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Chase Briscoe On His Championship Chance | NASCAR Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

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  And what about Mitchell? What do you hear from them
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  during this week? Yeah, it's, it's been cool.
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  You know, our, our Lawrence County tourism Board, which is
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  so crazy that we even have one of those truthfully, they, they
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  rented like ALEDTV and my entire high school gym is doing like a
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  watch party. They say there's going to be
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  1500 people there. I don't think our gym even holds
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  1500 people. So yeah, I'm excited to see what
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  the turn out is. You know, they're doing
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  something at the high school. They're opening up the
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  concession stands, the whole 9 yards.
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  And then the American Legion is going to do a watch party too.
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  And just to see, I mean, my whole career, whether I was even
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  in ARCA or Now Cup, like just that area has always been a huge
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  supporter of mine. I think part of it is just
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  everybody kind of knows everybody.
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  But yeah, to see how excited they are, and I mean, every win
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  this year they've been, we don't have a siren, but we've been
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  flying like a 19 flag this week. All down Main Street is
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  checkered flags. Yeah, the whole city and even
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  the whole county has been really getting into it.
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  So yeah, it's pretty cool. I think NBC is sending a camera
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  to the high school to like, have like a, you know, live view of
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  it. So yeah, it's going to be pretty
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  neat. It's got to be.
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  Surreal. I mean, I know you're a big time
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  NASCAR driver, but like your high school gym, like people are
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  going to be there. It's wild.
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  Yeah, it's it's wild. They definitely were never going
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  to come during my high school tenure to watch me do anything
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  else. I don't really rode the bench
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  and everything I did. So yeah, it's it's crazy, you
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  know, just. Yeah, just to see the support
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  that you have, you know, all these other guys, I'm sure they
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  have people from their hometown that support them, but they're
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  not from a town of 3500 people, right.
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  So it's just it's different whenever you come from that
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  small of a town. And I mean, I've seen people
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  from like literally like 2-3 hours away talking about how
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  they're going to drive to Mitchell just to watch.
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  So yeah, it's going to be cool to see what the outcomes.
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  Not to spoil the reveal tomorrow, but your 2020
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  Darlington win was voted the number one moment of the Xfinity
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  Series era. That's cool.
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  I. Just want to get your thoughts
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  on how that win resonated in the story and where you're at now,
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  especially having Brooks in the 20s.
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  Yeah, it's and it's cool to hear.
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  That was obviously just regardless of what I was going
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  through, our family was going through, it was an unbelievable
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  race. Just me and Kyle and, you know,
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  just truthfully like an instant classic, right.
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  And then to to do it dirt with the circumstances and
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  everything. It was, and I mean, every single
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  weekend of the year, I have at least two or three people come
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  up to me and still talk about that race and how it helped them
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  get through difficult times. And, you know, just to see the
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  impact that race had. You know, when when Merce and I
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  went through that, I mean, it's two days before that race and
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  you know, we contemplated ever going public with it.
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  We just prayed about it and, and felt like we were being called
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  to, you know, go public with our struggles.
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  And you know, then to win that race and have, you know, my
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  emotions and you know, just, you know, everything that kind of
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  went around that race to see the impact that had with multiple
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  people. I think now we understand kind
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  of why, you know, we had that happen.
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  And then, yeah, to be able to to have Brooks now and the twins
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  and, you know, for them to to be in Victory Lane at Darlington
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  and, and obviously to be out here, it's it's pretty cool to
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  hear that, you know, that was voted the number one race
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  because there's been a lot of incredible races in the Xfinity
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  Series. And yeah, I'm, I'm humbled at,
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  you know, that one. What does this weekend mean to
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  Brooks? What is he Is is he getting a
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  sense of this? Yeah.
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  How? How is it like seeing it through
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  his eyes? Yeah, he's been saying ever
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  since Talladega, like we're going to Phoenix, baby, like
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  he's. But I don't think he really
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  knows what it means. He just knows we're going to
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  Phoenix. And he knows that Phoenix is a
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  long way away, and he's just wondering if he was allowed to
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  take his iPad to Phoenix because it is going to be such a long
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  way. But, yeah, I don't think he
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  really understands quite what the like.
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  He'll tell you like, yeah, you're going to try to win the
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  championship and you're going to do a big, big, big burnout if
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  you win. But I don't know if he really
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  knows what it is. So, yeah, it's been cool to just
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  get to experience that. But I think he's just more
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  focused this week on swimming and having fun with his cousins
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  and brother and sister and getting to see his, you know,
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  Papa and grandma. And then the race is just icing
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  on the cake. Earlier today, you were.
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  Helping. With food bags, how important is
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  that for you to kind of volunteer your time with the
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  other drivers and seeing fans out there kind of doing the same
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  thing? Yeah, I mean, at the end of the
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  day, that's what it's all about is helping people and and, you
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  know, for us to go out there and do that, I think, you know,
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  people, you know, race fans and actually want to be around race
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  car drivers, right. And it draws more people out
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  there. You know, they said they're
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  going to pack over 1000 bags just for those going out there
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  in that short amount of time. And yeah, just the impact you
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  can make in the community, whether it's us doing that or,
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  you know, a couple years ago, you know, in my hometown, we
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  gave away bikes and you're just a couple months ago, I kind of
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  did a similar thing with God's pit crew and packed a lot of
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  bags for disaster relief and yeah, to do that kind of stuff.
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  I mean, at the end of the day, that's what's important.
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  We, I think we all get caught up in what thinking that, you know,
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  winning this trophy is important, but just being a good
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  person at the end of the day is what's the most important thing.
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  And I think that is, you know, can kind of bring us all back to
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  to what is important this week is that in the midst of all the
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  chaos that we got going on, we can still go help people and,
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  you know, try to make an impact. Hey, Chase, at one time I think
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  a lot of us oppressed that you're playing with house money
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  to get here, but I think you make believers out of all of us.
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  Was there a time when you questioned yourself, like,
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  really, do I belong here? And then it came to you like,
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  yes, I belong here. Yeah, a little bit, you know, my
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  my whole cup career at least, like I would only have flashes
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  of running up front. And you know, this year,
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  especially the second-half, it's like this every weekend we're up
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  front. And yeah, there was definitely a
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  turning point. I feel like I want to say it was
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  around August, we were in like second like literally 3 weeks in
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  a row. And I remember like the first
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  two times we did that, it was like, oh man, like I'm up front.
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  A cup race like this is cool. So now it's just like normal.
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  Like I don't even think about it.
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  You know, I race around the guys up front all the time now.
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  And you know, I feel like they race me differently now than
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  what they did at the beginning of the year.
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  And you know, I'm, I'm guilty of it myself.
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  Like when you're racing up front week in week out and there's a
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  guy that's normally not up there, like you just race him
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  differently because you know, you're not going to race against
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  him very often. Where now I feel like I'm just
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  one of the guys that's kind of up there consistently.
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  And to do that, it's, it's pretty cool because that's what
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  you strive to, to do as a race runner.
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  You want to be up front a lot. And to just be a normal up front
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  runner in the Cup series is pretty wild to think about.
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  I'm also under the opinion that you would be the best driver to
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  party with if you win the championship.
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  Would you be the best driver to party with out of those these
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  four dudes? How did you get to that
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  conclusion is what I'm curious. I've never had a sip of alcohol
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  in my life. I'm not sitting.
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  About alcohol, I'm just talking about the post race party.
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  Come on the craziness. I'm not sitting about alcohol.
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  I don't know, I feel like a lot of craziness happens with
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  alcohol. I mean, I feel like I'm fun to
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  hang out with, but I I definitely feel like if you're
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  looking for a crazy and wild time, then there's probably
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  better guys to go with. But yeah, if you just want to a
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  nice, good time, then yeah. I feel like, you know, our
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  group's fun. My my group is way more fun.
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  I feel like to be around than I am, for sure.
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  All right. My group will.
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  My team will get after it. Yeah.
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  What's? The feeling coming back here.
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  After last year, closing out the season, getting ready for this.
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  Yeah, it's, it's unique, you know, just, you know, I'm, I'm
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  the only guy right, that's up here.
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  It's even in that situation. And yeah, I just remember last
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  year, like, you know, I, I knew that I was moving on to a great
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  opportunity, but you don't like when you switch jobs, like you
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  don't know if you're actually going to like it or not, or if
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  you're going to fit in and like SHR like I just, I love the
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  people I was around. It felt like home.
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  I mean, they literally would come to my family's birthday
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  parties and gender reveal parties when we had kids and
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  like, they were just a part of my family And, and knowing that
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  as a group, like we were never going to race together again.
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  Like that was, that was hard to swallow.
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  Like it was emotional. Like we, we all cried.
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  I cried on pit Rd. They were crying on pit Rd.
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  And I mean, after the race we were doing beer toast and stuff
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  and like, they they kicked us out the racetrack because we did
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  not want to leave because we knew when we left we were never
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  getting back together again as far as like a core group.
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  And then, yeah, to be a year removed and racing for a
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  championship, it's, you know, something a year ago I don't I
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  definitely wouldn't have thought of, you know, being a
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  possibility because I was so devastated at the time.
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  But it's been, you know, obviously great coming to JGR.
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  Like I I love it over here, but it's still different, right?
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  Like every organization and team has things that are unique about
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  it. And I'm glad I'm at where I'm at
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  because I I really do enjoy it. But you're still, you know, SHR
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  was kind of like, like my first love, right?
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  Like you just, it was home and it'll never be there again.
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  So yeah, I don't know. It's just different, you know,
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  for a lot of reasons. But yeah, I'm glad I'm in this
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  position for sure. Chase, I know there's a lot of
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  people who have got you here, one of those being Johnny
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  Morris, Bass Pro Shops. I'm curious, this is your first
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  season with them. You know, what's the
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  relationship been like? And you know what?
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  Have you learned from them? Yeah, it's, it's been pretty
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  unbelievable getting just to, you know, first of all meet
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  Johnny, but then now to get to know him and, you know, like 2
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  months ago I got to go fishing with Johnny.
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  And like that's stuff people like dream about doing, right?
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  It's fishing with Johnny Morris. So it's, it's been really neat.
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  And I would say the biggest thing I've learned from Johnny
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  is just, it's been mind blowing to me at how good he is just
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  taking care of people and just having relationships with
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  people. And I mean, literally every
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  racetrack he goes to, he goes to the store himself.
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  Like he knows every general manager he calls them, takes
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  care of them, like knows them by name, knows their family.
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  It's just unbelievable. I texted him, it's probably in
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  March. Like I had only known him, you
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  know, for maybe a month. And I saw it at Daytona.
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  And I said, man, it blows my mind how big of a company you
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  have and how like much of A one-on-one personal relationship
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  you have with each and every one of your, your employees.
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  And that's been something I, I've always tried to do my
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  entire career, just make them all feel appreciative and are
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  appreciated. And, and yeah, Johnny is
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  certainly so good at that. So it's been really cool just to
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  get to know Johnny. And he called me yesterday and
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  he was at a store opening and a guy had a 19 hat on and he's
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  like, you know, he called me. He's like, hey, can you FaceTime
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  me real quick? And, you know, I Facetimed and
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  the fan was pumped. And like Johnny just so down to
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  earth and he's, he's a kid at heart.
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  Like he's just so excited to just be living life and it's
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  infectious to be around. With all that said, how bad do
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  you want to win the championship for him, for your family, for
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  coach and for your team? Yeah, I certainly want to win it
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  bad for, you know, myself, Johnny Coach, you know, and and
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  Talladega was the first time I'd ever won with Johnny B in there.
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  Just seeing how fired up he was. I mean, yeah, he called me two
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  days later, still fired up about it.
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  I couldn't imagine if we won the championship.
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  He's he's texting me almost every day this week about how
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  fired up he is to get here. And, you know, normally he only
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  comes on race day. He's coming a day early just to
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  to be here and be a part of it. So yeah, it would mean a lot.
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  And then obviously, like my family side, it would mean a lot
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  to them too. And then, you know, for coach,
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  even just to be able to I think kind of solidify everything.
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  I mean, I think we've already kind of done that.
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  But certainly if we could win a championship our first year, you
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  know it would it would be pretty special I think, for everybody
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  involved.