Death Shakes Racing World, NASCAR Wife Gets Ready For Daytona & 12-Year-Old Earnhardt Kin Gives All-Time Interview
Well, the clock has officially reset. It's a new year, meaning we get to spend the next month using that stupid that happened a year ago! joke a hundred times. Nice! Anyway, let's get to NASCAR ...
... on Jan. 1.
Yikes. Not exactly a laundry list of things to get to today, but does that mean I take my ball and go home? Hell no. You're hungover and needing something to read between dry heaves on the toilet, and I'm up at 7 a.m. grinding for race fans all over this great country.
Did I see the ball drop last night? Come on. Hilarious. I was donezo by 11.
That's OK, though, because it just means I'm ready to rock and roll on this New Year's Day -- NASCAR style.
Future OnlyFans star Natalie Decker is officially married. She's been on a heater lately and shockingly tying the knot didn't cool her off. We'll dive in.
Speaking of weddings, we'll also look back at Bubba's from a year ago yesterday because OutKick legend Trey Wallace makes a cameo. True story. You'll see.
I'd also like to introduce the world to Wyatt Miller, a fourth generation Earnhardt -- yep, Earnhardt -- who gave me chills yesterday with a simple 30-second interview. Love this dude.
Of course, we'll also remember the great Cale Yarborough today, who died Sunday at 84. Sad, but it's OK. We celebrate life around here, so we're gonna do just that today.
Four tires, an Advil and couple gallons of water for everyone reading this, and maybe a few empty cans for Natalie so she can tie them to the back of her car ... Monday Morning Pit-Stop -- the 'He's A Damn Earnhardt If I've Ever Seen One' edition -- is LIVE!
This Wyatt Miller kid is about to save NASCAR ... in like 10 years
I believe this is a first for MMPS -- we've never started our Monday chats with a 12-year-old racer -- but it's now 2024 so I reckon we're setting the tone for the new year.
Anything goes, so buckle the hell up and hold on for dear life.
I'll be honest with you, I had no clue who Wyatt Miller was before this morning. None. Zero. I only ran into him because this below video was making the rounds on Elon's Twitter, and I couldn't stop watching it.
I mean, it's just mesmerizing:
Perfect. Everything about it is perfect.
Wyatt is the son of Kelly Earnhardt Miller and LW Miller, and, according to his website (feel like a loser yet?), didn't even start racing until a few years ago.
It wasn’t until a trip in 2020 to the Midwest to visit friends that it happened. What was supposed to be a weekend preparing for the fall hunting season turned into three weeks of hardcore racing for Wyatt and his family. The first race went well and Wyatt had “the racing bug."
Fast-forward to this past weekend, and this mini Dale won his first Golden Driller at the Tulsa Shootout. No idea what that is, but it sounds pretty awesome.
They told me to run high but I don't know -- maybe I will, maybe I won't.
New Year's weekend in NASCAR means it's wedding time
Legend. My favorite Earnhardt moment of all time. Never gets old. Also reminds me that we're a little over a month away from the Daytona 500 and almost exactly one month away from the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum out in Gavin Newsom's disgusting California.
Can't wait. The NASCAR offseason really is hilariously short. I'd be so pissed if I were a driver.
Anyway, because it's so damn short, New Year's weekend tends to be the time everyone in the garage gets married. OutKick fan favorite Bubba Wallace did it last year -- as you'll see -- and actual OutKick fan favorite Natalie Decker did it last night.
Looks like a hoot!
Happy birthday Ryan Blaney, Merry Christmas Kyle Busch!
Hey! That's OutKick's Trey Wallace getting the coveted retweet from Bubba. What a time to be alive. Nobody has the angry stare face down quite like Bubba, by the way. Guy has that market cornered.
Anyway, looked like Natalie is off to the races in the married world. Can't wait for the honeymoon pics. Buckle up.
Moving on ...
Happy birthday, Rhino! Blaney turned 30 over the weekend, which was a nice way to cap one hell of a 2023 for our newest NASCAR champion. Won himself a title and then got engaged to Hooters HOFer Gianna Tulio.
It's gonna be tough for him to top that in 2024, but we'll see. Plenty of time to do it, and if anyone can, it's Ryan Blaney.
Here are some Blaney moments to reminisce on, along with some Christmas pics from the Busch house. Are the two at all related? Nope. Do I care? Nope.
Bonus: Sam gets us ready for Daytona!
Tributes pour in for NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough
That last one had nothing to do with Christmas or New Year's, but it's a good reminder from Samantha Busch that Daytona is right around the corner -- so get those pool towels now!
On our way out, we obviously have to touch on Cale Yarborough, who died yesterday at 84. The three-time champ first started having some pretty serious health problems earlier last year -- at least that's when we found out -- and it started to ramp up in recent weeks.
We all sort of knew it was coming, but it doesn't make it any better. Sucks any way you slice it.
He won 83 times and out together 319 top 10 finishes during his NASCAR career and is one of two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships.
Yarborough won the Daytona 500 four times and is sixth on the all-time list of NASCAR Cup Series victories.
He also set the modern record for most poles in a season with 14. He finished his career with 69 poles overall.
Nice.
Here are some of the best tributes I saw on Elon's Twitter. I know we're all trying to slow down the drinking today, but pour one out for Cale if you think about it.
See you next week. Take us home, Larry Mac.