Takes

Natural luge is a cooler spectator sport than traditional Olympic luge

Italy does natural luge... which you gotta look that up if you haven't seen that. It's like real sledding, but they go on ice through the woods. It's like F1 on a mountain. We're kind of happy that people haven't realized how cool natural luge is because there's a little bit bigger of crashes.

I am convinced that I am the best driver in the world.

I have a reputation for crashing, but there's no one here today that's gonna go faster. ... I am convinced that I'm the best driver in the world. If someone's going faster, I'm gonna like, obviously I could just do it.

The 2025 Black-eyed Susan field is the weakest the race has seen in a long time

It's, it's not a, honestly, it's not a really good black eye, Susan. Okay. In fact, it's one of the worst black eye Susans that I've seen in a long time in terms of quality... it's a pretty weak field.

Secretariat was definitely on steroids

I'm gonna take Secretariat. Some would say the the greatest athlete of all time. But its heart was like three times too big. We've documented that tirelessly on this show. Secretariat definitely on steroids. Randy Moss, white, Randy Moss agreed. Chances are very, very high.

Forever Young has travel and track concerns heading into the Derby

Forever Young is the most accomplished Japanese horse that's ever come over here... but I've got two concerns... the travel bothered him... the other thing, the trainer seems to be borderline obsessive about keeping this horse out of this kickback spray in his face.

Red Bull is my family and where I truly belong in F1

Now going back like full circle to Red Bull... it's like, oh, like, yeah, this is, this is the family. Like this is where, you know, I, I'm happy to come home to and where I feel like I truly belong.

McLaren is dead to me for dumping Daniel Ricciardo

Danny Ricciardo got dumped by McLaren. McLaren is dead to me now. I hate them. I always hated them, but now I really hate them. Kind of fucked up.

IndyCar has a better pool of drivers than Formula 1 because of car parity

I would say the best series of drivers, in my opinion, and this might get me in trouble, is IndyCar. Because there's 24 guys who race every week and all 24 of them could win... Where in Formula 1, it really is contingent upon what car you're in.

Rich Strike should be retired immediately following the Kentucky Derby win

If I was Rich Strike's owner right now, you just gotta retire this horse. You gotta be like, I'm going out on top. It should just be put out to stud for the rest of its career. Never let it race again because you're never going to reach [this again].

Rich Strike's 80-1 win saves the sport of horse racing

Wouldn't it be perfect if you have an 80 to one a shot that everyone's going to look at and be like '$30,000, we could have bought this horse.' I guarantee everyone was saying that after... it's going to save horse racing this year. When you had Bob Baffert looming over everything and some bad vibes, 80 to one fixes everything.

Don't worry about Taiba's lack of experience in the Kentucky Derby; horse racing has changed and horses run less often now.

No horse in more than a century has won the Kentucky Derby with only two previous lifetime starts. I don't care about that. Staff times have changed and thoroughbred racing horses are running less and less often than they used to. So if you like [Taiba] to win, the Kentucky Derby don't pay any attention to his inexperience.

The Kentucky Derby is the best litmus test of greatness of any race in America.

The Derby is probably the best litmus test of greatness of any race in America. So the 20 horses is part of that... what it takes win the Kentucky Derby: the patience, the acceleration, the ability to hit the holes when you need to hit the holes, the overall talent to beat the best horses [of] a generation.

Max Verstappen was at fault for the crash with Lewis Hamilton at Monza

Max's car is literally on Lewis's head, and he just walked away... I said Max is a jerk... Max obviously drives to the edge... I would say my rule of thumb is nine times out of 10. If you drive over another guy's head, it's probably your fault.

I set the fastest lap on the final lap at Monza just to prove I can handle the pressure

Putting in the fastest lap of the race on the last lap when the victory's in my hands, that for me was like a little like, just to say, like, guys, I did not feel the pressure this whole time. Just for my peace of mind, I'm going to set the fastest lap to say I told you so.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s nickname 'The Intimidator' is an all-time great moniker because of the fear it struck in opponents

I'm going to go a little NASCAR. Maybe the greatest nickname. I know. Time... The intimidator, Dale Earnhardt Sr. I mean, what are you going to do when the intimidator comes for you?

Mercedes' current F1 strategy is intentionally taking out Red Bull at every turn

Mercedes, essentially their strategy now is just take out Red Bull at all times, which is sick. And then yeah, Lewis Hamilton, Sir Lewis Hamilton is the goat.

Max Verstappen is currently the best driver in the world

He's [Max Verstappen] the best in the sport right now. All time salty Instagram post after... but right now he's number one... Max Verstappen is the best racecar driver right the second.

The crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was just a 'racing incident'

I actually took Lewis Hamilton's side. I thought that he—Robbins racing. They call it a racing incident... Like a bang-bang targeting call that isn't targeting... football incident. Let's keep playing. My whole thing is, I can't get up for the F1 races.

If I could do it all over again, I might not choose to be an F1 driver because of the lack of control

If I could do it all over again, like, I don't know if I would pick this sport [F1] because there's so many other variables and so much out of your control. So you could perform perfectly and something might end it for you.

Christian Horner's obsession with Max Verstappen is 'weird as fuck'

Christian Horner... he is obsessed with Max [Verstappen] and obviously rightfully so but it's it's a little weird sometimes he talks about him like he is his son and there is some some serious love there. [Ricciardo]: Yeah. No, it's weird as fuck.

F1 teammates in Europe generally hate each other because they are each other's biggest career threat

Call a teammate in Europe, they fucking hate each other. Because it's the one guy that's going to kill his career. So they play team, but the reality is they both want to beat each other.

Formula One needs a star American driver for the sport to truly take off in the US

That's what the U.S. need. We've got to get a decent American driver running in Formula One. And as soon as that happens, I think the US will just take off even more.

The new financial cap is ultimately healthy for the long-term future of Formula One

I think it's ultimately a positive thing... I think ultimately it's a good one. It's going to take a couple of years to settle down, but I think it's healthy for the whole sport.

Jockey changes among elite riders make zero difference in major races

When you're betting and you get into a race like the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness, the jockeys involved are all so good and so competent that the difference between jockey A and jockey B, jockey B and jockey C is negligible... just ignore the rider and focus on the abilities of the horse.

My Kentucky Derby win has a huge asterisk because of Bob Baffert

I finally did win the Kentucky Derby, and I talked about it ad nauseum for the days afterwards, and then that one win has a huge asterisk because Bob Baffert is addicted to shooting his horses up with steroids.

Bob Baffert is the most successful horse trainer of all time

When Bob retires, I think he's in his late 60s, but he's going strong. He'll be the most successful horse trainer of all time.

The #1 post position at the Kentucky Derby is not a disadvantage

There's this bs out there that's been out there for years that the number one post position is this horrible disadvantage and it's not... the advantage of saving ground being on the inside around the turns makes the horse run better than his odds would indicate.

Secretariat is the greatest of all time

Secretariat. Well, exactly. Secretariat. It's got to be. American Pharaoh. It has to be Secretariat.

Cycling is just a more boring version of NASCAR

I'd watch basically anything except for cycling. Cycling is it's a more boring version of NASCAR.

Saratoga is the best horse racing track in America and it's not even close

Saratoga for me is not even close [to other tracks]... I go to Saratoga and I used to go for the opening weekend... getting up early and watching those horses work out. It's beautiful there. The whole set up in the old school feel the town. Yes. It's so much history. There is such a beautiful place.

Ryan Newman surviving his Daytona crash is a testament to NASCAR's safety improvements

The fact that he was able to survive that wreck with serious injuries, but the fact that he's still alive is just incredible and it's honestly like a testament to what NASCAR has done since Dale Earnhardt passed away at the Daytona 500 20 years ago.

Being a NASCAR driver is harder than being a podcaster

Oh, it's definitely harder to be a NASCAR driver... What is our physical risk right now?

It is harder for a jockey to transition to NASCAR than for a NASCAR driver to transition to horse racing

I think a jockey trying to go race NASCAR would be the tougher transition. [NASCAR drivers] would have the tougher transition... I mean, the horses take when that horse takes off it's hard... but I think a jockey trying to go race NASCAR would be the tougher transition.

NASCAR crew chiefs must bend or break the rules to be successful

If you take a car that's legal from front to back, completely legal through the rule book, you're not going to run very well. You're not going to do well. And the crew chiefs, the crew chief that I want, the team that I want, are the ones that are willing to gamble and be aggressive with the rules, bend the rules, maybe break a few rules, because I know that that's what I'm competing against.

Country House skipping the Preakness is a smart move to protect his legacy

If I'm country house, if I'm that horse, I'd probably do the exact same thing. Because you're never going to top that. You are going out completely at the top of your game. You're a Kentucky Derby winner. And why would you ever try to follow that up?

Maximum Security's disqualification from the Kentucky Derby was 100% the correct call

The actual change from Maximum Security getting kicked out of the race at the end, that was the correct call. 100%. You can't just drift in front of other horses. You have to give them a path.

Maximum Security's Florida Derby win was 'phony' because he wasn't pressured

Let's make Maximum Security into the villain... there should be kind of an asterisk by his last win in the Florida Derby because the competition in that race just basically handed him the race... Everybody else just decided to take back, and all of a sudden this horse is just cruising.

Joey Logano is a 'baby back bitch' for blocking me on Twitter after I called him 'Slowy Slogano'

My other who's back is that baby back bitch, Slowy Slogano, who blocked me on Twitter for calling him Slowy Slogano. How soft is that? He basically tweeted and said, 'I had a great car, but sometimes it doesn't break your way,' which is a classic... So I filled it in for him, and then he blocked me.

Fights are good for NASCAR and the league secretly loves them

Is it good for the sport? Absolutely. They secretly are high-fiving. You know, you don't want anyone to get hurt. They'll put out there that, you know, we don't like it. No way. It's like Dana White. They love it. Gets eyeballs.

Justify may be running low on energy heading into the Belmont Stakes

In the Preakness, he wasn't quite as good as he was in the Kentucky Derby... Energy level might be getting a little bit low. He really needed that wire to come up when it did in the Preakness... How much he's got left in the tank is the big question.

Gronkowski the horse does not have much of a chance in the Belmont Stakes

We talked to the trainer, and he doesn't even know what to expect... It's like he's been going up against Class A pitching, and now he's got to go against the Yankees. So you have no idea what to expect. Big, nice, good-looking horse. I don't think he has much of a chance.

The Curse of Apollo in the Kentucky Derby is absolute BS

To be honest with you, 2018, it's absolute BS. It should have gone up in flames six years ago with a horse named Bodie Meister... now this year there are two horses, Justify... and Magnum Moon... it matters not even a little bit.

I am officially an anti-Joey Logano podcast

Fuck Joey Logano. We're an anti-Joey Logano podcast, officially. We got a lot of things that we, a lot of hats we wear, but Joey Logano is not one of them.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a 'good, not great' driver

[Big Cat asks if they let him win once a year] Is that true? No. You sure? No. He's good. Good, not great.

Nyquist the horse is officially finished

I'm going to say that Nyquist is finished. That horse is done. He's so finished that he's done.

The 1.5-mile distance makes the Belmont Stakes an unpredictable crapshoot because American horses aren't bred for it anymore

the Belmont is also much more unpredictable than the Derby or the Preakness... horses in America are no longer bred to excel at a mile and a half... performers in the Belmont over the last maybe 10, 12 years have just fallen off the cliff. It really becomes almost a crapshoot.

Dying as a champion racehorse is better than living as an old-timer in a pasture

I would say that that's more of a hurt [than an injury] because if you die a legend like that after winning a race, your legacy lives on longer than anybody else... You don't remember him as some old-timer getting jerked off in a pasture somewhere.

American Pharoah was more talented than Nyquist

American Pharoah was a brilliant kind of horse... American Pharoah [was] like a wild horse. Nyquist is sort of like the consummate professional... I think at this point, I would take American Pharoah. I think he has more overall talent than Nyquist.