Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Brad Keselowski Talks Great Darlington Win!

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Brad Keselowski Talks Great Darlington Win! · Kenny Wallace Media

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Bob Parker's Fox Sports. That's the first time the six
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has been in Victory Lane since 2011.
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So I'm curious if that means anything to you just from a
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historical sense, yes and no. I'm not a huge numerology guy,
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but it's it's a still a historic number in the sport.
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You know all the single digit numbers I think in NASCAR kind
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of have this legend to them. So it's nice to to get it back
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in Victory Lane. There's a lot of things to to be
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excited about. So it's really hard to pick one
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over another, right? Whether it be just winning as a
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whole, winning at Darlington, winning and locking into the
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playoffs, winning with my family here, winning on Mother's Day.
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I don't know how to pick which one means the most but they all
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mean a lot, I can tell you that. So it's good for for Jack to
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have been here too. Sure I'm missing good for Ford.
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First one with the dark horse and you know they've they've had
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a a, you know a rough go the last few a month.
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So there's there's a lot to be excited a lot to like about it
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not sure I know how to scale it by which ones are more than
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others and obviously Butcher was not the happiest after this one
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and I'm curious, you know, we're talking to him does he need a
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race and you know dirtier or anything to to get a win.
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And So what would you tell him if he asked you that?
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Or people said he needs to be a little bit more not as polite?
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You know, Chris has his style and it's worked really, really
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well for him. I don't think Chris needs to
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change the darn thing about what he does.
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It might not have worked out today, but there's other days
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where it works for him and makes him what he is, makes him
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special, makes him good. I hated I didn't get the result
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out of it. I know he had some damage on the
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car and that was holding him back a little bit and so he
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wasn't able to drive away like you would assume a leader would
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do on a situation like that. But I thought he did a great job
1:59
of putting themselves in position and to not get a
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result, I'm sure it's hard to stomach and it should be hard to
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stomach. That's what you want out of your
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driver, right? You want him to be upset when he
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doesn't win. So yeah, I would say, you know,
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Chris isn't sitting in front of me now, but I would tell him
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just keep being Chris and keep doing what you do.
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Go to Cameron and then Jacob cameronrichardsonnascar.com.
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Brad, you've had a lot of important wins, monumental wins
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in your career. Just where does this one rank
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for your, for you personally, for your driving career?
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You know, given. You know the last. 2-3 years
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where you went. Without a win, Yeah, ranking
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wins is hard. You know, your first win is is
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always really special. And then there's, you know,
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these other moments in between. You know, winning here in 18 and
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sweeping the weekend was awesome.
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That that's one of the best weekends of my life.
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I remember coming home from that and thinking, you know this is,
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this is as good as it gets, right?
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And you know, then you have other wins that you know, you
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mean a little less. You know, I got all that kind of
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feel guilty about that, right. I don't want to take those for
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granted. But Darlington to me has its own
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thing about it, its own mystique where it's always been like this
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really tough driver's track. And you know, to to win here
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multiple times kind of puts you in a a crowd of drivers that I
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think most of us would recognize as elite.
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And so you know it if if it feels really good because not of
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what it means, you know, whether it be the the fame or the the
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the money or all that and not really even about, you know,
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other people cheering and being excited.
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I'm glad my fans are happy and I think that's awesome.
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But it's it's like a self respect thing when you win at
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Darlington, right? Because as a driver, we all know
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when we come here how tough this place is.
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And when you win here like as a driver and you, you know what it
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means. It's like you, you almost
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respect yourself, right? And that that sounds kind of
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egotistical, as I'm saying it, but I I don't know how else to
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say it. But there's certain wins that
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you just look back on a driver's career and and they look back on
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a driver's career and they say this one means a lot to me
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personally because I know what Darlington is, I know what it
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means to the sport, I know what it means to to win here.
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And I'm I'm glad to be on that list multiple times.
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We're going to go to Jacob and then we're going to go up to the
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press box to Jim and over to Matt, Jacob Selman, Ray's Face
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Digital. Brad, that question in two parts
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for you. First, you talked right here.
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Where's the Oh there, right back.
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OK. You talked about this one
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meaning a lot in a lot of different ways.
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You came to RFK from Penske when you said you said it at the
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beginning, wanting to make the organization better.
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We've seen a lot of that over the last three years, but not
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just as a driver, but from the ownership standpoint and what
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you've poured into the organization.
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How rewarding is finally being able to sit in Victory Lane in
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your own right? Yeah.
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I mean, I I think no matter what you do in life you want to leave
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a mark and some in other ways than others.
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And you know I'm, I'm really proud of the career.
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I've had it at Penske and I I always will be.
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It was a really special place to work with some special people
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and and this is just another chapter, right?
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It's it doesn't replace that chapter but it's another chapter
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where you know, I can look in the mirror and say that you know
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what, I'm leaving some kind of mark on the sport, maybe even
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some of the people. You know, I take as much pride
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in anything as is helping the people and and being on teams
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and seeing that you know the the 1920 year old kid that comes in
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as a intern and and watching them learn something.
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Or seeing the 23 year old that just graduated college and
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didn't make the NFL draft but comes in as a pit crew member
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and is now going over the wall and has a good job and does a
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great job. Like I take as much about that
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as I do any of my own success because it it feels so good to
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you know leave a a positive mark on on others that way.
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And so it's just another chapter for me.
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I don't know what the next chapter will be.
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I'm not done with this one. I I hope I got a lot more pages
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to write. Took a little longer than I
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would like to to have got an official win.
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Although I did win the the duel there right out of the gate.
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But I guess that that doesn't count, does it?
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But you know, we were, we were so close for so long.
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This is our class clown, by the way.
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This is, this is my child. I don't know if you guys picked
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that one up, where was I going with that?
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But, you know, so to speak, I'm just thrilled that I'm able to
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put some meaningful pages in this this chapter, and I hope
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that there's a lot more to come. I'm I'm glad that we're getting
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a little levity from the girls because that was where I was
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going with the second part of this.
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I had a picture in Victory Lane where it's you, Paige, and the
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three kids, and those are the moments you can't trade.
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How special is it to, you know, to have one where these two
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certainly are going to remember it as much as you are?
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To have all three of them be a part of this.
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Yeah, one of my probably favorite childhood memories is
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being in Victory Lane with my dad.
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And I think I was, oh, 10 or 11 years old, just a year or two
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older than than Scarlet here. And I'll never forget that day.
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I'll never forget the butterflies on my stomach
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because my dad was leading with just a few laps to go.
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And you know, I I want that same memory for them, right?
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This is one of those core memories that I have and I'm
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just glad to see it come together for them.
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Yeah. Autumn, were you nervous at the
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end? No.
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No. Yeah, she's own cloth here.
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Alright, we'll go up to the press box to Jim if you still
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have a question and then down here to Matt question and then
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down here to Matt, jimmuttermotorsport.com.
8:46
Congratulations, Brad. Thank you.
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Just following up kind of like on the organization, you talked
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specifically about how big wins at Darlington are.
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I guess the last one for the Ralph organization was with Greg
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Pippel in 2006. I just wondered what does it
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mean in the time that you have been a part of RFK to see the
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transformation from what it where it was to a point where
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you get a win like today and also have two cars are obviously
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capable opening races every week and perhaps competing for a
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championship. Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, it's a heck of a ride, Jim.
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You know, so much has changed over the last three years from
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when I walked in the door. And you know, I see just a group
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that keeps getting stronger. It's tough because I feel like
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there's been a lot of two step forwards, one steps back and you
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keep doing those and you keep doing those and you know
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everybody kind of looks at like we just took these two steps
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forward, Why would we take another step back and it leads
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to the next game. We took a pretty big step back
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over the offseason. It was with a lot of
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intentionality and and a couple critical categories.
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We paid for that dearly to start the year and and kind of lost
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some performance. But it was in the name of being
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able to do this right here. When race is honest and be
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competitive and it the two steps forward are just now being
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realized never comes as quick as you want it to.
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It's a tedious, painful process that takes a, you know, a deep
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grind at all levels, whether that's the driver level, that
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the organizational level, the pit crew level, but that that
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grind is worth it. When you have moments like this,
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and I, I surely appreciate it. We'll go to Matt and then down
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here to our left, Matt Weaver. Sports.
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Not I don't want to interrupt. No, you're fine.
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Where are you? Over here.
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So why was Matt McCall going back three years plus into this?
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Why was Matt the guy, when you talk about leaving, a a positive
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impact on other people too? How much are you proud and happy
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for him? As much as you are selfishly
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you. Yeah, well I mean, I I hope he
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would say the same thing that I've pushed him forward and he's
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pushed me forward. There are a lot of things I like
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about Matt. Matt's a grinder.
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Matt came in and wasn't afraid of the challenge.
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He and I both knew and we sat down, you know for we made he we
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made the decision together to to pair up and I I told him, hey,
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look, I'm just going to be honest with you this is going to
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suck. I This is not going to be fun
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there. There's going to be a lot of
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moments of of of pain here with expectations that are probably
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unrealistic. And I think Matt appreciated
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that honesty and I appreciated the fact that he didn't run from
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it. He wasn't like, what do you
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mean, you know, like, but he could see it himself and so I
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think there's a mutual respect there.
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And my follow up kind of addresses that same point
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because I asked him this too, but you were up front with him
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and said it was going to suck. But I could say, looking at it
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from like our standpoint, that there were points over the last
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three years where things were not going right.
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There were penalties or just performance woes that have
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broken other teams and pairings apart.
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What were the the factors, the honesty or trust, things like
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that, that prevented you guys from allowing you guys to stick
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it out and see it through? Yeah.
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I think we have open and honest conversations with each other
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where we, you know are able to kind of have the normal conflict
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resolved that a team would have and then probably some on top of
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that. You know, I'd, I'd, I'd never
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looked at Matt and said hey you can't do this.
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I've never felt that way. We we both, I'm sure, have had
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moments where we're like this is not going right and you know,
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kind of the moments of doubt, but you know that there's been
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some wins that got away from us. We're like I made a mistake or
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maybe we left something on the table with the car and and no
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sting, but you know that that's part of it.
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I appreciate the fact that he likes it.
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I'm willing to to take risks, calculated risks, and doesn't
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blow up over it and vice versa. I like the fact that he's
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willing to do that. And then when they don't work,
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it's really easy to, you know, kind of just point a lot of
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fingers and divide and conquer. And I think he's done a great
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job of doing the opposite of that.
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And I'd like to think I have too when it comes to our
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relationship. So, you know, I made a
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commitment to him when you know he came over that he was the guy
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that we're going to work through those issues as they come.
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Of course, you always hope they don't come, right?
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You know, But there's an inevitability to that.
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It's been, it's been really painful.
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It's been painful for me, painful for him, but we found a
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way to build and get better through it.
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All right. We're going to try to get to as
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many questions as we can. We're not going to be able to
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get to everyone's hands up. So you guys could try to keep it
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to one question so we can do as many as possible.
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It'd be much appreciated. Am I talking?
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Too slow? No, You talk as much as you want
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to, Brad, you're you're great. We'll come over here to the left
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and then go to Jordan, John and Dustin.
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Chris Weaver with Fox 8 WGHP up in high point.
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Brad, you're going to be in the All Star race next week.
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I think he would have anyway with the championship deal.
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But when you look to that the excitement of going back old
14:50
school again this year but the idea of racing on these Goodyear
14:53
tires that have an option what are your thoughts about the All
14:55
Star race and and and they'll plan out that option tire and
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how to how to do this again next week.
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Yeah, I mean it's it's one week at a time kind of sport to tell
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you that. And I'm probably not going to
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think about the All Star race for another day or two to be
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quite honest. I'm going to try to enjoy this
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and I know the work that comes comes with it before and after
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and you know, but it should be good.
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I mean I I like the concept. I love the fact Goodyear's
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willing to take chances and they they've done a great job.
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Can. I come down here to Jordan.
15:27
Jordan. Bianchi, the athletic.
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Chris has got four wins since you've taken over.
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Obviously, we know. This is, you haven't.
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What has it been like to digest that though?
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Seeing the success they've. Had they, they, they?
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Found something. They've been in Victory Lane.
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They're having those moments that you haven't.
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How do you? Process that as you go through
15:45
this, well, I'm, I'm happy for him.
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He's my teammate and you know he's some regard an employee
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right. Yeah there's the natural you
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know comparison that everybody likes to do the comparisons and
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and I get it right it's some of those comparisons are fair and
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some of them aren't. You know I I I think that Chris
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has done an excellent job at putting himself in position to
16:14
win races and catching the good breaks to go with it.
16:19
You know I I I thought last year when he won Michigan that was a
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perfect example of just that he put himself in a great spot just
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dug hard didn't have the fastest car and and and won the race
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like that's that's amazing. He he's been able to make things
16:34
happen. He's in a good spot personally
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and professionally you know good age good experience level.
16:42
He's surrounded by some really good people.
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He's significantly underrated. I don't know why nobody else
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tried to steal him from us. You know, when we resigned him
16:52
last year, I thought for sure somebody else was going to make
16:55
a run at him and and to my knowledge I never did.
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I I don't know why nobody else sees in him what I see in him,
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which is a guy that's a winner that he put in the right
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situation, can be a multiple time, not just race winner but
17:07
even champion with the right equipment.
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And he doesn't get that credit and respect.
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I don't know why. Maybe it's because he's so
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humble, but I've been happy to see him be successful and and
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I've never really spent a lot of time kind of look in the mirror
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comparing our success. I just want to.
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Confirm I I I've heard this but I want to.
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Confirm. You mentioned that you have
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resigned Chris to a multi year contract extension.
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Yeah we did that sometime last year December.
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Yeah, it wasn't. That was, that wasn't December.
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It was. No, it was.
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It was in the summer. Go to John and Dustin, John, new
17:45
BNBC Sports. So over the past, you know,
17:48
month or so you've been very realistic about inch and forward
17:51
moving forward. You guys are getting closer with
17:53
the, you know, the dark horse now you got the win.
17:56
So realistically, like, what's that next step?
18:00
Multiple wins. You know, I'm, I'm just ecstatic
18:05
about the Coke 600. We've worked so hard to have
18:08
fast cars and hope that carries over to that race.
18:13
You know, the Coke 600 is a special race as well.
18:17
I thought we were really good at Dover and I screwed the race up.
18:21
I thought we were really good at Kansas and we kept catching bad
18:24
breaks and now we're finally today we we we didn't catch any
18:29
bad breaks and we ran competitively the whole time.
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And I'm just curious to see how the the Coke 600 is going to be.
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It's nice being able to go into those races and not have to
18:39
worry about points. Just being able to to to do what
18:42
you need to do to score, go for a win.
18:46
Dustin Long, NBC Sports Brad Greatness is not.
18:50
Achieved without risk. I think a lot of us in this room
18:53
kind of have. Our idea?
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What risk? You took when you went.
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To RFK, but what risk did you feel like you were?
19:01
Taking that, maybe we didn't. I don't know.
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It depends on which press headline I wrote.
19:06
I read. You know, I, you know, I heard
19:09
from some fans. I can't believe you're throwing
19:11
your career away. And then you're kind of like,
19:14
well, maybe they're right. But then on the flip side, I was
19:17
looking at the sport and I'm just thinking to myself that,
19:22
you know, if I dig deep here, you know I can.
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I can get this thing where it needs to be.
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And there's been a lot of deep digging moments and you know
19:33
that that's been part of the journey.
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They're not all fun. They're in fact a lot of them
19:36
aren't fun but it's it's part of the journey and you know I I I
19:43
sleep well at night with with the that decision I was OK if it
19:49
failed. You know I I had a lot of people
19:53
that poked at me when with Centric won the 500.
19:57
A lot of people poking at me. Oh that could have been you ever
19:59
in that car. And you know same thing when
20:00
when Joey and Blaney won the championship last year and and
20:04
the year before and and you know what They're they're they're
20:06
right. But I'm I'm, I'm not.
20:11
Upset about that. I'm happy for those guys.
20:13
Like I said, I still have meaningful relationships with
20:15
Joey and with with Blaney and I'm.
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I'm happy to see them be successful.
20:23
But I'm, I'm in a different place, right?
20:25
And I'm. I've learned so much over the
20:26
last three years about people and culture and organizations
20:31
and the technical aspects of what it takes to, you know,
20:34
build a a race team that can win and you know that's the action I
20:40
crave, always craved is being a part of that journey and you
20:44
know I have that and that that makes winning so much more
20:48
special and then more impactful to me personally is is there is
20:54
there any way to define or explain?
20:56
Just what these three years have been like.
21:00
I don't think. Any of us can relate.
21:02
No, it's not relatable. I don't have an analogy for you.
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You know, it's just taking big risks and you know hoping they
21:11
pay off. Still got more to do.
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And you know, I I'm, I've always done things my own way.
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I think you guys probably all know that I'm going to keep
21:24
doing it my own way. And you know sometimes it works,
21:29
sometimes it don't. But at the end of day, I can
21:31
look in the mirror and and and feel good about it.
21:34
And I feel good about today didn't happen as fast as I
21:38
wanted to happen. But you know the the journey's
21:43
been really special. We're going to go to Jerry, then
21:47
to Pete. Hi, Jerry.
21:58
He's talking, Jerry. Jordan, kicking thetires.net,
22:02
you were talking about risk out there on the track.
22:04
It was you and and Reddit got together and, you know, Buscher
22:08
swamped down below you and got around and it looked like it was
22:11
going to be, you know, Buscher's race and you're going to be
22:14
third. And then all of a sudden they
22:16
get together and then you go around and what are the
22:19
emotions? Like, what are you thinking when
22:20
that's happening? And are you, You're a team owner
22:24
and you're like you've got a driver up there that's a
22:25
teammate, but you want the win. What is that?
22:28
What's all happening? Yeah, I was looking at when
22:31
Chris passed. I didn't know he had a lot of
22:34
damage on his car and so I thought he was just going to
22:36
drive away and he maybe did for a lap or two.
22:40
And then Tyler and I started running him back down.
22:42
I was like, Oh no, he's not going to just run away.
22:45
And I honestly thought Tyler was going to pass him and win the
22:47
race. And I'm like, Dang it.
22:49
He came off of Chris, came off a turn one and two.
22:54
He was really sideways. And Tyler got half a car length
22:57
behind him. And I think we could all see
22:59
what was going to happen. And I was watching that and just
23:03
going, Oh no. And then when they hit together
23:05
and they both kind of slid up in the wall or or maybe the 45
23:10
didn't slide up in the wall. But you know, smoke was coming
23:12
everywhere. I saw that happen and I was
23:13
thinking, oh, I'm going to try to get both of them.
23:15
And I didn't get either of them like, Oh no, that was my shot.
23:19
And then Ty Weber had a flat tire.
23:22
And then the next straight away, Chris had a flat tire.
23:25
And then I was just looking at my mirror thinking, oh, I hope
23:28
nobody else comes and runs me down, but I'll tell you, it was
23:32
a heck of a dogfight. I I don't know what their
23:34
actions were in the stands or people watching at home, but I
23:39
mean this race was a nail biter in a lot of ways, you know,
23:42
three wide passes for the lead couple times and it really
23:47
wasn't settled, you know, until the last 1015 laps amongst the
23:51
leaders. So pretty epic day regardless of
23:54
of our win and just glad to be a part of it.
23:58
Go to Pete and then we're going to need you to wrap up here with
24:00
Lee. Hey Brad, Pete Acabelli with The
24:03
Associated Press. You talked about among the
24:07
special moments today, Jack being.
24:10
Here to watch. What did he say to you with the
24:13
car? What?
24:14
What kind of a moment? Was that?
24:15
When you guys. Talked after the win before the
24:18
race. He told me race to race track
24:22
and I said I guess Sir and we did that until the end.
24:27
At the end it's like, hey we got to go.
24:29
And then at the car he was just saying that you know he hadn't
24:34
been in Victory Lane here in a long long time.
24:37
I I think it had been 14 or 15 years and and we were talking
24:41
about when the last time he was in Victory Lane here and he said
24:43
I don't even remember what what has it been Bob?
24:47
Has it been 1415 when did when did they win here last?
24:50
Jack. When did yeah, Greg Biffle in
24:54
like 2006, the 18 years ago. So I think that was pretty
25:02
special for him. Go to Lee.
25:06
Thank you. Lee Spencer Series 6 M NASCAR
25:08
radio and catch fence.com. You talked earlier about having
25:12
to make some hardcore investments in the team to try
25:14
to get things turned around. I know earlier in the season you
25:17
talked about looking at the ROI on pit crews and I have say you
25:22
know from looking at the turn of events today having the pit crew
25:26
you did investing in the pit crew certainly paid off.
25:29
Yeah, yeah, I mean the six team is one of the best pit crews on
25:33
pit Rd. really proud of them today.
25:35
They were just flawless, put us in position there.
25:39
You know we didn't have the number one pit stall and that
25:43
number one pit stall was worth you know solid one to two
25:46
positions every time and we kept losing positions, but it wasn't
25:49
because of them. The pit stops were phenomenal
25:53
and and they just continued to deliver and it had been easy for
25:57
them to give up to, you know, it's been a hard couple years
26:00
for them as well. But they they keep putting the
26:03
work in, they're energized, they just grind it out.
26:07
They're all experienced total professionals.
26:11
I I feel super lucky to have them.