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Poor Conditions Stopped Joey Chestnut From Breaking Hot Dog Record During 17th Dominant Victory

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Joey Chestnut Hot Dog
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Joey Chestnut wanted to break his world record at the Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July. Poor conditions on Coney Island caused him to fall just short during yet another dominant victory.

The 17-time champion needed slightly better weather!

Chestnut, one of the greatest competitive eaters of all-time, is the best to ever do it when it comes to hot dogs. Only Takeru Kobayashi was able to defeat him, twice. Nobody else comes anywhere close.

Joey Chestnut won his 17th belt at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Friday with 70.5 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The second place finisher ate only 46.

The 70.5 dogs and buns was impressive but Chestnut came 5.5 buns and dogs short of his world record. He was on pace through the first eight minutes. The final two minutes were the difference.

As were the conditions!

Joey Chestnut recently spoke about the intricacies of hot dog eating during an appearance on Pardon My Take. He wants fast dogs and warm buns. He wants the temperature to hover between 75-78 degrees. No wind. Just a little bit of humidity is ideal to keep the buns from getting stale. Too much heat and/or humidity causes him to sweat, which eventually slows him down.

Temperatures on Friday hovered around 83 degrees on the corner of Surf and Stillwell in Coney Island at the start of the hot dog eating competition. Humidity sat at 40% with winds up to eight miles per hour.

That weather is not exactly what Joey Chestnut wanted. Conditions were pretty close to perfect, so he came pretty close to the record, but it ultimately proved to be just a little bit too hot to get it done. Sweat was dripping down his face. The buns got harder and harder to put down as the competition went on.