NASCAR Fan Kal Penn Jokingly Starts 'Feud' With Austin Dillon

Kal Penn, a huge NASCAR fan for the last 12 years, took viewers on a tour inside the world of professional racing at the recent Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His trip included toasting with fans, doing a lap around the track in a stock car and jokingly feuding with none other than Austin Dillon. 

Penn acted as a guest host on “The Daily Show” where he did a remote segment that gave him the opportunity to engage in his fandom and debunk some of the misconceptions about motorsports. To help him disprove the myth that NASCAR drivers aren’t elite athletes and just make left turns all day, Penn spoke with the “Life In The Fast Lane” star spoke about how physically taxing it can be to get behind the wheel for more than 400 miles every week.

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“The athleticism side of it, to me, our heart rates peak at around 170 [beats per minute],” Dillon explained. “During the race, you’re around the 140 area. That’s a high heart rate for a sustained, long period of time.” 

He also explained that hydration can be a problem too, noting he can lose up to seven pounds on race day, depending on conditions. This intrigued Penn, who jokingly said he sees a quick and easy way to shed some unwanted pounds. 

“You’ve got a good physique, man!” Dillon assured him.

The duo also discussed the inherent drama that happens on and off the track with every new NASCAR Cup Series season, prompting Penn to want to get in on the action with a good old-fashioned feud. 

“This is a soap opera most of the time in this garage,” Dillon said. 

“It’s the NFL meets Housewives,” Penn joked.

“These are hardnose battles,” Dillon shot back. “It can get real at 200 miles an hour.” 

That’s when Penn joked that he and Dillon should engage in a feud, but the professional racer wasn’t having it. He said it was past his time and had to leave the interview to get ready for his race. Still, Penn wasn’t letting it go. 

He approached Ryan Blaney to inform him that he was looking to get in a feud with Dillon for leaving the interview and asked if he could consider him an ally. It seems he’s already learned that a NASCAR feud is only as good as the team backing each person. 

Ever the good-humored sport, Blaney agreed to back the comedian and actor. 

“I’ll always take your side,” he assured him. 

Fortunately, the “feud” between the two men was just a joke designed to make the video a little funnier. The real crux of Penn’s outing was to get an inside look at the inner workings of NASCAR from pros like Dillon, Blaney, Bubba Wallace, tire changer Dalanda Ouendeno, pit crew member Wade Moore and strategy systems engineer JR Houston. He even made sure to ask the tough questions.

“A lot of people really want to know this. How do you pee?” he asked Wallace. 

The driver asked him if he’d ever been in a high-adrenaline moment. Penn noted he once rode a cheetah in a movie. 

“Did you have to pee in that moment?” Wallace asked, adding: “If you do pee in the car, then you have to be there Monday morning to clean it up.”

Catch more of the behind-the-scenes action from NASCAR on Peacock now.