Things happen when you're fighting for a championship. Jared Mees was once the top man in Progressive American Flat Track and Briar Bauman was just a young gun with big dreams. Bauman trained and worked with Mees, learned, and eventually became the new series champion. Bauman has won the last two titles and looked strong for a third, but Mees never gave up, even after a knee injury earlier this season. A late surge by Mees on his favored mile-long tracks has vaulted him to a slim points lead heading into this Friday's season finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The points are close enough to where whoever wins the race wins the title. Of course, such tight competition means Bauman and Mees are no longer friends like they used to be—it's just part of human nature. Jason Weigandt chats with both in this podcast, and you'll learn how rivalries develop and how they can actually heal back up once the showdowns are complete. Bauman has always wanted to maintain his social, outgoing demeanor, but it's getting harder with the pressure to be champion. Mees, meanwhile, has been in this exact position before, and he knows things can go full circle in more ways than just on a flat track.

The Racer X Exhaust podcast is presented by Yoshimura, Cardo Systems, and On X Maps.