The Backstretch

The playoff drivers have trouble in Las Vegas. Denny Hamlin writes his name in this history books. Spire Motorsports makes a change. Heather and Chris break it all down. Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott both stop by to talk about their playoff runs.

Heather and Chris talk about the Roval race, strategy vs manipulation, 750 hp coming NASCAR and a preview of Vegas. Christopher Bell and Zane Smith are the guest. Heather's final thought is the Roval.

Heather and Chris talk about the race at Kansas, more trouble for Carson Hocevar and preview the cutoff race at the Charlotte Roval. Austin Dillon is this week's guest, Heather's final thought is about the state of NASCAR.

Fords open round two of the playoffs strong. Heather and Chris talk about Penske's strong start to round two of the playoffs, the teammate scuffle between Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs and Preview Kansas. John Hunter Nemechek stops by and Heather's final thought is on the teammate troubles.

Heather and Chris recap the action from Bristol. PRN announcer Mark Garrow stops by to swap stories and talk about his retirement announcement

Heather and Chris talk about Denny Hamlin's win at Gateway, the Playoffs and preview Bristol. Guest Joey Logano talks about Bristol, his love of cars and family life. Heather's final thought is about Bristol.

Chase Briscoe put a beatdown on the field at Darlington. Heather and Chris talk about the race good and bad. Also what happened to Hendrick Motorsports at Darlington and who is excited for St. Louis. Speedway Motor Sports' Steve Swift stops by to talk about how he became the man who makes the Smith family's crazy ideas reality and how fountains almost ended up on the Roval. Heather's final thought...

Heather and Chris preview the NASCAR Playoffs, talk about two of NASCAR's worst kept secrets (Kaulig to Dodge and Connor Zilisch to the Trackhouse Cup car) and they preview Darlington. Heather shares a snippet of her conversation with Austin Dillon and her final though is on the NASCAR Playoffs.  

The 2026 NASCAR schedule is released. Heather and Chris break it down and talk about it may or may not impact any changes to the playoffs. Regular season points champ William Byron is the guest. Heather's final thought is on Humpy Wheeler's impact in racing.

Heather starts by talking about the report the All-Star Race may be moving to Dover. Chris joins Heather to talk about SVG's fourth win of the season, Connor Zilisch's scary fall and to preview Richmond. Heather's final thought is on Silly Season

Heather and Chris talk about the drivers who can win the regular season championship, the drivers that need to go if they want to make the playoffs and they preview Watkins Glen. Justin Haley is this week's guest. Heather's final thought is on Henderson Motorsports return to the track this weekend.

Heather and Chris talk about Bubba Wallace's win at the Brickyard, the debate about the playoffs vs full season points and the preview Iowa. Austin Dillion is the guest, talking about the Speedway Classic at BMS. Heather's final thought is on attendance numbers vs track capacity.

Heather and Chris talk about the 23XI/Front Row Lawsuit against NASCAR, the announcement of a race next season in San Diego, the in-season tournament and racing at Indy. Riley Herbst is the guest

Heather gets us up to speed on the breaking news about the 23XI, Front Row lawsuit against NASCAR. Then Chris joins Heather to talk about SVG third win of the season, NASCAR's in-season final four and to preview Dover. Christopher Bell is the guest. Heather's final thought is on Joey Logano's 600th start.

SVG wins again in Chicago, the Clash is returning to Bowman Gray, plus Heather and Chris preview Sonoma. Chris Buescher is the guest. Heather's final thought is on road course racing

Is there such thing as too much chaos? Heather and Chris talk about busted brackets at Atlanta, the start of silly season after the announcement that Daniel Suarez is out at Trackhouse and they preview the Chicago Street Race. Justin Haley is this week's guest. He finished second in Chicago in 2023. Heather's final thought is on street racing's place in NASCAR.

Heather and Chris talk about Chase Briscoe's big win at Pocono, potential upsets in NASCAR's first in season tournament and remember the life of former NASCAR team owner Larry McClure. Erik Jones is the guest

Heather and Chris take a look back at the Mexico City Race and ahead to Pocono. They also talk about their friend Charlie Henderson.

Denny Hamlin wins at Michigan in the midst of a lot going on off the track, now he will skip Mexico City. Dodge is returning to the truck series. Heather shares a recent conversation with Hall of Famer Donnie Allison. Here final thought is on the race in Mexico City.

On this week's edition of the Backstretch Heather talks about the breaking news surrounding the 23XI/Front Row vs NASCAR Lawsuit. Chris then joins her to talk about Ryan Blaney's win at Nashville, the continued run-ins for Carson Hocevar and they have a preview of Michigan. This week's guest is Ty Gibbs and we get to know about Ty the 22 year-old, not just Ty the race car driver.

Ross Chastain adds a crown jewel to his collection. Kyle Larson's double does not go well. The guest this week is Daniel Suarez and Heather's final thought it about Amazon Prime's first cup broadcast.

Heather and Chris talk about the Hall of Fame Class of 2026, did we finally crack the code on short track racing at the All-Star Race and look forward to the Coke 600.Austin Dillon is the guest and Heather's final thought is about the drama in IndyCar right now.

Kyle Larson runs away at Kansas, so is it a car problem or a Kyle problem. The debate continues on what to do with the NASCAR postseason and our guest this week is Christopher Bell.

Joey Logano finds a way to win, NASCAR is taking it's championship on the road and this week's guest is Shane Van Gisbergen

Was Talladega boring and how can we fix super speedway racing? Joey Logano and Chipper Jones now have beef and Chase Briscoe is this week's guest.