This week on Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle, CARS Tour and eSports driver Donovan Strauss talks to Bryan Nolen about his current racing endeavors. That includes coming off of a long weekend in the Throwback Classic at Hickory Motor Speedway. Strauss shares some more about his rookie battle with Doug Barnes Jr. before switching to the eSports side of things and talking about how iRacing has helped in his career.
After the interview, Caleb Barnes – filling in for Lyle – spends some time with Nolen to talk about some of the hottest storylines from the week. This includes reacting to the surprising NIECE Motorsports announcement that Kaden Honeycutt would not be racing for the team anymore, and the later announcement that Honeycutt will now fill in for Stewart Friesen following the Truck Series race at Watkins Glen.
The two then discuss Austin Hill’s return to the Xfinity Series – with a playoff waiver but without those playoff points – and how that impact may be felt the rest of the season. The final topic revolves around the ever-pervasive discussion surrounding a potential horsepower increase that feels constantly promised, but never delivered.
The sound of the week comes from Carson Hocevar, who spoke to Stephen Stumpf after a great run and (not-so-great) run-in with Zane Smith at Iowa. Barnes and Nolen reflect on Hocevar’s consistent stream of mistakes, as well as Smith’s perceived attempt at exacting revenge on the No. 77.
In their final thoughts, Nolen continues on the Hocevar train, voicing his hopes that the polarizing driver sticks with his personality because of the way it engages the fans. Barnes shifts his attention to the frustrations with fuel mileage racing this summer, and why it’s not all bad.
We hope you’re feeling the heat after another throttle-up Thursday. Listen to Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Caleb began sports writing in 2023 with The Liberty Champion, where he officially covered his first NASCAR race at Richmond in the spring. While there, Caleb met some of the guys from Frontstretch, and he joined the video editing team after graduating from Liberty University with degrees in Strategic Communications and Sports Journalism. Caleb currently work full-time as a Multi-Media Journalist with LEX 18 News in Lexington, Kentucky and contributes to Frontstretch with writing and video editing. He's also behind-the-scenes or on camera for the Happy Hour Podcast, live every Tuesday night at 7:30!
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