Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / "Kenny Conversation" With Daytona 500 Champion William Byron!

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"Kenny Conversation" With Daytona 500 Champion William Byron! · Kenny Wallace Media

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Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation, brought
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to you by Jags, the leader in high performance aftermarket car
0:09
parts. Remember to go to jags.com for
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everything you need to fix your hot rods or straight up vehicle.
0:18
Fix them up well as you can tell I have a little different
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backdrop. I am in Pensacola, FL and as
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Brother Rusty says, I'm racing that old dirt car.
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But we had to stop everything because we are so lucky today to
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have one of the greatest race car drivers in our era and the
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Daytona 500 champion William Byron.
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William, welcome my friend. Thanks for having me Kenny.
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I've been watching, so it's cool to be on.
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Well, you make an old man feel good, buddy.
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Yeah, Ryan Blaney said the same thing.
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It it makes me feel good that all you young guys watch Kenny
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conversation. Well, listen, let's get right at
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it. I'm going to brag on you in a
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little bit, a little more. But I I got to, I got to throw a
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disclaimer. I'm on the road and I always
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tell everybody I do my notes. I don't have the printer with
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me, but I got to make a disclaimer.
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Everybody. This is a message to all of you
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out there. I'm a big fan of William Byron
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and he knows why, so I might brag on him a little more than
1:27
normal. William is a real racer.
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He goes to all the short tracks, whether it's Slinger, Wisconsin,
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Wisconsin, and he's a champion there.
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Slinger Nationals, Hickory, Snowball, Derby, you name it.
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So he's one of us and and William, Let's start right
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there, buddy. What?
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What makes you go and pay it, Forward it, and go to all these
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short tracks throughout of America.
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Yeah, I mean so when I got to the Cup Series I felt like all
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that stuff disappeared for a little while and I felt like I
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was just racing the Cup car and it became really like a
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business. I kind of forgot what why I was
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doing it in some ways and and some of the fun kind of went
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away. So I I feel like going back to
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the short tracks is just a way to for me to have fun and
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remember what the reasons I drive race cars and and just the
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pure competition of it. You know no one at the and not
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many people at the short track level are worried about you know
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what they're going to say to talk about their sponsors and
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things like that. It's just really pure racing and
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that's what I enjoy about it. You know, I spent some of my own
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money to go race cars the last few years and I just enjoy, I
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don't know, I just enjoy the competition and everyone's, it's
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very pure. I noticed that one of your
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teammates, Chase Elliott, doesn't race as much as you, but
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it did. You know, I think his broken leg
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last year slowed him up a little bit.
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Do you and Chase ever compare what asphalt short track race
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you're going to? Do you ever talk to him about
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that? Yeah, it comes up a little bit
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in, in passing, like in our competition meetings and stuff.
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I mean, we're not like worried about going to the same race or
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not, but we typically do a lot of the same ones just because
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they're during the week. But but yeah, I mean, we
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definitely talk about it and I feel like we share a lot in
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common because that's really our background racing, the Super
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late models. So for me and him, I feel like
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it a lot correlates, you know, to what we do on Sundays in
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those cars. Yeah, well we're going to get to
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your stats in a little bit. But man oh man, you won the
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Slinger Nationals and and that's one of the toughest race tracks
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in the world. You know, just not America.
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That is, AI believe I ran like I drove one of Matt Kenseth's cars
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there. When they repaid it, I think I
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ran a 9.93. I was getting.
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I was getting it, man. Yeah yeah dude.
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It's I think it's I I wish I remember exactly but I think
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it's I feel like it's 10 or 11 second lap times like a mid 10
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is is pretty good but it's dude it's your tongue is hanging out
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every time you go there. I've been there twice and this
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past time I went there right after the Atlanta race in the
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summer and I had, I was like four or five hours of sleep and
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I went out and made a practice run and I could not.
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I could not get my breath to come back it.
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Was. You know what's funny about
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that? First of all, let let's let all
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the fans know you were the 2022 winner at the Slinger Nationals
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up there in Wisconsin home and Matt Kenseth, the great Dick
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Trickle, Joe Shearer, the legends of our sport.
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But up you know where I find being out of breath is every
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year that I would and I'm asking you this every year the first
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practice session at Bristol, just I'm like, hold on, I'm
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busy. I'm like, OK, the car is doing
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this or I don't know yet, yeah. No, it's the same way.
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I feel like it, honestly. Like you're kind of wondering to
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yourself, how am I going to do this for four hours because I'm
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just out of breath. But it's that way every year for
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sure. Yeah.
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And then the next practice session, we're ready to go.
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Well, that was just a little prelude to what we're going to
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talk about. And listen, you did it, my
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friend, as we just said from the short tracks, and you are a
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Daytona 500 champion. You know, I know that we had you
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on trackside live in Atlanta, but, you know, hundreds of
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thousands of fans are watching this right now and they didn't
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hear us at Atlanta. So tell me a little bit, we'll
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go through a little bit of the race.
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But for right now, what's it feel like?
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Any new things happening or as things calm down?
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Man, I mean they haven't calmed down yet.
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I feel like it's it's just it's just trying to get back in the
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normal routine. You know we yesterday we're at
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the simulator as a team and we do our meetings on Tuesday, so
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just doing all that stuff. But today we're doing we shook
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hands with all the employees at Hendricks Motorsports and and
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handed out some rings actually for last year.
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But but yeah, I mean it's surreal.
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It's it's been a crazy kind of whirlwind and it's cool I
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finally got the trophy in the living room.
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So I think having that thing back back in my possession has
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been the been the moment that it's kind of sinking in.
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We have a little fun every once in a while.
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I don't think you'll you'll mind me asking this.
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Where are you right now? So I'm at my house.
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So yeah, I I live in Charlotte and I moved here about in July.
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So yeah, pretty new, but but yeah.
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And the trophy's in there. It's in there.
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Yeah, Are you Are you like the the 26 year old kid?
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Is it like a in your living room by your TV?
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It is. Is is it on the.
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It's on the coffee table. So oh hell yeah, I don't have
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much else, so it's. Oh, you got a lot.
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You got a lot. Hey, I I got to tell you this
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and I always remind everybody this is Kenny conversation.
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This is not an interview. Years ago when I was your age,
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obviously I had everything in my living room and I went to my
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hero's house. Dick Trickle and I walked into
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his house and there was 0 racing.
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Like if you were to walk in Dick Trickle's house, you would not
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even known he was a race car driver.
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Really. And he was a philosopher.
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Now you got you got time yet. But I learned that there were so
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many peaks and valleys in racing that the message was there was a
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day that I said, OK, honey, we're going to get rid of all,
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all the races because when I come in the house I got AI, got
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AI look at a picture I look at. Oh yeah, I had to unplug because
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I look at the trophy, I look at the picture and it would take me
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back in time. So where is?
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Where is all your trophies at? Yeah.
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So I mean, I keep a lot of them in my office, which I don't have
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a real job. So it's I don't, I don't really
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do a lot of work in the office, but it but I keep all of them in
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the in the office there. And then I keep some of the
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trophies, you know, just scattered around the house.
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But a lot of the cool ones were just, I mean obviously the Cup
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wins and then the Slinger Nationals, that was a really
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cool one because it's got your name on it.
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So I like that one. We're we got to get to the
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Daytona 500. But, but one more question,
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because my mind is racing. I went to Hendrick Motorsport
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and I think I went there and I I went past one of the offices and
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I think Jimmie Johnson does Hendrick, does he give you each
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driver? Does he give you your own space,
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your own office at Hendrick? So I don't have one no, but I
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just share it with my crew chief and my my team but they they
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changed the shop quite a bit a couple a few years ago we all
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kind of went to the same working out of the same space and so now
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we have like a 24 room 9548 and and I spend most of my time in
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there. OK, All right.
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So that started out with where's your Daytona 500 trophy morphed
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into, where's all your trophies? And so that was a little fun.
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We knocked out a lot of information right there.
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OK, so the Daytona 500, and we talked, we've already talked
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about this, but I'm going to say this again to you and I want you
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to respond. It became a numerical highlight
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in your career in 2024. You win the Daytona 500 with car
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#24 and and because of the the rain out because of you all
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racing on Monday you literally win the Daytona 500 on the 40th
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year of existence of of Hendrick Motorsport.
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Tell me about the numerology situation and what Mr. Rick
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said. Yeah, it's pretty wild.
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So I mean obviously going into this 40th year a lot of hype a
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lot of you know excitement around Hendrick Motorsports.
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We got the the maroon cars for Martinsville and then you know
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actually in our pre race or pre season meeting Linda Hendrick
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got up there and gave an awesome speech and really inspired
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everybody and got us ready to go and and the message was go out
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there and try to win the Daytona 500 and and try to win the
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championship and and so when we got down to Daytona it looks
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like the weather was bad and and Mr. H actually said at the
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partner event on Saturday night how cool would it be if we won
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on Monday 40 years to the day. And of course at that time
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you're just trying to think of how how am I going to get
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through this race but it's pretty special.
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I feel like all four of us really had a chance to win that
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race and I feel like one of us was going to bring it home.
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We're leading up to the race itself.
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One thing that strikes me is, you know you're with a great
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team and you said partner event. A lot of the fans don't know
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what that is. So what is a partner event?
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Yeah, So that we've been doing it last few years since COVID
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and basically just have all of our sponsors and all of our
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partners at Hendrick, you know, Chevrolet, everybody that
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supports the team, they come out, we do a little dinner on
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Saturday night before the season and that's a great chance to
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just see everybody and there's so many different, you know,
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brands on the car that a lot of times you don't get to see
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everybody in one space. But it's it's pretty cool.
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It's it's got a really high attendance and you know pretty
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much all of our sponsors come out.
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Yeah, make them feel important that we all are not.
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We're not racing without them. We're not racing without them
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for. Sure.
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Now there's an old saying, if you're going to play, you got to
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pay and and we we got to have that money.
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So the Daytona 500, they dropped the green flag on Monday.
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It was like 48 hours of rain, it just wouldn't stop and but they
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were able to get all the events in with a lot of audibles and
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even after the Daytona 500, I thought it was a funny nugget.
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You were in Victory Lane celebrating and the Xfinity race
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was going on. So when you were celebrating in
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Victory Lane still and there was like a big race going on, was
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that weird? It was so weird.
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I had that happen during the late model shows.
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Like you'll go and you'll celebrate and then you'll go
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through tech and you're in the tech shed and you got the
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support race going on, you know, and whatever that is.
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And so it. I was not foreign to me, but it
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was weird when in the Daytona 500 feeling like I was feeling
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like there's another race going on.
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But but yeah, I mean it, it ended up being cool.
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It was. It was a little loud in Victory
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Lane, for sure. Well, what was wild, as you
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know, you were on the Big Bird, you were on Fox winning the
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Daytona 500. They switch over to FS1 and you
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know they're doing two shots. They're showing the race, but
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they're showing you and Victor Lane.
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Oh, were they and? I didn't even know that.
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Oh yeah, and and and it made me think, man, that Victor Lane's
13:15
been going on for an hour or more.
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So, so the we're going to get to the race a little bit, but when
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you're in Victory Lane for the Daytona 500, it seems to last a
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lot longer than a normal Victory Lane.
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How much longer do you think Victory Lane at Daytona last
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more than other ones? Oh man.
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I mean it's it really lasts for days.
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It really you got to you realize how many people are are integral
13:45
factor in what you do you know like going to Victory Lane
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honestly I, you know when we won that race I knew it was the
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Daytona 500. But I only have one mode and
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that's to try to win the race we're in.
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And I thought man, how awesome we won another race.
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This is great. And then as soon as I got out of
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the car, it was like, oh, I realized what the Daytona 500
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is. It's not just any other race.
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And so I think like going through that night just in
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Victory Lane, all the different things that we did and the
14:15
confetti and the all the pictures and then going to New
14:18
York and then going to the race shop and Chevrolet.
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So it it lasts for days for sure.
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We're going to get to some of that.
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All right, let's let's fast. Let's kind of get to the race at
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hand. So the race runs on and I
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thought there was a lot to be said.
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I didn't know if it was deserved, but it was like the
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Fords are on the pole. The Toyota suck and and and
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yourself and and your teammate Bowman, you guys are there for
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the win. He gives you a push and you're
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going to spin out, but you end up getting into the right rear,
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you know, of Brad Keselowski and that saves you.
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You do a, you do a restart and you're coming to the, you know,
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white flag. Tell me, tell me that whole
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scenario. Run me through that.
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Those things I just said. Yeah, yeah.
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So I mean, you know, coming down to 10 laps to go in the 500,
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everyone's pushing. And you know, for me I was, I
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don't know if I've ever been in a 500 where it's three wide like
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that, you know all the lanes pushing each other and and so I
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kept bouncing between the bottom and the the middle.
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And somehow I think with five or six to go or whatever, Bowman
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and I got clear of the bottom And so we moved to the middle.
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And when we moved to the middle, the lanes in front of us were
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starting to shuffle around. And for whatever reason when he
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was pushing me, we got out of shape.
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I got out of shape from him pushing me.
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And the 22 is also coming down the track just a little bit and
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so we got all misaligned and that and that big crash
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happened. So I think when that crash
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happened, obviously I was glad to get through it, but in in a
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lot of ways I felt bad that it happened.
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And so I think my crew chief knew that and you know he's like
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look man, like block it out, it doesn't matter right now you you
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know you got you can look back because I kept asking questions
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of what happened because you really don't know in the moment.
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But so I think trying to block that out and trying to go after
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the next restart was was the big key.
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And then the restart there with four laps to go, I just, I had
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choice. I didn't have choice to the
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front row so I was going to take whatever Chastain didn't and he
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chose the top, which I thought was the right decision.
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And luckily I lined up on the bottom with Cindric and he's a
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great pusher. The Ford, the Ford nose pushes
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really well, lines up really well with our back bumper.
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So, you know when he pushed me, the pushes were straight, like
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intense. He was pushing me all the way
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around the track. So we got clear of of Chastain
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in the 2nd lane and so I was able to control both lanes and
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then eventually they got a big run.
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Yeah, I think it was off turn 4 and I pulled up to block that
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and that's when Chastain tried to go to the bottom and and and
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that was really the end of the race.
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So it was crazy. I mean, I don't.
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I don't know. In those moments, you're not
17:15
really thinking much, but you're just trying to think about where
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the runs going to come from and how.
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How am I going to block it? And if I can't block it, what's
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where do I want to be? It was really interesting what
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you said. You said the Fords, their front
17:28
bumpers align with the your car Chevrolet, you know, the the
17:32
rear bumper. Yeah, when I was racing, you
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know, we would just be out there in practice.
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We had a lot of practice in our day and and and you know, all of
17:40
a sudden you'd be up there in practice and you practice so
17:43
much, you're like, hey man, we were really, we were hauling
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butt with this guy. Yeah.
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So at what point did you find out that the Fords really
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aligned with your car? Was it in practice?
17:56
This might tell you. How did you know that?
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I think it's a little bit of history because like you said,
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we don't have practice. So for us it's really what has
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worked in the past. You know, they had a slight body
18:07
change to their car. But yeah, we went out and
18:10
practiced on Friday, I guess it was.
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And we ran all the Chevys together, all the Toyotas ran
18:14
together, all the Fords. And we realized right then, man,
18:18
like, I'm not sure if we're all good together.
18:20
Like, we need to spread out. We need to kind of mix
18:23
ourselves, you know, amongst each other.
18:25
And so that's kind of what we did.
18:27
I mean, we obviously try to work together.
18:29
We found each other in the end of the race, but we really just
18:32
tried to mingle with the rest of the draft and, you know, it
18:36
seemed to work out pretty well. You know Ryan Blaney had
18:42
mentioned that you know when it comes down the end, you know you
18:45
can only work with your teammates so much.
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And I believe in in one of the dual races, you know he pulled
18:51
the last corner move and just you know, I say this light
18:54
hearted, he he, he dumped Cindric, you know his his
18:57
teammate and won the race rightfully so.
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But I think my question is, it seems to me that times kind of
19:06
repeating itself, we're hearing more like we're like Formula One
19:10
now it's like Chevrolets Fords and and is is that true?
19:16
I mean is there more making that, you know you guys are
19:19
working as much as you can together or you or or are you
19:22
still a little selfish? Yeah, I mean there was the,
19:25
there was a very strong trend. I'd say I'd say 2018 to 2022
19:32
probably where it was you only work with your guys and that was
19:37
great until it was extremely predictable to just work with
19:42
whoever was, you know, on your Chevy.
19:45
So and I think the broadcast really got on that where they're
19:47
like, hey, well this guy's, he's only going to push this guy
19:50
because he's a Chevy or he's a Toyota and it's just racing's
19:54
not that easy. I mean it's not, yeah, right.
19:56
You can't. You can have a great game plan
19:59
and then they drop the green flag and.
20:01
You know it's 200 miles an hour. You're not think you can't
20:04
always just go where you, you know where it sounds good to go.
20:09
So I think it's just changed. People have realized, man, this
20:12
isn't we can't be this, you know, we can't be this
20:16
predictable and still try to win the race.
20:18
So I think it's kind of, it goes in waves like this sport always
20:22
kind of seems a cycle, but it just seems like we got in a
20:25
trend of everyone doing the same thing and that became very
20:29
predictable. Years, years ago, Darrell
20:31
Waltrip said Herman. NASCAR is a monkey see, monkey
20:35
do business. Those those garage areas were
20:37
parked right next to each other. Secrets don't don't last very
20:41
long. So OK, you win the Daytona 500
20:45
and let's have a little fun. Now you took us through some
20:49
good parts of the race. You're done.
20:53
It's you're East Coast time. You're you're almost one in the
20:57
morning and you're done celebrating.
21:02
Now I wake up the next morning, somehow I wake up and I kind of
21:06
get up what I think's early and I'm in Saint Louis and you
21:09
already in New York and you're on national TVI mean you're on
21:15
the big, big shows already in New York.
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Take me, take me and everybody else.
21:20
Tell us about that timeline of leaving Daytona.
21:23
How'd you get to New York? Yeah, so we get down with
21:27
Victory Lane, we do the, we do the Media Center.
21:31
I had a couple beers and then I went to my bus and called a few
21:36
people called my dad talked to him on the phone for a little
21:39
bit talked to, you know, Mr. H talked to Jeff and and then
21:44
changed out my fire suit which was soaked and then and then
21:48
took about 10 minutes just to breathe and said to myself OK,
21:51
what what's next? So went from there went to the
21:55
garage, saw my guys in the garage and they were they were
21:58
still tearing the car down. And so I had a couple drinks
22:02
with some of the guys and then about 12:30 they told me, hey
22:06
you know the sooner you get on this plane the more sleep you're
22:08
going to have. So it.
22:11
So we got on a plane NASCAR plane and flew to New York and
22:15
then got in about 3:30 and went to bed at 4:00 and slept till
22:20
about 6:45 and and did the tour. So my eyes, the thing I didn't,
22:25
I didn't. I underestimated the champagne
22:28
or whatever. This is a great problem to have
22:30
but it got in my eyes and I wear contacts so the next day my eyes
22:34
were burning all day. But that's all right.
22:37
Hey, you know what, A couple things remind me because I'm
22:42
trying hard. You're given such good
22:43
information, I want to talk about those contacts.
22:47
But you mentioned something you you talk to some people, you
22:51
talk to your dad, Mr. H, of course, the great Jeff Gordon.
22:56
But what? What went on in the conversation
22:58
with your dad after the Daytona 500?
23:03
I mean, I. Think it's It's hard to.
23:06
Remember it's hard to remember but I think honestly just
23:11
hearing his genuine joy and excitement for for for me and
23:16
just what it meant. I think we I I really feel like
23:19
we talked about just what it meant and and if we could ever
23:23
have imagined to be in that position you know he and I just
23:27
going to the racetrack together and and so is surreal I think it
23:31
was it took till about Tuesday or Wednesday and then he he got
23:35
choked up on the phone. I was driving home from the race
23:38
shop and I called him, I think it was Wednesday and he just, he
23:42
told me how like surreal it was that, you know, 10 years ago we
23:46
were watching Dale Junior win the 500 and I was just getting
23:50
started in racing and so just that was pretty cool.
23:54
So in Victory Lane, you pointed your finger to those grandstands
24:00
and you said it wasn't long ago that my dad and myself, what you
24:05
just mentioned, you watch the Daytona 500.
24:09
Not a child, but a kid. Yeah, your path was extremely
24:13
fast. We'll talk about that in a
24:14
little bit. Tell me about that day, what
24:18
maybe was, I don't even know if it was 10 years before your win,
24:22
being the Daytona 500 champion. If, if we do a little math, when
24:26
you let's do it real quick. You and your dad sitting in the
24:30
grandstands, you're watching the race, you see Dale Junior win.
24:34
How many more years did you just win this?
24:37
Yeah, so, So actually the race I went to, the 500 I went to was
24:41
when Trevor Bain won. So it was 2011.
24:44
So I would have been. I think I was like, shoot, I I
24:48
was born 97, so I was 14. 24, yeah, 13 years.
24:55
Yeah. So, so you were in the
24:57
grandstand. You were in the grand, OK, For
25:00
all the kids listening. The the kid you're looking at
25:05
right now, he was in the grandstands watching.
25:08
And 13 years later, he became that dream.
25:12
Yeah, wow. It's unreal.
25:14
It's unreal. I mean it.
25:17
I got goosebumps. It's crazy.
25:20
I mean, it is crazy because we, he and I, we went down there and
25:24
Trevor Bain won the race as a 20 year old.
25:27
And yeah, I mean, it was that was probably the spark of my
25:32
racing. I mean that's right around when
25:33
I started racing or or at least getting in into I racing.
25:37
So, you know, which had been for years, I've watched races, but
25:41
the Daytona 500 I went to, yeah, when I was 13.
25:45
I racing is next on my list, but I want to get to those contact
25:49
lenses and here's why you know Kenny conversation enter We we
25:53
talked to all the drivers, the great Jonathan Davenport Port.
25:59
We call him JD or Superman. J DS won $1,000,000 at Eldora.
26:04
He won the world 100, won $1,000,000.
26:09
The million. That wasn't, I don't think it
26:10
was the world, but it was the million.
26:13
And when we had him on Kenny conversation, he said he got
26:16
into his career and he was blind as a bat and and at night he saw
26:21
Halos. And I had people coming up to me
26:24
after that Kenny conversation and Chris Madden and my friend
26:28
everybody now everybody's wearing glasses and and when we
26:32
watch the in car cameras now of all the Cup races, see a lot of
26:36
heroes now wearing glasses. Yeah.
26:38
So tell me about your contact lenses.
26:41
They must be pretty good. Yeah, they've man, I've been
26:47
afraid to to change it. I've, I've had a contact since I
26:50
started in the trucks, in the Truck Series.
26:52
So I, you know, my vision started to change probably when
26:56
I was, yeah, right around 18 years old.
26:58
And what I noticed was I couldn't see the definition in
27:02
the wall. So like when I come off the
27:05
corner, I couldn't see, like I could see the wall, but I
27:08
couldn't see exactly how close or how far I was.
27:11
And I just that little bit of detail.
27:13
So I got contacts about the third, I think it was the third
27:17
race of the year in the Truck Series and and we ended up
27:22
having a really good year. So I didn't want to change it.
27:25
I didn't want to change anything since then, but I think it
27:27
helped it. I mean, everyone's got
27:29
different, you know, Cadence, I I wear glasses at night, but
27:33
I've never experimented with wearing them in the in the car.
27:37
The reason I bring this topic up is I I know how much you can
27:40
inspire kids that are coming up And you know, glasses have been
27:44
around since the biblical days and eyes are never perfect.
27:49
And you know, some kids might think you're perfect.
27:53
You're perfect specimen. And for you just sharing with us
27:57
that hey, champagne got my eyes and I wear contacts that that
28:01
will make that kid that wants to be like you, William.
28:05
That's great information. You know, they they feel like
28:07
they can be you. Yeah, and there's a lot of
28:09
detail that comes with it. Like I have to make sure I keep
28:12
them super clean because like going into the race, like if you
28:15
have a contact issue like you're done.
28:18
So it luckily knock on wood, I've never had you know major
28:21
issues but definitely you know it's it's all that preparation
28:26
is really important. My, this this is fun.
28:29
My friend Nick Hoffman, he builds my dirt cars.
28:33
He cannot hear out of one ear and he wears contact lenses and
28:37
but he whips her butt. So yeah, that's that's just good
28:42
stuff. That's just good stuff.
28:43
Well, let let's and I say this with respect.
28:48
Let's talk about what made you so famous before you really
28:54
started winning Cup races and they said William Byron kid.
29:00
All he did was run I races on computers and now he drives for
29:05
Henrik Motorsport and I was right there with them.
29:08
I was like, what? Yeah, let's let's D bullet tell
29:14
tell all the kids how you did this.
29:17
Yeah, I mean it's you know it was very like coming into the to
29:22
NASCAR and being the only kid that ever gone that route.
29:26
And yeah, I mean I started so how iRacing started for me was
29:31
Dale Junior and Landon Castle were very complimentary of
29:35
iRacing. They were talking about it all
29:36
the time in interviews. They would get asked in the
29:38
Media Center and I'm just a 1112 year old kid that's watching.
29:43
I would watch every practice on TV, watch every, every, you
29:47
know, try to watch everything that I we didn't have YouTube
29:49
back then, but I would watch all that and then so I figured out I
29:53
racing was a big platform, so I started racing on there and I
29:57
started running races like 3-4 a day in the summertime.
30:01
I'd run all day from from when I got up to whenever I needed.
30:06
So get off your computer, kid. Yeah, and that was sometimes
30:10
good and bad because you know you get pretty frustrated pretty
30:12
quick. But it I would just race on
30:15
there. I learned the I learned the
30:17
skill set that it took to to drive and but I was always
30:21
interested in in racing and and so then got into the legend cars
30:26
and and late models and all those things in the real car.
30:29
But I felt like every step of the way I was always discredited
30:33
because I was the the kid that started on computers didn't
30:37
didn't earn it like didn't race at quarter midgets and go karts.
30:40
So it was always a tough kind of uphill battle to prove to people
30:44
that I could could drive. So we're going to keep talking
30:48
about this, but I want to tell you my experience, I go to
30:53
movies every Tuesday night in my hometown.
30:55
We got about 20 of us and the movie was called Gran Turismo.
31:02
And you know, I really didn't know what to expect.
31:04
But it was a real movie and and it was about you but not it was
31:09
it was about an automaker that said hey we're going to find the
31:13
best eye racers basically in the world and and they they felt
31:18
like they did and in the end the movie's incredible.
31:22
I thought of you the whole whole darn movie but in the end they
31:26
all go to the 24 hour Le Mans and they end up finishing third
31:30
and all three all three drivers in this movie, Gran Turismo they
31:35
podium and and and they made it so OK now we know that you ran
31:43
like 300 races a year is what you told me.
31:47
Yeah. I racing.
31:48
Yeah, OK, so how do you get from the computer racing?
31:54
How do you get to a real car? Yeah, I mean, luckily I grew up
31:59
in Charlotte, so like Concorde, they had the legend car.
32:03
US Legend Car shop was there in Concord.
32:06
So went up there, met this guy Jimmy Baker and he told me to
32:12
he's like, hey I'll take you a couple races.
32:14
So we went to Concord Speedway. They had the little quarter mile
32:17
track behind the big one and which I can't believe that place
32:22
is is gone now that. Junky little track up and down.
32:25
Yeah, Oh yeah. Little little track.
32:28
Half the track was under, half the track was like, you know, it
32:31
was like Wilkesboro went uphill and then went downhill and super
32:35
fun racetrack. But I would watch a couple races
32:37
out there and then the Legend cars, they had a driving school.
32:41
Anyone could do it. Like it's just like I think it
32:44
was 3 or 400 bucks to go out and race drive a Legend car around
32:48
the fifth mile. And so I did that twice and got
32:52
gotten to know some of the owners, some of the guys who
32:55
owned Legend cars around Concord.
32:57
So just, I mean really started with the the driving school.
33:01
I did that twice in the summer of probably 8th grade going into
33:04
ninth grade and I had a lot of speed racing, you know, driving
33:09
the car, so. So you you you told me I don't
33:15
want to put words in your mouth but I just think this was really
33:18
awesome what you told me on Trackside live.
33:21
Our pre race showed Atlanta we were talking about this and you
33:25
said and you said it very humbly, you were a second
33:28
quicker than everybody else. And I'm bragging on you right
33:33
now. That's what made you stand out.
33:36
You came off, I'm not putting words in your mouth, but you,
33:39
you get all the computer, you go into the real car and you're a
33:43
second quicker than everybody. Yeah, and.
33:46
And people took notice. Yeah, so I had.
33:50
I couldn't get this car started, so it was really bad.
33:54
I couldn't use the clutch. I didn't understand.
33:56
I had never driven anything stick shift.
33:58
But once I got on the racetrack, I there was another girl there
34:02
and her she had an agent she was up and coming.
34:06
She had been racing dirt, dirt car dirt go karts and in quarter
34:11
midgets. And you know her and I were
34:14
basically the two people there that day.
34:17
And I was, yeah, I was making laps like a second faster and I
34:22
was almost, I was only about 1/2 a second off of the the
34:25
instructor guy who was who actually raced the legend car.
34:28
So. So I I kind of got the, I got
34:32
noticed by those people by the guy who was you know instructing
34:36
everybody. And then she also had an agent
34:38
that was actually David Reagan's agent at the time when he was
34:41
driving for Roush. So he was at the racetrack and
34:45
and just got started just making connections with people at the
34:48
racetrack. What would Let's wrap this up
34:52
because I got so much more to talk about.
34:55
What would your message be? I don't want to put you on the
34:57
spot, but a lot of kids know about you and and the world is
35:03
becoming more like this. You know, airplane pilots, they
35:06
go in simulators. What would your message be to
35:10
the kids that know about you, you know, being an I racer and
35:14
now you're a, you know, a NASCAR winner, a Daytona 500 champion.
35:18
What would you say to them? I mean, I think it's just when I
35:23
was younger, the desire was there to race in NASCAR and all
35:27
that was there, but I just was having fun with it.
35:30
I was trying to go and just I was wanted to be at the
35:33
racetrack and I just wanted to see what was going on in the pit
35:37
area. You know, get a get a pass to go
35:40
walk around and and try to get in somebody's race car and just
35:45
one thing led to another. And I feel like that kind of
35:48
genuine passion that a lot of us in racing have, that that never
35:53
goes away, even when it gets, you know, I never thought I'd be
35:56
doing like all these interviews and things like I for me it was
36:01
all about I just want to drive the race car and you know, that
36:04
was that was it. So I think keeping that the main
36:08
thing is always important and then all the other stuff comes
36:11
with it. It's a lot of work, but it you
36:13
know, if you love driving race cars or working on them, I feel
36:17
like it all kind of falls into place.
36:19
You put yourself out there. I tell my three daughters that
36:22
all the time. I say go and do don't sit at
36:25
home and say well he's got this, he's got that, he did this, he
36:29
did that and the Great Dick Trickle taught me you gotta
36:33
wanna and you wanted it. You went to the Daytona 500 as a
36:38
fan. You know some people just don't
36:40
put yourself in your in the position and you loved it.
36:44
So listen, thanks for talking to me about that.
36:47
I know you're tired of it. You're probably Are you tired of
36:50
talking about that I racing? No, I mean, yeah, for a while.
36:55
When I started, I didn't. I really shot away from talking
36:58
about it because I felt like I was different and I in a in not
37:01
a good way. They didn't like you for it.
37:03
Yeah. And I think for me, like, as
37:05
I've gotten older, I realized that that's what, yeah, that's
37:08
who I am and that's where I came from.
37:10
So it, you know, it's I try to embrace it now.
37:14
That's good that that really is emotional for me makes makes me
37:17
happy because as a young man when I was 26 years old there
37:23
were some things I was bitter about and and later on in my
37:26
life I'm like, hey, yeah that did happen to me and and now I'm
37:30
I'm better, you know. Yeah.
37:33
Well good job William. And I think that now that
37:38
simulators and things like that, I mean, they're respected now.
37:42
So you're you're the man. You're you're the face of that
37:45
because you did it and you're a Daytona 500 champion.
37:50
Thank you. Yeah, yeah, you're you're
37:52
awesome. And because you go short track
37:54
racing and you know, that's my favorite thing about you.
37:58
OK, I got to stop right now. I'm at Hickory, I'm at the
38:02
tri-county and I'm testing the cars Tour race car.
38:09
Well, I get done testing and I head east on 40 and I'm like, Oh
38:14
my God, they're running the ASA race there ASAS back.
38:17
And one of my dear friends, my partner is Bob Sargent and Bob's
38:21
the promoter. So I pull in, I pull into
38:24
Hickory and I didn't even know you were there.
38:27
And I watched you and you were running like 4th or 5th and you
38:30
got caught on the outside and they were, they were making your
38:34
life miserable and you would not give up.
38:37
And at that time I went he's a badass.
38:40
And then you climb the wall down the back straightaway.
38:43
Yeah, raced him for the. That was a heck of a race.
38:46
That was last May that we raced for the lead and like side by
38:49
side for like 20 laps. Is OK the lead?
38:51
Yeah. Yeah, that was fun.
38:53
Well, you got got put in the wall a little bit, but that's
38:56
that's all right. That old boy got tired of you.
38:58
Yeah. I'm going to get rid of him.
39:01
I'm going to move up 1 foot, OK? I I usually do this a lot
39:06
earlier, but you were different. So I'm going to remind
39:11
everybody. Everybody knows this part of the
39:13
show. I didn't do everything because
39:17
you've done so much at only 26 years old.
39:19
But listen to this 26 years old drives for Hendrick Motorsport,
39:25
one of the greatest teams. Rick Hendrick likes you, loves
39:29
your talent, hires you. 2015 NASCAR K&O Pro Series champion.
39:37
2016 Rookie of the Year, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
39:43
This one is unbelievable to me. 2017 NASCAR Xfinity champion and
39:51
Rookie of the Year at the same time.
39:54
So that means in 2017 you're like, hey, I'm going to go run
39:57
the Xfinity Series and you do it all, you win the championship.
40:02
2018 went on to win. You went on to race, you know,
40:08
at what? You won the NASCAR Cup Series
40:11
Rookie of the Year in 2018. And one thing's impressive about
40:15
this. It goes 15161718 every single
40:20
year You kept going up, up, up 2019.
40:25
OK, now 2018, you won the rookie the year in the Cup 2019.
40:30
Now you're on the pole for the Daytona 500.
40:35
You're a Daytona 500 champion. Now this we're not done. 11 Cup
40:44
wins, Ford's Xfinity wins, 8 truck wins.
40:49
Now I'm going to remind everybody, I don't want to hear
40:52
it because he he'd triple these numbers if he would have stayed
40:56
in those lower series. But he's only 26.
40:59
He moved up so quick and then I saved the best for last 2022.
41:05
You went to the state of the Wisconsin and you basically won
41:09
their Daytona 500. You won the 2022 Slinger
41:14
Nationals championship. So now I there there's more.
41:20
But when I tell you that at only 26, well, it goes through your
41:23
mind when I'm saying all that. Well, it makes me uncomfortable
41:27
to hear my how great you are. I I don't like hearing about
41:32
about that stuff. But yeah, I mean it's it's just
41:34
kind of the IT just makes you remember some of those awesome
41:38
moments. I mean that I thought I'd never
41:40
have a day like the day we won the Xfinity Championship.
41:43
That was one of the biggest days of my career.
41:46
And then you know, Slinger Nationals was a day that I was.
41:50
I mean that was an awesome, awesome feeling.
41:52
I never have felt that way at a short track, just that many fans
41:55
and that close to everybody. And then yeah, I mean it's just
41:58
cool. I I just you know I just think
42:01
about the work it takes and trying to get to the the next
42:04
one. When you won Slinger, you, you
42:09
realize, I'm sure you're a good study.
42:11
The sport you knew that was the home of, like Matt Kenseth, you
42:15
know, a lot of the big boys. So is that one reason it was
42:19
such a big win for you? Yeah, I mean, I kind of educated
42:22
myself on that race. I'd say I knew of it for a lot,
42:25
you know, the three years before I ran it.
42:28
But I watched Kyle Busch and Kenseth run there and Eric Jones
42:32
and Kenseth and just a lot of people told me how big a race
42:36
that was and I didn't really realize it till it went up
42:38
there. And I mean, they've got the
42:41
streets shut down and the crowd is packed.
42:44
I mean, there's not many short tracks.
42:45
You have stands all the way around all four corners and and
42:50
then you go to qualify and you're the most nervous you've
42:53
ever been. I mean, like you could miss the
42:56
race or you could be on the pole and it's like Bristol times
43:00
times 2. So I don't know.
43:01
It's a wild race track. Yeah, it's awesome.
43:04
Right outside of Milwaukee, everybody's drinking beer.
43:06
They're having a damn good time. That's beer drinking.
43:09
Capital of the word. There's no doubt.
43:11
All right. Let's, let's call an audible.
43:15
It means we're going to really do AA180.
43:19
You drive for arguably. Well, he is.
43:24
I mean, Mr. H, there's not very many people.
43:28
You, you, you got you got Rodger Penske.
43:31
He he's the captain and Rick Hendrick is Mr. H So I guess you
43:39
haven't really drove for anybody else because you're so young.
43:42
What is it? Is Rick Hendrick really like?
43:46
They say? I mean, is he like a dad?
43:48
Is he like family? Is he soft hearted?
43:51
What is he like? Yeah, the thing I the thing I
43:55
always think about with Mr. H is when I started in the Cup
43:58
Series, now, you know, I Rook of the year was great, but I had a
44:02
few years where it was tough, it was hard to get results and I
44:06
feel like anytime you're in a hindered car, you're expected to
44:09
get, you know, wins and compete for championships.
44:12
And he just never doubted me. He just never, he never in his
44:17
voice or anything he said to me ever gave me the impression that
44:20
he wasn't sure of how of what I was doing or or didn't agree
44:24
with it. And so he just gave me that
44:26
confidence from an early age. And I feel like when we started
44:29
winning races, it was the same way.
44:32
He just he he's just always been encouraging me.
44:35
And then the other thing about Mr. H is he makes sure that
44:38
every person at Hendrick Motorsports feels important.
44:42
And I noticed that through, I mean, we were at the shop today
44:46
and he wanted to shake hands with every single employee and
44:49
take a photo with every single person.
44:52
And that's just not everyone does those kind of things.
44:55
Yeah, See, he's a people person. I've heard.
44:58
I've heard so many great stories.
44:59
And you're so young. I wanted to, I want to see if
45:01
your story kept the lightning. Mr. H has been very good to me.
45:05
He's given me great advice about life.
45:09
So what is your weeks like? I mean, I know you're you're
45:15
you're a young man, you do young things.
45:19
Are you required to go to Hendrick the shop?
45:25
Do you? Do you?
45:26
Are you required to go there every week?
45:28
So no one's ever told me how much or how little I need to be
45:32
there. I mean, I think all four of us
45:34
are kind of do it a little bit different way, I'd say I'm
45:38
probably the most involved at the shop, you know, But I just,
45:41
I enjoy that for my Peace of Mind.
45:42
Like if I don't, if I don't go to the shop during the week, I
45:45
feel like I'm missing out or I feel like I'm not doing
45:47
everything that I could do. And that's just, I think growing
45:50
up in Charlotte, being so close to the shop, it kind of makes
45:53
sense. But I I go to the comp meetings
45:56
as much as I can and then you know, I go to the simulator with
45:59
my team. So I feel like that's just what
46:02
works for me. But I try not to go every week
46:04
because it, you know, it can get a little bit, you know, our job
46:07
as drivers is to be fast in the race car.
46:10
So however you need to train or prepare is important.
46:14
The fans, it would tear me up if I didn't talk to you about this.
46:19
You drive the legendary 24 and boy, have you done it justice.
46:26
I'm going to, I'm going to brag on you.
46:28
Jeff Gordon is so proud of you. He said that in Victory Lane.
46:32
He said what a great driver you were.
46:35
What do you. I mean he's a lot older than
46:38
you. And I mean we all want to stay
46:39
young, but what is your when you and Jeff talk?
46:43
Is it small talk? Is it deep talk?
46:47
What is it like to be with Jeff Gordon and driving his his
46:51
number 24? Yeah, I mean, Jeff.
46:54
It's yours now. It's your car now.
46:56
Yeah, I think Jeff, like we've gotten a lot closer over the
47:00
years. I mean, when he was, he might
47:03
not say this, but he was one of the most skeptical.
47:06
I feel like when I came in, Mr. H was the one saying, hey, this
47:10
guy, I really like this guy. And Jeff, you know hadn't seen
47:13
any of what I've done in the. Chart MO Eyebrows went down.
47:17
He was like, he was like, yeah, you know, I, you know, let's
47:20
see, let's see how you do. It's really tough out there.
47:23
And he was intimidating at first he was very intimidating.
47:25
But I feel like over the years, especially as soon as as soon as
47:29
I got through the Xfinity Series and we kind of made a connection
47:33
there in that championship race, he was down there watching the
47:36
race and I feel like it changed our relationship changed to OK
47:41
how can we make you successful in in our Cup cars.
47:44
And he, he really just kind of took me under his wing and like
47:49
he we spent time you know he'll come over to my house like in
47:52
the offseason we'll we'll you know have a coffee or whatever
47:56
and like just talk racing. So we're pretty close.
47:58
I mean it's it's gotten that way over the years, I think, and
48:01
he's become a mentor. That makes me happy because Jeff
48:05
and I have a long distance, long time relationship.
48:10
That makes me happy because I I remember him as 19 years old and
48:15
here we are older men now and and seeing him, it did surprise
48:19
me that Jeff stayed in racing because I thought you know he
48:23
would move on. So for him to have that
48:26
executive position and Hendrick, that's really cool.
48:30
Really nice of you to hear that. OK, we're going to do the the
48:36
big 180 again changing now. Charlie Marlowe, who who
48:42
operates everything here on Kenny, Conversation Charlie does
48:45
it all and you're tired of this one.
48:48
But on the Kenny Wallace show they're, they don't know about
48:52
it. You have become legendary for
48:56
the Lego company. Children's Legos put Legos
49:00
together. But then there's the big boy
49:01
Legos. We all heard it.
49:04
Dale Junior brought it back on. On your on the podcast you built
49:09
a 42 inch. Now listen, that's big.
49:12
That's that's that's big. That's you know, 3 feet 36.
49:16
You build a 42 inch Titanic ship with Legos.
49:21
Take me through this Lego thing. I think it's fantastic.
49:24
Yeah, I mean, it's sitting over there on my on my, in my living
49:27
room. But it yeah, I mean it.
49:29
That was a project. I think it started just a few
49:33
years ago. I just, you know, it's kind of
49:35
like what what do you get your, you know, what do you get for
49:37
Christmas when you become an adult?
49:39
Like, what is it? You know you get clothes you get
49:42
socks and I just I started asking for Lego sets and so it
49:49
basically started with I built the first thing I built was the
49:52
Lego piano and it actually plays music which is pretty awesome
49:56
and and I just was hooked. As soon as I built that, the
49:59
amount of focus it took and how it got me off of my phone and it
50:03
got me thinking, you know, in a different headspace than being
50:07
on the computer. And it just, I just loved it.
50:10
I think it's very therapeutic and it's kind of become more of
50:15
an intense hobby over the years, but it's just something I enjoy.
50:19
Yeah, that's really awesome. And you and you were on, I
50:22
guess, was it a Fox TV show that made this so?
50:25
Popular. Yeah.
50:27
Lego masters. Lego Masters, that was.
50:29
That was fun. Yeah.
50:31
Where did you go to do that? I That was in Atlanta, so that
50:35
was a couple. Yeah, that was a couple years
50:37
ago. We went down to Atlanta, Jeff
50:39
and I both. So that was pretty fun.
50:43
Hey. Listen, just reminded me when I
50:45
first met Jeff Gordon, I thought it was a little weird because he
50:48
had a pet snake and like, yeah, and Jeff had a snake and one of
50:53
the greatest race cryovers of all time.
50:55
So it's pretty incredible. You know race car drivers
51:00
nowadays, you know, you don't got to be dirty.
51:03
You don't got to prove that you're underneath the car.
51:07
That's pretty cool. And I do agree with that being,
51:09
you know, I love models. You know, I would go get the
51:12
Jags. I'd.
51:13
I'd go get the Jags model, you know, and Don Don Gregory was
51:17
the driver and I love models. So I can, I can relate with you.
51:23
All right, man. We got about 5 minutes left.
51:26
Here we are right at an hour and I apologize, I got to rough you
51:30
up in a in a in a mature way. So there's this dynamic out
51:37
there in in America right now about NASCAR.
51:41
They they say it, it's not me, but I've I've talked about a
51:45
little bit. They say it is so hard to find
51:49
sponsorship now that the car doesn't have enough money.
51:53
So all the new drivers like William Byron, Ryan, Blaney, so
51:59
on and so forth. The new drivers like yourself,
52:02
like you guys hardly make any any base pay.
52:07
So in other words you know let's say clipboard would make $6
52:12
million base and the word on the street is that you make $250,000
52:18
base that's that's that's that sounds crazy to me but I don't
52:25
you know I watched Dale Junior last night and he he asked
52:29
Daniel Suarez question. It was a minute long question
52:33
and Dale Junior has taught me, you know, they teach an NBC to
52:36
ask the question quick. Well, it's hard to ask this
52:39
question quick, but I'm doing my best.
52:46
Is that false? I mean, I know you can make a
52:49
lot more money on percentage, but are drivers like you helping
52:55
the team out by making minimal pay?
52:58
No, I think that's mostly false. I think good definitely is false
53:02
for the the the great drivers or the guys who are winning races.
53:07
But I do yeah I do think that there is A and I heard Kyle talk
53:11
about this there there's an average you know and I think
53:13
that it if we get drivers who come in that that do race for
53:18
you know whatever that number is and just kind of bring
53:22
everything down that it's important that we hold that
53:25
value. And I think that the drivers you
53:27
know we've got a council and and we've got a lot of things going
53:30
on behind the scenes to make sure that that doesn't happen.
53:33
But but yeah I was definitely concerned about that coming in
53:37
but the best thing you can do is win races and compete up front
53:41
and and you get you know and you're going to be in line to to
53:45
make what those guys make. But it's a performance sport
53:49
that'll never change. But yeah definitely the the
53:52
bottom line I guess and the and the overall average of the
53:55
series is probably shifted over the last few years.
53:58
But I think it's important that when new drivers come in that
54:02
they that they demand their value and I think that that
54:05
really kind of establishes it. I really appreciate you asking
54:09
that because you know, yeah, obviously I'm like you.
54:11
I'm in. I'm in the there's no union for
54:15
any of us but I'm in the racers union.
54:16
So you know I I say that you know a baseball player that can
54:21
throw a ball really good and he's very talented.
54:24
He gets $20 million a year and and here you are cheating death
54:29
and it has happened and you know it.
54:33
It's a shame. But you know, I I feel like race
54:37
car drivers are extremely underpaid and and I won't have
54:41
it that, you know, they're doing what they want to do.
54:44
I'm just saying make as much money as you can because number
54:48
one, you're talented and you deserve it and you're cheating
54:52
death. It's still a very dangerous
54:54
sport. Well, I think a lot of a lot of
54:56
guys told me like like Max always told me this with, you
55:00
know, he was really good, really close with Ayrton Senna and
55:03
you're the money that you make as a driver is is what people
55:07
view you as like it's it's your value.
55:09
And so I think that's how I look at it is is it's how people
55:13
value my ability, my how I can get the job done inside the car.
55:18
So it's important for sure. Damn, that's really good.
55:21
I like that you just taught me something.
55:24
Yeah, that that's your your value.
55:26
Well, listen, it's been incredible.
55:30
You've been so nice to me all these years.
55:32
I want to. I want to thank you.
55:33
And and let's end it like this. You're you're a young man.
55:37
I don't know if you have much, but we we asked this question at
55:41
the very end of all of them and it's a lot easier now.
55:45
We don't go into tech inspection and fines, but as a Daytona 500
55:51
champion now and you won a lot of Cup races, what are your
55:55
thoughts of NASCAR today? Man, it's a loaded question.
56:02
Are you too young? I'm probably pretty young to
56:05
give my give my perspective. But from watching, I guess what
56:10
I would say about it is I feel like from watching when I was
56:14
younger to 1st, getting into sport, when I was coming up
56:18
through the ranks, I was very nervous about where the sport
56:21
was going and what kind of future.
56:24
Like like you just said, with the pay and with everything you
56:27
that goes into it, is there a future?
56:29
Is it, is it something that is going to be around?
56:32
And I feel like NASCAR is taking a major positive turn the last 2
56:37
1/2 years that I've seen really since COVID, the racing on the
56:41
track is as competitive as it's ever been and the closeness of
56:47
how we all operate. There's a lot of tension in the
56:50
garage. Everyone.
56:51
Nobody likes each other. You know it and I don't think
56:54
that's always captured, but there is a lot of aggressive
56:59
driving going on out there and I feel like there's a lot because
57:02
of how close it is and I just feel like our sport is in a
57:05
really good spot. You know it's it's the the
57:08
competition is breeding, all the excitement.
57:10
The only thing I wish for our sport is that it gets back to
57:13
that national level of coverage with some of the sports
57:17
broadcasting like ESPN and some of these places that that it
57:20
deserves because the competition is really is fierce right now.
57:24
Marcus Smith, who owns a lot of the NASCAR tracks, you know,
57:29
whether it's Vegas you're going to right now, he owns Vegas, he
57:32
owns Bristol. We brought Trackside live back
57:37
because you know, they dumped, you know, the Speed TV channel
57:41
to bring FS1 back. And with that NASCAR race they
57:46
built by the Home Depot, which made the sport incredibly
57:49
popular, they destroyed it all. And Marcus said we got to bring
57:55
this back. Kenny, would would you please do
57:59
some shows? So myself and John Roberts are
58:03
doing it for about 8 races at the SMI tracks, you know,
58:07
Charlotte, Bristol, so and so forth.
58:10
Yeah, when you were in Atlanta just last week and you came on
58:15
the trackside live show and we're entertaining the fans.
58:18
Now we're back to what we messed up.
58:22
When you saw that crowd, what did you think?
58:26
It makes me excited because I feel like I'm seeing that a lot
58:30
more. Like I'm seeing tracks.
58:32
I'm seeing the stands full. When we do the national anthem
58:35
and you look to your right and you see, you know, full
58:38
grandstands. Like when I came in the sport in
58:41
2018 was my rookie year. Like it was not that way.
58:44
Like it was. It was pretty dire, pretty ugly.
58:48
It was ugly. And a lot of times the
58:50
conversation with my crew chief was man like like it was
58:53
encouraging. If we saw a good crowd.
58:55
Now it's it's almost expected. And so I think our sport, just
58:59
the excitement and the fan like you said on trackside, like, I
59:03
mean it was packed all the way out to the guardrails.
59:06
So I just feel like there's a lot more of that going on and I
59:09
want to contribute. I think the new wave of drivers
59:12
is motivated to to contribute to that excitement.
59:15
Yeah. And and and thank you for saying
59:17
that right at the end because Trackside Live is for the fans
59:20
to get their cars, get their vehicles parked early, have
59:24
something to do. And William, you know it was
59:26
packed because the drivers like you you know, they were there to
59:29
see the Daytona 500 champion. That show does not work without
59:33
somebody like you and Christopher Bell and Brad
59:36
Keselowski Ty Gibbs they came to see you so.
59:39
So thank you for doing your part and we got to work hard, man.
59:44
It anything worth doing? It requires work and I want to
59:46
thank you for doing that. Yeah, yeah.
59:49
I mean, I think this sport, you know, it's not guaranteed, but I
59:51
think it's, I think they're doing, there's a lot of good
59:54
things going on and we just have to keep sharing that.
59:57
Well, you're awesome, buddy. Listen, That's it, All right.
1:00:00
Everybody, remember, they always say, put that show in podcast
1:00:06
form. So William was an hour long.
1:00:09
Leave your your house. Go to go to work.
1:00:12
Listen to him on the way to work.
1:00:14
Turn around, Listen to William on the way back.
1:00:16
We are on iTunes, we're Spotify, and this is the Big Kenny
1:00:21
Conversation on YouTube. Please subscribe And William do
1:00:26
good out in Vegas. Thank you.
1:00:28
Thanks, Kenny. And we're looking forward to it.
1:00:30
First, first, you know, first real test for us that's.
1:00:34
Everyone in the garage knows that, so it'll be fun.
1:00:36
All right, everybody. We'll see you on the next Kenny
1:00:38
conversation.