Herm & Schrader

Michael Andretti doesn’t dodge. Kenny Wallace gets the IndyCar legend and team owner to explain how Team Penske got busted with push-to-pass on their cars, why Michael thinks they knew exactly what they had, and whether Roger himself was in on it. He also reveals the meeting where he told Roger IndyCar’s marketing needs a serious overhaul, and Roger wasn’t thrilled to hear it.
Then come the stories. Dale Earnhardt once begged Michael to drive for him, and it ended with Dale in the wall and a friendship that never recovered. Michael explains why he retired at 41 while leading the Indy 500, and what it’s like to rack up 42 wins and never win the biggest race in the world. He also gives his take on how NASCAR’s arrival at Indianapolis helped kick off the open-wheel split that nearly killed IndyCar. Kenny and Michael also get into life as a team owner heading into the month of May, with Colton Herta leading the points and Marco Andretti coming back for another run at the 500. Michael talks about growing up in a family that put four Andrettis in the same Indy 500, his dad Mario’s incredible journey from Italy, and how his father was still hitting 200 mph in the two-seater at the young age of 83.
Originally aired 4/29/24. It’s NASCAR meets IndyCar on Kenny Conversation.

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Ken Schrader is out for two weeks, so Rick Mast is once again stepping in to give his takes along with Herm. Kenny Wallace kicks things off by telling everybody about the dirt race he just won. Started ninth, took the lead with two to go, and made sure to thank himself in the winner’s interview.
On the Cup side, Chase Briscoe wins again in a side-by-side finish with Christopher Bell, and the guys break down what almost went wrong when teammates race that close to the line. Then it’s Denny Hamlin’s turn. A stray tire lands in another team’s pit stall and drops him from 5th to last, and Kenny says it pains him to say it. Rick goes further: Denny is the Mark Martin of NASCAR. He’s a champion without the trophy, he deserves one, and the sport needs it. They get into why the little gremlins keep showing up every championship run, and why you can’t beat yourself and still win a title. Kenny and Rick debate whether Kyle Larson can string together ten straight top tens, how the stage points are changing the way these guys race, and why this playoff format might be the best NASCAR has had yet. Finally, Ricky Stenhouse body slams Michael McDowell after the checkered flag, McDowell fires back, and everybody wants to know if NASCAR does anything about it.
Kenny and Rick also get into Corey Day’s big win in the O’Reilly Series, the Jeff Gordon comparisons, and why the guys are wary of how fast the next generation of drivers is getting to the top. Max Verstappen says the paddock has become a zoo, and Kenny sees some validity in that. Rick Mast disagrees completely: if you want to be a hero to the fans, you sign the autographs, just like Richard Petty did. There’s also a heartfelt look at the Kyle Busch memorial and how the NASCAR community comes together. And in true Herm fashion, the show ends with the worst grocery store jokes you’ve ever heard.


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Shannon Spake is one of the best to ever work a NASCAR garage, and Kenny finally got her in the chair. Kenny and Shannon go way back, from sharing a makeup room at Fox to texting each other when life got heavy.
Shannon explains how she made her name in broadcasting from humble roots in Florida. How losing her NFL gig with FOX has motivated her even more. They get into how rough the early days were, with Kyle, Kurt, Tony, and Kevin telling her exactly what they thought on live TV, and why she's grateful for it now. She talks about working pit road pregnant with twins, sitting on tires between reports in an expandable fire suit, and what it meant to be the lone woman up on stage at the Cars 3 event next to the biggest names in the sport.


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Kyle Larson finished second at Las Vegas and actually extended his championship lead to 40 points with five races to go. But the way he got there had Schrader taking a closer look at one of Larson’s biggest risks of the day.
The guys break down Larson’s wild finish, including the move that sent him into the wall and could have changed the points picture if it didn’t work out. Larson still came away with a runner-up finish and a bigger championship lead, but Schrader explains why he thought the move was a pretty low-percentage play. Also, NASCAR went green about an hour after Chiefs-Raiders kicked off, and the grandstands looked like it, so is NASCAR losing its own Sunday to the NFL? Herm and Schrader get into it, including the advice his old FOX boss gave NASCAR and why Herm thinks "know your place" is the whole answer.
Then things get even more interesting with Brad Keselowski’s exit from RFK. Why would a 42-year-old former champion be asked to step away from driving when he clearly still wants to race? Kenny and Kenny get into what might be behind the move, what happens to the No. 6 and why silly season is already getting interesting.
They also talk about Larson’s thoughts on stage racing, Denny Hamlin’s rough day, Chase Elliott somehow not knowing about the Keselowski news until he got to Vegas, and why that 40-point lead might not be as comfortable as it sounds with five races still left.


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Mark Martin stops by Kenny Conversation to talk about his new book, Never Lift, and the stories in it are wilder than you'd expect.
We'll start with the one Kenny couldn't wait to hear. Mark's dad, Julian, loses his cool after a big race in Springfield, Missouri, when a brand-new ignition quits with the win on the line. Nobody says a word all the way to Denny's. Then comes the crowbar. Then comes the pole in the parking lot. Then comes the coil’s ultimate demise. Trust us, you'll want to hear the rest of this one.
From there, Mark and Kenny go deep. They get into the highs and lows of his career, including at a win at Bristol two weeks after losing his dad. Mark explains why he never tried to out-drive Larry Phillips or Dale Earnhardt and just made his car better, and how he and Rusty Wallace shared setups for years without a single problem. He talks about what made Al Unser Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya so good, why Sebastien Bourdais impressed him in IROC, and how he remembers every spring and stagger number from races decades ago.
Then it's modern NASCAR. Mark says why he stuck his neck out on the points system and why he thinks the current format is a fair compromise. He also gives his honest take on stage racing, the Hocevar and Blaney fight, and what happened to Corey Day at Martinsville.
Also, Mark and Kenny go over the book tour so far, including the packed signing and what's coming up at the Oktoberfest races in La Crosse.


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