Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / NASCAR Phenom Connor Zilisch Wins Xfinity at COTA | Full Press Conference

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NASCAR Phenom Connor Zilisch Wins Xfinity at COTA | Full Press Conference · Kenny Wallace Media

• 0:00
  Yeah, I'm really proud of my entire junior Motorsports team.
• 0:02
  We had such a fast car. And I'm honestly more frustrated
• 0:06
  with myself than I am happy. You know, I just, I made way too
• 0:09
  many mistakes and made it way harder on myself.
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  And, you know, if if there's so many things I can say that I
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  could have done better. And I don't know how we came
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  back and won the race, just a testament to how fast our car
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  was. And but yeah, I definitely have
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  a lot to clean up with myself and moving forward.
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  But you know, it was a great way to come back from that penalty.
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  It was way too chaotic of chaotic of a race for for my
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  liking. But you know, we ended up
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  getting the job done anyway. So it is what it is.
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  But definitely a lot of frustration.
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  Was that the night night sully like from Steph Curry or was
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  that a reference? To your naps?
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  That was a reference to my naps, No, Yeah, I someone was yelling
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  at me to do it. And I was like, that's a good
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  idea, so I did it. But no, that was not a Steph
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  Curry night night. The second thing is like, so you
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  talked about the mistakes. How do you clean those up with
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  people that might be upset with you, some of your teammates
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  after this race? But how do you approach that
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  scenario? Yeah, I mean, I've already
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  texted three people that I feel like I did wrong and you know, I
• 1:10
  just got a drive at 80% of these places.
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  Like I'm so fast. I just that obviously that
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  penalty hindered us and, you know, kind of got my head
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  spinning a little bit and and put us in a bit of a bad spot.
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  But you know, to to come back from that was really good.
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  And, you know, I just got to stay calmer from now on, right.
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  I I did it well at Watkins Glen, but you know, I this rate this
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  race felt a lot like last year at Coda and, you know, I am
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  frustrated that I made the same mistakes again, But you know,
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  I'm I'm sure that I'll be able to learn from it.
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  It'd be better moving forward, But somehow we ended up getting
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  the win. So happy about that, but you
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  know, still frustrated. Over here with Jerry.
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  Jerry. Jerry Jordan kicking
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  thetires.net Obviously you passed a lot of cars that you
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  know, going through the field, but what was what was that like
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  trying to make trying to make your way back up to the front
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  and also being the second youngest driver to get multiple
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  wins. What did you learn today that
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  you might be able to make some history tomorrow?
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  Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, it was.
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  It was really good to get that pack experience for tomorrow's
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  race. You know, I learned a lot of
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  good passing zones and, you know, I feel like that
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  definitely helped me prepare for tomorrow's race.
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  It's going to be a lot tougher tomorrow.
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  Everyone is so good in the Cup series that, you know, it's it's
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  going to be really tough to pass those guys.
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  But yeah, a good day to, you know, get some experience under
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  my belt here at the new track and yeah, cool to get my my
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  second win and I think 7 races. So, yeah, excited that I'm able
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  to do that And and, you know, looking forward to Phoenix next
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  weekend. It's a good track for me and
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  definitely a lot to build on, but obviously tomorrow is a
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  really big day too. I.
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  Got over here with John. John, you be savage ventures.
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  So you said in your post race interview that you know your
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  brain was in a fog. I just go more into detail and
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  what all that entailed. Yeah, I mean, that penalty is
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  tough, right? When you're the fastest car and
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  you're just like cruising out front and then, you know, a
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  penalty that's not really in your own control puts you to the
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  blast. And you know, it's never easy on
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  a driver, but I knew how fast my car was.
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  And at first I feel like I did a really good job.
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  But as I start getting to the, the faster guys, they started
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  racing me harder. And, you know, not giving it to
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  me is easy. And that's when I started making
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  more aggressive moves to get by them and which I probably
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  shouldn't have done. I, I, you know, I needed to be
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  more patient and continue to be more patient, but you know, I
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  learned from it and, and, you know, get better for the, the
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  next Rd. course we go to and apply this to the race tomorrow
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  and. Read over here.
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  Spencer with the NASCAR wire service, the contact with the 24
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  looked like it was pretty hard. How much did that affect the the
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  performance of the car? Yeah, I did a lot.
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  I was rubbing the right front for a few laps and and you know,
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  I actually the right front blew after the race.
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  I don't know if it was because I was locking it up, doing
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  burnouts or what, but you know, I, I, it was close, right?
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  I saw the one blew a right front and, you know, I had damage and,
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  you know, I was probably being harder on it that I needed to,
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  but I saw the one locking up into 13 a lot and, and he was
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  having trouble. But, you know, I was able to
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  learn from from kind of seeing what he was doing to hurt his
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  tire and and, you know, kind of apply that to me and I was
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  trying to be as easy as I could on it.
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  And thankfully it made it to the end.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  When he fell out, I started driving a lot easier because I
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  knew I had a big gap to, you know, the, the cars behind.
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  So yeah, I definitely did start taking it a bit easier after
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  that. And you know, I, I'm glad we
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  were able to make to the finish. Trey Campbell here of one O 27
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  ESPN So with the win now you're kind of in the playoffs.
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  Do you approach everything a little bit differently now?
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  Do you kind of race a little bit differently with?
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  You know, I, I think that I can, you know, be a little bit, I
• 5:03
  don't have to win, right. I, I have that win under my
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  belt. I'm locked into the playoffs.
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  We can race for stages a little bit more and go for stage wins.
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  But you know, I think having that win is definitely a sense
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  of comfort and it's good to get this early in the season.
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  So I'm glad we're able to do that so quickly and, you know,
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  excited to to go into the rest of the season and kind of see
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  how it plays out. I'm not really sure how this
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  changes our mindset going forward, but, you know, it
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  definitely is a sense of relief getting locked in and, you know,
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  race three of the year. Steven Stump frontridge.com
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  Connor, for as much as you said you're frustrated with just how
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  chaotic and the mistakes you made, you still here in Watkins
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  Glen, you still won the pole, led the most laps and won both
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  races. So are you kind of just counting
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  down the days to Mexico City, which is the next Rd.
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  Course to just, you know, just finally have that perfect race
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  where you avoid that trouble and just to see how what you can do.
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  I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to it.
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  I I'm definitely, you know, excited for the road courses
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  this year, but honestly I'm looking forward to learning more
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  on the ovals and getting better there and continuing to improve.
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  You know where I'm struggling, right?
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  I feel like I'm, you know, at the speed is obviously there in
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  in the Xfinity car Rd. courses and you know, that's not going
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  to be my issue when it gets time to, you know, go to Mexico.
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  I'm going to definitely think back to this race and, you know,
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  know what I can do better. But you know, I wouldn't say by
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  any means I'm, you know, counting down the days for
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  Mexico. You know, I'm excited for every
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  race this year. And you know, Phoenix is next
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  weekend, which is, you know, I finished fourth there in the
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  fall. So there's no reason we can't go
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  out and and compete there as well.
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  Justin Schuler have one sports. So we've already talked with you
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  a couple times today already, but you've been kind of talking
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  more about making less mistakes, making sure you check one box at
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  a time. So here's another box checked.
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  What can you learn from this race?
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  How the new layout kind of transpired into racing action
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  because we saw it in practice and qualifying.
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  And now how does that translate to Cup, especially with 6A and
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  and that cut off because that's where you got your damage from
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  And then learning about the the light with the pit Rd. kind of
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  the hard way. So how do you now translate all
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  of that knowledge as as a rookie making your Cup debut tomorrow
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  to try to repeat this? Yeah, it's it's great to, you
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  know, get this experience under my belt.
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  I have another shot to go out tomorrow and, you know, execute
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  and have a good day. And and that's the plan, right?
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  It's definitely a little bit better there because, you know,
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  I don't feel like I need to go win and I don't need, you know,
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  I'm not the favorite to win the race, right?
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  I don't feel like there's any pressure to go out and compete.
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  I just need to go out and, you know, have a quiet day and and,
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  you know, hopefully by the end of the race, we're running the
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  top ten and can get a good result.
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  But you know, it's definitely good to, you know, get this
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  experience and, and feel how this track races and understand
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  the new cut off and, and the, you know, race trim and, and,
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  you know, on restarts and how you can pass there.
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  Carson made a really good move on me there to, you know, almost
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  get the lead back with 7:00 or 8:00 to go.
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  And, you know, I definitely took note of that.
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  So I'm excited to see what that is like tomorrow.
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  And, you know, it's definitely going to be a a chaotic corner.
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  Does Josh talk to you? Josh Wise, talk to you about
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  specifically the Cup races tomorrow.
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  We've talked about everything. You know, I've prepared for this
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  race just as much as, you know, the race tomorrow.
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  And you know, as, as different as the cars may be, the, the
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  technique is kind of still the same.
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  So, you know, I, I've gone over a lot for both races and you
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  know, I'm excited to, to see what, you know, the race will be
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  like tomorrow and, and how different it will be.