Grip Strip Podcast

With the Olympics playing a part, Phil and Josh only have one major race to discuss but it was definitely an interesting Belgian Grand Prix for Formula 1 on E231 of the GSP. Sir Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner after teammate Woody Russell's car came up 1.5kgs light. Oscar Piastri followed up his first win with a third place finish while catching the Mercedes duo.

Fish Lips took his annual engine penalties and started 11th after taking pole.  However, his move through the field wasn't as easy as many thought it would be (including us). FL finished 5th but didn't lose many points to title rival Lando Norris. Pit strategies played their part with Lewis going for two while Russell went for one.  Major silly season news items regarding Carlos Sainz's move to Williams and Sergio Perez somehow still having a job were topics to cover. 

Phil and Josh started their 2024 NFL Season discussion with updates on their favorite teams, with more coverage and discussions as the guys get ready for Fantasy Football and more. The GSP Roundup covered F2/F3, NHRA with Anthony Wayne Stewart making a final while Jack Beckman is the replacement for John Force for the remainder of 2024, MotoGP/Moto2, WRC, IMSA and WEC. Josh lets us know what's going on in iRacing and gaming in the Sim Segment before the socials are mentioned. 

Phil and Josh have plenty to talk about on E230 of the GSP after the NASCAR tripleheader at Indy, IndyCar at Toronto and Formula 1 in Hungary. Larson jumps the last restart and through a technicality wins his first Brickyard 400.

Phil goes after William Byron after he called Chase Briscoe a squirrel while fellow young guns John Hunter Nemechek and Carson Hocevar caused massive incidents of their own. Fuel mileage was the name of the game with YRB in position to win and sweep the season for Penske in the big races while former teammate Brad Keselowski tried to harken back to the old days with his fuel saving. 

Riley Herbst drifted through Turn 4 on the final lap of the XFinity race to win for the second time in his career. Stewart-Haas had the best race cars at the track in the precursor to the Brickyard 400. Ty Majeski gets his first win of 2024 in the Truck Series and repeats at IRP while Corey Heim throws a *&^%$ fit at championship rival Christian Eckes.

IndyCar saw Colton Herta destroy the field throughout the entire weekend at Toronto. Andretti Global took a 1-2 finish while Alex Palou started deep in the field and still finished fourth. A massive turn one wreck with ARCA brakes action destroyed multiple cars including the McLaren of Pato O'Ward and Root Beer Float Head.

Speaking of McLaren, Oscar Piastri became a first-time winner in Formula 1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix after plenty of assistance from the pit wall to convince teammate Lando Norris to move over after McLaren screwed up the strategy. Fish Lips was definitely in a mood after completing a sim race earlier that morning and lost out on the final podium place to Sir Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari wasn't as fast as the top three teams but salvaged their day along with poor qualifying efforts by Perez and Russell ending up with points.  

The Roundup covers F2/F3, NHRA, WSBK, Supercars, WRC and Formula E before the guys preview the Belgian Grand Prix for Formula 1 and make their picks. Josh lets us know his exploits on iRacing and gaming in the Sim Segment before calling it a night. 

Eight years after his first win at The Tricky Triangle in Cup, Ryan Blaney held off arguably the best driver ever at the track in Dennis Hamlin to win for the second time there in front of his fiance's family.  Phil and Josh get into everything that went on at Pocono, the other key players and the points heading to the Brickyard 400. 

Cole Custer has been close all year, but finally came through with his first XFinity win of the season and solidified his points lead in the process.  On the heels of likely being called back to Cup, Custer battled with Justin Allgaier and Byron to get the victory. Corey Heim held off Christian Eckes to win his fifth Truck race of 2024, continuing the trend between the two best drivers and teams in the series.  The guys look at the races and recap the points heading to Indy.

A goofy repave, extreme heat and super hard tires made the IndyCar doubleheader at Iowa a procession.  Penske drivers Scott McLaughlin and William Power took the wins while Iowa dominator Josef Newgarden had a rare mis-step at one of his best tracks.  Alex Palou crashed in race one but recovered in race two to maintain his points lead heading to Toronto. For the GSP Roundup, Phil looks at WEC, IMSA, WSBK, Extreme E, F2/F3, Supercars, WRC, NHRA, and Formula E's season finale.  

Previews and Picks are next with the Hungarian Grand Prix for F1, IndyCars at Toronto and the NASCAR tripleheader at Indy culminating with the 30th anniversary edition of the Brickyard 400.  Josh lets us know all things going on in iRacing with his Sim Segment prior to saying see ya later!

For the first time in 2.5 years, Sir Lewis Hamilton got on the top step of the podium with his 104th victory and record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix win.  Phil was a complete disaster post race but was able to keep it together with Josh to talk about all the happenings at Silverstone.  McLaren made multiple strategy errors that left Lando Norris in third behind his BFF Verstappen and Red Bull, even though they were the third best car. The guys get into all of the key calls, other battles and the points heading to Hungary.

Pato O'Ward took his first win on track in two years after a spirited battle with defending series champion Alex Palou to win the Honda Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio.  In the debut of the hybrids, the race ran green from start to finish and only one person DNF'ed.  That person was six-time Mid-Ohio winner and series champion Scott Dixon, who lost plenty of ground to Palou with the hybrid issues he and the No. 9 team faced.  Scotty Mac and the Thirsty Three's finished in third but plenty of silly season stuff happening along with a points recap heading to Iowa. 

NASCAR made their second trip to the Streets of Chicago, with the Cup Series racing in the rain for the second consecutive year.  Shane Van Gisbergen was the overwhelming favorite going in and definitely had a car to repeat.  However, horrible conditions and Chase Briscoe having no brakes sent SVG into the fence and out of the race. Plenty of argy bargy went on including eventual winner Alex Bowman cleaning out Darrell Wallace, Jr.

Bubba showed his displeasure after the race and paid the price on a day that Toyota seemed to have the handle, with teammate Tyler Reddick possibly throwing away victory with a mistake on the last lap. The guys get into the horrendous management of the race itself along with starting it so late that it put the race into torrential rain. Teams finally were able to choose what tires to run and NASCAR actually made it a timed race after long delays.  Points are reviewed with another new winner heading to Pocono.  

SVG held off Kyle Larson to win his third consecutive XFinity road course race, which was the first dry race on the streets of Chicago. The battle between Van Gisbergen, Larson and Keebler Gibbs was the main storyline in a race that definitely featured a lot of carnage. Phil and Josh review the points heading to Pocono. 

A busy GSP Roundup covers F2/F3, MotoGP/Moto2, Indy NXT, WEC, IMSA, WSBK and Extreme E before the guys come back to preview the Iowa IndyCar doubleheader and make their picks. They also make their picks for the Pocono NASCAR tripleheader before Josh's Sim Segment and calling it a day. 

An action packed weekend leads nicely into the GSP, with Phil and Josh talking about all the major stories of the weekend. Joey Logano did his best Scott Dixon impression while fading five GWC's and 30 extra laps to win the Cup race at Nashville and lock himself into the playoffs.  Logano blocked Chase Briscoe into the gray and left Tyler Reddick looking like Kurt Angle in his TNA Wrestling days.

Tire fall off was minimal but rubber laid down on the track, with the rain delay making the race worthwhile. Briscoe was officially introduced as the driver of the Bass Pro Shops Toyota in the Cup Series earlier in the week.  On the XFinity side, John Hunter Nemechek led a JGR 1-2 finish with Keebler Gibbs and Cole Custer being the other standouts on a boiling hot day. Christian Eckes led every lap of the Truck Series race to build his case as the top contender over Corey Heim for the Truck Series title. 

Formula 1 brought out an old story but with a different opponent at Austria.  Fish Lips proved once again that he cannot race wheel-to-wheel with someone who may be as fast or faster after moving more than Floyd Mayweather on his "friend" Lando Norris and knocking both of them out of contention.  Phil lets loose on FL since he and his team won't take any accountability.  He still finished fifth and got the fastest lap while Lando and McLaren chose to retire the car.  The drivers who picked up the scraps were Woody Russell for his second career win, Oscar Piastri who probably will wonder if his lap hadn't been deleted in qualifying along with Carlos Sainz the driver for Ferrari. 

The GSP Roundup covers F2, F3, MotoGP, Moto2, NHRA and an update on John Force, Formula E and Robert Wickens getting behind the wheel of an open-wheel car for the first time since his accident at Pocono, WRC Rally Poland and sadness in the leadup, Supercars and Indy NXT before the guys come back to preview and make picks for the F1 British Grand Prix.  IndyCar comes back to start the hybrid era at Mid-Ohio and the insanity that is NASCAR on a street course returns in Chicago for Cup & XFinity.  Josh lets us know all things going on iRacing in his Sim Segment prior to the promotions.

After a busy weekend of motorsports, Phil and Josh are ready to tell you all about it on E226 of the GSP.  Hello Palou won from pole at Laguna Seca but didn't have it easy. Andretti Global and Arrow McLaren had their entire teams represented in the top 12, including the debuting Nolan Siegel in the No.6. Will Power struggled but salvaged a 7th place finish for points.  Plenty of stuff including the introduction of hybrids and Faux taking over TV coverage are just some of the additional storylines heading into an off weekend.  

On the NASCAR side, Christopher Bell dominated at New Hampshire and also spilled the beans on Chase Briscoe being the replacement for the retiring Martin Truex, Jr. at the No.19 car in the Cup series.  Bell was fast in the dry and the wet, but his future teammate Briscoe and current teammate Josh Berry used the rain to get podium finishes on a day where Briscoe was about to go a lap down in the first segment.  Bell passed teammate Sheldon Creed on the last lap to win the XFinity race and go 4/4 at The Magic Mile in the series.  Creed joins Dale Jarrett and Daniel Hemric for the most runner-ups prior to a first win in series history. 

Fish Lips continues his reign on F1 with a win at the spot of his first victory in Catalunya. Woody Russell beat FL and his buddy and polesitter Lando Norris off the line to lead, but the other two passed and went off in the distance. Sir Lewis Hamilton earned his first podium since Mexico last fall. Tire choices and pit stops played a key role in the result at a track that is brutal for overtaking.

The GSP Roundup covers IMSA, Indy NXT, F2, F3, F1 Academy, NHRA, MotoGP, Moto2, WRC and Formula E before Phil and Josh preview the Austrian Grand Prix for F1 and the NASCAR tripleheader at Nashville. Josh lets us know about his karting exploits in the Sim/Karting segment prior to promotions.

Coming off Father's Day weekend, Phil and Josh have their thoughts on Ryan Blaney's first win of 2024 in the Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway and much more.  The guys discuss the race and how the usual suspects had their issues along with tires playing a big part in a solid race.  Blaney became a winner in all three series at Iowa Speedway in front of over 150 friends and family. 

In terms of family and home tracks, nobody has more than Martin Truex, Jr. who announced his full-time retirement from Cup racing after this season.  Phil and Josh talk about what MTJ has meant to the sport and his rise to champion driver after a slow start to his career.  They also go over who is in play for that car.  On the XFinity side, Sam Mayer takes another victory at the expense of Riley Herbst.

Phil gets some golf talk into the show with Rory McIlroy's collapse at the US Open and Bryson DeChambeau following in the footsteps of fellow SMU alum Payne Stewart as a US Open champion at Pinehurst No. 2 and continues his Captain America arc. The GSP Roundup recaps the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Supercars at Darwin, WSBK at Misano and previews the Six Hours at The Glen for IMSA, Indy NXT at Laguna Seca for a doubleheader, F2/F3/F1 Academy at Barcelona and the NHRA Virginia Nationals. 

Phil and Josh come back together to preview the Spanish Grand Prix and make their picks for who may finish behind Fish Lips.  IndyCar goes to Laguna Seca and the guys make their picks for that event along with Cup & XFinity at New Hampshire.  Josh lets us know all things going on in iRacing in the Sim Segment before the close.

Phil and Josh are back to discuss a busy weekend in motorsports on the GSP. William Power led a Penske sweep of the podium at Road America.  Strategy played a big part in the results of the day along with a major wreck at the start of the race, taking out polesitter Linus Lundqvist and Colton Herta. In off-track news, Augustin Canapino's fanbase continues to show the worst in social media.  In turn, he gets benched for Nolan Siegel and that could possibly mean more than just one race. The guys look at all of this and the points heading to Laguna Seca.

NASCAR Cup and XFinity raced at Snoreoma for Faux's last race of 2024. Kyle Larson was the dominant presence and earned another road course victory with better tires at the end.  Martin Truex, Jr. is left wondering when that win will come but earned solid points. Some destruction took place because they brought stage breaks back, but the final stage was pretty tame.

For all of the XFinity teams, Shane Van Gisbergen is definitely making things difficult on road courses with his supreme talent.  His restart move on Bobby Hill allowed the Kiwi to win two consecutive races and solidify his spot in the XFinity playoffs.  However, the post race celebration may have been one of the greatest things ever.  

Fish Lips won the Canadian Grand Prix but it wasn't a straightforward event with the emergence of Lando Norris continuing to cause the one car trouble. Woody Russell rounded out the podium after starting on pole.  Sir Lewis Hamilton's last year in silver and black continues to confound many with all of the issues he's facing on his side of the garage.  His future employer definitely had a weekend to forget.

The GSP Roundup covers Indy NXT, NHRA, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, V8 Supercars and WSBK before Phil and Josh preview the NBC opener at Iowa Speedway.  They provide their thoughts of no Junebug on the broadcasts but the fact that NBC actually tries.  Also, they discuss the paving of two grooves in the turns and if that will cause one-groove racing.  Both make their picks for the Cup and XFinity races before Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.  

Phil and Josh return for E223 of the GSP to discuss all the craziness at Detroit, Gateway and elsewhere in the world of motorsports.  In Detroit, Honda powered IndyCar's seemed to dominate in Chevy's house with the podium swept by the Ohio/California gang.  Scott Dixon put on another fuel saving doctoral dissertation but had heat from fellow Kiwi and teammate Marcus Armstrong and former teammate Marcus Ericsson at the end. 

Issues throughout the field and eight cautions in the first 73 laps marred what basically became a survival test. Augustin Canapino and the Argentinian fanbase are out of order after threatening Theo Pourchaire.  When the drivers are wishing and hoping to go back to Belle Isle, the track is bad.  

NASCAR Cup and Trucks were at Gateway while the XFinity drivers were at Portland for road course action.  Austin Cindric was the beneficiary of issues for both Christopher Bell and teammate Ryan Blaney, taking his first win since winning the 2022 Daytona 500.  This was not a great day for the points contenders in general, but there's still plenty of races left. 

Stewart-Haas Racing will cease to exist at the end of 2024, after Tony and Gene made that announcement to the team after the 600.  Phil and Josh give their thoughts at the end of this organization along with where some of the key people will go.  With Snoreoma upcoming, that will be Faux last telecast of 2024.  Other than Harvick and Mike Joy, is there anything redeeming? 

Shane Van Gisbergen became a NASCAR XFinity winner at Portland, passing dominant presence Justin Allgaier late in the race.  All three Kaulig cars finished in the top 10, and SVG locks himself into the playoffs.  Another person who is locked into the playoffs is Corey Heim after a fourth win of the Truck Series regular season.  Outside of Heim, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes and Nick Sanchez stand as the only drivers that might have a chance at Phoenix. 

The GSP Roundup will recap IMSA at Detroit, NHRA at Epping, MotoGP/Moto2 at Mugello along with major rider news and WRC Rally Italy before previewing Indy NXT at Road America.  Phil and Josh make their picks and discuss the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, NASCAR Cup and XFinity at Snoreoma and IndyCar at Road America.  Josh lets us know his exploits in iRacing on his Sim Segment prior to show close. 

One of the traditions that take place yearly is The Greatest Day In Motorsports, which is a national holiday for us at the GSP! Phil and Josh recap Josef Newgarden making a last lap pass on Pato O'Ward to win his second consecutive Indianapolis 500. 

Newgarden becomes the first repeat winner since Helio Castro-Neves in 2001-02 while Chevy dominated the oval portion of the month at Indy with Penske, McLaren and others like Conor Daly, SRR, RBFH, etc. Kyle Larson stayed to race Indy even with a rain delay and finished 18th, but he ran way better than that for the majority of the race.  Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood picked up the pieces for Honda after a brutal couple of weeks as the IndyCar teams head off to the streets of Detroit.

While Larson was racing at Indy, the Coca-Cola 600 started at Charlotte and raced through halfway and nearly three stages before Yung Money flew back and arrived at the track.  In the end, NASCAR waited a few hours to call the race and declare Christopher Bell the winner in what ended up as the Coca-Cola 373.5.  Social media and fans were angry after numerous clips and pictures showed a drying or dry track, the delay in calling the race and the disappointment in not seeing Larson get into a fast car that Justin Allgaier had driven to 13th. 

On the XFinity side, William Clyde Elliott II took the win for Hendrick and the 17 car in what was a Cup benefit like the old days.  Allgaier won both stages for a second consecutive race, but got wrecked on a restart in the third stage.  JRM still faired pretty well in spite of Allgaier's misfortune. Nick Sanchez used track position and good timing to hold off a hard charging Corey Heim for his second win of the 2024 Truck Series season.  Heim would later be disqualified for three loose lugnuts, after dominating the majority of the race.  

Formula 1 held their annual procession at Monaco, with Charl Eclair becoming the first driver from Monaco to win in the 93-year history of the event.  Josh watched the regular broadcast while Phil enjoyed the kids broadcast.  Fish Lips actually struggled and finished sixth.  All of the top-10 in the starting order finished exactly where they started. The only major issue was a crash involving Sergio Perez and the two Haas cars.

The GSP Roundup looks at F2/F3 at Monaco, MotoGP/Moto2, Formula E, NHRA, IMSA and Indy NXT before Josh and Phil come back to preview and make picks for Cup/Trucks at Gateway along with XFinity at Portland.  They also preview and make picks for the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix.  Josh provides plenty of insight into his trevails during the iRacing Coke 600 along with Indy 500 prep in his Sim Segment prior to Show Close.