Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Tyler Reddick Wins Wild Race at Talladega!

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Tyler Reddick Wins Wild Race at Talladega! · Kenny Wallace Media

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  It's extern yellownascar.com. Congratulations on this.
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  You get to now brag that you were the one to win, the first
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  one to win with Michael Jordan in attendance.
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  Having him in Victory Lane, seeing him be able to enjoy and
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  celebrate that moment, how much does that add to a day like this
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  for you? It adds, it adds to it a lot.
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  And 1st off, I have to apologize.
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  My voice pretty much gone from screaming and yelling, hooting
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  and hollering, all that good stuff.
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  But yeah, it, it adds to it a lot for sure.
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  I think anytime you can win at Talladega, the emotions just
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  overflow because there's so much uncertainty that comes with it.
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  And for me and my situation, right, me and Michael are
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  battling really, really hard. I mean, not just me and him
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  though. Like, you know, the 1st 334 cars
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  in each row are really, really contributing to what was taking
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  place at the front. And yeah, I was, I was in bad
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  shape going in turn one. I was not liking what I was
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  seeing. I was like, Oh no, it's slipping
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  away. And that ended up being the very
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  thing that, you know, allowed me to breakthrough and and win the
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  race. You know, Michael and Brad and
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  Noah, we're all pushing well and then they come off 4 with, with
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  a good gap, the outside lanes. So right, they're going to
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  battle for it. And that ended up being the very
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  thing that allowed me to to breakthrough.
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  I had some momentum, but not enough to to win the race.
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  But when Michael and and Brad got crossed up, I mean, it
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  slowed Brad down just enough that I was breaking through and
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  I was just looking at the lights on the on the wall on on the
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  catch fence, like when is the caution going to come out?
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  I was I was worried it already had, but to be honest, I still
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  haven't got an answer. I don't know if I crossed the
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  line first or if the caution came out before I got there.
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  But obviously we won the race. So that was man, it was it was
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  nuts for us. It was a fairly good day of of
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  strategy. We got a couple stage points,
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  not as much we wanted to, but I think you know of our group of
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  Toyotas, we, we tended to be towards the front of that group.
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  And so it was nice to be able to get some stage points kind of
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  just mixing it up. But unfortunately, the very
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  thing that took out about half of our cars is what put me,
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  Martin and and Ty at the front of the field at the end.
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  You saw the video or not, but post race at 1:00 Michael was
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  holding Beau in the pit box. And I hadn't seen that, no.
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  He and like asked him if he's ready to celebrate.
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  And, you know, just everyone's there kind of having a moment,
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  having your son here to celebrate those moments too.
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  And Alexa, of course, how does that contribute to how you
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  reflect on days like this? Obviously I know it's fresh,
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  it's in the moment, but how? How does that add to days like
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  this? Certainly some of the most
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  special, you know, victories and moments in Victory Lane have had
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  a lot to do with my kid honestly.
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  I remember back to Rd. America, he was just knocked out
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  and we laid him on our sparko like the the smaller size sparko
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  like carry on bag, the hell of Victory Lane stuff on it.
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  And he was still younger at the time and he hadn't quite got the
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  potty trained thing figured out. And I remember Alexa laid him
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  down on that bag and he just absolutely peed all over all the
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  Victory Lane hats and everything else in his sleep.
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  Just just just made it made a good old fashioned mess.
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  But again, then Fast forward to a little bit later than that.
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  He was awake for Indy and he watched us kiss the bricks and
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  was like, what is wrong with you guys?
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  So that was really cool too. But yeah, to have him wide awake
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  in Victory Lane celebrating with us.
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  He he knows who Michael Jordan is.
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  Anytime I have a pair of Jordans on or he does I, you know, I
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  always ask question, whose shoes are these?
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  He says Michael George shoes. So, yeah, I think in the moment
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  it means a lot, right? But as he gets older and
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  everything too, looking back on that, that's going to be really,
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  really cool. Come down here to Bob and then
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  go over here to the left. Bob Parker?
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  Is Fox forced to follow up on that?
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  Does Beau think of Michael Jordan as a basketball player or
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  the guy who has a shoe company? Oh, that's a good.
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  I mean, I feel like probably with as young as he is more as
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  the the guy with the shoes for sure the shoe company, right.
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  I've done a great job and and you just gave me some some ideas
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  of what to do in the future. I got I got to probably play
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  some highlights, some some some some finals match ups and
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  educate bow a little bit better. But but he knows he knows who
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  Michael is obviously. But yeah, obviously he sees a
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  lot of the shoes, right? But that's some homework I can
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  do, play some, play some old school games for him so he can
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  get a real good feel how dominant he was in his prime.
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  Well you were only like 7 when Jordan retired I think.
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  So not like you saw, remember? No, but I love watching it and
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  watching the highlights, watching the games.
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  I mean, it's incredible, right? I mean, he's one of the best to
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  do it. There's there's a couple that
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  have been that good for that long, but obviously I'm going to
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  be partial my boss. And sorry, 11 race question,
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  when you see Michael trying to throw the block, are you
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  thinking there's that that might work?
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  Are you thinking, man, there's there's a crash coming and I
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  just going to see if I get caught up in it or what?
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  I'd say that late. I'm just holding a wide open.
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  Don't even I I just close my eyes.
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  I'm going to hold it wide open. I'm going to do whatever it
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  takes to not lift. I've been in that situation, a
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  few different scenarios. That's the first time I've been
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  that spot at the front when you can battle for a win.
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  I think our last time here in the playoffs, I saw everyone
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  reckon and I just drove into it. I just just hit as hard as I
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  could and we gained a couple spots out of it.
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  So that's just mentality you got to have here.
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  You just got to kind of throw caution to the wind.
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  And as it turned out, I mean, the 10 and the six kind of got
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  stacked up when Michael got turned sideways.
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  And thankfully I had just enough momentum to get by both of them
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  we're. Going to come over here to your
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  life, Tyler, and then down over here to John.
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  Don's distant DNA sports talk. I asked Jordan, was this as good
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  as a playoff win? And without hesitation he said
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  better. Now, whether that's NBA or
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  NASCAR, your reaction to that and what does it say about his
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  commitment to you and the team? Yeah, I mean, for him, he's,
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  he's come to a few races and unfortunately, even as good as
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  the days have looked, they've they've not ended in Victory
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  Lane. So for us to to win a race like
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  that, be up front as much as we were at the end and it looked
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  like he was slipping away and then we get it back, man, it's,
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  it's an unreal feeling. So yeah, it's just, it's it's
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  great. You know, I'm really excited
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  that I was able to do it, but I my excitement level would not
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  change whether it was me or Bubba.
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  They they got him to Victory Lane when he was here at the
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  track. He means a lot to everyone here
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  at 2311 and he makes a big effort to talk to me, talk to
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  Bubba, talk to Denny, talk to Steve, talk to other individuals
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  at the team and pump us up when we need it.
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  And so to have him here to experience Victory Lane for the
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  first time is is really special. All right, we're going to go
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  right down here to John and then all the way in the back.
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  Johnny, BBC Sports I was curious what where there's a range of
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  emotions going from, you know, the aggressive pit stop, all you
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  guys working together, then your Toyota teammates crashing and
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  then all of a sudden you're still out back in front and
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  you're getting Toyota it's first win at a super Speedway, the
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  next Gen. era. Yeah, there's a big range,
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  right? Like I was, I didn't actually
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  ask the question, but certainly when you look at a crash of that
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  nature where cars go up into the wall at that that angle, you
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  know, your first thought is, man, I hope everyone's OK.
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  And it sounded like they were. Then you got to shift gears and
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  and recenter on your race, right?
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  Like, OK, well, that really stunk for for the drivers
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  involved. But now we've got a real
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  opportunity that those that remain to capitalize on this
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  moment, make sure one of us gets to Victory Lane.
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  So, you know, I really would have expected Martin to go to
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  the bottom and tie to have to decide between the two of us.
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  But again, I really thankful that Martin and Ty both decided
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  to stay behind me and and we're dedicated to pushing me.
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  If it wasn't for that, I don't think we win today.
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  So, you know, it's just that that Toyota family aspect of our
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  teammates, everyone at Toyota really makes a big effort to
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  help one another and they certainly were a large part of
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  why we're able to stay up towards the front and get the
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  win today. And then does it add a guess
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  that it extra pride knowing that even with the limited numbers
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  after the crash that you guys all worked so well together and
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  you were able to deliver that win?
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  Yeah, that's great. I mean, I know ultimately I'm
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  the only one that leaves with the trophy in the playoff
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  points, but we worked really well together.
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  I'm just very thankful that, you know, Martin was was as
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  committed as he was and Ty was as committed as he was to
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  Martin. Those.
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  That was a very large part of why we were able to stay in the
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  mix at the very end. We're going to come right here
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  in the middle to Steve and then down here in the front to
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  Jordan. Steve Connolly the podium
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  finished. Tyler, I know a lot of the early
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  part of the race was fuel saving mode for for most of the field,
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  but were you a little surprised running most of that first stage
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  3 wide that's we didn't have the issue like we did at the end and
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  it it stayed clean for the 1st 2 stages?
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  Yeah, sorry. Dave was just trying to hand me
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  his in and it it fell. I mean, we're saving so much
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  fuel that it looks 3 wide and it looks borderline chaotic.
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  But but for the most part, everyone's kind of taking it
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  easy giving each other room. So we were three wide and you
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  saw drivers trying to advance their position in the draft to
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  take advantage of the pit cycle when it would open up and it
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  would work out for some. But it was just something to
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  keep in mind all day long. You know, it certainly seemed
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  like you'd want to be on the bottom when the pit cycle would
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  start if you're one of the first cars to pit, but it was hard to
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  say feel down there that'll seem the best for that.
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  So you just saw a lot of drivers kind of playing risk versus
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  reward. Like if I advance my position a
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  few more spots, I'm further ahead when I come to pit Rd. is
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  that going to pay off in the amount of time on pit Rd.
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  So it was just everyone was kind of playing their own game there.
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  It wasn't really super chaotic really before the pit stops, but
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  after we would pit. I mean the intensity was shoot
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  to the to the to the ceiling and it would stay there for the rest
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  of the rest of the run to the to the stage end.
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  We'll come down here to Jordan and then right here in the
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  front. Jordan Bianchi with The
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  Athletic, when were you notified the of the plan to pit in stage
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  3 under green like you guys did? No comment.
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  Sorry. Understood.
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  I'm not going to talk about it. That's OK, I get it.
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  And when you when that call was made, were you thinking it was a
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  good thing? Did you cause the way I
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  understand it is, is you either going to run them down under
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  green? That was the idea.
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  If it stays green or if it goes caution, you guys are going to
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  be able to leapfrog them and you know, and which is what you,
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  which will happen. So as a driver, when you know
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  this is going on, are you, you comfortable with it?
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  I mean that that that is a Toyota driver.
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  And as the other Toyota drivers, we're committed to each other
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  and whatever the strategy may look like where the plan is,
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  we're all on board with one another.
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  So, yeah, it ended up working out for some of us.
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  But you know, that's, that's just, that's what we're about.
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  We're about being on the same page and working together.
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  Thanks. Welcome right here in the front.
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  I thought about asking the same thing about the strategy.
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  Sorry. Luke Sordino, Sanford's sports
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  analytics. Congratulations on the win.
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  So I'll shift gears a little bit and ask for Michael Jordan.
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  He used to play here in Alabama with the Barons.
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  Do you think it's any more special?
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  Pretty cool being in that 45 car, which is the number he wore
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  at the Barons with baseball in relation there.
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  That is, that is pretty cool. You know, I think of, you know,
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  also, you know, my fiance's dad and him spending time together
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  in baseball as well. So there's a lot of cool ties
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  that they go on down the line. But yeah, it's just really
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  special that he was able to be here again.
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  It's great that, you know, it's, it's cool that I was able to do
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  it and get him to Victory Lane, but it, it wouldn't be any less
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  special if it was Bubba doing it instead.
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  You know, we just, we both really want to get get into
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  Victory Lane and we've been really motivated to do so.
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  It's just I'm really glad that we finally were able to do it.
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  There any final questions? I'll take one last one right
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  there in the back. Hey y'all, Brad Harrison,
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  frontstretch.com. Is there any extra edge or
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  motivation you guys get when you all know that Michael is here
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  the track? Is there any more desire to want
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  to win when he's here? Does that give you guys an extra
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  step up? Not that it, I mean, in the past
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  it hasn't really worked out, but funny enough, I I didn't really
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  ask the questions today. I I saw, you know, Curtis Polk
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  was here. I didn't know Michael was here
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  to laugh till the face was over. So maybe maybe that was a trick,
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  not us not knowing that he was here because in the past we've
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  known he's here. We we always push really, really
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  hard, right? But it make it would make it
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  extra, more special, extra special if we're able to take
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  him to Victory Lane. So maybe it's a good thing.
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  I didn't really know he was here until it was all said and done
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  all. Right.
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  Thanks for your time Tyler, and congratulations on the win.
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  All righty. Thank you.
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  There you go hearing it from the man himself, the race winner at
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  Talladega, Tyler Reddick of 2311 Racing.
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  What a finish. At the end Brad Keselowski
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  releases, tries to take the lead, does Michael McDonald
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  throws the huge block. You have the crash on the final
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  lap and Tyler Reddick sneaks through for his first win of the
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  season and the first time ever for 2311 Racing that they've won
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  a race with their co-owner, the GOAT, MJ, Michael Jordan in
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  attendance. That is pretty cool to see.
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  And now we're on to Dover next week for the Kenny Wallace
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  YouTube channel. I'm Charlie Marlowe.