All language subtitles for NASCAR.Full.Speed.S01E01.NF.WEB.h264-EDITH.en[cc]

[drums music playing]

[tense music playing]

You only get so many shots.

We only get so many shots.

We will race respectful,
but we will race hard.

Yep.

We'll just give you a hug, hon.

I love you.

Go get 'em.
Do what you know how to do.

It's a great place.
It's where it all started.

I'm proud of you guys,
getting yourself in this position.

Y'all have a lot to be proud of
this season.

-It'll be a good day. I'm excited.
-It's gonna be a good day.

[whirring]

-I love you. Good luck.
-Thanks.

Be safe. I'm proud of you.

And remember,
be Ryan Fuckin' Blaney.

-[girl] I hope you win.
-Me too.

[announcer] A gorgeous Fall day
in Martinsville, Virginia,

and the fans have showed up.

Sold-out crowd here to see this,
the elimination race.

Only four drivers after today's race
will have a shot at the championship.

It all comes down to 500 laps
here at Martinsville.

[man and female announcers]
Drivers, start your engines!

-[man 1] You all set?
-[man 2] Yes, sir.

[man 3] Everybody have a good day.
Finish her off. I know we can do it.

[announcer] We are under the green flag.

[Denny] It's hard to describe
how hard it is to drive a race car.

I might birdie a hole that
Jordan Spieth doesn't birdie

or make a three-point shot
Michael Jordan doesn't make.

But there's no other athlete
in any other sport

that would ever run a lap
faster than I can run a lap.

It's impossible.

[man] When you put a helmet on,
it's like Superman putting on his cape.

It's like an alter ego.

[man 1] Driving a vehicle to its limit,
overstepping that limit...

In that moment,
nothing else in the world matters.

[man 2] That excitement, that hunger
gets more intense as you go.

[man 3] It's addictive.

[man 4] You cross that finish line,
the checkered flag's waving.

[man 5] When I see the driver get out
and have this genuine,

uncontrolled emotion...

as a fan watching,
that's the moment I'm there for.

-[man 6] Let's go to work.
-[Bubba] Yes, sir.

[man 7] Playoffs in NASCAR...

[man 8] Everybody get
your shit together now.

[man 7] Ten races...

[man 9] All right, go kick some ass.

[man 10] Sixteen drivers...

[man 9] You want some, get some,
bad enough, take some, let's go.

[man 7] Best man wins.

How do you advance?
By kicking ass.

[man 11] Right, Push it, push it, push it.
Checkered flag, hell yeah!

[man 7] When you go into the playoffs,
you know the intensity's higher.

This is your whole season,
your year.

-Yeah!
-[man 12] Oh, my God!

Playoffs, baby, let's go!

I love you guys so much.

[man 13] These guys are rock stars.
They're studs.

They're badasses.

-This is gonna be on Skinemax.
-Look at him sprawled out.

[man 14] Put some clothes on.

Oh, yes.

Ready to turn.

I don't even know what to say,
my damn cat's on the island.

[man 15] If you're a race car driver,

you have to be
absolutely crazy as hell.

They're lunatics, all of them.

[man 16] There is a tremendous
amount of danger involved.

[announcer] Bangs in the wall hard.

[man 16] This is a sport
which people have been killed.

[announcer] Oh, my God.

[man 17] Damn, what a wreck.

I want you to think if I'm near you,
I'm gonna put my foot on your throat.

I beat your favorite driver.

They hate him. I love him.

[man 18] I make
other drivers uncomfortable.

Stop. Stop!

[man 19] Every one of these guys
grew up dreaming

of holding that Championship trophy.

The more real it gets,
it is immense pressure.

[man 20] Go do this. It's your night.

[man 21] Make sure we're there at the end.

[radio announcer]
Welcome to the Morning Drive.

It is the last week of August.

This is the last week
of NASCAR's regular season.

The final regular season race
coming up Saturday

at Daytona International Speedway,
the birthplace of the sport.

Then it will be on
to ten weeks of playoffs

where the biggest question will be

could this finally be Denny Hamlin's year
to win a championship,

one prize that's eluded him in his career?

[Denny] Molly?

Are you up?

Gotta get ready for school.

You're too big for this.

You gonna get dressed yourself?

I know it takes you a minute.

[Denny] It's really difficult to play
the balance of personal life and career.

I'm a structured person.
I'm a very scheduled person.

When you come downstairs,

I expect you to have
the three things done.

Brush your hair, teeth,
and dressed for school.

[Jordan] Can you sit right here?
Where do you wanna sit?

[Molly groaning]

[Denny] Oh, boy. Look at that.

Well-done pancake, anyone?

[whirring]

Beautiful sound in the morning
of a blender grinding frozen fruits...

-[dog barking]
-...a dog barking.

And no one listening to orders.

[Jordan] Y'all gotta get moving.

[Taylor] Milo!

[Denny] Down.

Let's go for a ride.
Wanna go for a ride?

-[Jordan] No.
-[Denny] Yeah.

-[Jordan] That is a bad idea.
-[Denny] It's a great idea.

Ready, bud?
Ready to go.

He's ready.

Sorry, pulling over.

All right, Molly, you're up.

-[Taylor] No, she's not driving.
-[Denny] Yes, I always let her drive.

[Molly] Excuse me.

Get ready to turn.

[Denny] You're good, I'm not helping.
No hands, no hands.

[Taylor] Okay, I'm getting out right here.

-[Denny] All right, peace.
-[Molly] Peace out.

[Denny] I would describe my racing career
as overachieving.

I think that
it comes from the work ethic

that my dad instilled in myself.

When I think about
how I try to instill work ethic

with my kids,
I want them to be successful,

but I want 'em to be successful

because of what they
created for themselves.

No one's gonna give you anything.
No one gave me anything.

I grew up with no means.
I worked my way here.

I have a big jet,
a big house, nice shit.

I fuckin' earned it.

And still at age 42,
I feel I'm at the top of my game.

[man commentator 2]
Denny Hamlin is the all-time

winningest driver at
the Pocono Raceway.

[crowd booing]

[commentator] The boos cascading down
from the Pocono race fans today.

Denny Hamlin got his first win here.

Win number 50 in his career here
on a monumental day.

What does it mean to do it
with all the boos from the fans

-at one of your favorite places?
-I love it.

[Denny] I don't think that I show
that much humility on the outside.

I recognize it on the inside,

but I think people see me
as very cocky and brash.

That's fine... That's my persona.

I don't want my
competition thinking that,

"Oh, what a gee shucks nice guy."
Fuck that.

I think the boos might be
from the contact with the 1.

So was that straight payback?

What did you want me to do?

Every sport that has success...
is successful

because of unique
personalities on the field.

What are you doing?
Seriously! You did the...

[Dale] People that you love to hate,
people that you love to love,

people that you relate to,
that good and bad.

The villain and the hero.

All the buddies know
Denny's always right.

I'm sure he was
in the right there as well.

[Dale] He does it his way
and doesn't care what anybody thinks.

And for our sport to have success,

it has to have people
like Denny Hamlin.

[commentator] Denny Hamlin's got
the advantage. He comes to the line.

[crew member 3]
Awesome job.

[commentator] He sweeps at Pocono.

[commentator 4]
Holy cow, baby. You are the best.

[Denny] Love you, guys.

What he has done in his career
is absolutely incredible.

[Denny] We got it. Yes!

[Shannon] He has won the Daytona 500
three times.

Denny racing like he did
right there is just unbelievable.

He has 50 wins in NASCAR.

Fifty.

[Dale] Fifty wins is a lot.

That to me is an elite category.

But there's one thing missing,
a NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

[Denny] Here we wanted to create
Victory Lanes,

so I put a bowling alley in.

I wanted to put together
a collage of pictures

that were meaningful to me
in some sort of way.

[Dale] He had so many great years

where we were thinking,
"Man, this is the year."

It's an unfortunate thing, right?
To be good enough and not get it.

I think Denny, understanding his age,

understanding where he is in his life,

realizes, like, it's now or never.

[Denny] Do I wanna win a championship?
A thousand percent.

But it's not gonna define my career.
My career is defined by

how many trophies
do I have in this house?

Right now there's 50.

Denny wants that championship
more than he wants oxygen.

A little too close for comfort there.

Hey... I'm still...

Still. Still trying.

[commentator 4] Let's talk about
Denny Hamlin. He's been close before,

but he's always come up short
in his race for the championship.

He's qualified for the playoffs,
he's taken the first step.

But once again, he's gonna be
one of 16 drivers going for the title.

Who's gonna be his biggest,
toughest competition this time out?

I think William Byron
of Hendrick Motorsports.

[whirring]

[Erin] Cereal.

-[William] Oh, yeah.
-[Erin] Nice.

[William] Hey, the Fruit Loops are good.

I don't have Fruit Loops on the bus.

We've been in this house since
the beginning of last month,

and I've been racing
all over the country,

so I think I was only home
seven days in July.

It's starting to feel
a little more like home.

As you can see, I like sweets,
so Oreos or cookies.

Yeah, the healthy diet's not...
not kicked in yet.

It's never gonna kick in.

[Erin] William's honestly the best.

We're both kind of
goofy and young-hearted.

We met, like all people meet these days,
through social media.

We've been together
almost four years.

Look at all this stuff
that you put in here.

-There's a couple that are still empty.
-Holy cow.

This is first win, Daytona.

I feel like we've approached
the whole year like it's the playoffs.

We have five wins this year.
I'm ready to go.

I'd rather the playoffs start tomorrow.

We've prepared all year
for these ten races.

Let's see what we got.

Good job, boys, what a race car!

Awesome job, guys.

All the way to the line. You did it!

Oh, yeah, baby!
Two in a row, let's go!

Are you kidding me?
Yes! Hell yes!

[commentator] William Byron wins
at The Glen.

[commentator 1]
His fifth win of the season.

[William] Woo-hoo-hoo! Nice work.

This is the fresh trophy here.

It's a Watkins Glen.

[Shannon] William Byron, the iRacer
turned potential Cup Champion.

It is a wild story.

[Rick]
William learned to race on a computer.

He's very unique individual.

[William] People always ask me,
"Oh, what is iRacing? What is sim racing?"

I'm like, "It's pretty similar
to a flight simulator,

like trying the techniques that
you're gonna use in the real car."

So, you know, I think it's...
Yeah, it's pretty damn close.

I would come home from school
and I would get straight onto iRacing

and I'd run till ten o'clock at night.

My parents, first, they're like,
"This is a huge distraction.

You need to get off the computer."

[Dana] If he ain't got his homework done,
then he couldn't iRace.

We were like, "If you don't keep your
grades up, then you can't race."

[Shannon] This isn't the traditional way
that these guys start.

These guys start on short tracks,
starting at 5, 6, 7 years old.

Go-karts, they're working
on the cars with their dads,

They're spending time on the track,

not time in their bedroom,
sitting in a gaming chair.

[William] Racing a real car
is very physical, it's intense.

There's danger.

It's not easy to run on a sim,
but there's no penalty for crashing.

Eventually, my parents were watching

and they're like,
"Man, he's really good at this."

[Bill] He said, "Well, I'm 13 years old,

and if I'm ever gonna race a car,
I need to get on with it."

He had five pages laid out
of how he could race a legend car...

and he'd like to go see
what that looks like.

[William] When I first got in a race car,

I couldn't get the thing started,
I couldn't get it up the hill.

[Bill] So then he went to his first race,
28 cars,

and he qualified second in his first race,
and he finished fourth.

And then one thing led to another

and then he raced 66 races
and won 34 of them.

[Jeff] The first thing that blew me away
about William

was how little racing experience he had,

yet he was climbing the ladder
at such a fast rate.

[Rick] William, when he was about
15 years old, walked up

and said, "Hey, I'm gonna
drive for you one day."

Well, I've heard that
a lot from different people,

but the character of the guy

and the ability that he showed
was just phenomenal,

so I felt like he was really worth
taking a chance on.

[William] We have worked so hard
to make sure that

when we get to the Fall
that there's no gaps.

That's a lot of fuel. I was almost out.

If I wake up Sunday at Phoenix
and we're in the Championship 4,

I think we could be the champion.

I do listen to Denny's
podcast occasionally.

[Denny] What's up, guys?
Welcome to Actions Detrimental.

This week I wanted to hear what
he had to say about a few things.

[Denny] Headed to Daytona this weekend.

Make-or-break race, last race
before we get into the playoffs.

Nice to hear the mindset
of another driver, you know.

I think that's why I enjoy listening
to his and you learn a lot.

[Denny] Bubble. It's all about the bubble.
This is big, huge.

Daytona one of the best races
that you'll see all season.

is gonna happen this weekend.

We've got the 23 car, Bubba Wallace,
on the cut line, above it,

Ty Gibbs, below it.

I'm in a very difficult position
when you look at the bubble,

but I'm rooting for Bubba.

Bubba has never been
a playoff driver.

I want him to run whatever race
he needs to run

to get himself in the playoffs.

I think Bubba has paid his dues.
He's a deserving playoff driver.

Monday's actually a team meeting
where we'll go over the weekend,

talk about what we did good,
what we did bad.

I'm sure given kind of
the stakes that's in front of us,

you'll hear Daytona being
sprinkled in more often

than it'd be if it was
any other regular season race.

[Shannon] Denny's been with Joe Gibbs
Racing since the beginning of his career.

Joe Gibbs has been loyal to Denny
from the very beginning.

[Steve] Joe Gibbs... if you're a
football fan, you know the name.

Won a couple of Super Bowls.

He moved to South,
bought a race team.

But there's a lot of drivers in the field
who wanna secure their legacy.

They don't wanna just be a driver,
they want to be a team owner.

[Denny] I didn't think that owning
a racing team was the right fit

while I was still driving,
but the stars aligned.

[Shannon] Denny had developed
this relationship with Michael Jordan

going to Hornets games
here in the Charlotte area.

Denny has court-side seats,
probably sat next to Michael many times.

I've known Denny seven years.

He's gotten better.
You know, obviously, my interest

in the sport has been there
for a long period of time

and I love watching that.

I set my clock every Sunday
to watch NASCAR and I pay attention.

[Denny] He gave me his phone number
and I'm like,

"I'm gonna just shoot my shot here and
say, 'Hey, Michael, I need a partner.'"

So along with being
a driver in the number 11 car,

I also am a co-owner of 23XI Racing
with Michael Jordan.

Those cars are the 45 with Tyler Reddick

and the 23 with Bubba Wallace,

competitors each and every Sunday
that I try to go out there and beat.

-[Bubba] Hello, bitch.
-Great job, buddy.

[laughs]

-Great job, buddy.
-[Bubba] Thanks.

[Dale] Bubba Wallace, one of the drivers
trying to work his way into the playoffs.

Daytona has been a great track for him.

He's in good cars with a team
that's growing, they believe in him.

I love seeing him run well,
'cause I know how badly he wants to.

[Dave]
I can't compliment BW enough.

Came off of a weekend
where he wasn't happy

with his performance at Indy
and personal best at Watkins Glen

and stayed in the fight all day.
He didn't back into it.

He ran up there all day, so great job.
And, Bootie, you too.

I mean, the whole team, right?
Good momentum leading into Daytona.

Bubba is currently holding
the last position for driver points.

Definitely within our reach,
but we have our work cut out for us.

45, top ten, little bit less
than what we were hoping for

but kind of...
as Denny would say, "a pedestrian day."

Not bad, not great.

[Dale]
Tyler Reddick is the other driver at 23XI.

He is driving the 45 car,
which is Jordan's other number.

[Shannon]
Iron sharpens iron and Tyler Reddick,

who's a really talented race car driver,

is helping to raise
that level for Bubba.

[Ty] Let's go! We're here!

[commentator] Tyler Reddick with the win
in Austin, Texas,

and that locks him into a playoff spot.

[Dale] That car's had a lot of success
with this team.

He's got a win,
so he's locked in to the playoffs.

[commentator 1]
That is a monster win, buddy.

[Dale] Some of that pressure
that Bubba feels

to make the playoffs through Daytona,

Tyler doesn't necessarily feel.

[Ty] I've been on that cut line a few
times where it comes down to Daytona

whether you make it
or lose it, that's stressful,

but our goals as a company
is to get both cars in the playoffs.

That's something
that is very possible for both of us.

[Steve] Having a teammate is like
playing sports against your brother.

If you can't win, there's no one you want
to win more than your brother.

[Denny] For Bubba going into Daytona,
he's got to either win himself,

not have a new winner that would
essentially knock the 23 team out

or point his way in.

Staying up front,
getting as many points as he can.

That way that ensures
that he is that last guy in.

I said from the very beginning
when I started this team,

that it was gonna take
a five-year process

for me to build
a championship-contending team.

We're in year
two-and-three-quarters right now.

[Bubba] It's super special to be part of
a race team with Michael Jordan

owning it, and having him
at the race track and being a fan.

He's passionate about NASCAR.
He has been since he was a kid.

He's living out his dream.

[Shannon] For Bubba Wallace to make
the playoffs, it would mean everything.

He knows Michael, who has
six championships, is looking down on him.

He knows Denny, who has three
Daytona 500s, is looking down on him.

It's go time for Bubba Wallace.

He knows that, and making the playoffs
is the first step in that.

[Steve] The people that try to avoid
pressure avoid being good.

You don't think Michael Jordan
felt pressure?

You don't think the greatest athletes
felt pressure? That's why they do it.

If he thinks making the playoffs
is pressure,

whew, wait till you're one of 16.

[Bootie]
MJ and Denny, they expect great things.

We have great people,
we have money,

so we are not exactly
the little engine that could.

No, no, we're a battleship,
but we are hungry and we want it.

The pressure is worse on him,

and it's affecting him more, but he's
getting better at handling that.

[Bubba] I've done a lot better job
of blocking out the noise

and just going out
and racing for self.

You have that chip on your shoulder
and I finally start to let that down

and kind of enjoy where you're at
instead of fighting to be where you're at.

[Denny] Bubba's confident.
He's fantastic on superspeedways.

-[man] Absolutely.
-[Denny] He's won on a superspeedway.

He's always in contention at Daytona.

I do think that this is gonna be
just an absolute crash fest.

Why is that always happening
here at Daytona? What fuels that?

We're all running in
a tight pack together,

so first through 20th
is one-second apart.

You're using the car beside you,
the car behind you,

the car in front of you
to make your car go faster.

So it leads to mistakes.

This is a race where you could run
like shit all year long.

[Denny] Save your season now.

Right, one good race,
one good showing at Daytona

could put you in the playoffs
and completely turn the season on.

It changes everything.
It's gonna be fricking crazy this weekend.

Let's get that 23 car in there,
and let's go race for a championship.

["Walk the Line" by
Patrick McManus playing]

[Marty] The NASCAR season
breaks down like this.

There are 36 races.

The first 26 of those
are regular season races.

NASCAR starts with its Super Bowl
beginning at Daytona

in the 500 and ends at Daytona,

and that's the final cutoff race
before the ten-race playoffs.

When NASCAR made the decision
to move the final race

of the regular season to Daytona,
a lot of people applauded,

and the reason that they applauded was

you have no idea
what the hell is about to happen.

[Steve] This is it. A year's worth of work

comes down to the final race
of the regular season

and the final shot
at the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs

for some of the biggest names
in the sport.

[commentator] There's that one 16th spot
that is still available.

Ty Gibbs fighting to make
his first playoffs.

Thirty-two points behind Bubba Wallace
just below that cutoff line.

[Dale] So Denny's in
a unique situation as an owner.

He has two cars out on the racetrack,
and then he drives for Joe Gibbs.

Why that's profound is
because Ty Gibbs and Bubba,

both of those drivers need to
get into the playoffs.

Bubba drives Denny's car

and Ty Gibbs is the grandson
of Joe Gibbs who is the boss.

It isn't just any driver.

[Steve] Daytona, Talladega,
and Atlanta are tracks where

it is more advantageous to be in a line

and you help each other,
you literally push each other.

[Dale] If you've ever rode behind
an 18-wheeler on the interstate

and you feel your car
being buffeted around

by the wind off the back
of that tractor-trailer, that's the draft.

In a race car, we can literally
ride inches away from each other

bumping and pushing
and staying together in the draft

to sort of move forward.

Daytona...
you need a lot of friends.

What do you do, Denny?
Do you push one of your teammates,

or do you push one of the cars
you own to the win?

If you're in that scenario
off of turn four, who do you help?

What makes Denny great
is it's gonna be a selfish decision.

[Denny] By the letter of the law,
I should be pushing Ty.

I'm financially invested in the 23.

I think that they know where
my allegiance would lie on this one.

[commentator]
So in his podcast earlier this week,

Denny said, "If it came down
to it at the end of the race,

I would push Bubba Wallace,
not my teammate, Ty Gibbs."

An interesting comment
from Denny Hamlin.

Junior, you own a race car
and a race team, what would you do?

[Dale] I'd probably push the car
that I owned to the win.

I think the difference with me is
I wouldn't have said that publicly.

[laughter[

Why would you not just
keep that to yourself?

But Denny can't tell a lie.

Denny can't tell a lie, yeah.

[Denny] I can tell you,
this superspeedway shit

was so much easier
when I could just do my own thing.

-Yeah, I know.
-It's such a pain in the fucking ass.

Won a lot of ways just fucking
being selfish the whole time.

-I know I enjoyed that, too.
-Right?

Make what decision's right for yourself.

Man, must be important
if you're waiting on me.

[chuckles] No, I was just gonna come by
and get an update.

Okay. I've got a little bit for you.

[Joe] Anybody would look at it
and say, "Wait a minute,

you're gonna drive for a team
yet own another team.

How's that gonna work?"

We all looked at it and said,
"It's gonna be complicated.

Probably have its challenges."

[Denny] It's the first time that
we've ever had a true conflict,

but I just wanna make it very clear
where my allegiance lies

and that obviously could
rub people the wrong way,

but it's the right thing to do

if I'm gonna be a leader
of the team that I own.

[Joe]
Denny's been here for 17 years.

There's no way that I would
not expect him to support our...

the place he's been, so...

[Bubba]
Now we know where Denny stands on that.

It's a tough spot for him, being like,
"Hey, I'm not helping out my team.

I'm helping my team."

[Chris] Rudy, how are you?
Congrats on your...

crushing again last week.

-It was something.
-Yeah, it was something.

[Marty]
What made NASCAR beautiful

in the '60s and '70s and '80s
was ingenuity.

Yes, there was a rule book,

but the famous crew chiefs
were able to work in the gray areas.

"I bow this piece of
sheet metal out a little bit

or I create this device that gives me that
aerodynamic advantage,

and I'm gonna dare NASCAR
to catch me."

That's not quite the case anymore

because the race cars
they're running right now

are designed to be very similar.

[Steve] Some parts of the car are metal,
some are carbon fiber.

They all expand and contract
at different temperatures.

So I have to keep the car
as cool as I can keep it.

When you watch inspection,

it's like the funniest thing
in the world, the umbrellas.

Have you seen where they walk
around holding the umbrellas?

That's just to keep the sun
off the car 'cause the car grows.

[Chris] Our job with the cars
is to get everything to the legal limit

and the legal tolerance.

The fastest car possible
that NASCAR is okay with

on the rules' side, that's the goal.

Equal cars,
let the drivers be the show.

The cars have to be the same.
It's NASCAR's way of ensuring

that you're watching a level
playing field of the race.

There are tens of thousands
of nuts and bolts,

parts and pieces, moving parts

that goes into making this machine
perform flawlessly.

You're talking about thousandths
of an inch everywhere,

so it's easy to get a little nervous
about some of it.

[Steve] Speed limit says 35,
so you're only gonna go 35?

Now you go 40, so that's speeding.
But you don't expect to be pulled over.

The difference between 29.0 seconds

and 29.1 seconds might be
thickness of a credit card.

Okay, there we go.
Hey, we did it.

So that's it, we passed.

Now we go back to our garage,
get this thing ready to qualify tonight.

Starts with qualifying.
You want to get a decent starting spot

because it is gonna be hard to pass

at this great big
two-and-a-half mile racetrack.

I know that sounds crazy,
but it's really hard to get an advantage.

You wanna qualify good tonight for sure.

Every weekend starts out with qualifying.

Here at Daytona, you're gonna go out
and run 185 miles an hour

and run about a 45, 50-second lap.

[announcer] Let's ride on board
with Bubba Wallace here

out on the racetrack on the cusp of
making his first-ever playoffs.

[Dale] Whatever you run determines
how you will start the race

and where you'll be placed in the field.
Fastest car gets a start on the pole.

If you can start the race up front,
it makes your job a whole lot easier.

[announcer] That makes things easier.
Bubba Wallace answers the call.

Qualifying fourth,

which should make owners Denny Hamlin
and Michael Jordan happy.

[Bubba] Don't think
there's any greater pressure

than the pressure you put on yourself.

I wanna win practice, win qualifying,
win the race.

It's hard to do.
Sixteenth, last car in.

Any new winner would bump us out.

I try not to think about it too much.

[commentator] And look at that,
Ty Gibbs qualifying fifth,

so he'll start right behind Bubba tomorrow
as they vie for that final playoff spot.

One driver left to go, Denny Hamlin,

and that lap is not exactly
what he had in mind.

He'll start in the middle of the pack
in the 19th position.

I will lower my expectations accordingly.

I was a little bumpy in qualifying.

Didn't run quite the speed we expected,
so a little disappointing.

On there, during qualifying,
they showed you only half throttle

the whole way. Why?

Their data must be messed up.

It was only you
that it showed that on.

Really?

You gotta press on that gas.

Mom, I was not half throttle,
I can assure you that.

I'm right next to my other teammates.

-Back it up.
-I'm not doubting that.

-Can I back it up?
-[Denny] If you must.

No. Mom,
it shows I'm in first gear.

-Look at the gear.
-[commentator on TV] We're taking away.

Denny Hamlin is 19th
on his qualifying run.

[Denny] I'm slow, I don't know.

I walk in, she says,
"I've got two questions."

-What's the second one?
-You and everybody else.

[radio announcer] Welcome back to
The Morning Drive, getting ready

for the Coke Zero Sugar 400
at Daytona International Speedway.

Race Week going into
Daytona always special.

Denny Hamlin's hands are full.

He's preparing for this race
at Daytona as a driver,

but he's also preparing
for it as an owner as well.

[announcer] What kind of advice
can you give Bubba

to stay above that line right there?

[Denny] I just say trust your instincts.

If he just does his own thing,
he's gonna be fine.

Your number-one fan
right down there, Callie.

Callie wanted to know...

[Denny] Hold on,
I thought my number-one fan

was the guy in the back
with the "Denny Hamlin Sucks" shirt.

[announcer]
Everybody pretty much has a shot,

so you know it comes down
to this right now.

And what do you expect?

[Denny] Mayhem.

-[announcer] Mayhem.
-Mayhem.

[woman] Denny, please! Please!

Please! Thank you.

[Denny]
I love it. It's just really intense.

It's a crazy racetrack,
guys pushing, shoving, wrecking.

So, hopefully, we're not
part of the wrecking tonight.

We want to be around
at the end to have a chance.

-[woman] I think you got the championship.
-[Denny] I hope so.

[William] It starts tonight.
Have a good race at Daytona

and then get to Darlington,

get locked in for the playoffs
and just focus on each race.

[crowd] Bubba!
Bubba...

[Bubba] That was the most stressed
I've been in a long time.

Just thinking that, "Oh, I'm gonna
get wrecked on lap one.

Motor's gonna blow on lap five,
and there's gonna be a new winner."

I'm not even gonna have
an opportunity to fight for it.

[Bootie] Great job, to the road crew.
Where we qualified is excellent.

Puts us in a great position.

Y'all gotta feel the juice, right?

Pretty awesome.

Bubba's done great.

I mean, we ain't took no shit off nobody.
We've done what we had to do.

I'd say tonight we'd be smart,
but we need to take this.

We're going all out. Gonna try
to stay up front, win the race.

Let's make it happen.

Everybody good?

Rock and roll.

Yep.

[crewmember] So, you guys started it.
It's all gonna be your fault.

-I'm getting started at 20...
-Sixteen.

-Sixteen, is that what it was?
-Yeah.

[announcer] If you've won
a race this season,

then you're already
locked into the playoffs.

Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell,
William Byron, Tyler Reddick,

defending champion Joey Logano,
Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher.

They're all in that group of
drivers that are guaranteed in.

But it gets tricky after that.

Remember if there's
a first-time winner tonight,

that winner would automatically
qualify for the playoffs.

Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace
are competing

for that last spot in the playoffs.

And if someone behind them wins,
they get booted out.

[Marty]
Because Daytona is the birthplace

and because there's
so much prestige and history

that comes with winning there,
it feels different.

[William] There's a lot of hype.
There's a lot going on.

-This is intense.
-[Erin] It's Daytona.

Yeah, right? I guess so.

[Marty]
Think about what they're thinking about

and how you can
compartmentalize that energy

because they're all nerds.

They can tell you they're not,
but they are.

You know, going into the race,

you have the opportunity
to get hurt or killed.

They know that going in
and you do it anyway.

Think about what a badass that is.

[announcer]
Drivers, start your engines!

[Marty] When you actually go to the event
and you're at the racetrack,

the way it sounds, it is intoxicating.

The way it smells is intoxicating.

The people watching is intoxicating.

The overall sensory
experience is overwhelming,

and you suddenly get it.

[Steve] Number of drivers out there

with their only hope
to race for a championship

is a win here tonight at Daytona.

[crew member] Let's have
a good day, finish it off strong.

[Bubba]
Hell, yeah, man. No prisoners.

A race car at full song

is the most beautiful sound
you'll ever hear.

[commentator]
Green flag's in the air.

One spot available up for grabs.

[Marty] It makes me laugh
when people feel like,

"Oh, they're just going in circles."
But if you're a race car driver,

first of all, you have to
be absolutely crazy as hell.

All of them. They're lunatics.
They're different than us.

[commentator] Hamlin and the Toyota
go to the whip

and surge around that outside lane.

[Marty] You have to be able
to relay real-time

what your ass feels to the crew chief.

[Denny] I'm getting
a little tight on the exit.

[commentator] Denny Hamlin to the top
of the leaderboard.

[Marty] So that he can tell
the crew what adjustment

to make the next time
you come in on a pit stop.

[man] Everything from that point on
was neutral

on the middle lane
and tight on the bottom.

Spinning around the 36,
will free up a little bit.

[commentator] Denny Hamlin leads,
Ty Gibbs goes fourth,

in front of Bubba Wallace, fifth.

[Denny] What's the call here?
On strategy?

[crew member] Four tires and fuel.

[commentator 1] Everyone expects
to pit right here.

[Marty]
They pit to fill up the car with gas.

They pit to change the tires
so they have better grip.

They pit to make adjustments
to the race car so it handles better.

[Steve] A good NASCAR pit stop
is 9.5 seconds

for four tires
and about 14 gallons of gas.

[Marty] If you're consistently losing
positions on pit road, no chance, man.

These are world-class athletes now.

These guys, they just missed the NFL.

Saturday night under the line.
It's like playing at Clemson.

[Marty] And even the slightest mistake

costs you so much time
on the racetrack at full speed.

[Chris]
Three, two, one.

[commentator]
There is a penalty,

Denny Hamlin's pit crew
was over the wall too soon.

[crew member] Go, go, go.

[crew member 1]
Over the wall too soon was

what they got us for right there.

[commentator]
Denny Hamlin a lap down.

[commentator 1] Unbelievable, Denny is not
in a must-win situation,

but maybe one of the best drivers
ever to strap in here at Daytona.

But here comes Ty Gibbs
in the Toyota to the outside.

[commentator 2]
Ty Gibbs will take the lead.

[commentator 3] Ty Gibbs is 12 points
behind Bubba Wallace.

Bubba Wallace
is all the way back at 21st.

[commentator] This pack is virtually
sewn together.

If someone sneezes,
the whole thing is gonna fly apart.

[commentator 3] Oh, man, they're almost
wrecking right there.

[Denny] To win on a track like Daytona,
you have to survive first.

So my first instinct is when I see
guys bouncing off each other

that a wreck is about to happen
and I'm about to be in the middle of it.

I'm gonna bail. I'm gonna bail.

[commentator] Denny's had enough.
He bailed completely out.

Senses trouble.

[commentator 1]
He's very proud of his Spidey sense.

[commentator 2] Yep, he's reading the room
and he says, "imminent danger."

[Denny] When I feel like
a wreck is about to happen,

I get out of the hornet's nest.

[Steve]
Side-by-side for the top lot...

Trouble because Ty Gibbs
gets into Ryan Blaney.

[crew member] Wrecking, wrecking.

[commentator]
Blaney off the nose of Ty Gibbs,

and the big one happens behind him.

[commentator 1] It brought
so many people into it.

Look at all these cars.

[crew member 1]
Wreck. Middle, middle, middle.

[William]
I saw the 12 get hit and honestly for me,

I just tried to stay kind of straight
so I could make it through the wreck.

Yeah, think I didn't
get any damage there.

[crew member] I don't know
how we made it through.

It was incredible, it was perfect.
That never happens for us.

I haven't been on the positive end of that

-too many times, that's for sure.
-No.

[Bubba]
Is he okay?

-[crew member] You okay?
-[Ty] Yeah.

It fucking hurts!

[reporter]
Unfortunately, Ty Gibbs will not make

the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff.
His day is done early at Daytona.

[Ty] Motherfucker!

[reporter 1]
What's your emotion?

I don't know. It just sucks.
Trying to rub it in?

[commentator] Looks like Bubba Wallace
made it through the crash.

[Bootie] Obviously there, Bubba,
the 54 was in the middle of that.

A lot of 'em went all in,
and they ain't in the game no more.

So that was a great job by you.

[Bubba]
Just can't have a new winner.

[Bootie] The only way you can get beat
is if somebody wins.

They can't out-points you.

[commentator] Quite a majestic sight.
We've got fireworks on the racetrack.

We've got rockets going up
to Cape Canaveral.

What more could we ask for here
at the world center of racing?

[crew member] Back end of our pack
is racing each other here.

[commentator 1] Bubba Wallace,
he's the only driver

that can get in on points now.

That is only if a new winner
doesn't happen tonight.

[Bootie] We should have about 11 people
that can still win.

That don't hurt us in the race.

[commentator] Playoff berths are
on the line

in the late laps here at Daytona.

[crew member 1]
Five to go, five to go.

[commentator]
Look out, trouble!

One car is up and over.

Barrel rolling down
the back straightaway.

It is Ryan Preece end over end.

[commentator 1]
Oh, no. Oh, my God.

-[commentator 2] Is he okay? Shit.
-[commentator 1] Oh, my God.

-[commentator 2] Who is that?
-[commentator 1] Preece.

[Denny]
Damn! What a fucking wreck! Wow.

Holy shit, I've never seen a car
get that much air before.

These cars,
they get turned sideways,

cross over into grass
where air is getting through.

It picks it up, treats it
like a parachute and flips it over.

[woman] It's on fire, it's on fire too.

-[man] Oh, my God, get out, dude.
-[woman] He's upside down.

Yeah, 41 took a hell of a tumble.
He's upside down and on fire.

[Bubba]
Is he all right?

[Denny]
Golly, did he get out?

[Chris] Yeah, he's too fucking tough
to do anything but...

but God, I don't know how.

[commentator]
Time to put 'em back under the green flag.

[commentator 1]
Five miles to the playoffs for somebody.

[Bubba] Just gotta play our cards right
and see what happens.

[commentator] Bubba Wallace,
he is landlocked outside of the top ten.

He has got nowhere to go.
He is stuck in 12th.

How hard is Bubba Wallace
rooting for Chris Buescher right now?

[commentator 2]
Chris Buescher leads off turn two.

[commentator 1]
If Buescher hangs onto the lead,

Bubba makes the cut
for his first playoffs.

[commentator] Checkered flag is in the air
and Chris Buescher is going to win.

[commentator 1] And with that,
Bubba Wallace is locked into

-the playoffs on points.
-[Bootie] Oh, yeah!

Awesome, man!

[Bubba] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah!

[Bootie]
Good job, brother.

[Bubba]
I've never loved Chris Buescher so much.

["Daytona Sand" by Orville Peck playing]

[commentator] William Byron
got a top-ten finish here,

but will be entering the 2023 playoffs

as the top-seeded NASCAR Cup Series.

A solid day for us.
Starts next week.

Friday, everybody.
We got a solid start.

[commentator 1] Driver Denny Hamlin
not very happy,

owner Denny Hamlin very happy.

[Denny] The only goal for 23XI this year
was to have both cars in the playoffs

and Tyler, his first year,
and Bubba, his third. Getting it done.

[cheering]

[Bubba] That was the most calm
I've ever been. It's ass backwards.

What an incredible feat for our 23 team.

[reporter] As he gets a big hug
from his teammate, Tyler Reddick.

Thank you, buddy.

-We got it, boss.
-Way to go, kid.

Called it through, didn't you?

Good job, man.
I'm proud of you guys.

-Absolutely.
-[Bubba] Great to see you.

-See y'all next week.
-You coming to Darlington?

I don't mind going back there if I knew
you were gonna have a good day.

-Thank you, Coach. Appreciate it.
-That's good.

That was awesome.
Great, great stuff.

-Proud of you.
-Thank you, Coach. Thank you.

[commentator] Going into the Southern 500

to kick of the playoffs
next week at Darlington.

[commentator 1] Some strong teams,
it's gonna be fun to watch.

Guys are gonna have
to bring their A-games

in order to have an opportunity
to advance every week.

This is going to be
an epic ten weeks of racing.

["Wild West Woman" by
Jack the Radio plays]

♪ She's hell on wheels ♪
She shoots to kill

♪ Aims to thrill and she never fails ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ She takes the wheel, honey see ♪

♪ Pretty mamma spin ya round
Right next to me ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ I won't let you leave ♪

♪'Cause, honey, you won't
Let me be ♪

♪ Come stand up
Come stand up next to me ♪

♪ Come stand up
Come stand up next to me ♪

[vocalizing]