Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kyle Larson Wins at COTA!

Transcript

Kyle Larson Wins at COTA! · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Yeah, obviously it means a lot just to race that car with that
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  number and you know for whatever reason the three years or I feel
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  like we've we've ran it between the four drivers.
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  We just haven't been able to get into Victory Lane.
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  So it was it was definitely special to to win a race in that
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  fashion you know with the kind of having everything work out
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  for us there. You know kind of not working out
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  for us before that. You know caution with whatever 5
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  or so laps left. And then you know I had the flat
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  spot and pitted and did not think that I would be getting to
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  this point right here. So they're really cool and and
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  got to talk to Rick and Linda there before pulling in Victory
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  Lane and and you could just you know hear how proud they were to
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  to see that car in Victory Lane. So it just means, it means a
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  lot, you know, and like you've mentioned this to the 40th
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  season, 40th anniversary season for Hendrick Motorsports.
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  So maybe it was maybe all that heartbreak that we've all lived
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  through the last few years with this car.
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  It was just meant to be, you know, this season.
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  So hopefully you know when William, Alex and Chase can get
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  in it or or when I'm in it again later in the year, yeah, we can
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  keep keep winning in it. So it's always fun.
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  It's a fun group of guys. It's fun to get to work with
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  great guys. He's he's got a big sense of
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  humor and and keeps things light.
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  So I I always enjoy getting to run run this car, craziest win.
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  Oh, I mean trophy cup 2013 comes to mind, but you guys have to
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  look that up. So, but no, I mean it was crazy
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  because you know, I restarted 20th or so at the restart with
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  or two restarts before the end and knew I was going to need a
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  caution. So I was just trying to pick my
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  way through cleanly. You know, I didn't want to get
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  damaged just so if we did get a caution, I could hopefully line
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  up around what we did and it all just kind of worked out and and
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  just knew I had an advantage on tires.
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  So to try to be methodical and patient kind of getting through
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  the the field but also not let those guys get too far away.
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  So it just worked out. Stevensumfrontjust.com Kyle, can
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  you kind of walk through that last lap when you were running
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  in 3rd right behind the 21 and 97, they had gotten into each
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  other and the restart they obviously got into each other
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  again. Can you kind of explain how you
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  were trying to size them up or like when to make a move?
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  Yeah. So on the restart, yeah, I mean
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  I I was kind. I was in the outside lane and
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  got to you know, the bottom ish lane and I could see that the 21
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  was kind of shoving, at least from my view.
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  It looked like he was shoving the 97 through the corner.
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  They all ended up way out there and I was happy about that.
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  Not that he shoved them out of the way, but that you know the
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  21 was going to be kind of a jam car because I think if SVG got
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  out to lead, I would have never had an opportunity to catch up
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  and and win. So you know, when when he got to
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  lead, I was like, OK, that's good.
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  It's going to keep the field kind of choked up a little bit
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  to to give me a shot. And then you know just kind of
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  worked out where I got to 3rd. I think coming to the white flag
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  And you know, I was hoping to be close anywhere really, so I
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  could try and pass, you know, Shane.
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  But when it got down to like turn 12, I was just you know 1
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  1/2 crawlings back and I was like man, I'm not going to be
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  able to go drive in here and get to his inside or anything.
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  So I just needed to keep being patient.
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  I was trying to tell myself to keep being patient throughout
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  that final lap and and hopefully you know there would be some
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  sort of payback and and that's that's what happened.
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  You know he got to the stadium and and kind of shoved him
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  through 15 into 16 and they both washed up a lot and I just had a
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  nice angle and gripping my tires to clear them on exit.
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  And just from then on just try to just not, you know, get
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  overly excited and and screw up the gap that I had.
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  Thank you. Bob then Zach.
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  Bob Parker's Fox Sports. What did, what did you think of
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  where the restart zone was located and certain that you had
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  restart in all sorts of different areas?
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  Like, did you feel like you're at a huge disadvantage having to
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  kind of start and then drive the return like when you were
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  starting in the back? No.
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  Even when I restarted 20th, it, it all felt fine.
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  Like it was kind of, it was kind of fun in a way because you
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  could, you know, you still had to like think about the corner.
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  Like when you're back there, you're not really think about
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  the restart zone. You're just thinking about
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  making the corner and and trying to set up the guy in front of
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  you to get momentum and all that.
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  So that was nice. You know, people wanted to be in
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  the left lane so that that lane would get the longest and you
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  could kind of go, you choose the right lane and you know, if
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  things like for the last restarting, I restarted 10th,
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  but I was ninth, you know, and was able to get clear down down
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  the front stretch by the time we exit the restart zone.
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  So yeah, that was a gamble you have to take to take the right
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  lane. But you know, if you can work
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  your angles right you're through turn 20, you know, you could you
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  could make it work. So I liked it.
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  I liked it. Where was that?
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  I feel like it spread it out just a little bit.
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  But you also still had the dive bombs and and all that too.
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  So I'm not sure how it looks from TV, but I thought it was in
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  a good spot there. And then in Cup practice and
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  qualifying, there's a lot of dirt there in Turn 8, but maybe
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  it didn't seem like there was as much in the Xfinity race.
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  So I'm curious, is there something about the Cup car that
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  makes it better when you run through there or do the Cut
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  Xfinity guys, just not. Can you kind of explain why it's
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  different? Yeah, I don't know.
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  It was still super dirty there for sure.
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  It had more grip for whatever reason today than it did
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  yesterday in Xfinity practice. But I think the the like where
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  we run our right sides off is gotten so deep that you know now
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  it's kind of it can mess your balance up through there.
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  So I think now people might shade more to just being on
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  trying to be on the paint but underneath the the rumble strip.
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  So I don't know. I just wish they would put
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  something there, a turtle of, I mean a cone.
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  Like it's not a cone but like something that's going to you
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  can't hit it or you can't go over it without, you know,
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  losing time. I think it gets way too dirty
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  through there. It looks dumb that we're cutting
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  the track and all that. So yeah, I wish we could just
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  put something you're right at the apex just you know below the
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  the rumble strips and it would it would fix everything over
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  there. Don't refill it.
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  Don't refill it. Yeah.
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  Don't let just let it keep getting deeper.
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  I guess if they're not going to do anything, don't don't really
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  refill it. Zach Sternio on nascar.com Kyle,
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  congratulations on the win. The battle you had earlier in
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  the race between yourself, AJ and SVG.
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  You guys were really fiercely swapping positions there.
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  What are you seeing from SVG in those moments?
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  Because this is obviously his first time in one of these cars
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  on a road course. What what were you seeing from
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  him and what were what was going through your head during those
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  battles? Well he's just better than us
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  for one. He's just he's just way better
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  than we all are at this. Like even he's an he's like AJ
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  is a level up from me and and he's a level up from AJ.
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  So I got too caught up in the moment of like having fun there.
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  You know I should have just forfeited the spot and and
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  realized that we were racing time at that moment and not
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  really I should have been racing him.
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  I wanted to get to the lead and then when that didn't kind of
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  work out and and and he kind of surprised me, Shane did When he
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  got to my right side off of 13, I didn't know that he was there
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  And then then he surprised me again when he got to my left
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  side because I thought he was still out there on the right
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  side. So then we just got.
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  I was like, OK, this is going to be fun.
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  I'm just going to race him. We're going to have some fun
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  here. And then then AJ got out.
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  I'm like man, I just screwed myself because we were getting
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  ready to come to the green flag stop and if I could have just
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  settled in the third I would have been call it at least a
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  second closer probably to AJ when we pitted and I would have
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  beat them off pit Rd. and been controlling the restart.
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  Yeah, when we got past the stage.
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  But honestly that that probably all didn't matter because our
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  car is not very good on the short runs.
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  I was just struggling for grips. So I I would have got eight up
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  probably and you know would have struggled trying to you know
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  maintain a fast pace. So it it all obviously worked
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  out. We're sitting here but it was
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  fun racing him. He's just he's just better.
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  He's just way better than all of us.
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  He can create grip he can he can do things with angles and and
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  really be confident you know kind of poking his nose in spots
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  at least you know he's it seems he's more confident with all
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  that than than I am. So it's fun.
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  It's it's a lot of fun when you get to race around a guy that is
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  that good because you know, you learn every time.
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  So it was fun to see him and and fun to to see AJ and him.
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  You have a little bit of a battle there.
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  So yeah, no, he he's just, he's way better, way better than all
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  this on this stuff. Any additional questions for
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  Kyle? All right.
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  We'll go back to Rob over there. Kyle, just kind of curious.
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  I know the Xfinity and Cub cars are going to differ, but how
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  much did you learn today that can be applied to tomorrow given
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  the track conditions and just tire strategies involved?
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  Yeah, I don't know. Honestly, I don't think there's
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  like a ton that I might have learned.
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  The the Cup car today felt way more gripped up than the Xfinity
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  car does here. The pace is way faster.
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  You know, brake markers and stuff are similar, but you know,
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  the 8-9 exchange, the car feels different.
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  The car feels different in all the areas where you cut corners,
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  you know, like the Xfinity car, I think, 'cause it, you know,
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  seems to be higher off the ground.
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  Like it doesn't bottom out like in 19 or 79 quite as much as the
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  Cup car does. So yeah, just the Cup car
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  responds way different. So I'm not sure there's much I
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  could learn from today, but you know, learn where some bumps and
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  stuff are, you know, for restarts, things like that.
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  I mean, I mean there's there's always something that you learn,
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  but the Cup cars and extreme cars just don't translate, you
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  know, like they used to go. Over there to Chris.
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  Chris, My kids friends.com Kyle, you ran 3D exchange races last
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  year. This was your first of 2024.
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  It's a stacked field as far as drivers.
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  Did you notice anything coming from the back to the front about
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  how close the competition is and how stacked the field was?
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  Not really, no. I mean it's I don't mean this to
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  knock Xfinity drivers but like it's not really that stacked or
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  it's at least it's hard to to judge because I don't I don't
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  feel you can judge because they don't allow cup guys, enough cup
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  guys to run in the field, you know like we used to.
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  So although it yes, when you're watching Xfinity guys versus
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  Xfinity guys, it can look stacked but it's it's not it's
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  not really that stacked. So I wish that they would open
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  it up more. I know we would.
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  We would run the 17 car a lot more probably if they would let
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  us because with the dash for cash races, the playoff races,
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  the one race before the playoff race, there's really not a whole
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  lot of races we can run. So, you know, I feel like you
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  don't really, you can't judge, you can't judge an Xfinity
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  driver anymore. So yeah, it didn't, it didn't
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  seem that you know, stacked in my opinion coming through, you
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  know, like Ty Gibbs. I mean he cruised right through
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  the field. We were you know, slower getting
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  through, but but it was fine. But and that's not knocking them
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  like they're all. I think if they had cup drivers
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  to compete against, they would all become great, you know, and
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  be ready for the Cup series. But you just don't you don't get
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  that anymore. So yeah, I wish they would open
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  it up, but they probably won't. All right, Kyle.
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  Appreciate your time. Thank you.
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  Congrats again. Thanks.