Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / A.J. Allmendinger Discusses His NASCAR Journey

Transcript

A.J. Allmendinger Discusses His NASCAR Journey · 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
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parks. Remember to go to jags.com for
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everything you need. I always take a breath every
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time I do one of these because it seems like we just keep one
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up in ourselves. He won it all two weeks ago in
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NASCAR. Please welcome AJ Allmendinger.
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Hello, AJ. Well Kenny, it was just the the
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inspiration of seeing you doing doing an interview interview
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with you on stage before the race.
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I mean that. That's all I needed.
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Well you know what was funny is when you won the race, I thought
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to myself, you know when we had AJ on trackside live, I said it
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won't be an upset if he if he wins.
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And before we get started, you know Kenny conversation, we we
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go everywhere. But congratulations on that new
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baby named Errol. And I saw on Instagram that you
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wrapped that baby in that checkered flag that you won at
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the Robo. Yeah, so, you know, usually I
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give the checkered flag away. It's always cool to give it to,
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especially to a a kid in the grandstands.
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And I had to laugh. I kept that one and I walked up
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into the grandstand and Chris. C Rice followed me behind with
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the checkered flag and he was like, give that thing away and I
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went to hand it to somebody and then I was like, no, I need that
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back, Give me that back. I was like, so I almost gave it
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away. Fortunately the the person I
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gave it to was my spotter. Frank Danny was his wife and
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their daughter. So I owe them a checkered flag,
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but I definitely had to steal it back for for Arrow.
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So we have it wrapped them up in it and cool memory for sure.
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Man that was a close call. I you know I I think that we all
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I heard a great story about Bjorn Borg that the tennis
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player where he was bitter in his life and he gave away all
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his Wimbledon trophies and years later he said he spent
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$1,000,000 buying all his trophies back.
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So because I know of that story that was a good save AJ.
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Man, that baby. You're what?
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A story being able to grab that checkered flag back and have it
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for Arrow. Yeah, I, you know, it's that's
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one of those things that so I always laugh.
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I try this time now. Yeah, I tell this story, you
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know, back in the day. So when I did, when I did the
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the Indy 500 for Rodger Penske and and Team Penske the next
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week, that was a great memory. Almost won the race, seatbelts
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come undone, all that. But the next weekend was
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probably one of the worst racing weekends I've ever had in my
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life. I crashed twice at Detroit in
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two laps, crashed on the first day in the first race on like 3
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laps or three corners into the race, and then the next day
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after that crashed the first corner in the race.
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So my engineer Ron at the time, I remember sitting there head
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down like, Oh my God, I can't believe this happened.
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And he says it's just all stories, AJ and I'm like, what
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are you talking about, Ron? He's like, think about it, man.
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At the end of the day, you know, when we get old, what do we
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have? We just have our stories and our
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memories. He's like last week, pretty good
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memory. He's like right now in Detroit,
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not a great memory, but it's still a story.
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I was like, shut up, Ron. I was like, it makes sense.
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I got it, but not at this moment.
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So with that said, you know, it's a, it's a great story that
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Arrow can be able to tell as he gets older that, you know,
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basically a month after he was born.
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I want him a checkered flag. You know, now that I'm sixty,
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I've been, I've been saying this a lot.
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People say Wallace, you have so many stories.
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I said when you get to be 60 you just have you you tell the truth
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and and people call them stories.
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Along those same lines, Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, him and
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Joe Perry, the the lead guitars they got to arguing and Steven
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Tyler told Joe Perry it's part of the journey, man and and some
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people get that and some people don't.
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But along those lines, I have a lot to get to and I because I
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listen to you, I want to respond to that.
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You've been on one hell of a journey and we're going to get
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to it. But, and I know this is a
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cliche, but you are like wine to me.
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You're driving better than you ever have.
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Your life is on track. So awesome.
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Your marriage. You have a baby.
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So do you think right now you're better than you've ever been?
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Yeah, especially my NASCAR side of it.
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Definitely. Yeah.
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You know, just as you said it is is I spent my first so many
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years, my my first 3-4 five years really.
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And and even even now I still think of it this way.
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But I was just trying to survive, right?
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Like you know I came from open wheel racing.
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I I. Got into NASCAR.
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Never even drove a stock car. I'd run three truck races and
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they put me in cup at maybe at least a time of that.
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Had the most competitive fulfilled series right Kenny.
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You were part of that you know in the 78 car like just trying
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to qualify for the race with with the team it felt like you
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won. I I remember qualifying last at
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Bristol and making the race and it was I was like, this is the
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happiest moment of my life. I just qualified last, but I'm
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in the race, you know, like. And you know, just kind of just
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kind of like got my feet under me at Red Bull.
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You know, they let me go for Scott Speed and then it's like I
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spent the next year at at Petty giving all my prize money back
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and any money I made just to keep racing.
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So it was like it didn't feel like until about the 4th or 5th
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year that I'd actually even understood even to how to drive
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a stock car, let alone race it. So, you know, just everything
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that I've kind of journeyed through in NASCAR.
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I definitely feel like now that I'm the best that I've ever been
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and on on all aspects not just on ovals but even on road
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courses. So you know and and what allows
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that is is Matt calling Chris Rice.
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They let my personality just be me.
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They know I'm. I'm crazy like I'm crazy, right.
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Like you hear me on the radio. Crazy good, You're crazy good.
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Well. You hear me on the radio, man
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the emotions. It's like a roller coaster, but.
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They know I'm giving everything. I have every lapse, so but
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definitely I I. That's why at 41 years old, I
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don't feel like I'm anywhere close to stopping because I just
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feel like every time I get on the racetrack I am getting
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better. Yeah, I want to make you feel
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better, you know, there's a reason we call this
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conversation. So I was driving for Robbie
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Benton and I brought him like $1.2 million.
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That's all I could muster up and I'm brutally honest in a good
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way though, I'm going to make you feel better.
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So I give him 1.2. That's all I got.
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I know it costs whatever, you know, 5-6 we get 3/4 way through
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the year. And he goes, what kind of money
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you want when I'm doing TV, right?
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So I'm making money on TV and I said, look, you just give me 60%
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of the points fund money at the end of the year, right?
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He says, you sure? I said I got my TV money from,
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you know, the TV show we get to, Indianapolis Raceway Park and he
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says I can't pay you, we're in debt, so you're driving free.
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So there's a story for you. I've had race teams say, hey,
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you want your money, you know, here in December, you want your
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money now, but you're going to have to, you know, you know,
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it's your tax money or do you want to wait till the next year?
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I said, oh, I'll wait till the next year.
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And that team filed bankruptcy. AJ I've.
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I've lost about $600,000 in real money.
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So I relate with you. I relate with you and but this
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is what we do to make it right. Yeah, I mean it.
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That's that's why I tell people a lot.
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Like, it's the coolest job in the world sometimes, but it's
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also the most miserable. You don't.
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You're not guaranteed anything, right?
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Like. You you just hope that you get
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with a a race team that you know is solid and and trustworthy and
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things like that. But it is a difficult sport.
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We all know some of the best drivers in the world have never
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made it because of money and it's unlike any other
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profession. Because, you know, I feel like
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even growing up high school and college, like if you're if
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you're a 5 star and you're a stud, more often than not,
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you're going to get noticed and you're going to have an
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opportunity in this sport some of the most.
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Five star rated people that drive race cars never got an
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opportunity or or a real good one at least.
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So I mean you just got to be at the right place, the right time,
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you got to have opportunities, you got to succeed in those
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opportunities. But yeah, it's it's a
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challenging sport. It's it's fulfilling on days
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like at the Rovel and other days it is like gut wrenching, like
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it is the worst thing in the world, even though we know it's
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not, we're just driving race cars.
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But it it can feel like that as old Bill Elliott say he say
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Herman, it's all about timing and circumstances.
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So right now let's let's start Kenny conversation.
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Now, man let's go back to the win two weeks ago, what they
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call this bad boy. They call it the 2023 Bank of
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America. You were the winner at Charlotte
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the Rovel. We talked about it.
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It's a real Rd. course now. There's a little bit of
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elevation in it. You know you are incredibly good
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on ovals and road course, but you know once you took the lead
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and let's go to the end and then we'll go forward.
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When you were in Victory Lane you were incredibly emotional
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and and you've won a lot of races and we're going to get to
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those in a minute. I'm going to read you your
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stats. Why were you so more emotional
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for this win than I think any of your other wins?
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Well, I mean it's a Cup win first of all.
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It's so hard to get an opportunity to to win a Cup
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race. You know especially where we're
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at as an organization, we're trying to grow, you're trying to
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get better but you're racing against all all the big dogs and
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and there's those those opportunities at times feel very
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far and and few in between. So you know a couple of times
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this year we we we've been close last year I felt like.
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At the Rovel, we had a great shot to win it but it's just
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hard to to win a Cup race. So you know, as the year has
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progressed it hasn't went like we'd hoped.
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It's, it's it's it's a second year Cup team, right?
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So you have the ups and downs, there's weekends.
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You'd think, Oh yeah, we're we're on this now, now here it
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comes. And then all of a sudden you
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just have weeks where it just all falls apart and you feel
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like you can't get out of your own ditch.
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So. I put a lot of that on my
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shoulders. I put you know, really all of it
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on my shoulders. I feel like I'm always trying to
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raise our game, bring us to the next level.
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I give everything I have and you know it's it's those really
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close family and friends and and really close team members that
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that see that emotion at times where you just you just harden
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yourself and you feel like man, I'm letting everybody down.
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So I think that's where that emotion comes from is you cross
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that line and. It just floods out like all
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that, All that that emotion that, you know, sitting at home
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at times maybe in tears, 'cause I'm down.
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Like, man, I'm letting everybody down.
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Those frustrations sitting on the plane after a race and and
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being mad at yourself and you know, looking at everybody and
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and you know whether you need to apologize or not, but you just,
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I do. It's like, man, I'm, I'm not
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helping us get better. We need to.
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I'm sorry. And that's that's where that
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emotion comes from. So it, yeah, it's.
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You know, there was times during that race would be under yellow
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and I'd let my mind creep like, man, we if we win this race,
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it's going to be cool. But then it's like, OK, knock
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that off. What else?
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Stop. Talking to me, we got a long
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ways to go. So yeah, I mean, that's.
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But that's how I've always been, right?
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You've known me for, wow, almost 20 years now, Kenny.
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Like, I mean, we raced against each other in O Seven.
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I mean that's I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
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Sometimes when I do Kenny conversation, I'm a little
12:34
jaded, meaning that I know too much and I can get distracted
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when I'm doing these conversations.
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I totally understand what you're saying.
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So what you're saying is you have things.
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We we have things bottled up inside of us.
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And when we win the race, we don't realize it.
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And we just like, Jesus, why am I crying?
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You know? Oh, I get it.
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I wanted it so bad that I suppressed it inside me.
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So with that being said, Alan Sir Junior, he would say, and
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I've used this technique, he would say before he started the
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Indianapolis 500, he had a song of the day before every race.
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And it sounded kind of silly, but it made sense for me.
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And you know, he said his song one year for the Indy 500 was
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Mustang Sally. And so do you have any quirks?
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Do you have any techniques when your mind gets ready to wander?
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Do you have a song of the day? Do you do anything?
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Do you talk? You know, I mean, I do.
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I'm like focused talk, you know. What do you do in that car to
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stay extremely focused when your mind wants to look in the
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grandstands? I mean, I don't have any weird
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quirks about it. I think the only thing that
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every now and then. I just have Seinfeld episodes.
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Perfect, because it's like I watch so much Seinfeld like and
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I've watched every, every episode about 100 times.
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So it's like every now and then you just get a you just get a
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Seinfeld episode under caution that starts flowing through your
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head and and you're just riding around and reset your brain.
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Yeah, I'll never forget I was. I want a an Xfinity race at
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Martinsville and the caution's out and I look inside, you know,
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in the pit area and there there's my probably 5-6 year old
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daughter. She's doing head stands and I'm
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thinking and I'm leading the race under caution and I'm like,
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why is my daughter doing head focus on the race?
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Can't exactly squirrel. Yeah well so in this race a lot
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of pit strategy and you have to nail it in certain areas of the
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race track. To you, what area of the
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racetrack do you think you killed them?
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You you were able to keep the lead.
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You were able to be consistent and and also on the other side,
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what corners every time you came upon you and I'll know what was
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your best, what was your worst. So I felt like our weakness we
15:14
had a little bit in practice and and you know I kind of it's it's
15:18
kind of what we fight sometimes is is rear drive, rear grip as
15:23
as the run goes on. I knew and and we talked about
15:27
it that that Sunday morning that you know we had a lot of speed
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in the race car. I was upset with qualifying
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because I messed up the the second round.
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I actually thought we had a real good shot to qualify pole.
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We were the fastest in our group, I think the fastest
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overall at that point through the first two groups and I just,
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I messed the lap up. So I knew we were.
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We had the speed and. Not being in the playoffs was
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actually a benefit for us because with the with the stage
15:53
breaks back, I knew we were always going to short pit the
15:55
stage. We weren't going to have to
15:56
worry about points. So more often than not we're
15:59
going to keep our track position as long as we you know executed.
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So once I got the lead in and in general the infield of the
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racetrack basically from turn 2 to Turn 8 which is the the hard
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left-hander back on to the NASCAR banking, my car was crazy
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good and really fast. So that's where I was making a
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lot of my passes was a double left getting on to to the NASCAR
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Oval. But with that said I knew also
16:24
where the tires were being hurt was getting on to the the NASCAR
16:28
Oval and then because of that, that would cause the rear brakes
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to start trying to lock up at the end of the back straight
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away. So there at the end of the race
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when William got behind me, I knew he was going to be strong.
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He'd been kind of just laying in the weeds a little bit 4th, 5th,
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6th. So we know how fast those those
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Hendrick cars are, so. I I basically knew that getting
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on to the NASCAR banking was my critical area.
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He wasn't going to touch me in the infield and there was like 7
16:58
to go. I tried to overdo it just a
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little bit and I got loose getting on the banking that's he
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made the one run on me down the back straight away where I had
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to defend and I knew I was a little bit weak.
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It wasn't terrible under the break zone, but he was just a
17:10
little bit better. So from there on that was it.
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Just get onto the banking clean, get like that four or five car
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length lead to where he couldn't get me into the brake zone and
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then we were actually really good out of the chicane and I'd
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stretch that back out. So those were always the areas I
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knew, especially leading the race there at the end of what I
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had to focus on. You know as as I'm running the
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race with you, I'm following you in your mind right now.
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Now I know there's elevation at the Rovel, it is, is the roll
17:42
like a mini Daytona a little bit?
17:46
I mean it seems like somewhat the same turns and you know when
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you when you compare the the course itself, what what do you
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think? I mean it seems like the same.
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Yeah, Daytona is just really flat, though, so in the infield.
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Yeah. So in Daytona that there's
18:04
there's no elevation change at all.
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It is just flat corners, you know, in the infield.
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Which is it's you wouldn't really think it but actually in
18:15
the infield there at the Rovel there's way more grip than on
18:18
the banking. So that was but you know that's
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that's part of it is just you know it's it's driving a race
18:28
car in general, but that's it's more Rd. course racing where you
18:30
got to find the weaknesses and strengths of the race car and
18:33
then how they correlate to where that makes you fast on the
18:38
racetrack. And that sounds pretty simple
18:39
but. You know at the end of the day,
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like I said, it's it's OK there if I just get three or four car
18:45
lengths, even though I'm weak into the brake zone, they're not
18:47
going to pass me as long as I don't make a mistake.
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And that's what you're just trying to piece it together the
18:52
whole race like OK where am I strong where am I weak?
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If I'm behind the car where can I pass a guy and where can I
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just need to chill and know and not burn the tires up and that's
19:01
and it's it's like a it's like a chess match in my head the whole
19:05
time of piercing that all together and and.
19:09
If you get the opportunity to lead leading the race then you
19:11
put everything together and and that's how you try to make your
19:14
moves and and you know in my case really defend and so here
19:19
you are you know these things and these kids that are
19:21
listening to you right now learned a lot.
19:24
If I can gain here all they can do is get to my bumper here.
19:27
So all right this is something we do.
19:31
I'm going to tell you how great you are and then and and when my
19:36
stats are wrong you interrupt and then at the end we're going
19:40
to we want you to tell me what you think.
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And I do this with every driver and I dreamed up so four.
19:49
Now it's going to take a long time because out of every driver
19:52
I've ever had on Kenny conversation and I mean this,
19:56
you are the most incredibly well-rounded driver.
19:59
You beat them all. You beat Tony Stewart, you beat
20:02
Mark Martin, all of them. And when I'm done, I'm going to
20:04
be exhausted. Listen to these stats 407 NASCAR
20:10
races over 15 years. Three Cup wins Seventeen wins in
20:15
the Xfinity Series 2020 One 2022 Xfinity Regular Season Champion.
20:23
Here's where we have fun. Two time International Karting
20:27
Federation Champion. Champion. 2002 Barber Dodge Pro
20:32
Series Champion, 2003 Champ Car Atlantic Champion 2004 Champ Car
20:39
Rookie of the Year. Now let's go back to NASCAR 2000
20:45
and eight 2014 two 1018 Monster Energy Open winner That's before
20:51
the All Star race. This one here is incredible.
20:56
2012 Daytona Rolex 24 winner Holy Moly Where's the watch at?
21:04
It's it's in a safe place. And then when I'm feeling a
21:08
little down on myself and I and I need that little pep talk, I
21:11
just put that watch on and I'm like, OK, I feel good. 2014
21:16
winner at the Glen, 2021 winner at the Brickyard.
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We're almost done. This one's pretty cool here.
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This is what I'm talking about. Well-rounded.
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Five wins in Champ Car for a lot of you people don't know that's
21:30
IndyCar that's Indianapolis 500 type cars first.
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When was it Portland OR and the teams you drove for team Red
21:41
Bull. Richard Petty Penske.
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Phoenix Racing, JTD Daughtry. So I'm going to take my glasses
21:50
off when I say all that. What does your what does your
21:55
mind do? Tell me about all that.
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I mean first of all it. It makes me feel very fortunate
22:03
that I've had a lot of opportunities, you know?
22:06
I always have said I earned them because when I had to go win
22:11
races and get to the next level, that's what I did.
22:14
But I also happen to be at the right place at the right time,
22:18
just for so many reasons. You know what started with
22:22
racing? Go karts.
22:23
My My mom was a. A medical nurse?
22:26
My dad's a carpet layer, you know, It was always in the
22:29
offseason. Do you want rubber for your feet
22:30
or rubber for your go Kart? Wait a minute.
22:32
You have Your family has no racing background.
22:35
My dad raced local, local stuff, but yeah, the they mortgaged
22:41
their house three times to make sure that I kept racing.
22:43
You did good. So, and for everybody listening,
22:47
I I I paid that back. I paid all three mortgages.
22:51
What is it with this now? I didn't have daddy's money.
22:53
Don't. Don't tweet me.
22:54
Like, did you ever pay him back? Yeah, I paid off.
22:57
The mortgages. So we're good.
23:00
But you know it started with Paul Tracy, like you know, the
23:03
the IndyCar star. Like when I was in karting I my
23:06
parents didn't, we didn't have any money to go test race cars
23:09
or anything like that. So he signed me up on his go
23:12
Kart team and just by his association.
23:15
My name started getting out and then I got an opportunity at
23:17
Skip Barber and and Skip Barber himself loved me and gave me,
23:22
you know on the back door some free races that I wasn't going
23:25
to be able to to pay for. And and there was people inside
23:29
of Skip Barber that I shall remain nameless, just just in
23:34
case. Gave them a bourbon free.
23:36
You know they, you know they. Gave me a couple of things here
23:39
and there and stuff like that and you know, maybe some crash
23:41
damage bills swept it under the the table.
23:45
And then you know, so that was the whole Barbara Dodge stuff
23:49
and then Carl Russo for toyed Atlantics and my initial start
23:52
into Champ Car and you know I won all the races with Jerry
23:55
Forsythe. The the great story about that
23:57
was, you know, me and Carl parted ways.
24:00
He thought the team needed to go a different way and I I hadn't
24:03
won a a Champ Car race for them and Jerry Forsythe signed me and
24:07
I won the next three. So, so that that's what Bill
24:11
Elliott says, timing and circumstances.
24:14
So and then just it all goes to that and then you know the the
24:16
two series were split and I had to deal with sponsor personal
24:20
sponsorship with Red Bull and that got me in into NASCAR.
24:24
And then for some reason as I got let go, Richard Petty really
24:27
liked me. Rodger Penske's giving me
24:29
opportunities the first time and then when I needed it again the
24:33
second time. You know guys like James Finch
24:35
that allowed me back in the sport.
24:38
And drive their cars and then you know Tad and Jody and and
24:41
Brad when I was driving the 47. And then you know when I thought
24:45
I was done next thing you know this guy, Matt Colling and Chris
24:48
Rice, they they call me and I've heard of Collard Racing and
24:52
watched him in Xfinity but never really talked to anybody and now
24:55
we're here. So I it just all of that just
24:59
allows me to be thankful for the opportunities that I've gotten
25:03
because I've earned them. But.
25:06
A lot of people have earned things and and you know not had
25:09
those opportunities. So I'm I'm so thankful for all
25:12
the opportunities and been very fortunate that I've gotten to
25:14
drive a lot of cool cars and I've won some events in in all
25:18
kinds of different types of race cars.
25:21
Why? You know, from from the outside
25:24
looking in for all of us, for us racers, for media members, fans,
25:30
it looks like college racing, Sea rice, Mack, Mack College,
25:36
it, it looks like and I know not, but it almost looks like
25:40
the team was built for you. It seems like you're the the
25:44
matriarch, it seems like, or was I supposed to say patriarch or
25:49
matriarch. What is it?
25:51
I think matriarch, I don't know. I hit a lot.
25:53
It's like the Grand Poo Paw I. I I I've hit a lot of like you,
25:58
man. I don't know as a as my brother,
26:00
Rusty says her. Sometimes you say some important
26:03
words. Yeah.
26:05
Hey, hey do this Adam Alexander. When I first started you know
26:09
doing TV stuff on on race hub Adam Alexander he would just I
26:14
mean rattle stuff. I remember the the teleprompter
26:16
broke one time and he and you did a lot of TV.
26:19
Yeah. And I I remember we went to
26:21
commercial one time and this is like one of the first like four
26:23
or five times on the show. And I just looked at him and
26:25
said, how do you do this? I'm like like you just.
26:28
I know this is what you've trained for, but like and he he
26:32
this line will always stand up to me, he said.
26:34
AJ, if you're on TV especially, but this just goes in life, if
26:38
you say with conviction, they believe you.
26:41
Yeah, well, I said it with conviction.
26:43
Yeah, so Matriarch, that's it then.
26:45
You know, it seems like the team was made for you.
26:48
Why are you such a good fit at colleague?
26:52
Well, I I think you know, a big part of it is.
26:56
Because I am older and and just meaning that you know I showed
27:00
up and had no expectations, right.
27:03
I mean I showed up in 19 just doing Rd. course races and
27:05
running some of the Speedway races for them and and that was
27:08
the plan in 20 And then with what was happening.
27:13
Yeah, with was what was happening in the pandemic.
27:16
We just started doing more races and I happened to win Atlanta
27:18
and you know, win the Dash for cash and Xfinity and we started
27:22
doing more races and found myself really.
27:25
When I wasn't racing, missing being at the racetrack with
27:29
them. So you know, the the sport,
27:32
especially in the Xfinity Series and trucks and stuff like that,
27:35
it's built on, you know, younger drivers coming up through the
27:38
ranks and and trying to make their names for themselves.
27:40
And you know guys like Justin Haley and and Ross.
27:43
When I was teamed up with them, I think it allowed me to, you
27:47
know, be more open in the sense of like just being a good
27:50
teammate and like, not just. Focused on me trying to win, but
27:54
focused on man, if they win, like we still all win.
27:58
And you know, to be brutally, brutally honest, you know, in my
28:02
20s I definitely wouldn't have been like that.
28:03
You bought into that? Yeah.
28:05
So I think and then because of that I think they've bought into
28:08
me being, you know, not just one of the drivers, it's it's being
28:11
a huge part of the team. So we talk all the time about
28:14
things like that. So I mean, I don't know, it's
28:17
it's cliches. It sounds, you know, maybe it's
28:20
a match made in heaven and. You know, I feel like, you know,
28:23
as you said, maybe I put them on the map, but if they didn't give
28:26
me this opportunity, like I wouldn't have won all these
28:29
races. Like think about it this way,
28:30
Kenny. Like when I thought I was
28:32
retiring and in at the end of 2018 and started working for
28:36
NBC, I had won three races in NASCAR.
28:40
I had won two Xfinity races for Team Penske in One Cup race.
28:44
You know now you just now you just said it.
28:46
Like I have twenty wins in NASCAR and.
28:49
So 17 of them are with call gracing.
28:50
So we've done, we've done a lot of amazing things in in really a
28:53
short amount of time. I mean 19 and 20 were you know,
28:57
total. I think we did 21 races in that
29:01
time. So it's really been you know 21
29:03
races plus three full seasons and we have seventeen wins
29:07
together. So I mean that's we've done it
29:09
together, which has been pretty special.
29:11
The reason Kenny conversation brings that up with every driver
29:16
is I find that for the people that are listening and we're in
29:20
podcast form to some of my friends tell me they listen.
29:23
Going down the road is AJ it it's an old saying that Big
29:27
Brother Rusty taught me. He said her and he means it with
29:30
conviction. He says.
29:31
It's sad to say, but you have to remind people because people
29:36
remember what they want to. You can win everything and five
29:40
years later, you know, they just forget and they move on to the
29:43
next thing. But is incredible.
29:46
You've done a lot. The next thing I want to bring
29:50
up is something that really, really caught me off guard,
29:54
which I kind of knew, but I didn't know the numbers.
29:58
Listen to this one. The last 15 of the 17 years you
30:04
have drove for Michael Shank racing in the Daytona 24,
30:08
something something is is really cool about you.
30:14
What I've learned is that NASCAR, the Cup Series, roughs
30:17
us all up, we get spit up, spit out.
30:21
But it seems like with college racing with in with Michael
30:24
Shank you've raced 15 of the last 17 years and you won that
30:29
Daytona 24 in 2012. So my question is this, why
30:34
Michael Shank? What is the deal with you and
30:36
Michael Shank, man? Michael Shank is is you know.
30:42
One of the best people I've ever met in my life.
30:44
I mean, he's he. He.
30:48
Is like a Big Brother to me. He's absolutely amazing.
30:51
It it started with when when I was at my first Champ Car team
30:56
the the driver coach Barry Waddell and and Michael and and
31:01
then the team president Jeremy Dale.
31:02
They they kind of knew each other and Michael had just asked
31:06
him like. Hey, like any chance that AJ and
31:10
Justin Wilson want to drive for me at Rolex next year, you know
31:12
that'd be great. So we did that and and I
31:15
developed a relationship with Mike and you know basically from
31:19
2006 to 2000 I think it was 18 or 17 or maybe 2019 like I drove
31:26
in every race with them, but you know every Daytona with them and
31:29
that was I mean we have and this is.
31:33
Awesome. Now he has three wins in the
31:35
Daytona Rolex. They know they won the last two,
31:39
but I mean there was a time I I we were so close every year and
31:43
I remember it was 2011. He told me at one point he's
31:48
like we lead in the race and we blow up again and it's like he
31:53
he sat down next to me at the holler and said man, you deserve
31:56
to win this race. Like if.
31:59
You know Chip or or you know one of those, you know Wayne Taylor,
32:02
one of those guys asked you, man, go do it.
32:05
He likes you. I told Mike, I said F off Mike.
32:08
I'm like man I was like we're we're I'm like we're.
32:12
We're doing this. We're never doing this together
32:14
or we're doing this together. I'm like, but no matter what
32:16
it's together. I'm like I'm like this this
32:19
place owes us like we are going to win this damn thing whether
32:22
it kills us trying so and that's there there was times like you
32:26
know when I got suspended and you know he.
32:29
Put me in the race car. Paid me to be in his race car
32:31
and put me in it. There was times when he came to
32:34
me and said, man, I I I'm broke. I don't have any money to pay
32:37
you. You know, I'd still love you to
32:39
run Rolex, but he's like, honestly, I can't pay you.
32:42
I said I don't care man. I'm not.
32:44
I'm not racing this race for the money.
32:46
I'm like, I've raced that race because A, it's the Rolex 24.
32:51
It's one of the most prestigious sports car races in the world.
32:55
I'm like but for the pure reason and this reason.
32:58
Why I haven't done it really. Since is I'm like, I just do
33:02
this race to race for you. Like that's it.
33:05
Like I I love like you love him. Mike Shank, whether.
33:10
His his business. Business was booming in racing
33:13
or whether he couldn't pay anybody.
33:15
He kept all the same. Every person from like O Six
33:18
that I met was on the team still in like 2019 for the most part.
33:23
I mean, I think it was like 85 percent, 90% of the people.
33:26
He had been the same people because he always took care of
33:28
his people. So that race was just I I love
33:32
doing it with that whole group and and it's part of the reason
33:34
why now you know when he couldn't put me in the car
33:37
because Honda had their drivers and I didn't even look for other
33:41
team, 'cause I'm like man, it's just it it doesn't make it any
33:43
fun and it's the it's the same thing now with with Matt and
33:46
Chris. It's like I don't really want to
33:48
go drive for another team because it you know, we do this
33:51
partly, although it doesn't feel like it sometimes we do this for
33:54
fun and. You know, I I don't, I don't
33:58
want to go do that with anybody else.
34:00
So when Kim and myself got married, she's a Catholic.
34:04
I'm a Lutheran and we went to pre Cana class.
34:07
It it, it means where you go see if you're compatible.
34:11
And Father John, he said to me, Kenny, and I've told this story
34:16
a lot, but not so much that I've wore it out.
34:20
Father John says so. Kenny, what are what are you
34:22
going to do, young man? And I said so happily.
34:25
I said, I'm going to be a race car driver.
34:28
And Father John said, oh, he was very serious.
34:30
He said be careful. Competition will kill you.
34:35
I knew what he meant. So we say it the same.
34:39
You know, this is a sport. This is fun, but but it's not
34:43
fun. It it tears your damn heart out.
34:46
It's miserable in do you. So my question is this, do you
34:53
think competition in NASCAR, it requires a sense of misery?
34:59
You almost got to be miserable. I mean, I don't know anybody
35:02
that's happy and winning. Yeah, I mean.
35:04
It's I always say I have the best life in the world like if
35:14
you if you would have asked 16 year old AJ like, hey, by the
35:18
way at 41. You're still going to be paid to
35:21
drive race cars. Daniel Hamrick actually brought
35:23
this up to me last year. I and and since Daniel's become
35:26
a part of collar racing, he's one of my best friends.
35:28
I love him, his family. Kenzie.
35:32
You know, yeah, like I I just. I love Daniel Hamrick and I
35:36
remember he and and he's a grinder, right?
35:39
Like he's a guy that builds his own race car.
35:40
I don't know how to build my own race car.
35:42
That's the one thing. If I can go back and redo it, I
35:44
would love to have learned how to do that.
35:45
You didn't grow up in a a mechanically inclined family.
35:49
So that's that's all good. Neither did Jeff Gordon, so I
35:52
did. But you know that's it's all
35:54
good though. Yeah, but so.
35:55
But you know, Daniel's a grinder.
35:57
I remember he he brought this up to me last year.
35:59
We were sitting on a plane somewhere.
36:01
And he goes. So wait, like how long have you
36:04
been paid to drive race cars? I was like, well, what do you
36:07
mean? He's like, how long have you
36:08
been getting a a paycheck and that's your form of of money.
36:13
And I just go, I don't know, 2002 and he's like, you've been
36:18
paid every year since 2002 to drive race cars.
36:20
I said, yeah, he's like, that's amazing.
36:23
And I like and and it got to the point where like at first I've
36:27
never, I didn't think about it. I was like, yeah, that's what
36:29
I've done my whole life. But I've been fortunate enough
36:31
every year. I've raced cars and I've been
36:33
paid, you know, some years better than others, but I've
36:36
been paid and that's all I've ever done for a living.
36:39
So it's I always tell people I have the best life in the world.
36:43
And it's also why I'm miserable every day because I wake up and
36:47
it's like yesterday wasn't good enough.
36:49
Go be better. It's why I go practice golf
36:52
every day and I'm miserable every day doing it.
36:55
What a miserable sport. It's terrible.
36:59
The ball. Just freaking.
37:00
Sits there and you just just trying to hit it into this tiny
37:05
asshole. Like out of all this land they
37:07
use. Yeah, and you know and.
37:09
But it's the same deal. I'm like cussing.
37:12
I want to snap clubs. I'm like, I'm done.
37:14
I hate this sport. You know, that's 6:00 last
37:18
night, 6:00 in the morning. I'm up like, well, better go the
37:20
range, get better. Can't get it.
37:22
You know you're not going to get any better sitting here and
37:24
that's. So you're right.
37:25
Yeah. I mean, it's sense of misery is
37:27
required, you know the. Kyle Larson wins 10 races, but
37:32
you know those those 26 he'd lost, he was probably a
37:34
miserable human being at home. So, like, that's how we are.
37:38
You know, I started racing with Jeff Gordon and he, he's so
37:43
good, right? He's one of the greatest drivers
37:45
of all time across the board. And I was fortunate to be
37:49
friends with him. And what I learned about Jeff
37:51
and you brought up Kyle, is that when drivers are that great,
37:56
they don't know it. When I talk to Brad Sweet, you
37:59
know Brad Sweet and Kyle, you know their brother in laws and
38:04
they own high limit racing together.
38:07
Brad Sweat, Brad. Brad Sweet says Kyle just
38:11
doesn't realize how good he is. That is.
38:16
That's pretty incredible, isn't it?
38:17
I mean, really so. You speaking on the Kyle Larson
38:20
thing, right, he, he drove when our call Grayson Chevy's at
38:23
Darlington this year and you know waxed the field basically
38:27
like started, started from the back like four times like would
38:30
speed down the road. Yeah, down the road.
38:33
Like, you know, and and drive back through the field and I
38:37
give him hell for it now. Yeah.
38:39
Because Chris was like, yeah, our Darlington package is pretty
38:41
good. I'm like.
38:42
Yeah, Kyle. Kyle Larson rips the fence.
38:45
I'm like, for us mortals at like, you know, like, so that
38:49
you know. Yeah.
38:50
And Kyle. So I give Kyle crap all the time
38:52
I see him. I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to
38:54
need you to teach me how to run the fence in the Xfinity car
38:56
because I'm like, like, I don't know how to like you're like
39:00
like you do. And he's like and he's like it
39:02
takes a good car. I'm like bro, like they try to
39:08
make you feel better. Well, that's why you know.
39:10
People brought up the Indy, Yeah.
39:12
People brought up the Indy 500 and they're like, what are your,
39:14
what's your expectations, you know, of what would be a good
39:17
day for Kyle next year when he runs Indy 500?
39:19
I said winning, yeah, because that's how that's how good he
39:23
is. I expect him to win.
39:25
Yeah. Well, we only see drivers like
39:27
that come along every 20 years. I mean, we saw Jeff Gordon, you
39:33
know, and during Jeff Gordon you're young.
39:35
But during Jeff Gordon's era, along came this Tiger Woods.
39:39
We have this phenomenon going on where these kids are racing at
39:42
five years old out of Millbridge, the dirt track, and
39:47
all you see is this helmet bopping around in the car.
39:50
So my excuse is, hey, man, I started racing like 18.
39:54
They're starting them at when they come out of their mama's
39:57
womb now. So I did.
39:58
I I. Never sat in a race car like a
40:00
legit race car until I was 18. Yeah, right.
40:04
Like now, now you see. These guys, like like you said,
40:06
I mean hell late model. When a late model races like 12
40:09
years old, I'm like, I'm like I couldn't.
40:12
It's like I can't imagine at 12 strapping into an 809 hundred
40:16
horsepower dirt late model. And like I was at South Boston,
40:23
you know a couple weeks ago you and I talked about it and I
40:26
looked at this little baby boy, I looked at him, I said it was
40:30
driver's introduction and I said how old are you?
40:33
He said 12. I said am I racing you?
40:37
He goes, no I'm in the bigger class.
40:40
I did a little video. I said what is going on?
40:44
How? How does a 12 year old child
40:47
that's not even totally developed.
40:50
I think he drove the black number six in the Pro Late
40:53
Models. But yeah, I mean, you're right.
40:56
So all right, we, we got a my God, we're already at 41
40:59
minutes. We're going to come to the end
41:01
here. And I do this with everybody.
41:02
AJ, let's start wrapping it up. And I always tell everybody,
41:08
don't get yourself in trouble when I ask you these questions.
41:11
But this is what the fans want to know.
41:14
What is your opinion on NASCAR today?
41:18
How? How they're doing today.
41:22
I so in in one sense, I think it's really good because you
41:27
know, and you probably could even speak on this.
41:29
I I felt like the scheduling for a long time was the most
41:32
monotonous boring schedule of all time.
41:34
You go to the same race tracks twice in like 10 weeks, you know
41:39
all the race tracks almost felt the same and it just got boring
41:43
and it got stagnant. You can see on everybody's face
41:45
during during the season like so I I love what they're doing now
41:49
schedule wise. I think there's a lot.
41:52
I mean the talent that's in there right now is is some of
41:56
the best. I mean whether it's you know
41:57
guys like Martin and Denny and and you know obviously Kevin's
42:01
retiring but he still runs up front or you got you know young
42:04
guys that are in there like William and Kyle and and you
42:10
know just the the young talent that we have.
42:12
I mean, I think the sport, the future of the sport, Ty Gibbs
42:14
right now, the the, the future of that sport when it comes to.
42:20
Just talent wise is huge. Now I'm not going to get by.
42:25
I think they should have a little bit more personality
42:27
sometimes, you know, But the sponsors get mad.
42:30
But don't. You can't blame the drivers all
42:32
the time for that. Some of them are like that and
42:34
some of them have personality, but they're not allowed to show
42:37
it. You know, this new car, I don't
42:41
mind driving the new car. I think there's good and bad
42:44
with it. OK, stop.
42:45
Right there that is that is my next question.
42:48
What's your opinion on the next Gen. car?
42:51
Yeah. So it's I I actually enjoy
42:55
driving it, but you know, I think there's things like I we
43:00
all wish there was more horsepower in the car.
43:02
You know, being at these mile and a half race tracks, which
43:04
The funny thing is the mile and a half races have actually been
43:07
some of the best races in in the last probably 10 years of a mile
43:10
and a half racing. But you just don't have a lot of
43:14
off throttle time. You know, I think Martinsville
43:17
is the same way like you downshift.
43:19
And you throttle right back up and it doesn't spin the tires.
43:22
So it makes the short track racing not very good.
43:24
And it's been the same problem with the road course stuff like
43:26
you just kind of map the throttle off the corner and so,
43:32
but I don't think they're going to change a horsepower.
43:34
So you know, that's that's something that we got to work
43:37
around and and but you know what I do enjoy about it is it's not
43:40
like NASCAR's just sitting on their hands.
43:42
You know, their their hands and going racing's fine.
43:44
I don't know what you're talking about.
43:45
They're trying stuff with the car.
43:47
Whether whether your opinion about the car is good or bad, at
43:51
least you keep trying stuff and that's all you can ask for,
43:54
right? I agree.
43:55
All right, so this one is a little controversial because it
43:59
just happened over the last two days.
44:01
What is your opinion on the way NASCAR is officiating?
44:06
Technical inspection, fines? Record setting fines earlier
44:11
this year with Hendrick? What do you think of all this
44:15
officiating? Well, I I do.
44:18
Think that you know when it comes to if your car is illegal
44:22
it's illegal Now you know the the problem is is some of the
44:27
parts like because we had this the the problem with the 31 car
44:30
yeah it was but we had bought them like we didn't touch them
44:35
like that's how they came and then you get penalized for it
44:39
and then you know luckily got rescinded to a certain degree
44:41
still got Matt College still got fined for it but the points at
44:44
least weren't were were giving back but.
44:49
The fishing if your car is illegal, I like that they you
44:52
know if they know that you're cheating on something you should
44:55
get penalized heavy for it. But sometimes you know the the
45:00
Gray areas of of whether it was just a bad manufactured part or
45:04
things like that. You know it's it's tough so but
45:07
at the end of the day it's the same for all of us.
45:09
So you know for the teams you just got to figure it out.
45:12
But I I do like that if if. They know you were cheating.
45:15
You should be heavily penalized for that.
45:18
Yeah, they're they get hammered as we saw earlier in the year
45:21
Rick Hendrick or was that last year 400,000?
45:24
No, that was this year, Yeah. Yeah, that was a lot.
45:27
Well, AJ Elmendinger, look at you buddy.
45:29
I reminded everybody how great you are and I really appreciate
45:34
you coming on, Kenny, conversation.
45:36
And for everybody I remind you about this time every time.
45:40
Remember, we're in podcast form, and I really enjoy everybody
45:44
saying they're listening to us in podcast form.
45:47
We're on Spotify. We're on iTunes.
45:50
AJ, thank you so much. I'm glad Kenny that you.
45:53
Held this to 45 minutes because between you and me talking, we
45:56
probably could go like 7 hours and not even know it.
45:59
So hey, I appreciate it. Well, I have a little timer up
46:02
here and I and I know, so listen, AJ do good.
46:06
Only three races left Miami, Homestead and of course,
46:10
Martinsville and Phoenix. So until next time, everybody.
46:13
Until the next Kenny conversation.