The Racing Writer's Podcast

Jacob Claborn is the head coach at Hendrick Motorsports and he’s the perfect go-to for all things it stops. And there is so much to a pit stop. We’re getting deep into the weeds this week by starting off with a full, detailed breakdown of a pit stop and the choreography that goes into each position and placement; the hunt to eliminate dead time of when a tire changer and fueler is engaged with the car before it stops; an explanation on the jackman having a different visual this year with the new Chevy body and adjusting to that...

Mike Burch is the COO of Speedway Motorsports, which means he’s heavily involved in everything that goes on and can share great insights. We’re going to start by doing a preview of this weekend’s All-Star Race and moving it to Dover; having Dover in the Speedway Motorsports portfolio and concerns that it’s going to fade off the schedule with constant changes; the operational view of hosting a crown jewel event and on a holiday weekend with the Coke 600; the reception to going back to the oval in the fall; changing a race after the schedule has already...

Andrew Clarke is a motorsports writer and author and he has a new book that we’re discussing today, The Immortals of NASCAR. Clarke shares how the project came to be; the word ‘immortal’ being perfect for a NASCAR project; the reason that the list is made up of all champions; the debatable criteria of being included on the list or considered an honorable mention; shedding insight on Shane van Gisbergen from his Supercars career; what he was like to cover in Australia; the following he still has over there with what he’s doing now; putting the order of...

John Probst was among the NASCAR executives called to testify during the antitrust trial in December, which provided a chance to learn more about his background as well as his current role. But before getting to know him better, we’re getting more context on those CUV comments that took social media by storm; developing an interest in racing through Formula 1 and then Pocono Raceway; the benefit of a Formula SAE program in schools; getting his first opportunity in racing with Ford; going to work for Red Bull Racing and skirting rules by testing a Cup car described as an AR...

Corey Day is having a highlight start to his first full NASCAR season, and taking the good with the bad. We’re digging into it all this week, starting with having more straightforward weeks now after a 2025 of jumping from series to series; getting into a weekly routine of what is expected of him; the balance of using the simulator and when needing to adjust in real life from the virtual laps; the feeling of having a real job now and the world calming down around him after the hectic of last season; the learning experiences of the first few we...

Kyle Larson is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, a future Hall of Famer, and one hell of an overall race car driver. So, we’re going to dig into some of what that takes from behind the wheel. Larson starts off by explaining the immediate debrief after a race on pit road and how that leads into the week of meetings and breakdowns; what makes a driver say when and why someone else had the best car on a given race weekend; the reason he wants so much information from crew chief Cliff Daniels about other things happening in a...

Buddy Hull is now a driver/owner in NHRA Funny Car competition, and he’s had plenty to talk about after the fiery start it got off to this season. But that’s just a continuation of the wild rides he’s had in recent years. Hull joins the show to discuss the time spent since the burn down in Gainesville to prepare another car; missing a race so early in the season; wondering if all the hardships lately are trying to teach him something; what he’s learning about himself; his recovery from the Gainesville fire and burns; the manufact...

23XI Racing has done a lot of great things in a short amount of time, and from the beginning has been Mike Wheeler. He was one of the architects of bringing Denny Hamlin’s vision to life, and he joins the show to reflect on those days. We start off with explaining his new title and taking on new responsibilities; the pride of having his fingerprints on the creation of the race team; what it means to build a culture and the importance of that for 23XI Racing; the first days actually starting in Wheeler’s two-car garage at home; the...

The story of Michael McDowell’s career with sports cars, open wheel, and NASCAR is known enough at this point, but how about those really early days? The ones before he was given a chance to race professionally. We’re digging into that today, starting with his connection to Las Vegas; insight on the west coast racing scene; starting off with BMX bikes; not being a racing family but a car culture family and still finding his way into racing; describing the world of competitive karting; the lessons from karting that stay with a young driver; filling in some blanks from...

Jordan Vandergriff is living his best life as a Funny Car driver for John Force Racing, which puts him back behind the wheel for the first time in six years, We’re digging into it all today, starting with how it never gets old being introduced as a JFR driver; the story of being picked by John Force; it setting in more and more through Gainesville; getting the first win(s) light out of the way in the first weekend; not having the same exact team that won the last two championships; not using that as a built-in excuse; outsiders cr...

Casey Mears had one of the best stories of the Daytona 500 when he qualified for the race in the single-car, underdog operation that is Garage 66 for Carl Long. A few weeks removed from the event, Mears shares how it has carried on; taking apart the Atlanta car to run in Daytona but that being the game plan; the visual of the torn apart car in the garage; comparing the moment to others from his career; choosing to come back so many years after his full-time career ended, and doing it with an underdog team; sharing this side of his life...

Cliff Daniels returns to the podcast now as a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and a lot has happened, and growth has occurred in the process. Daniels first explains why he wanted the timing to be right for the conversation; looking back now on what the story of 2025 was for the team; what it means for the 2026 team and how steady they are going forward; explaining how a team doesn’t become complacent through consistent success; a crew chief’s continued work to remain on top of the sport and job; details on the team book club and it translating to p...

Justin Allgaier finally won that elusive NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship a few years ago, and things have been great since. So, as Allgaier returns to the podcast, we’re going on life and racing. It starts with one last look back at Daytona 500 and reviewing what happened; the person and driver who is entering 2026, and it being different; the difference the championship made to the racer; the 2024 series championship making a difference or mattering more than expected; the unexpected place where the championship trophy ended up; making a career in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series; the view h...

Ron Capps Motorsports begins its next chapter this season with the addition of a Top Fuel dragster team for Maddi Gordon, who will compete alongside owner and Funny Car driver Ron Capps. But before they go racing, both join the show to share about building the team and what it’s been like over the last year to get to this point where racing is just around the corner.  

Gordon discusses the feeling as the season gets closer and becomes more real; doing a lot more media and handling all the attention that’s come recently; the Chapstick dispe...

In the five years since Matt Kaulig was last on the podcast, a lot has happened for Kaulig Racing, and the next chapter comes this season as the Ram anchor team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. So, as Kaulig returns to the show, he shares where his anticipation level is for this season compared to some others; going from never having attended a Truck Series race to now fielding five teams; building a relationship with Ram; the organization dominating the headlines with planned out announcements over the last seven months; adding more to the organization while still trying to...

NHRA is riding high going into its 75th anniversary season with the release of a six-part docuseries titled ‘Chasing Speed.’ To share insight on the project and what viewers can expect, Steve Reintjes and Chris Meadows are here to share the feeling of having the project out in the world now for viewers to see; delivering the right balance for the hardcore fan and the new viewer; the partnership with Vice as the broadcast partner for the show; the balance of NHRA telling the story and how Vice wanted to tell the story; showcasing personalities and people in this series; gett...

Brenden “Butterbean” Queen is set for his first full season of Craftsman Truck Series competition in a Ram entry at Kaulig Racing. We’re checking in with Butterbean on how he celebrated his ARCA Menards Series championship and then shifted to preparing for this next opportunity; what it mean to be the first named driver to the Kaulig Racing program in the Truck Series; why it’s a badge of honor to be getting an opportunity at the NASCAR national series level at his age; the family dynamic now that he’s not in the longshoreman business anymore; the talent versus fun...

Alexis DeJoria started the NHRA Funny Car season in a brand-new environment with new people, resources, and cars around her. But as the NHRA Countdown has arrived, DeJoria explains how all the work has the JCM Racing team on the verge of something big; how scary it was to start over at this point in her career; seeing it all come together so quickly; how this compares to other changes in her career; what went into building the team chemistry away from the racetrack; what each side wants from the other; the amount of fun she’s had this year; ou...

B.J. McLeod has it all right now between the success of his race team on the NASCAR track and the opening of his new roller coaster. McLeod returns to the podcast to discuss the best season Live Fast Motorsports has had since its inception; being a competitive Open team in the Cup Series; the dynamic of driver to driver to driver on the radio with McLeod, Katherine Legge, and Tommy Joe Martins; insight on the NASCAR testing policy; the feeling of the team running more races but not being in the seat as much; having the Pigeon Forge Racing...

Ida Zetterstrom finally had her dream come true this time a year ago when she made her NHRA Top Fuel debut. She returns to the podcast to discuss what it has been like since; the struggle watching racing go on without her; being at the track for her teammate Alexis DeJoria; working through the emotions of being out of the car; doing work for NHRA.TV this year and getting comfortable in the role; the many media and public opportunities Zetterstrom has embraced outside the car; becoming integrated in the NHRA community; the outlook for the end of the year...

Ty Dillon has been the belle of the ball with the NASCAR in-season tournament. Dillon joins the show to explain how he and Kaulig Racing have capitalized on the attention; staying relevant in the series; the fight for relevancy in his career; the path his career has taken; the type of person it takes to stick it out in the Cup Series; how racing has played into the type of person he’s become; not driving for Richard Childress Racing; landing at Kaulig Racing; how Dillon has been impacted by the people around him; clicking with crew chief Andrew Dickeson; be...

Will Brown, the reigning Australian Supercars champion, makes his NASCAR return this weekend on the streets of Chicago in a third entry for Kaulig Racing. It’s a course Brown has never competed, so he explains the work he’s done in the simulator to prepare; simulators not being a tool for Supercars drivers; thoughts on the course in Chicago based on what he’s learned in the simulator and seen otherwise; comparison of the Supercars to the Next Gen car; what he’s like on iRacing and why he’s in disguise; his tailgating experience in Atlanta; takeaways from the NASCAR...

It’s a jam-packed episode that highlights girl power, diversity, and various aspects of working in racing. 23XI Racing brings us inside Airspeed to meet some of its leading ladies, and we learn not only what they do but also the great stories of how they got here.  

Kerri Berryman (director of finance and accounting):   The woman with the spreadsheets; working closely with the competition department on cost; seeing the evolution of cost in the sport through her career; why she chose this perception and the misconception of the field when it come...

Elon Werner is the creator of Drag Race Bracket Bonanza (DRBB), a game that has qiuckly taken over the drag racing world. Werner is here to tell all as he explains finally taking the leap to create the game and how it works on the backend; the most important thing he wanted to incorporate in DRBB; the retention rate from week to week and keeping people playing; being a data resource for fans and not just a game with all the information incorporated; a run-down of the many prizes available to players; the range of the game reaching other countries...

Charles Denike has Bubba Wallace off to the best start of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and he’s done so as a new crew chief in the series. Denike dishes on settling in at 23XI Racing; how it feels to get off to a strong start this season; impressions of Wallace from afar and now working with him; why the time was right to make this career move; the positive reviews about him before the season even started; the adjustment from the Craftsman Truck Series to being in the Cup Series; if he’s been able to enjoy the fast...

Lyn St. James is an icon in the motorsports landscape and now as the co-founder of Women in Motorsports North America. We’re digging into how St. James view the growth of motorsports by encouraging more inclusion of women; the non-existent NASCAR ladder system and women trying to break into the sport; not being surprised by the current landscape of women in racing in the year 2025; the future of WIMNA in the motorsports space; WIMNA opening the door to a new generation learning about who St. James is and her career; the emotion of being inducted into the National Motorsports Pr...

Antron Brown is off to another solid start to an NHRA Top Fuel season, and we’ve got him fresh off a win to reflect and look ahead. Brown starts, however, with his takeaways from a visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for NASCAR racing and getting a different perspective in person; looking as good as a chocolate bar joke; the pedal fest at Gainesville where Brown won to start the season; explaining what pedaling the car is and the easiest mistake to make; what he learned about his team during a tough weekend; the boost of winning the first ra...

Katherine Legge has had time to download her NASCAR Cup Series debut, and there has been a lot to process from what happened. Legge shares what she’s been thinking about since last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway; why she felt embarrassed by what happened; the multiple phone calls Legge has made since Phoenix; reflecting on some of the highlights from the experience; having B.J. McLeod in her ear during the weekend; the characteristics of the Next Gen car versus other vehicles Legge has driven in racing; the overall takeaway of Cup Series racing/competition; having Andy Lally in her co...

The second part of our conversation with Sadie Glenn starts by switching into how she formed her own social media and photography company, SR Driven Media. Glenn works for a number of drivers in NHRA, such as her husband Dallas, Angie and Matt Smith, Corey Reed, and others. She then digs into having a degree but also being self-taught with the spacing changing over the years; what she tries to accomplish with her work for her clients; the importance of having something (the business) for herself; the openness and honesty Glenn brings to her personal social media pages; her plans...

Sadie Glenn is ready for a new NHRA drag racing season that begins this weekend in Florida. Not only as a businesswoman and wife, but as a racer herself. We start the first part of our conversation discussing being on the verge of a new NHRA season; living in NASCAR country; the background of her start in drag racing; the balance of being a part-time driver and her husband being a full-time driver; the approach to her driving career and how often she competes; the reality of trying to be a driver and how that was going to look; the...

Jimmie Johnson thought Legacy Motor Club had a win in a Daytona duel race, but the button doesn’t lie. Johnson gives his perspective on the ending of the duel race and Erik Jones being so close before going into an in-depth conversation about now being the organization's majority owner. Johnson breaks down the progress of the team and working through getting everything in place with Toyota, as well as being self-sufficient with processes in-house; choosing to go without an alliance partner; the type of owner Johnson wants to be; becoming comfortable as a leader of hundreds; the approach to be...

Layne Riggs is back with Front Row Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series, and we check in with the sophomore driver before he heads to Daytona. Riggs also discusses recovering from offseason shoulder surgery and how it felt during the Rockingham test last month; the shoulder making him go viral after winning at Milwaukee; what it’s like competing in a NASCAR national series for the first time; the adjustment to racing wide open; going through the learning pains of a rookie season; the biggest thing about having one season under his belt; where he’s most looking forward to retu...

William Byron spent the weekend driving his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the first time in 2025, and now he’s on the podcast. We start by seeing how Byron is physically feeling after the first race behind the wheel; the warm-up race leading into a season; ramping up training going into a season; the focus during the season on keeping the body strong and learning more about that over the years; having a week between the Clash and Daytona; returning to Daytona as the defending champion; what he remembers most about the 2024 victory; the change in confidence at superspeedways over the ye...

Rodney Childers hit the ground running with Spire Motorsports after the 2024 season finale, and now he’s sharing how much work has gone in with the No. 7 team to prepare for a new year. Childers shares the emotions of starting with a new organization; the dynamic of joining a new team and who is and isn’t familiar; the changing expectations within Spire; changing the entire cockpit for Justin Haley and the team basically starting over; building a relationship with Haley; defining expectations for the team; understanding Next Gen going into the fourth year; the overall feeling approaching a new seas...

Carson Hocevar is the new NASCAR Cup Series rookie of the year, and the offseason hasn’t yet slowed things down for him because of the award. Hocevar joins the show to discuss what he’s been up to since Phoenix; what he gets out of being at the shop regularly; what winning Rookie of the Year means to him; the difference in his expectations versus those around him; the growth process throughout the year; the races that stand out or Hocevar is most proud of; quickly taking to the Next Gen car; the idea of sim work and how much...

The social media team for RFK Racing does things a little differently than most others with its mix of serious and straightforward and fun and honest content. We’re meeting the team behind the accounts and how they got to RFK Racing. Then we jump into one member transitioning into motorsports from college athletics; how the posting process works with multiple people having account access; any approval process for posting; it being a conscious shift in how in-race updates are presented; keeping the emotions in check during the race; the change in engagement over the years; having other race teams en...

‘NASCAR Mavericks: The Rebels and Racers Who Revolutionized Stock Car Racing’ is the latest coffee table book for fans to explore the history of their favorite sport. Holly Cain, a long-time NASCAR writer and one of the co-authors of the books, shares how one begins to dig into what makes a maverick; the process of working with another author, and the personal battles Cain was going through during the project; the importance of the Smokey Yunick chapter; his Hall of Fame chances; including Mario Andretti; memories of Bill France Jr. and his famous expressions; the unrecognizable names in the book; anyt...

Wayne Auton, the NASCAR Xfinity Series managing director, returns to the podcast as he wraps up his tenure in the garage. Auton shares what it’s been like to go through this year and how folks have treated him; plans for 2025; going through the adjustment of what comes next and a changing lifestyle; how he views being a resource in the future; drivers wanting to share their success with him; what he wanted to get out of the final season; the drivers who stand out having seen them grow and get to where they are now; memorable moments from inside th...

Ida Zetterström is finally getting her feet underneath her in NHRA Top Fuel competition and a lot has happened in just a few races. Zetterström gives a detailed breakdown of her first five races; earning a red light for the first time in his drag racing career; the boost a big coming out weekend gave her and her team; continuing to get comfortable in a different dragster from her European machine; finding her routine and rhythm again after being out of the seat for over half a year; the competition not overlooking her team as a field filler; wh...

Kenny Wallace still has so much going on in life that he’s living by the motto: don’t let the old man in. Among the priorities is still racing dirt, and he explains what he gets out of doing that; the physical differences of not racing for a living; what it meant to be involved with Trackside Live at the SMI facilities; needing to get away from NASCAR after driving and loving it again now; coming back and being heavy into the media space of motorsports; the approach to doing interviews and having a podcast; the serious preparation done ahea...