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Transcript

Jimmie Johnson Announces His "Real" Retirement & My Daytona 500 Pick | Coffee With Kenny · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Happy Sunday morning everybody. It is the Daytona 500.
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  I hope you all are as happy as I am.
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  Kim and I have had a wonderful trip.
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  It was called Winter in Yellowstone and we and we saw it
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  all. We are, our heart is full and
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  we're ready to go back to St. Louis, MO.
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  So a lot of people are like, Herman, how are you going to
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  watch the Daytona 500 as you travel back to St.
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  Louis, MO? Well, that's easy, everybody.
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  We've got Wi-Fi on the airplane and we'll be watching it with
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  you all. We land in St.
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  Louis, MO tonight at 9:00. All right, everybody, let's
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  remember that I help my local race tracks.
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  I'm a racer. As I reminded everybody my whole
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  life. They're like, well, we really
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  like you on TV, Kenny. I'm like, well, you know what I
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  don't like being on TV and I, we were dying to remind them all
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  the time. I am a race car driver.
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  So I'm right there with you all. I am excited about the Daytona
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  500 ready to get the year started.
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  Before we get on to the Hot topics lever, let me remind you
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  of this. For some reason, it is today
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  that wakes everybody up. Companies, fans alike.
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  They still think it's like New Year's.
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  You know, it's the start of the year.
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  But when you turn the TV on today and you see them running
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  the Daytona 500, in some weird way, that's what starts the
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  year. When they see that Daytona 500
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  on all the local race car drivers throughout America, they
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  really start getting their race cars ready to go.
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  It's like, oh damn, racing's here.
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  I always thought that was funny and I loved it.
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  So today, for some reason, it marks really the start of race
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  season. OK everybody, wow, right on cue,
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  2 minutes, the opening monologue.
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  How about that? We got news.
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  We got big news. Our seven time champion, Jimmie
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  Johnson, his plate is full on. He's got a dear friend, Marty
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  Smith. Think that's, that's the name,
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  right, Marty? They got a, they got a, a
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  podcast out called Marty and McGee or something like that.
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  It's a good one. Love those guys.
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  They're friends of mine. Jimmie Johnson Yesterday on
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  Saturday, the seven time champion NASCAR race car driver
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  Jimmie Johnson said. My life isn't in a great spot
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  right now, and I'm here to announce that I am done running
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  in the NASCAR Cup Series after this Daytona 500.
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  Now Jimmy is leaving the door open to run maybe the trucks,
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  maybe Xfinity. We all know that he is going to
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  race around his home area. You know, he loves California.
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  Jimmy Johnson, he's a West Coast boy, no doubt about that.
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  He promotes that area all the time.
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  Jimmy. I think Jimmy Johnson grew up in
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  a trailer court. You know, you, you, you do a lot
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  of talking about all you got to have money nowadays.
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  Well, Jimmy Johnson, he didn't have any damn money, grew up in
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  a trailer court, His mom and dad, wonderful people, but he
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  got it done with all talent. So Jimmy said I'm going to run
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  San Diego, which makes all the sense in the world.
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  I think he's running a truck out there.
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  I'm not not sure what's going to go on there.
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  But Jimmy Johnson did leave the door open, maybe to have some
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  fun. But he is finally done running
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  the Cup series. And I got to tell you, Jimmy,
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  thank God. I mean, that was all the love in
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  the world. But man, I love you so much and
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  it pained me to watch you run around there.
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  You know, as great as you are, I like to listen.
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  Respond right here. I love Jimmy Johnson, love him
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  because he's so good to me. But let's be honest, it's kind
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  of like watching one of your kids suffer after being so
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  great. After 7 championships, it was
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  very hard for me to watch Jimmy run 25th and 30th in in those
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  selective cup races. And I know I get it.
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  He was trying to help his legacy team.
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  I get it, it's going to help the sponsors.
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  But still, you know when you watch Jimmy struggle, it was it
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  was it hurt my heart. So hopefully he'll win the
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  Daytona 500 today. Will Jimmie Johnson be the Black
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  Horse? Will Jimmie Johnson win the
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  Daytona 500 today? Willie respond right here.
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  One more thing on the Jimmy Johnson announcement.
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  I think Jimmy comes to a point where you start looking around
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  and you're like, damn, there's there's my friend Jeff Gordon.
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  He's getting more out of it than I am running around beating my
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  head against the wall. You know, Jimmy Johnson out
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  there running 25th and 30th and you look over here and here's
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  your here's your old boss, Jeff Gordon.
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  Let's remember everybody, Jeff Gordon is the one that told Rick
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  Hendrick, hey, I'm going down into turn one in this O'Reilly
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  Auto Parts series. And I let off the gas and this
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  guy comes flying by me, drives into turn 1 deeper than Jeff
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  Gordon. And guess who it was, It was
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  Jimmy Johnson. So Jeff Gordon told Rick
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  Hendrick, hey, we got to get this guy that didn't didn't even
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  know who Jimmy Johnson was and that's how Jimmy got hired.
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  But anyway, you look at Jimmy's got to be looking around and
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  Jeff Gordon is getting a lot of fulfilment.
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  You know, Jeff is an executive. He shows up at the racetrack,
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  people still give him his respect, gives him his due.
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  And I, I think Jimmie Johnson had a look at that and go, damn,
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  Jeff's got it going on. Maybe if I become an executive
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  with Legacy Motorsports, I can wear my little half black coat.
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  You better not, Jimmy. Don't.
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  Don't you do that. I love it when Jeff Gordon goes
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  around with this little mini me Rick Hendrick little coat on.
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  It makes me laugh. What do they call that?
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  A vest coat? All right, well, listen, we all
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  do what we got to do. We got to get it out of our
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  system, right? Get it out of your system.
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  Everybody does what they want to do.
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  I just want to congratulate Jimmy for finally laying his
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  tools down and go home. And boy, it's been a long Rd.
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  He left NASCAR and he went to IndyCar.
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  It's like, OK, it didn't work there.
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  Then he left there and he came back to NASCAR and it time to
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  become an executive, right buddy batter come dirt racing with me.
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  They're 20 to 50 lap features. It's cool.
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  Here come dirt racing with me. Jimmy, I'll let you run my mod.
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  OK, Switching subjects, everybody switching subjects.
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  How about that role that NASCAR is on right now?
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  NASCAR is on a roll 2 races in a row where the drivers didn't
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  crash and we finished coming to the green flag.
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  You know, in some weird way I think that's what makes the fans
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  happy is just the races finishing under green.
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  I believe the fans are so disappointed that when they, you
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  know, wreck all the time and they finish under caution or
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  this or that, you know, you know, when it's not an exciting
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  finish, then it's not an exciting finish.
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  When the record at the finish, then it's a bad show and Oh my
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  God. But the last two nights they
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  have come to the checker. And how about Austin Hill?
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  You know, I don't know what it is, but I think Austin Hill won
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  like three in a row there at Daytona.
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  And they're like, oh, but then he'd go to Atlanta and he'd win
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  there. But Austin Hill is one of the
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  very best, and why he's not any more popular than what he is
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  amazes me. Coming down the back straight
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  away and you have all these Hendrick Slash Junior
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  Motorsports cars, they're just bearing down this one lonely old
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  Richard Childers car, Austin Hill.
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  Austin Hill drives for Richard Childers and he got out a little
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  far and they started to attack him and Austin Hill block this
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  lane, block that lane and block this lane and won the damn race.
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  Congratulations to NASCAR, we're off to one of the best starts in
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  a long time. This man right here is coming
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  out to get our luggage. He's a tough man right there.
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  He's a tough man. 25 people, single handedly.
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  I want to roll my luggage out to the bus myself, but he's going
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  to come out and get everybody's luggage.
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  So All right, everybody, it's the Daytona 500.
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  We've got a great start. Chandler Smith won the truck
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  race. Austin Hill won the O'Reilly
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  Auto Parts race. Who Will Win the Daytona 500
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  today? If you've made it this far, my
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  choice is Danny Hamlin. It's a heartfelt pick.
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  Danny has been roughed up enough.
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  I'm going with Danny Hamlin. He did not run the last
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  practice. That was the big story.
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  Denny Hamlin did not run the last practice.
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  Where was Denny Hamlin? The cameras caught him in the
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  middle of Lake Lloyd, the pond in the middle of the Daytona
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  Speedway. He was fishing.
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  Looks to me like Denny Hamlin's relaxed.
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  I'm going with Denny Hamlin just because I feel bad for him and
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  he's won the Daytona 500 what, 2 times?
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  Respond right here. How many times has Denny Hamlin
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  won the Daytona 500? Happy Daytona 500 day everybody.