Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Ryan Blaney on Ross Chastain: "F***ing Right I Hit Him On Purpose!"

Transcript

Ryan Blaney on Ross Chastain: "F***ing Right I Hit Him On Purpose!" · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  The fact that, Ross said. I raced him hard.
• 0:01
  I mean, the dude blocks three lanes getting in the corner
• 0:04
  every lap. I mean, I don't, I don't know
• 0:05
  how I'm racing him hard. When you're looking in your
• 0:09
  mirror to going left and right and left and just following
• 0:12
  wherever I go, I don't understand how he thinks.
• 0:14
  I'm racing him hard. He's just backing me up to the
• 0:16
  five. So I have to go.
• 0:18
  I mean, he's backing me up to Larson to where I'm going to be
• 0:21
  in trouble well and right. I hit him on purpose.
• 0:27
  I mean, yeah. Yes, I hit him on purpose.
• 0:29
  He blocked me on purpose 10 times.
• 0:31
  So yeah, I hit him on purpose. I mean, what do you expect me to
• 0:35
  do? He's backing me up to the the
• 0:37
  other championship guy and I got to go.
• 0:39
  I mean, we were just racing hard.
• 0:41
  But did I think he was over excessive on the blocks?
• 0:44
  Yes, very much so. And yes.
• 0:46
  Did I hit him? Yes, I did.
• 0:48
  But that's just part of it. Yeah.
• 0:50
  What else do you want to know? The beard?
• 0:52
  Yeah, it's here. No, we didn't talk about that.
• 0:58
  I'll shave it off next year for sure, but it's a little playoff
• 1:01
  beard, so it's a little different.
• 1:03
  You talked about peeking at the right time a few times this
• 1:06
  week, right? And there was a while in the
• 1:07
  summer where you guys were down, Penske was down, Ford was down,
• 1:11
  obviously, and now Ford has won all three championships.
• 1:15
  Was there a point that you got down on yourself as well and
• 1:18
  thought, OK, maybe this just isn't the year?
• 1:20
  Or did you always kind of keep the faith and think that you
• 1:22
  guys were capable of getting this hot right now?
• 1:27
  Yeah, I mean I think it is easy to get down, you know, but I
• 1:31
  mean we we won Charlotte in May and then we just had like a
• 1:34
  string of bad runs, you know, in in the two or three months and
• 1:37
  that was kind of across the board.
• 1:38
  And then you know when when the RFK started running, well, you
• 1:44
  know, Butcher won those three races, Brad started running
• 1:47
  really good. It's like all right, well it's
• 1:49
  there. You know, it's the speed and the
• 1:50
  forge are out there. These guys found it.
• 1:52
  We what are we missing? We took that as a challenge, you
• 1:56
  know, OK, these guys have figured out a way to, to make
• 2:00
  what we thought was an uncompetitive car winning cars.
• 2:05
  So we can't blame that anymore. So let's just go to work.
• 2:08
  So I didn't really ever have that thought in the summer
• 2:11
  months, even when we were struggling, right?
• 2:12
  You just you just try to do the best you can of giving
• 2:16
  information on where we need to be better whether that's from an
• 2:19
  engine side arrow side you know set up side you just try to do
• 2:22
  the work and and you understand that this sport you're going to
• 2:26
  be you know on top for a little while and then other teams going
• 2:29
  to find something you're going to go to the bottom for a little
• 2:31
  while. You just have to have to keep
• 2:33
  working hard And then that's what I love about this group is
• 2:36
  is they don't ever you know get down on themselves They just do
• 2:39
  the work and they just figure it out and and that's what they did
• 2:43
  and and so I never had a doubt in them.
• 2:45
  I mean it was there was a lot of tough conversations is like hey
• 2:47
  we got to we got to do something or we're not going to be
• 2:49
  competitive at all in the playoffs.
• 2:52
  And and everyone jumped on the opportunity to to dig down deep
• 2:55
  and and that's what they did and wound up here.
• 3:00
  Really. Spencer catchfence.com.
• 3:02
  Congratulations. Ryan.
• 3:04
  What does this mean to the Blaney legacy.
• 3:06
  Because you know when when you think about your past your
• 3:10
  family's past the Champions that championships that they've
• 3:13
  accrued. You know to get to that point
• 3:16
  and now be part of that championship legacy.
• 3:19
  How cool is that for you That's fantastic.
• 3:22
  You know I mean just coming from a a racing family in general
• 3:25
  right. You know grandfather Lou winning
• 3:28
  a bunch you know championships around you know the the
• 3:32
  northeast and you know dad wouldn't be in the outlaw
• 3:35
  champion. You know Dale winning the All
• 3:38
  Star championship and then now for me to to kind of add some
• 3:41
  asphalt into there is is pretty good because that's what I grew
• 3:44
  up doing. But just just special you know
• 3:47
  and and I you know growing up around the racetrack watching
• 3:49
  you know Jimmy and Jeff and Tony, Mark Barton you know I
• 3:54
  love those guys and I I, you know saw them win championships
• 3:57
  and they wanted to be that way and for it to come full circle
• 4:01
  is is very special. So yeah, I mean I couldn't think
• 4:04
  of a better spot of my family being here and then they may
• 4:06
  would have witnessed it because you know they they are just as
• 4:10
  much a part of it as I am. And not only my dad.
• 4:12
  My mom sacrificed more than you could imagine to make sure I
• 4:16
  could get to every race and then do what I needed to do to to get
• 4:19
  going. And and I have two awesome
• 4:21
  sisters that that support me. So it's it's pretty special to
• 4:25
  have them here. OK.
• 4:28
  We'll go Kelly, then Nate, then Jerry.
• 4:32
  Kelly Crandall racer.com. Ryan, I got 2 for you.
• 4:34
  First off, you've been hounded in the past.
• 4:36
  I'm guilty of it of asking you about.
• 4:38
  Trying to get through the playoffs, trying to get through
• 4:40
  the round of eight in particular.
• 4:42
  How nice is it not only to have made this championship 4, but to
• 4:46
  do it the first time and get a championship out of the way?
• 4:49
  Yeah. Out of the way.
• 4:52
  No, it's it's it's nice to, you know, make our first final four.
• 4:56
  Obviously that was like the main goal this year, something we
• 4:58
  haven't done and to achieve that last week, it's like, all right,
• 5:02
  great, that's awesome. Check that one off and and then
• 5:06
  you know, I mean it's just double whammy that we get to
• 5:07
  come here and and you know win the championship as well.
• 5:10
  I mean there's super proud of everybody and yeah it all
• 5:13
  happened, you know gosh was it did like Chase and Kyle do the
• 5:18
  same thing. Their first champ 4, they won
• 5:20
  the championship. I think they did.
• 5:21
  So it's nice to you know come here and then be one for one.
• 5:24
  So hopefully we can continue to build off of this and and be
• 5:28
  able to have more shots here at Phoenix to where we can contend
• 5:31
  as well. Where do you feel like your
• 5:33
  place is now? At Team Penske?
• 5:35
  Roger has said I don't want to have 1234 drivers in the pecking
• 5:40
  order, but he admitted that, like I think some others would.
• 5:43
  Look at you when you came into Team Penske and you're going
• 5:46
  against Joey and and Brad who are making multiple championship
• 5:50
  round appearances and winning championships.
• 5:51
  You were the third guy, you were the other Penske driver.
• 5:54
  So. So having a championship now,
• 5:56
  where do you feel like that puts you in this organization?
• 5:59
  Does that even matter to you? I don't really think it matters
• 6:03
  to me very much. I mean, and yeah, you know, R PS
• 6:06
  always done an amazing job of like, you know, there's not like
• 6:09
  a #1, #2, #3 driver, right? But personally, as a driver,
• 6:13
  right, when you're not winning as many races as, you know Brad
• 6:16
  and Joey, when I came into it, you feel like that, right?
• 6:19
  The number 3 driver or #2 driver now you know, but.
• 6:24
  And that's just like a person. That personal, like mindset,
• 6:27
  right? The drivers get.
• 6:28
  But now I think, you know Joey's got 2, I've won.
• 6:33
  So it's like still like a half a percent down of him.
• 6:37
  But no, I mean we have a great group over there.
• 6:41
  Joey's been fantastic work with Austin's awesome and and
• 6:44
  Harrison's fantastic as well. So I just, I just enjoy driving
• 6:48
  for amazing people like Team Penske folks and and Mr. Penske
• 6:53
  you know Walter you know Bud Danker, Jonathan Gibson, Tim
• 6:56
  Center. I mean they're all amazing to
• 6:57
  me. Mike Nelson and it's just fun to
• 7:00
  be there. I I really couldn't imagine
• 7:01
  myself anywhere else. They've been fantastic me for
• 7:04
  over 10 years and hopefully I I get to spend another at least 10
• 7:09
  more over there. Nate Ryan, NBC Sports I've got
• 7:15
  2-2. I'm going to set you off
• 7:16
  probably with another Ross question.
• 7:19
  He also said that Ryan could run second and win the championship.
• 7:23
  He did it last year. He can do it again.
• 7:25
  So with everything that was at stake.
• 7:28
  Like what? What made you feel like you
• 7:29
  still had to get that position? Did it cross your mind that I
• 7:31
  could just kind of ease back a little bit and still win the
• 7:34
  championship? Yeah.
• 7:35
  I mean the thing at the time was he was struggling and the five
• 7:40
  is catching us. So he's going to continue to
• 7:44
  struggle and the five is going to be there before the race is
• 7:47
  over. I mean, that was my urgency like
• 7:49
  I I can't have this guy back me up to the five, you know?
• 7:52
  So that was my sense of urgency is I got to get in front of him
• 7:56
  so he doesn't back me up to the five when I'm racing.
• 7:58
  So yeah, it's easy to say like, oh, you just run second, you
• 8:02
  know, But you never know if that thing goes green, it's just and
• 8:06
  then the five's there, you know, And then your championship is
• 8:10
  kind of dwindled away, so. You talked about how last year,
• 8:15
  round of eight, I think it was Vegas Homestead.
• 8:17
  Those mistakes kind of just devastated you and I know you
• 8:19
  said you did some work in the offseason.
• 8:21
  Can you give us a little more insight and like you know who
• 8:24
  helps you? Find that chill in in the
• 8:26
  cockpit. Who, who, who have you been
• 8:27
  working with or who who has kind of guided you to kind of find
• 8:30
  that focus? It's a good question.
• 8:34
  I don't, I don't know. I mean, it was something we
• 8:36
  talked about a lot, you know, between me and Jonathan and and
• 8:38
  kind of internally with myself. And I'm just trying to figure
• 8:42
  out it's like it's not fun pointing out things that you do
• 8:47
  poorly, right? And then like you it's not fun
• 8:50
  pointing out flaws about yourself but it's important to
• 8:52
  do to try to work on you know, like you're bad here.
• 8:57
  You do a territory job at this. You know it's it's hard
• 8:59
  admitting those things to yourself internally.
• 9:01
  But like if they're holding you back, you have to address those
• 9:04
  problems. And I I think I just, I just
• 9:07
  kind of finally like had a a realization is like you got to
• 9:12
  really get better at this if you expect to go forward in your
• 9:15
  career. Like you you have to do this and
• 9:18
  you have to be smarter during races.
• 9:20
  You have got to think about the bigger picture.
• 9:23
  It's not only about being fast, you have to evolve yourself to
• 9:26
  to be a more well-rounded racer and it was, it was a lot of
• 9:29
  conversation with myself internally honestly.
• 9:32
  And so yeah, just I don't know, I think it gets easier as you
• 9:36
  get older, you know you kind of get more mature and just try to
• 9:40
  take things a little bit easier and and be a little bit more
• 9:42
  thoughtful about about how you approach things.
• 9:45
  So we'll go to Jerry and then Dustin Albino.
• 9:49
  Jerry Jordan kicking thetires.net over to your left.
• 9:53
  You got out of the car and you said you're not an emotional
• 9:55
  guy, but obviously that weight on you would win this
• 9:58
  championship. Everybody being here, when does
• 10:00
  this really sink in? And is it safe to say that this
• 10:04
  is the greatest moment of your racing career?
• 10:09
  Yeah, I'm not a very emotional guy and I did tear up on the
• 10:12
  last lap a little bit and the helmet just thinking about a lot
• 10:16
  of stuff I did, I did. I was a little sobbing, baby.
• 10:21
  On the radio after the race. I could barely speak.
• 10:24
  Just just, you know, just thinking about everything, proud
• 10:26
  of, proud of everybody. You know, it's been a been a
• 10:29
  long career in in Motorsports and so, yeah, I don't know, just
• 10:36
  this kind of overcome with emotion.
• 10:38
  I mean if you try to do something for a long time,
• 10:39
  you're overcome with it and it's just kind of part of it.
• 10:43
  So what was the second question you asked?
• 10:45
  Is this is the second say, this is the brightest moment ever by
• 10:49
  far, I mean, but this tops everything, right?
• 10:52
  This is what you dream of as a kid.
• 10:54
  This is what you strive for. This is what you run 35 races a
• 10:57
  year for, you know, to get to this moment, to have a shot at
• 11:00
  the championship and then you have to run a perfect race to to
• 11:03
  get it. So, Oh yeah, definitely huge
• 11:05
  moment. Not only for me, I mean
• 11:07
  everybody involved in it. It's way bigger than I am and I
• 11:11
  can't thank those folks enough for for doing what they do.
• 11:14
  Go Dustin, then Allen. That's albino Jayski Reiner here
• 11:17
  as a crew chief, Hassler ascended to the top of the sport
• 11:20
  really quickly, just two full time seasons.
• 11:22
  What? What makes him or what traits
• 11:24
  make him such a good leader? Yeah, I mean, when I Hassler's
• 11:29
  been fantastic. I mean he's he's such a good guy
• 11:32
  and he and I's personality are pretty similar.
• 11:35
  So when you know Todd Gordon told me he was retiring after
• 11:41
  2021 it's like you know they gave me a lot of kind of leeway
• 11:46
  to pick you know who I wanted. And and Jonathan I had my eye on
• 11:51
  him because he crew chief the 21 car for the last half of the
• 11:53
  year in 21 and did a great job and he's been around Penske for
• 11:57
  a long time and you know he and I just just kind of went out one
• 12:00
  night and had dinner and and just talked.
• 12:02
  And I I really enjoyed how our conversations went and our
• 12:07
  personality meshed and I knew he was a smart guy and being able
• 12:10
  to work with him through the winter, you know of 21 into the
• 12:14
  new car. He's done a fantastic job and
• 12:17
  you know he was an engineer. So it's it's hard to go from an
• 12:19
  engineering role straight into crew chiefing.
• 12:22
  You know you're you're managing and you're leading 15 guys and
• 12:26
  you're trying to keep them pumped up and you're, you know,
• 12:29
  also think about setups with the engineers.
• 12:30
  You're trying to pump up the pit crew guys.
• 12:32
  You're trying to tell the mechanics what to do.
• 12:33
  It's like that role is tough to jump into and it took him a
• 12:38
  little while to kind of get comfortable with that.
• 12:40
  But this year it's kind of like what, you know, internally I
• 12:44
  won't to myself last year of what I can do better.
• 12:47
  He and I had the talks of like, hey, what?
• 12:48
  What can we both do better to make this more of a leadership
• 12:52
  role and for you to get more comfortable.
• 12:54
  And then he embraced it. He's been fantastic to to our
• 12:57
  whole group and gosh, it's been fun, been fun to work with him.
• 13:01
  He's just an awesome guy and and cool to have a really fun year
• 13:04
  with him. Go to Allen and then Cole.
• 13:07
  Alan Cavana, Ryan, congratulations.
• 13:09
  Can you just take us through the nuts and bolts of that final
• 13:11
  run? You you come off Pit Rd. and all
• 13:13
  of a sudden there's the challenge of now you got to get
• 13:16
  your spot back, you got to beat Kyle Larson.
• 13:18
  What goes through your head in terms of setting your mind up
• 13:21
  and what you have to do in those last run?
• 13:24
  Yeah, I mean, I was, you know, bummed we we lost.
• 13:27
  We didn't really have a bad pit stop.
• 13:28
  Those guys just had lightning fast stops and you know it's
• 13:33
  it's like man well that kind of stinks but then you just
• 13:36
  immediately shift to all right this is the task like this is my
• 13:40
  new job. This is what we have to do and I
• 13:42
  think getting around getting around the 24 early was huge
• 13:46
  right to where I didn't have to pass two of them.
• 13:49
  He just let me set my set my sights on Kyle and was able to
• 13:54
  get a pretty good run there and get to his outside.
• 13:57
  When he got to the apron it looks like he got he almost spun
• 13:59
  out getting to the apron trying to not let me get to his bottom
• 14:03
  and and I thought we were going to possibly wreck off A2 but it
• 14:08
  was tight. But no it's just you know hard
• 14:10
  racing between two guys. I have a ton of respect for Kyle
• 14:13
  and so it's fun to race him for the you know the championship
• 14:16
  like that. Obviously his pedigree and
• 14:18
  racing is massive and and his talent is endless and to be able
• 14:22
  to go toe to toe with him like that was was pretty great.
• 14:25
  And one of the first things you said over the radio to Rodger
• 14:27
  was thanks for giving me a shot. It's one thing to drive for
• 14:30
  Rodger. Penske now won him a
• 14:31
  championship. What's that journey been like,
• 14:33
  you know, since you first got that call.
• 14:35
  I mean I just look back, you know, over 10 years and and how
• 14:37
  it kind of all came through, you know, and that would never have
• 14:42
  thought, you know, 10 years ago I'd be here today.
• 14:45
  You know, It just was lucky to be able to have an opportunity
• 14:48
  to drive for a team like like Team Penske and I work for such
• 14:51
  great people, you know, from, you know, the Xfinity side to
• 14:54
  the Cup side to be able to to drive for The Wood Brothers, you
• 14:58
  know, for a couple years honestly, and I haven't said it
• 15:01
  and I'm ashamed of myself for not saying it, Brad Kazlowski
• 15:04
  was a huge piece of getting me in there was a massive piece of,
• 15:10
  you know, driving their Xfinity program.
• 15:12
  I drove his trucks for a couple years.
• 15:13
  I mean Brad was was a huge connecting piece and me being a
• 15:18
  part of the Penske group, so I can't thank him enough.
• 15:21
  It was a real lot of fun seeing him after the race.
• 15:23
  He came to the stage that meant a lot to me because like I said,
• 15:26
  he was a huge part of my career. So but yeah, just you want to
• 15:31
  drive for amazing people and then I've been really lucky to
• 15:34
  do that. From Brad to The Wood Brothers
• 15:35
  to Penske, it's been a dream come true.
• 15:39
  Cool. Cole Cusimano with Aerosan
• 15:41
  Republic. Congrats to Ryan Alan.
• 15:43
  That's my my initial question. So I'll ask this three straight
• 15:46
  runner up finishes at Phoenix is that frustrating for you And I
• 15:50
  guess does this sort of kind of make up for that?
• 15:53
  I don't give a shit about running a second three times.
• 15:57
  Very nice. Not now.
• 15:59
  I don't care. Yeah, I mean I we had to get
• 16:03
  shot to get here last year and and I made mistakes you know at
• 16:06
  at Vegas and Miami that kept us out and you know that was that
• 16:10
  was pretty brutal, you know for me, for our whole group, right.
• 16:15
  Whenever you or the one personally making those
• 16:17
  mistakes, you know you take it the harshest, right?
• 16:20
  But you know everyone of the 12 groups supported me really well.
• 16:23
  And we just kind of set into hey, what do we need to do to
• 16:27
  get better, right? Where are the areas we need to
• 16:28
  get better And and we did that over the offseason and was able
• 16:32
  to get here this year. So I think we learned a lot from
• 16:35
  last year from multiple sides. This also, I talked to your dad
• 16:38
  and he said you guys had some conversations about some things
• 16:40
  and how to kind of even manage things and and that kind of
• 16:42
  thing. Wondering from your perspective
• 16:43
  what those conversations were like from the lessons from last
• 16:46
  year and and this year. Yeah, dad's right there.
• 16:48
  He's, he came with the Media Center with me.
• 16:51
  He's taking no questions though. No, I mean he's been, he's been
• 16:56
  awesome, right. I mean he's been not only
• 16:59
  someone I grew up you know wanting to be like and wanting
• 17:03
  to you know do his sport you know obviously getting me
• 17:06
  started and and racing supported me along the way opened a lot of
• 17:09
  doors for me and then for him to still be you know supportive you
• 17:15
  know when I'm an adult is is great.
• 17:16
  So he's been, you know he he went on you know his whole thing
• 17:20
  was like to the playoffs was you know, I see the path, you know,
• 17:24
  I can see the path to the championship, I can see it.
• 17:27
  And as we won Martinsville, as I gets lit up now path is lit up
• 17:32
  and I think we drove through the gate tonight.
• 17:34
  So we have arrived. So it's just cool to have my
• 17:37
  whole family here which was very special.
• 17:40
  Go to Shane and then Dustin. Shane Connick, Charlotte
• 17:44
  Observer Ryan, after you won at Charlotte earlier this year, you
• 17:49
  talked about your confidence level and how important you know
• 17:52
  that win was. Obviously snapping the skid and
• 17:54
  all that. How much of A turning point do
• 17:56
  you think that was? Is obviously you went on to have
• 17:58
  this incredible playoff run that you had.
• 18:00
  Yeah, I think I think winning the 600 was was huge for our
• 18:03
  organization. You know for multiple reasons.
• 18:06
  It was big for me, right, Kind of getting out of that slump
• 18:08
  after not winning for a little bit and it was definitely good.
• 18:12
  But honestly I got asked earlier about this.
• 18:14
  I think the big like shot in the arm was winning Talladega in the
• 18:18
  playoffs. You know our team was we
• 18:20
  struggled through the summer months after the 600 and we
• 18:23
  worked really hard to try to get better and better and our team
• 18:28
  was like teetering on just needing like little something
• 18:31
  good to happen. And then we're going to be full
• 18:33
  on dangerous and we won Talladega and it was like you
• 18:36
  know green light, let's go. We're we're really in a good
• 18:40
  mood here and I think that's what kind of set it set our the
• 18:43
  rest of our playoffs off to to where they are now.
• 18:46
  And so I think both of those wins were huge.
• 18:49
  But I personally think Talladega was like a big shot in the arm
• 18:51
  right in the middle of the playoffs.
• 18:52
  That really got us going. Thanks, Ryan.
• 18:56
  We'll go to Dustin on the left here and then in the back to
• 19:00
  Jeff. Dustin Long, NBC Sports.
• 19:04
  Couple questions. You talked recently just about,
• 19:07
  you know, Chase winning his championship and feeling good
• 19:10
  for a friend. Now that you get the opportunity
• 19:13
  and you're tied with him and that he came up to the stage,
• 19:16
  what does that mean and what did, what did he say or what did
• 19:18
  you guys share up there? Yeah, it means a ton.
• 19:20
  You know, I mean I remember being there and and going up to
• 19:23
  the stage in 2020 when he won his and just being super proud
• 19:27
  for him, right. Chase and I have known each
• 19:28
  other and and race each other for a couple decades, you know,
• 19:32
  and it's it's pretty special to to share something with like,
• 19:35
  you know, like that with somebody, a close friend like
• 19:37
  that. And for him to show me all the
• 19:39
  support this week was was really neat, you know, as well for me,
• 19:44
  you know, of him kind of checking in on me seeing how I
• 19:46
  was doing right because he's been here a couple times and so
• 19:49
  you had to have him up on stage with special.
• 19:51
  I'm going to enjoy that picture of he and I with the trophy and,
• 19:56
  but no, I mean he, he's been a amazing friend to me, great
• 19:59
  competitor and and it's cool to have that championship that we
• 20:03
  can share now that you know, like when we were kids, when we
• 20:05
  start racing, we never would have thought right, we'd be here
• 20:08
  and have a championship piece and it's it's really cool to
• 20:11
  share that with somebody. Also, you can remember to five
• 20:15
  years ago when the marketing campaign came out that promoted
• 20:19
  the young drivers and now that was kind of a somewhat
• 20:22
  controversial among some of the competitors to go from where you
• 20:26
  guys were in the spotlight. At that point, the question was,
• 20:28
  hey, these guys hadn't deserved it yet.
• 20:30
  Maybe the attention to now where you've got a championship, Chase
• 20:34
  has got a championship, the youngest championship field.
• 20:37
  What has that journey been like and how you know that over that
• 20:42
  five year period to get to from that marketing camp point pain
• 20:45
  to fulfilling what it was kind of promoting?
• 20:48
  Well, I think it's it's nice to kind of have fulfilled that
• 20:51
  because like, yeah, like you said a time, I do remember that
• 20:53
  like if like these guys haven't earned this marketing stuff.
• 20:56
  But you know, it's nice to kind of be able, you know, five years
• 21:00
  later to have, you know a couple of us that have won a
• 21:03
  championship that kind of solidifies like, well, OK, but I
• 21:07
  mean at the time, right. They're just pushing younger
• 21:09
  drivers, right. I mean, they're just trying to
• 21:11
  promote the younger guys. And yeah, some guys got a little
• 21:13
  hurt about that, but it's nice, you know that that these.
• 21:17
  The younger drivers the newer guys are are succeeding in their
• 21:21
  own way and and being able to you know have championships and
• 21:25
  wins and and for a fan base to kind of grow up with that you
• 21:30
  know that driver of who's in their mid 20s late 20s, you
• 21:33
  know, right. It's it's something I think
• 21:35
  people can latch onto. So I obviously now it's easy for
• 21:38
  me to look back at that marketing campaign, be like how
• 21:40
  they knew what they were doing, but you never know how it's
• 21:43
  going to work but. I know.
• 21:45
  It's, yeah, five years ago. I mean, I never really thought
• 21:47
  we'd be sitting here right now, but it seems like they, they had
• 21:50
  a little knowledge of where they thought each of us were going to
• 21:53
  go, go to Jeff in the back and then Jen up here.
• 21:56
  Hey Ryan, I'm all the way in the back here.
• 21:59
  You know, you've always been known as somebody that says yes
• 22:01
  to a lot of things that NASCAR asks, you know, media
• 22:04
  opportunities and things like that.
• 22:06
  But you know now you're going to have a whole different
• 22:08
  opportunity with the the NASCAR championship behind you and say
• 22:11
  hey. You know we can, we can put you
• 22:13
  in all sorts of places. How would you like to use sort
• 22:16
  of this new found platform to to move the sport forward as a
• 22:20
  champion? Yeah I'm not really sure to be
• 22:22
  honest with you I I'm excited to have those opportunities.
• 22:26
  I I really look forward to facing them head on and and I
• 22:30
  feel like as a you know if you get the privilege to be a
• 22:33
  champion of your sport, it is part of your job to promote your
• 22:37
  sport and do the best you can to be the best champion that you
• 22:39
  can. So that's the responsibility and
• 22:42
  I'm be honest with you, I haven't really thought about
• 22:44
  yet. You know I think that's going to
• 22:45
  kind of dawn on me and I'd like in the following days.
• 22:48
  But no I think it's it's your it's part of your job to kind of
• 22:53
  you know hey embrace it push the sport.
• 22:57
  You have this awesome platform now to where you've done
• 22:59
  something incredible. Use that right and you promote
• 23:03
  the sport. So I'm excited to see what what
• 23:05
  happens this offseason, see what comes up to where.
• 23:09
  You know, you're not only growing yourself, you are
• 23:11
  growing the sport as well of NASCAR.
• 23:13
  You know, someone asked me earlier, you know the Netflix
• 23:16
  deal that's happening right now, it's, I've worked with them a
• 23:19
  lot through the playoffs, you know, and they've gotten a lot
• 23:21
  of inside stuff. And I think that's just a
• 23:23
  another big thing of, you know, promoting the sport in a in a
• 23:26
  positive way to a certain audience or a brand new
• 23:29
  audience. So.