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Jimmie Johnson & Chad Knaus Reflect on NASCAR Hall of Fame · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Chad, you want to tell us about? Your experience.
0:03
Yeah, I, I, I go a little bit of what Jimmy said.
0:05
Rick grabbed us both prior to the event and he said at some
0:09
point tonight this is going to hit you guys and you're going to
0:11
realize what of the big deal it is.
0:13
And honestly it really hit me when I saw my kids walk out on
0:17
stage. I was like oh boy.
0:20
And now I knew it was going to go one way or the other.
0:22
Is it going to go reasonably well or the wheels were going to
0:24
come off of it at that point And and thankfully they did a great
0:26
job and Brooke did an amazing job.
0:28
And to be able to stand up there and and talk to a room of your
0:32
peers and, you know, speak from the heart like what Jimmy did
0:36
and what I was able to do. And Donnie, it's just an honor.
0:39
It's an honor to have that court.
0:41
It's an honor to be in this situation.
0:44
You know, I'm just proud to be here, be able to do it with
0:46
Jimmy. Where were you guys at?
0:47
Kind of, you know, where do you, where was your mindset going in?
0:50
And then what changed for you guys?
0:55
So I'll set the stage and Jack and jump in O4 We lose the
0:59
championship to Kerbush by a spot, six points.
1:03
The spot basically on track. I guess two spots on track on
1:06
the old point system and how that played out.
1:10
O5 we're in the championship running again, racing Tony
1:15
Stewart for the championship. We have an issue with the right
1:18
retire in a crash and Tony Stewart has pretty poor night
1:23
for his standards, which left us in this headspace of like we had
1:27
a shot at it. So in our eyes we had two
1:29
opportunities slip away and you just never know how many looks
1:33
you're going to get at a championship.
1:35
So that that frustration of being so close was really the
1:39
foundation of the frustration and anger.
1:42
And this was, I don't know, maybe the week after Homestead,
1:45
and we're just angry and mad. And both of us had spoken to
1:49
Rick and evidently acted like a a baby or a kid.
1:53
And it LED Rick to that, to the idea for that meeting when you
1:57
called us in. And then what do you mean that
2:00
what? What changed?
2:02
What did you guys talk some more than?
2:03
Just walk out there and felt the hood.
2:07
I I would say that after Rick truly demanded us to eat cookies
2:13
and to drink the milk, 'cause we OK, fine, we'll break the
2:16
cookies. Like, no, eat the cookie, Will
2:18
you? Take a bite.
2:19
Take a bigger bite. Drink milk.
2:21
Oh boy. Or drink some light juice.
2:24
That's exactly what this. Was so Rick keeps pushing us to
2:30
get into the experience and then gives us both a chance to to
2:36
kind of air what's on our minds and then we honestly got into a
2:40
a real conversation in many ways and no joke we left that meeting
2:47
and changed our course in how we worked the way Chad and I want
2:54
to speak for you but there knowledge to this because I keep
2:57
taking the microphone right now but we we we went in a different
2:59
direction and then OO6 takes place we come out of the gate
3:05
when Daytona 500 when our first. Championship.
3:08
When the next championship on and on and on.
3:09
So I think there was a lot of wave in that meeting that that
3:14
would happen. Yeah, there was.
3:16
It was, it was a really tough time for me.
3:20
We had had such a a steep trajectory and really thought
3:24
that we should have won the championship by then.
3:26
I mean, we had a very good opportunity to win the
3:27
championship in 2002, our very first year.
3:31
And when when I sat in that meeting, I'll I'll be, I'll be
3:34
frank and I'll tell you I walked out of that meeting and I
3:36
remember vividly. I was embarrassed.
3:40
I was embarrassed at the fact that Mister Hendrick had to sit
3:42
us down to grown men with the opportunity of a lifetime.
3:46
And we were sitting there just letting it go away.
3:50
And at that point I was like, I'm not, I'm not doing this
3:52
anymore. I'm going to do, I'm going to
3:54
take the advice of a man who has mentored us and give us an
3:57
opportunity and change the structure of the 48 team.
3:59
And we worked diligently that whole offseason of the 2005,
4:04
2006 year. We we worked on giving the
4:06
engineers more, more skin in the game.
4:09
We worked on putting more emphasis on the engineers, on
4:12
the car. Chief Ron Malik, giving
4:14
everybody a little bit more tangible interest in the team as
4:17
opposed to me doing it all. I was building the shocks, I was
4:20
setting up the cars, I was putting the bodies on the cars.
4:22
I was doing it all prior to that.
4:25
And we had had a tremendous amount of success.
4:27
But it was very selfish, very selfish for me to go through
4:30
that. And I was embarrassed after I
4:33
sat there with Mr. Hendrick and I came out and I vowed that I
4:35
was going to do it differently. And trust me, I made a lot of
4:36
mistakes after that, right? But that did set the foundation
4:39
of where we're going to be in the future.
4:41
It's interesting you think you were selfish because from my
4:44
standpoint, I thought you were overworked.
4:46
Yeah. And and ultimately, I guess
4:48
there's a combination of both. But I just thought his, he had
4:51
the shortest fuse. He's so overworked.
4:53
He's covered in so much territory and then his we are
4:58
comfortable delegating to different folks, empowering more
5:00
people. I think it gave him a much wider
5:03
bandwidth to really run and operate the team on a different
5:06
level. And then the championships just
5:07
started coming. Last question.
5:09
How do you each look at the legacy of the?
5:11
48 team. Didn't you ask me that earlier?
5:14
Yes, you did. OK.
5:18
I I I'm not going to answer that question because that's on on
5:21
you. Yeah, we I don't think we can.
5:24
We can maybe you can. I can't How's that?
5:27
I can't tell you what the legacy the 48th is.
5:29
I can't. I think that from my perspective
5:31
that's something that you all will put out there and write
5:34
about because that's what's going to be comfortable for you.
5:36
I can't tell you that this is what we did that needs to be the
5:38
legacy. You have to determine that.
5:42
Yeah, I agree. I'm trying to remember there's
5:44
another question just to be asked all the time, and I have a
5:46
similar answer to that. I wouldn't be struggling to give
5:50
an answer honestly. It's it's it's tough to talk
5:52
about yourself in that respect. Jerry Jordan kicking tires like
5:54
that, Jimmy for you, for 2002, your rookie year, it was pouring
6:00
down rain to texting motors, people.
6:02
Jeff Gordon comes up to your motor coach, your fans lined all
6:05
on the ball in the fence. He gets you out in the rain to
6:08
sign all these people's authorities.
6:10
As a rookie, what was going through your mind is and you
6:14
know you just got into this in in the cup and you're out here
6:17
in the rain with Jeff Gordon and you stayed there until every
6:21
single fan got that on you. You ever did you remember?
6:26
That moment, and I was a big jerk at the end of my career
6:29
doing anything close to that. It also makes me think I.
6:33
Drove it had to be like 9899. I drove the Kerb Agenian car
6:40
Bush car at at Homestead. Brad Noff Singer drove the car
6:45
and there was only a Brad Noff Singer suit.
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And I bore that thing with pride and people would say, hey Brad,
6:51
come sign for me and I'd run over.
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Sign. Did you say to Brad or Jimmy?
6:56
Jimmy. OK, yeah, but.
6:58
They called me Brad. I'd run over like, man, I'm
7:00
NASCAR signing autographs. You know, Jeff.
7:05
Jeff was obviously a a great mentor for me and guided me in
7:09
so many different ways personally, professionally.
7:12
And I do remember that day and just having the the thought of
7:18
I'm I'm in the big time like this is I used to be the guy on
7:21
the other side that's watching this.
7:23
I wasn't necessarily an autograph chaser, but as I
7:25
mentioned in my speech, I was everywhere all the time, just
7:28
trying to pass out business cards.
7:29
And I remember going to events and seeing watching Dale
7:33
Earnhardt senior walk in and rest Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Mark
7:37
Martin, just these guys and the fans just all over them, you
7:42
know, and and so to be in those moments, especially in those
7:45
early days, was a big aha moment.
7:48
Chad for you you you mentioned Tony winning the the
7:51
championship the you know right before y'all went on your run he
7:55
also won the championship right at the.
7:57
Coming book. End of it, Yeah.
7:59
That year, What was it like coming off of that five year
8:03
run? You know what was interesting is
8:06
Tony came up to me that day in Homestead after we didn't win,
8:10
you know, and the the streak was broken and he grabbed me, which
8:12
was really interesting because you know, obviously you guys
8:14
understand the celebration that happens and you know Tony's out
8:17
there taking photos and they're they're going through inspection
8:19
with the car and and he came back and he was was hanging out
8:22
with his guys for a little bit and he grabbed me and he and
8:25
Tony's pretty rough as you know, right?
8:26
Like, you know, he kind of kind of grabbed me by the collar and
8:29
he said, hey, I want you to understand something.
8:31
You will never understand how important what you guys have
8:34
done is until the day that you're not a crew chief anymore.
8:38
And truer words were never spoken because I I didn't get it
8:42
at that point right there. I was so dejected and so
8:44
disappointed. But Tony Tony's unique
8:50
character, like, he doesn't offer words of encouragement
8:52
unless he kind of, like, really likes you, right?
8:55
Yeah, it also. Means it, means it.
8:56
And then he was basically saying, like, look, man, you
8:59
guys have done something that's really special and you need to
9:01
make sure you understand that. And then he knew at that point
9:04
that I had no idea, had no idea. And I always respected him for
9:09
that. John John Newby, NBC.
9:14
Sports. So when future fans go.
9:16
Look at your career apart from all the.
9:18
Success on the track. What do you want them to have as
9:20
a take away? Is it ingenuity?
9:22
Tenacity. Respect.
9:29
Can I go? Yes.
9:32
First, I want, I want people to think if I'm going to talk on
9:34
Jimmy's behalf, he's the best race car driver that I've ever
9:38
seen. He He sometimes doesn't qualify
9:42
worth the damn. You're being very generous.
9:45
Sometimes doesn't doesn't practice worth the damn.
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But if when you put him into a race, if if you want to see
9:52
somebody that's got racecraft, he's he's the man that has it.
9:55
He he sees it globally. He understands what's happening
9:59
with the environment. He understands what's happening
10:00
with the racetrack. He knows how to pass the car in
10:02
front of him. He he has been the pillar and
10:07
what people today do like, if you look at what Jimmy was doing
10:11
in the 2000s, that's when you know the Kasey Keynes and the
10:15
Kyle Larsons and the guys where they would start to explore
10:19
outside of what is the racing groove.
10:20
Jimmy was doing that, and he was doing it.
10:22
Maybe not always the extreme, but he was doing that way before
10:25
anybody else ever was. That's, in my opinion, the
10:28
racecraft of this man is higher and above more than anybody else
10:33
I've ever seen in this sport. And then for me, hell, I don't
10:37
know this I. Don't know it's it's tough to
10:41
talk about yourself but I I think that something that stands
10:44
out, I think that fits for both of us and we come into the hall
10:48
today based on you know essentially 1912.
10:52
Everything spoken about was our time together.
10:55
It was 17 years and yeah, in us working together, but both of us
11:01
very humble beginnings and fell in love with the sport that he
11:04
chased and chased hard and dedicated everything to it.
11:07
And you know, it's offered a lot to us.
11:11
It's provided a lot to us and it's not over.
11:14
You know, we're both now in completely different capacities
11:16
and doing different things. And, you know, he's way older
11:20
than I am and I'm kind of old and we're still here doing it.
11:23
So, you know, it's it's amazing to commit to something, to love
11:28
us, love, you know, be so passionate about a sport and it
11:31
provides so much to you and, you know, so it'd be some more
11:34
something to that. Thank you.
11:36
Yeah. Lee.
11:40
All night long we kept hearing 5 championships and I mean the
11:43
seven is remarkable, but everybody comes back to their
11:46
lives, right, Championships. When you hear that time and time
11:50
again, I mean does you know you mentioned.
11:52
It could have been seven in a row.
11:54
It could have been seven in a row.
11:55
It could. Have been, could have.
11:59
Been sorry to interrupt, but yeah.
12:00
Sure though. You know it's just you hear that
12:06
and you hear from the type of people that were mentioning
12:08
that. I mean is that, does it make it
12:11
sink in more what that meant? I mean, you guys lived it, but
12:15
you know, still that's going to sit up there probably will never
12:19
be broken. You there go for it.
12:26
Can you can you remember the five years and like what went on
12:28
years A little bit. I know it's tough a.
12:30
Little bit. I, you know, Jimmy mentioned it.
12:34
And not every year I was there Monday morning first thing at 7.
12:37
Some I was drunk. Only if I could talk you in the
12:39
stand. You're right.
12:41
But it was such, it was so critical to get going because I
12:48
don't think people understand the the worst thing that you can
12:51
have happen to you as a competitor is win a
12:53
championship. If you're concerned about the
12:56
championship the next season, you are so far set back.
12:59
Because everything that you do, everything that you build,
13:02
everything that you're trying to create to win that current
13:04
year's championship is taking away from what you're trying to
13:07
prepare for for the next season. And when you're all the way down
13:10
to the wire, that's what your full focus is.
13:13
And everybody else in the industry, whether it be 403643
13:17
cars, those other competitors are focusing on next year.
13:21
And what always happened to me is I would I would get a huge
13:24
state of panic right after we won a championship, being like
13:27
we have got to get to work. We are behind, we are months
13:31
behind and we have got to make sure that we get going quickly.
13:34
And we've got to make sure we've got ourselves in a position to
13:36
get out there, win a race, get ourselves to make sure that
13:38
we're solidified into the the the championship by winning a
13:42
race or whatever it may have been at that point depending
13:44
upon the the points format that that's the way that I lived.
13:48
I think I mentioned it in one of the deals either.
13:50
And Jimmy knows this better than anybody I was.
13:53
I was terrified. I was terrified for the majority
13:56
of my career to lose the 48 team.
14:00
I was scared to death that if I didn't perform that the 48 team
14:04
would go to somebody else and it wouldn't be mine.
14:07
I think that was in the O 5 milk and cookies discussion, so one.
14:13
Other question, when I think of you guys and was there for all
14:16
that, you came back from university like no team I ever.
14:21
I mean I can remember Darlington, I guess you're down
14:23
to three laps probably Dover another and you always see you
14:28
know if you weren't going to win you at least have that top five,
14:30
top ten. But you would have a shit day
14:34
and just be able to come back. And it was it was miraculous
14:37
watching what you're capable. Of Jimmy always called that
14:40
vintage 48. We longer the race, the more
14:46
triggered circumstances and you know, it wasn't wasn't every
14:51
weekend and every year and I think later in our career, just
14:54
pressure in many ways affected that quality we had.
14:59
But in our sweet spot, I mean we just were never rattled.
15:02
We just, OK, we just dig in. Sometimes we come back and win
15:06
and then I'd crash and qualify all the time or just qualify
15:08
terribly. And you know, the second did
15:12
stop. We're leading the race and
15:13
leading the most laps and spring champagne, You know, it's just
15:17
interesting when we were in that flow like it was.
15:20
It was just something so special can.
15:22
You break Hale's. Record this.
15:27
Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one.
15:30
I want to believe. But if if it doesn't happen that
15:33
that's not why I'm back out on track.
15:36
I'm I'm out there because I just want to race.
15:38
I just I truly want to race and be out there.
15:42
I think we're more strategic in my choice and events this year
15:46
where strengths will exist for our team and our manufacturer
15:50
and I'm running a lot of mile and 1/2 so I'm going to Kansas
15:52
twice much more intentional than that.
15:55
Last year we were focused on trying to help our Rd. course
15:57
program and then with the family tragedy we just put everything
16:01
on Jack stands and and just took some time off.
16:04
So who knows be be a hell of a thing if we were able to win,
16:09
but it's it's not why I'm out there to chase that record.
16:13
I should say I'm not there to win absolutely.
16:16
But to chase the record is is not wind back up there.
16:20
Yeah, Barry Richmond, keep my broadcast incorporation.
16:26
Jimmy I had a chance to interview Jeff Gordon his final
16:29
year in the. Bush Financial Series.
16:31
And he talked. About the next year of rather
16:34
than Mr. Hendrick DuPont sponsorship, he said.
16:37
We want to have a good showing, but we don't expect to set the
16:40
world on fire. Obviously that was an
16:42
understatement. So what was your perspective
16:45
going into it? Obviously you did some great
16:48
things, but what did you envision at that point when you
16:52
started the Cup Series? I think I probably had very
16:55
similar messaging and then as 2002 season started I remembered
17:02
the three races that I ran in O1 in Cup and I never finished on
17:06
the lead lap. I think I crashed to two and
17:08
three. I think my best finish was best
17:11
result was deep in the 20s and I thought man this just isn't a
17:15
step up from Saturday to Sunday, you know it's it's five or more
17:18
steps up. And so I I was truly concerned
17:21
and had great fear as we started the my first full time season.
17:26
Thankfully Chad built a fast car because we would have made a
17:29
Daytona 500 and made a mistake in our qualifier qualifying race
17:33
itself and we would have gone home and then in the race.
17:35
I'm not sure I made it to the halfway point, was wrecked out,
17:38
but. No, we finished in the top 10.
17:41
First race. Yep, we crashed six times and
17:44
finished in the top 10. I just remember the crashing.
17:46
Just remember a lot of crashes. Yep.
17:51
That's true, OK. But I'll never forget we raced
17:56
Atlanta early in the season and all day long I could see the
18:00
leader and it just ran in a good spot.
18:03
Nothing overly flashy, but just a rock solid performance.
18:07
And at that point I I felt like, you know, things, things were
18:11
going to be OK. I didn't expect the win a
18:14
handful of weeks later in in California and that just sent
18:17
things, you know, off its axis, but you just never know.
18:21
And it's just such a big step from Saturday to Sunday, and
18:25
there's so many variables that truly come into play to have a
18:29
driver crew chief for a team succeed.
18:31
And looking back, it's easy now to kind of plot all that.
18:35
But at the time, you know, it certainly wasn't even Yep, Zach.
18:39
Zach, Traniel. At NASCAR dot.
18:41
Com chat for you. You mentioned Rob Mallard
18:43
earlier. Yeah, I think.
18:45
You guys. Like Cliff Daniels and Greg eyes
18:52
people on the 48 team outside of YouTube that helped you guys
18:57
find the. Success.
18:58
Who were some of the guys? Who?
18:59
Stood out. And why were they so difficult?
19:01
I know, I know. Every hand that goes on to race
19:04
car makes a difference. But who stands out?
19:07
And why were they so difficult to what you guys were able to
19:10
accomplish? Yeah, it was easy to sink a lot,
19:14
Ron, because he, you know, Ron and Jimmy worked together before
19:19
I ever worked with Ron. And Ron wasn't the car chief
19:23
when I started on the 48 team. Jason Burdette was who was your
19:26
crew chief? Yeah, for the 2024 seasons.
19:30
So we we had gotten through and I think we went the whole season
19:34
with Burdette and then I wanted to make the change to Ron Malik.
19:39
So Ron's an easy one to pick because he he was tireless in
19:43
the efforts that he put into it. There's a tremendous amount of
19:46
names and like, I want to be honest with you, I'm not going
19:47
to go through and start naming names because there's just too
19:49
many, but there's so many guys. That's probably one of the
19:52
things I'm proudest of right now is as I walk through the garage,
19:57
there's so many crew chiefs and so many engineers and so many
20:00
people that are mechanics and, you know, and pretty influential
20:04
roles that were on the 48 team at some point in time.
20:09
And that's really neat, that's that's really cool to think that
20:12
you know 1:00 we we had that type of influence that people
20:15
wanted to hire these guys and gals and then two that maybe we
20:19
actually did know what we were doing, we were able to coach
20:22
these guys into leadership type roles.
20:25
That's something I'm really proud of, Kelly.
20:28
Crandall Kelly, Crandall Race. Dot com check for.
20:32
You first back. When the the lead up to the Hall
20:35
of Fame voting and voting day and the announcement and then
20:38
when your name was finally called, you and Jimmy Phil spoke
20:42
about how you basically had to be convinced that you would
20:44
never be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
20:46
Since that day to tonight, how has the journey been?
20:51
Getting comfortable with this? Embracing it.
20:53
The fact that you were going into the Hall of Fame.
20:57
Yeah, I mean, he's easy peasy, right?
20:59
Like everybody knew he was going straight away and I.
21:01
I knew you were going in and I just didn't tell you.
21:05
I found out in the elevator coming up.
21:07
Did you really? That's hilarious.
21:10
So I just didn't know the the people that were on the ballot.
21:14
There's so many great talented people, people that contributed
21:16
to the sport, that if I didn't go in, it wasn't a big deal.
21:19
But what I had really, like, set my mind on is I wanted to be
21:23
there for Jimmy when they called his name.
21:26
I wanted to be there to give him a hug and, you know, tell him I
21:29
love him and then how proud I was of him.
21:30
So I was really in a good spot. No matter what happened.
21:34
And then after it happened, obviously you know, it's a flush
21:37
of emotions and you know, you kind of get warm and you're just
21:41
like, man, this is kind of a big deal.
21:43
But then thankfully shortly there afterwards, you're just
21:45
racing again. Like we're racing, we're doing
21:47
what it is that we do. We're going to the racetrack
21:49
every single week. And it didn't really start
21:51
hitting me until honestly last week.
21:53
And last week I started to get, I guess you guys started putting
21:56
banners up on around the hall and I was starting getting
22:00
snapshots from so many people with the banners like hey, just
22:04
passing your your banner, you know, hey, just look at this.
22:07
Oh, you're looking for my car today because I just parked on
22:09
such and such St. you know. And then I started getting text
22:12
messages from people from way in the past and that's when it
22:16
really started kind of kick in with me.
22:19
And then today, obviously to to see all the folks out there.
22:22
One of the coolest things, quite honestly, was I was laying in
22:25
bed with Brooke and I'm going through emails and stuff, you
22:29
know, because it's been a bit flurry this week.
22:31
And I got an e-mail from Roger Penske and what a cool deal to
22:36
get an e-mail from Roger Penske, like the captain, right.
22:38
You know, and he's, he's talking about leadership and dedication
22:42
and you know, the way that we conducted and did our business
22:44
and and all of those things. And I'm like.
22:47
Wow. That kind of hits home and
22:50
that's what we wanted to be. That's what we wanted to do.
22:52
We wanted to try to be what everybody else wanted to be.
22:56
And you know, that's that's what.
22:57
Probably progress with for both of you because.
23:00
You've both touched on making that walk to the stage and then
23:10
standing there and looking out in front of everybody.
23:12
Because Jimmy, you said if you got to the podium, OK, I think
23:15
it, I think now it just hit me. So for both of you, what is that
23:18
moment like, going from getting called up there by your families
23:21
and then actually standing on that stage?
23:24
It was easy sitting in the audience, watching my family and
23:29
just having great pride for the strength.
23:32
Shane had to be there. See my girls up there.
23:37
And then I walked up and we rehearsed that whole.
23:39
You know, we all, everybody rehearses you up.
23:41
You see your family scored them off.
23:44
And then when I turned around there was a collision of pride
23:48
and I hate public speaking. That hit me all at once.
23:54
Now I got to read for eight now. God, hope I get this right.
23:58
I hate public speaking. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
24:00
So took a couple of deep breaths and then I think I had my, my,
24:06
I'm not sure how it looked, but I had my most comfortable
24:08
experience up there and I didn't feel like I flumped anything or
24:13
messed anything up. And I guess preparation, which
24:16
this guy's always told me preparation gives you
24:19
confidence. And I I was prepared for my
24:23
speech for the first time in my my career stand at the podium
24:25
and I think it it played through.
24:29
Did I answer your question? I don't feel like I did.
24:30
You did great. You did great.
24:32
That was great. That was great.
24:34
You did great. Thanks.
24:38
Am I supposed to answer something if?
24:39
You want to Oh. I'm.
24:43
Not going to tell you. You have to.
24:44
You're checking out. No, It was good.
24:45
Had a good time. It was good.
24:47
I I enjoyed it. I I know that I screwed it up
24:48
and I flubbed it up and almost said a couple of curse words and
24:51
things of that nature, but I really enjoyed it tonight.
24:53
It was any time I think I mentioned earlier, you can have
24:58
such a huge room of people that you respect, whether it be from
25:03
you folks in here to the people that we compete with, to the
25:06
people that own the the sanctioning body that we race
25:09
within. When you're able to talk and
25:11
hold court with them, it's pretty awesome all.
25:15
Right, two more Peter Stroud, Peter Stroud and TSJ supporters,
25:19
you both have some experience with the Next Gen. car.
25:22
What would the vintage 4018 F look like if you guys had to
25:25
deal with tackle the Next Gen. car?
25:28
We'd whip their ass. Next question.
25:34
Next question. We're having my man in the
25:36
middle here, Kevin Torres is stock Carfax TV Two.
25:42
Question for you, Jimmy. Question for you, Chad.
25:44
Totally different besides the Spectrum.
25:46
I want to say it's as nice as I can, Jimmy, leaving them to Cup
25:49
series, get what, two or three ASA wins, one Xfinity win.
25:56
I mean, I know Jeff Gordon came to you and approached you, but
25:59
what kind of salesman are you? Come in and one for you.
26:03
Look what I did over here. I think I have a story that will
26:06
be helpful, but before the story I will.
26:11
I will say that I thought much the same.
26:17
And certainly once I had the contract signed with with
26:19
Hendrick, I was I was annoyed by.
26:25
Granted we'd have social media then, but there certainly was
26:28
you know an opinion of what the hell does Jeff Gordon, Rick
26:31
Hendrick thinking. And I've always operated best
26:34
with the chip on my shoulder and and you know under pressure and
26:38
variety of those scenarios. So it served me well and played
26:41
out, played out great. But I through up passing out all
26:45
those business cards and being as grand inside of Chevrolet as
26:49
I was, there was just great momentum and my diligence in
26:55
showing up, shaking hands, having conversations with people
26:58
was was serving me very well. And I got to a point where we
27:04
were losing Alltel, they're in a sponsor.
27:07
Ryan Newman and the Herzog's came to me and said look you we
27:11
can't run next year without a sponsor, you got to figure
27:13
something out. So I I went out and started
27:15
shopping around. Chip Ganassi was starting his
27:17
cup program and he was interested in me taking over the
27:22
OR driving the singular go one car and I had some good
27:26
conversations going on with Hendrick.
27:27
At this point in time I had a letter of intent from Hendrick.
27:32
Chip comes in to to Charlotte. We sit down at a meeting and we
27:38
had some expectations maybe signed the contract on the spot.
27:42
I was like I'm not comfortable with that.
27:43
All right. I'm going to head back to
27:45
Pittsburgh. So he leaves.
27:47
I I am at this meeting. I I think that I'm just missing
27:51
an opportunity to legitimate Cup contract.
27:56
But I've gotten this letter of intent from Hendrick.
27:57
You know we're like 2 years out from when I would race.
27:59
But you know we'll we'll see where this goes.
28:02
So I leave and I call Alan Miller, who I recognize tonight
28:05
and I walk through this scenario and I explained to him that I'm.
28:08
I'm pretty, pretty concerned. Probably just had a cup
28:12
opportunity with with Chip go away and he stops me and says
28:16
no, no, no, you were just offered a legitimate contract.
28:21
Let me work on the Hendrick side.
28:23
I'm like, wait a second, you're going to spin this in a way,
28:25
Seattle spin this in a way when four days later I had an actual
28:30
contract from Hendrick Motorsports because I had a
28:32
gassy contract offered to me, although he put it back in his
28:35
briefcase and got on his airplane and flew away.
28:39
Technically speaking I had a contract offered to him and so
28:44
there was just an outside force in many elements that were
28:48
swirling that that take place. And I'm not sure that elements
28:51
still exist today for drivers and how they end up in a seat.
28:54
But you know, I my parents could only afford their bikes.
29:00
And then from that point forward there is this other thing that
29:02
was going on around me and it connected me with so many great
29:06
people, people that believed in me.
29:09
I think my personality and who I am carried through and people
29:12
continue to believe in me and and give me the nod and it just,
29:17
it just snowballed all the way to where it has.
29:19
So I'm not sure I totally answered the question, but there
29:22
was there was that that thing going on that.
29:25
Would have been interesting when Chip went to Dodge for a.
29:29
Year or. Two that, yeah.
29:31
And then Chad, for you maybe to bring full circle from the
29:35
Chicago area of Ocron's a big part of your.
29:38
Yeah. What are your thoughts on funny?
29:41
Jimmy won a race there and I never did.
29:45
What are your thoughts on the news about?
29:48
About a closing down, you know it's it's it's sad because I
29:53
think that short track racing is the core of our our sport.
29:59
I know obviously when you get to the Cup Series you know it's
30:04
it's marketing and it's the show and and we all understand it's
30:07
still competition, don't get me wrong.
30:09
But there's some so much, so much higher levels than than
30:12
what you have at the grassroots side of motorsport.
30:15
But it's it's what happens, you know it happens across the
30:18
United States and it's it's a different era.
30:21
One of the things that that I hope that I can help kind of
30:24
contribute to and I think Kyle Larson does a really good job of
30:26
this right now is, is bringing that back into life.
30:29
You know, what is the short track racing?
30:31
What is the core of motorsport And that's it's sad to see
30:35
Rockford Speedway go. I'm really disappointed because
30:37
when we were up there in Chicago racing last year, I wanted to
30:40
scoot over there and and watch the race that they had going on
30:45
Saturday night. But unfortunately the nine car
30:47
crashed and it was raining like cats and dogs and it was just a
30:50
disaster. So I couldn't get away from
30:52
Chicago to make it over to Rockford Speedway.
30:55
So I never got to see that place again.
30:56
And you know, it was a pretty neat place.
30:59
A lot of legends race at that racetrack.