to belabor the point, but I still feel like
there are a lot of folks out there who might
be casual fans that don't know a ton about him.
Like this guy's from rural Auckland, New Zealand. He's got
he's achieved global fame, but he's still the regular on
the dirt tracks down there. Apparently he's like salt of
the earth everybody I talked to speaks, you know, highly
about him. But like for anybody who doesn't really understand
his background, this is what you do. You tell these
(04:47):
stories like what should people know about the way he
came up and why he's in the position that he's in.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, you know, you know, Scott McLaughlin's a very good
friend of mine. He runs any Cars for teen Penske,
lives in the Charlotte area and like, you know, I
would say, like you know, he would describe a SPG
is sort of the Kyle Busch of supercars back in
the day. You know, won three championships, he's won a
eighty one supercar races and you know he just signed
a brand new deal of Trackhouse for a multi year extension.
(05:14):
I asked him last week, why why do you want
to stay here? Why do you want to keep doing this?
He said, you know, listen, I had done everything I
could do in Australia. You know, he's from New Zealand
but ran supercars in Australia. He's like, I've done everything
I could do. I was there fifteen years and I
just needed something different in my career. He said, Honestly, this.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Has been the most fun I've had in.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
My life racing. He is truly enjoying the Cup Series.
And I think that's another thing that gets lost with
him Kyle, is that, you know a lot of guys
would come over here and really try and mind their
p's and q's. He could care less what anybody thinks
here because he's kind of already had a whole career
where he's made all the money he really needs, and
he's done all the things.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
That he needed to do and proven all the things
that he.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Needs to prove, and he's just having fun right now.
And so it's like, you know, if you would like,
you know, an NFL player having a great career and
then going to the Canadian Football League and you know,
having another great career. Right He's just having fun, And
I think that's what's lost in all this. Anything he
does here, any success he has here is is a
(06:14):
bonus to him. And yes, he was a bit of
a controversial figure and very accurately kind of like the
Kyle Busch of supercars. You know, people love to hate him,
but over here he's like, I'm gonna go out of
fun and people have really they love it. The fans
love it. And I think it's great, and I think
once they learn more about his personality, they'll truly love
him even more because he truly is enjoying this and
(06:36):
just having fun.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Marty's smoke here.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
One thing that did come across from Watkins Glenn was
a lot of the concerns continuing with the Gen seven cars,
specifically how little there is a separation with the speeds
and the times. I saw Denny Hamlin, a couple other drivers,
Chase Elliott have voiced their concerns about it, and I
saw Kyle Petty, you know, calls it a lot of
controversy with his opinion on the are What do you
(07:00):
make of the current concerns with this Gen seven car
in year four?
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, listen, folk, there's some work to be done, you know, Richmond.
You know, this weekend is a is a great, great point.
It's it's the whyest short track NASCAR comes to race that. Yeah,
it'll be very tough to pass Saturday night, just being honest,
you know. And this this car has some deficiencies you
know when it when it you know, it's great at
a lot of places, but it's not great at traditional
(07:27):
NASCAR places, road courses. You know, uh, in the in
the you know Gen six car were phenomenal for NASCAR,
for the Cup series. You know, short tracks were phenomenal.
But in this Gen seven car, short tracks, road courses,
they just struggle. And but this car really shines at
intermediate tracks, really shines when there's a second groove to
run with, and you know that's what that's what makes
(07:48):
you know, the oval at Charlotte so spectacular, you know.
So it'll be interesting to see how how they mess
with it and how they change it moving forward. You know,
there there's very going to be more horsepower given to
these teams next year for short tracks and road courses.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
And things like that.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Is it going to make a difference as a hundred
horsepower going to make a difference. Probably not enough. There
probably needs to be like two hundred horse power. But
they're trying to, you know, mix the economy of things
versus the competition of things. But it needs some help.
And there's no question Denny and all those guys listen,
they drive them, they know what they're talking about, and
they certainly need some help at short tracks and road courses,
(08:27):
no question about it.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
What do you think the it's near a sellout. I
think Smoke told me that they're inside of like two
hundred tickets, you know, with that from a sellout. This
weekend at Richmond, they lost a race. I mean that's
a lot. It's an iconic track. I grew up going
to it, But they lost a race. Like, is this
in response to that? And how is Richmond dealing, to
the best of your knowledge, now down to one race
up there?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Well, I think so it's been you know, one race.
I think last year was the first time it was
one race, right, and it's it's responded well. I mean
last year was almost a sellout as well, and they.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Pack it out.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And I think, listen, it's not a trend. You know,
you know, you're one of your home races, may be,
but it's not just a trend with Richmond. This is
what's happened all over the sport Pocona, Michigan, Dover. You
look at all these tracks, they've all gone down to
one race, and what in turn is that it's made
that one race more special for the local fans, you know,
And I think, you know, we're kind of blessed in
(09:20):
the Charlotte area. You know, Charlotte's got a couple of races.
You know when North folks Borough Martins Will's got a
couple of races, and you know, certainly the fall race
that Martin Bill is always a sellout.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
But you know, I mean other than that, there's a.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Lot of places that you know, maybe maybe that's what
deeps to happen, just one race and a lot of
these tracks, and it makes it a little more special
when the Cup Series does come to town, and it
makes it a little little harder ticket to get. But yeah,
this place will be packed out tomorrow night. And I
can honestly say when it had two races that wasn't
always the case. But going down to one race, and
(09:53):
we've seen it happen across the board with the Cup
Series schedule. When you go to one race, all the
fans want to show up for that one race and
it makes out one weekend very special.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Marty. You mentioned Dover just a moment ago. There were
reports yesterday that came across about twenty four hours ago
from Jordan Bianchi that Dover could potentially be a last
second replacement for the All Star Race next year. That
would mean potentially Northwolksboro gets its first point race since
nineteen ninety six. But Dover getting to the All Star
Race feels like something out of left field.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, and that one's a little bit of a surprise
to me too. It's been going around the garage for
about three weeks now and it was a bit of
a surprise when I first heard it. I'm like, really,
Dover wide over because it would be a day race.
There's a lot of things that go along with that.
But I think the bottom line if your SMI the
folks will own both Over and North Wolkesboro. You want
(10:42):
North walks Lawer to be a points race. You wanted
to be an event where they can finally have a
points paying race, and I think North Walkesboro deserves a
points paying race. You know, I thought the way the
track race this year, it was outstanding. I think you
go back, you can have a terrific short track race.
You talk about a wide short track, that's it. You know,
now that the pavement's worn out a little bit, it's
(11:04):
very wide, and it's even wider than Richmond is right now.
So so I think that would be a good move.
I don't know about Dover being the All Star Race.
That's going to be a little interesting to me, but
I'll stay in the same sentence, smoke. I've also I'm
a massive fan, and We've talked about this before. I'm
a massive fan of the Championship race rotating around, and
(11:26):
I'm a massive fan of the All Star Race rotating around.
I think, why not, you know, why not take it
to a couple of different tracks over the over the years.
And and I don't think it makes a difference for
the market if it's a points paying race or it's
an All Star race. In my opinion, maybe I'm wrong.
Fans would maybe need tell me about that, but I
just think as long as there is a race in
(11:47):
the market, that's really what you want to see. And
I think if it's the All Star Race for dover See,
I goes, you know, I mean, it could be it
could be an interesting one.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
All right, Marty, I know you got to get on TV.
We're going to have you on here in the studio.
Best of luck this weekend. Brother, We'll talk to you
next Friday.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Sounds good, boys,