Podcast appearances and mentions of Jeff Gordon

This week we talk about the great throwback weekend at Darlington and why we don't like the hats that William Byron wears when he wins. How much longer will Ross Chastain be Ross Chastain, and we breakdown everything for the All Star Race this weekend including giving your a sleeper pick that could win you some money on the WynnBet App.

This week we breakdown the Ross & Noah fight, Dale Jr's comments on how NASCAR can handle Ross Chastain from a marketing standpoint. The Top 75 List, Denny's Bracket, a breakdown of all the throwback schemes for the Darlington Race and why they were so many fast pit stops at Kansas.

Darren Jolley is our guest. We talk about the hay day of "The Rainbow Warriors" and Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon.  We also discuss the the latest Nascar race at Kansas and our pick this past week.

Gordo joins the show to discuss the controversies surrounding Willson Contreras and the Cardinals with Frank.

NasCardRadio Episode 141: The guys review last week's Dover Motor Speedway Xfinity Series (Ryan Truex) and Cup (Martin Truex Jr) winners, highest finishing rookies (Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs) and their rookie trading cards. We also review rookies' cards for IndyCar winner Scott McLaughlin and Formula One winner Sergio Pérez. Next, we have an update on the Chip Ganassi Racing trading card set #CGRCards. In the main segment we are doing a deep dive on the 1987 & 1988 World of Outlaws boxed set. They are great sets with the first cards of Jeff Gordon and Dave Blaney. Limited to less than 10,000 sets and variations found in the 1988 set. Finally, there are some super cool eBay auctions in ‘The Kings Court'. Special thanks to our sponsor, Panini America. #thehobby #tradingcards

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis sit down with the man behind the famed #22 Caterpillar NASCAR Cup ride, Bill Davis. After helping Mark Martin as he came through the American Speed Association ranks, Bill went on to form a long-running race team that fielded cars in all of NASCAR's top-three divisions. On the back of his successful Arkansas-based trucking company, Bill first entered the Xfinity Series ranks on a limited basis with Martin behind the wheel. Their quick success proved he had what it took as an owner, and despite Martin having to focus on his Cup racing endeavors, he convinced Bill to move to North Carolina and pursue a full-time chauffeur. Bill explains that the driver he sought out came in the form of Jeff Gordon, who was making the transition from the sprint car world as a promising prospect. He also gives insight to how Gordon's 1993 departure from the team led to a young Bobby Labonte inquiring about the ride, and how he came to end up fielding the well-known #22 Maxwell House car that was forever associated with Junior Johnson. Download listeners will get a master course in what it is to own a large-scale operation in NASCAR, as Bill details the ebb and flow of his organization and why it came to an end after the 2008 season To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By Walt HickeyWelcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.This week, I spoke to my friend Neil Paine, a sportswriter at FiveThirtyEight who can also be found at . I've been following some recent spat going on in NASCAR between ownership and the different charters; here's a recent thing I covered about it: NASCAR team owners collectively boycotted a quarterly meeting with NASCAR leadership over a kerfuffle over the sport's business model, which they argue pays track owners considerably more than it pays the racing team owners. The $8.2 billion media rights deal inked prior to the 2015 season splits the money 65 percent to the racetracks, 25 percent to the teams, and 10 percent to NASCAR itself, though there are just two track operators: Speedway Motorsports and, well, NASCAR, which owns most of the tracks on the Cup Series. Team owners don't like this arrangement, and argue that they have to spend a great deal of time trying to recruit sponsors in order to make their money, saying that sponsorships are 60 percent to 80 percent of the budgets of the 16 chartered teams.Fascinating! It's a corporate battle with billions on the line! What's not to love here! I knew Neil was into NASCAR and I wanted to talk to him about how the sport got into this mess and what the heck happened to it.Neil can be found at FiveThirtyEight and . Incidentally we can also be found out our hockey-related friend podcast .This interview has been condensed and edited. All right. Hey Neil, how's it going?Hey, Walt. Good to be here.People know you from many different places, primarily FiveThirtyEight, where you're a sports writer. But I wanted to talk to you today about a thing that I think is going to be very off-topic for a lot of readers in my newsletter and maybe even some reviews in your work, which is some extremely fascinating stuff that's happening in NASCAR, a league that has long existed but has diminished in notoriety.You and I have been talking a little bit about this on the side and I am just endlessly fascinated by some of the machinations going on in it. I just wanted to have you on to talk all about it. Do you want to talk a little bit about your experience with NASCAR and what drew your attention to it?Yeah, so I'm from the South. I'm from Atlanta and grew up watching the races and following the sport as a child. I think that that was something that was a lot more common at that time. We're talking about the '90s and the early 2000s being the heyday of not just my fan interest but also a lot of people's fan interest in the sport.I've recently gotten back into it over the past couple seasons, I don't really know why. I've definitely gotten more into motor sports in general with Formula One also coming back on my radar. That has actually been very popular among American audiences, I think, since you saw the Netflix series Drive To Survive and just people getting into the dramatic aspects of that, not necessarily maybe the on-track drama, but the personalities and the soap opera between the drivers and the teams, and all of the different backstabbing. Machinations is a good word for it that you used earlier.You see that in pretty much every motor sport though. I think that people, if they wanted to expand their horizons to a sport like NASCAR, there are so many beefs between drivers in NASCAR. The great thing about NASCAR is in Formula One, you do see sometimes drivers, they will wreck each other in the sense that they won't give someone space around a turn or something and they might touch wheels, or they might run into someone. But when you run into someone, it's the end of their day because the open wheel cars are pretty fragile, comparatively speaking.Whereas in NASCAR, these are big freaking tanks of vehicles that can hit each other. Often, there's this term, "rubbing is racing," where basically if you're not bumping people while you're out on the track, you're not really fighting for position. You can hit someone and as long as you don't put them into the wall, you can keep going.I think that that is unique in the way that it feeds into the aspect of rivalry and aspect of animosity between drivers, because you can get back at someone later in a race if they did you dirty earlier in a race, in a way that in Formula One, if you hit and mess up your front wing or whatever, you're both done for the race.Neil, I'm exhausted at the fact that you found another sport that is basically just hockey.Yeah, I know the checking aspect, definitely, the full contact aspect bleeds over between the two, I think.That's cool. I didn't know that you followed it when you were a kid, that's nice. I guess you got on my radar recently because there's beef on the track obviously, but there's also lately a lot of beef between NASCAR itself and the people who own the franchises. It's got this really interesting structure. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?Yeah, so starting in 2016, they put into place what's called the charter system, which for people that don't know, basically there are like 40 cars on the track for every NASCAR race. And in the past, you showed up for the race weekend and it didn't matter if you were a low tier team or one of the best; you still had to qualify and make a certain lap time and be among the top 40 or so qualifying cars to make it into the race on Sunday and, therefore, to get paid for the weekend.At the peak of NASCAR, if you go back and watch some of the old broadcasts, you'll see they list out a dozen or more teams that didn't qualify. So, cars that tried, they made the effort, they came out to the track, they got everything ready and they just didn't go fast enough to make the cut and they didn't end up making any money from that.Starting in 2016, they put into place these charters, which guaranteed that 36 cars would at least be able to have entry into the race. So, it only left four chances for teams that weren't part of the charter system to scratch and claw their way into the field for any given race. For those 36 teams, it offered a lot of cost certainty and also income certainty and it made things a lot easier for their dealings with sponsors, which, we'll probably go into as well, is a huge deal for NASCAR teams, more so than maybe any other sport.And so this charter system, it was put into place to make it more attractive to invest in a NASCAR team. I think since you've seen those go in, you've seen that Michael Jordan owns a team now, or co-owns it, the 2311 racing team, and you're seeing people because they can now latch onto these franchises, it's essentially the same ideas like the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The teams that go into the charter is a car and the car number that goes with it. Sometimes the same owner can own multiple charters. So, Joe Gibbs Racing — Joe Gibbs is a former NFL coach who also runs a super successful NASCAR team — he has four charters, so he has four different cars on the track. But some teams only have one charter and these charters can be bought and sold between the different team owners as well. They can transfer the rights to the charter and that has allowed the value of those charters to go up.But the problem is that the charter system, when it was put into place, it has to be renewed. It's not like a permanent fixture in the way the sport is structured. So, there's some opposition at the top of the NASCAR food chain, because NASCAR itself is just the governing organization that oversees all of the races.It has said, "We're not really sure if we're going to renew the charters." And the teams are like, "You better renew the charters because this is the one thing that's driving our value in investing in your sport and making it more attractive for people to come in as owners and know that they can have that secured spot." That's a big part of this battleground, like you mentioned, between NASCAR, the organizing body, and the teams themselves.There are also the racetracks in the mix as well. The way that the money is split for a television contract, for instance, they have a big TV deal coming up I think after this season, maybe the NBC rights are up or whatever. They have to figure out a new TV contract and then figure out how that pie gets divided up among the teams, NASCAR itself, and the racetracks.The teams have complained that pretty much all of the money, or the overwhelming share of the money, goes to NASCAR itself and the tracks, and that they're not really getting that much, and it's much less equitable than you see in other sports, where in the NFL or Major League Baseball, you see roughly a 50/50 split between the teams and the players.In their mind, they're thinking of themselves as franchises that then supply the talent, the players, or in this case the drivers to the league, which would be NASCAR. NASCAR sees it differently. They see the drivers or the teams and drivers as independent contractors, and just part of this mix that also includes the racetracks that they have to coordinate with to stage the actual race events themselves.Combine that with the fact that advertising makes up a huge share of the revenue for any of the teams and teams are starting to lose really high profile advertisers. We're talking about the early to mid-2000s, the heyday of NASCAR, you had a lot of companies that just seemed like it made a ton of sense for them to be in NASCAR. Lowe's Home Improvement or the Home Depot, or just iconic brands being in the sport, that then you could associate with the driver. In a lot of cases the driver was in TV commercials — Tony Stewart was in Home Depot commercials — and it was really fed into a relationship where this sport, and by extension the driver in it, are the face of our brand and we have value in that.Those brands have left NASCAR over the past decade or so, and you're not seeing them really replaced with the same level of iconic brand. A lot of the cars that you see out on the track now are obscure, really more like niche motor racing, or car-related brands, and certainly not the sort of shiny big type of brands that you saw in NASCAR's heyday.That's trouble.That is big trouble, because advertising revenue from having these cars basically be rolling billboards for a particular brand, when the big brands leave, you get less advertising revenue. Since the teams are so dependent on that, that increases their desperation to leverage the charter system as an alternative means of getting revenue.This money bit's fascinating, and I want to get into sponsorship, so we'll get into that in a little bit.But first, I want to get into one other thing real quick, which is NASCAR itself. Most other leagues are large nonprofits, like maybe they're Major League Baseball and they have a century-old antitrust protection. They tend to be organizations that are either owned by the franchises or exist as a not-for-profit that basically serves as an intermediary between the franchises.But NASCAR is just a family business!Yeah, the France family, which goes back to this guy big Bill France who essentially created NASCAR. I mean, there were unaffiliated, loosely-run stock car races in the South before he came along, but he was the one that was able to wrangle together the support of all of those different factions and pull them into one system that then ran a series of circuits that became NASCAR. And it was all centered around things like the Daytona 500, which used to be literally run out on the beach of Daytona, Florida.And they built the Daytona Motor Speedway and they built Talladega, the other huge super speedway in Alabama. And you can see why the France family, and it's now run by his son, that they see it as being an extension of their father's legacy to continue running it. Bill France, he ran things, I don't want to say with an iron fist, but it was what he said went back in the day. A lot of what he chose to do with this sport was responsible for growing it. You couldn't really argue with his choices because the sport was making so much progress.Under the leadership of the rest of his family, though, you can take issue with that, and I think that's why maybe the France family and NASCAR itself as the central organizing body has lost some of their ability to have unchecked power over the sport, because a lot of the decisions that were put into place to try to make the sport more popular and capitalize on its moment of popularity in the 2000s have backfired and drove away the existing fans while not really adding new ones.Fascinating. The money split is wild, because now I want to talk about the tracks, which, I was reading up on it and the tracks get 65 percent of the money from the TV deal. They're a huge factor. And then I read a little more, and it was like there are two track operators. And one of them's NASCAR!I mean NASCAR, when they pay the tracks, they're actually also paying themselves. That goes back to the analogy to a sport like the NFL, where again the teams and drivers want it to be like, "Okay, Joe Gibbs Racing is the Patriots and yeah, Hendrick Motor Sports is the Eagles," or whatever. But NASCAR almost sees it as the tracks are the franchises, because the tracks are where they're actually holding the events, and the teams are just the players. The Eagles can cut some defensive back, but they're still the Eagles afterward.Whereas in the case of the teams, they're like, "Can you really have a sport without Denny Hamlin? Can you have a sport without Martin Truex Jr.?"That's probably the most similar aspect of this fight to the fights that you see in other sports, which are between the owners, who are represented by a Rob Manfred or a Roger Goodell type of commissioner, and the players; the players are making the argument that we are the sport, people come to see us, they don't come to see the laundry that the players are wearing in the form of uniforms.You see parallels of that in this NASCAR spat where it's like, are you really coming for the track or are you coming for the players or for the drivers? And you can see why they are coming for the track in a lot of ways. That's what makes this more complicated, is because the tracks are so ingrained into the culture of the sport. Could you have a NASCAR without a Daytona or a Talladega? The tracks themselves make up so much of the fabric of what we think of as NASCAR.Which is true, but you can have a race without Daytona and the answer is F1. F1 is in Vegas, now they're in Miami; they're eating their lunch domestically. It's interesting that you can watch this, if you look at it very closely, it's like, “Oh yeah, NASCAR totally has the advantage because people come for the tracks, not the drivers.” And then if you take two steps back you're like, "Oh wait, no, there's other racing in the world."Well, and there are other sports as well, and that's really interesting. NASCAR was in a position of real relative power in the mid-2000s. In 2005 I think they were the second-most watched sport in the country behind only the NFL. That was the peak moment of the sport, where all of the big advertisers were in on NASCAR as the fastest growing sport in America.Wow.The story of NASCAR since then has been a story of really steep decline, I think, in both viewership, money from some of those advertisers, and just general fan interest in a lot of ways. The sport is no longer at the peak of its space in the cultural zeitgeist, to say the least. And there are a lot of reasons for that that I think nobody can really fully agree on.Like what?Well, in my opinion, the biggest reason is that they put in trying to capitalize on the success and looking around at the other sports leagues and thinking, "Well, they have playoffs, so we need a playoff system as well. We can't have a situation where some guy is so far ahead in the standings in the last handful of races of the season that why would you watch? We need to manufacture some drama late in the season, the same way that every other sport does with its playoffs."So, they put in this thing called the “Chase for the Cup” starting, I want to say it was in 2004 or 2005, was the first year that they put it in.The problem has been that the rules around the chase keep changing. It's a very convoluted system. If you think about the playoffs in other sports, it's pretty straightforward, right?Yeah.At the end of the regular season, every team that doesn't qualify for the playoffs is eliminated, and then you have head-to-head competitions until you whittle it down to the Super Bowl and whoever wins is the champion.You can't really do that in auto racing because you can't really have a race with two drivers in it. That would be incredibly bizarre. And so, what they do is they still have the eliminated drivers be in the field, and they run the races the same way they would any other race, but the drivers that are qualified for the championship chase just are competing against each other as well. And they get a separate series of playoff points, and then they've added stages—Oh, screw that.Well yeah. They've added stage racing, which is where they put in these competition caution flags three times in the middle of a race, so that they pull the pack back together and you get points for winning the stages that are subpoints within a race. I think one of the valid complaints is that the system has become so convoluted that it's very difficult to keep track of the implications or the stakes.It's not like in football where you can just look at the score and realize, okay, this team is winning and these are the implications. And maybe if I need to, I'll look at the standings and try to come up with the little permutations that people do in week 18 of the NFL season. That's about as complicated as it gets for the other sports. But in NASCAR, it's like that all the time! And even more convoluted because of the points system.I think that has really backfired. It used to just be like you just went out and raced and whoever won the most races or had the most points, that's who won the championship. I do think NASCAR was also a victim of its own success in a certain way, in which you saw in the past the drivers used to be guys like Dale Earnhardt, who was the son of another NASCAR driver, but he grew up in relatively modest circumstances in North Carolina.He was a dyed-in-the-wool racer and he was a man's man and one of those types of guys and he didn't take any crap from anyone. And he wasn't really about the corporate scene. I mean, he was just about doing whatever made sense in the moment as a racer. A lot of guys were that way. It was a very Southern sport and they all came from that shared background.But as the sport became more popular, you saw drivers come from other parts of the country, like Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon before him, but especially Jimmy Johnson, I think, is the poster child for this. He's from California. And when you hear Jimmy Johnson talk, he's kind of boring. He doesn't have that sort of same kind of colorful personality. He's very corporate. He's like, "Well, the Lowe's 48 Chevy did great. My guys put together a great race car for us today and we did the best we could." It's this very robotic type of talking, that I think a lot of the guys have, especially as NASCAR had a higher barrier to entry in terms of finances for a family trying to get their son or a daughter into driving. You had to be rich to be able to participate in this sport when you were young. And then that's the type of people that rise up to the highest level later on.So, a lot of the drivers now, I feel like fans complain that they can't connect with them in the same way because the fan base is fundamentally more of a blue-collar working class type of fan base, more concentrated in the South.They want John Wayne on wheels and they're instead getting the spokesperson for Walmart.Absolutely. I mean, that's a great comparison. I think that they found it more difficult to relate to the drivers. So, when you combine that with the super convoluted playoff system that feels very contrived, and the fact that the playoff system, it produced a lot of Jimmy Johnson titles, he won seven titles, which is tied for the most of all time, and he's arguably the greatest driver ever. But that came at the expense of somebody like Dale Earnhardt Jr. who never actually won a championship despite being the most popular driver and the son of the previous greatest driver of all time, and a guy who really embodied that spirit that has been lost.So, I think you had situations where there was a misalignment between who the champion was and the most popular driver, and just a lot of different changes. I think in a lot of ways, this doesn't get talked about a lot, or maybe as much as it should have, but I think the 2008 financial crisis also played a big role in the decline of NASCAR.Oh, now you have my attention. Go on, what?Well, so NASCAR's fan base was probably affected by that more, just in terms of the region that it's concentrated in and also just the more blue-collar type of fan base, that you saw them probably lose a lot of disposable income and just not have that same ability to attend races, or watch them on television, and they would be less attractive to sponsors as a result of that.You can go back and watch a race and see that it's sponsored by American Century Mortgage or something like that. It's a lot of the stuff that we saw in other sports for sure around that same period of time. But I think NASCAR in particular was in that sweet spot of demographics where the rise of NASCAR was fueled by a lot of the same things that drove the housing bubble and the various other aspects that were not sustainable about that economy. And then it was also taken down by the same things when those evaporated.So, those are my two cents. You'll hear a lot of culture war talk around it as well, where they'll complain that NASCAR has gone woke and all this stuff because they won't let them fly Confederate flags in the infield at races anymore, which was a thing as recently as maybe four or five years ago.Oh boy.I don't buy a lot of that. I think that mostly, it's just really difficult to get people to buy into a sport when they have trouble relating to the drivers, trouble following the standings and the playoff system. I forgot to mention also, the broadcasts have drawn a lot of complaints, especially this year, but I think in general about having commercials during green flag racing, about the fact that the races are really long.Baseball we're seeing as an example of a sport right now that's making a concerted effort to present a more viewer-friendly product that has less downtime and more action and doesn't drag on. And they've been pretty successful so far early in the season with the pitch clock and some of the other things that they've done.Whereas in a NASCAR race, man, you have to be committed to watching this thing for four hours on a Sunday. And that's a pretty big ask, I think! Especially given how many different options people have now for entertainment. I think that is also combined with the fact that maybe millennials are not as into car culture and they're not as into some of the things that maybe people that were drawn to NASCAR were in a previous generation.Off the top of my head, those are all I think probably the most valid reasons why NASCAR has lost its cachet. We're just seeing the effects of it because it's a sport that wants to feel like it's in that same conversation with the NFL and the NBA and the NHL and Major League Baseball. But the numbers don't really bear that out as much.Now, it's still relatively popular. I mean, that's an interesting place for it to be as well. Rumors of NASCAR's decline have in some ways been overstated and in some ways, they're also still trying to claw their way back to where they were in 2005 and not finding a way to move forward and think about 2023 instead.Talking a little bit about sponsors, because I did want to hit that before we wrapped it up, it's interesting because from the perspective of the France family, being a very successful popular regional sport that promotes the venues that you yourself own is a fine outcome for them! But I can understand why for the charters and the cars and the drivers, maybe regional popularity isn't what they want.They look across the ocean and they see F1 being one of those popular sports on the continent. I think you can see that there's a world in which NASCAR can be very lucrative while still not being nationally dominant. But that's not a world that the drivers want to see, and it's not a world that the sponsors would probably want to see. How do the sponsors factor into it?Yeah, the sponsors being a national brand I think is what drives every sports league and their ambitions. I don't think NASCAR, to their credit, they did not rest on those laurels of being a regional sport. In some ways I think the fan base complains that they're almost ignoring the Southern roots of the sport too much by expanding to places across the country and going on these cookie-cutter tracks that ignore the special historical tracks that there are in the South.They're trying to go back and re-appreciate the roots a little bit more. There was a track called North Wilkesboro in North Carolina that got shut down and they moved away from it in, I want to say the '90s. They've actually restored it. And Dale Jr. has actually been a big driving force behind that. And they're going to race there again and they do dirt track races in cup cars, which they used to really never do at Bristol.That was a couple weeks ago as well. So, they're trying to make an appeal to that core base and fan base. But I think there is always this tension in a sport like NASCAR between the original fan base and the Southern roots of the sport, and expanding it is almost your duty as a sports league, to have that ambition to be a bigger brand and capture more of the market share as a league, compared with some of the other leagues that they feel like they're on the same footing with.That tension is probably stronger in NASCAR than any other sport. Maybe you hear a little bit of this in hockey, where it's like, "Why are they expanding to the Sunbelt or the West Coast of the U.S. when they should be concentrating on Canada?" I think that's an interesting parallel for NASCAR because in NASCAR it's like, "Why are they focusing on the rest of the country when they should be focusing on the Southeast?" But you don't hear that in the NFL. There's no talk of, "You should be respecting Canton, Ohio, as the seat of NFL history." You just don't hear that. Or Green Bay, or something.Yeah, I do think that all of these historical factors and the different competing interests come to the fore in NASCAR more than other sports because it's the curse of being either the largest fish in a small pond of the leagues that are under the big, major pro sports leagues, or they're the smallest fish in that huge pond, and they can't really decide which of those they want to be.Fascinating. So now, I think what needs to happen is we need to trade one Canadian hockey team for a racetrack that will be located in Manitoba, just to maximally piss everyone off.I would love to see that. Yeah, I don't think they've raced in Canada. I could be wrong about this. There are street tracks in places like Toronto and Vancouver, where indie cars would race, but I don't think NASCAR has done that. But I wouldn't put it past them.I mean, they're doing a race on the streets of Chicago, which sounds like the execution of the prep for it has been a disaster, but it seems really cool also. And they did a version of it on iRacing, which is a video game, during COVID; they actually broadcast and had real drivers driving the cars virtually on the streets of Chicago, which was the brainchild of it.They're doing some of these gimmicky things that the fan base is pissed off about, but I still think could be cool. I'm of also both minds on it as well, because I love when sports do things that are outside the box and just weird, but hey man, it could be cool, throw something at the wall. That was the spirit of original sports leagues like a hundred years ago, and in some ways we've lost that spirit over time as they've stagnated and become more concentrated on not losing their spot in the pecking order.You could see a sport like NASCAR being more willing to take chances, but sometimes those chances work out well. Sometimes when you shake up your whole playoff system and nobody can keep track of it and it makes no sense and it seems super contrived, they work out poorly.When your playoff system is too heavily mathematical for a FiveThirtyEight sports writer to really engage with, you screwed up badly.Thanks again for coming on. Again, I think it's not a topic that crosses a lot of people's plates all the time, but I think it's a fascinating thing. So, thank you for coming on doing it. Neil, where can folks find you?Well, they can find me at FiveThirtyEight, of course. Some of my overflow ideas are at my Substack, which is neilpaine.substack.com. You can find some of my NASCAR thoughts on there.It's really fun. I like the whole things that are a little bit about messing around and having fun with it, both in sports and in your work, man. It's good stuff. I'm enjoying the Substack.Thank you.Sweet. Thanks for coming on.Thanks for having me.If you have anything you'd like to see in this Sunday special, shoot me an email. Comment below! Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for supporting Numlock.Thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber! Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips or feedback at walt@numlock.news.  Get full access to Numlock News at www.numlock.com/subscribe

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporter reflected on his time on the beat as he heads into retirement. Thomas and beat reporter Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon discuss the offseason priorities for the St. Louis Blues.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the Blues' struggling power-play and penalty-killing units, among other topics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kyle Larson wins for the first time this year on a very important anniversary for Hendrick Motorsports. We talk about the big Dale Jr news and how Joe Gibbs Racing is changing the game on pit stops. Brian is dominating our fantasy league, the owner's and their charters, plus how we have no idea what to expect at the Bristol Dirt Race this weekend.

Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the return of Vladimir Tarasenko to Enterprise Center with the New York Rangers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tyler Reddick wins at COTA, Hendrick wins part of their appeal, Daniel Suárez big fine and our thoughts on how Kurt Busch celebrated another 23X1 Win. We give you our thoughts on the race at Richmond this weekend and talk about a big hiccup Timmy made in Fantasy Lineup last week because we have had enough of Brian winning.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the impact of acquisitions Jakub Vrana, Sammy Blais and Kasperi Kapanen on the team's offense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frank and Gordo cover a lot of topics in a short amount of time as they always do when they join forces on The Press Box! Check out Jeff's work in the Post-Dispatch!

St. Louis Blues Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the team's flat performance against Detroit and the warm reception ex-Blue David Perron got from former teammates and St. Louis hockey fans.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Episode 255 we break down the penalties that not only Hendrick Motorsports received but the penalty that NASCAR gave Denny Hamlin. Even with these penalties, is William Byron still favorite to win his 3rd race in a row this weekend. Can Corey LaJoie and his team stay in the top 16 in standings and as always we give you great fantasy tips.

With Hendrick Motorsports hit with the largest combined penalty in history, Jeff Gordon believes there was possible miscommunication with NASCAR. Plus Brad Keselowski ready to go after third win at Atlanta and for Kyle Larson was there beginners luck?

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the team's somewhat improved play during the stretch run of the season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the play of newcomer Jakub Vrana and how the forward lines shake out going forward.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we are at The Amelia, the award-winning motoring event, with special guest, Paul Fix, to talk about many of the amazing vehicles on display, including the No. #24 Chevrolet Lumina that Jeff Gordon drove to victory at the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. 

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to review how the Blues fared amid all the wheeling and dealing around the league.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporter Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the ongoing trade rumblings surrounding this team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Gordon joins The Press Box, as he is known to do, to talk to Frank about a number of local sports topics. The Blues are rumored to be a potential new home for Timo Meier in the near future. Does Gordo think the deal will work out?

Sarah Greenwell and I discuss one of the most salient tips she's gotten from the road, as well as the illusion of democratization in today's music industry, and we get to learn more about how one of the highlights of her life came about. Don't forget to pick up the Love You Funny split or any of the other great Gymshorts and Greeensleeves records!! At the end of the episode you'll hear a couple of live bootleg songs that were recorded on tour back in Oct of 2021. Enjoy "I'm the Jeff Gordon of Our Generation" followed by "0 Thanks Given" - If you've been digging this podcast, please do me a favor and tell a friend about it and/or leave a review wherever you're listening right now - // Interview recorded January 30th, 2023 via Zoom // Intro music by Cedros // Hosted by James Toomey //

Post-Dispatch St. Louis Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss a variety of hockey topics, including the strong play of Ivan Barbashev and Ryan O'Reilly ahead of the trade deadline.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rick Allen, Lead Race Announcer, NASCAR on NBC

Jeff Gordon gives us a little bit of everything in one segment, including some thoughts on the Blues and SLU.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss Vladimir Tarasenko's showing at the NHL All-Star Game and where he might land before the trade deadline.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss what has gone wrong for the Blues and what changes are In store for the team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Gordon, NASCAR Hall of Fame Driver and Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, joins Wharton Business Daily to talk about the upcoming Daytona 500, NASCAR's rise to becoming one of the most successful business entities in the United States, and how the sport has grown over the last few decades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeff Gordon and Frank have a less-than-joyous meeting of the minds to try to figure out what's been going wrong for the Blues and who might be leaving this team at the trade deadline.

NASCAR champion and new McLaren IndyCar signing Kyle Larson joins The Race IndyCar Podcast this week for an exclusive interview on the news he will race in the 2024 Indy 500. Larson is known for his desire and ability to jump in any machinery and go fast quickly, although he'll face some unique challenges making his IndyCar debut at the Indy 500. He joins hosts Jack Benyon and JR Hildebrand to discus what some of those challenges might be, the relevance of the fact he's already won the NASCAR race - the Coca Cola 600 - that takes place on the same day, what he remembers about watching McLaren growing up, and the involvement of Jeff Gordon in making this deal happen. There's also talk of what other challenges Larson might want to take on - including testing and even racing an F1 car - and how he adapted to the new Cup Series car in 2022 for the NASCAR fans of the show. Don't forget, if you have a question for our hosting team, you can email text and/or voice notes to be included on the podcast by sending them to podcasts@the-race.com Follow The Race on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook Check out our latest videos on YouTube Download our brand-new app on iOS or Android Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matthew DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the Blues' missed opportunity over the last seven games at Enterprise Center.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Severe weather impacting millions of Americans across the country. Also, TODAY's Checklist: dermatologist Dr. Angela Lamb shares some tips on how you can keep your skin healthy this winter. Plus, Try This Today: Dylan Dreyer gets to make her own pocketbook with the help of Anthony Luciano founder of Sip and Stitch in New York City. And, Jeff Gordon and Daniel Suarez in studio 1A as NASCAR's 75th season kicks off.

NASCAR legend talks with Jim.

Jeff Gordon is able to talk about anything and everything, and he does just that with Frank in The Press Box. The conversation begins focusing on the Blues before transitioning to Mizzou talk.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Matt DeFranks joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the Blues victory over Ottawa and the need to tack on more wins during this seven-game stretch.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode I talk to Adam Hootnick about never using his law degree and pursuing a media and filmmaking career instead.Adam is a graduate of Harvard Law School, but never did anything with his law degree. Instead, he went to work as a production assistant for MSNBC one day before September 11th, 2001. That was a very interesting time to start a job in New York city.Adam is now an award-winning filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. His most recent documentary, What Carter Lost,  was named one of the year's best documentaries by Sports Illustrated. Adam has directed a number of documentaries and also does commercial film work such as projects with Serena Williams for Lincoln, Jeff Gordon for NASCAR, and US Olympians for United Airlines, and many more. Needless to say, this is a very different career path, and I hope it will inspire you to follow their own career dream.   If you have input, criticism, or guest suggestions (including yourself) for the podcast, shoot me an email at Joseph@excellentatlife.com. Connect to me on LinkedIn here and say hello Follow me on Twitter hereCheck out GetSomeClass.com for fun team activities and wellness programming.In the meantime, may you walk your own winding path well.Joseph Gerstel

New Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporter Matt DeFranks joined beat report Jim Thomas and columnist Jeff Gordon to break down the Blues' success in the face of costly injuries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Departing Post-Dispatch writer Tom Timmermann joins beat reporter Jim Thomas and columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss his time on the beat and the state of the Blues.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmermann joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss Torey Krug's injury, the overtime loss to Toronto, and the need to start stacking up points.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmermann joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the big victories over Edmonton. Calgary and Vancouver and the flat performance in Seattle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's show we talk with Matt Clark about overcoming mental and emotional roadblocks that are hindering both yourself and your business from being all that they can be. Matt shares personal stories from his heart, and his research in psychology, to walk through overcoming the imposter syndrome that will sabotage your success and fulfillment. Overcoming this and fixing the lens through which you view the world will change everything in your life and business. Don't let these things hold you back any longer. You have what it takes to reach higher than your highest goals and close the biggest deal of your video production career.  Key Takeaways  Be honest with yourself to come to a point of clarity in your mindset. Do what it takes to fix your perspective of yourself and the world. Value and honor yourself so that you can confidently charge what you are truly worth. Follow Matt's framework to believe in yourself and see your business succeed. About Matt Clark Matt Clark is a Speaker and expert Team Strategist. His focus on the neuroscience of belief formation and core belief transformation, coupled with  his experience as a NASCAR championship Pit Crew Coach for drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, gives him a unique perspective on mindset and performance. Matt understands the challenges of imposter syndrome, developing leaders, building teams and achieving results in an extremely competitive environment. His passion is to help high performers build a championship mindset as well as helping business leaders develop teams that drive performance. Along with doing time as an on air analyst for FOX Sports1, Matt has presented at conferences for AIRGAS International, CORNING USA, S&D Coffee, Grand Canyon University. He's also appeared on numerous podcasts including Fireprenuers, the 80/20 Podcast, Indie Pods Unite, the Joe Soto Show and Tenaciously Human. His personal and professional journey has given him valuable insights and experience on life and business. In This Episode  [0:00] Welcome to the show [2:47] Meet Matt Clark [4:45] A quick fun story [6:44] Matt's personal journey [13:45] The moment of realization that changed everything [21:58] The importance of recognizing the imposter syndrome [25:13] Keys to unlocking your potential and overcoming the imposter syndrome [37:57] The power of the subconscious [43:39] Monitoring the inputs of your mind [57:33] Connect with Matt Clark [58:31] Outro Quotes "What I consider success nowadays is building strong relationships and empowering people to unlock the potential.” - Matt Clark [4:16] “If you have experienced trauma, and it's not your fault, you have to forgive yourself” - Matt Clark [34:32] “I want people to be released from, hey, I'm not enough to like, you know what, I am enough.” - Matt Clark [37:45] “Let's start with the things that people see in us that are good.” - Ryan Koral [54:48] “The stories we tell ourselves are the lives we live out and our beliefs drive our destiny.” - Matt Clark [57:09] Quotes "What I consider success nowadays is building strong relationships and empowering people to unlock the potential.” - Matt Clark [4:16] “If you have experienced trauma, and it's not your fault, you have to forgive yourself” - Matt Clark [34:32] “I want people to be released from, hey, I'm not enough to like, you know what, I am enough.” - Matt Clark [37:45] “Let's start with the things that people see in us that are good.” - Ryan Koral [54:48] “The stories we tell ourselves are the lives we live out and our beliefs drive our destiny.” - Matt Clark [57:09] Links  FREE Workshop Available "How to Consistently Earn Over $100k Per Year in Video Production While Working Less Than 40 Hours Per Week" Get the ASCEND Method Cheat Sheet Join the Grow Your Video Business Facebook Group  Find Matt Clark online  Follow Matt Clark on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter Connect with Matt Clark on LinkedIn Follow Ryan Koral on Instagram Follow Grow Your Video Business on Instagram What's your question for the podcast? Share a video or audio response! Check out the full show notes page If you haven't already, we'd love it if you would take 1 minute to leave us a review on iTunes!

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmerman joined columnist Jeff Gordon to review the Blues overtime loss to Colorado and their overtime victory over Nashville.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post-Dispatch Blues beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmermann joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the latest Blues downturn and the utter exasperation coach Craig Berube is feeling these days.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Gordon joins The Press Box to talk Mizzou football, Blues, Cardinals and more with Frank!

Post-Dispatch beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmermann joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the Blues' struggles to find consistent defensive pairings and more offense.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beat reporters Jim Thomas and Tom Timmermann joined columnist Jeff Gordon to discuss the Blues' dramatic turnaround after losing eight straight games.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joey Logano wins the 2022 Cup Championship and brings another title to New England. Timmy talks about Chase wrecking and Brian is interested in maybe going to the Chicago Race next year. We also give you some hot takes about the 2023 season.

The success of sports is often built on rivalries. Auto Racing is no different. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and co-host Mike Davis bring their favorite rivalries from the table of truth to this special episode. In the late 90's the NASCAR Xfinity Series was a hotbed for talent but also a series full of hot tempers. One of the great rivalries of the era was between an out-spoken northern driver, Champion Randy Lajoie, and an aggressive Georgian named Buckshot Jones. Dale Earnhardt had several rivals throughout his storied career. Most foe were created by physical contact between two racecars. Dale's rivalry with Ricky Rudd was personal. Rudd reveals how their shattered friendship lead to some legendary on-track altercations. Ron Hornaday Jr. is still not over it. In a 2011 NASCAR Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, he and Kyle Busch made contact on the track. Busch proceeded to wreck Hornaday under caution. NASCAR may have parked and suspended Busch for the actions, but it was Hornaday who suffered the most. The incident cost him a shot at the Championship. It's a wound that isn't fully healed to this day. Some rivals start as best friends. Some, under the same roof. Jeff Burton and Ward Burton open up about how their different personalities and upbringing, created bad blood between one of Virginia's most beloved NASCAR families. Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt were great friends behind closed doors. On the race track? Far from it. The two giants of the NASCAR world battled each other relentlessly, resulting in a library of contentious moments and altercations. Rusty opens up about it and we find out how it played into a rivalry with a young Jeff Gordon. Dale Jr. says that if there is a Mount Rushmore of Motorsports rivalries, the Geoff Bodine / Dale Earnahrdt rivalry would be on it. Bodine details his side of one of the sport's most talked about feuds. Last but not least, a colorful Jimmy Spencer gets down and dirty about his distain for Kurt Busch. How did "Mr. Excitement" get so mad that he punched Kurt Busch? ASKJr presented by Xfinity Before the rivalry talk Hannah Newhouse brought fan questions to Dale Jr. about: What track should host the Championship finale? What dream racecars would Dale Jr. like to test at North Wilkesboro? The mysterious red left front tire at Daytona in 2004. Lugs Harvey or Harry Hogg? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices