Race for the Championship (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - David Versus Goliath - full transcript
The Daytona 500.
It's like Christmas morning
for a racecar driver.
It's our Super Bowl.
You don't know
what's gonna happen.
Big crash!
Understand there are dangers.
Oh, no! Oh, my God!
It's just
complete chaos.
A massive crash!
It's a race that every driver
wants to say that they had won.
The biggest
stock-car race in the world.
I want to win it.
Hi. I'm Corey LaJoie.
I drive the 7 Spire
Motorsports Chevy Camaro.
- Hey, buddy.
- What's up, buddy?
If you thought the doughnuts
were good in this place...
cinnamon rolls.
God, dude.
Get one.
Oh, wow.
Getting kicked in the mouth
in L.A. certainly woke us up,
I think, a little bit for
what we need to work on.
The Clash
at the Colosseum
was an interesting
situation for Corey LaJoie
because he went
into it believing
that this was gonna be his shot
with Next Gen car
out of the box.
Corey LaJoie was telling people,
"I'm gonna make the main event
and we're gonna
surprise some people."
Ross
Chastain, Chris Buescher,
Aric Almirola and Corey
LaJoie fail to advance
and will not make the field
for the Clash of the Coliseum.
To leave there with a
result that is frustrating
and is disappointing, it's
a bad way to start the year.
My guys, they
probably spent 30 hours
over the past two days here.
Yeah, you look tired as...
Yeah, it's... Everybody's
dragging a little bit.
Alright. Is everybody...
Alright, TJ, you got 'em all.
You gonna get this show started?
This is not a job.
It's a lifestyle.
You're not a cashier at
Lowe's. The... not easy.
Feelings are gonna get
hurt because they should.
'Cause you should care
enough to be here,
because you should be
working hard enough
that your fuse is
probably a little short.
That's what happens to
everybody this time of year.
One day, you're gonna be ready
to, damn, throw your...
down and walk out.
Because if you're not,
then perhaps you don't want
to be here hard enough.
Like, that's what happens
when you work somewhere
that you love to be.
What we are asking of all of
you guys here is no small task.
And we all knew what we signed
up for, myself included.
After the LCQ, man, I wanted
to, like, tuck my tail...
and cry, man.
It hurt.
I was walking to the car and...
I was, like, opening the
door to the rental car.
And I was like, "No." Like...
"I'm gonna watch this thing
and make it hurt a little bit
while those other guys
have fun and race."
And I was pissed
off, doubting myself.
All we need is what we
have right here, boys.
I'm in it here with
you. We're all in it.
We're all gonna dig down
deep and grind, man.
So let's go down for
some sunny weather
and just start this
year off strong.
I'm Ryan Blaney.
I drive the number-12
car for Team Penske.
Here comes
the pack behind him!
Side by side, racing
back to the line!
Ryan Blaney to the outside!
Gosh, I mean, it's the fastest,
most competitive
sport in the U.S.
Final run to the
checkered flag. Wheel to wheel.
Your odds are very low. You're
racing against 39 other drivers.
It's very, very
difficult to win.
Whoo!
At the line,
it is Ryan Blaney!
That's what makes it so
special when you can win.
Ryan Blaney is the closest thing
to a rock star that NASCAR has.
When he's not in the car,
he's at movie premieres,
brushing shoulders
with superstars.
He's making cameos
in films and TVs.
He is completely tatted up.
You can't tell in his fire suit,
but he is the epitome
of what a superstar
in this sport should
look like in 2022.
There you go, man. You're
good out there, man.
Thanks, buddy.
I appreciate it.
They kicked Justin out.
- Yeah.
- For wearing flip-flops.
He texted me.
If you wear flip-flops,
you deserve it.
Yeah. No open-toed
shoes.
Ryan Blaney is
very much a second...
Well, really
third-generation racer,
but everybody knows
him, of course,
as the son of Dave Blaney,
the "Buckeye Bullet,"
the famous World of
Outlaws dirt racer.
You know, growing up in it,
it was just normal for me.
It's pretty funny when you
start making friends at school
at a young age, and,
you know, it's like,
"Oh, your dad's a banker
or your mom's a lawyer."
Like, I didn't know
there was other jobs.
I'm gonna really
look back on this day
when I hopefully
become a NASCAR driver.
I knew he had
something special,
and there's been a couple
of those days in racecars
where... Wow.
It was a big race.
A bunch of guys from all
over the country there.
And he ran through these
guys like they were...
It looked like a Cup
driver driving this car
this little 14-year-old
kid was driving.
I went down to Daytona
and always watched the 500
with Dad, watching
him race in it.
That's what I
always wanted to do.
Someone told me that
this year is my...
Like, my eighth...
Seventh or eighth 500.
Better get after winning
one here pretty soon.
Ridic... I know.
I know. It's
getting that time.
Need to get one. Been
close a couple times.
You've been so close a
couple times. I know.
You always seem to be right
there in the mix. Yeah.
Dad almost won it in 2012.
I was running second
there a couple times.
And we lost it a couple
years ago by like three feet.
What do you say, Mike?
We're gonna try this again?
Same song, second verse.
Overtime
once again.
Green flag back in the
air here at Daytona.
They're going towards the
top, going towards the top.
Going back to the
bottom. Back to the top.
Checkered flag is
waving at the start/finish line.
Who will get here first?
Newman down. Oh, he's
gonna get turned!
Ryan Blaney, Denny
Hamlin across the line!
Denny Hamlin will
go back-to-back!
Yeah!
That stung a
lot more than finishing,
you know, 10th or 15th.
And since we've been
close so many times,
I feel like it'd be
great to cap it off.
Big run
coming with the 17.
They're gonna switch back
to the bottom with you.
Watch them going to the middle.
Watch them going to the middle.
There's some high-tension
moments in racing,
but you're never scared of it.
Oh, my God!
Big wreck in front of you. Big
wreck, big wreck, big wreck!
You get the
biggest highs at Daytona,
but we've also had
the lowest lows.
You know, we've lost
people at Daytona.
After the accident in turn 4
at the end of the Daytona 500,
uh, we've lost Dale Earnhardt.
You know what
it means to win there,
and you also know how
much you can lose there.
Dada! Mama!
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Hey.
Daddy!
Does everybody else's kids
do this with you guys?
People say, you know,
kids slow you down
as a racecar driver.
Brush, brush one last time.
Brush, brush.
Having a kid does
not slow you down.
And when you're in the car
and you put the helmet on,
you don't think about like,
"Ooh, I can get hurt."
You know, "I'm not gonna
stick it in this hole
because, you know,
I got kids and..."
I got a life-insurance policy
for that, and it's up to date.
Corey LaJoie's
a blue-collar guy.
You know, Corey grew
up in this sport.
Corey hasn't really been
afforded a lot of opportunities,
though, with really
competitive equipment.
People just automatically
assume when your dad raced
that you get all the good stuff,
work with the best people,
have the best sponsors,
and you're always
driving the best car.
My dad swung the pendulum the
other side and pretty much
gave me the crappiest
stuff that he could find
and kind of built some grit
and resilience because he knew
that he wasn't gonna be able
to pay my way to the top.
Who's that?
What, are you stuck? Yep.
Come on out. Come
on. You're good.
Vroom!
Randy never
really got that opportunity
to do anything at
the Cup Series level.
He had a couple
opportunities here and there,
but it wasn't with a big team
where he could really
showcase his skill.
In some ways, it kind of
mirrors Corey's career,
where Corey has talent
but hasn't had an
opportunity with a big team.
Spire Motorsports is
a new team on a smaller scale,
both in personnel and budget.
Building a race team like
that, you have to understand
what risks you can't take.
What Corey has to
do is understand
the physical limitations
of a small team,
and that can be
frustrating at times.
There are times that the
business will determine
the competitiveness of the
car, and that's real life.
I mean, it's crazy to see
what a lot of the top teams do.
And a lot of people
don't understand.
Say, "Oh, yeah, this new car
is gonna make
everything the same."
You know, all those big
teams, they all got four cars
and they all got bookoo
engineering and this and that.
And... And you see
what you're up against.
You're like, "Wow. We're
lucky to run 15th to 20th."
Money buys speed. That's
always been NASCAR's case.
You have to have a
substantial amount of money
to position yourself with the
right people and the right teams
in a very small
window in your career.
I don't know, man.
Little bit different.
I don't mind spicing
it up a little bit.
When it's a level playing field,
I can get the job done
as good as anybody.
There's no question
about it, you know,
and I just haven't been
in a position like that
on a Sunday
afternoon to show it.
I think the Next Gen car
allows a smaller team like ours
to be competitive.
There's a lot of guys that
want it, but I can assure you
nobody's putting the
work in I'm doing.
Oh. Morning.
Sure is a pleasure
having y'all here.
This is it, in all its glory.
This is what Friday
morning looks like.
Aviation is really one
of those things that...
It just requires so
much of your attention.
It's really hard for your
mind to be anywhere else.
You know, once you
get immersed in it
and you're headed to the
airport and you're starting
to look at your trip, start
looking at the weather,
and you've got to be
dialed in in every aspect,
just kind of like you
do at the racetrack.
I do enjoy, you
know, that solitude,
being up there and disconnecting
from all the rest of
the mess a little bit.
Chase Elliott, driver
of the number-9
Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet
for Hendrick Motorsports.
Of all of the
drivers that's in the sport today,
there's one guy that
has the strongest legacy
and probably the most pressure
because of that legacy,
and that's Chase Elliott.
My dad's Bill Elliott,
Daytona 500 winner.
And there it is! A
great day for the little guy!
Bill Elliott has
won the Daytona 500!
Won the championship in '88,
won the Winston Million
back when that was a thing.
He won a lot.
Call him
"Million-Dollar Bill."
No one has done anything
like this before.
I want
to earn my place,
and I've always felt that
way from a young age.
I don't want to just do
it because Dad did it.
I want to earn it,
and I feel like I've
earned my place thus far.
Chase Elliott
has now become
the most popular
driver in NASCAR.
He's got a championship.
Chase Elliott is a
NASCAR Cup Series champion!
Yeah!
For Chase Elliott to
be NASCAR's most popular driver,
it is remarkable for how much he
does stay out of the spotlight.
He lives in a small
town in Georgia
and seems to love it there.
Beautiful
here. God's country.
And I think that's interesting
when you see most huge athletes
find their way the opposite,
in the biggest cities,
the glitz, the glam.
That's not Chase.
At the
end of the day,
if we're racing cars, it's
going to be expensive.
And I don't care how
you spice that up.
That's just what it's gonna be.
Hendrick
Motorsports has dominated.
Certainly a
place that prides itself
in being the best out there.
They have been a
powerhouse and a force
for the better part of 30 years.
Mr. Hendrick's
passion to win.
He doesn't want to just be
here. He wants to be the best.
Rick Hendrick...
Career win 269,
putting Hendrick Motorsports
atop the all-time
NASCAR win list.
And that's been brought
together through years and years
of building our own engines,
building our own chassis,
bringing on engineering staff
and the best drivers
and crew chiefs.
It takes all of them to do that.
The idea
behind this Next Gen car
is it's supposed to make
everything more competitive.
And the haves and
the have-nots...
That gap between them is
supposed to be shrunk.
If you've got a talented driver
and you've got smart people
behind the scene,
you can overcome
any resource disadvantage
that you may have
and that a team with, say,
30 employees like Spire has,
they're supposed to
be able to compete
on a level playing field
against Hendrick Motorsports,
which has got 500,
600 employees.
That's the idea anyway.
The only person
I've seen work on this car
in the last hour is you and...
Do we have anybody
else on our team?
Our tire guy just
started yesterday.
But that's it? That's it.
Sweet.
There are 30 teams in the garage
with more people, more money
than what we're racing with.
We get kicked in the mouth
36 weeks out of the year,
more often than not,
and it doesn't hurt any less.
2022 is a
season that Corey LaJoie
and Spire Motorsports
have been pointing to.
They knew this new
car was coming.
They knew this was
an opportunity now
to go out and be
more competitive.
The Next Gen
car is a game changer.
That's why the ownership
of Spire got in,
because they saw the light
at the end of the tunnel.
The mission is, today,
to pour an insert
in our Daytona 500 seat.
Every other team
can just call a company
to come pour their own.
Well, lucky for my team,
I've been doing
them since I was 12.
There's a lot of
guys that would be in his position
that would walk around
with a frown on their face.
They would be miserable, and they
would have a hard time hiding it.
Yeah, you got about
45 seconds to get her.
He's a hard worker, you know,
and he does it with a smile.
That's nice!
For the first time ever, the
small teams and the big teams
have a lot of the same
parallel struggles,
and that's a huge
advantage for us.
Everyone in here does
more than their job
because there's not enough
people to cover all the jobs.
He's a perfect face
for the organization
because he's kind of
the same way, right?
From a racing family.
Self-made. Grinder.
There's days I want
to strangle them
and nobody else I'd rather
take into a bar fight.
And that's the relationship
you got to have.
All we need is what
we have right here, boys.
And it's not gonna be easy.
It's gonna suck a
lot of the times,
but the potential
for what we can do
is a lot higher
than it's ever been.
On paper, we are
a 32nd-place team.
I legitimately think we can
be a contender for race wins.
We can surprise
people this year.
Welcome to the
World Center of Racing.
Not since 1959, when this
speedway was brand-new,
have there been
so many questions
to be answered coming
in to Speedweek.
It's hard to describe to
people how special this race is.
I mean, the best way
I can describe it
is it's our Super Bowl.
We're national...
with one global event,
the Daytona 500.
It's not our
championship race,
but it's almost bigger
than the championship race,
to be honest with you.
The history behind the 500,
everyone knows what
you're going for.
No other
race celebrates their winner
days and days after it.
You go on a big media tour.
Your name's in all the headlines
all across the country.
This would be like the
NFL playing the Super Bowl
in Week 2 of the preseason.
Yes, there are still big racing
teams and small racing teams.
Our truck broke down,
too, again when we pulled in here.
Again? Yeah.
What happened? Same thing.
The parity is what
I'm looking forward to
and maybe seeing drivers
that haven't won yet
get their first win.
Go ahead and fire it up, bro.
Or maybe some of the veterans
struggle a little bit
with this new car.
How many backups do you
have, as an organization?
Um... Here.
None. None?
It's gonna be fun.
Should be fun. Keep
'em on four wheels.
Yeah.
We just came
out of a pandemic.
There is this huge
supply-chain issue.
There are not enough
parts to go around.
It's almost like we're
scared to work on anything.
You know the deal right now.
With the old
car, 80 or 90% of it,
you knew how to assemble it
from decades of experience.
With this car, everything
is a new experience.
You gotta go through here?
So I'll go through there, but
I'm gonna tell you right now,
the drivers are gonna
come complain to you guys.
So teams that only ever
worried about how fast they are
now have to literally worry
about not damaging their car
so they have enough components
to go to the next week
and the next week.
For the big team, this
is a culture shock.
We only have one car. I'm
trying to prevent crashing it.
Yeah.
You always
had the most.
You had the chance
to design the best.
This year, none of that exists.
10-4.
Out in the draft at
Daytona, the air is very turbulent.
The cars are getting pushed
around and buffeted around
by all the wind coming
off of the cars around.
I mean, if you ever
went down the Interstate
following a 18-wheeler,
you feel your car
kind of getting moved
around by the wind.
It's exactly like
that in the draft.
You see those Hendrick cars
pushing each other pretty hard,
had Kyle Larson, you know,
bent out of shape a little bit
with Chase Elliott pushing him.
Alright,
fellas. Coming to you.
Think we learned a lot there.
Yeah, I agree.
This is the
first time I've been here
and had one, like, hard
to drive by itself.
She's a bit of a handful.
10-4, buddy.
Ryan Blaney
wins practice.
Yeah, it's nice to be
back in the car at Daytona.
We just did some
very single-car,
one-lap mock run kind of things
just to see what speed we had,
and now we got to get it
driving good in the draft.
That's kind of the two things
you work on in these practices.
Practice was good.
We made some good changes
for some drivability and
some straight-line speed.
But only the last
lap here Sunday pays.
Damn. It's already backed
up. Haven't even started yet.
Gosh. Couldn't NBC have
rented the whole course out
so we didn't have to
wait? You know? Come on.
I mean, Ryan's a unique
personality, for sure.
Yep. Into the woods.
How was that?
That probably hit a car.
Oh. Oh. So one of those? Yeah.
This thing got some get-up.
Yeah, you know, we got
some off time here in Daytona
and figured it's a good time
to hit a few balls
with some buddies,
probably lose a few.
Found it.
I've only driven
this thing twice now.
How's y'all steering effort?
Super light.
Like, I remember... How
you turn out of the garage.
Like, all that's way slow?
Like, I'm having to...
I literally had my hand
right here and I went...
Yeah.
It's like... Yes.
But you get on track and
it feels, like, fast.
It feels... Yeah. It's weird.
When I think about
the bonds between Bubba Wallace
and Chase Elliott
and Ryan Blaney,
they've always seemed to be
competing against each other
and racing against each other
and in the spotlight
with each other.
Ryan and I kind
of grew up together.
We grew up racing
against each other.
Just one of those long-lasting
friendships, you know?
And we just so happened to
land in the right places
at the right time to
race on Sundays together.
What a chip... Nice shot.
By the 2020 NASCAR champion.
I have a handful of friends
that I grew up racing with
that we're around the same age,
and we're in the
Cup Series today.
It's pretty lucky how all
that stuff kind of works out.
You know, it's really neat
to be part of that group.
Did you get it?
Oh, nice putt.
Nice ball. Wow.
That's what I'm talking about.
That was nice.
I should probably put this on
the... to get my handicap up.
Yeah. That
probably would be smart.
It's a great night
in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Full moon shining down on
the World Center of Racing.
There's a tremendous
amount of pride in our organization
for sitting on the
pole at Daytona.
This is the Super Bowl.
And to be the guys that
sit on the front row,
that's bragging rights.
Tonight, it's the
initial round of qualifying.
Two rounds of single-lap
runs to determine
who will sit on the front
row for the Daytona 500.
I think we'll all be in
the top... five or six.
If you're gonna
be a pole contender tonight,
you better be part of
the Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet camp.
14 poles
all time for HMS.
That's the best ever.
To win the
pole at the 500,
us as drivers, we don't
have a huge role in it.
You know, it's a huge
testament to the men and women
preparing these cars at
the shop, at the track.
You know, 'cause we hold
it wide open around there,
and it's just the
fastest the car will go.
Well, LaJoie is third.
Blaney, by 0.003
of a second, is second.
Whoo! That's close.
- We're all done, Josh.
- Beautiful.
Chase
Elliott ready to go.
Alex Bowman, his teammate,
locked and loaded, Ready to go.
Here's these Hendrick cars.
Everybody's been
talking about them.
And, man, showing
some speed right here.
Chase Elliott
will run for the pole
with a 49.92.
Shots fired. Yep.
There it is.
Bad news for Blaney.
His hopes at a front-row start
at the Daytona 500 are gone.
Now he'll move on and
hopefully get a good run
in the Duel race tomorrow night.
Across the line.
Kyle Larson is fastest.
And Kyle Larson is the driver
that will lead the field
to the green flag on Sunday
for the 64th annual Daytona 500.
I'd love to have
lucked out in the top four,
but Sunday's what matters.
Hey, hey! The moment, man!
I will say. I am super
excited about this.
Me too. Oh, look at there.
That's getting serious.
Chase Elliott signed a
five-year contract extension
with Hendrick Motorsports,
which is huge on many levels.
Driver contracts in
NASCAR these days
typically get signed in
three-year increments.
So to have somebody
sign for five years,
it might not sound like a lot,
but that's a serious
long-term commitment.
Nowhere else I want to be.
Thank you, boss.
It means a lot to have
your most popular driver
and one of your
big-name stars...
To know he's going to be
in the number-9 Chevrolet
for Hendrick Motorsports
for the foreseeable future,
it's really good for NASCAR,
but ultimately it's really,
really good for Chase
Elliott and Hendrick.
You were just a
little bitty puppy.
I signed
him when he was 14,
and then watching him grow
up through all the ranks
and then becoming a champion.
I'm very fortunate to have him.
I feel like I'm getting old.
Shoot. Been over 10 years.
I want Chase Elliott
at Hendrick Motorsports,
and I hope he's here forever.
You ready for a big night?
I would rather Sunday
be a big night myself.
Yeah.
The Duels
are basically
a Thursday night
set of heat races.
What that means is
that will determine
where everyone else starts.
It's also the best practice
for the most important race
because everyone's
out there together
and you kind of figure out
what kind of car everybody has.
I don't think we need to do
anything crazy, but get a feel
for what your car is doing
and... and you get a chance
to kind of put yourself
in a certain spot of
maybe you'll find
yourself on Sunday, but...
Yeah, nothing. Nothing crazy.
It's the first time that we're
really in a race environment
with this car, so
it's really important
to not only finish well
and try to win the Duel,
it's really important not
to wreck your 500 car.
Alright. Yeah, man.
Nice little 60-lap
rehearsal here.
Let's figure out what we need
to win the race on Sunday
and bring our car
home in one piece.
Let's have some fun.
Hey, Chase.
Good luck, buddy.
Drive a safe race.
Appreciate it,
boss. I'm ready to go.
To set the field
for Sunday's Daytona 500,
the green flag.
Kyle Larson from
the outside of the front row.
He'll cross over in front of
his teammate, William Byron.
That's the inside lane.
Whole lotta Hendrick going on
at the front of the pack
here in the early going.
I think that's
always the question
for Hendrick Motorsports,
is, yes, they build
the fastest cars,
probably the fastest engines
in single-lap environments,
but can they do it with
40 cars around them?
You could see in
practice and in the Duels
that we didn't seem
to be as competitive,
so that was extremely
disappointing.
We fought
the same things
I feel like we've been fighting
for the past five years.
They were out
front. The Fords now out front.
And the guys
who have been good
over the past three or four
years are still really good.
So I didn't see that
a lot had changed.
Caution thrown to
the wind now in the final lap.
Blaney buried up under the back
bumper of the Keselowski car.
He shoves Brad wide,
but Blaney's stuck on his back
bumper, can't make a move.
It's Keselowski off 2.
I found myself in
second on the last lap,
and I had Austin behind
me, and I was like,
"Oh, this is good. I got
a teammate behind me."
Here comes Cindric
to the inside of Blaney!
Blaney now stuck outside
all by himself as Briscoe
will give Cindric
the escort through.
I thought I was
in the catbird seat,
and I guess Austin thought he
was in the catbird seat, so...
The rookie Austin
Cindric, an Xfinity champ,
sends Blaney back to fourth.
Greed got in
the way there, boy.
And Brad Keselowski
gets his first Duel win.
Three wide for second.
Austin Cindric over
Blaney and Briscoe.
I think there might
be a little bit of a rivalry
that's developed
or brewed this year
between Austin Cindric,
the rookie at Team Penske,
and Ryan Blaney.
Cindric is Blaney's teammate,
and there at the end,
he went inside of him,
he didn't push him.
That was interesting.
I agree. You know?
Austin Cindric did what he thought
was the best thing for him.
The problem is, is
that hurt Ryan Blaney,
and his chance to win the Duel.
You know, if we could've
just stayed together...
It stunk getting hung
out by your teammate,
but I think he learned on that,
but that's just one of
those things that, you know,
a rookie working with
teammates, you know,
he just learns with experience.
It's pretty early this
morning, but it is peaceful.
It gets incredibly hectic and
busy here in a little bit,
so it is nice, you know,
having that kind of quiet time
and walking your dogs and treat
it like any other morning.
You wanna go eat? Some food?
You just get to do
something pretty cool today,
and that's race in
the Daytona 500.
We have lift off!
So many people who don't
clean up after their dog.
I'll never understand it.
Bag 'em and tag 'em.
Good one this morning.
The life of a NASCAR driver.
The boss.
Morning, boss. Morning.
How you guys doing? Hey.
Good job the other night.
You needed a little bit more
help from your partner, huh?
Oh, that's alright.
Yeah. He... I understand you had
a conversation with him, huh?
Racing a teammate at any time
is the worst situation to be in.
I always hated that.
- Ohh!
- Ohh! Teammates!
I always felt
like if I was helping somebody
that I was accepting defeat.
So you guys gonna
help Austin on the track?
Well, he didn't help me out
too much Thursday night, so...
Payback's a...
So hope we can
figure something out.
The Daytona 500 is never
over until the last few feet,
and more often than
not, there's gonna be
a lot of contact and
a lot of heartbreak.
Hey, buddy. Is
Daddy gonna win?
Sweet.
Quite the faith.
Race fans, right now please
put your hands together
for Corey LaJoie!
Damn. It's nice to see
y'all out at Daytona today.
Right down in front, this
young lady is so scared.
She said she is
your number-one fan.
I know Courtney.
Oh, you know her? I
know my fans by name.
There's all eight of
them. We're all buddies.
Welcome
Corey LaJoie!
You know, it's
pretty interesting.
You want your team to win.
I want the 12 team
to win so bad.
But at the end of the day,
it's to get Roger
a Daytona 500 win.
Team cars running 1-2,
I'm not gonna make a move
till I am 100% positive
that one of us is
gonna win the race.
Ryan Blaney!
And that's not going early.
That's not going with one to go.
'Cause then it brings so many
more people into the equation.
We just got to be
there at the end.
We know we've got a good car.
We know we've got a good driver.
We know we've got a great team.
Yeah, I think
it'll be a show for sure.
Hopefully we're still a
part of it when it matters.
That's all I'm worried about,
being there at the end.
You know what? I like it
when you go into a race
and they think
you're the underdog.
Uh-huh. Sí.
Alright. Love you.
Love you, too.
- Let's say a prayer?
- Sure.
Dear Heavenly Father,
please bless Chase today.
Please keep him safe and
make his day successful
and that he give all the
honor and glory to you, amen.
Amen. Alright. Y'all have fun.
No, you have fun. Yeah.
Daytona,
are you ready?!
Drivers!
Start your engines!
Command has been
given. Fire when ready.
Fire it up. Get fired up.
Fire in the hole.
By far the dopest race.
That's like a screen saver.
You shake all the hands
and kiss all the babies,
and next thing you know,
you got to jump back in
and be a killer for 500 miles.
Stick to the
plan, buddy. Stay focused.
You know, when you
finally get to strap in,
it's like, "Alright.
It's finally here.
We can finally go to work."
Everybody, I appreciate you...
Folks know what we gotta do.
Execute. No mistakes.
Y'all be
safe, have fun.
Pretty much getting
into a fighter jet,
and then really nothing else
matters in the world, right?
You're focused on your
task and your task only.
And everyone else is
just kind of in the way.
Ready.
Waiting.
Green
flag goes in the air.
Green, green, green.
- Green, green, green.
- Green, green, green.
So much for
easing into this Daytona 500.
Keselowski right to the point.
Once the green
flag flies, like, it's...
Your whole mind
changes like, okay,
you're just focusing on
everything around you.
You're not nervous
anymore. You're working.
The aggressive pushers
found themselves
towards the front like always.
When you're... your odds
of running good go way up
and your odds of missing
the wrecks go way up, too.
Pit stops
in a lap or two.
Lead pack will
be coming this time.
7 screwed up and pit.
We weren't supposed to.
Get ready, boys. Get ready.
Gotta go around the 45.
Three, two, one. Turn
in, turn in, turn in.
Go hard, go hard, go hard.
Go. Go.
God damn it!
Confusion on
pit road for the 7 team.
They were not
expecting Corey LaJoie
to come to the pits.
That is going to cost
them a lot of time.
He just freaked out!
When everybody came,
he came. I don't know.
I literally heard
you say, "Come in this time."
Put it out.
Turn 2. Turn 2.
Got a roller out in turn 2.
There's a lug nut
on the track, Tommy.
Tire coming up
the track. Whew.
Yeah, you're gonna
see a lot of that this year.
I feel like we need
just a code word or something.
Alright. Here's the code word.
When you go in front of me,
I'll say, "Pit this time."
So if I don't say, "Pit
this time," don't do it.
Green flag goes back
in the air here at Daytona.
Kyle Larson and Blaney
got together a little bit.
Smoke flew everywhere.
There's
another wheel in turn 1.
You were right about that.
Three, two, one.
Hold. We'll go on the gas.
What's going on with them?
They've got an issue
here with Ryan Blaney.
You know you're gonna have lows.
You know you're
gonna have mistakes.
I'm gonna make mistakes.
They're gonna make mistakes.
What are they doing?
Can't get the
nut off the stud, either.
I'm like, "Damn. I got to
pass all these guys back."
And you have to live with
it and be supportive of it.
It's past the
retainer, right? Yeah.
Okay. It's not gonna fall off.
Damn. I hope mine's
tight enough.
Green
flag in the air.
We're racing again in Daytona.
Those first few
rows on the bottom
are pushing pretty hard.
Too hard, in my opinion.
Oh, no!
Wreckin', wreckin',
wreckin', wreckin'.
Holy crap.
We have not had
any three-wide racing so far.
Perhaps a target-rich
environment
coming up here in the
next couple of laps.
Pinned to
the inside is Byron!
Harrison
Burton up and over!
Holy crap.
I saw it out of
my kind of A-post mirror.
I was running the middle,
and he was about three
or four lanes up.
Hey, pal, welcome
to the Cup Series.
Put them back
under the green flag.
The Ford of Ryan Blaney
is gonna get the advantage
halfway down the
Daytona Superstretch.
Trouble
off turn number 4!
One car gets turned right
in the middle of the pack.
Hold it. Hold it.
What the...
Is he even doing?
He's not on the lead lap, right?
Holy...
Pit road is open.
Pit road open this time.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Bubba was coming out.
Chase Elliott was trying to come in.
Chase had to lock it
up and come to a stop.
Go, go, go, go.
One of those
days.
As the sun
sets, the field pours onto
the Daytona Superstretch.
Austin Cindric showing the way.
Drafting help from Ryan Blaney.
The pushing's
getting more aggressive now.
10 laps
to go next time by.
Oh, we're crashing at
the start/finish line!
Down, down, down, down!
Holy cow. That was a hard hit.
We're still
alive. We're still alive.
You just
got to survive, right?
Corey LaJoie.
What a drive he's had.
They're on the lead lap and
a chance to win the 500.
Alright.
What do you need?
The
permission to engage.
Now, remember, in the
meeting, it was like...
We're not wrecking
for 15th, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I'll remind him.
So let's get our
points. Let's miss this.
Because there's gonna be another
one. You know what I mean?
Let's push all-in on the
next one, not this one.
That's right. That's right.
After our team huddle here,
we'll stay in a safe place
where we can attack
if we need to.
But we'll also be able to
be safe enough to dodge it.
I don't know. I
don't think you'll have time.
It's either engage from the drop
or plan on trying
to miss the wreck.
You know, we have limited
inventory with these new cars.
Manpower is super low right now.
Sticking one in there
and trying to finish 9th
with a tore-up racecar doesn't
outweigh finishing 14th
and bring it home straight.
Big difference for me
in pay, unfortunately.
You know, for the
greater good of the team,
sometimes you have to
do what you have to do,
bot what you want to do.
And here
we go. Six laps to go.
Green flag goes back in the air.
On the inside, Cindric.
On the outside,
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Then you've got Ryan Blaney.
Front four get a little
bit of separation
into the banking
of turn number one.
Not an inch between the four
of them, to say the least.
Here they come.
Pushing like hell up front.
They're definitely gonna wreck.
Trouble off the
corner. Cars get together.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr...
First car to go around
at the front of the field.
- I knew "Spinhouse" would spin.
- No...
That yellow flew towards
the end of the race,
and Austin and I were
running first and second.
You know, if you have a non-teammate
behind you at the end of that race,
they can just, you
know, pull out of line
and just leave you hanging.
And you know that teammate's
not gonna leave you hanging.
I suggested doing the switch
where the leader teammate
will take the top and the
teammate running on the bottom
who's second, he'll
let the guy down.
It's the best way to help
our lane win the race,
make sure that we brought
home a 500 for Roger.
It's
green-white checkers
for the Daytona 500!
Green, green.
Green is
out. Cindric is gone.
Cindric will pull down
right in front of his
teammate, Ryan Blaney.
A perfect restart for
the freshman campaigner
Austin Cindric.
It's the rookie Austin Cindric
leading the Daytona
500 to the white flag!
The next flag wins the race!
Blaney is shoving Cindric.
Cindric leads them in
turn 3 for the final time
with a big shove from
teammate Ryan Blaney.
Here comes Brad
Keselowski topside.
But it's the rookie
that leads off 4.
Get up there!
Here they come.
Cindric trying to squeeze
Blaney into the fence.
Cindric is gonna bring
them to the line way up high
to block Ryan Blaney!
Inside, inside,
inside, inside, inside.
Checkers. Bottom, bottom,
bottom, bottom, bottom.
Bottom hard. Bottom hard.
Bottom hard. Bottom hard.
Austin Cindric has
scored the Daytona 500 win!
They crash further down.
If he didn't
make that block,
Ryan Blaney wins this race.
The Daytona
500! Holy crap!
Yes! I love you guys! Holy cow!
P4.
I'm gonna... in' kill that kid.
Un... ing-believable.
It's alright, man.
Way out there on
him! It's all good.
Thought we were
in the best spot possible,
and Austin threw a block, and
I ended up getting in the wall.
And I just sat there like,
"I just can't believe
what happened."
Austin Cindric, the
winner of the Daytona 500.
That's a tough thing.
You know when you're
so close to something
and then it's just taken away?
And just, like, you hope...
You wish you could push
the damn rewind
button and be like,
"Let's try to do it over so
I can see if it's different."
Yeah.
Man, we've been so
close, and I thought
that was, like, our best shot.
But you get over it and move on.
Yeah, hey, we
couldn't turn you loose there.
It just didn't make sense,
man. We'd have just stalled out
and tore our car up at
the line for no reason.
Good job, everybody.
Way to hang in there.
There's certainly gonna
be bugs to work out,
and we're gonna learn
that probably the hard way
a lot of times as a sport,
as well as just the
team here at Spire.
We will have our time.
Block and tackle is
kind of our motto.
Maybe not throw the Hail
Mary and try to win races,
but do what we can do and
control what we can control
and let it all sort itself out.
Wow. Sorry, boys.
That was a... up, weird day.
We didn't really have a
stellar day by any means.
Yeah, I'm ready to
go. Let's go to California.
That's ridiculous.
Where are you gonna do?
Hey! Happy birthday!
That was awesome.
Great people around me.
You are forever a
Daytona 500 champion.
- Sounds good!
- Whoo!
That sounds really
good! It does.
We can cash
the check for 14th
and go on a plane
and go to Fontana.
Am I gonna pop
champagne bottles? No.
Am I gonna have a couple
whiskeys? You damn right.
When people hear
the name "Kyle Busch,"
the first thing that comes across
their mind... "I hate that guy."
Kyle Busch is an ass!
Kyle helmet on versus
Kyle helmet off
are two totally separate people.
I am misunderstood
my whole life.
It's my first year
in the Cup series.
This is a whole nother level.
In' terrible in' timing.
It's a bunch of killers in here.
You have to be the closest
to crashing to go fast.
Moved him!
I just think I... ed up.
It's like Christmas morning
for a racecar driver.
It's our Super Bowl.
You don't know
what's gonna happen.
Big crash!
Understand there are dangers.
Oh, no! Oh, my God!
It's just
complete chaos.
A massive crash!
It's a race that every driver
wants to say that they had won.
The biggest
stock-car race in the world.
I want to win it.
Hi. I'm Corey LaJoie.
I drive the 7 Spire
Motorsports Chevy Camaro.
- Hey, buddy.
- What's up, buddy?
If you thought the doughnuts
were good in this place...
cinnamon rolls.
God, dude.
Get one.
Oh, wow.
Getting kicked in the mouth
in L.A. certainly woke us up,
I think, a little bit for
what we need to work on.
The Clash
at the Colosseum
was an interesting
situation for Corey LaJoie
because he went
into it believing
that this was gonna be his shot
with Next Gen car
out of the box.
Corey LaJoie was telling people,
"I'm gonna make the main event
and we're gonna
surprise some people."
Ross
Chastain, Chris Buescher,
Aric Almirola and Corey
LaJoie fail to advance
and will not make the field
for the Clash of the Coliseum.
To leave there with a
result that is frustrating
and is disappointing, it's
a bad way to start the year.
My guys, they
probably spent 30 hours
over the past two days here.
Yeah, you look tired as...
Yeah, it's... Everybody's
dragging a little bit.
Alright. Is everybody...
Alright, TJ, you got 'em all.
You gonna get this show started?
This is not a job.
It's a lifestyle.
You're not a cashier at
Lowe's. The... not easy.
Feelings are gonna get
hurt because they should.
'Cause you should care
enough to be here,
because you should be
working hard enough
that your fuse is
probably a little short.
That's what happens to
everybody this time of year.
One day, you're gonna be ready
to, damn, throw your...
down and walk out.
Because if you're not,
then perhaps you don't want
to be here hard enough.
Like, that's what happens
when you work somewhere
that you love to be.
What we are asking of all of
you guys here is no small task.
And we all knew what we signed
up for, myself included.
After the LCQ, man, I wanted
to, like, tuck my tail...
and cry, man.
It hurt.
I was walking to the car and...
I was, like, opening the
door to the rental car.
And I was like, "No." Like...
"I'm gonna watch this thing
and make it hurt a little bit
while those other guys
have fun and race."
And I was pissed
off, doubting myself.
All we need is what we
have right here, boys.
I'm in it here with
you. We're all in it.
We're all gonna dig down
deep and grind, man.
So let's go down for
some sunny weather
and just start this
year off strong.
I'm Ryan Blaney.
I drive the number-12
car for Team Penske.
Here comes
the pack behind him!
Side by side, racing
back to the line!
Ryan Blaney to the outside!
Gosh, I mean, it's the fastest,
most competitive
sport in the U.S.
Final run to the
checkered flag. Wheel to wheel.
Your odds are very low. You're
racing against 39 other drivers.
It's very, very
difficult to win.
Whoo!
At the line,
it is Ryan Blaney!
That's what makes it so
special when you can win.
Ryan Blaney is the closest thing
to a rock star that NASCAR has.
When he's not in the car,
he's at movie premieres,
brushing shoulders
with superstars.
He's making cameos
in films and TVs.
He is completely tatted up.
You can't tell in his fire suit,
but he is the epitome
of what a superstar
in this sport should
look like in 2022.
There you go, man. You're
good out there, man.
Thanks, buddy.
I appreciate it.
They kicked Justin out.
- Yeah.
- For wearing flip-flops.
He texted me.
If you wear flip-flops,
you deserve it.
Yeah. No open-toed
shoes.
Ryan Blaney is
very much a second...
Well, really
third-generation racer,
but everybody knows
him, of course,
as the son of Dave Blaney,
the "Buckeye Bullet,"
the famous World of
Outlaws dirt racer.
You know, growing up in it,
it was just normal for me.
It's pretty funny when you
start making friends at school
at a young age, and,
you know, it's like,
"Oh, your dad's a banker
or your mom's a lawyer."
Like, I didn't know
there was other jobs.
I'm gonna really
look back on this day
when I hopefully
become a NASCAR driver.
I knew he had
something special,
and there's been a couple
of those days in racecars
where... Wow.
It was a big race.
A bunch of guys from all
over the country there.
And he ran through these
guys like they were...
It looked like a Cup
driver driving this car
this little 14-year-old
kid was driving.
I went down to Daytona
and always watched the 500
with Dad, watching
him race in it.
That's what I
always wanted to do.
Someone told me that
this year is my...
Like, my eighth...
Seventh or eighth 500.
Better get after winning
one here pretty soon.
Ridic... I know.
I know. It's
getting that time.
Need to get one. Been
close a couple times.
You've been so close a
couple times. I know.
You always seem to be right
there in the mix. Yeah.
Dad almost won it in 2012.
I was running second
there a couple times.
And we lost it a couple
years ago by like three feet.
What do you say, Mike?
We're gonna try this again?
Same song, second verse.
Overtime
once again.
Green flag back in the
air here at Daytona.
They're going towards the
top, going towards the top.
Going back to the
bottom. Back to the top.
Checkered flag is
waving at the start/finish line.
Who will get here first?
Newman down. Oh, he's
gonna get turned!
Ryan Blaney, Denny
Hamlin across the line!
Denny Hamlin will
go back-to-back!
Yeah!
That stung a
lot more than finishing,
you know, 10th or 15th.
And since we've been
close so many times,
I feel like it'd be
great to cap it off.
Big run
coming with the 17.
They're gonna switch back
to the bottom with you.
Watch them going to the middle.
Watch them going to the middle.
There's some high-tension
moments in racing,
but you're never scared of it.
Oh, my God!
Big wreck in front of you. Big
wreck, big wreck, big wreck!
You get the
biggest highs at Daytona,
but we've also had
the lowest lows.
You know, we've lost
people at Daytona.
After the accident in turn 4
at the end of the Daytona 500,
uh, we've lost Dale Earnhardt.
You know what
it means to win there,
and you also know how
much you can lose there.
Dada! Mama!
- Yeah.
- Yeah. Hey.
Daddy!
Does everybody else's kids
do this with you guys?
People say, you know,
kids slow you down
as a racecar driver.
Brush, brush one last time.
Brush, brush.
Having a kid does
not slow you down.
And when you're in the car
and you put the helmet on,
you don't think about like,
"Ooh, I can get hurt."
You know, "I'm not gonna
stick it in this hole
because, you know,
I got kids and..."
I got a life-insurance policy
for that, and it's up to date.
Corey LaJoie's
a blue-collar guy.
You know, Corey grew
up in this sport.
Corey hasn't really been
afforded a lot of opportunities,
though, with really
competitive equipment.
People just automatically
assume when your dad raced
that you get all the good stuff,
work with the best people,
have the best sponsors,
and you're always
driving the best car.
My dad swung the pendulum the
other side and pretty much
gave me the crappiest
stuff that he could find
and kind of built some grit
and resilience because he knew
that he wasn't gonna be able
to pay my way to the top.
Who's that?
What, are you stuck? Yep.
Come on out. Come
on. You're good.
Vroom!
Randy never
really got that opportunity
to do anything at
the Cup Series level.
He had a couple
opportunities here and there,
but it wasn't with a big team
where he could really
showcase his skill.
In some ways, it kind of
mirrors Corey's career,
where Corey has talent
but hasn't had an
opportunity with a big team.
Spire Motorsports is
a new team on a smaller scale,
both in personnel and budget.
Building a race team like
that, you have to understand
what risks you can't take.
What Corey has to
do is understand
the physical limitations
of a small team,
and that can be
frustrating at times.
There are times that the
business will determine
the competitiveness of the
car, and that's real life.
I mean, it's crazy to see
what a lot of the top teams do.
And a lot of people
don't understand.
Say, "Oh, yeah, this new car
is gonna make
everything the same."
You know, all those big
teams, they all got four cars
and they all got bookoo
engineering and this and that.
And... And you see
what you're up against.
You're like, "Wow. We're
lucky to run 15th to 20th."
Money buys speed. That's
always been NASCAR's case.
You have to have a
substantial amount of money
to position yourself with the
right people and the right teams
in a very small
window in your career.
I don't know, man.
Little bit different.
I don't mind spicing
it up a little bit.
When it's a level playing field,
I can get the job done
as good as anybody.
There's no question
about it, you know,
and I just haven't been
in a position like that
on a Sunday
afternoon to show it.
I think the Next Gen car
allows a smaller team like ours
to be competitive.
There's a lot of guys that
want it, but I can assure you
nobody's putting the
work in I'm doing.
Oh. Morning.
Sure is a pleasure
having y'all here.
This is it, in all its glory.
This is what Friday
morning looks like.
Aviation is really one
of those things that...
It just requires so
much of your attention.
It's really hard for your
mind to be anywhere else.
You know, once you
get immersed in it
and you're headed to the
airport and you're starting
to look at your trip, start
looking at the weather,
and you've got to be
dialed in in every aspect,
just kind of like you
do at the racetrack.
I do enjoy, you
know, that solitude,
being up there and disconnecting
from all the rest of
the mess a little bit.
Chase Elliott, driver
of the number-9
Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet
for Hendrick Motorsports.
Of all of the
drivers that's in the sport today,
there's one guy that
has the strongest legacy
and probably the most pressure
because of that legacy,
and that's Chase Elliott.
My dad's Bill Elliott,
Daytona 500 winner.
And there it is! A
great day for the little guy!
Bill Elliott has
won the Daytona 500!
Won the championship in '88,
won the Winston Million
back when that was a thing.
He won a lot.
Call him
"Million-Dollar Bill."
No one has done anything
like this before.
I want
to earn my place,
and I've always felt that
way from a young age.
I don't want to just do
it because Dad did it.
I want to earn it,
and I feel like I've
earned my place thus far.
Chase Elliott
has now become
the most popular
driver in NASCAR.
He's got a championship.
Chase Elliott is a
NASCAR Cup Series champion!
Yeah!
For Chase Elliott to
be NASCAR's most popular driver,
it is remarkable for how much he
does stay out of the spotlight.
He lives in a small
town in Georgia
and seems to love it there.
Beautiful
here. God's country.
And I think that's interesting
when you see most huge athletes
find their way the opposite,
in the biggest cities,
the glitz, the glam.
That's not Chase.
At the
end of the day,
if we're racing cars, it's
going to be expensive.
And I don't care how
you spice that up.
That's just what it's gonna be.
Hendrick
Motorsports has dominated.
Certainly a
place that prides itself
in being the best out there.
They have been a
powerhouse and a force
for the better part of 30 years.
Mr. Hendrick's
passion to win.
He doesn't want to just be
here. He wants to be the best.
Rick Hendrick...
Career win 269,
putting Hendrick Motorsports
atop the all-time
NASCAR win list.
And that's been brought
together through years and years
of building our own engines,
building our own chassis,
bringing on engineering staff
and the best drivers
and crew chiefs.
It takes all of them to do that.
The idea
behind this Next Gen car
is it's supposed to make
everything more competitive.
And the haves and
the have-nots...
That gap between them is
supposed to be shrunk.
If you've got a talented driver
and you've got smart people
behind the scene,
you can overcome
any resource disadvantage
that you may have
and that a team with, say,
30 employees like Spire has,
they're supposed to
be able to compete
on a level playing field
against Hendrick Motorsports,
which has got 500,
600 employees.
That's the idea anyway.
The only person
I've seen work on this car
in the last hour is you and...
Do we have anybody
else on our team?
Our tire guy just
started yesterday.
But that's it? That's it.
Sweet.
There are 30 teams in the garage
with more people, more money
than what we're racing with.
We get kicked in the mouth
36 weeks out of the year,
more often than not,
and it doesn't hurt any less.
2022 is a
season that Corey LaJoie
and Spire Motorsports
have been pointing to.
They knew this new
car was coming.
They knew this was
an opportunity now
to go out and be
more competitive.
The Next Gen
car is a game changer.
That's why the ownership
of Spire got in,
because they saw the light
at the end of the tunnel.
The mission is, today,
to pour an insert
in our Daytona 500 seat.
Every other team
can just call a company
to come pour their own.
Well, lucky for my team,
I've been doing
them since I was 12.
There's a lot of
guys that would be in his position
that would walk around
with a frown on their face.
They would be miserable, and they
would have a hard time hiding it.
Yeah, you got about
45 seconds to get her.
He's a hard worker, you know,
and he does it with a smile.
That's nice!
For the first time ever, the
small teams and the big teams
have a lot of the same
parallel struggles,
and that's a huge
advantage for us.
Everyone in here does
more than their job
because there's not enough
people to cover all the jobs.
He's a perfect face
for the organization
because he's kind of
the same way, right?
From a racing family.
Self-made. Grinder.
There's days I want
to strangle them
and nobody else I'd rather
take into a bar fight.
And that's the relationship
you got to have.
All we need is what
we have right here, boys.
And it's not gonna be easy.
It's gonna suck a
lot of the times,
but the potential
for what we can do
is a lot higher
than it's ever been.
On paper, we are
a 32nd-place team.
I legitimately think we can
be a contender for race wins.
We can surprise
people this year.
Welcome to the
World Center of Racing.
Not since 1959, when this
speedway was brand-new,
have there been
so many questions
to be answered coming
in to Speedweek.
It's hard to describe to
people how special this race is.
I mean, the best way
I can describe it
is it's our Super Bowl.
We're national...
with one global event,
the Daytona 500.
It's not our
championship race,
but it's almost bigger
than the championship race,
to be honest with you.
The history behind the 500,
everyone knows what
you're going for.
No other
race celebrates their winner
days and days after it.
You go on a big media tour.
Your name's in all the headlines
all across the country.
This would be like the
NFL playing the Super Bowl
in Week 2 of the preseason.
Yes, there are still big racing
teams and small racing teams.
Our truck broke down,
too, again when we pulled in here.
Again? Yeah.
What happened? Same thing.
The parity is what
I'm looking forward to
and maybe seeing drivers
that haven't won yet
get their first win.
Go ahead and fire it up, bro.
Or maybe some of the veterans
struggle a little bit
with this new car.
How many backups do you
have, as an organization?
Um... Here.
None. None?
It's gonna be fun.
Should be fun. Keep
'em on four wheels.
Yeah.
We just came
out of a pandemic.
There is this huge
supply-chain issue.
There are not enough
parts to go around.
It's almost like we're
scared to work on anything.
You know the deal right now.
With the old
car, 80 or 90% of it,
you knew how to assemble it
from decades of experience.
With this car, everything
is a new experience.
You gotta go through here?
So I'll go through there, but
I'm gonna tell you right now,
the drivers are gonna
come complain to you guys.
So teams that only ever
worried about how fast they are
now have to literally worry
about not damaging their car
so they have enough components
to go to the next week
and the next week.
For the big team, this
is a culture shock.
We only have one car. I'm
trying to prevent crashing it.
Yeah.
You always
had the most.
You had the chance
to design the best.
This year, none of that exists.
10-4.
Out in the draft at
Daytona, the air is very turbulent.
The cars are getting pushed
around and buffeted around
by all the wind coming
off of the cars around.
I mean, if you ever
went down the Interstate
following a 18-wheeler,
you feel your car
kind of getting moved
around by the wind.
It's exactly like
that in the draft.
You see those Hendrick cars
pushing each other pretty hard,
had Kyle Larson, you know,
bent out of shape a little bit
with Chase Elliott pushing him.
Alright,
fellas. Coming to you.
Think we learned a lot there.
Yeah, I agree.
This is the
first time I've been here
and had one, like, hard
to drive by itself.
She's a bit of a handful.
10-4, buddy.
Ryan Blaney
wins practice.
Yeah, it's nice to be
back in the car at Daytona.
We just did some
very single-car,
one-lap mock run kind of things
just to see what speed we had,
and now we got to get it
driving good in the draft.
That's kind of the two things
you work on in these practices.
Practice was good.
We made some good changes
for some drivability and
some straight-line speed.
But only the last
lap here Sunday pays.
Damn. It's already backed
up. Haven't even started yet.
Gosh. Couldn't NBC have
rented the whole course out
so we didn't have to
wait? You know? Come on.
I mean, Ryan's a unique
personality, for sure.
Yep. Into the woods.
How was that?
That probably hit a car.
Oh. Oh. So one of those? Yeah.
This thing got some get-up.
Yeah, you know, we got
some off time here in Daytona
and figured it's a good time
to hit a few balls
with some buddies,
probably lose a few.
Found it.
I've only driven
this thing twice now.
How's y'all steering effort?
Super light.
Like, I remember... How
you turn out of the garage.
Like, all that's way slow?
Like, I'm having to...
I literally had my hand
right here and I went...
Yeah.
It's like... Yes.
But you get on track and
it feels, like, fast.
It feels... Yeah. It's weird.
When I think about
the bonds between Bubba Wallace
and Chase Elliott
and Ryan Blaney,
they've always seemed to be
competing against each other
and racing against each other
and in the spotlight
with each other.
Ryan and I kind
of grew up together.
We grew up racing
against each other.
Just one of those long-lasting
friendships, you know?
And we just so happened to
land in the right places
at the right time to
race on Sundays together.
What a chip... Nice shot.
By the 2020 NASCAR champion.
I have a handful of friends
that I grew up racing with
that we're around the same age,
and we're in the
Cup Series today.
It's pretty lucky how all
that stuff kind of works out.
You know, it's really neat
to be part of that group.
Did you get it?
Oh, nice putt.
Nice ball. Wow.
That's what I'm talking about.
That was nice.
I should probably put this on
the... to get my handicap up.
Yeah. That
probably would be smart.
It's a great night
in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Full moon shining down on
the World Center of Racing.
There's a tremendous
amount of pride in our organization
for sitting on the
pole at Daytona.
This is the Super Bowl.
And to be the guys that
sit on the front row,
that's bragging rights.
Tonight, it's the
initial round of qualifying.
Two rounds of single-lap
runs to determine
who will sit on the front
row for the Daytona 500.
I think we'll all be in
the top... five or six.
If you're gonna
be a pole contender tonight,
you better be part of
the Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet camp.
14 poles
all time for HMS.
That's the best ever.
To win the
pole at the 500,
us as drivers, we don't
have a huge role in it.
You know, it's a huge
testament to the men and women
preparing these cars at
the shop, at the track.
You know, 'cause we hold
it wide open around there,
and it's just the
fastest the car will go.
Well, LaJoie is third.
Blaney, by 0.003
of a second, is second.
Whoo! That's close.
- We're all done, Josh.
- Beautiful.
Chase
Elliott ready to go.
Alex Bowman, his teammate,
locked and loaded, Ready to go.
Here's these Hendrick cars.
Everybody's been
talking about them.
And, man, showing
some speed right here.
Chase Elliott
will run for the pole
with a 49.92.
Shots fired. Yep.
There it is.
Bad news for Blaney.
His hopes at a front-row start
at the Daytona 500 are gone.
Now he'll move on and
hopefully get a good run
in the Duel race tomorrow night.
Across the line.
Kyle Larson is fastest.
And Kyle Larson is the driver
that will lead the field
to the green flag on Sunday
for the 64th annual Daytona 500.
I'd love to have
lucked out in the top four,
but Sunday's what matters.
Hey, hey! The moment, man!
I will say. I am super
excited about this.
Me too. Oh, look at there.
That's getting serious.
Chase Elliott signed a
five-year contract extension
with Hendrick Motorsports,
which is huge on many levels.
Driver contracts in
NASCAR these days
typically get signed in
three-year increments.
So to have somebody
sign for five years,
it might not sound like a lot,
but that's a serious
long-term commitment.
Nowhere else I want to be.
Thank you, boss.
It means a lot to have
your most popular driver
and one of your
big-name stars...
To know he's going to be
in the number-9 Chevrolet
for Hendrick Motorsports
for the foreseeable future,
it's really good for NASCAR,
but ultimately it's really,
really good for Chase
Elliott and Hendrick.
You were just a
little bitty puppy.
I signed
him when he was 14,
and then watching him grow
up through all the ranks
and then becoming a champion.
I'm very fortunate to have him.
I feel like I'm getting old.
Shoot. Been over 10 years.
I want Chase Elliott
at Hendrick Motorsports,
and I hope he's here forever.
You ready for a big night?
I would rather Sunday
be a big night myself.
Yeah.
The Duels
are basically
a Thursday night
set of heat races.
What that means is
that will determine
where everyone else starts.
It's also the best practice
for the most important race
because everyone's
out there together
and you kind of figure out
what kind of car everybody has.
I don't think we need to do
anything crazy, but get a feel
for what your car is doing
and... and you get a chance
to kind of put yourself
in a certain spot of
maybe you'll find
yourself on Sunday, but...
Yeah, nothing. Nothing crazy.
It's the first time that we're
really in a race environment
with this car, so
it's really important
to not only finish well
and try to win the Duel,
it's really important not
to wreck your 500 car.
Alright. Yeah, man.
Nice little 60-lap
rehearsal here.
Let's figure out what we need
to win the race on Sunday
and bring our car
home in one piece.
Let's have some fun.
Hey, Chase.
Good luck, buddy.
Drive a safe race.
Appreciate it,
boss. I'm ready to go.
To set the field
for Sunday's Daytona 500,
the green flag.
Kyle Larson from
the outside of the front row.
He'll cross over in front of
his teammate, William Byron.
That's the inside lane.
Whole lotta Hendrick going on
at the front of the pack
here in the early going.
I think that's
always the question
for Hendrick Motorsports,
is, yes, they build
the fastest cars,
probably the fastest engines
in single-lap environments,
but can they do it with
40 cars around them?
You could see in
practice and in the Duels
that we didn't seem
to be as competitive,
so that was extremely
disappointing.
We fought
the same things
I feel like we've been fighting
for the past five years.
They were out
front. The Fords now out front.
And the guys
who have been good
over the past three or four
years are still really good.
So I didn't see that
a lot had changed.
Caution thrown to
the wind now in the final lap.
Blaney buried up under the back
bumper of the Keselowski car.
He shoves Brad wide,
but Blaney's stuck on his back
bumper, can't make a move.
It's Keselowski off 2.
I found myself in
second on the last lap,
and I had Austin behind
me, and I was like,
"Oh, this is good. I got
a teammate behind me."
Here comes Cindric
to the inside of Blaney!
Blaney now stuck outside
all by himself as Briscoe
will give Cindric
the escort through.
I thought I was
in the catbird seat,
and I guess Austin thought he
was in the catbird seat, so...
The rookie Austin
Cindric, an Xfinity champ,
sends Blaney back to fourth.
Greed got in
the way there, boy.
And Brad Keselowski
gets his first Duel win.
Three wide for second.
Austin Cindric over
Blaney and Briscoe.
I think there might
be a little bit of a rivalry
that's developed
or brewed this year
between Austin Cindric,
the rookie at Team Penske,
and Ryan Blaney.
Cindric is Blaney's teammate,
and there at the end,
he went inside of him,
he didn't push him.
That was interesting.
I agree. You know?
Austin Cindric did what he thought
was the best thing for him.
The problem is, is
that hurt Ryan Blaney,
and his chance to win the Duel.
You know, if we could've
just stayed together...
It stunk getting hung
out by your teammate,
but I think he learned on that,
but that's just one of
those things that, you know,
a rookie working with
teammates, you know,
he just learns with experience.
It's pretty early this
morning, but it is peaceful.
It gets incredibly hectic and
busy here in a little bit,
so it is nice, you know,
having that kind of quiet time
and walking your dogs and treat
it like any other morning.
You wanna go eat? Some food?
You just get to do
something pretty cool today,
and that's race in
the Daytona 500.
We have lift off!
So many people who don't
clean up after their dog.
I'll never understand it.
Bag 'em and tag 'em.
Good one this morning.
The life of a NASCAR driver.
The boss.
Morning, boss. Morning.
How you guys doing? Hey.
Good job the other night.
You needed a little bit more
help from your partner, huh?
Oh, that's alright.
Yeah. He... I understand you had
a conversation with him, huh?
Racing a teammate at any time
is the worst situation to be in.
I always hated that.
- Ohh!
- Ohh! Teammates!
I always felt
like if I was helping somebody
that I was accepting defeat.
So you guys gonna
help Austin on the track?
Well, he didn't help me out
too much Thursday night, so...
Payback's a...
So hope we can
figure something out.
The Daytona 500 is never
over until the last few feet,
and more often than
not, there's gonna be
a lot of contact and
a lot of heartbreak.
Hey, buddy. Is
Daddy gonna win?
Sweet.
Quite the faith.
Race fans, right now please
put your hands together
for Corey LaJoie!
Damn. It's nice to see
y'all out at Daytona today.
Right down in front, this
young lady is so scared.
She said she is
your number-one fan.
I know Courtney.
Oh, you know her? I
know my fans by name.
There's all eight of
them. We're all buddies.
Welcome
Corey LaJoie!
You know, it's
pretty interesting.
You want your team to win.
I want the 12 team
to win so bad.
But at the end of the day,
it's to get Roger
a Daytona 500 win.
Team cars running 1-2,
I'm not gonna make a move
till I am 100% positive
that one of us is
gonna win the race.
Ryan Blaney!
And that's not going early.
That's not going with one to go.
'Cause then it brings so many
more people into the equation.
We just got to be
there at the end.
We know we've got a good car.
We know we've got a good driver.
We know we've got a great team.
Yeah, I think
it'll be a show for sure.
Hopefully we're still a
part of it when it matters.
That's all I'm worried about,
being there at the end.
You know what? I like it
when you go into a race
and they think
you're the underdog.
Uh-huh. Sí.
Alright. Love you.
Love you, too.
- Let's say a prayer?
- Sure.
Dear Heavenly Father,
please bless Chase today.
Please keep him safe and
make his day successful
and that he give all the
honor and glory to you, amen.
Amen. Alright. Y'all have fun.
No, you have fun. Yeah.
Daytona,
are you ready?!
Drivers!
Start your engines!
Command has been
given. Fire when ready.
Fire it up. Get fired up.
Fire in the hole.
By far the dopest race.
That's like a screen saver.
You shake all the hands
and kiss all the babies,
and next thing you know,
you got to jump back in
and be a killer for 500 miles.
Stick to the
plan, buddy. Stay focused.
You know, when you
finally get to strap in,
it's like, "Alright.
It's finally here.
We can finally go to work."
Everybody, I appreciate you...
Folks know what we gotta do.
Execute. No mistakes.
Y'all be
safe, have fun.
Pretty much getting
into a fighter jet,
and then really nothing else
matters in the world, right?
You're focused on your
task and your task only.
And everyone else is
just kind of in the way.
Ready.
Waiting.
Green
flag goes in the air.
Green, green, green.
- Green, green, green.
- Green, green, green.
So much for
easing into this Daytona 500.
Keselowski right to the point.
Once the green
flag flies, like, it's...
Your whole mind
changes like, okay,
you're just focusing on
everything around you.
You're not nervous
anymore. You're working.
The aggressive pushers
found themselves
towards the front like always.
When you're... your odds
of running good go way up
and your odds of missing
the wrecks go way up, too.
Pit stops
in a lap or two.
Lead pack will
be coming this time.
7 screwed up and pit.
We weren't supposed to.
Get ready, boys. Get ready.
Gotta go around the 45.
Three, two, one. Turn
in, turn in, turn in.
Go hard, go hard, go hard.
Go. Go.
God damn it!
Confusion on
pit road for the 7 team.
They were not
expecting Corey LaJoie
to come to the pits.
That is going to cost
them a lot of time.
He just freaked out!
When everybody came,
he came. I don't know.
I literally heard
you say, "Come in this time."
Put it out.
Turn 2. Turn 2.
Got a roller out in turn 2.
There's a lug nut
on the track, Tommy.
Tire coming up
the track. Whew.
Yeah, you're gonna
see a lot of that this year.
I feel like we need
just a code word or something.
Alright. Here's the code word.
When you go in front of me,
I'll say, "Pit this time."
So if I don't say, "Pit
this time," don't do it.
Green flag goes back
in the air here at Daytona.
Kyle Larson and Blaney
got together a little bit.
Smoke flew everywhere.
There's
another wheel in turn 1.
You were right about that.
Three, two, one.
Hold. We'll go on the gas.
What's going on with them?
They've got an issue
here with Ryan Blaney.
You know you're gonna have lows.
You know you're
gonna have mistakes.
I'm gonna make mistakes.
They're gonna make mistakes.
What are they doing?
Can't get the
nut off the stud, either.
I'm like, "Damn. I got to
pass all these guys back."
And you have to live with
it and be supportive of it.
It's past the
retainer, right? Yeah.
Okay. It's not gonna fall off.
Damn. I hope mine's
tight enough.
Green
flag in the air.
We're racing again in Daytona.
Those first few
rows on the bottom
are pushing pretty hard.
Too hard, in my opinion.
Oh, no!
Wreckin', wreckin',
wreckin', wreckin'.
Holy crap.
We have not had
any three-wide racing so far.
Perhaps a target-rich
environment
coming up here in the
next couple of laps.
Pinned to
the inside is Byron!
Harrison
Burton up and over!
Holy crap.
I saw it out of
my kind of A-post mirror.
I was running the middle,
and he was about three
or four lanes up.
Hey, pal, welcome
to the Cup Series.
Put them back
under the green flag.
The Ford of Ryan Blaney
is gonna get the advantage
halfway down the
Daytona Superstretch.
Trouble
off turn number 4!
One car gets turned right
in the middle of the pack.
Hold it. Hold it.
What the...
Is he even doing?
He's not on the lead lap, right?
Holy...
Pit road is open.
Pit road open this time.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Bubba was coming out.
Chase Elliott was trying to come in.
Chase had to lock it
up and come to a stop.
Go, go, go, go.
One of those
days.
As the sun
sets, the field pours onto
the Daytona Superstretch.
Austin Cindric showing the way.
Drafting help from Ryan Blaney.
The pushing's
getting more aggressive now.
10 laps
to go next time by.
Oh, we're crashing at
the start/finish line!
Down, down, down, down!
Holy cow. That was a hard hit.
We're still
alive. We're still alive.
You just
got to survive, right?
Corey LaJoie.
What a drive he's had.
They're on the lead lap and
a chance to win the 500.
Alright.
What do you need?
The
permission to engage.
Now, remember, in the
meeting, it was like...
We're not wrecking
for 15th, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I'll remind him.
So let's get our
points. Let's miss this.
Because there's gonna be another
one. You know what I mean?
Let's push all-in on the
next one, not this one.
That's right. That's right.
After our team huddle here,
we'll stay in a safe place
where we can attack
if we need to.
But we'll also be able to
be safe enough to dodge it.
I don't know. I
don't think you'll have time.
It's either engage from the drop
or plan on trying
to miss the wreck.
You know, we have limited
inventory with these new cars.
Manpower is super low right now.
Sticking one in there
and trying to finish 9th
with a tore-up racecar doesn't
outweigh finishing 14th
and bring it home straight.
Big difference for me
in pay, unfortunately.
You know, for the
greater good of the team,
sometimes you have to
do what you have to do,
bot what you want to do.
And here
we go. Six laps to go.
Green flag goes back in the air.
On the inside, Cindric.
On the outside,
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Then you've got Ryan Blaney.
Front four get a little
bit of separation
into the banking
of turn number one.
Not an inch between the four
of them, to say the least.
Here they come.
Pushing like hell up front.
They're definitely gonna wreck.
Trouble off the
corner. Cars get together.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr...
First car to go around
at the front of the field.
- I knew "Spinhouse" would spin.
- No...
That yellow flew towards
the end of the race,
and Austin and I were
running first and second.
You know, if you have a non-teammate
behind you at the end of that race,
they can just, you
know, pull out of line
and just leave you hanging.
And you know that teammate's
not gonna leave you hanging.
I suggested doing the switch
where the leader teammate
will take the top and the
teammate running on the bottom
who's second, he'll
let the guy down.
It's the best way to help
our lane win the race,
make sure that we brought
home a 500 for Roger.
It's
green-white checkers
for the Daytona 500!
Green, green.
Green is
out. Cindric is gone.
Cindric will pull down
right in front of his
teammate, Ryan Blaney.
A perfect restart for
the freshman campaigner
Austin Cindric.
It's the rookie Austin Cindric
leading the Daytona
500 to the white flag!
The next flag wins the race!
Blaney is shoving Cindric.
Cindric leads them in
turn 3 for the final time
with a big shove from
teammate Ryan Blaney.
Here comes Brad
Keselowski topside.
But it's the rookie
that leads off 4.
Get up there!
Here they come.
Cindric trying to squeeze
Blaney into the fence.
Cindric is gonna bring
them to the line way up high
to block Ryan Blaney!
Inside, inside,
inside, inside, inside.
Checkers. Bottom, bottom,
bottom, bottom, bottom.
Bottom hard. Bottom hard.
Bottom hard. Bottom hard.
Austin Cindric has
scored the Daytona 500 win!
They crash further down.
If he didn't
make that block,
Ryan Blaney wins this race.
The Daytona
500! Holy crap!
Yes! I love you guys! Holy cow!
P4.
I'm gonna... in' kill that kid.
Un... ing-believable.
It's alright, man.
Way out there on
him! It's all good.
Thought we were
in the best spot possible,
and Austin threw a block, and
I ended up getting in the wall.
And I just sat there like,
"I just can't believe
what happened."
Austin Cindric, the
winner of the Daytona 500.
That's a tough thing.
You know when you're
so close to something
and then it's just taken away?
And just, like, you hope...
You wish you could push
the damn rewind
button and be like,
"Let's try to do it over so
I can see if it's different."
Yeah.
Man, we've been so
close, and I thought
that was, like, our best shot.
But you get over it and move on.
Yeah, hey, we
couldn't turn you loose there.
It just didn't make sense,
man. We'd have just stalled out
and tore our car up at
the line for no reason.
Good job, everybody.
Way to hang in there.
There's certainly gonna
be bugs to work out,
and we're gonna learn
that probably the hard way
a lot of times as a sport,
as well as just the
team here at Spire.
We will have our time.
Block and tackle is
kind of our motto.
Maybe not throw the Hail
Mary and try to win races,
but do what we can do and
control what we can control
and let it all sort itself out.
Wow. Sorry, boys.
That was a... up, weird day.
We didn't really have a
stellar day by any means.
Yeah, I'm ready to
go. Let's go to California.
That's ridiculous.
Where are you gonna do?
Hey! Happy birthday!
That was awesome.
Great people around me.
You are forever a
Daytona 500 champion.
- Sounds good!
- Whoo!
That sounds really
good! It does.
We can cash
the check for 14th
and go on a plane
and go to Fontana.
Am I gonna pop
champagne bottles? No.
Am I gonna have a couple
whiskeys? You damn right.
When people hear
the name "Kyle Busch,"
the first thing that comes across
their mind... "I hate that guy."
Kyle Busch is an ass!
Kyle helmet on versus
Kyle helmet off
are two totally separate people.
I am misunderstood
my whole life.
It's my first year
in the Cup series.
This is a whole nother level.
In' terrible in' timing.
It's a bunch of killers in here.
You have to be the closest
to crashing to go fast.
Moved him!
I just think I... ed up.