Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Tyler Reddick & Bubba Wallace Talk Brickyard & 23XI Racing | Stephanie Otey Reports

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Tyler Reddick & Bubba Wallace Talk Brickyard & 23XI Racing | Stephanie Otey Reports · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Just for the record, we weren't recording.
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  Bubba is a champ. You did, You did.
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  But you know what? Like, OK, you know what?
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  OK, OK. Well, on that note, we just had
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  an oh shoot moment. Have you had any oh shoot
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  moments in your career? Anything that can make me feel
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  better in this moment right now? Gosh, gosh, man Dang.
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  But we're loosened up. We are.
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  We're ready. You know, it's a great night
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  here in downtown Indy. We are here at Bisiltinium I
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  Centennial Plaza for Intersect. Had a lot of our key partners
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  out here tonight. Xfinity hosting this thing was
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  really, really cool. And I've enjoyed seeing the fans
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  like in their element. You know, they're excited to see
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  what's going on in the moment. We're bringing car culture,
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  music, fashion into making this all work and it gives a behind
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  the scenes look at kind of what we do as a team.
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  So I know there's a lot of fans out, there's a lot of people in
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  Motorsports that want to be a part of a racing in some
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  capacity. This is your chance.
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  We provide opportunities like this.
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  You come out and be a part of it.
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  Create those connections and have fun.
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  Awesome way to recap all that so that we knocked out a few
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  questions right there. I do want to go back to the
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  track. You guys had the whole 2311
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  team, had a strong finish last year, 2 top fives for you and
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  Tyler, You led 26 laps. You talked a lot about momentum.
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  How do you keep that going? It's it's hard to find, you
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  know, the past success isn't breed future success.
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  So we have to just continue to show up and work hard.
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  Today. Obviously I canceled with the
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  rain, but we have practice qualifying tomorrow.
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  So the hard work starts tomorrow.
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  We were very prepped what we need to do here based off last
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  year's run. But you have to keep evolving.
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  You have to keep moving because that's what the competition is
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  doing. So you want to stay one step
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  ahead? And this team has been talking a
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  lot about wanting to find that speed, everything that you can
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  control. What can you do to make up for
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  that? Try the absolute fastest that
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  you can show up and give it your all and make sure you're well
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  prepped for anything that comes your way.
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  Yeah, I think we have the right people in the right place.
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  We have the right cars. It's just a matter of putting
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  that last star in place and letting it shine.
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  And just because I love hearing you talk about it, I talked
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  about your cousin Trey Wallace, who's a buddy of mine says that
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  you, you becoming a father has been such a strong influence in
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  your life. Just talking about the Intersect
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  as we're at this Intersect event, how that crosses over
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  into your racing. Yeah, it's, it's just a nice
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  reset button, you know, Bex is excited for when I walk back in
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  the bus, you know, win, lose or draw.
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  And and it's it's nice to have that this is such a doggy dog
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  sport and a lot of days don't go your way.
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  And so when you can have your son there look at you and he's
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  proud of you no matter what, that's that's just awesome.
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  So it's a it's a way for me to practice patience.
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  I know as he gets older, there's going to be a lot of times where
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  patience is tested. And there's a lot of parallels
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  in, in in racing. So you got to be ready for
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  whatever is thrown at you within milliseconds.
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  So, yeah, which make the most of it.
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  Have fun. Just because this is a topic I
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  love talking about and we were just talking about it, just as
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  we were caught up on not being recording, but the volunteers
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  and Denny, your owner becoming an Ohio State fan, just any
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  debate between the two of you in the first round of the playoffs.
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  No, he's a bandwagon fan. So he jumped on when the team
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  was hot. They played well.
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  They they beat us fair and square.
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  But I lost money to Blaney since he's he's a Buckeye fan.
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  So that was a tough loss, but a good game.
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  But there's always next year. And scale one to 10.
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  How crazy is your fandom of Tennessee Volunteers?
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  That fanbase is, yeah, pretty strong.
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  The strongest I've seen since covering Ohio State I.
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  Would say I'm about A5, I'm in the middle of the road.
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  Yeah, I'm OK Moderate, yes. All right, well, thank you so
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  much for recapping all this for me, making it better and even
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  giving me an oh, shoot moment. So thank you so much, Tyler.
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  Great to see you here. We made it to Indianapolis.
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  Great finish last year in P2. What takeaways can you take from
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  last season and being back at The Oval this year?
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  Yeah, You know, for us it was the first time racing in the
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  Next Gen. car on the Oval. And I think everybody was really
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  curious to see what the racing was going to be like, how the
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  tire would change as it would gain heat.
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  And so it was really, really nice be able to come here and be
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  as fast as we were, have a shot at it for sure.
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  So yeah, we tried to learn as much as we could from it.
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  Obviously again, with it being the first time in such a long
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  time on the Oval, you know a lot of learning is happening quickly
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  and it's going to be interesting to see how much better
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  everyone's gotten in the year since we raced here.
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  Yeah, definitely. And especially with that Turn 1
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  always being very tight, how do you, what have you taken away
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  from that? Especially when everyone's
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  trying to get down to the bottom lap after lap, trying to keep
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  that on them, then I'm going. Yeah, at the very end of the
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  race last year, it got very interesting.
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  You know, you had the cars up front that were saving fuel and
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  everyone behind that wasn't. And yeah, just where you were
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  getting to people on the corner entry was very last minute and
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  there was some big dive bombs. So again, I'm, I'm very curious
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  to see how, what it kind of looks like in practice for Year
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  2 and, and, and more so especially in the race, how much
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  that's going to come into play again this time around.
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  And obviously there is the lawsuit going on in the open
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  charters and you are sitting there well fitted at the owner
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  points, but how does that change things when there's open
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  entries? They did change for 40 entries
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  allowed, but any different style you're going to go for stage
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  wins points. Yeah, no comment on.
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  That I know that's a tough one, but just being around here, the
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  energy is still pretty high. Everyone seems to be in good
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  spirits just week after week. Just have to think of, you know,
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  what does this do for the team? I mean, yeah, our team's just
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  doing a great job. You know, we've, we've been kind
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  of have to grind it out this year, obviously not having the
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  win, but for any of our cars is tough.
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  But the speed performance that we're bringing to the racetrack
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  is good. You know, adding on to the
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  third, adding on the third car this year with Riley in it, the
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  35, you know, you got to go out and find, find, find good people
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  to, to staff that car. You got to have more depth in
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  the, in the pit department. And I feel like everybody's done
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  a good job with that adjustment as we continue to to grow and
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  have more cars that we got to pump out every single weekend
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  and and more people under the roof at airspeed that make it
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  all happen. Great team to have and great
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  teammates and your your leader and co-owner Denny Hamlin won
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  last week at Dover, signed an extension with Joe Gibbs.
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  Is there a different perspective you have in that he's secured
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  racing as a driver, but as an owner maybe the position is in
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  question with the lawsuit. That's a tough one.
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  Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. But is there anything you can
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  learn from his racing and, you know, late into his career,
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  takeaways from him as well as your teammates?
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  Yeah, no, I, I knew him somewhat, you know, as a
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  competitor, beginning to know him as the team owner, getting
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  to know him as a driver on a, on a deeper level.
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  Now that you know, I drive for him, we're all toy to drivers.
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  It's been really beneficial to bid a lean on him for, for
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  things that I know a little bit about, but have a lot of
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  learning left to do. And so, yeah, whether it's been
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  the short tracks or things that he's picked up on over the
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  years, that applies to all different types of race tracks
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  that we go to. Yeah, he's been a huge benefit
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  for me and just getting me to understand things from a more,
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  more of a veteran's perspective. Not all veterans are the same.
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  He's definitely the one that stands out to me, that just his
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  racing awareness, understanding what he wants out of his race
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  car is at a level that some drivers dream of having that
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  that don't ever get it. And you guys have the 2311
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  teams, they've been wanting to find more speed, but what can
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  you do to manage maybe that potential step up, but having
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  great strength here in the past two years or the past year?
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you just got to go
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  into these race weekends and, and take advantage of of your
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  strengths. You always want to try and
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  improve on your weaknesses, whatever tracks this might be.
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  But yeah, for us, you know, this this organization, we we got to
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  take advantage of. Well, I guess we don't know, we
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  haven't been on track yet this weekend.
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  But looking at last year, all the cars were really strong.
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  And so if a lot of that remains to be the same tomorrow and
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  Sunday, we've got to take advantage of it and execute.
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  We've got to qualify upfront, we got to run up front to get those
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  stage points and then hopefully have a shot at winning the race.
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  Well, best of luck tomorrow, hopefully you get a crown jewel,
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  get to kiss the bricks here in Indianapolis.
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  What would it feel to to grab that one here?
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  Yeah, I know when we raced the road course, I guess it, you
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  know, in a lot of eyes it's it's not the same crown jewel event
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  as a Brickyard 400. So yeah, getting to kiss the
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  bricks once was was a very special moment.
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  It was my my second Cup victory. So it would be great to do it on
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  the Oval. And again, it, it stings in some
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  ways that we were so close last year and just one spot short,
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  but it was nice that we were that competitive.
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  It's, it's always a great feeling to have as a driver when
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  you can come to Indy, whether it's the road course or the OR
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  the big track and be competitive.
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  That's, you know, as someone that grows up watching races
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  here, understanding the history and having a huge appreciation
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  for how much the place means to racing in general, It's it's
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  always great to be able to come to Indy and feel like you can
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  contend for the win. Well, thank you so much.
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  I know I I sent some hard ones your way, but I appreciate you
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  taking the time and and talking with me.
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  Appreciate it. Thank you so much.