Bringing the Heat with Bryan Nolen returns this week with a new episode after a week off amid the NASCAR Cup Series’ lone off-week of the 2025 season.
In this week’s episode, NASCAR veteran Casey Mears joins to speak with Frontstretch‘s Stephen Stumpf.
After several years away from the sport, Mears made his NASCAR Cup Series return a few weeks ago at Martinsville, where he finished 35th. He now has 490 career starts at the Cup level and talked about his pursuit to reach the 500-start plateau.
Tanner Marlar then joins the program to discuss the latest news and notes from around the sport. Spire Motorsports and crew chief Rodney Childers have parted ways, with Ryan Sparks taking over Justin Haley‘s No. 7 in the Cup Series. How that impact the team going forward and what’s the next step for Childers?
The soundbite of the week comes courtesy of Sammy Smith. The driver of the JR Motorsports No. 8 initially finished second in last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series return to Rockingham Speedway. However, after winner Jesse Love was disqualified, Smith was declared the new winner.
Watch below or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Bryan Nolen is the Operations Manager and Multimedia Director for Frontstretch.com. He also hosts the Bringing the Heat with Bryan Nolen Podcast and occasionally makes appearances on The Happy Hour Podcast. He has a Sportscasting degree from the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting. He resides in Boise, Idaho, with his wife, his French Bulldog Archer and two rabbits.
Follow him on Twitter @TheBryanNolen
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.