Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says Connor Zilisch Can Win Multiple NASCAR Cup Championships

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Says Connor Zilisch Can Win Multiple NASCAR Cup Championships · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Chris Powell Couch coach live. How you doing Connor?
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  I'm not sure if you listen to what Dale Earnhardt junior said
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  on his podcast the other day. He said that quote this kid has
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  the runway to become a multi time NASCAR Cup champion.
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  What was your thoughts on his statement and just the praise of
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  Dale Junior? Yeah, it's.
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  It's really cool to have, you know, a guy like Dale kind of
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  supporting me. I'm racing for him later.
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  This year in the Xfinity Series and in the 88 car and you know,
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  obviously. You know, I've already worked
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  with them quite a bit to, you know, put that deal together
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  and, you know, I've been around him a lot at the.
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  Late model racetrack. And you know he's just been a
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  good guy to kind of help give me advice and you know he.
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  It was funny, we. Were leaving Florence one one
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  day after a race and he came up to me.
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  He's like. Hey, like, where do you live?
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  And I was like, I live in Moore, so he's like, we ought to ride
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  to Florence together next. Time we go to the racetrack and
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  you know, it's kind of cool a guy like.
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  Dill Earnhardt. Junior, you know, is as big of a
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  name as he may be like. It's just cool that, you know,
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  he is just another one of us and he's a racer and you know, he
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  doesn't want to be kind of known for how big of a, you know,
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  household racing name he is. He just is another driver and
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  you know, it's really cool that you know, he, he says those
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  things about me and you know, he has the faith to put me in his
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  Xfinity car. Shane Connor.
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  Charlotte Observer. So when you were growing up in
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  Charlotte, obviously I know you ended up getting you know,
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  involved with NASCAR race specifically later after you
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  started, you know meet with work with Kevin Harvick's son
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  specifically. But what was kind of the impact
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  of NASCAR to you growing up in Charlotte?
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  What, you know, what kind of influence did the sport just
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  have in general, even as as in your early days of racing?
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  Yeah, honestly, I wasn't the biggest NASCAR fan growing up.
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  I raced Rd. Course Go Karts and you know
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  kind of grew up watching Formula One and you know all the big
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  sports car races. And you know I never really was
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  too big of a NASCAR fan until I met Kevin and kind of got more
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  of an in depth sense of you know what the NASCAR community and
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  you know what it's like on kind of this side of of things in the
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  racing world. And you know growing up I, you
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  know, I went to a few races and you know I was just never that
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  big into it. I I kind of was focused on what
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  I was doing and you know, that was road racing and you know,
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  you know, trying to get to. You know, go.
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  Race in Europe and I race go karts in Europe and I wanted to
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  race F1 and you know, it kind of just became a, you know, a fever
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  dream almost and it wasn't possible for me.
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  So, you know, it was, it was definitely, I'm fortunate that I
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  lived in Charlotte. But you know, I think growing
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  up, I didn't really have that big of, you know, an interest to
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  race NASCAR one day until I really learn more about it.
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  And being a younger driver now and having experience in
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  different forms of Motorsports, what are some things about
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  NASCAR that really kind of make it stand out to you?
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  I think just the, the popularity around NASCAR, you know, I feel
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  like everybody knows about NASCAR and you know, knows you
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  know the big names in NASCAR. And you know if you kind of
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  talk, say the same thing about other forms of Motorsports in
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  North America, it's not the same, right.
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  Not everybody knows about IndyCar, not every knows, not
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  everybody knows what IMSA is. But you know, I feel like it's
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  just the biggest form of Motorsports in North America.
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  And I feel like that's what makes it appealing to me.
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  And you know, I kind of want to just be the best and whatever I
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  get in And you know, if that means that you know I'm going to
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  race NASCAR, then you know I'm going to put put all my work
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  into, you know, hopefully being the best in in NASCAR one day.
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  John Newbie, NBC. I mean, you've already had kind
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  of a baptism by fire of the aggressiveness of NASCAR.
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  What are some of the other you know things that you expect to
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  face as like a learning curvage prepare you know if your first
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  Xfinity race. Yeah, I mean, a lot of the stuff
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  that happened at Coda was to no fault but my own.
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  You know, just rookie mistakes kind of that shouldn't have been
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  made. And you know, I don't, I don't
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  really want to say it was more aggressive than other racing
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  that I've done previously. I don't.
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  I don't really think it was, you know, I I think it was just me
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  not not executing, not doing my job.
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  But you know, I think as we move on, the biggest thing for me,
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  it's going to be getting on the big ovals and kind of learning
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  how the car feels. I don't think the racecraft to
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  it's going to be that big of a, you know, difference to me.
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  You know, I feel like some of the air stuff in the trucks is
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  going to be different. And you know, there's there's a
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  few things, but I feel like the biggest thing is just going to
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  be figuring out how to race on a big Oval and you know how to go
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  fast. You know, I feel like it's not
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  going to be the speed that kind of scares me.
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  It's just the technique and and you know what what that takes.
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  But you know, I've been working really hard and I've done a lot
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  of simulator work already and I don't even race until, you know,
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  the end of the year. So, you know, it's it's all
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  about preparation for me and you know, I'm doing everything I can
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  to be prepared for the end of the year.
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  You've raced in so many different types of like vehicles
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  already, so many different type of competitions.
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  Being that you're so young already, are there things that
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  you wish that could be integrated for fan experiences,
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  crowd experiences that could really help NASCAR grow over
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  well? You know, drawing bigger crowds
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  that people could relate better to?
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  You know, I always think there's things that as a sport we can do
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  better. I went to an F1 race in 2020 and
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  that made US look like we were going to the County Fair.
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  Almost like it was crazy how much money goes into every event
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  in F1. And I don't think it's really
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  possible to do that for us just because we're not.
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  We're not F1 and you know NASCAR isn't F1, but you know a lot of
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  the hospitality stuff that they do, making it truly a fan
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  experience and you know, giving the people that are willing to,
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  you know, spend that kind of money to come to the races and
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  you know, have that kind of experience, giving them
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  somewhere to go would definitely be helpful.
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  But you know, honestly, I feel like it's tough 'cause, you
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  know, F1 is such a big sport and you know they have, it's just
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  it's way bigger and you know, the amount of, it's just crazy,
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  the amount of money that goes into every single F1 event.
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  I don't know the logistics of it all, but I don't know if it'd be
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  possible for us to do and I doubt it would.
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  But you know, that was definitely an eye open
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  experience for me. But I don't really know what
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  what we could do different. Steve Post from Motor Racing
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  Network. Connor, you've mentioned
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  multiple times here at the end of the year.
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  You're working toward the end of the year.
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  How are you with the patience to to wait till the end of the
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  year? We all want it now.
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  We all want to be in the Xfinity race today and the Cup race
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  tomorrow. How are you?
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  How are you managing yourself and the patience to to to to to
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  work the process until at the appropriate time to get these
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  opportunities? Yeah, patience is a big thing
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  for me. And, you know, I feel like even
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  not only this year but the years to come, just not rushing myself
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  into anything, not forcing anything.
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  I don't want anybody to put me in a situation that I'm not
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  ready for yet. And, you know, I feel like it's
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  honestly a good thing that I get the next few months to, you
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  know, race 10 ARCA races before I go into an Xfinity race and,
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  you know, before I, you know, kind of move to the next level.
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  I want to make sure that I'm prepared and I won't get thrown
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  in the deep end. So you know it's frustrating as
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  it may be that I have to wait until, you know September to
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  make my first Xfinity start. I think it'll honestly be better
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  for me in the long term just because I'll, I'll be more
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  prepared. But you know I do wake up every
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  morning and countdown the days till I go racing and you know
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  the next NASCAR, my next NASCAR race and I think my next one is
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  not until August or September. But you know, it is tough, but I
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  think it'll it'll play out play out for me in the long term,
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  probably in in a better, it'll be better for me in the long
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  term, I hope. Steven Sykes alive in global
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  media. As a young man you had to speed
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  up obviously a lot of different life skills faster than what
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  most would go through, what leadership and also business
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  skills that you had to learn differently than would you say
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  in terms of how to handling business money contracts that
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  you had to learn differently than before.
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  Yeah, I've definitely had to grow up, grow up fast.
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  And you know that's a big thing that people kind of maybe forget
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  sometimes as I am still am I I am still 17 and I'm a kid.
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  But you know, with that I, you know, have to be able to deal
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  with sponsors and you know, I'm basically, I have a full time
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  career almost at 17 and at times it is tough, right?
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  You know people you know my dad gets hard on me at times but
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  it's all it's all out of a place I love.
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  But you know it's it's tough sometimes I'm experiencing
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  everything for the first time and you know I'm still learning
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  every day what you know, real world problems and you know
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  whatever may come my way. But it's been so good for me as
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  a as a human being to grow up this fast and deal with these
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  things every day. And you know I just got put into
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  the real world, real world at a young age.
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  But it's been it's been really cool for me getting to
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  experience this and you know I don't go to high school.
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  I do online school and you know, my life's a lot different than a
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  normal 17 year old, but it's all for the better I think.
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  Well, before we close here with Connor, I want to share some
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  pretty impressive stats so far here just for 2024.
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  Started off the season winning the Rolex 24.
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  Go on to Sebring and just last week at Cody you made your
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  NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut.
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  You win the poll at Coda. Now here you are going to be
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  going NASCAR Xfinity Series racing later this season.
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  Just close this out here by talking a little bit about the
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  transition from sports car racing to NASCAR.
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  Yeah, it's completely different and you know, it's not easy
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  making the transition, but I feel like I've raced in so many
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  different disciplines already that I feel comfortable making
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  the transition. You know, I I definitely do
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  struggle from time to time. You know, when I go back and
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  forth and have to learn things again and you know, learn new
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  things. It's definitely not easy, but
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  it's at the end of the day making making me a better race
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  car driver and helping make me better.
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  So, you know, I try not to worry about the days that don't go too
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  well. I don't.
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  I don't worry about it too much because I know that, you know,
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  I'm going to have those days and, you know, not everything's
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  butterflies and rainbows and you know, it's not all going to be
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  good. But, you know, I'm still so
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  young and I have a lot of time to learn.
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  And you know, that's the biggest thing for me is don't focus on
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  the results, just focus on getting better.
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  And you know, that's that's the biggest thing that, you know,
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  I've had to learn at a young age is, you know, you're not always
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  going to succeed and it's not always going to go well.
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  But you know, you're just kind of building for your future.
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  And you know, that's that's been a hard thing for me to learn,
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  but it's been a good lesson.