Late Models Take Center Stage in ‘Poker Face’ Episode

Somehow, the first racing-related media of 2023 isn’t a movie.

Instead, it’s the seventh episode of Peacock’s series Poker Face, titled “The Future of the Sport,” and it might be one of the best portrayals of racing we’ve seen in a while.

Director Rian Johnson’s latest project is a case-of-the-week mystery series starring Natasha Lyonne (Orange is the New Black, Russian Doll, Uncut Gems, Ad Astra and the American Pie series) in each of the episodes as Charlie Cale, with an overarching plot also involving Benjamin Bratt and Ron Perlman.

This episode also ties two recent pieces of news — one, that the series was renewed for a second season, and two, sponsor Lucas Oil is involved in the episode just days prior to the announcement that Kyle Busch‘s No. 8 will be backed by them at Auto Club Speedway this weekend — together in a roundabout way.

First off, a quick introduction to our director: Rian Johnson’s filmography started with the mystery film Brick, followed by bigger-budget successes in Looper and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (controversial among some, but the installment I enjoyed the most of the new trilogy) and then a more recent return to mysteries with Knives Out and Glass Onion.

Now, to business: Poker Face, Johnson’s most recent project. Our endearing, wonderfully-scratchy-voiced hero Charlie Cale can tell when someone is lying (usually muttering “bulls–t” when they do) and is on the run from some casino ne’er-do-wells after the first episode. On the way, she frequently gets tangled up in murder mysteries in small, isolated towns, and we follow her as she tries to help figure out what happened.

A few clips from the racing episode can be seen in the trailer below.

Now, I want to focus more on the racing elements than the actual mystery because I don’t want to spoil the episode for everyone. After all, the episode’s only been out less than a week, and I’m sure we were too preoccupied with watching the Bluegreen Vacations Duels the night it dropped, as well as the Craftsman Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series races from Friday-Sunday, to get around to it. But in case it wasn’t evident, I do recommend it.

True, the episode centers around Peach Tree Speedway in an indeterminate location, but it’s still evocative of so many dirt tracks around the country. Drivers take to the oval in beat-up late models,…