Grip Strip Podcast

Phil and Josh come back on from a long weekend to recap the Greatest Day in Motorsports.  Combining the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, race fans had over 1,260 miles of action without including all the preliminaries. 

Josef Newgarden took advantage of a Green-White-Checkered in the 107th Indy 500 to deny Marcus Ericsson a repeat and the Borg-Warner bonus over $420,000.  This was off three red flags in the last 20 laps of the event, after a generally clean day prior to that. The guys go over all the key players (McLaren, Ganassi and Ferrucci), the incidents that led to the finish and if that is how the biggest race of the IndyCar season should end plus a points review leading to Detroit.

Verstappen won a mixed weather Monaco Grand Prix over Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.  The only real drama was during the changeable conditions and issues for the drivers during that time.  Many drivers had issues during the day and weekend, which affected the points leading to Barcelona.

Phil and Josh provided live commentary on Ryan Blaney's first points win in 59 races at the rain-delayed Coca-Cola 600. Continuing the 2023 trend, Hendrick and Gibbs had the measure over the majority.  However, the actual most popular driver in NASCAR had a great car and overcame numerous restarts to capture the major. 

The guys also talked about the XFinity race that had been rescheduled five or six times since the original start time, with Justin Allgaier using fuel mileage to get JR Motorsports their first win of 2023.  Trucks actually ran on Friday and saw Ben Rhodes take his first win of 2023 on strategy, and promptly loses his crew chief to Matt Crafton.

The GSP Roundup covers F2/F3, NHRA, WRC, Formula E, WSBK and Indy NXT before Phil and Josh preview and make picks for the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix returning to the streets of Detroit for the first time since 1991. 

The guys also preview and make picks for the F1 Spanish Grand Prix along with the split NASCAR weekend between Gateway and Portland.  Josh provides his exploits in the iRacing Coca-Cola 600 and other races in the Sim Segment prior to show close.    

Phil and Josh return for one of the best times of the year, leading into the Greatest Day In Motorsports.  The guys review Larson's demolition in the All-Star race and what can be done for short track racing with the Gen 7 along with his double in the Trucks.  Other argy bargy went on in the Open but not a whole lot otherwise; however, the Truck race was a cluster. 

Indianapolis 500 qualifying was epic with Alex Palou setting the fastest four-lap average for the pole along with a 235mph+ lap for the points leader.  Rinus Veekay and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the fastest and youngest front row in 500 history.  On the opposite end, Graham Rahal failed to qualify on the 30-year anniversary of his father Bobby missing the race after winning the IndyCar championship.  Discussion of the incident for Stefan Wilson and who could be in play is covered also. 

F1 at Imola was cancelled due to rain, flooding and other issues, so the guys give their prayers and best wishes to the community in their recovery prior to a lean GSP Roundup with F1 Academy at Barcelona, Supercars at Symmons Plains, NHRA in Chicagoland and F2/F3 at Monaco.

Phil and Josh preview and make picks for the Monaco Grand Prix for F1 prior to the NASCAR tripleheader at Charlotte Motor Speedway and The Indianapolis 500 prior to Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.

Phil and Josh come back for E169 of the GSP to cover IndyCar at the IMS Road Course, which saw Alex Palou take his first win of 2023 and the NASCAR tripleheader throwback weekend at Darlington along with thoughts on who made the Top 75 Drivers of all-time.  A busy Roundup looks at IMSA, MotoGP/Moto2, WRC, Extreme E, Indy NXT, Supercross, F2/F3, F1 Academy, Supercars and NHRA.

The crew previews the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola (Phil isn't calling it by the ridiculous name Liberty came up with), where the guys swap which Red Bull will win before getting into the NASCAR Cup All-Star Race and Trucks returning to North Wilkesboro with Phil adding some memories from the past and Indianapolis 500 Qualifying with who could win pole and who is in trouble. 

Josh lets us know all things gaming and iRacing in his Sim Segment prior to Show Close.

Denny Hamlin's first win of 2023 in the Cup Series at Kansas was overshadowed by a nicely thrown right cross by Ross Chastain on bowl cut goofball Noah Gragson after a battle between the two during the race.  Hamlin battled his golfing buddy Kyle Larson late and made contact after his driver Tyler Reddick spun the polesitter five laps into the race. 

While the media is coming out saying that was the best race in recent history, the issues with the Next Gen car continue to be exposed.  Grant Enfinger took his first win of 2023 in the Craftsman Truck Series at Kansas in a generally docile event, with Darlington on tap.

Formula 1 at Miami was a fan spectacle and a boring, processional race for a second consecutive year.  Verstappen utilized a better tire strategy from 9th to pass teammate and polesitter Sergio Perez on track for his 3rd win of 2023.  Alonso gets another podium and Lewis Hamilton advanced from 13th to 6th on the same tire strategy as MV. 

The GSP Roundup covers Formula E in Monaco, WSBK in Barcelona, F1 Academy in Valencia along with previews of MotoGP/Moto2 at Le Mans, IMSA at Laguna Seca, WRC Rally Portugal, Extreme E in Scotland and Indy NXT at Indy road course. 

Phil and Josh preview and make their picks for the IndyCar GMR Grand Prix at the Indy RC before discussing the throwbacks at Darlington for all three major NASCAR series.  The crew also makes their picks for all three races before Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.

Technical problems, Phil bowling with the pros and Josh making one of his hottest takes ever...these are just a few of the things that took place on E167 of the GSP.  However, plenty of racing took place as well!  Scotty McLaughlin earned his first victory of 2023 at Barber in a tough battle versus pole-sitter Romain Grosjean and teammate Will Power.  McLaughlin's three-stop strategy became optimal due to a questionable yellow along with Grosjean using up his P2P early. 

NASCAR saw a Truex family double, with Martin taking his first Cup win since 2021 on a Monday after his brother Ryan finally won his first XFinity race after over a decade in the series.  Josh lights the fire with his take on Ross Chastain after continued argy bargy involving the championship runner up from 2022.  Formula 1 at Azerbaijan saw Sergio Perez take his second win of 2023 after a fortuitous full safety car after teammate Max Verstappen pitted.  The Red Bull duo finished 1-2 with Charles Leclerc on the podium after starting on pole.  

Josh and Phil cover their respective NFL teams drafts and their thoughts on the other teams work as rookie mini camps and OTA's take place.  The GSP Roundup covers WEC at Spa, MotoGP/Moto2 at Jerez, NHRA Charlotte Four-Wide, Supercars at Wanneroo, Indy NXT at Barber along with previews of WSBK at Barcelona and Formula E at Monaco. 

The crew previews and makes their picks for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Miami along with NASCAR Cup and Trucks in Kansas prior to Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.

Josh and Phil

Phil and Josh return for E166 of the GSP to cover Talladega for NASCAR Cup and XFinity teams and talk about the NFL Draft.  Kyle Busch benefited from a last lap wreck between BFF's Darrell Wallace, Jr. and Ryan Blaney to get his first Talladega win in 15 years while Jeb Burton used multiple Green/White/Checkered's to get Jordan Anderson Racing their first victory in NASCAR while locking into the XFinity playoffs.  The guys get into all the carnage and issues that came up during the weekend. 

Josh spoke about the options Jacksonville has in the first round and Phil added his thoughts on the early part of the draft and what could transpire, plus FallBrawl is back for another year in Fantasy Football. A busy GSP Roundup comes next and includes: WRC, Formula E, World Superbike, WEC, MotoGP/Moto2, NHRA, Supercars, Indy NXT and F2. 

Phil and Josh preview the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and make their picks along with Cup/XFinity at Dover and IndyCar at Barber Motorsports Park prior to Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.

Phil and Josh return for E165 of the GSP to recap IndyCar at Long Beach and NASCAR at Martinsville.  Kyle Kirkwood dominated from pole to win his first IndyCar race, with Andretti Autosport taking three of the top four positions.  Pato O'Ward wore the black hat with two ill-advised moves going into Turn 9, with one eliminating Scott Dixon.  The guys go over the race, what it means for Kirkwood going forward and the points leading into Barber in two weeks. 

NASCAR Cup closed the triple-header weekend at Martinsville Speedway, with Kyle Larson taking his first win at the paperclip along with the grandfather clock.  Even with down-force, aero and engine power adjustments, the racing was just as bad or worse than last year.  Larson was nowhere but used strategy to get track position and eventually lead the last 30 laps to victory. 

Stewart-Haas Racing had four fast Ford Mustangs, but not much to show for that.  Chase Briscoe led the team with a fifth place finish and second most laps led, while pole-sitter Ryan Preece dominated the first stage only to speed on pit road and have to climb back to 15th.  Kevin Harvick ran up front for the majority of the day but issues on pit road and a cut tire relegated the soon to be retiree to 20th.  Aric Almirola had a roller-coaster day but salvaged a sixth.  Other key players are discussed and points are reviewed before the teams and drivers head to Talladega.

In the XFinity Series, Phil picked the driver to win in John Hunter Nemechek, and he paid that off by burning his Toyota Supra to the ground in celebration.  Basically nobody else had anything for him and he is now the points leader in the series over Austin Hill.  The Trucks saw the introduction of the damp weather oval tires, raced in the first stage prior to a stoppage for rain.  Corey Heim battled his former boss Kyle Busch for 124 laps before the race was called and the Tricon Garage driver earned his 3rd career victory.

A packed GSP Roundup covers Supercross, IMSA, MotoGP/Moto2, WEC at Portimao, NHRA at Las Vegas Four Wide (with someone named Anthony Wayne Stewart winning in Top Alcohol Dragster...he's won somewhere before), along with previews of Rally Croatia for WRC, Formula E in Berlin and WSBK in Assen. 

The Tate Fogleman Algorithm returns to the site where it got its name, since the Cup and XFinity teams will be at Talladega this weekend.  Phil and Josh preview and make picks for both races plus the wild card selection.  Josh provides details of his go-karting exploits and iRacing work on his Sim Segment prior to show close.

On the week after The Masters, Phil and Josh return for E164 of the GSP to cover Bristol Dirt, which saw Christopher Bell get his first win of 2023 in Cup while Joey Logano dominated in Trucks.  The guys cover what essentially was two processional races and whether dirt racing belongs on the circuit.  Dirt drivers dominated in Cup while some different names starred in Trucks.

The NASCAR Top 75 list started with Tony Stewart being added and then, stuff started getting interesting when Kandy Kahne was nominated.  Phil and Josh go through the lists they made last November and reviewed whether Kahne should've been on there.  Mike Stefanik, Randy LaJoie and Kyle Larson were added during the week along with Phil going over Jon Rahm's historic victory at Augusta.

For the GSP Roundup, Supercross at Glendale, IMSA at Long Beach, MotoGP/Moto2, WEC at Portimao, and the NHRA Las Vegas Four Wide Nationals were previewed before the guys get into the IndyCar Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach with previews and picks.  All three NASCAR series will be at the paperclip at Martinsville Speedway, so Phil and Josh preview and pick all three series before Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close. 

Phil and Josh return for a jam packed E163 of the GSP prior to Easter weekend.  The crew discusses the battle between eventual winner Josef Newgarden and points leader Pato O'Ward at TMS for IndyCar along with other keys leading to Long Beach.

Larson wins his first Cup race of 2023 at Richmond after Byron dominates again while Chandler Smith thanks his smoking hot wife after winning his first XFinity race the day before at RIR.  Carson Hocevar gets over the hump in the Craftsman Truck Series by assisting dominant race leader Nick Sanchez into a three truck pileup with Zane Smith and Christian Eckes at the end of a Texas dumpster fire.

F1 saw Verstappen win but Lewis Hamilton takes a hard earned second place with Fred Alonso continuing his consistency with a third consecutive podium leading into the first long break of the season.  Checo Perez came from tailback to get a top five, McLaren finally earned points and Ferrari continues to be Ferrari. 

A lean GSP Roundup covers F2/F3 at Albert Park, Supercars at Albert Park, MotoGP/Moto2 in Argentina and NHRA at Pomona before Phil and Josh preview and make picks for Trucks and Cup at the Bristol Dirt Race.  Josh lets us know what's going on in the world of sim racing and gaming in his Sim Segment prior to Show Close.  

Phil and Josh return for E162 to discuss all of the events at Circuit of the Americas with a major focus on the carnage that took place.  Tyler Reddick continues his road racing prowess with his first win for 23XI after a long race battle with William Byron and fighting through multiple Green-White-Checkered finishes.  Outside of those two, plenty of drivers left angry and with damaged race cars. 

In the XFinity race, AJ Allmendinger cleaned Sheldon Creed out late to repeat as a winner at CoTA while Zane Smith burned his truck down literally after earning his second consecutive win at CoTA along with Front Row Motorsports continuing their unbeaten streak in the Craftsman Truck Series there. 

The GSP Roundup covers MotoGP/Moto2, NHRA, Supercross, Formula E, F2&F3 along with Supercars before Phil and Josh preview and make picks for the IndyCar race at Goosage World, the F1 Australian Grand Prix and NASCAR's Cup/XFinity at Richmond with the Trucks at Goosage World.  Josh provides his insights on iRacing and gaming in the Sim Segment prior to Show Close.