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Here we go. Happy Friday, everybody. It is the drive right here on WSJS. News Talk, sports for the triad. I'm Will Dalton with you, also known as the W D.
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Some great guests lined up. Got Will Pelagic, the voice of Charlotte FC this hour. Six Man of the Tar Heels B Dot next hour. And. You know, it is fitting that we're talking to Willie P here in just a little bit because he's out in Charlotte.
He's actually going to be on his way to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. I think he's doing some broadcasting out there for the weekends events around the Koch 600, assuming they race it because of the rain, you know, kind of sneaking in as we know. But I think that's a good place to start. Uh as we all know because You know, when it first came down yesterday, we were literally just going into our final segment, going in to take it to the house.
So it was more of a, hey, this just happened, not like a, Spending a little more time on it, as we should, especially where we sit. And of course, we're talking about. The passing of Kyle Bush yesterday at 41 years old, which is just again is ridiculously young. Um Okay. And it's uh It's something that I think People are still trying to process.
I mean, again, we sit in North Carolina. That's. Where I a hotbed of racing fans around here. I mean, my producer's a die-hard racing fan over there, Morgan. Like, it...
We're everywhere around here. And Charlotte, you know, maybe outside of Daytona, like Charlotte is the epicenter of the NASCAR world. And, you know, that's how I view it. I really do. I feel like NASCAR fans are kind of having a bit of a moment like what NBA fans did when Kobe was killed.
I feel like it's It's kind of like that. Obviously, two different tragedies, two different ways of passing, but I think the shock Of it all. And just the Here one minute, very young, and then just blink of an eye, gone the next to the point where it doesn't even feel real. I think that's where the similarity is. And I gotta be honest.
When anything in racing happens, there's two voices that I want to hear from first. It's Marty Smith and it's Ryan McGee. Those are the two guys. Uh Marty Smith, I thought. Last night on Scott Van Pelt did about as good of a job as anybody could do.
Uh Eulogizing and just kind of talking about what Kyle Bush meant to the sports world. It's truly impossible at this moment, Scotty. to try to properly articulate and and speak eloquently to Kyle Bush's influence on the sport of NASCAR and the people within it and the millions of fans. And there's never been a driver that had greater talent in the history of motorsport. Then Kyle Bush.
He is one of the greatest race drivers of all time, regardless of genre. He has been a first ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer for a long time. Kyle was not somebody about whom you were on the fence as a competitor. He was a guy that he made you feel. You loved him or you hated him.
and to see the way that Kyle evolved as a man, as he married Samantha and became a father to Brexton and to Lenox. That's where we saw this person evolve into someone with so much emotional depth. I don't that's about as good as you can put it. I mean, it really is. He He did ruffle feathers.
He did make you feel some type of way, good or bad. It was pretty much his fans and fans of everybody else that were on the extremes of that. But I think. There was a respect there and an understanding of what he meant. to the sport.
I mean, I don't think it's any um Exaggeration to say he might be the most polarizing driver since Dale Earnhardt. I don't think that's an exaggeration, just in terms of how he raced, how he went about it. And That's the first time since Dale that we've really seen that. Ryan Magee Who Is in Indy for the Indy 500. That's where Pat McAfee is, of course.
And so he was there in studio today, and he joined Pat McAfee to kind of. further expand on his thoughts on this. What's interesting in racing is is that I've been doing this so long now. I was covering the sport when Kyle first showed up 25 years ago. We had guys dying all the time.
But it was on the racetrack. You know, I almost quit because we went through Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin and Del Earnhardt. And I could just go through this list for about four years. I was covering funerals more than I was covering races. And I almost quit, like, damn, my friends covering baseball aren't doing this.
I want to go do that. And The muscle memory comes back. The good news is, we haven't lost a race car driver on the NASCAR National Series since Dell Earnhardt in 2001. But when we lose a Greg Biffle in a plane crash in December, And we lose a Kyle Bush in this situation, which wasn't in the track, you kind of go back to your muscle memory of: all right, I got to cover this, I got to write about it, I got to go on TV. And last night at 2:30 a.m., when I was done with Sports Center Boys, I collapsed because it's personal.
You know, it's a very small group of people, and we all know each other. And so you have to kind of. Compartmentalize and deal with it, but now the reality of it is all kind of settling in on us now that he's gone. And That's what makes it very unique. is because he's so young and then just Blink of an eye.
To me And Morgan, I'll get your thoughts on it in a second. He's one of the last reminders of the 2000s, singular 2000s era of NASCAR. You know, that included Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart and those guys, because that's when he was first getting started. That's when he was first coming on the scene. And He holds The most victories.
of the combined NASCAR series. At what is it, two thirty four that he has? Yeah, 234 combined. Um Then yeah, you know you know it's It it hits a it hits a A nerve Also, when it goes beyond sports in terms of the coverage, like when anything like this happens in the sports world or a former athlete dies, like you. You expect all the sports networks, ESPN, FS1, all those to cover it.
But when it goes beyond that, when it's on Good Morning America, and when Megan Kelly's talking about it, and when Fox News is talking about it, like that's when you get to, wow, I mean, just larger-than-life type status, and that's what you're dealing with here.
So, I thought it was interesting. Getting back to the ruffling of feathers thing, like Brad Kozlowski, who he had a very interesting. Rivalry with through the years. He put out a statement last night and you know, talked about how He made him earn every win that he got, even stole a few in there, and then he had a line that. Really hit, I feel like a little like the coyote with no more roadrunner to chase.
That That struck a tone with a lot of people. There was also some. Backlash to his statement a little bit, I guess, because of the route. I don't know. It's not the time for that.
But I thought that was a nice statement that he ended up putting out. Uh, One other thing I saw that really just drives the point home is There's a clip. Out there of Kyle Bush. After a race, I don't know the situation of what happened. Morgan, you might know what it is, but he gets out of his car and makes a B-line straight over and punches Joey Logano right in the face.
I don't know if you know what the situation was on that race or not. I don't remember, but I know the clip. And somebody, and people were just like, that's the most badass thing ever. It just. All of that encapsulates what he was.
and what he meant to the sport and forty one is Man, that's a young age to go. And he just won. A truck race at Dover. He just won that trophy we were talking about. He just won that.
And In a weird way, he kind of very quickly eulogized himself almost like I don't think he knew something. I don't think he knew. Although, health-wise, it sounds like over the last week and a half, two weeks, he's been dealing with something, but it wasn't to the magnitude that it was the other day if you read into what was going on. But here he was after that truck win, and you've probably seen the clip by now, but it's. It's chilling and it's it's again, it's almost like he's eulogizing himself unintentionally here.
And a bow in front of the fans that are all on their feet down here at the Monster Mile. And Michael Waltrup said earlier in the race that a confident Kyle Bush is a dangerous Kyle Bush. Your 69th victory in this series, your fifth victory. Right here, why do these moments never get old, Kyle? Because you never know when the last one is, you know?
Yeah. Yeah, that's um that's something else. Yeah, um This was a hit. For NASCAR, you know. He You mentioned he's the number one leader in NASCAR wins overall.
He has the most truck series wins. It was sixty-nine. He has the most O'Reilly series wins with, I think, one 02 or 103. And he's ninth all time in Cup Series wins with 63. Yeah.
A legend. And I pre-ordered his race win car from Dover. Did you really? Yes, I did. I did.
I'm not a I can't stand Kyle Bush, but I have so much respect for him. I hated when he did that triple bow with the checkered flag in his hand. Yeah, couldn't stand it. It's his signature, right? You loved to hate him, hated to love him.
Or you loved him. There there was no middle. And that's what made him so amazing. Diecast Car, that's pretty cool. That's neat.
I like that. One of the big ones, too. Glad to meet, hey. Love that. 336-777-1600.
If you have thoughts. On Kyle Bush. that you'd like to get off your chest. I wish I could pick up the mood here. Pick up the tone.
But I can't because we got to talk about the Carolina hurricanes. Hit the horn. Six to final in Raleigh last night. It looked like it was gonna go great. It looked like it was about to be up right where they left off.
Two sweeps, eight no. They're about to be the first team since those Oilers in 85 to get the 9-0 with Wayne Gretzky. When Seth Jarvis, who Has only scored one time in these playoffs. And it had been a little while since he'd done it. Scored in the first 33 seconds, and the lid came off of the Lenny, Lenovo center.
It It felt like it was going to be a terrific night, didn't it? And then 27 seconds later, Montreal scores, and they answer. Yeah. Just five minutes in. Montreal up two to one.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's it. And at the end of the first period, just a straight-up beatdown, it was 4-1. And It it's just insane, man. Eleven game minutes.
After they scored that first goal. Seth Jarvis, they were down 4-1. And it just. Suck the life out of that place. Rod Brenda More.
After the game last night, here he was talking about it. Yeah, obviously it's not our best. They made some nice plays, give them credit, they finished, they made But I I I didn't think we were uh very sharp. si to put it bluntly. Um Our top guys had a tough night.
And that's not going to work at this time of the year. One of the things that People that have been good at going up against Carolina's penalty kill. Is that they've used Carolina's aggression against them, and they were a little over-aggressive last night. missing their spots and then leaving open ice. That's tough.
And Yeah, they were a little too aggressive last night. And to that point, part of that. was Jacob Slaven. who is regarded as one of the best defensemen in the NHL. And he was on the ice.
For three of the four first period goals. He was on the ice for four of the six goals overall. And it's just completely uncharacteristic. of Jacob Slaven. Here was Rod Brenda Moore on Slavin's performance last night.
I've never seen that. Yeah. Eight years.
So it it happens. I mean again, they're they Have the ability that if you give them a little room, it's over. And that's what happened tonight. He'll bounce back. Just a nightmare start for the Kanes in these conference finals.
And get ready. The narrative's about to start up again. Oh, the Kanes in the conference finals. Here they are. They look so good until they get there and then this is what it looks like.
To be fair. Caines are now 1-17 in conference final games. over the last l little bit. When you factor in 2009, 2019, 2023, 2025, and last night. In that stretch, they're 1 in 17.
But none of it, I mean, nothing about this team is the same as those years in a lot of sense of the word. But that narrative is going to start up. Bala Haki. Media community at large, looking at UPK, Saban. looking at you.
And so get ready for that. But 6'2 is, that's a bad loss. It is. And it's what we talked about. The youth on that Montreal team, and they're not scared of anybody.
And they didn't look at last night. And Carolina, they better respond. in Raleighwood this weekend or else there might be some trouble on the horizon. Talk about sports. I like it.
Speak. Thanks, buddies. Sports Talk in the Triad lives right here. You're on the drive. Wanted to pass a couple of things along.
In regards to still remembering Kyle Bush, the Coke 600 this weekend.
So. Richard Shildress Racing actually put out. in the last hour, this statement. That They have elected to suspend use of the number eight. And we'll run the number 33 at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend and beyond.
Um They also go on to say that number eight is reserved and ready for his son, Brexton Bush. when he's ready to go NASCAR racing, which has a lot of Kyle Bush and racing fans very excited because they felt that's what should happen anyway. And you just saw something else. I I haven't seen it yet, but you saw it. What did you see?
Yeah, I've seen two things actually. I just saw that I believe NASCAR is going to be pain or is painting a big number eight in the infield grass at Charlotte along with his signature. Underneath of it And the Spire team bought Kyle Busch Motorsports. And they have put all of his they are putting decals for KBM Motorsports, so Kyle Busch Motorsports on the trucks this weekend.
So you'll see that on the bed of the trucks and on the front of the trucks and on the back of the trucks under the numbers. That's cool. I'm glad they're doing that. I was curious what they might end up doing.
So We have a segment we called sound check. It's where we you know, compile some sound bites, some of the good stuff that's out there right now that might go beyond what we would typically talk about in a local sense potentially, or just something like, yeah, it sounds pretty good. Might not even be sports related. But We get to that now. In today's edition of Sound Check, Bye.
Sound check. Hey, I'm just here, so I won't get fine. Plug in, turn up, and catch what everyone's talking about.
Okay. Let's start here.
So, David Hale. Of ESPN. He was on with our guys Joe Ovius and Joe Gilio on their podcast earlier in the week. We had Joe Gilio as a guest a couple of days ago. And They were talking about college football playoff expansion and about how.
It feels inevitable. Feels like it's just a matter of time. Especially now that Jim Phillips has voiced his support for it to be a 24-team playoff. And. The thing is.
The thought process is: oh, well, we've got more teams, more slots available. That means more teams, more opportunity for us. Whoever, you know, if you're the ACC or the Big 12 or whoever. But according to David Hell here... Eh that might not actually be the case.
I I'm genuinely not certain that the math maths on all of this. Like the ACC gets a smaller share of the playoff pie than the Big Ten and the SEC as it is. You're giving up your conference championship game, which is a thing that the league wholly controlled on its own. Um And what's probably going to happen if they don't have automatic qualifiers, which I'm highly dubious they're going to, is the ACC is going to get two, maybe three teams in, and the SEC and Big Ten are going to get nine each. And I don't know who thinks that's fun.
So, if you're talking more slots, I mean, who's always benefited the most from anything that comes?
