AFP Podcasts

Denny Hamlin, who won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in Las Vegas, was described by our Rod Mullins as downright “humble” post-race, which leads to the question: did somebody do something to our Denny Hamlin?

Rod joins the show to discuss.

We also go in depth on the latest development in the NASCAR charter lawsuit, which appears to be headed to trial in December – though I wonder if NASCAR might be better advised to settle ahead of time, instead of allowing a judge to decide how the series does its business going forward.

That, and we preview Talladega, coming up this weekend.

It’s the anniversary edition of the #TeamAFP podcast. My co-host and breaking news editor, Crystal Graham, said I do 25 years ago today, on Oct. 7, 2000.

To mark 25 years of her having to put up with my nonsense, I made her acknowledge that she married me, which is no small admission.

Then we get to business: talking through the recent spate of homes collapsing in OBX and the Trump administration’s effort to get UVA to bend the knee on ideology for a few extra bucks.

Also: the very important story involving UVA Football being 5-1 and ranked 19th in the AP Top 25.

That, and we have to get packing for our anniversary week trip to NYC.

Shane van Gisbergen, shocker, took the win at the Charlotte Roval, notching his fifth road-race win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Rod Mullins was down in Charlotte for us this past weekend, and reports back on van Gisbergen’s road-course dominance, and the scramble among the 12 drivers still in the playoff hunt to get to the cutline for the Round of 8.

Also on this week’s show: we go into detail on the latest in the antitrust case in which two teams are challenging the NASCAR charter system.

Denny Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s also the co-owner of 23XI Racing, which has Bubba Wallace efforting to stay alive in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

So, when Hamlin bumped Wallace into the wall toward the end of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, that was going to get folks’ attention, including Wallace’s.

The word “dumbass” may have entered the chat, for instance.

Wallace is, right now, on the outside looking in, with one race left in the Round of 12, which becomes the Round of 8 after this weekend’s Charlotte ROVAL.

Rod Mullins will be down in Charlotte covering the race for AFP.

I chatted with Rod on today’s podcast to get into this Denny Hamlin-Bubba Wallace story, among other things, including the rumors that NASCAR is going to shutter its current playoff format to go back to the way things were down pre-2004.

Matt Kenseth comes up as we talk through that one.

Also, discussion of declining NASCAR ratings, and how politics is playing a role in that.

Erik Simonsen isn’t one to let obstacles get in his way, so when, toward the end of a recent 31-mile hike through the Vermont wilderness, for something called the Killington Spartan Ultra 50K, it was just a 60-pound sandbag between him and the finish line, OK, that one almost got him.

“Just cruel, yeah, I think that they put it at the end was the cruel part. You know, in the middle, I could have done it fine and gotten through it. But the very last thing is just this huge sandbag carry, and it’s, oh, why is it here?” said Simonsen, a 33-year-old Waynesboro High School alum, who got past the sandbag carry to finish the Sept. 13 Killington Ultra in 12:26:12.

Jimmy Kimmel has doubts about the official story from the MAGA prosecutor handling the Charlie Kirk murder. So does Steve Bannon, among many others, but Bannon is also a MAGA, and a bit of a crank, so he’s safe.

The Trump administration used a leverage point over a company seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger to force Kimmel off the air “indefinitely” – not so much about what Kimmel said about the Kirk murder investigation in the opening monologue of his late-night ABC talk show on Monday, but rather, that Kimmel is a frequent and high-profile critic of Donald Trump.

If the 2025 UVA Football season was one long game, we’re in the break between the first and second quarters.

What we’ve seen so far:

Good a time as any to ask: what do we know about this team, three games in?

Whit Babcock isn’t pleading poverty because he thinks he can get Virginia Tech donors to open up their checkbooks.

He knows that Tech Athletics has pretty much tapped out what it can get from its money people.

There isn’t another $50 million or $60 million a year just sitting out there waiting to be tapped.

What Babcock is doing is, he’s daring the Virginia Tech administration to fire him.

Be careful what you wish for there.

Christopher Bell took the checkered flag in Bristol Saturday night, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its third win in three starts in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

The win puts Bell in the 12-team second round, which begins on Sunday in New Hampshire at the USA Today 301.

Rod Mullins was at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s night race, and breaks down the win for Bell, the issues with the tires that caused “uncontrolled chaos” at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”