Grip Strip Podcast

Phil and Josh bring back regular contributor Joe Passero of Beyond The Flag/Fansided to interview legendary motorsports commentator and co-owner of Speed Sport Ralph Sheheen.  Ralph stays on for nearly an hour to discuss his early days and current projects in motorsports along with providing plenty of great advice for those who are looking to get into the motorsports broadcasting/journalism business. 

Ralph also went over some great stories and moments along with his amazing collection of books and memorabilia (which you can see on the YT channel feed)!  Ralph also assisted Phil in going to commercial since Phil was still in fanboy mode! 

After the interview, the trio discussed Tyler Reddick's shocking move to 23XI for 2024.  What does this mean for him, 23XI, RCR and who's in play to replace him at RCR?  Could Dale, Jr. and JRM come into Cup?  New Hampshire saw Christopher Bell win his second career Cup Series race and become the 14th different winner in 2022.  The guys go over other key stories like Martin Truex, Jr. and Kevin Harvick who dominated the race along with some drivers that had strong runs but have struggled so far in 2022.  Clyde continues to finish up front and add to his points lead with a solid chance to win the Regular Season title.

On the XFinity side, JRM continues their domination with Justin Allgaier winning at NHMS for the first time but solidifying his shot for an elusive first title.  Ty Gibbs was the other dominant figure but had mechanical issues while Landon Cassill had a career day ruined by a post-race penalty.  The finishing order was definitely random with all the attrition that took place.

Phil, Josh and Joe previewed the triple header at Pocono Raceway this coming weekend along with picks.  Zane Smith essentially needs to start on Saturday to win the Regular Season title and earn another 15 playoff points while all the regulars are looking for one more win before moving to IRP for the playoff opener next week. 

Can Matt Crafton make the playoffs or will the three-time series champion miss out due to an outside driver winning?  In XFinity and Cup, both races could play a big role in the points battles and possibly another winner making the cutoff more interesting. 

Phil and Josh discuss all the action from Austria, which saw Charles Leclerc get his first win since April and Verstappen struggle but still finish second.  Ferrari almost throw it away after Carlos Sainz's engine melts down and Leclerc has throttle and gearbox issues but held on.  Lewis Hamilton continues his podium streak while Mercedes comes home with a 3-4 finish while they develop a better car.  Alpine and McLaren are tied in Constructors while Haas scores double points and other keys from the weekend.

NASCAR Cup and XFinity raced at Atlanta with two Georgia drivers getting wins: William Clyde Elliott II gets his league leading third win of 2022 while Ross Chastain takes plenty of headlines making contact with two Gibbs drivers.  Phil compares Chastain to one of his early favorite drivers - Ernie Irvan. 

The guys discuss Ross and what he needs to do so he can actually compete for this championship.  Corey LaJoie gets as close as he ever has to a Cup win and a playoff flipping result but Elliott's late race defense sees LaJoie hit the fence and finish 21st.  In XFinity, Austin Hill takes his second win of the year while the rest of the pack steps on themselves.

Trucks ran at Mid-Ohio with the heads-up battle between Parker Kligerman and regular season champion elect Zane Smith taking center stage.  Kligerman takes his and Henderson Racing's first win in Trucks since 2017 while Smith pads his lead. 

In the Roundup, Phil goes over F2/F3 at Austria, WEC at Monza, Supercars at Townsville, Extreme E at Sardinia Doubleheader, SRX at Nashville and I-55, WSBK at Donington, IMSA GT at Lime Rock and Formula E in Brooklyn.  Phil and Josh preview the first IndyCar race in Toronto since 2019 which leads into a busy period for the IndyCar Series along with NASCAR Cup and XFinity at New Hampshire.

Josh lets us know what's going on in iRacing, F1 2022 and other games in the Sim Segment before Show Close.

Phil and Josh return for E122 of the GSP to discuss first time winners in Carlos Sainz (F1), Tyler Reddick (NASCAR Cup) and Logan Sargeant (F2), amongst all the other great racing action from the previous weekend.  Phil opens with a rant about league bowling before the guys get into Sainz picking up his first pole and win at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone.  Other key talking points included the resurgence of Sir Lewis Hamilton, the recovery by Sergio Perez and the huge 1st lap accident that thankfully saw Zhou Guanyu escape serious injury.

NASCAR Cup and XFinity ran at Road America which saw Beau Reddick's dad beat William Clyde Elliott II in a largely uneventful, processional Cup race.  In the XFinity race, Ty Gibbs passed defending Cup champion Kyle Larson late but the story was Noah Gragson and his intentional hook of Sage Karam down the back straight, causing a massive pileup.  Phil was not happy and expressed as such for his second rant of the show. 

Scott McLaughlin won his second IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio (mistakenly said 3rd on the show) in an eventful race for the Andretti Autosport teams along with other Chevy powered efforts that had mechanical problems including pole-sitter Pato O'Ward.  Alex Palou continues to linger in his title defense while Will Power had an enormous recovery to finish on the podium and cut his deficit to points leader and Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericcson in the points.  

For the GSP Roundup, Phil goes into the SRX at Stafford and Nashville, F2/F3/W Series at Silverstone, IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park along with Michelin Pilot Challenge, Formula E at Marrakesh, Extreme E holding a doubleheader in Sardinia, WEC at Monza and Supercars at Townsville.  

Phil and Josh preview the Austrian Grand Prix for Formula 1 along with Cup/XFinity at Atlanta for super speedway action while the Trucks return to race at Mid-Ohio.  Josh lets us know what's going on in the world of sim racing with his Sim Segment before show close.

Phil and Josh return for E121 of the GSP to discuss all things motorsports and sports.  Phil leads off with hockey talk since the Colorado Avalanche hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in 21 years and is still taking it all in. 

Afterwards, the guys get into William Clyde Elliott II's second win of 2022 at Nashville and all the other pertinent details from the event.  The Toyota's dominated and Bubba Wallace's pit crew screwed up again but a Hendrick Chevy ended up on top with the current overall points leader adding needed playoff points to his tally.  Phil and Josh also discuss the ridiculousness of a 5p start and how the race took over seven hours to complete due to lightning, rain and other issues.

They also cover Justin Allgaier's win in XFinity and the continued domination by JR Motorsports in the series along with some of the other key topics as both series go to Road America this weekend.  The Roundup covers SRX at South Boston (last week) and Stafford (this week), IMSA at Watkins Glen for the Six Hours and Robbie Wickens returning to victory lane, MotoGP/Moto2 at Assen, NHRA in Norwalk, the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the 100th Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Formula E at Marrakesh and talk about the Gen 3 car and F2/F3/W Series returning at Silverstone. 

Phil and Josh preview the British Grand Prix for Formula 1, IndyCar at Mid-Ohio, and NASCAR Cup/XFinity at Road America for this Independence Day weekend before Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close. 

With Father's Day in the rear view, Phil and Josh return for E120 of the GSP with regular contributor Joe Passero of Fansided/Beyond The Flag and newly hired at New Egypt Speedway working on media content for the track.  The guys go over Verstappen's win at the Canadian Grand Prix along with the performances of Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton who finished on the podium. 

Issues for Checo Perez and Charles Leclerc allowed Verstappen to add to his championship lead but there may be more competition as we lead towards the summer break.  Phil and Josh also go over key news items prior to the British GP. 

The panel discussed Todd Gilliland's first truck win for his father's team, the quality of the racing, the track and presentation of the Knoxville dirt race before providing thoughts on the passing of Bruton Smith and other NASCAR news.

This week's Roundup covered V8 Supercars, SRX, MotoGP/Moto2, IMSA (along with news of Lola returning and the Porsche 963 LMDH) and Rally Kenya before everyone discussed the XFinity and Cup races this coming weekend at Nashville along with the return of NBC to cover the balance of the season. 

The Truck race took place while recording so thoughts about that will be sprinkled in along with Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  Josh gives us the world of iRacing and other games in the Sim Segment before the Show Close.   

Phil and Josh return for Episode 119 of the GSP to discuss Daniel Suarez's first career Cup Series win at Sonoma and Max Verstappen's 25th career F1 win at Baku, giving their significant others plenty to celebrate.  The guys also hit Josef Newgarden's third win of 2022 and his earning $1 million from PeopleReady after winning on three different types of tracks so far on the IndyCar Series. 

Kyle Busch took his 62nd Truck Series win in his last start of 2022 at Sonoma as well before the GSP Roundup went over the 24 Hours of Le Mans, F2 at Baku, WSBK at Misano, MotoGP/Moto2 at Sachsenring, and Supercars at Darwin.  Phil and Josh preview the Trucks at Knoxville, the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and SRX opening their 2022 season at Five Flags Speedway before Josh's Sim Segment and Show Close.  

After one of the more eventful Cup Series events in recent memory, Phil and Josh return for Episode 118 of the GSP to discuss Joey Logano's win at Gateway over Kyle Busch.  The real drama was taking place behind with Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and a few others.  Is Ross too aggressive or was he over his head during that particular race?  Chase Briscoe won his first career Cup pole, led the race but was left wanting after cutting a tire down early.  Yet again, the Gen 7 car raced really well and shows its versatility at a flatter track.  

AJ Allmendinger went off multiple times at Portland but still came through with the victory and adds to his XFinity points lead.  Corey Heim came through to win the first leg of the Triple Truck Challenge at Gateway but plenty of wrecked equipment and an injury came out of the deal. 

At Belle Isle, Will Power avenged the loss from 2021 with a resounding victory this year and a swim in the fountain.  Strategy was huge in a race that surprisingly went caution free and affected many people including teammate Josef Newgarden.  Power had to hold off the motivated Alexander Rossi who was chasing his first win in three years.  

The Roundup is busy with IMSA at Belle Isle, MotoGP/Moto2 at Catalunya, Formula E at Jakarta, WRC Rally Italy, F2 at Baku, WSBK at Misano and a preview of the 24 Hours at Le Mans before the guys preview the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Formula 1, IndyCar at Road America and NASCAR Cup/Trucks at Sonoma with a discussion of Phil's famous clip of losing it when Smoke won his last Cup race there in 2016.  Per usual, we finish with Josh's Sim Segment and the Show Close.

Coming off the Greatest Day in Motorsports, Phil and Josh return for E117 of the GSP to discuss the winners and all the big stories that came from the major races.  Marcus Ericsson can officially get rid of the ride buyer moniker after winning the Indianapolis 500, the first in a decade for Chip Ganassi Racing.  Ericsson's teammate Scott Dixon dominated but gave the race away after a speeding penalty on his final pit stop.  Other key players and multiple accidents in Turn 2 are discussed. 

Prior to Indy, Sergio "Checo" Perez took his biggest Formula 1 victory with a triumph at Monaco over Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen.  Monaco's Charles Leclerc qualified on pole and led early but pit strategy decisions by Ferrari left him off the podium.  Fernando Alonso held up the field behind and screwed teammate Esteban Ocon among others.  The officiating and decision making by the FIA came into question throughout the entirety of the race with strong opinions coming from the crew. 

At the Coca-Cola 600, Denny Hamlin started on pole and won the race.  However, it was not straightforward.  The Trackhouse duo of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez had the dominant cars but late cautions and multiple incidents left the supposed final battle between defending series champion Kyle Larson and Chase Briscoe but the SHR driver spun with a couple laps remaining.  This likely was the best 600 in decades and brought on by the introduction of the Gen 7 car but the issue flipping Chris Buescher over and extracting him are an alarm. 

The Roundup covers F2 at Monaco, MotoGP/Moto2 at Mugello and then Catalunya, IMSA at Detroit, Formula E in Jakarta and WRC Rally Italy before leading into the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix preview, taking place at Belle Isle for the last time.  The guys cover who to look at and what to expect before previewing the Cup and Trucks at Gateway along with XFinity at Portland.  We finish with Josh's Sim Segment and show close. 

Phil and Josh invite back Joe Passero of Beyond The Flag/Fansided and Spencer Neff of IndyCar1909.com to celebrate the Greatest Day in Motorsports by previewing all three major events - the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.  The crew goes over practice results and some of the incidents that may affect certain drivers while making picks and dark horse selections for the races. 

The guys comment live as ARCA and Trucks take place during the show while providing where we can find content during the day on Sunday since Joe and Spencer will be in the action.  The GSP Roundup covers F2/F3, MotoGP/Moto2, W Series, WSBK, Supercars and WRC before Josh's Sim Segment recaps his iRacing Indy 500 win and show close. 

Phil and Josh return for Episode 115 of the GSP and invite returning guests Joe Passero of Beyond The Flag/Fansided and Spencer Neff of IndyCar1909.com to discuss the upcoming Greatest Day in Motorsports which includes the Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1, the Indianapolis 500 for IndyCar and the Coca-Cola 600 for NASCAR. 

The crew goes over their favorite memories of each race and the traditions that each enjoy along with key moments that brought them all together as motorsports fans.  They also give their thoughts on the weekend that was with Indy 500 Qualifying where Scott Dixon set the fastest one and four-lap record for a pole sitter in taking his fifth pole.

Ryan Blaney won the farcical All-Star Race at Texas for Penske racing after a late-race yellow could have cost him the victory.  In Formula 1, Red Bull gives you team orders in having Sergio Perez move over for Max Verstappen, giving the defending champion three consecutive victories and taking the World Championship lead going into Monaco.

Josh also discusses his victory in the open setup iRacing Indy 500 and provides some clips of his driving along with his celebration before the show close.