by Bobby Markos
It’s the last day before summer break, and half of the Door Bumper Clear crew got a head start on their vacations. Brett Griffin and Casey Boat are out of the studio today, leaving the keys to the DBC kingdom with Freddie Kraft, TJ Majors, and producer Jason Schultz. After another newsworthy week in the racing world and a turbulent weekend in Loudon, New Hampshire, the duo had plenty to dish on but wanted a little insurance on this week’s episode to help hold listeners over for the two-week break, so they brought in a legend.
Fresh off his 6-week stint with the highly-talked about SRX Series, Allen Bestwick joined Freddie and TJ in the studio today via Zoom to talk about his experience with the racing tour and what the future holds for him. They also break down Bestwick’s start in the sport, his time spent with the late-great Benny Parsons in the booth, and what broadcasting outside of racing is like.
The NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire saw wet track conditions wipe out early race contender Kyle Busch and cause heavy damage for Martin Truex. The DBC boys debate NASCAR’s late resolution to halt the race and how similar situations can be improved in the future.
The race also saw NASCAR officials end the event early due to the onset of nightfall and the lack of a lighting system at the track. Teams were told that NASCAR would announce “ten laps to go”, but weren’t given any indication as to what point the call would come. The crew discusses whether the whole race could have been finished before sundown, and how the randomness of such decisions could create different racing strategies.
As the weekend began, NASCAR officials made the choice to hold off on spraying the “Magic Mile” with the PJ1 compound, as it wasn’t going to be used during the Whelen Modified and Xfinity races and did not want the Cup cars to be the first and only on the substance. Most teams had prepared their cars with running PJ1 in mind, and a late ruling to withhold the compound led to a lot of lost man hours. Freddie and TJ lend some insight into how much work goes into cars at the race shops, and how last-minute changes can be unwelcome news to team engineers and mechanics.
The NASCAR Silly Season continues to take shape, as last week saw the announcement that Austin Cindric would replace Brad Keselowski in the Team Penske #2 car. The news also broke that Harrison Burton would take over the Wood Brothers’ famed #21 from Matt DiBenedetto. The DBC gang talk through the news and what may have led to the decisions.
During the recording of this week’s episode, the news broke that NASCAR had approved the safety test results on the Next Gen car, and would begin distributing chassis to race teams. Also, TJ breaks down Joey Logano and the #22 team bouncing back from a two-lap penalty, the guys talk post-race Twitter beefs, and the battle for the final spots in the NASCAR Chase. All of this and more, plus DBC classics like “What an Idiot” and “Reaction Theatre” on this week’s episode of “Door Bumper Clear”, presented by Offerpad - available on this site and all major podcast platforms.