Hot dog contest icon Joey Chestnut reveals key difference for Kobayashi showdown

Joey Chestnut spoke with FanSided on behalf of Pepsi; the two parties have teamed up ahead of National Hot Dog Day on July 17, 2024. Quite clearly, hot dogs taste better with Pepsi.

Competitive eating kingpin Joey Chestnut may have been absent from this summer's traditional Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, but that doesn't mean he isn't gearing up for his annual earth-shattering contribution to the gastronomic arena.

Chestnut, who's spending National Hot Dog Day washing down dogs with an ice cold Pepsi, will eventually take a break from relaxation and get back to training for his much-ballyhooed sparring with former Nathan's champion Takeru Kobayashi, live on Netflix on Sept. 2.

Chestnut claims he can still enjoy a single hot dog despite turning their consumption into a thresher's churn -- "One hot dog's like a tease," he says -- and his faceoff with Kobayashi will actually look a bit more like a traditional dinner rather than a bun-in-water whirlwind. For this particular event? No dunking. Just dogs.

Joey Chestnut vs. Takeru Kobayashi: No Water Cups Allowed

"This contest with Kobayashi, there's a no dunking rule," Chestnut told FanSided. "I've already started looking for other alternative drinks that could help me swallow the dry bun a little bit easier. (Eds. Note: Pepsi?) We'll see."

For the moment, Chestnut is preparing for that particular impossible-sounding wrinkle to the competition like any elite athlete would.

"Practice. Videotape," Chestnut confirmed. "I go into every practice knowing a plan of a couple different techniques I'm gonna try to eat with, then I go to the video to see which one's working faster."

The moment of truth drops at the end of the summer. In the meantime, Chestnut will be training unceasingly while still following his passion-turned-career around the country, stopping at minor-league baseball stadiums and casually downing 200 boneless wings and posing with a Wilt Chamberlain-inspired sign.

"200 wings is ... very difficult," Chestnut sighed (Eds. Note: Duh.). "People on the Twitter timeline were like, 'Those are chicken nuggets'. No. They're way bigger than chicken nuggets, and they were fresh fried and tossed. Each one of them weighs like an ounce and a half. That's, like, 18 pounds. That's more than 65 hot dogs."

And you know what they say: that 65th hot dog tastes better with Pepsi, dunked or not.