Loved it. My WAG is that Fast and Loud has been losing ratings, and Street Outlaws hasn't, so they tried to mesh the two.
As for Chief "whining", there have been two challenges thrown down to AMG. One by Roadkill and one by Discovery. He didn't follow the rules in either one. Why is it so bad that the dude wanted the race to play out the way it was set up?
The NHRA license thing has me scratching my head as well. The original plan was for Richard or Aaron to drive the car, Chief or Shawn to drive the other. Aaron doesn't have a license, and neither does Shawn. But it was ok to have Aaron race it without one. Since he isn't there, it is a big deal all of a sudden?
I think the best part of the episode was the AK and Farmtruck stuff. They looked like they were all having fun, not bickering and such.(of course they also followed the rules...)
We'll see who Discovery or Dodge has "challenge" AMG to another race, buildoff, etc etc. Maybe keep track of how many rules he ignores.