This week on Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle, Josh Berry and Dalton Hopkins review the recent success Berry has had with the Wood Brothers. While the interview took place before Berry’s 2027 plans were announced, the No. 21 has still enjoyed a run of success — including six straight top-10 finishes — in the late summer.
Berry reflects on his past few seasons with the team and says there’s no awkwardness since he announced his departure. Instead, Berry says both he and the team are “proud of what we’re doing.”
After the interview, Caleb Barnes joins Lyle to react to this week’s hottest topics. Continuing on the Berry topic, the two talk over the announcement that Berry will drive the No. 42 in 2027. Barnes thinks Berry’s summer performance earned him a seat.
Before the start of the Chase, NASCAR announced their swear jar sweepstakes. Each swear word said over team radio equals five dollars put in the jar, and fans can guess how much will be in the jar at the end of the 10 races to win the whole thing. Both Barnes and Lyle agree the biggest contributors just may be Ryan Blaney and James Small.
After the first race of the Chase, the two also look at the updated points standings. Both believe Christopher Bell has the best shot to battle Hamlin down the road for the championship after the performance of the No. 20 at Darlington Raceway, but Barnes is intrigued to watch how stage points impact the battle for the championship.
This week’s soundbite comes from Carson Hocevar, who reflected on his Darlington race and incident with Brad Keselowski. Barnes has frustration with the way Hocevar’s attitude seems disrespectful towards his competitors, which include Cup champions like Keselowski. Lyle thinks that — for the first time — a driver with nothing to lose could exact punishment on Hocevar, who has a lot to lose.
Watch Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle here or listen 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!
A Graduate of Virginia Tech in Sports Media and Analytics, Trey Lyle has been covering NASCAR since 2021 as the producer of the Fast Lane with Ed Lane on VTRN Sports 93.3 FM in Lynchburg, Va.
Trey joined FS in 2023 to co-host Happy Hour and help out on the podcast front.
He now hosts Bringing the Heat with Trey Lyle and oversees the entire podcast operation for Frontstretch.
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
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